So this is a deck that I have probably been working on for about five years. It was made to be pretty budget-friendly and now that I finally own it physically I will be adding to it over time. This deck uses
Krenko, Mob Boss
's unique ability to double our board size your every turn to overwhelm your opponents with a variety of strategies covered below.
Strategies
#1: Set up for the kill
Krenko may be a goblin, but he isn't stupid!... Okay, he may be a little stupid, but he knows how to make an effective strategy. Before we can dump a goblin into every card slot, we need to have a good foundation to work off of. Cards like
Ruby Medallion
and
Caged Sun
will give us as much mana as our aggressive deck could ask for, while
Bomat Courier
,Lorekeeper's Stone will keep us full of fuel despite being in mono-red. Meanwhile,
Goblin Matron
and
Goblin Ringleader
make sure we get the goblinoids we need to win the fight.
#2: Amass your army
Now that we have our mana and cards ready, we need to build an army for Krenko to come in on.
Mogg War Marshal
,
Krenko's Command
, and
Hordeling Outburst
help us to build up early while
Goblin Rally
and
Beetleback Chief
provide a bit more for the mid-game.
Chancellor of the Forge
serves both ends perfectly, providing the first of many goblins if it is in your starting hand and setting out a flood of hasty goblins later into the game.
#3: Moving in the Blink of an Eye
In this deck, we want to hit as fast as possible so haste is an important keyword to us.
Anger
and
Ogre Battledriver
provide haste-related anthem effects,
Goblin Warchief
and Gobln Chieftain give haste with upsides, and
Goblin Bushwhacker
has the potential to surprise opponents. We don't shy away from single target haste spells either as our commander wants to be tapped as much as possible, so we want both haste effects and untap effects.
Expedite
gives Krenko the haste he needs and replaces itself,
Lightning Greaves
and
Swiftfoot Boots
provide haste while also granting some much needed protection, and
Magewright's Stone
and Swprd of the Paruns allows for Krenko to use his tap ability multiple times in a single turn.
#4: Overwhelm with Numbers
Having an army is great and all, but 1/1s don't actually do much. So let's pump them up like crazy! Pumping up every goblin's power up to ridiculous levels isn't too hard with
Patron of the Akki
,
Moonveil Dragon
, and
Quest for the Goblin Lord
. When we want traditional +1/+1 increases,
Hall of Triumph
, Obelish of Urd, and a healthy sprinkling of goblin lords will do nicely.
#5: Burn Their Chances
One thing that goblins lack is evasion, and these cards exist to make killing our opponents with creatures on the board much easier.
War Cadence
is like a pillow fort effect except the exact opposite, Caterauling Boggart makes all of our goblins twice as annoying to block, and
Dragon Throne of Tarkir
can tap down any creature to give all of our tokens trample and a nice buff to overrun opponents with.
#6: Let Titans do the Job
So what do we do if an overwhelming army isn't an answer, thanks to pillow fort or some other shenanigans? It can be risky, but pushing all your resources together can work.
Voracious Dragon
,
Preyseizer Dragon
, and
Predator Dragon
are a lovely trio of devouring dragons that can all instantly delete an opponent if enough goblins are devoured.
Clickslither
is a similar effect, coming in earlier at the cost of only gaining its bonuses from goblin eating until the end of the turn.
Battle Squadron
can soar above a stalemate and
Reckless One
can catch an opponent by surprise. Finally,
Goblin War Strike
and
Kolaghan Forerunners
are two cheap and obscure cards that can ruin an opponent's day if they aren't prepared. The creatures mentioned here have the added benefit of being equipped with the Dragon Throne if your remaining goblin army is big enough to absolutely destroy any opponent unless a fog or board wipe comes out.
#7: Shake Your Enemies to the Core
If there is no attacking of any kind allowed at your table, well, there is still a chance! While the pool is shallow,
Purphoros, God of the Forge
and
Impact Tremors
can take care of your opponents without a single attack being required.
#8: Dealing with Resistance
Now that all the fun stuff we can do has been covered, it is time to see what answers this deck has at its disposal.
Chaos Warp
and
Gempalm Incinerator
function as our single-target removal while
Siege-Gang Commander
lets us target everything as long as we have the mana and the goblins.
Dualcaster Mage
is the best thing we have to a counterspell, fighting against instant-speed threats. For board wipes, this first iteration of the deck doesn't run much, but
Blasphemous Act
has been put in just in case things really go south. Finally,
Capricious Efreet
and
Goblin Assassin
come into the deck for some flavorful, chaotic creature and permanent removal.
TLDR
Set stuff up, make an army before your opponents can recover, and kill them all with a variety of methods. Overall it is a very fun deck to play, but it is not without weaknesses. Pillow fort decks make it difficult until you get one of your #6 cards, while decks that deal in -1/-1 counters or Niv-Mizzet will basically blow this deck to pieces. The deck is still a work in progress, so please feel free to add any comments on how to make this deck better below. I already have a list of cards to be taken out and cards to be added below and insight into what deserves to be substituted or what should be added will be very much appreciated. Just keep in mind that this is attempting to be a budget deck so I will not be spending $20 or so on singles unless they seem like must-haves for the deck. Thanks for reading!
Cards that can be taken out:
Jeering Instigator
,
Tuktuk the Explorer
Cards to possibly add:
Goblin Instigator
to replace
Krenko's Command
and get more Ringleader pulls
Thousand-Year Elixir
and
Umbral Mantle
are very important but expensive upgrades for strategy #3.
Kindred Charge
also serves as a way to generate a bunch of hasters to finish out a game
Door of Destinies
,
Vanquisher's Banner
,
Coat of Arms
, and
Goblin Trashmaster
as possible upgrades to strategy #4
Legion Loyalist
and
Archetype of Aggression
for strategy #5 as these little guys gives everyone trample
Roar of the Crowd
is a more expensive but still potentially useful version of
Goblin War Strike
for strategy #6
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
for some more goblins but mainly just for flavor
Price of Glory
so that people don't mess with this deck on its turn
