History:
This was the third magic deck that I made. I loved the design and art on the goblin cards; and honestly, something about their artwork reminded me of gremlins. However, my original intent for making this deck was to get my father into the game. However, after he bought his own red deck, I decided to keep this one. The deck list may look a little strange, as the deck was cobbled together with the goblins that I had, what I could trade for, and what was donated to my efforts; but make no mistake. This deck won me games.....A LOT of games.
Looking back, this deck was relatively simple and modest. I have a base of expendable goblin hordes and a few tougher critters. It wasn't the most organized thing in the world; but it was what I could afford at the time. And in spite of its limitations, IT WON GAMES. This was the deck that earned me the nickname "Goblin King" on two separate college campuses. Only one man has ever beaten it in a best two-out-of-three-rounds with another goblin deck (and you know who you are). This deck was one that I was truly proud of. So without further ado, here it is....the Deck of the Goblin King.
The Battle Plan:
This is a weenie swarm deck that focuses on doing a LOT of early game damage, with a big late game finisher. The goal is to constantly swing with an ever-increasing goblin army, while buffing your forces and responding to threats as you go. The main strength of this deck is the ability to do massive early game plays, while other decks are still trying to set up. This deck is brutal in 1v1 matches. The main drawback is that it begins to weaken in the late game. This deck is not meant for multi-person games or free-for-alls. If you do use this deck in such a game, focus on one person at a time.
Phase 1: Immediate Punch to the Gut
There are multiple ways to start the first three turns with this deck. However, most games focus on two ideal plays:
If you want to start aggressively, offer to be on the play and lead with
Raging Goblin
on turn one. Hit them for that one point of damage on that first turn, to set the tone for this game.
Goblin Bushwhacker
is a solid turn-two play, especially if you "kick" him for the additional one red mana. This means that, on the second turn, you are spending two mana to hit them for four damage. Even if they have blockers, these goblins are expendable. You lose nothing if they die, and they will kill most other turn 1 or turn 2 critters. There are a LOT of ways that turn 3 can go. If you want to keep this aggro going, follow up with another Bushwhacker, or run
Goblin Chieftain
for haste and another attack buff. Are your opponents generating annoying 1/1 creatures or tokens?
Spikeshot Goblin
is great for killing them easily. But at the same time, as you buff
Spikeshot Goblin
, he can kill bigger threats. While any creature benefits from
Claws of Valakut
(as we are mainly running mountains), this attack buff is best used on
Spikeshot Goblin
as a creature-murdering machine. In the late game, you could be killing 6/6s once a turn, for ONE MANA!
Alternatively, let's say that you want to focus on building your forces first.
Quest for the Goblin Lord
is a solid turn 1 play, as we need five goblins to kick off its constant buff. On turn two, play whatever goblins that you like. On turn three, drop a
Goblin Assault
. While it is true that it forces you to attack, you'll mainly be doing that at the start of the game anyway. And it will not take long for this stream of goblins (with haste) to kick off the buff from the Quest.
Phase 2: Alternate Warrior Choices
Goblin Shortcutter
is great, especially in the early game. It's excellent if your opponents summon one big threat....which they can't use to stop your swarm for that turn. This can result in some players taking massive damage, despite having an otherwise ideal blocker.
Mudbutton Torchrunner
has a lovely effect that punishes opponents for damage when it dies. Aside from being a great blocker, he's even better as sacrifice fodder or when used to swing, with buffs. Do you kill it? Do you not? It's a hard call for many opponents.
Rustrazor Butcher
is a nasty card. That first strike ensures that he's taking someone down. And wither allows him to do LASTING DAMAGE to the power and toughness of enemies.
Stream Hopper
While not as fast as the Raging Goblins, Stream Hoppers have a low-cost flight ability that makes them ideal for early assaults. Even when your opponent has blockers, a Hopper with
Claws of Valakut
can still be a bad time.
Phase 3: Supporting Your Men on the Front Line
Goblins can do a LOT of damage; but they are very squishy. So you need a means to protect them from the opponent's bigger threats.
Caterwauling Boggart
is ideal for limiting how many creatures they can block.
Boggart Shenanigans
punishes enemies for the few goblins that die from being blocked. Much like the Quest for the Goblin Lord,
Goblin Burrows
provides the same buff to a single goblin. This can be ideal to use after blockers are declared, to get more value out of a dying goblin or a successful strike to your opponent's life for more damage.
Raid Bombardment
rubs salt into the wound by doing 1 damage for each attacking creature. The cool aspect of Bombardment is that it does that damage, regardless of who is blocked. If you swing for five 1/1 goblins, this enchantment will still do 5 bonus damage directly to the defender's life, in ADDITION TO the damage dealt by the goblins, if they hit that player!
Ember Gale
pins down an entire army, making them unable to block. This is also able to punish your opponents with damage to their white or blue creatures (which are the two colors that you will struggle most against.
Dragon's Claw
is in here solely to aid you when playing against other red-burn decks. The life gain can save your life very quickly.
Most people would use
Lightning Bolt
here; but not us.
Searing Blaze
(with landfall activated) serves both the purposes of damage to their creatures and damage to the opponent. It is best used in the early game, to help clear enemies off of the board.
What would a Goblin Deck be without a little sacrifice? We have
Reckless Abandon
and
Goblin Grenade
for that purpose! We can sacrifice one of our goblins for damage to a creature (if they have a big threat that we otherwise can't handle) or to an opponent (the choice you will pick 90% of the time). Goblin Grenade does a massive 5 damage, which is the same damage as
Lava Axe
for ONE MANA and a dead goblin. That is a QUARTER OF THEIR STARTING LIFE for ONE MANA!
Phase 4: Let's Wrap It Up, Boys!
Finally, we have the killing blows. These next cards are meant to win the game, after enough damage has been dealt. To start things off with the easiest card to win with, here is
Coat of Arms
!
Coat of Arms
is great for this deck, as you will normally have more goblins than any other tribal (except for squirrels. Squirrels CAN and WILL murder you if you play this. Learned this the hard way....). Even in a Goblin Vs. Goblin match up, ALL goblins get the same buff; but your goblins have more skills to work around various situations and keep spawning.
Siege-Gang Commander
is a great sacrificer. He can throw your goblins at opponents for damage; and even brings friends with him when he enters play!
Voracious Dragon
is often the finishing blow. She does two damage to an opponent directly for each Goblin that you sacrifice to her "Devour" effect, in addition to receiving a permanent buff. Often, this damage alone is lethal enough to win the game. If not, following up next turn with a heavily buffed, flying dragon may do the trick. ;)
Bonus Phase: Notable Combos
Goblin Bushwhacker + Goblin Grenade + Raging Goblin
: Drop Raging Goblin on turn 1 and attack for one point of damage. If no blocker is played, play Goblin Bushwhacker and swing again for four more points of damage. Turn 3, swing again (for two more damage) and then sacrifice both goblins with Goblin Grenade (10 points of damage). If they had no blockers by your third turn, you just punished them for 17 of their life points! If they do play a blocker, cast
Goblin Shortcutter
instead on turn 2, while swinging with Raging Goblin. Save Bushwhacker for turn 3, then sacrifice one of the goblins that survives the next wave of attacks.
Goblin Grenade + Mudbutton Torchrunner + Reckless Abandon
- How do you feel about doing 7-8 to a single target? Or perhaps 3 and 4-5 damage to two targets?
Boggart Shenanigans + Goblin Assault + Raid Bombardment
- Constant, unavoidable damage every turn, whether they block or not.
Claws of Valakut + Rustrazor Butcher
- If this doesn't kill the enemy creature immediately, it will still weaken them with wither (-1/-1 counters = to the butcher's attack) before they ever get the chance to retaliate against the butcher. This has been known to render a good attacker useless in a single blow, before combat is even finished.
With all that being said, this deck could have been a little more streamlined. I may post a future deck that outlines the changes that I would have made. Even then, feel free to check this deck out, if you feel so inclined. Thanks for reading. ;)
