While we're not done with Goblins in Explorer just yet, let's take a look at their current state in Standard, where they have seen some major upgrades in recent months with the release of Foundations!
Aetherdrift is coming soon, and it's good to check how playable Goblins are in the format, also for an easier evaluation of the new ones that are about to come out, increasing the card pool (for those who aren't following the spoilers, in Aetherdrift there will be an entire racing team made up of Goblins, which will cover the Gruul colors).
At the moment I think there are two main ways to build our favorite tribal in Standard:
- Focusing on the powerful ability of Krenko, Mob Boss, which can also be transferred to other creatures via Agatha's Soul Cauldron (and therefore acting for a large part as a combo deck).
- Focusing on the lord effects and synergies between Goblins (acting as an aggro or aggro/midrange deck depending on the build).
In the last Goblin episode in Explorer, I talked about Cauldron Goblins, which deals with the first case, albeit in a different format, so today we're going to see how else you can build the deck and what its best creatures and synergies are.
To do this, I first took a look at other lists available online or created by various content creators to possibly show you one that had particularly struck me, but in all cases I always noticed a strongly aggressive approach, with many 1-drops and removals. Although in theory it is a right approach when building a mono-red deck, I believe that Goblins don’t have particularly good one drops to push this strategy, thus ending up, as an aggressor, suffering the aggression of other decks that have much better cards for this game plan.
My approach is therefore more aggro/midrange, without giving up decent initial pressure but at the same time without being forced to “all-in” with many small creatures in the shortest time possible, instead making creatures and boards bigger as the turns progress.
The card that I think allows this better is Patchwork Banner!
Banner Goblins
Patchwork Banner is indeed the card that gives the deck its name! I haven't seen anyone consider it, and I recognize that in an ideal world and with an adequate creature pool, you might not want this card and instead focus on aggression or different synergies, but, as things stand, it's probably the best 3-drop Goblin in Standard!
It has the same mana value as a generic lord but has the advantage of not dying from one of the many simple removals that are extremely present in the format in the form of destroy creature, 3 damage, or -3/-3.
The fact that it remains in play will perpetually make each of our creatures bigger, and this will most of the time have a decisive impact on the entire course of the game.
As if that wasn't enough, it also acts as a mana rock, and having an extra mana each turn is always very useful, such as allowing us to cast a 2-drop and a 3-drop on turn 4 or animating Soulstone Sanctuary in case of mana flood.
Finally, in specific spots and matchups, you can also name Phyrexian / Horror to buff tokens created with Urabrask's Forge, if you already know that this will be your win condition (with Soulstone Sanctuary getting buffed anyway!).
Patchwork Banner might be the best way to pump our Goblins, but it's certainly not the only one because it adds those of two real Goblin lords: Rundvelt Hordemaster and Dropkick Bomber!
Rundvelt Hordemaster is well known as he's almost always present in every multi-format Goblin list and is its only lord for only 2 mana. In addition to the buff, he grants you some resilience to removal spells, trying every time to exile a Goblin from the top of your library.
Unfortunately, in Standard you have to make do with what you have, and you have to choose whether to make the most of his ability and limit yourself to playing suboptimal Goblins or whether to accept that he often whiffs, prioritizing better non-Goblin cards.
Of course I went for this second option, but the deck still has 24 Goblins in the maindeck (even if they will inevitably decrease post-sideboard), so at least 1/3 of the time Rundvelt Hordemaster should be able to hit anyway.
Dropkick Bomber is instead the new and latest lord, which (unfortunately) was preferred to the reprint of Goblin Chieftain in Foundations.
His activated ability can allow us in some cases to reach lethal damage by giving flying to a good part of the team, while in others it can help us not to die by pulling out surprise blockers for: Archfiend of the Dross, Ritual Chamber's Demon, Abhorrent Oculus, Haughty Djinn, or Slickshot Show-Off.
All these lord effects make our Goblins quite large, but sadly most removal spells are able to destroy them regardless of their size.
To mitigate this, we play cards that allow us to put multiple Goblins on the battlefield with a single spell so that individual enemy removals are not too efficient and that enhancements can affect as many pieces as possible.
Dragon Fodder is in fact the ideal 2-drop when we find ourselves facing an opponent who keeps mana open to cast a removal spell at the end of our turn, while Searslicer Goblin is very similar but should be cast at the first opportunity in which it can trigger without dying, so as to immediately create value and threaten more for the turns to follow.
Along with the latter, Squee, Dubious Monarch is the best token engine by creating an attacking Goblin per turn and being able to populate the board in the right spot by itself: entering play on the enemy when tapped out and with no valid blockers in front.
In addition, Squee, Dubious Monarch is also useful in grindy matchups, where, between removal and discard spells, it can return from the graveyard several times, making a good amount of value.
For the purpose of applying early pressure, as well as triggering Searslicer Goblin's raid on curve, we then have Cacophony Scamp and Fanatical Firebrand as 1-drops.
Cacophony Scamp is by far the best 1-mana Goblin drop available, and it's perfect in this build full of lord effects that buff its power as well as the damage it deals when it dies.
The fact that it can be sacrificed when it hits the opponent is crucial, becoming in all respects a removal with legs and also allowing us to proliferate. The latter will most of the time be irrelevant, but sometimes it will allow us to increase the counters of Chainsaw and Urabrask's Forge, as well as the time counters of an enemy impending Overlord (ex. Overlord of the Hauntwoods), or the stun counters of Unstoppable Slasher.
Fanatical Firebrand also plays a similar role and is important for eliminating dangerous or annoying opponent threats already on turn 1, especially on the draw where Cacophony Scamp cannot immediately attack right away. Often, in fact, it will be necessary to neutralize as quickly as possible plays like Optimistic Scavenger, Heartfire Hero, Llanowar Elves, Floodpits Drowner, Faerie Mastermind, and Deep-Cavern Bat.
Speaking of removals, not all the work is entrusted to 1-drops because, of course, it's necessary to play some specific spells (even if this goes a bit to the detriment of the Goblin synergy).
I opted for a mix: diversifying for the various matchups and adjusting the choices with the use of the sideboard.
I started with multiple Torch the Tower, ending up with just one copy that adds to the 1-drops as an immediate response to the opponent's cheap threat.
It's obviously very important against Rx aggro, against which all the other removals in the sideboard also come in, just as the exile effect is useful against Enduring Innocence, Unstoppable Slasher, or Enduring Curiosity, but sometimes it struggles to kill X/3s, not having or having to give up a useful Goblin token.
Which is not the case for Chainsaw, which is sorcery speed but which also has the whole equipment aspect as a bonus! It gets stronger every time one of our or our opponent's creatures dies (this also applies to tokens), and in a short time it will be ready to transform any of our humble Goblins into a dangerous threat, especially in the case of Cacophony Scamp!
Sure, equip 3 might seem like a lot in another circumstance, but here we have Patchwork Banner, ready to give us plenty of mana and turn Chainsaw into an additional mana sink for the late game!
Finally, Witchstalker Frenzy is the removal for creatures with 4 or more toughness. It's possible that you will want even more than one copy in the maindeck since you tend to sideboard it in very often, and it's also good against aggro, but I preferred not to overdo it with the maindeck removals to favor the synergies between Goblins.
As for lands, we only find two Cavern of Souls because I think they are not that important in this format and that matchups where counters on one of our Goblins matter are really rare. Two copies are almost free, but playing four and risking not having red mana could do more harm than good.
Instead, I reserved all the slots for Soulstone Sanctuary which is the Mutavault of Standard, and is incredibly good for the late game, with all the lord effects and Patchwork Banner's additional mana.
Sideboard
With a deck already focused on synergies and key cards, a good part of the sideboard can only be dedicated to removals, ready to cut the legs off creatures with a power level probably higher than ours.
Lithomantic Barrage is the ideal removal for white or blue creatures or planeswalkers. It primarily kills Beza, the Bounding Spring; Haughty Djinn; Abhorrent Oculus; Zur, Eternal Schemer; Kaito, Bane of Nightmares; as well as any white creature enchanted by Sheltered by Ghosts, bypassing the ward cost.
Witchstalker Frenzy and Scorching Shot, in addition to being an additional arsenal against aggro, have the same role of taking down the big creatures that, at least in the early game, completely block the Goblin aggression. They are especially necessary against Golgari Midrange, which has a lot of creatures with high toughness, and in particular they are useful against Preacher of the Schism, Sentinel of the Nameless City, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Bloodletter of Aclazotz, Obstinate Baloth, and Overlord of the Hauntwoods.
Three slots for the hate grave I believe are currently the bare minimum to counter the abuse of the graveyard of decks like Azorius Oculus and Azorius Omniscience Combo.
I diversified them into two copies of Ghost Vacuum, faster and with a second ability that can be activated occasionally, especially to restart post-wrath, and one Agatha's Soul Cauldron, a bit slower and legendary but whose ability to strengthen creatures is useful from an aggro perspective.
Finally, the full set of Urabrask's Forge is essential as an alternative win condition for all those decks full of singles and mass removals, against which Goblins alone cannot do it!
Urabrask's Forge is synergistic: with Cacophony Scamp's proliferate; with Searslicer Goblin's raid; with Patchwork Banner taking its buffs; but above all with Chainsaw, charging a counter for each Phyrexian Horror token sacrificed at the end of the turn, and so quickly creating a Cranial Plating-style equipment.
That's all for today! I was very skeptical when I tried to put Goblins together in Standard, and I didn't think anything good would come out of it. Even though the deck isn't up to par with the other tier 1s, it can still hold its own, beating some of them and giving us good times (for example, it has a good matchup against the various Dimir and Esper Pixie). On top of that, Aetherdrift is about to bring us new Goblins, so a new room for improvement is right around the corner!