Aetherdrift was an extremely profitable set for our beloved Goblins, especially with the addition of four great creatures in Burnout Bashtronaut, Greasewrench Goblin, Draconautics Engineer, and Howlsquad Heavy.
These are already seeing play in both Standard and Pioneer formats, leading Goblins to sporadic results in competitive Magic and paving the way for ever more diverse variations.
However, I like to surprise you, and today I would rather not talk to you about either format, also because there is something else that has caught my attention and that was secretly released along with Aetherdrift. I say “secretly” because it's not a regular card present in the set but an addition in its Special Guests. I am talking about Chrome Mox!
This artifact, without costing mana, allows us to accelerate right from the start of the game, and since the best Goblins are all concentrated in the mana value range between 2 and 3, it is ideal for this archetype to skip the weak 1-drop, do everything one turn sooner, and significantly increase aggression.
Unfortunately, however, there is not only good news, because Chrome Mox is only legal in Timeless and others can also abuse it, so we have no choice but to bring our green humanoids into an almost unexplored and almost inaccessible territory for them to see how they do in the most unfair MTG Arena format!
Moon Goblins
As per the preface, Chrome Mox is what makes things possible and gives sense to the deck! By exiling a red card from our hand, it basically works as an additional Mountain and allows us to cast spells ahead of schedule.
Being able to cast the 2-drop on your first turn and the 3-drop on your second turn is huge, but the spiciest thing is that you aren't forced to cast only Goblin spells but can opt for something even more impactful in the spot!
Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon are ideal turns 1 and 2 plays, respectively, and have the potential to lock your opponent!
Suppose we are on the play and our opponent shows Lurrus of the Dream-Den as a companion. An immediate Chalice of the Void with 1 counter can potentially take out half of the spells in their deck, since they will mostly be split between mana value 1 and 2.
Or, if we know that our opponent also plays Chrome Mox (or even Mishra's Bauble), we can first cast our Chrome Mox and then put Chalice of the Void with no counters so that we are the only ones to benefit from the incredible power of the artifact!
Even more devastating can be the effect of an unexpected Blood Moon that could even make us win the game on the spot. Fetchlands exist, and if the opponent plays around the enchantment, they could manage to make it useless, but with an unreleased brew like this, it is not so easy, and at least in game 1, it often manages to do its job and act as a win condition!
You can also try to “hide” it by not playing Chrome Mox on turn 1 and then doing it on turn 2 together with the land and Blood Moon, with a switch from 1 to 3 mana that can catch your opponent by surprise!
Speaking of Blood Moon, when we don't find Chrome Mox to enable it on turn 2, there's Skirk Prospector instead! This is where the Goblins start, and it's our only 1-drop with the task of ramping the spells that matter, in addition to making creature numbers and activating typal synergies.
It might seem like it would be in conflict with Chalice of the Void at 1, since at that point it would become uncastable, but Cavern of Souls comes to the rescue by making it uncounterable, thus bypassing the artifact's trigger.
Battle Cry Goblin and Draconautics Engineer are our 2-drop Goblins, with the common characteristic of being okay in the early game but even more effective in the game, with a stalled board and a lot of mana, putting us in a position to overwhelm the opponent. Both are also able to create a haste instance, extremely synergistic with Krenko, Mob Boss.
The notable absentee is Rundvelt Hordemaster, which is sadly unplayable in this format since Orcish Bowmasters exists (why didn't they make it 2/2??).
Together with Blood Moon, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, and Howlsquad Heavy, they complete our wonderful 3-drop picture!
We already know how good Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is, and doing it on turn 2 allows us to recover our mana investment thanks to the Treasure token of the 2/2 Goblin created. Very important is also the second chapter of the Saga, which allows us to discard all the cards that have become useless in the spot, such as Skirk Prospector, Chrome Mox, Chalice of the Void, and Blood Moon, in addition to the lands.
Both Goblin Token and Reflection of Kiki-Jiki can be used immediately with Howlsquad Heavy, giving haste to everyone and taking care of aggression and pressure on the opponent.
In addition to flooding the board with Goblins, as Goblin Rabblemaster would have done in the past, we must not forget its Max Speed ability, which gives us a huge amount of mana that can be used in different ways: creating a hasty Dragon with Draconautics Engineer, buffing the board with Battle Cry Goblin, casting the spells drawn with The One Ring, creating dozens of Goblins with double Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, or killing enemy threats with Shatterskull Smashing.
However, Krenko, Mob Boss is mainly interested in his ability to haste around so he can immediately create a lot of hasty Gob that can overwhelm the opponent in no time!
As mentioned, Howlsquad Heavy isn't even the only way to haste him, as you can do the same by adding 1 or 2 mana with the 2-drops Battle Cry Goblin and Draconautics Engineer, greatly improving his consistency and explosiveness!
If removal spells are taking over, however, The One Ring will do the rest, allowing us to draw as only this artifact can do so as to get more resources than the opponent has.
It's a bit dangerous because the deck has no way to gain life, but The One Ring fits perfectly with our strategy of sacrificing cards in the early game for mana so that we can get them back with it as early as turn 3.
As for lands, we have the manlands in Mutavault and Den of the Bugbear, which, in addition to being in line with the type of creatures allow you to attack your opponent in stalled or late game, especially post-sideboard when Blood Moon happens to get left out.
>Cavern of Souls is our reward for playing creatures all of the same type, making them immune to Mana Drain and Flare of Denial, as well as our own Chalice of the Void.
Shatterskull Smashing, besides being a versatile removal, saving us 3 life with Blood Moon on the field (as well as Den of the Bugbear, every land enters untapped), is here for a very specific reason: Chrome Mox! It happens that to have the artifact in hand, as well as more than one land, but to be forced to remove a spell that we need, since Imprint does not allow you to choose the lands. With Shatterskull Smashing you can trick it, since it is in all respects a red sorcery, but can also be used as a land if needed.
Sideboard
Sideboard is not too complex, with some very specific cards for certain matchups and others that are necessary to replace Chalice of the Void and Blood Moon when they are not needed.
Lithomantic Barrage is a 1-mana removal spell that has the advantage of being uncounterable, so it can be played under a 1-mana Chalice of the Void. It deals 5 damage to a white or blue creature or Planeswalker and can take away any piece of the Energy deck except Fblthp, Titan of Fire's Fury, including Jegantha, the Wellspring, and the small creatures even if they are not in the colors mentioned, such as Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Amped Raptor, and Orcish Bowmasters. It then kills Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, a not-too-big Psychic Frog, and Teferi, Time Raveler.
Pyroclasm is the removal mainly against Energy, which would otherwise be an impossible match-up to beat, as the difference in power level is clear. It cleans the entire board and could also involve some of our Goblins, but the important thing is that it leaves Howlsquad Heavy and Krenko, Mob Boss intact so that we can restart immediately in case.
Just as it doesn't kill the sturdy Goblin Chainwhirler that is here, in addition to Energy and the thousand annoying Cat tokens of Ocelot Pride, for Orcish Bowmasters that interfere heavily with our The One Ring, eliminating our board (although Skirk Prospector can help slightly with its triggers). Against certain decks you don't want to specifically add Pyroclasm just for the Orc and Goblin Chainwhirler, which has proven to be very convenient since it is also a good creature.
Disruptor Flute is the universal Timeless card for combos. You use it to block the activated abilities of Necropotence, Goblin Charbelcher, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, maybe Psychic Frog, and you insert it against Show and Tell even simply to increase the cost of the blue sorcery to 6 mana.
Speaking of Show and Tell, there's also Vexing Bauble that blocks its entire combo with Omniscience if the opponent doesn't find an answer. Even though it costs 1, there's no danger of it countering Chalice of the Void because I don't think you want them in the matchup, but even if it did, you could just keep it in your hand and then put it into play directly via Show and Tell.
Last but not least, we find Goblin Rabblemaster, which comes in when the maindeck hate cards are not good for a specific matchup and when you simply care about being as aggressive as possible!
That's all for today! This was my idea to play Goblins even in Timeless! Is this deck competitive? Not too much! I think the format is too degenerate, and there is really little room for innovation unless you mix it with the usual broken cards banned in other formats. It's still cool though, and I had a lot of fun building a new Goblin variant and bringing them where they shouldn't be!