MTG Salvation

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In direct opposition to my Ezuri, Renegade Leader Elvish tribal deck, I also built a Goblin tribal deck centered around Wort, Boggart Auntie. I chose Wort because she has both red and black in her color identity, giving me the most options for being able to draw cards and giving me the widest selection of Goblins to run.

I've updated the deck a bit to fit in a few cards that needed to be added and take out a few underperformers. I still think it needs a bit of fine tuning and I need to reconsider some cards that I've included or excluded. This includes my earlier decision to cut anything that cost over 6 mana to cast (which included Goblin Marshal, Warstorm Surge, and Vicious Shadows among others).

Updated through M19 (7/17/2018) (Deck List)

Fodder launch seems like an auto include

Update time!

Commander 2014
Nothing - Volcanic Offering was considered, but the black and red decks in this set go in different directions from where my deck wants to go.

Fate Reforged
Outpost Siege - More damage or more cards. Either way, you win.

Dragons of Tarkir
Damnable Pact - I love the flexibility on this and I'm always willing to give card draw spells a chance here.
Kolaghan's Command - Flexibility is also key here, especially since all 4 modes are useful.

Magic Origins
Nothing

Battle for Zendikar
Aligned Hedron Network - Given that this is a deck chock-full of creatures with power 4 and under, this seemed like the perfect place to try this out. You have to be careful with Purphoros and how many Crusade effects you have in play, but overall this is a card that worked well in many spots.
Smoldering Marsh - Solid dual land
Smothering Abomination - The deck is full of sac effects, but it is tough to keep this fed while still maintaining a board presence.

Commander 2015
Blade of Selves - I wish I had room for this to stay long-term. Slapping it on a Lord is pretty good, the tokens can be sacrificed post-combat, and choosing a creature with a ETB ability can net you a ton of advantage on way or another.
Wretched Confluence - This is expensive, but all the modes are useful and its almost always a 2 for 1 or 3 for 1. Being an Instant is also very nice.

Oath of the Gatewatch
Goblin Dark-Dwellers - I think that if the Instant/Sorcery count went up this might get a spot, but as it is its unspectacular especially given that it can't buy back Living Death or Patriarch's Bidding.
Reckless Bushwacker - This seemed like a natural fit.

Shadows Over Innistrad
Foreboding Ruins - Another solid dual land.

Eldritch Moon
Collective Defiance - I would typically shy away fro a card like this because you are in colors that have better potions for card draw, burn, and creature removal. It was worth it to try it here because the combination of the three on one card makes it flexible enough to never be a dead card.

Conspiracy: Take the Crown
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser - This was surprisingly good. Goad is an interesting ability that breaks board stalls and can really open up a game once you start getting guys through. It's also an interesting form of card advantage

Kaladesh
Eliminate the Competition - Not a bad way to go with removal, especially if you've generated some tokens. It's not as good here as it is in my Endrek Sahr deck, but its still a solid possibility.
Panharmonicon - I tried it here because there were 8 cards that had strong synergies with it and I wanted to see how good it can be. The answer is that it is great, but it needs to be triggered often for it to be worth it. I would wager that it is similar to the Rings of Brighthearth test; you need at least 15 cards in your deck to combo with it before it becomes worth it (unless one of the cards is your commander, at which point it all depends on the strength of that interaction).

Commander 2016
Vial Smasher the Fierce - Free damage is free.

Aether Revolt
Fatal Push - Revolt is easy to trigger, but I don't think it is better than the other cheap options I'm running for removal.
Metallic Mimic - At a minimum, this seems like an upgrade over Adaptive Automaton.

So with the world of Amonkhet not having any Goblins, I didn't think that there would be any card that I would likely want to add to the deck. Turns out, I was wrong. Neheb, the Eternal is going to be awesome and I'm going to jam it into every red deck I can to see how good it will be. I will be pulling Eldrazi Monument to fit it in; its another 5-drop, but it is the weakest of the many pump effects that I have in the deck.

The other card I am considering is The Scorpion God. It seems that this deck would be a fairly underwhelming place to put it, but the mix of abilities at least intrigues me. I would think that I would want more Persist/Cauldron of Souls action for it to be good enough to run.

Some cards from recent sets that I have considered:

Ixalan
Captivating Crew - Not a Goblin and I'm not running enough sac outlets to make the theft into removal, but still a card worth considering.
Sunbird's Invocation - Giving your spells pseudo-Cascade makes this something worthwhile to try out somewhere. For a deck where I'm always trying to fit in more card advantage generation, this seems like worthwhile to try out.
Vance's Blasting Cannons - Again, looking for more CA so this gets a look, and it's comparable to Outpost Siege.
Vanquisher's Banner - Speaking of CA, this card is amazing for pretty much all tribal decks.

Rivals of Ixalan
The Immortal Sun - 6 mana is steep, but getting mana savings, a boost to my creatures, an extra card each turn, and hosing random opposing Planeswalkers (of which this deck runs none) may very well make this worthwhile.
Twilight Prophet - Again, not a Goblin, but the upside on this card is amazing if it sticks around.

So overall, I was very disappointed with the lack of quality in the few Goblins that Ixalan block has to offer, but there are quite a few "do nothing" card advantage engines at 5-6 mana that are at least worth considering. Right now, my card advantage engines are as follows:


So of the ones I'm looking at, Twilight Prophet seems much better than Phyrexian Arena, and Vanquisher's Banner seems like a much bigger impact card than Disciple of Bolas. I'm leery of adding in any 6-drops at this point, so perhaps Sunbird's Invocation and The Immortal Sun will sit on the sidelines for now. As for Vance's Blasting Cannons, I think the price is right but the card just doesn't fit unless I cut an anthem effect.

So right now, I'm going with +1 Twilight Prophet, +1 Vanquisher's Banner, -1 Disciple of Bolas, -1 Phyrexian Arena.

Dominaria had some interesting cards to think about:

Cabal Paladin: Not a Goblin, but with 10 Legendary Creatures and 9 Artifacts, plus Wort that would trigger this, I figured it was at least worth a look. The fact that it damages each opponent is a nice plus, as is the single black mana in the casting cost and the 4-power for 4-mana efficiency of the creature. I think that 22 is probably the number of cards that I would need to trigger this in order to make it worthwhile, so it's right about at that threshold of playability. Hopefully, by the end of this block it will make it in.

Garna, the Bloodflame: Again, not a Goblin anmd the ability is somewhat redundant with Wort, Boggart Auntie, but granting my whole team Haste is huge and the potential to gain tons of value out of any sacrifice shenanigans (via Goblin Sledder, Skirk Prospector, Siege-Gang Commander, Goblin Bombardment, Lyzolda, the Blood Witch, or Skullclamp). I just don't know if I want another 5-drop.

Goblin Barrage: Reminds me a lot of Fodder Launch (which I'm also not playing), doing less damage but having a little more flexibility. Perhaps I should be playing both....

Goblin Chainwhirler: Seems like good tech for taking out a horde of tokens.

Squee, the Immortal: I'm playing the original Squee, so it makes sense that I would play this one as well. It has synergy with the sac outlets, and it's another Legendary creature to potentially play Cabal Paladin

It's kind of a bummer that so many of the Goblins printed in the set were reprints (specifically Goblin Warchief, Skirk Prospector, and Siege-Gang Commander), but that just means I have fewer changes to make right now.

Right now, the changes are as follows:

+1 Garna, the Bloodflame, -1 In the Web of War: I think I would rather have the creature-based Haste versus the Enchantment-based version, and the added utility over the creature pump. ItWoW is a good card, but I needed to pull something at 5+ mana to try Garna and this made the most sense.
+1 Squee, the Immortal, -1 Boggart Harbinger: Harbinger is just okay and playing Squee just feels right.
+1 Goblin Chainwhirler, -1 Lightning Crafter: I've never been a fan of Lightning Crafter and everyone always thinks you are about to go infinite for some reason, so I think Chainwhirler can come in for it.
+1 Cabal Paladin, -1 Boggart Shenanigans: Shenanigans has plenty of use in this deck, but it only deals one damage to one player at a time. Paladin can attack for 4, and ping every player for 2 at a time (albeit at a less rapid rate obv). With Garna and Squee now in the deck, I'm right at my target of 22 potential triggers so this will go in for a spin.

There were some cards I wanted to add from M19, so I'm updating the thread for the last two sets:

Battlebond
Azra Oddsmaker - I think that if this was a Goblin I would include it, but as it is it is pretty borderline.
Cheering Fanatic - This is like a Signet that can attack. I kinda like it.
Luxury Suite - I think this would be an ideal spot to run one of the Battlebond Duals.

M19
Dark-Dweller Oracle - The deck produces a lot of fodder and this gives the Squees something worthwhile to be sacrificed to.
Goblin Instigator - Getting two creatures for two mana is a good deal given all the Lords, and being recurrable with Wort, Patriarch's Bidding, and Living Death make this really good in this deck.
Goblin Trashmaster - Another Lord and another way to take out artifacts.
Volley Veteran - An on-theme removal spell.

So I end up making the following changes
+1 Volley Veteran, -1 Murderous Redcap
+1 Goblin Trashmaster, -1 Lyzolda, the Bloodwitch
+1 Goblin Instigator, -1 Cabal Paladin
+1 Luxury Suite, -1 Kher Keep