MTG Salvation

Hey guys,I thought I would post an older deck that I'm trying to optimize. Essentially, the goal is to use Goblin Bombardment and Fecundity along with different token producers and other 2 for 1's to gain as much card advantage as possible.

For most of its life, the deck has been used for duels and small multiplayer games, but recently I acquired some Purphoros, God of the Forge that go a long way towards opening the deck up to competing in larger games. Besides the God of the Forge, I've also swapped out Awakening Zones a few for Tuktuk the Explorers and a single Hanweir Garrison. I'm not sure about these, but the Awakening Zones seemed excellent if I already had Fecundity, but otherwise too slow. Three three drop spot feels weak and I am considering including Sprouting Thrinax, but don't know how without massively improving the mana base beyond my budget. Additionally, another recent change has been to swap Mitotic Slime with Saproling Burst, since the former can combo with Purphoros without a sac outlet.

Mainly, I want to see if there is anything I'm forgetting or missing that would further optimize the deck especially lower in the curve. It'd be excellent if anyone could suggest a card that would help me find my combo (maybe Commune With the Gods) but wouldn't slow me down.

I realized I said I want to optimize this deck, but I am still on a relative budget and would still like to use this deck in smaller group games, hence things like Lightning Bolt. As a last consideration, I actually have one more Purphoros if you all think it should go in here.

I run a similar deck in Jund colors. It's a little different than that it's also built to go wife and attack with tokens boosted by Beastmaster Ascension. But more often it's won by going the sacrifice-for-value route that you intend to run here. I run Sprouting Thrinax, but I think the best reasons to run Black are Zulaport Cutthroat and Prossh, Skyraider of Kher. Whenever I resolve Prossh with a ZC or Purphoros on the field it's very often been a game-winning play.

I think your idea to add Commune With The Gods is a good one since you have so many hits for it in the deck and since winning is so dependent on finding those enchantment combo pieces.

Thank you for the advice. Both Prossh and Cutthroat are two things that I've HEAVILY considered. My only issue with those are A) Prossh costs six mana and I'd like to keep the CMC down so that the deck can compete reasonably well in duels and B)the mana base. I'd like to keep the deck pretty budget and I don't really know how to do that with between three colors and no real acceleration. Cards like Birds of Paradise might help, but I tend to stay away from mana dorks because they die very quickly in my meta. What does your mana base look like?

Your mileage may vary if your meta is a lot faster than mine or if you really want those turn 1 plays for a duel, but I've always gotten away with manabases that are very cheap. For a Jund deck like this one I'd start with 4 Savage Lands, 4 Evolving Wilds, 3 of each basic land and one utility land like Kessig Wolf Run or the like.

Suggestions...

Impact Tremors
Skullclamp (though Fecundity does the job)
Druids' Repository (you probably dont get to attack a lot with your creatures...but if you do, this is a surprisingly good source of mana.
Living Wish helps if you're mana short, gets Purphoros or whaveter token-sprouting creature you need at the moment
Sol Ring if legal in your format
Khalni Garden
Gleeful Sabotage or Hull Breach to deal with enchantments/artifacts if you need
Spore Frog...anything that makes the game last longer should help you...as long as you dont get killed, you will dish out a good amount of damage every turn.

I dont like Hanweir Garrison...if it gets killed before attacking, you only have 1 creature for 3 mana.

Gosh, my first thought was to play with the "each upkeep" token producers - Ophiomancer & Tendershoot Dryad - and then pair with Zulaport Cutthroat / Blood Artist (and maybe Grave Pact, or Vicious Shadows, if I wanted to be extra janky).

Without looking two closely at the current deck, two thoughts:
1) My bias is to run cards like Blasphemous Act over Lightning Bolt. They usually cost the same and the former clears the entire field.
2) I'm not sure if the little 2 body creatures (i.e., Young Wolf, Nest Invader) are "worth it" in a multiplayer setting. How scary is a 2/2?

Quote from cme »

2) I'm not sure if the little 2 body creatures (i.e., Young Wolf, Nest Invader) are "worth it" in a multiplayer setting. How scary is a 2/2?

Funny, I had the opposite reaction...when I saw he was doing a green deck to abuse Purphoros, God of the Forge, I was about to suggest that he run Nest invader and then I saw he already had 4 in his deck. It's a great card because you get 2 creatures for only G (you can sacrifice the spawn right away to have your colorless mana back) so you get to trigger the god's ability twice.

Remember that we're trying to keep the deck lean for smaller multiplayer games so that it can still compete in duels as well. Doing so will inevitably make the deck a little weaker for both settings, but unfortunately, I don't get to play Magic as much as I used to and when I do it's mostly with one or two other people. That being said, I can personally tell you that there are arguments for removing the derpier critters, like Young Wolf.

Pros:
A) Cheap, multiple bodies for various triggers
B) Able to provide some chip damage early in the game to make "going off" easier or let's us switch game plans to become a bad aggro deck
C) Provides early defense (My multiplayer meta isn't super fast or aggro, but I am nearly always the first target, especially with THIS deck)

Cons:
A) Doesn't do a lot without other pieces
B) Young Wolf especially makes Bloodbraid Elf worse
C) Outclassed by almost all other creatures (Most of the decks I play against in multiplayer games are midrange or control decks)

I like the idea of trying out Blasphemous Act, even just to slide out in between multiplayer and 1 v. 1 games.
What do you guys think about Skirk Prospector replacing Young Wolf? It's a single body, but let's us use tokens to ramp. If we go that rout, something like Goblin Rabblemaster could be okay.

Don’t think you run enough gobbo’s for the prospector.

Sorry I didn't read the OP more closely. Speaking of, I would definitely run all the Purphoroses (Purphorosi?) that you have. It's what the deck does, after all, so you want to see one in every game.

I know it's a different deck, but when you move on to your next deck, is Goblin tribal an option? That's a decent duel deck - and either the Krenko or Purphoros strategies scale well for multiplayer games. Manabase is dirt cheap...

Quote from cme »

Manabase is dirt cheap...

^ This. The only midway expensive cards for the manabase are Cavern of Souls, Gaea's Cradle and Aether Vial.

Yes, but not the Ports. Those were reprinted.

You posted a pretty good P+Gobbo deck back in the day, but I couldn't be bothered to sift through all 9500 posts to find it.

Edit: Oh, that wasn't so hard - here. Google is still a thing.

The goblin deck is definitely competitive and I could still use Fecundity. I'll definitely consider it. Thanks, guys.