Introduction Breaking Bad
As some of you may no doubt be aware, I’m a bit of a Goblin fiend. Squee, Goblin Nabob was one of my first cards as a kid, and I returned to the game just in time for Duel Decks: Elves vs Goblins and Lorwyn. Since then, I’ve adamantly followed all the great goblin legends with each release, like Wort, Boggart Auntie or Tuktuk the Explorer, but it wasn’t until the release of Krenko, Mob Boss that my goblin decks went from merely strong (in my playgroup at the time) to broken. When I transitioned from a kitchen table casual player to a league Commander player, it was only natural that I convert Krenko into one of my first Commander decks.
Krenko is a solid red Commander and one of the strongest token producers in the game, especially when you consider cost to value compared to other, similar commanders. He is a relatively simple deck to play, and so you'll rarely find yourself agonizing over what the next correct choice is. His token ability ensures a consistent exponential growth curve (I'll compare him to other Token commanders later). He is also advantageous as a budget commander, as there are only about five cards in my version of the deck that cost upwards of $20 (I’ll discuss budget options later). However, with all of that said, he's still a mono-red commander, and a token commander, with all of the drawbacks inherent with those kinds of decks.
"We won't sit like lazy gob-slugs waiting for death to come to us. We'll bring death, shiny sharp, to our enemies." - Krenko, mob boss
Krenko is goblin native of Ravnica first introduced in Magic 2013. He's Number Five on the Azorius Ten Most Wanted list. While he runs his own crime syndicate, he doesn't shy away from doing the dirty work himself and he takes on the occasional odd job from Mr. Taz. He's broken into the most secure buildings of many of the guilds and stolen from the Obzedat, blown up Azorius statues, set Selesnyan Saprolings on fire, helped push the Boros to overthrow Feather as guildmaster, killed one of the notorious Shattergang Brothers and managed to shank Gideon Jura despite his invulnerability field after being apprehended.
My Metagame
I play in a weekly points-based Magic league in which Krenko has been tested for over a year. The points system rewards crazy plays and occasionally punishes or rewards certain kinds of plays (multiple extra turns, MLD) to keep the meta from going stale. The players range from very casual, barely modified precons to highly tuned, very competitive decks. Krenko fairs well in both, and against the wide variety of decks I encounter.
You prefer to put out strong creatures and keep them there
You prefer to control the board and avoid creatures
You don't like regularly losing all your creatures
Strengths
Krenko has a number of strengths that recommend him:
He's Fast - Wins with Krenko will usually happen early in the game, and if you're playing right on turn five you'll already be looking at eight or more goblins on the field.
Strong early game - Because Krenko works so quickly, he tends to overpower decks that favor the mid or late game.
Resilient - Krenko can and will suffer setbacks, but Krenko's strength is that he can bounce back quickly.
Indifferent to Stax - Simply put, outside of Contamination, stax will make little difference to your game.
He's a Target - Once your playgroup faces a few Krenko wins, you'll start to become an early target in the game.
Runs Out of Steam - Krenko can survive the mid-game, but if you're forced to go into a long game Krenko will run out of steam.
Vulnerable to Control - Decks with a heavy focus on control, especially effects that shut down tokens or Krenko's activated ability, can be a major problem.
Vulnerable to Early Hate - This isn't usually a problem in Commander, but if your opponents can get out some really early game hate (like a Turn 1 Pithing Needle), Krenko will be in a much weaker position until you find an answer.
Alternate Commanders
There are quite a few solid token commanders and Krenko has access to only red spells, arguably commander's weakest colors. So why would you choose Krenko over those others? I had mentioned budget early, and that's certainly true - a Krenko deck can be a deadly threat with only a modest investment, but that isn't the only reason - most other token commanders are aiming for a mid-game win, which Krenko speeds past much earlier on.
Versus Kiki-Jiki Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker shares a LOT of similarities with Krenko. They're both goblins, they both come with the ability to create tokens. Kiki-Jiki even has haste built-in, for one extra mana. So why would you pick one over the other? The first reason, and the most important reason for a lot of people, is the cost. The commanders themselves have a pretty decent price difference, with Kiki-Jiki running for about $20, while Krenko costs around $5. Overall, the difference in cost between strong versions of both decks is about $100-$150. The second is politics, Kiki-Jiki has a much longer history in commander is frequently the cause of groans when revealed as your commander, while Krenko is much lesser known. The third is really just preference - Krenko is much more tribal-centric, and has the ability to pull off strong aggro wins, while Kiki-Jiki is primarily a combo centerpiece.
When playing Kiki-Jiki, remember that it has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses as your deck. Without any external help, they both go active on turn 5, so you should plan accordingly. Your best bet is to go on the offensive as soon as possible to prevent Kiki from building into a game-winning combo before you (in fact, this is generally going to be your strategy with any fast, combo or control oriented deck).
Versus Marath Marath, will of the Wild is the token control deck. Marath hits the board a turn sooner than Krenko if you hit all three colors early enough, and typical acceleration through mana rocks doesn't help Marath get out sooner. I used to run a Marath deck until I realized Marath and Prossh wanted all the same RG cards and cut it in favor of Prossh. In terms of token making ability, Marath is okay but leans more toward control rather than mass tokens... and Marath gets expensive, quickly - I often found Marath's abilities competing too much with my spells, making it a much more difficult deck to play than Krenko.
When competing against Marath, make sure not to cast Krenko the same turn the Marath player has left three mana open. Generally, however, a Marath player will be too busy setting up their board while Krenko continues to make you tokens. Marath simply can't make tokens fast enough to block attacks from a Krenko deck if you want to go that route, or can't keep you from using the tokens as fuel to combo out.
Versus Prossh Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is another strong token deck, and can also lean heavily into Stax. If you're looking to play more battlecruiser-style magic, Prossh is your dragon. Prossh's evasiveness also allows its deck to avoid the huge number of chump blockers Krenko has available. However, Prossh as a deck is much slower than Krenko (sensing a theme, here?) and even though Prossh can sometimes get out the same time as Krenko, you usually won't see Prossh himself come into play until Krenko has already made enough goblins to get past the kobolds.
When playing against a Prossh deck, there are many similar win strategies as Krenko, including using Prossh's tokens to deal huge damage with Impact Tremors or Purphoros, God of the Forge. Since Prossh can keep pretty close pace with Krenko, your best option is to avoid attacking Prossh altogether unless they get a stax engine going. Instead, keep your tokens as a reserve against Prossh going for commander damage until you're able to combo out - but be warned that that's exactly what the Prossh player will be going for, too.
Versus Nath Nath of the Gilt-Leaf is a great token stax commander. It can take some time to set up properly, but a well built Nath deck can effectively shut down the entire game. Contamination is a huge problem for Krenko, and while the discard isn't a huge deal after Krenko first comes out (as you'll usually be playing out your hand after turn 5), it can still hurt if you're holding back a win con.
When playing a Nath deck, you should always go aggro immediately. Usually I'd say hold back your tokens for the right move, but in this case your best solution is to just remove the Nath player immediately.
Strategy Overall Strategy
Krenko has, essentially, two methods of victory available to him. The first is the most obvious: attacking with a butt load of tokens and overwhelming your opponents defenses - but that's what everyone thinks you're going to do with him, and what kind of goblin commander would he be if he did what people expect? The second is using those tokens to fuel explosive win cons instead. And Krenko can do both of these things much earlier in the game than most people expect. Even with access to Doubling Season, most other token producers just can't match him. My version of Krenko certainly isn't the only way to build him. I used to run a version that had a lot more emphasis on attacking, but as I played I realized I preferred the combo aspect more. The one piece of advice I give for all Krenko decks is make sure to keep your CMC low - don't include anything over 4cmc unless it's going to seriously improve your board state or win you the game.
The most basic strategy for Krenko is to lay the groundwork for him to come into play on turn four. That means have a haste enabler in play, a goblin or two already in play to increase his initial token production, and maybe some combo piece. This deck uses several different (often complementary) mechanisms for combos: ETB triggers, death triggers, tapping creatures, sacrificing creatures, and counting the number of goblins you have in play. If you're playing against a control-oriented deck, you want to attack quickly and relentlessly. If you're playing virtually anything else, you want to hold back your goblins as fuel to combo out.
On turns 1 through 3 you prepare the battlefield for Krenko. This means that in your opening hand, you should have multiple cards you can play early on, and the lands to support them. Haste enablers are preferred, followed by combo pieces and then just anything you can curve into Krenko with. The ideal opening hand would give you something to play on each of these turns and the lands to cast them. You may also have some card filtering available to you, which you should use depending on your strategy (discard combo pieces if you're going aggro, discard aggro pieces if you're going combo).
On turn 4, you cast Krenko and, if you could manage a haste enabler, tap him just before the start of your next turn to double your goblins. Otherwise, tap him on turn 5 to double your goblins. If you get delayed (and it happens), it's okay. Many decks don't even really get started until this point, anyway, and it'll just be a tighter fight. Either way, once he's out, start looking to your combo pieces and win cons for subsequent turns, and building your board state if not.
A few things to remember:
If your opponent(s) is open, always attack early and often. Don't let your creatures go to waste.
Individual goblins don't matter, not even Krenko. There are plenty of back-up plans.
Surprisingly few goblins are needed to activate most combos.
You don't need to flat-out kill the opponent for a combo to be effective, so don't wait for the perfect moment.
You don't need to go infinite to deal massive damage.
Any creature that taps benefits from the equipment in this deck.
Combos
Krenko has a lot of combos available, so I'll go through them piece by piece here. First are the infinite combos. They're are a lot of permutations here, so I'm going to list the basic theories behind the various engines, and then give some examples.
The combo engines are based around Krenko, Mob Boss, using equipment that allows you to untap creatures with a tap ability. The equipment require either 3 or a death trigger to untap. The death trigger is the easiest, as any sac outlet will trigger it with the tokens you create. The mana is trickier, but cards like Skirk Prospector, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and Mana Echoes will allow you to produce it, supposing you're making enough tokens every time.
The net result is usually infinite mana, infinite tokens (and by extension, ETB triggers), and/or infinite death triggers. However, many of these are strong combos even if you don't have all the prerequisites to go infinite. For instance, just being able to untap Krenko once per turn means you can quadruple your current number of tokens every turn, instead of just doubling it - which often enough to defeat a player. Here are lists of the various combinations:
It would take forever to list every 'instant win' version of the above combos, so instead here are the cards you would use to take advantage of the various triggers.
Card Explanations Haste Enablers
We've got a lot of haste enablers in this deck, so choose carefully when you have more than one, and try to use them as effectively as possible while you curve into Krenko. You will always want to be activate Krenko the moment he hits the board, even if there are no other goblins.
Ashling's Prerogative is a great two drop. Almost everything that you want to have haste in this deck is considered even (remember, tokens are cmc 0, which for the purposes of this card is even). It also does a fantastic job punishing half your opponent's creatures. This is the card you desperately want every game (and the deck happens to be focused on even-numbered creatures, anyway).
Fervor, Goblin Chieftain, and Goblin Warchief are all great haste enablers for the turn before Krenko comes into play, but if you have a choice a haste enabler with a body is always better than Fervor/Hammer, if only because it adds to your goblin count.
Thousand-Year Elixir does double-duty in this deck. It gives Krenko functional haste for abilities. More importantly, it allows you to cheaply untap that creature, which allows for much more explosive turns. A single untap may not seem like much, but just activating Krenko twice on a turn can make the difference for a win.
Brightstone Ritual and Battle Hymn are specifically here to power your combos without going infinite. These two cards allow you to get explosive and use one of the various combo engines in this deck a few times without going infinite. Late game, you'll need them to get Krenko back out once he starts cost 6RR or more, to keep you going when this deck starts to run out of steam.
Dockside Extortionist is the late game ramp this deck needs, and will usually pay for itself five times over.
Myriad Landscape is a simple and slow ramp, but I like it because it serves just fine as a regular land unless you need it.
Tutors
The various tutors in this deck are fairly strong. Your primary target is almost always going to be Skirk Prospector, as it enables so many of the combos in this deck. After prospector, you're going to want to find yourself some of the utility creatures in this deck, depending on your board state. Don't forget Boggart Shenanigans is a 'Goblin Card' and is thus tutorable.
Goblin Recruiter is cheap and lets you mass tutor and stack the top of your library, but avoid the urge to do so. Instead, only choose two or three cards at most that complement what you've already got going.
Goblin Matron's target should be chosen carefully, since you can only get one out of it. Because you'll rarely play her curving into Krenko, she'll almost always be used to find combo piece that you can play the same turn you cast her.
Token Producers
Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin Worst case scenario,Krenko 2.0 creates three goblins for Krenko 1.0. With all the anthem effects for goblins here, Krenko 2.0 may be creating a whole lot more. Getting stronger with every swing makes repeat token generation likely.
Mogg War Marshal and Goblin Instigator aren't particularly strong token producers, but they're great early game plays leading into a turn 4 Krenko.
Goblin Warboss is a fixed Goblin Rabblemaster, with no risk to Goblins you'd rather hold back. Getting a hasty goblin every combat is VERY helpful, especially the turn before Krenko. Remember, you can activate all sorts of abilities before that poor goblin token marches off to war.
Siege-Gang Commander is a great card regardless of format, but its primarily here as a token produce, as creating four bodies in one go is obviously powerful. The damage ability is also useful to get rid of utility creatures. In a pinch, its also your finisher when you've got infinite R mana and tokens.
Sacrifice Outlets
These free outlets are important, as they feed the death triggers of cards like Boggart Shenanigans, Pashalik Mons, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Thornbite Staff. They'll also net you infinite versions of their effects when you have infinite tokens, but their effects are still pretty powerful even when you've got a limited supply of creatures to sacrifice.
Dark-Dweller Oracle isn't a free outlet, but it more than makes up for it in, if not card advantage, at least letting you sift to what you need. It's a centerpiece to any infinite combo that makes mana.
Goblin Bombardment is fabulous. Combined with a Goblin Sharpshooter and Krenko, you generally won't need to go infinite to deal serious damage, but it's also the easiest win con in the deck once you have an infinite token engine going.
Goblin Trashmaster is strong artifact removal with an anthem stapled on top.
Goblin Chirurgeon gives you some protection, sacrifice a goblin token to protect the likes of Krenko - or any other important goblin - from the inevitable wraths coming your way. If you find yourself up against decks with a lot of wraths or removal, Chirurgeon is the card that's going to keep you alive.
Goblin Sledder/Mogg Raider don't seem very impressive at first, but you can never have enough sac outlets in a deck like this. Sledder and Raider allow you to perform useful combat tricks, sacrificing your chump blockers to kill an enemy creature, or sacrificing all your blocked attackers to pump up a creature that gets through.
ETB Triggers Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge are some of the scariest cards in any token deck, and for good reason. With Purphoros (or Purphoros Jr.) on the board, you can do a lot of added damage just by playing your deck normally. If you have a chance to get either one onto the field, do it ASAP.
Death Triggers
Boggart Shenanigans and Pashalik Mons are useful because this deck has such a high token turnover rate that you'll often see one of these on the board doing 10 or more damage per game, minimum. It's nowhere near Purphoros or Tremors in terms of value, but combined with an infinite death trigger combo it'll finish the game for you.
Goblin Sharpshooter works well with the rest of this deck by itself, but a good sac outlet (like Goblin Bombardment) can mean a ton of damage output from this little guy. Like Boggart Shenanigans, an infinite death trigger combo means this card wins you the game, but otherwise it provides a lot of value and has the added bonus of counting as a goblin for Krenko's ability. It's pretty brutal in that it can kill everything on the board with one toughness. It's more useful than Boggart Shenanigans but also more fragile.
Thornbite Staff is critical to this deck, as it's the easiest means to activate several infinite combos. However, even without an infinite combo it's an extremely useful card, especially when combined with sac outlets. It really maximizes the values of any creature in the deck that taps as an activated ability (Krenko, Mob Boss, Moggcatchter, Rummaging Goblin, Goblin Sharpshooter, or on any creature when Kyren Negotiations is on the battlefield).
Utility
Arcane Lighthouse - For those annoying to hit creatures and opponents.
Blood Moon slows down your opponent's decks (especially multi-color decks) by turning all their non-basic lands into mountains. It also basically turns off their utility lands. In essence, it significantly slows down craftier decks (especially combo decks) that use more than one color or ramp through cards like Gaea's Cradle or Cabal Coffers. With Goblin King, it also turns on your creatures' Mountainwalk.
Tectonic Reformation - Drawing a land after turn four has serious diminishing returns in this deck, and this card helps you replace it with something you want more.
Buried Ruin is here to recover your equipment or Rings of Brighthearth. Basically just another layer of protecting to ensure you have what you need.
Cavern of Souls is, by far, the most expensive card in the deck... but it also happens to be one of the most useful. It ensures that Krenko will always make it to the battlefield rather than be countered.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser is great card advantage OR a great way to force your way out of stalemates and keep the pressure on.
Haunted Fengraf has a marginal advantage due to it not letting you select the creature you're bringing back, but ultimately it doesn't matter. Almost any of the creatures in this deck are worth bringing back.
Homeward Path is to protect yourself against mass creature theft. Having your Krenko stolen is a painful experience, and if you don't have a sacrifice outlet to kill him first, you can always use this to get your creatures back.
Strip Mine is here to slow down your opponent's game. This deck will rarely need more than six lands in play, but most decks will need a lot more. You can buy yourself a turn or take out a utility land.
Underworld Breach is RECURSION IN RED. Bring back any of your combo pieces! Holy heck! I can't understate how much this card will change the game for you after a few bad turns.
Damage Dealers
I spoke about Goblin Sharpshooter already in the death trigger section, so I'm not including it here.
Arms Dealer gets through cards like Linvala and many of your opponent's utility creatures.
Kyren Negotiations seems relatively weak at first glance, but rememeber: cards with summoning sickness can still be tapped by it to pay for damage. At it's worst, it means every untapped creature you control deals damage to a player directly at the end of every turn regardless of whether or not it has summoning sickness. Why would you risk your creatures attacking when you can just tap them right before the start of your turn and deal the same damage directly? It allows you to keep a bunch of blockers available and get to damage an opponent like you're attacking them, too. Combined with a sac outlet, it allows you to get some extra value out of a creature before it dies.
Throne of the God-Pharaoh is insane in this deck, as it effectively doubles your successful combat damage by having every tapped creature deal damage again. And that's only against one opponent. It's incredibly strong in this deck, especially paired with the various tapping effects.
Artifacts and Equipment
I've already talked quite a bit about Thornbite Staff, so I'm not going to repeat it here, except to say it's by far the most valuable equipment in the deck. Umbral Mantle, and Staff of Domination are adequate back-ups but require more cards to go infinite. Lightning Greaves' and Swiftfoot Boots' purposes are obvious: to give protection and give your important creatures haste.
Winning the Game
So it's after turn 4 and you don't magically have an infinite combo to immediately win you the game. Surprise! It happens, and you should never rely on them or not make good plays in the hopes of getting one. So then, without that overwhelming force... how do we win?
It's easy! As I've mentioned before, you either go aggro and start attacking, or you attempt to combo out a win. If you choose to attack... I really don't have to explain turning your creatures sideways, do I? If you've read this far, you know you like to swarm your opponents with goblin tokens. My only recommendation is that if it puts you over the edge, don't be afraid to sacrifice your tokens to a spell for victory.
If you're going for the combo win, follow this rule: Add, Tap, Count, thenSac & Die. What does this mean? Well, consider the following:
This list shows you why you would want to make plays following a certain order. Add, meaning what can you add to the situation first? Activating Krenko will double the number of goblins you have in play, and adding goblins (or lands in the case of Valakut) will almost always be your first step. Tap is next, meaning use abilities that tap your creatures and nothing else. This is where you'd tap everyone to Kyren Negotiations, bring everyone down to very low life with Skirk Fire Marshal, or deal massive damage to a single player with Burn at the Stake. Then Count, or play things that count your total number of goblins or creatures before you do anything else with them. This should almost always be your second step, and Ritual or Hymn may just get you a kill through Comet Storm, or could fuel the spells that sac your way to victory. Finally, Sac only after you've used up your creatures. And when they Die, make use of the death triggers to eke out that last bit of damage. Using this method, even with only a few goblins on the battlefield, you can still deal massive amounts of damage.
Budget Substitutions
Krenko is relatively inexpensive, but I do have some pricier cards in this list. Here are the most expensive cards, and a budget option to replace them with if you don't want to make the investment. I'm listing cards $10 and above here:
Blood Moon: I've been in and out with this card, but at this point the deck is so tuned that I hate having anything that doesn't directly synergize with the overall strategy. Blood Moon is a valid choice in some decks and turns on Mountainwalk with Goblin King, but it's also the card most likely to NOT be in a version of this deck because of the price, and the face that it makes you an instant target.
Warren Instigator & Goblin Lackey: Instigator and Lackey are strong cards most of the time, but they're both typically too late in the game to provide much value - either my hand is empty of Goblins or there is just no way they're doing combat damage.
Goblin Rabblemaster: This card is tempting at first, but ultimately this Krenko deck isn't really about attacking. If you're attacking, you should be either (A) winning the game or (b) in the first few turns, before anyone else has played creatures.
Chancellor of the Forge: This is another card that is tempting at first. However, this Krenko deck is pretty lean and if I'm paying more than 4 cmc for something, it needs to be winning me the game. The likelihood that I'd need this card, rather than either recasting Krenko or one of my finishers, is incredibly low. He was useful before the tuck rule changed, but since I can't really lose Krenko now, there isn't much point to him in this deck.
Barrage of Expendables: This was in an earlier version of this deck, but I found I rarely got to activate it or have it do what I needed it to. Creature Sacrifice needs to be (mostly) free in this deck)
Outpost Siege: While this seemed like a nice second Boggart Shenanigans, that extra mana makes a big difference in this deck, and there just wasn't enough to justify its place.
Illusionist's Bracers: This card is really tempting to work with Krenko, but unlike the other equipment in this deck it doesn't provide the value for the cost.
Various Aggro Cards: I used to run a much more attack-heavy package, more anthems, Legion Loyalist, Goblin Bushwhacker, Goblin Wardriver, Hellrider, In the Web of War, Ogre Battledriver, Goblin King, etc. The challenge was that it was much easier for my opponents to shut down that strategy through various means (see Problem Cards below), and moving to a more combo-oriented package leaves attacking as an option but gives me more flexibility.
Mana Crypt: If you've got the budget for it, it's not a bad choice, but I've found I'm rarely hurting for more colorless mana. It's a great ramp out of the gate, but it has almost no value after turn 4. The low CMC overall of this deck also makes mana rocks not particularly effective.
Wheel of Fortune: Slate of Ancestry ends up being a repeatable Wheel in this deck, frequently for a lot more value. Wheel could definitely be an asset in this deck, but Your Mileage May Vary. Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the price. If you've already got one, try it.
Moggcatcher is on the pricier side and is not a goblin, so it can't be tutored for by matron or recruiter. However, the ability to tutor every turn and put a goblin right into play can't be ignored. In general, catcher will be used to find the higher cost goblins (Siege-Gang) for value, whereas you'll generally shy away from that with recuriter and matron. I just didn't have much luck with it.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Zealous Conscripts, Splinter Twin, and Combat Celebrant are all strong cards, but I felt like the deck was getting diluted trying to pull off combos focused exclusively around these four instead of focusing on the core mechanics. See the cut combos section below for the potential of these cards. They're perfectly legitimate, if you want to include them in your own version.
Hordeling Outburst was just outclassed by Krenko 2.0, but if you're looking for a budget alternative, this card is a good slot-in.
Cut Combos
Kiki-Jiki Combos Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Lightning Crafter + any sac outlet = Infinite ETB Triggers, Infinite Death Triggers, & Infinite Damage
This combo use Kiki-Jiki's ability to copy Lightning Crafter. The copy champions Kiki-Jiki and is then sacrificed to any sac outlet. Kiki-Jiki returns to the battlefield untapped, and process is repeated. If you have a haste enabler, the copies can tap to deal damage before being sacrificed.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Thornbite Staff + any other creature + any sac outlet = Infinite ETB Triggers & Death Triggers
This combo uses a Thorbite Staff equipped Kiki-Jiki's ability to copy any creature, get the value one whatever creature it is, and then sacrifice it to any sac outlet, which untaps Kiki-Jiki to repeat the process.
Splinter Twin Combos Goblin Sharpshooter Combo
This combo uses the Twin's duplication ability to create a copy of Goblin Sharpshooper, and then uses a sacrifice outlet to create infinite ETB & Death triggers. Splinter Twin + Goblin Sharpshooter + Any Sac Outlet = Infinite Death & ETB Triggers
Ghostly Prison/Propaganda/Etc: These cards are a lot more effective on Krenko builds that win primarily through combat. For this deck, they're not really a problem, since attacking is secondary. I'm giving away a bit of a trade secret here by mentioning this, but when people are worried about a horde of goblins turning sideways and prepare to deal with THAT, they're not prepared for you to deal lethal damage with just a handful of goblins through a combo.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale/Magus of the Tabernacle: While this can hurt a bit, this deck tends to be more explosive and not a static build up. By the time you've got enough tokens for them to matter, you've generally won anyway.
Pithing Needle/Torpor Orb: Artifacts aren't much of a concern, as red can deal with those pretty easily. Torpor Orb is a pretty major one as it shuts down some of the better combos in this deck, but not all. I'm still judging the value of adding Shattering Spree, but it couldn't hurt.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Unless this is some bizarre ramp into Elesh Norn deck, I'm not really afraid of her. I will generally have won long before an Elesh Norn makes it onto the field, and even if I haven't, she can't kill Krenko and I can still get death triggers off the tokens (unless I get Coat of Arms into play, at which point her effect is largely countered). Worst case, I can deal with her the same way I'd deal with Linvala.
Contamination/Stax: In general Stax is just provokes an 'lol ok' response when playing this deck. Contamination is a problem, but in general for strong stax generals like Nath, they're not going to be playing contamination when it would matter against Krenko because they need to set up their side of the board first.
I'd changed this deck around a fair amount in late 2015, but unfortunately didn't keep track too well. Future change will be documented. 01/24/16: - Street Spasm, Illusionist's Bracers, Burnished Hart, + Goblin Replica, Mogg Infestation, Goblin Piledriver
These changes were made to remove some mana intensive cards that were ultimately unnecessary. Hart and Bracers typically sat on the field once cast, and a deck like this rarely needs a board sweep like with street spasm. Replica is also mana intensive, but it can be tutored to help deal with the dreaded Torpor Orb. Piledriver has evasion against one of the most common colors in commander and takes advantage of the power this token deck can provide. Infestation is a great card for utility, when cast on yourself it simultaneously gives you death triggers on every creature you control, and doubling that in ETB triggers... and because it's a 'destroy' effect you can still protect Krenko or other valuable creatures with chirurgeon. 04/17/16: - Slate of Ancestry, Treasonous Ogre, Goblin Burrows, Flamekin Village, Mass Hysteria, Eldrazi Monument, Temple of the False God, + Blood Moon, Mogg Raider, Haunted Fengraf, Buried Ruin, Hammer of Purphoros, Rings of Brighthearth, Sol Ring
These changes were made to further tighten up the deck with what is really necessary. I had a lot of utility lands in here that I never ended up using (Burrows, Village) that have been replaced with lands that are generally more helpful (Fengraf, Ruin). Temple tends to be a dead card almost every time I play it, and because this deck relies on the first few turns so much I can't really have anything that throws off the curve. It's been replaced by Sol Ring, which has proven to be more helpful in general. Mass Hysteria is just a feel-bad card, and I always hesitate to play it when I would want to (namely, turn 1) because I don't know how much it'll help my opponent. It's been replaced by Hammer of Purphoros. Eldrazi Monument ended up always being too expensive for an effect that doesn't win me the game, so it's out too. The real MVP additions here are Rings of Brighthearth, which unlike Illusionist's bracers curve well with Krenko and add an enormous effect (as well as working nicely with other abilties), and Mogg Raider which acts as a second Goblin Sledder. 06/08/16: - Wild Guess, + Gamble Gamble's price dropped like a rock with it's newer (and sexier) reprinting. Swapping in for Wild Guess because Tormenting Voice's cost is occasionally easier to cast (when my non-basics are in play). This card is definitely an improvement, and worth the random discard risk to bring a win con to my hand T1. 08/18/16:In:Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Goblin King, Staff of DominationOut: Price of Glory, Goblin Lackey, Goblin Piledriver, Sword of the Paruns Reasoning: It was becoming clear that Krenko (and a few other goblins) needed more spot removal protection than they were getting. While the deck could recover from losing certain key elements, having that extra bit of haste and protection has come in handy on a couple occasions already. Piledriver is out because it's typically DOA, the few times it has come through or been a good distraction isn't enough to justify the slot. Replaced with Goblin King, which is a nice Lord and with Blood Moon makes an aggro strategy essentially unstoppable. Price of Glory just made me a target. Sword of the Paruns has been upgraded to Staff of Domination. For the first untap, Sword costs 3 more than Staff. The extra cost for using staff is offset by the infinite mana strategies and the ability to untap multiple creatures. Goblin Lackey just didn't provide enough to be worth more than a vanilla 1/1 for R. 12/22/16In:Grenzo, Havoc RaiserOut:Tormenting Voice Reasoning: Sorry for the late update on this one. Tutorable, repeatable card advantage over Voice's marginal, one-off advantage was too much to pass up, especially at the same CMC. 04/22/17In:Paradox Engine, Throne of the God-PharaohOut:Goblin Replica, Godo, Bandit Warlord Reasoning: With Paradox Engine and Throne, among other recent edition, equipment-based combos are much, much less of a priority in this deck, which makes have a six mana card that almost always sits dead in my hand seem like a waste. Goblin Replica was occasionally useful as a tutor, but my meta just doesn't have the artifact that require that much hate. Paradox Engine allows me a free untap almost every turn (occasionally on an opponent's turn), which is really handy. Throne of the God-Pharaoh is a vicious finisher, perhaps one of the most powerful in this deck, where it'll frequently hit for 5-10 per opponent at the end of each turn, if I don't kill them outright. 05/26/17In:Combat CelebrantOut:Moggcatcher Reasoning: Combat Celebrant ups the value of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Splinter Twin, creating an infinite number of creatures, but also untapping everything else (like Krenko, Mob Boss). This doubles the potential of setting off a combo with one of them, and ultimately will be more powerful than the Zealous Conscripts version most of the time. The beauty here is that only the original Combat Celebrant needs to do more than attack for it to work with Twin, and with Kiki-Jiki the original card never needs risk itself in combat. The copies can be sacrificed to Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar before even moving to the declare blockers, and helps get around any Propaganda-type shenanigans that would shut this combo down. I like it a lot, definitely an auto-include, because it also allows for an aggro victory through infinite attack phases with geometrically increasing goblin tokens if Krenko is out. Moggcatcher is out because it rarely had value and often became a dead card (because I'd rather play a goblin for Krenko and it took a couple turns to have an impact). 09/01/17In:Kindred ChargeOut:Mogg Infestation Reasoning: Kindred Charge gives you an explosive finish without also killing all your unique goblins. It effectively accomplishes the same thing as Mogg Infestation without the downside. 11/11/17In:Vanquisher's BannerOut:Obelisk of Urd
This was a hard decision to make, but the Banner over the Obelisk really helps the deck's long game by ensuring card advantage and keeping my hand more full later in the game. 01/15/18In:The Immortal SunOut:Armillary Sphere
Both these cards fill a similar role in this deck: namely to keep it going in the long game. The added card draw is a big bonus for this deck, and adding in making things slightly cheaper (which can make a big difference in this deck) and the anthem effect, it felt like an appropriate swap. 07/18/18In:Cheering Fanatic, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Goblin Instigator, Goblin Trashmaster, Helm of the Host Out:Combat Celebrant, Izzet Chemister, Zealous Conscripts, Splinter Twin, The Immortal Sun 11/06/18In:Legion Warboss, Massive Raid, Hordeling Outburst Out:Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Hammer of Purphoros, Helm of the Host 05/07/19IN:Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin OUT:Hordeling Outburst
Finding a place to slot Krenko 2.0 in was a challenge, I'll admit. There are so few good 2 drops that I didn't want to replace one of them, and almost every card of 4cmc or higher wasn't something I could easily cut, which left replacing another 3 drop. In the end I picked Hordeling Outburst for a number of reasons. The sorcery is handy, but it's still only a sorcery, and an actual tutorable goblin was preferable to me. Add to that Krenko 2.0 creating three goblins in the worst case (and frequently MANY more), it was a pretty easy swap. 06/23/19IN:Pashalik Mons, Tectonic Reformation OUT:Blood Moon, Cheering Fanatic 08/09/19IN:Blood Moon OUT:Paradox Engine
Banlist update. Paradox Engine is out, so I swapped back in the most useful of my recent cuts, Blood Moon. 09/08/19In:Dockside Extortionist - This card is tutorable in this deck and way more fun. Better ramp for the late game come back, which this deck needs more than an occasional early start. Out:Sol Ring - It's just such a boring card, and is really only here for an occasional Turn 2 Krenko. 10/07/19In:Castle Embereth - Easy replacement. Out:Mountain - It's just a mountain. Embereth is better every turn but the first. 01/28/19In:Arms Dealer, Underworld Breach Out:Idol of Oblivion, Kindred Charge
Who is this Goblin Fiend?
Hi, my name is Jay13x, and I'm bad at magic. I've been playing magic on and off since 1998, and I've grown incrementally better at it in all that time. I have always loved goblin decks and have had one in one form or another for years. In 1999, I was a young Magic players with only a starter set and a few Sixth Edition packs to my name. One day, at the mall with my parents, we happened upon a game store… back when game stores could afford mall rent. At the store, I begged my parents to buy me a pack of cards, which ended up being Mercadian Masques. I opened the pack, and inside was Squee, Goblin Nabob. I was blown away! A card that when it died, I could return it to my hand every turn? I’d gotten my first taste of Goblins.
Eight years later, I’m in college and working as a graphic designer. I hadn’t played magic since before high school. My coworker, a guy named Chris, mentions he’s going to a Magic tournament that weekend. “Seriously?” I ask, “Magic is still a thing?”. Intrigued, I convince a friend to come with me, and we both go to what ended up being a pre-release tournament for Future Sight. We’re hooked. When I see that my LGS has a copy of Elves vs Goblins, I immediately snatch it up and get to work on my goblin deck. Then Lorwyn is released, and it’s a trove of Goblin cards, further fueling my obsession. For years, I have a goblin deck - sometimes more than one - that I play regularly with friends. My goblins became feared far and wide. When Krenko is released, my friends refuse to play my goblin deck without warning.
My playgroup tried the Commander Precons and decided we didn't like them... until I moved away just a couple years ago. A friend (from this site, no less), introduces me to Commander, and my first choice for an original deck is obvious: Krenko. My first build was terrible. I won't bore you with the details, but I didn't understand Commander yet and years of playing with a small playgroup hadn't prepared me yet for what was to come. I found Dorino's primer here to get me started in revamping Krenko into something more useful, and along with a fellow Krenko player at my new LGS, Don Krenko was born.
Have you tried warren instigator ? it can get up to 2 goblins on the field at once.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
#TeamChimneyImpForMythic
I am trying to get better at making decks. I have had trouble creating more competitive decks as I only really build with the cards I have. I dont have that many value cards, in function or expense. I (almost) never play at FNM type events so its not like im playing against $2k decks. If I do usally play at one, Its a draft or limited game. Any advice on building decks is greatly supported! DMs are appreciated.
Thank you!
To put it more simply, it's like saying, "I can prove Jesus is real and loves you. See? Here's my Hispanic friend Jesus. He's had a crush on you for a long time. Tell em' Jesus."
Here's a joke! Whats the internal temperature of a Taun-Taun?
Have you tried warren instigator ? it can get up to 2 goblins on the field at once.
This is actually an old version of my list, I really need to get around to updating it. In my casual decks I'm all about Warren Instigator, but in this deck it's not all that useful.
Why? Because I'll never have goblins sitting in my hand for Warren Instigator to get into play, and by turn 3 usually everyone will have some sort of blocker and his value goes down astronomically.
My revised deck list does include a Goblin Lackey, but he's cannon fodder unless played turn one. Basically, Lackey is around to help ensure I've got a turn one play, while I already have plenty of turn two plays.
Edit: In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and update the main list now.
That's a fair point, but I don't think it's as great a concern as you think. In general, I've found that other player will use their boardwipes against me, and I've never encountered a situation outside of a Krenko mirror match where Krenko needed a board wipe. This is the deck board wipes were built to hate. I should note: this is NOT a battlecruiser magic deck. It's designed to quickly overwhelm the opponent early in the game. I've managed to last quite a while against a lot of control decks if for some reason I don't have a good early start, but Krenko is general isn't going to be strong against control regardless, unless you can get in before the opposing board state is set up.
Besides which, the disk would destroy the enchantments that are important to this deck, Vault would deny me death triggers, and Karn/Ugin/Spine/Dust are all too expensive. The point of this deck is to be fast, and to up the average CMC with a bunch of cards like that would require ALSO finding slots for mana rocks, which ultimately dilutes the deck to the point where it's primary feature: speed, is less reliable. This is a commander deck that only needs four lands to win. If I would play any wipes, I would play Blasphemous Act because I could usually case it for just R, it would still give me death triggers, and it would deal with every creature threat I'd need it to. If I wanted more removal, I'd lean more towards Unstable Obelisk, because it would still curve nicely with Krenko while giving me the option of dealing with problem cards.
Ghostly Prison/Propaganda/Etc: These aren't a problem at all. This deck revolves around goblins as a resource. Actually attacking with Goblins is secondary. I'm giving away a bit of a trade secret here by mentioning this, but when people are worried about a horde of goblins turning sideways and prepare to deal with THAT, they're not prepared for you to deal lethal damage with just a handful of goblins by counting, tapping and saccing the same creatures to fuel massive damage.
Pithing Needle/Torpor Orb: Artifacts aren't much of a concern, as red can deal with those pretty easily. Torpor Orb is a pretty major one as it shuts down some of the better combos in this deck, but not all. Pithing Needle is significantly less of a concern because I can tutor for the likes of Goblin Replica. I'm still judging the value of adding Shattering Spree, but it couldn't hurt.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Unless this is some bizarre ramp into Elesh Norn deck, I'm not really afraid of her. I will generally have won long before an Elesh Norn makes it onto the field, and even if I haven't, she can't kill Krenko and I can still get death triggers off the tokens (unless I get Obelisk of Urd or Coat of Arms into play, at which point her effect is largely countered). Worst case, I can deal with her the same was I'd deal with Linvala.
Contamination/Stax: In general Stax is just provokes an 'lol ok' response when playing this deck. Contamination is a problem, but in general for strong stax generals like Nath, they're not going to be playing contamination when it would matter against Krenko because they need to set up their side of the board first.
Thank you for your answer. That's very good.
I think krenko, mob boss is not always quick in the early game. With gauntlet of power or gauntlet of might it's easier to cast Karn/Ugin/Spine/Dust.
My méta is very control. I don't want to play combo with krenko, mob boss. I try to build a deck that will be competitive and not necessary always quick. Karn liberatedis very good against the deck reanimator.
I look at the advantage with a quick deck or midrange.
Thank you for your answer. That's very good.
I think krenko, mob boss is not always quick in the early game. With gauntlet of power or gauntlet of might it's easier to cast Karn/Ugin/Spine/Dust.
My méta is very control. I don't want to play combo with krenko, mob boss. I try to build a deck that will be competitive and not necessary always quick. Karn liberatedis very good against the deck reanimator.
I look at the advantage with a quick deck or midrange.
Admittedly Krenko is weak against control, and budget problems prevent me from cards like Gauntlet of Might that would be strong in this deck.
I might reconsider Gauntlet of Power, but the problem there is that it accelerates my opponents at a time when I'd rather they not have the extra mana. I'll playtest with it some more and see.
I see you play price of glory. Is it good ? I think I add in my deck ...
If you're worried about control, absolutely. Great punisher, but it'll draw hate pretty quickly. What it's useful for is ensuring a much needed card gets through the turn you cast it or for slowing down the control decks until they have a response.
Blood Moon is also recommended, I just haven't purchased one yet.
Treasonous Ogre is it good in this deck ?
Is it change de game ? Our casting coast is not very high ?
It's really useful to put you over the edge to cast things. It can pay for itself as soon as you cast it, and in Commander when you've got 40 life available you can use it to pay for a lot, especially after Krenko has been to the command zone a few times.
Great "Primer" so far. The card explanation tab is done really well and is exactly what I was looking for.
Your deck is almost a budget brew, if you ignore the Cavern of Souls it costs me around 120 Euro - pretty decent for a well rounded and synergistic deck.
And while the Cavern of Souls THE tribal staple, it might not always be necessary for kitchen table commander, but highly recommended.
Most Krenko decks I have seen previously were focused on the attacking part and it seemed that most creators haven't given it too much thought - putting in any anthem they can find and not caring about CMC and ramp.
When you playtest those decks almost anything is a bad draw.
Since I learnt playing magic with a goblin deck, I started to understand very early that brute force and single creatures aren't always everything. Thanks for this, I am thinking of just buying this list completely and get going.
Hey, I'm glad you like it! I can't take all the credit, it was heavily influenced by Dorino's primer before he retired it.
Phyrexian Altar and Kiki-Jiki are on the pricier side as well, but they're really worth it.
The only other card that costs upwards of $10 is Strip Mine, which isn't necessary but is helpful against those REALLY pricey decks with a lot of utility lands.
Great "Primer" so far. The card explanation tab is done really well and is exactly what I was looking for.
Your deck is almost a budget brew, if you ignore the Cavern of Souls it costs me around 120 Euro - pretty decent for a well rounded and synergistic deck.
And while the Cavern of Souls THE tribal staple, it might not always be necessary for kitchen table commander, but highly recommended.
Most Krenko decks I have seen previously were focused on the attacking part and it seemed that most creators haven't given it too much thought - putting in any anthem they can find and not caring about CMC and ramp.
When you playtest those decks almost anything is a bad draw.
Since I learnt playing magic with a goblin deck, I started to understand very early that brute force and single creatures aren't always everything. Thanks for this, I am thinking of just buying this list completely and get going.
I should note, I've gotten actual primer status, and I have a TON more information available now.
Great! More stuff to read.
What are your thoughts on Tuktuk Scrapper over Goblin Replica?
The ability cost of Replica is way too high, and I don't see the benefit.
You put it in because it's tutorable if you need it? In that particular case Scrapper is way better.
AND if you're tutoring Scrapper with Moggcatcher, you get reduced mana cost. #value
Well, there are a few reasons, but I should probably go ahead and include it in the 'notable exclusions' section.
The first is that Tuktuk Scrapper doesn't curve into Krenko, while Goblin Replica does (remember, this deck is based around the Turn 4 Krenko). The difference between three and four cmc in this deck is pretty large. Scrapper is much more useful in a mid or late game where Krenko is going to be much weaker. With Replica, I can use the activated ability during an opponent's turn if I need to while Scrapper is more limited. Replica also has the added benefit of being cast-able around an Iona, Shield of Emeria or similar effects. Compared to say, Unstable Obelisk, which is a good choice in most red decks, I think Replica acquits itself well.
The real reason, though, and the most important, is that Replica also avoids Torpor Orb, which is one of the biggest annoyances to the deck (and no one is going to waste a Pithing Needle on Replica). There are a limited number of artifacts this deck wants to deal with, and Scrapper just can't kill one of the most common ones.
That said, it's entirely up to you. Scrapper is a perfectly legitimate choice to run, and is really powerful against decks that run higher CMC artifacts.
I would love a destroy artifact goblin at two mana, but the problem with Tin Street Hooligan is that its illegal in Krenko due to the green mana symbol. If it was in reminder text, it'd be okay, but its color identity is RG.
Now that I think about it, I should look into Goblin Tinkerer and see how useful it is.
Woah, that's a hell of a first opening hand for your Krenko deck! After that Turn 1 game, your friends were clued in to your danger, haha. Let me do the math there.
Turn 2: 1 Damage
Turn 3: Did you attack?
Turn 4: You get 4 Damage, and YOU get four Damage. EVERYBODY GETS 4 DAMAGE.
Turn 5: 24 damage to everyone
Turn 6: lol gg. Hope you all could gain 50 life before this turn.
It sounds like overall the deck worked out for you. Having the ability to be combat oriented if you want to really helps when you're playing decks that want to shut down your combos.
As for Skirk Fire Marshal: He's an amazingly useful card that I just didn't understand for the longest time. You can use his ability the turn you play him, regardless of haste (you just can't tap him to his own ability if you don't have it). You can use him in a couple different ways, you can whittle down your opponent's life to make them suddenly vulnerable to an attack phase, or you can use him as a finisher after getting your opponent's life total down just far enough (Say you're both at 21, you deal 1 damage to your opponent and then activate Fire Marshal's ability twice - A wins a win!).
As for the untapping equipment, yes! Don't put any combo piece you can't make quick use of on the board, lol. Although it really depends, if it's likely that you'll use it the next turn or something, go ahead and play it.
It sounds like your only real problems were with experience. Don't be afraid of mulligans, even if you have to take yourself down a few cards. Don't be afraid to lose important-seeming cards if it makes it appear you're in a weaker position. You'll get the hang of what the worthwhile trade-offs are. Glad you seem to be enjoying the deck Not bad for a deck that cost you probably a quarter or less of the decks you played against!
Hammer of Purphoros is another haste enabler. Pretty much an upgrade over Fervor, though it is vulnerable to artifact removal.
Urabrask the Hidden is pretty spendy at 3RR but the effect is correspondingly more powerful. It would make sense to prioritize cheap haste effects in a combo deck, though.
Speaking of basics, you could possibly cut a few without hurting your consistency. Haunted Fengraf and Buried Ruin help to squeeze a little more value out of your lands, and they come into play untapped.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
You would never guess, at the terrifying sight of the man, that Hunding was as charming a companion as one could wish for.
Hammer of Purphoros is another haste enabler. Pretty much an upgrade over Fervor, though it is vulnerable to artifact removal.
Urabrask the Hidden is pretty spendy at 3RR but the effect is correspondingly more powerful. It would make sense to prioritize cheap haste effects in a combo deck, though.
Speaking of basics, you could possibly cut a few without hurting your consistency. Haunted Fengraf and Buried Ruin help to squeeze a little more value out of your lands, and they come into play untapped.
Great suggestions. Hammer is just in my Daretti deck, and I didn't have another - plus I'll never activate the second ability in this deck, since I tend to always be low on Mana.
Rings of Brighthearth is similar to Illusionists Bracers, in that Krenko doesn't really need it much. I'll pick up a second copy next time I get some more cards, and see if I like it. It might be useful to improve Krenko's mid to late game, with the drawback that it makes you an immediate target.
Scrying sheets sounds great, but I'm not sure I want to drop over $40 on Snow-Covered Mountains :/
I've been looking to swap out Goblin Burrows, which has never added much for me, and I think you're right that Haunted Fengraf/Buried Ruin is the way to go, and swap in the other for a mountain.
What cards would you take out in order to fit in Gamble and Blood Moon?
Do you think Magus of the Moon and Wheel of Fortune deserved a slot in the deck?
Tormenting Voice and Wild Guess are easily replaced by Gamble and Wheel of Fortune. They're all on-curve, and Gamble and Wheel of Fortune are better effects. Gamble especially, because that's a great turn 1 play (you have almost a full hand to lower the risk of discarding the card you tutored for). You could also take out Slate of Ancestry, since you're generally only going to use it once a game and it's expensive compared to everything else, it's really only there to help with the late game. Treasonous Ogre and Eldrazi Monument only have marginal benefits and are off curve (Monument is good, but this deck doesn't really need evasion except against other fast token producing decks), so they're both good candidates for swapping in Blood Moon.
Magus of the Moon isn't really worth it, since it's so easy to remove and doesn't help with Krenko.
I should note, I'm also playing around with swapping in Mogg Raider as a redundant Goblin Sledder, to get me more on-curve goblin drops.
In general terms, you don't want to swap out anything that is an on-curve goblin for Krenko or part of a combo. Everything else is fair game.
This is a pretty fun deck. Its my first foray into mono-red. I added snow lands + extraplanar lense and gamble. I didn't add Moggcatcher yet since its strangely expensive on MTGO vs Paper (come on EMA reprint!). Looking forward to playing some more. Thanks for the good work so far!
Piledriver is fine to replace. I've got an infant at home, so I haven't gotten to playtest much since I added him in - which is why I don't really talk about him in the primer.
Honestly, he's probably going to be swapped with Mogg Raider. Raider acts as a second Sledder, is a good one-drop goblin and another sac outlet.
My one note is to be careful when swapping out goblins, unless it's for another goblin. Having a high volume of low cmc goblins is pretty important.
This deck is completely customizable for people. The only 'core' cards are those that directly contribute to combos. Piledriver is obviously not one of those.
Deck has been updated based on feedback and playtesting. The current list can usually generate 10+ goblins by turn 8 (turn 10 at the longest) and I've found a win con in that time almost every time. These changes reflect what is working and what doesn't
I had a lot of utility lands in here that I never ended up using (Burrows, Village) that have been replaced with lands that are generally more helpful (Fengraf, Ruin).
Temple tends to be a dead card almost every time I play it, and because this deck relies on the first few turns so much I can't really have anything that throws off the curve. It's been replaced by Sol Ring.
Mass Hysteria is just a feel-bad card, and I always hesitate to play it when I would want to (namely, turn 1) because I don't know how much it'll help my opponent. It's been replaced by Hammer of Purphoros.
Eldrazi Monument ended up always being too expensive for an effect that doesn't win me the game, so it's out too. It's being replaced by Rings of Brighthearth, which is on curve and synergizes well with all the activated abilities in this deck.
Mogg Raider has been added to act as a second Goblin Sledder.
I don't think I've ever used Slate of Ancestry, and both it and Ogre are in the same four mana slot as Krenko, which is something I really want to avoid. I think this deck has enough looting without it to be successful (you know, since I've literally NEVER used it).
Up next: Goblin King and Warren Instigator for consideration. King works really well with Blood Moon, and it makes Blood Moon more than just a tempo advantage but a win con. Instigator is just an attempt to find a good balance of low-cmc goblins that are strong enough to warrant an inclusion. The card's double strike makes it more appealing than ability to cheat cards into play, but both are handy. Any low cmc card that can double as a beater if necessary is pretty good IMO.
Just as an update: There is nothing I would consider for Krenko in SOI. Lack of goblins on Innistrad means no new creatures, and unfortunately unlike Avacyn Restored this doesn't have any generic tribal support or 'number of creatures matter' cards.
Goblin King and Warren Instigator are still up for consideration, and I'm thinking about re-adding Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots (they were in an early version of this deck and were removed - my playgroup tends to be light on removal outside of board wipes). I haven't been able to play in a while so I can't confirm these changes yet.
1.2. Who is the Mob Boss
1.3. My Metagame
2.2. You May Not Like Krenko If
2.3. Strengths
2.4. Weaknesses
2.5. Alternate Commanders
4.2. Combos
4.3. Card Explanations
4.4. Winning the Game
4.5. Budget Substitutions
4.6. Notable Exclusions
4.7. Problem Cards
Breaking Bad
As some of you may no doubt be aware, I’m a bit of a Goblin fiend. Squee, Goblin Nabob was one of my first cards as a kid, and I returned to the game just in time for Duel Decks: Elves vs Goblins and Lorwyn. Since then, I’ve adamantly followed all the great goblin legends with each release, like Wort, Boggart Auntie or Tuktuk the Explorer, but it wasn’t until the release of Krenko, Mob Boss that my goblin decks went from merely strong (in my playgroup at the time) to broken. When I transitioned from a kitchen table casual player to a league Commander player, it was only natural that I convert Krenko into one of my first Commander decks.
Krenko is a solid red Commander and one of the strongest token producers in the game, especially when you consider cost to value compared to other, similar commanders. He is a relatively simple deck to play, and so you'll rarely find yourself agonizing over what the next correct choice is. His token ability ensures a consistent exponential growth curve (I'll compare him to other Token commanders later). He is also advantageous as a budget commander, as there are only about five cards in my version of the deck that cost upwards of $20 (I’ll discuss budget options later). However, with all of that said, he's still a mono-red commander, and a token commander, with all of the drawbacks inherent with those kinds of decks.
Who is the Mob Boss?
Krenko is goblin native of Ravnica first introduced in Magic 2013. He's Number Five on the Azorius Ten Most Wanted list. While he runs his own crime syndicate, he doesn't shy away from doing the dirty work himself and he takes on the occasional odd job from Mr. Taz. He's broken into the most secure buildings of many of the guilds and stolen from the Obzedat, blown up Azorius statues, set Selesnyan Saprolings on fire, helped push the Boros to overthrow Feather as guildmaster, killed one of the notorious Shattergang Brothers and managed to shank Gideon Jura despite his invulnerability field after being apprehended.
My Metagame
I play in a weekly points-based Magic league in which Krenko has been tested for over a year. The points system rewards crazy plays and occasionally punishes or rewards certain kinds of plays (multiple extra turns, MLD) to keep the meta from going stale. The players range from very casual, barely modified precons to highly tuned, very competitive decks. Krenko fairs well in both, and against the wide variety of decks I encounter.
Why Choose Krenko?
You'll Like Krenko If
Krenko has a number of strengths that recommend him:
There are quite a few solid token commanders and Krenko has access to only red spells, arguably commander's weakest colors. So why would you choose Krenko over those others? I had mentioned budget early, and that's certainly true - a Krenko deck can be a deadly threat with only a modest investment, but that isn't the only reason - most other token commanders are aiming for a mid-game win, which Krenko speeds past much earlier on.
Versus Kiki-Jiki
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker shares a LOT of similarities with Krenko. They're both goblins, they both come with the ability to create tokens. Kiki-Jiki even has haste built-in, for one extra mana. So why would you pick one over the other? The first reason, and the most important reason for a lot of people, is the cost. The commanders themselves have a pretty decent price difference, with Kiki-Jiki running for about $20, while Krenko costs around $5. Overall, the difference in cost between strong versions of both decks is about $100-$150. The second is politics, Kiki-Jiki has a much longer history in commander is frequently the cause of groans when revealed as your commander, while Krenko is much lesser known. The third is really just preference - Krenko is much more tribal-centric, and has the ability to pull off strong aggro wins, while Kiki-Jiki is primarily a combo centerpiece.
When playing Kiki-Jiki, remember that it has a lot of the same strengths and weaknesses as your deck. Without any external help, they both go active on turn 5, so you should plan accordingly. Your best bet is to go on the offensive as soon as possible to prevent Kiki from building into a game-winning combo before you (in fact, this is generally going to be your strategy with any fast, combo or control oriented deck).
Versus Marath
Marath, will of the Wild is the token control deck. Marath hits the board a turn sooner than Krenko if you hit all three colors early enough, and typical acceleration through mana rocks doesn't help Marath get out sooner. I used to run a Marath deck until I realized Marath and Prossh wanted all the same RG cards and cut it in favor of Prossh. In terms of token making ability, Marath is okay but leans more toward control rather than mass tokens... and Marath gets expensive, quickly - I often found Marath's abilities competing too much with my spells, making it a much more difficult deck to play than Krenko.
When competing against Marath, make sure not to cast Krenko the same turn the Marath player has left three mana open. Generally, however, a Marath player will be too busy setting up their board while Krenko continues to make you tokens. Marath simply can't make tokens fast enough to block attacks from a Krenko deck if you want to go that route, or can't keep you from using the tokens as fuel to combo out.
Versus Prossh
Prossh, Skyraider of Kher is another strong token deck, and can also lean heavily into Stax. If you're looking to play more battlecruiser-style magic, Prossh is your dragon. Prossh's evasiveness also allows its deck to avoid the huge number of chump blockers Krenko has available. However, Prossh as a deck is much slower than Krenko (sensing a theme, here?) and even though Prossh can sometimes get out the same time as Krenko, you usually won't see Prossh himself come into play until Krenko has already made enough goblins to get past the kobolds.
When playing against a Prossh deck, there are many similar win strategies as Krenko, including using Prossh's tokens to deal huge damage with Impact Tremors or Purphoros, God of the Forge. Since Prossh can keep pretty close pace with Krenko, your best option is to avoid attacking Prossh altogether unless they get a stax engine going. Instead, keep your tokens as a reserve against Prossh going for commander damage until you're able to combo out - but be warned that that's exactly what the Prossh player will be going for, too.
Versus Nath
Nath of the Gilt-Leaf is a great token stax commander. It can take some time to set up properly, but a well built Nath deck can effectively shut down the entire game. Contamination is a huge problem for Krenko, and while the discard isn't a huge deal after Krenko first comes out (as you'll usually be playing out your hand after turn 5), it can still hurt if you're holding back a win con.
When playing a Nath deck, you should always go aggro immediately. Usually I'd say hold back your tokens for the right move, but in this case your best solution is to just remove the Nath player immediately.
The Decklist
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
Creature
1 Goblin Chirurgeon
1 Mogg Raider
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Arms Dealer
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Rummaging Goblin
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Goblin Instigator
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Goblin Matron
1 Dockside Extortionist
1 Goblin King
1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Skirk Fire Marshal
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
1 Legion Warboss
1 Pashalik Mons
1 Lightning Crafter
1 Goblin Trashmaster
1 Voracious Dragon
1 Kyren Negotiations
1 Mana Echoes
1 Ashling's Prerogative
1 Quest for the Goblin Lord
1 Fervor
1 Impact Tremors
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Shared Animosity
1 Boggart Shenanigans
1 Tectonic Reformation
1 Underworld Breach
1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
Land
1 Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
1 Arcane Lighthouse
1 Buried Ruin
1 Strip Mine
1 Homeward Path
1 Myriad Landscape
1 Haunted Fengraf
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Castle Embereth
25 Mountain
Artifact
1 Thornbite Staff
1 Umbral Mantle
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Staff of Domination
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
1 Vanquisher's Banner
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Skullclamp
1 Thousand-Year Elixir
1 Coat of Arms
1 Ashnod's Altar
1 Slate of Ancestry
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Phyrexian Altar
1 Last-Ditch Effort
1 Brightstone Ritual
1 Battle Hymn
1 Massive Raid
1 Chaos Warp
1 Comet Storm
Sorcery
1 Goblin War Strike
1 Burn at the Stake
1 Vandalblast
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Krenko's Command
1 Gamble
1 Faithless Looting
Strategy
Overall Strategy
Krenko has, essentially, two methods of victory available to him. The first is the most obvious: attacking with a butt load of tokens and overwhelming your opponents defenses - but that's what everyone thinks you're going to do with him, and what kind of goblin commander would he be if he did what people expect? The second is using those tokens to fuel explosive win cons instead. And Krenko can do both of these things much earlier in the game than most people expect. Even with access to Doubling Season, most other token producers just can't match him. My version of Krenko certainly isn't the only way to build him. I used to run a version that had a lot more emphasis on attacking, but as I played I realized I preferred the combo aspect more. The one piece of advice I give for all Krenko decks is make sure to keep your CMC low - don't include anything over 4cmc unless it's going to seriously improve your board state or win you the game.
The most basic strategy for Krenko is to lay the groundwork for him to come into play on turn four. That means have a haste enabler in play, a goblin or two already in play to increase his initial token production, and maybe some combo piece. This deck uses several different (often complementary) mechanisms for combos: ETB triggers, death triggers, tapping creatures, sacrificing creatures, and counting the number of goblins you have in play. If you're playing against a control-oriented deck, you want to attack quickly and relentlessly. If you're playing virtually anything else, you want to hold back your goblins as fuel to combo out.
On turns 1 through 3 you prepare the battlefield for Krenko. This means that in your opening hand, you should have multiple cards you can play early on, and the lands to support them. Haste enablers are preferred, followed by combo pieces and then just anything you can curve into Krenko with. The ideal opening hand would give you something to play on each of these turns and the lands to cast them. You may also have some card filtering available to you, which you should use depending on your strategy (discard combo pieces if you're going aggro, discard aggro pieces if you're going combo).
On turn 4, you cast Krenko and, if you could manage a haste enabler, tap him just before the start of your next turn to double your goblins. Otherwise, tap him on turn 5 to double your goblins. If you get delayed (and it happens), it's okay. Many decks don't even really get started until this point, anyway, and it'll just be a tighter fight. Either way, once he's out, start looking to your combo pieces and win cons for subsequent turns, and building your board state if not.
A few things to remember:
Krenko has a lot of combos available, so I'll go through them piece by piece here. First are the infinite combos. They're are a lot of permutations here, so I'm going to list the basic theories behind the various engines, and then give some examples.
The combo engines are based around Krenko, Mob Boss, using equipment that allows you to untap creatures with a tap ability. The equipment require either 3 or a death trigger to untap. The death trigger is the easiest, as any sac outlet will trigger it with the tokens you create. The mana is trickier, but cards like Skirk Prospector, Ashnod's Altar, Phyrexian Altar, and Mana Echoes will allow you to produce it, supposing you're making enough tokens every time.
The net result is usually infinite mana, infinite tokens (and by extension, ETB triggers), and/or infinite death triggers. However, many of these are strong combos even if you don't have all the prerequisites to go infinite. For instance, just being able to untap Krenko once per turn means you can quadruple your current number of tokens every turn, instead of just doubling it - which often enough to defeat a player. Here are lists of the various combinations:
Krenko Combos
The following combos involve making the mana to pay for Mantle/Paruns to untap Krenko and repeat the process. These are the minimum requirements, having extra goblins at the start will accumulate rewards faster. The Mana Echoes version requires three turns before it starts making extra tokens, as you net one mana every time and you need to be able to untap Krenko twice before tokens can begin to accumulate (an extra goblin at the start will skip this step).
Krenko, Mob Boss + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination + Mana Echoes + another goblin = Infinite C Mana & Tokens
Krenko, Mob Boss + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination + Ashnod's Altar + another goblin = Infinite C Mana, ETB & Death Triggers
Krenko, Mob Boss + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination + Ashnod's Altar + two other goblins = Infinite C Mana, Tokens, & Death Triggers
Krenko, Mob Boss + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination + Skirk Prospector/Phyrexian Altar + two other goblins = Infinite ETB & Death Triggers
Krenko, Mob Boss + Umbral Mantle/Staff of Domination + Skirk Prospector/Phyrexian Altar + three other goblins = Infinite R Mana, ETB & Death Triggers
Thornbite Staff Combos
The following combos involve using a sacrifice outlet to generate death triggers as a means of untapping Krenko using Thornbite Staff. Any free sacrifice outlet will work for these combos, and adding an extra goblin (if the sac outlet isn't a goblin itself) at the start will result in infinite goblin tokens in addition to the listed effect.
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Skirk Prospector = Infinite R Mana
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Phyrexian Altar + another goblin = Infinite R Mana & Tokens
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Ashnod's Altar = Infinite C Mana
Note: Add Dark-Dweller Oracle to any of the above combos to impulse draw your entire deck.
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Goblin Bombardment = Infinite Damage
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Goblin Chirurgeon = Infinite Tokens & Regeneration Shields
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Goblin Sledder/Mogg Raider = Infinite Tokens, Power, & Toughness
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + Goblin Trashmaster = Infinite Artifact Destruction
It would take forever to list every 'instant win' version of the above combos, so instead here are the cards you would use to take advantage of the various triggers.
Haste Enablers
We've got a lot of haste enablers in this deck, so choose carefully when you have more than one, and try to use them as effectively as possible while you curve into Krenko. You will always want to be activate Krenko the moment he hits the board, even if there are no other goblins.
All the anthem effects in this deck are pretty self-explanatory. Quest for the Goblin Lord, Shared Animosity, Coat of Arms, Goblin King, Goblin Chieftain, Goblin Trashmaster and Vanquisher's Banner can be win cons by themselves, if you have enough goblins to make use of them. They're also scary distractions for your opponents, keeping the pressure on and making them focus on the aggro strategy rather than disrupting your combos.
Ramp Effects
The various tutors in this deck are fairly strong. Your primary target is almost always going to be Skirk Prospector, as it enables so many of the combos in this deck. After prospector, you're going to want to find yourself some of the utility creatures in this deck, depending on your board state. Don't forget Boggart Shenanigans is a 'Goblin Card' and is thus tutorable.
These free outlets are important, as they feed the death triggers of cards like Boggart Shenanigans, Pashalik Mons, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Thornbite Staff. They'll also net you infinite versions of their effects when you have infinite tokens, but their effects are still pretty powerful even when you've got a limited supply of creatures to sacrifice.
Impact Tremors and Purphoros, God of the Forge are some of the scariest cards in any token deck, and for good reason. With Purphoros (or Purphoros Jr.) on the board, you can do a lot of added damage just by playing your deck normally. If you have a chance to get either one onto the field, do it ASAP.
Death Triggers
I spoke about Goblin Sharpshooter already in the death trigger section, so I'm not including it here.
I've already talked quite a bit about Thornbite Staff, so I'm not going to repeat it here, except to say it's by far the most valuable equipment in the deck. Umbral Mantle, and Staff of Domination are adequate back-ups but require more cards to go infinite. Lightning Greaves' and Swiftfoot Boots' purposes are obvious: to give protection and give your important creatures haste.
Winning the Game
So it's after turn 4 and you don't magically have an infinite combo to immediately win you the game. Surprise! It happens, and you should never rely on them or not make good plays in the hopes of getting one. So then, without that overwhelming force... how do we win?
It's easy! As I've mentioned before, you either go aggro and start attacking, or you attempt to combo out a win. If you choose to attack... I really don't have to explain turning your creatures sideways, do I? If you've read this far, you know you like to swarm your opponents with goblin tokens. My only recommendation is that if it puts you over the edge, don't be afraid to sacrifice your tokens to a spell for victory.
If you're going for the combo win, follow this rule: Add, Tap, Count, then Sac & Die. What does this mean? Well, consider the following:
Budget Substitutions
Krenko is relatively inexpensive, but I do have some pricier cards in this list. Here are the most expensive cards, and a budget option to replace them with if you don't want to make the investment. I'm listing cards $10 and above here:
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Lightning Crafter + any sac outlet = Infinite ETB Triggers, Infinite Death Triggers, & Infinite Damage
This combo use Kiki-Jiki's ability to copy Lightning Crafter. The copy champions Kiki-Jiki and is then sacrificed to any sac outlet. Kiki-Jiki returns to the battlefield untapped, and process is repeated. If you have a haste enabler, the copies can tap to deal damage before being sacrificed.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Thornbite Staff + any other creature + any sac outlet = Infinite ETB Triggers & Death Triggers
This combo uses a Thorbite Staff equipped Kiki-Jiki's ability to copy any creature, get the value one whatever creature it is, and then sacrifice it to any sac outlet, which untaps Kiki-Jiki to repeat the process.
Zealous Conscripts Combos
These combos use Kiki-Jiki's ability to make a copy of Zealous Conscripts, and then uses Conscript's 'Untap' ability to untap Kiki-Jiki.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts = Infinite Conscript Copies
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Conscript Copies & R Mana
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts + Ashnod's Altar/Mana Echoes = Infinite Conscript Copies & C Mana
Combat Celebrant Combos
These combos use Kiki-Jiki's ability to make a copy of Combat Celebrants between each attack phase, and then uses Conscript's 'Untap' ability to untap Kiki-Jiki... and everyone else.
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, & Infinite Untapping
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Untapping & R Mana
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant + Ashnod's Altar/Mana Echoes =Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Untapping & C Mana
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant + Krenko, Mob Boss = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Goblins, & Infinite Untapping
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant + Goblin Sharpshooter/Lightning Crafter = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Damage, & Infinite Untapping
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant + Skirk Fire Marshal + 3 Other Goblins = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Damage, & Infinite Untapping
Splinter Twin Combos
Goblin Sharpshooter Combo
This combo uses the Twin's duplication ability to create a copy of Goblin Sharpshooper, and then uses a sacrifice outlet to create infinite ETB & Death triggers.
Splinter Twin + Goblin Sharpshooter + Any Sac Outlet = Infinite Death & ETB Triggers
Zealous Conscripts Combos
These combos use Twin's duplication ability to create a copy of Zealous Conscripts, and then uses Conscript's 'Untap' ability to untap the enchanted Conscript.
Splinter Twin +Zealous Conscripts = Infinite Conscript Copies
Splinter Twin +Zealous Conscripts + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Conscript Copies & R Mana
Splinter Twin +Zealous Conscripts + Ashnod's Altar/Mana Echoes = Infinite Conscript Copies & C Mana
Combat Celebrant Combos
These combos use Twin's duplication ability to create a copy of Combat Celebrant before each attack phase, and then uses Conscript's 'Untap' ability to untap Kiki-Jiki... and everyone else.
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, & Infinite Untapping
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant + Phyrexian Altar = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Untapping & R Mana
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant + Ashnod's Altar/Mana Echoes =Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Untapping & C Mana
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant + Krenko, Mob Boss = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Goblins, & Infinite Untapping
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant + Goblin Sharpshooter/Lightning Crafter = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Damage, & Infinite Untapping
Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant + Skirk Fire Marshal + 4 Other Goblins = Infinite Celebrant Copies, Infinite Attack Phases, Infinite Damage, & Infinite Untapping
01/24/16: - Street Spasm, Illusionist's Bracers, Burnished Hart, + Goblin Replica, Mogg Infestation, Goblin Piledriver
These changes were made to remove some mana intensive cards that were ultimately unnecessary. Hart and Bracers typically sat on the field once cast, and a deck like this rarely needs a board sweep like with street spasm. Replica is also mana intensive, but it can be tutored to help deal with the dreaded Torpor Orb. Piledriver has evasion against one of the most common colors in commander and takes advantage of the power this token deck can provide. Infestation is a great card for utility, when cast on yourself it simultaneously gives you death triggers on every creature you control, and doubling that in ETB triggers... and because it's a 'destroy' effect you can still protect Krenko or other valuable creatures with chirurgeon.
04/17/16: - Slate of Ancestry, Treasonous Ogre, Goblin Burrows, Flamekin Village, Mass Hysteria, Eldrazi Monument, Temple of the False God, + Blood Moon, Mogg Raider, Haunted Fengraf, Buried Ruin, Hammer of Purphoros, Rings of Brighthearth, Sol Ring
These changes were made to further tighten up the deck with what is really necessary. I had a lot of utility lands in here that I never ended up using (Burrows, Village) that have been replaced with lands that are generally more helpful (Fengraf, Ruin). Temple tends to be a dead card almost every time I play it, and because this deck relies on the first few turns so much I can't really have anything that throws off the curve. It's been replaced by Sol Ring, which has proven to be more helpful in general. Mass Hysteria is just a feel-bad card, and I always hesitate to play it when I would want to (namely, turn 1) because I don't know how much it'll help my opponent. It's been replaced by Hammer of Purphoros. Eldrazi Monument ended up always being too expensive for an effect that doesn't win me the game, so it's out too. The real MVP additions here are Rings of Brighthearth, which unlike Illusionist's bracers curve well with Krenko and add an enormous effect (as well as working nicely with other abilties), and Mogg Raider which acts as a second Goblin Sledder.
06/08/16: - Wild Guess, + Gamble
Gamble's price dropped like a rock with it's newer (and sexier) reprinting. Swapping in for Wild Guess because Tormenting Voice's cost is occasionally easier to cast (when my non-basics are in play). This card is definitely an improvement, and worth the random discard risk to bring a win con to my hand T1.
08/18/16: In: Swiftfoot Boots, Lightning Greaves, Goblin King, Staff of Domination Out: Price of Glory, Goblin Lackey, Goblin Piledriver, Sword of the Paruns
Reasoning: It was becoming clear that Krenko (and a few other goblins) needed more spot removal protection than they were getting. While the deck could recover from losing certain key elements, having that extra bit of haste and protection has come in handy on a couple occasions already. Piledriver is out because it's typically DOA, the few times it has come through or been a good distraction isn't enough to justify the slot. Replaced with Goblin King, which is a nice Lord and with Blood Moon makes an aggro strategy essentially unstoppable. Price of Glory just made me a target. Sword of the Paruns has been upgraded to Staff of Domination. For the first untap, Sword costs 3 more than Staff. The extra cost for using staff is offset by the infinite mana strategies and the ability to untap multiple creatures. Goblin Lackey just didn't provide enough to be worth more than a vanilla 1/1 for R.
12/22/16 In: Grenzo, Havoc Raiser Out: Tormenting Voice
Reasoning: Sorry for the late update on this one. Tutorable, repeatable card advantage over Voice's marginal, one-off advantage was too much to pass up, especially at the same CMC.
04/22/17 In: Paradox Engine, Throne of the God-Pharaoh Out: Goblin Replica, Godo, Bandit Warlord
Reasoning: With Paradox Engine and Throne, among other recent edition, equipment-based combos are much, much less of a priority in this deck, which makes have a six mana card that almost always sits dead in my hand seem like a waste. Goblin Replica was occasionally useful as a tutor, but my meta just doesn't have the artifact that require that much hate. Paradox Engine allows me a free untap almost every turn (occasionally on an opponent's turn), which is really handy. Throne of the God-Pharaoh is a vicious finisher, perhaps one of the most powerful in this deck, where it'll frequently hit for 5-10 per opponent at the end of each turn, if I don't kill them outright.
05/26/17 In: Combat Celebrant Out: Moggcatcher
Reasoning: Combat Celebrant ups the value of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker and Splinter Twin, creating an infinite number of creatures, but also untapping everything else (like Krenko, Mob Boss). This doubles the potential of setting off a combo with one of them, and ultimately will be more powerful than the Zealous Conscripts version most of the time. The beauty here is that only the original Combat Celebrant needs to do more than attack for it to work with Twin, and with Kiki-Jiki the original card never needs risk itself in combat. The copies can be sacrificed to Phyrexian Altar or Ashnod's Altar before even moving to the declare blockers, and helps get around any Propaganda-type shenanigans that would shut this combo down. I like it a lot, definitely an auto-include, because it also allows for an aggro victory through infinite attack phases with geometrically increasing goblin tokens if Krenko is out. Moggcatcher is out because it rarely had value and often became a dead card (because I'd rather play a goblin for Krenko and it took a couple turns to have an impact).
09/01/17 In: Kindred Charge Out: Mogg Infestation
Reasoning: Kindred Charge gives you an explosive finish without also killing all your unique goblins. It effectively accomplishes the same thing as Mogg Infestation without the downside.
11/11/17 In: Vanquisher's Banner Out: Obelisk of Urd
This was a hard decision to make, but the Banner over the Obelisk really helps the deck's long game by ensuring card advantage and keeping my hand more full later in the game.
01/15/18 In: The Immortal Sun Out: Armillary Sphere
Both these cards fill a similar role in this deck: namely to keep it going in the long game. The added card draw is a big bonus for this deck, and adding in making things slightly cheaper (which can make a big difference in this deck) and the anthem effect, it felt like an appropriate swap.
07/18/18In:Cheering Fanatic, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Goblin Instigator, Goblin Trashmaster, Helm of the Host
Out: Combat Celebrant, Izzet Chemister, Zealous Conscripts, Splinter Twin, The Immortal Sun
11/06/18In:Legion Warboss, Massive Raid, Hordeling Outburst
Out: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Hammer of Purphoros, Helm of the Host
05/07/19IN: Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
OUT: Hordeling Outburst
Finding a place to slot Krenko 2.0 in was a challenge, I'll admit. There are so few good 2 drops that I didn't want to replace one of them, and almost every card of 4cmc or higher wasn't something I could easily cut, which left replacing another 3 drop. In the end I picked Hordeling Outburst for a number of reasons. The sorcery is handy, but it's still only a sorcery, and an actual tutorable goblin was preferable to me. Add to that Krenko 2.0 creating three goblins in the worst case (and frequently MANY more), it was a pretty easy swap.
06/23/19IN: Pashalik Mons, Tectonic Reformation
OUT: Blood Moon, Cheering Fanatic
08/09/19IN: Blood Moon
OUT: Paradox Engine
Banlist update. Paradox Engine is out, so I swapped back in the most useful of my recent cuts, Blood Moon.
09/08/19In: Dockside Extortionist - This card is tutorable in this deck and way more fun. Better ramp for the late game come back, which this deck needs more than an occasional early start.
Out: Sol Ring - It's just such a boring card, and is really only here for an occasional Turn 2 Krenko.
10/07/19In: Castle Embereth - Easy replacement.
Out: Mountain - It's just a mountain. Embereth is better every turn but the first.
01/28/19In: Arms Dealer, Underworld Breach
Out: Idol of Oblivion, Kindred Charge
Who is this Goblin Fiend?
Hi, my name is Jay13x, and I'm bad at magic. I've been playing magic on and off since 1998, and I've grown incrementally better at it in all that time. I have always loved goblin decks and have had one in one form or another for years. In 1999, I was a young Magic players with only a starter set and a few Sixth Edition packs to my name. One day, at the mall with my parents, we happened upon a game store… back when game stores could afford mall rent. At the store, I begged my parents to buy me a pack of cards, which ended up being Mercadian Masques. I opened the pack, and inside was Squee, Goblin Nabob. I was blown away! A card that when it died, I could return it to my hand every turn? I’d gotten my first taste of Goblins.
Eight years later, I’m in college and working as a graphic designer. I hadn’t played magic since before high school. My coworker, a guy named Chris, mentions he’s going to a Magic tournament that weekend. “Seriously?” I ask, “Magic is still a thing?”. Intrigued, I convince a friend to come with me, and we both go to what ended up being a pre-release tournament for Future Sight. We’re hooked. When I see that my LGS has a copy of Elves vs Goblins, I immediately snatch it up and get to work on my goblin deck. Then Lorwyn is released, and it’s a trove of Goblin cards, further fueling my obsession. For years, I have a goblin deck - sometimes more than one - that I play regularly with friends. My goblins became feared far and wide. When Krenko is released, my friends refuse to play my goblin deck without warning.
My playgroup tried the Commander Precons and decided we didn't like them... until I moved away just a couple years ago. A friend (from this site, no less), introduces me to Commander, and my first choice for an original deck is obvious: Krenko. My first build was terrible. I won't bore you with the details, but I didn't understand Commander yet and years of playing with a small playgroup hadn't prepared me yet for what was to come. I found Dorino's primer here to get me started in revamping Krenko into something more useful, and along with a fellow Krenko player at my new LGS, Don Krenko was born.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Thank you!
Why? Because I'll never have goblins sitting in my hand for Warren Instigator to get into play, and by turn 3 usually everyone will have some sort of blocker and his value goes down astronomically.
My revised deck list does include a Goblin Lackey, but he's cannon fodder unless played turn one. Basically, Lackey is around to help ensure I've got a turn one play, while I already have plenty of turn two plays.
Edit: In fact, I'm just going to go ahead and update the main list now.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
these cards are very powerful and makes it harder to controlling deck. It's easy to control krenko, mob boss for the opponent. The opponent play a enchantement or Linvala, Keeper of Silence or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or ghostly prison or pithing needle. We must be capable of destroying.
Besides which, the disk would destroy the enchantments that are important to this deck, Vault would deny me death triggers, and Karn/Ugin/Spine/Dust are all too expensive. The point of this deck is to be fast, and to up the average CMC with a bunch of cards like that would require ALSO finding slots for mana rocks, which ultimately dilutes the deck to the point where it's primary feature: speed, is less reliable. This is a commander deck that only needs four lands to win. If I would play any wipes, I would play Blasphemous Act because I could usually case it for just R, it would still give me death triggers, and it would deal with every creature threat I'd need it to. If I wanted more removal, I'd lean more towards Unstable Obelisk, because it would still curve nicely with Krenko while giving me the option of dealing with problem cards.
Ghostly Prison/Propaganda/Etc: These aren't a problem at all. This deck revolves around goblins as a resource. Actually attacking with Goblins is secondary. I'm giving away a bit of a trade secret here by mentioning this, but when people are worried about a horde of goblins turning sideways and prepare to deal with THAT, they're not prepared for you to deal lethal damage with just a handful of goblins by counting, tapping and saccing the same creatures to fuel massive damage.
Linvala, Keeper of Silence: Linvala is probably the only real threat you've mentioned. Chaos Warp, Voracious Dragon, Burn at the Stake, Goblin Bombardment and Last-Ditch Effort can all deal with her, and while I'd prefer not to waste any of these, she's a significant enough threat that I'd be okay using my removal that way.
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale/Magus of the Tabernacle (You didn't mention these, but they belong here): I don't really care about any of my tokens, and all these do is give me a fresh sac outlet.
Pithing Needle/Torpor Orb: Artifacts aren't much of a concern, as red can deal with those pretty easily. Torpor Orb is a pretty major one as it shuts down some of the better combos in this deck, but not all. Pithing Needle is significantly less of a concern because I can tutor for the likes of Goblin Replica. I'm still judging the value of adding Shattering Spree, but it couldn't hurt.
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite: Unless this is some bizarre ramp into Elesh Norn deck, I'm not really afraid of her. I will generally have won long before an Elesh Norn makes it onto the field, and even if I haven't, she can't kill Krenko and I can still get death triggers off the tokens (unless I get Obelisk of Urd or Coat of Arms into play, at which point her effect is largely countered). Worst case, I can deal with her the same was I'd deal with Linvala.
Contamination/Stax: In general Stax is just provokes an 'lol ok' response when playing this deck. Contamination is a problem, but in general for strong stax generals like Nath, they're not going to be playing contamination when it would matter against Krenko because they need to set up their side of the board first.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
I think krenko, mob boss is not always quick in the early game. With gauntlet of power or gauntlet of might it's easier to cast Karn/Ugin/Spine/Dust.
My méta is very control. I don't want to play combo with krenko, mob boss. I try to build a deck that will be competitive and not necessary always quick.
Karn liberatedis very good against the deck reanimator.
I look at the advantage with a quick deck or midrange.
I might reconsider Gauntlet of Power, but the problem there is that it accelerates my opponents at a time when I'd rather they not have the extra mana. I'll playtest with it some more and see.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Blood Moon is also recommended, I just haven't purchased one yet.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Is it change de game ? Our casting coast is not very high ?
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Phyrexian Altar and Kiki-Jiki are on the pricier side as well, but they're really worth it.
The only other card that costs upwards of $10 is Strip Mine, which isn't necessary but is helpful against those REALLY pricey decks with a lot of utility lands.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
The first is that Tuktuk Scrapper doesn't curve into Krenko, while Goblin Replica does (remember, this deck is based around the Turn 4 Krenko). The difference between three and four cmc in this deck is pretty large. Scrapper is much more useful in a mid or late game where Krenko is going to be much weaker. With Replica, I can use the activated ability during an opponent's turn if I need to while Scrapper is more limited. Replica also has the added benefit of being cast-able around an Iona, Shield of Emeria or similar effects. Compared to say, Unstable Obelisk, which is a good choice in most red decks, I think Replica acquits itself well.
The real reason, though, and the most important, is that Replica also avoids Torpor Orb, which is one of the biggest annoyances to the deck (and no one is going to waste a Pithing Needle on Replica). There are a limited number of artifacts this deck wants to deal with, and Scrapper just can't kill one of the most common ones.
That said, it's entirely up to you. Scrapper is a perfectly legitimate choice to run, and is really powerful against decks that run higher CMC artifacts.
I would love a destroy artifact goblin at two mana, but the problem with Tin Street Hooligan is that its illegal in Krenko due to the green mana symbol. If it was in reminder text, it'd be okay, but its color identity is RG.
Now that I think about it, I should look into Goblin Tinkerer and see how useful it is.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Turn 2: 1 Damage
Turn 3: Did you attack?
Turn 4: You get 4 Damage, and YOU get four Damage. EVERYBODY GETS 4 DAMAGE.
Turn 5: 24 damage to everyone
Turn 6: lol gg. Hope you all could gain 50 life before this turn.
It sounds like overall the deck worked out for you. Having the ability to be combat oriented if you want to really helps when you're playing decks that want to shut down your combos.
As for Skirk Fire Marshal: He's an amazingly useful card that I just didn't understand for the longest time. You can use his ability the turn you play him, regardless of haste (you just can't tap him to his own ability if you don't have it). You can use him in a couple different ways, you can whittle down your opponent's life to make them suddenly vulnerable to an attack phase, or you can use him as a finisher after getting your opponent's life total down just far enough (Say you're both at 21, you deal 1 damage to your opponent and then activate Fire Marshal's ability twice - A wins a win!).
As for the untapping equipment, yes! Don't put any combo piece you can't make quick use of on the board, lol. Although it really depends, if it's likely that you'll use it the next turn or something, go ahead and play it.
It sounds like your only real problems were with experience. Don't be afraid of mulligans, even if you have to take yourself down a few cards. Don't be afraid to lose important-seeming cards if it makes it appear you're in a weaker position. You'll get the hang of what the worthwhile trade-offs are. Glad you seem to be enjoying the deck Not bad for a deck that cost you probably a quarter or less of the decks you played against!
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Rings of Brighthearth is similar to Illusionists Bracers, in that Krenko doesn't really need it much. I'll pick up a second copy next time I get some more cards, and see if I like it. It might be useful to improve Krenko's mid to late game, with the drawback that it makes you an immediate target.
Scrying sheets sounds great, but I'm not sure I want to drop over $40 on Snow-Covered Mountains :/
I've been looking to swap out Goblin Burrows, which has never added much for me, and I think you're right that Haunted Fengraf/Buried Ruin is the way to go, and swap in the other for a mountain.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Do you think Magus of the Moon and Wheel of Fortune deserved a slot in the deck?
Magus of the Moon isn't really worth it, since it's so easy to remove and doesn't help with Krenko.
I should note, I'm also playing around with swapping in Mogg Raider as a redundant Goblin Sledder, to get me more on-curve goblin drops.
In general terms, you don't want to swap out anything that is an on-curve goblin for Krenko or part of a combo. Everything else is fair game.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
G Azusa, Wherever I May Roam
UG Rashmi Simic Power
WB Kambal Life Gain Kills
URG Maelstrom Wanderer Howdy
There is a another way to play without Goblin Chirurgeon in play ?
If I was going more of a combo route, I would probably play Seething Song or Mana Geyser
Honestly, he's probably going to be swapped with Mogg Raider. Raider acts as a second Sledder, is a good one-drop goblin and another sac outlet.
My one note is to be careful when swapping out goblins, unless it's for another goblin. Having a high volume of low cmc goblins is pretty important.
This deck is completely customizable for people. The only 'core' cards are those that directly contribute to combos. Piledriver is obviously not one of those.
I'm going to be swapping in Blood Moon, Mogg Raider, Haunted Fengraf, and Buried Ruin soon. I'll post when I've updated the OP.
Replacing: Goblin Piledriver, Goblin Burrows, Flamekin Village, and either a Mountain or Treasonous Ogre.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Out: Slate of Ancestry, Treasonous Ogre, Goblin Burrows, Flamekin Village, Mass Hysteria, Eldrazi Monument, Temple of the False God
In: Blood Moon, Mogg Raider, Haunted Fengraf, Buried Ruin, Hammer of Purphoros, Rings of Brighthearth, Sol Ring
Explanations:
Up next: Goblin King and Warren Instigator for consideration. King works really well with Blood Moon, and it makes Blood Moon more than just a tempo advantage but a win con. Instigator is just an attempt to find a good balance of low-cmc goblins that are strong enough to warrant an inclusion. The card's double strike makes it more appealing than ability to cheat cards into play, but both are handy. Any low cmc card that can double as a beater if necessary is pretty good IMO.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Goblin King and Warren Instigator are still up for consideration, and I'm thinking about re-adding Lightning Greaves and Swiftfoot Boots (they were in an early version of this deck and were removed - my playgroup tends to be light on removal outside of board wipes). I haven't been able to play in a while so I can't confirm these changes yet.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath