Any specific reason why I shouldn't run Chieftain and Charm together? Not trying to be a D-bag just genuinely curious. Still kinda bad at deck building and I'm just trying to "git gud".
To my understanding, we've drawn the conclusion that Goblin Chieftain is a heavy investment for our gameplan at 3 CMC and its board presence can be removed very easily which can likely result in making our turn 3 play practically nonexistent. Goblin Bushwhacker and Shared Animosity are similar in what Chieftain does but are more favorable because of special circumstances. For example, Goblin Bushwhacker's kicker ETB ability is costed at 2 CMC and is still in effect even if bushwhacker is the target of removal meaning it still creates a substantial board present for 2 CMC even when targeted by removal. While Shared Animosity is costed at 3 CMC, it is an enchantment and can't be dealt by creature removal which in comparison is much more common than enchantment removal (Red and Black have virtually no enchantment removal) and therefore its board presence is harder to get rid of.
Additionally, we've found success in what has been dubbed the no-lords build introduced to us by hellakevin. It focuses on removing 3+ CMC creatures and focuses more on the use of 1-2CMC creatures. With the recent reprinting of the 2CMC Goblin Piledriver this strategy is even more viable and shows much promise for the no-lords build and the future of Modern Goblins.
Basically, don't bother with the lower impact goblins and tribal synergies. Piledriver + Guide/Loyalist/Rabblemaster is plenty good enough. The rest can be a burn deck. Collected Company might be a stretch on mana and creature count, but seemed too good to pass up. Atarka's Command is perfect however.
Try with white splash for Boros Charm and Path in the side also seems good:
Double striking either a Piledriver or Rabblemaster is probably cute, but the indestructible could be relevant aswell vs sweepers. Doming for 4 is always relevant.
Basically what Cirnu and Mc patches said, Grenade is an MVP of "goblin burn", while CoCo doesn't seem like a reliable option in such a build. You would rather pack more reach like, well, Goblin Grenade, Rift Bolt, Lava Spike or in case of a white splash, Lightning Helix (not that of a mainboard card, but at least viable in the SB I guess - didn't test yet). As far as Boros Charm goes, it's a great card that plays well with the decks' synergy.
I would consider removing CoCo to add 4 Goblin Grenades, and you're good to go!
Suggestions probably fair. I'm not that high on Goblin Grenade though. Seems like a terrible topdeck in a lot of spots, and without many tokens the sacrifice is a heavy cost (especially when it's part of the casting cost, so it happens regardless if Grenade resolves). Maybe trade Collected Company for Searing Blaze main, up Boros Charm to 4 and add Kor Firewalker to side:
Suggestions probably fair. I'm not that high on Goblin Grenade though. Seems like a terrible topdeck in a lot of spots, and without many tokens the sacrifice is a heavy cost (especially when it's part of the casting cost, so it happens regardless if Grenade resolves). Maybe trade Collected Company for Searing Blaze main, up Boros Charm to 4 and add Kor Firewalker to side:
Goblin grenade is an amazing top deck late game. Many times green match ups end up with them having a board we can't swing through and at low life total, and I'm in chump block mode looking for burn spells. IMO grenade is the card that swings the mu vs tarmo decks in our favor.
Lists with tokens and Mogg War Marshal obviously lose gas when you don't run Shared Animosity. Having five 1/1s in play doesn't win you modern games by itself. I feel like before you add maindeck Goblin King or Blood Moon you should take a look at an enchantment that wins unwinnable games.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
Grenade is a terrible topdeck in the spots where they have dealt with your board and you have nothing to sacrifice. Valid point about killing certain ground pounders, but the main reason to do so is to swing through, except casting it diminishes our board. I can't stress enough how brutal it getting countered is either.
Grenade is a terrible topdeck in the spots where they have dealt with your board and you have nothing to sacrifice. Valid point about killing certain ground pounders, but the main reason to do so is to swing through, except casting it diminishes our board. I can't stress enough how brutal it getting countered is either.
You don't use it to sligh through blockers, you aim it at the face. in games where you have no board and nothing to sac everything is a bad top deck if they aren't in burn range. Grenade is ~50/50 to be live next draw step and kill them if they are in burn range.
You're talking best case scenario, which is fairly irrelevant to whether its a good top-deck (which looks at worst case scenarios). The fact is that it's a blank in a lot of situations that are not uncommon. Seems like a trap.
Furthermore, if it's just a Lava Axe, I think running a more reliable and flexible Boros Charm is higher EV.
As someone who has played Burn for a long time in a variety of formats, I'm gonna go with "Yes it is.". Grenade is honestly one of the reasons to play Goblins. Burn has a ton of spells that all deal 3 or 4. Goblins has a lot more creatures (this build has anywhere from 9-11 more creatures than typical Modern Burn decks do) in it and while the synergy or more guys and Atarka's Command is big, most games have lots of spots you can bait out a counter w/another spell and then drop a grenade. With no token creators besides Rabblemaster, you only have 15 actual Goblins in the deck.
I actually think the best build of Goblins is mono red and some combat tricks on top of Bolt and Grenade. Chieftain is the only lord I have in the build at the moment, but I do like the idea of the Moon King plan. Probably something I would board into tho. I also like the idea of maybe board out the combat tricks while they bring in things like Dispel and then drop Shared Animosity into the deck. Your plan still stays "Get em dead, real fast.", but you definitely get some angles that would be unexpected. I wouldn't be against the green splash for Command and SB Revelry or White for Boros Charm and SB potential, but I do like consistency. Then again, I ran mono red at the pre-release for Origins yesterday and I didn't even pull a Piledriver. Boo! Got 15th out of about 80 people tho, so got an extra 6 packs for my time.
PS pretty sure I already posted the list I'm talking about previously in this thread. Goldfishes T4 solidly and T3 is not uncommon.
I don't think a Grenade is a good reason to play anything. We've had a fair number of sacrifice a creature as part of the casting cost type spells, and they generally don't perform well over the long term. Goblin Grenade might be the best of the lot, but it still suffers from the flaws of inconsistency. Inconsistency is why cards like Vexing Devil do not work.
I don't think that a full on tribal approach is going to be the key to success. Modern (similar to Standard) has become increasingly about individually powerful cards. Purely synergistic decks tend to fall apart in the format. Menfolk is perhaps the main example, but arguably, most of their cards are fairly relevant in their own. Most other 'synergy' is better described as combo.
I would suggest that Piledriver and Rabblemaster are the best thing Modern Goblins has going for it and the power of the deck will rely on whether or not they perform well. IMHO, if Piledriver is good, you won't have to work very hard to make him good. Hence using a Burn shell, which already uses Goblin Guids. Conveniently, stuff like Legion Loyalist gets value early as well as late in such a shell. I certainly don't think we have to go as deep as Chieftain (which will often just be a Gray Ogre) or low impact token producers which are a pretty feel bad topdeck.
If it is just a sub-par version of Burn, then I am not that optimistic about Piledriver's role in modern.
I don't think a Grenade is a good reason to play anything. We've had a fair number of sacrifice a creature as part of the casting cost type spells, and they generally don't perform well over the long term. Goblin Grenade might be the best of the lot, but it still suffers from the flaws of inconsistency. Inconsistency is why cards like Vexing Devil do not work.
I don't think that a full on tribal approach is going to be the key to success. Modern (similar to Standard) has become increasingly about individually powerful cards. Purely synergistic decks tend to fall apart in the format. Menfolk is perhaps the main example, but arguably, most of their cards are fairly relevant in their own. Most other 'synergy' is better described as combo.
I would suggest that Piledriver and Rabblemaster are the best thing Modern Goblins has going for it and the power of the deck will rely on whether or not they perform well. IMHO, if Piledriver is good, you won't have to work very hard to make him good. Hence using a Burn shell, which already uses Goblin Guids. Conveniently, stuff like Legion Loyalist gets value early as well as late in such a shell. I certainly don't think we have to go as deep as Chieftain (which will often just be a Gray Ogre) or low impact token producers which are a pretty feel bad topdeck.
If it is just a sub-par version of Burn, then I am not that optimistic about Piledriver's role in modern.
No need to get passive aggressive regarding our criticism and discounting an entire deck archetype that hasn't even had one of its biggest boons released yet outside of pre-release events.
It's just we've been down the "let's add goblins to a burn deck" discussion before and all that happens is we get a deck that has an identity crisis and doesn't know if it's a burn deck or a goblins deck. Besides, I've gone into so many games where my opponent sideboards thinking either I'm running burn or that goblins works like burn. What often happens is my opponent brings in their burn hate and they end up losing the match because they expected and played to counter the nature of burn (Dragon Claw and Leyline of Sanctity instantly come to mind). In my honest opinion, by trying to be more like burn we're playing right into the hands of most post-sideboard players and we lose that advantage of operating differently than traditional burn.
Regarding Piledriver's role in modern, we know it was an undisputed powerhouse during Onslaught-era through results and that's what we've been based on here in this Modern Goblins community - testing. Every new card that's shown promise since our advent in 2013 (I was a lurker at that time until 2014) has had months/considerable amounts of testing by this community before we made general assumptions about them. Until we've done the necessary testing on Goblin Pildriver I believe making scathing comments such as that "its role in modern is dubious" shouldn't be made. The results from Onslaught-era has labeled Piledriver "unfair" and "one of the best cards ever" (source: gatherer) and only time and testing will tell if times have changed too much or if it's just as deadly with what Modern Goblins has to offer.
What I'm saying is that the rest of the Goblins except for Guide and Rabblemaster (the latter a little slow) are pretty terrible. Legacy has the benefit of surrounding Piledriver with some really solid role players. I suppose you read me as being passive aggressive, but more of an observation after some theory crafting. Perhaps I'm just not being overly optimistic about the full-on tribal approach. You guys want to make Goblins work? I think using a burn structured build is the best approach. If you want to continue to run trap cards and go down the rabbit hole of tribal synergies be my guest. Just figured I'd throw some builds out there for people to consider.
Goblin Grenade is the reason to play Goblins in modern. The more you play Goblins - the more you will see how it closes games for us like no other card can (Bushwhacker is the next closest).
If burn players had access to a card that was R and said "sacrifice a creature - deal 5 damage to target player" - I don't think there's any question that most of them would run it. Hell, most aggro decks would try to figure out how to fit R into their deck.
Fireblast is 1 less damage and I'd say it's a more risky play than Grenade. It sees play in Goblins/Burn decks in both format it's legal (Legacy and Pauper).
Shard Volley is another card that is a "sac for damage" card that sees play in Modern and Pauper.
Fling saw a lot of early Modern/Pauper Affinity play - and still pops up now and then.
And note: Pauper and Legacy have A LOT more counterspell heavy decks than modern. So it's even more risk in those formats.
I've said it before but I'll repeat it once more. To me - Goblins should not be focusing on being burn. It should not be focusing on being Mid-Range either. There's just no reason to play Goblins burn over real burn. And there's no reason to play Goblins Mid-Range over one of the tier 1-2 mid-range decks in modern (except $). The reason to play Goblins is it can be tuned to be the fastest aggro deck in modern (infect can be as fast but is more or less a combo deck.) If that wasn't a viable strategy to me - I would not be playing Goblins.
To be perfectly honest its good what you are doing. Suggestions are always good for a developing deck that goblins is and it should have all angles covered.
I do however, think you are very wrong when it comes to goblin grenade. It is the only reason to even play goblins in modern. I have won off the top deck of a goblin grenade so many times I have lost count. I even stopped playing gobo grenade for awhile, tested out more creatures, than did a burn version similar to yours...and I felt like the deck was weakened because of it.
MedRage pretty much summed it up when it comes to that card so I don't need to go any further.
No one needs to say to someone else that your idea is bad, that is not how you build a community. ALL ideas are welcome.
Also we had this brought up before but very little discussion into it. Collateral Damage seems like a solid testing card. Another burn spell that deals a lot of damage at INSTANT speed, while taking out another one of our many goblins on the board. What do you guys think?
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Modern: B 8Rack RX Goblins BG Elves (Attempting) UBW Mill G Stompy UB Tezzerator
Legacy: W Stax
Also we had this brought up before but very little discussion into it. Collateral Damage seems like a solid testing card. Another burn spell that deals a lot of damage at INSTANT speed, while taking out another one of our many goblins on the board. What do you guys think?
It's fine, but there are just better options. Why run it over Lightning Bolt or Goblin Grenade? It's a cool spell that there just isn't room for in this deck. It sees standard play as a way of countering Bile Blight from board wiping you. There aren't spells like that seeing play in Modern, unless people start running Echoing Decay.
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One of these day I have to get myself organizized.
Also we had this brought up before but very little discussion into it. Collateral Damage seems like a solid testing card. Another burn spell that deals a lot of damage at INSTANT speed, while taking out another one of our many goblins on the board. What do you guys think?
I plan to run it in my standard Goblins build; but not much of a fan of it in modern especially in a deck also running Grenade.
To my understanding, we've drawn the conclusion that Goblin Chieftain is a heavy investment for our gameplan at 3 CMC and its board presence can be removed very easily which can likely result in making our turn 3 play practically nonexistent. Goblin Bushwhacker and Shared Animosity are similar in what Chieftain does but are more favorable because of special circumstances. For example, Goblin Bushwhacker's kicker ETB ability is costed at 2 CMC and is still in effect even if bushwhacker is the target of removal meaning it still creates a substantial board present for 2 CMC even when targeted by removal. While Shared Animosity is costed at 3 CMC, it is an enchantment and can't be dealt by creature removal which in comparison is much more common than enchantment removal (Red and Black have virtually no enchantment removal) and therefore its board presence is harder to get rid of.
Additionally, we've found success in what has been dubbed the no-lords build introduced to us by hellakevin. It focuses on removing 3+ CMC creatures and focuses more on the use of 1-2CMC creatures. With the recent reprinting of the 2CMC Goblin Piledriver this strategy is even more viable and shows much promise for the no-lords build and the future of Modern Goblins.
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Searing Blaze
4 Atarka's Command
4 Collected Company
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Stomping Ground
4 Wooded Foothills
6 Mountain
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Rending Volley
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Searing Blood
2 Molten Rain
Basically, don't bother with the lower impact goblins and tribal synergies. Piledriver + Guide/Loyalist/Rabblemaster is plenty good enough. The rest can be a burn deck. Collected Company might be a stretch on mana and creature count, but seemed too good to pass up. Atarka's Command is perfect however.
Try with white splash for Boros Charm and Path in the side also seems good:
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
3 Boros Charm
4 Atarka's Command
4 Collected Company
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Arid Mesa
3 Stomping Ground
2 Sacred Foundry
4 Wooded Foothills
5 Mountain
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Path to Exile
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Searing Blaze
2 Molten Rain
Double striking either a Piledriver or Rabblemaster is probably cute, but the indestructible could be relevant aswell vs sweepers. Doming for 4 is always relevant.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
You're missing Goblin Grenade.
Follow the link for nice cheap clothing.
Playing:
Death's Shadow Jund
Played:
Kiki Chord, Zoo variants, Goblins, Burn
I would consider removing CoCo to add 4 Goblin Grenades, and you're good to go!
3 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Guide
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Rabblemaster
Spells
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Boros Charm
4 Atarka's Command
3 Searing Blaze
4 Bloodstained Mire
4 Arid Mesa
3 Stomping Ground
3 Sacred Foundry
4 Wooded Foothills
3 Mountain
2 Relic of Progenitus
3 Path to Exile
2 Smash to Smithereens
3 Destructive Revelry
3 Kor Firewalker
2 Molten Rain
Not sure if this is just a sub-optimal Burn deck.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
Goblin grenade is an amazing top deck late game. Many times green match ups end up with them having a board we can't swing through and at low life total, and I'm in chump block mode looking for burn spells. IMO grenade is the card that swings the mu vs tarmo decks in our favor.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
You don't use it to sligh through blockers, you aim it at the face. in games where you have no board and nothing to sac everything is a bad top deck if they aren't in burn range. Grenade is ~50/50 to be live next draw step and kill them if they are in burn range.
Furthermore, if it's just a Lava Axe, I think running a more reliable and flexible Boros Charm is higher EV.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
As someone who has played Burn for a long time in a variety of formats, I'm gonna go with "Yes it is.". Grenade is honestly one of the reasons to play Goblins. Burn has a ton of spells that all deal 3 or 4. Goblins has a lot more creatures (this build has anywhere from 9-11 more creatures than typical Modern Burn decks do) in it and while the synergy or more guys and Atarka's Command is big, most games have lots of spots you can bait out a counter w/another spell and then drop a grenade. With no token creators besides Rabblemaster, you only have 15 actual Goblins in the deck.
I actually think the best build of Goblins is mono red and some combat tricks on top of Bolt and Grenade. Chieftain is the only lord I have in the build at the moment, but I do like the idea of the Moon King plan. Probably something I would board into tho. I also like the idea of maybe board out the combat tricks while they bring in things like Dispel and then drop Shared Animosity into the deck. Your plan still stays "Get em dead, real fast.", but you definitely get some angles that would be unexpected. I wouldn't be against the green splash for Command and SB Revelry or White for Boros Charm and SB potential, but I do like consistency. Then again, I ran mono red at the pre-release for Origins yesterday and I didn't even pull a Piledriver. Boo! Got 15th out of about 80 people tho, so got an extra 6 packs for my time.
PS pretty sure I already posted the list I'm talking about previously in this thread. Goldfishes T4 solidly and T3 is not uncommon.
I don't think that a full on tribal approach is going to be the key to success. Modern (similar to Standard) has become increasingly about individually powerful cards. Purely synergistic decks tend to fall apart in the format. Menfolk is perhaps the main example, but arguably, most of their cards are fairly relevant in their own. Most other 'synergy' is better described as combo.
I would suggest that Piledriver and Rabblemaster are the best thing Modern Goblins has going for it and the power of the deck will rely on whether or not they perform well. IMHO, if Piledriver is good, you won't have to work very hard to make him good. Hence using a Burn shell, which already uses Goblin Guids. Conveniently, stuff like Legion Loyalist gets value early as well as late in such a shell. I certainly don't think we have to go as deep as Chieftain (which will often just be a Gray Ogre) or low impact token producers which are a pretty feel bad topdeck.
If it is just a sub-par version of Burn, then I am not that optimistic about Piledriver's role in modern.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
No need to get passive aggressive regarding our criticism and discounting an entire deck archetype that hasn't even had one of its biggest boons released yet outside of pre-release events.
It's just we've been down the "let's add goblins to a burn deck" discussion before and all that happens is we get a deck that has an identity crisis and doesn't know if it's a burn deck or a goblins deck. Besides, I've gone into so many games where my opponent sideboards thinking either I'm running burn or that goblins works like burn. What often happens is my opponent brings in their burn hate and they end up losing the match because they expected and played to counter the nature of burn (Dragon Claw and Leyline of Sanctity instantly come to mind). In my honest opinion, by trying to be more like burn we're playing right into the hands of most post-sideboard players and we lose that advantage of operating differently than traditional burn.
Regarding Piledriver's role in modern, we know it was an undisputed powerhouse during Onslaught-era through results and that's what we've been based on here in this Modern Goblins community - testing. Every new card that's shown promise since our advent in 2013 (I was a lurker at that time until 2014) has had months/considerable amounts of testing by this community before we made general assumptions about them. Until we've done the necessary testing on Goblin Pildriver I believe making scathing comments such as that "its role in modern is dubious" shouldn't be made. The results from Onslaught-era has labeled Piledriver "unfair" and "one of the best cards ever" (source: gatherer) and only time and testing will tell if times have changed too much or if it's just as deadly with what Modern Goblins has to offer.
Modern: R Skred -- WBG Melira Co -- URW Nahiri Control
Legacy: R Mono Red Burn -- UWB Stoneblade
Commander: R Krenko, Mob Boss -- WUBRG Scion of the Ur-Dragon -- WUBRG Maze’s End
Other: R No Rares Red (Standard) -- URC Izzet Tron (Pauper)
If burn players had access to a card that was R and said "sacrifice a creature - deal 5 damage to target player" - I don't think there's any question that most of them would run it. Hell, most aggro decks would try to figure out how to fit R into their deck.
Fireblast is 1 less damage and I'd say it's a more risky play than Grenade. It sees play in Goblins/Burn decks in both format it's legal (Legacy and Pauper).
Shard Volley is another card that is a "sac for damage" card that sees play in Modern and Pauper.
Fling saw a lot of early Modern/Pauper Affinity play - and still pops up now and then.
And note: Pauper and Legacy have A LOT more counterspell heavy decks than modern. So it's even more risk in those formats.
I've said it before but I'll repeat it once more. To me - Goblins should not be focusing on being burn. It should not be focusing on being Mid-Range either. There's just no reason to play Goblins burn over real burn. And there's no reason to play Goblins Mid-Range over one of the tier 1-2 mid-range decks in modern (except $). The reason to play Goblins is it can be tuned to be the fastest aggro deck in modern (infect can be as fast but is more or less a combo deck.) If that wasn't a viable strategy to me - I would not be playing Goblins.
I do however, think you are very wrong when it comes to goblin grenade. It is the only reason to even play goblins in modern. I have won off the top deck of a goblin grenade so many times I have lost count. I even stopped playing gobo grenade for awhile, tested out more creatures, than did a burn version similar to yours...and I felt like the deck was weakened because of it.
MedRage pretty much summed it up when it comes to that card so I don't need to go any further.
No one needs to say to someone else that your idea is bad, that is not how you build a community. ALL ideas are welcome.
Also we had this brought up before but very little discussion into it. Collateral Damage seems like a solid testing card. Another burn spell that deals a lot of damage at INSTANT speed, while taking out another one of our many goblins on the board. What do you guys think?
Modern:
B 8Rack
RX Goblins
BG Elves (Attempting)
UBW Mill
G Stompy
UB Tezzerator
Legacy:
W Stax
It's fine, but there are just better options. Why run it over Lightning Bolt or Goblin Grenade? It's a cool spell that there just isn't room for in this deck. It sees standard play as a way of countering Bile Blight from board wiping you. There aren't spells like that seeing play in Modern, unless people start running Echoing Decay.
I plan to run it in my standard Goblins build; but not much of a fan of it in modern especially in a deck also running Grenade.
Beyond Lightning Bolt, Goblin Grenade, and Atarka's Command (if splashing green) - I would only go with another non-creature if it a) made goblins. or... b) was free. or c) was Shared Animosity/Goblin Assault (in the right build)
There's 2 spells that I'm aware of that are free that deal damage. 1) Gut Shot. 2) Mutagenic Growth.
In my current mono-red "built for pure speed" build - I have 4X Mutagenic Growth.
It:
In a non-tokens build, my opinion is it should go:
1. Goblin Grenade
2. Lightning Bolt
Both are staples.
Then some kind of combo of: Atarka's Command, Krenko's Command, Mutagenic Growth, Shared Animosity or Simian Spirit Guide.
Depends on the build.