So the more I've been playing with firebrand the more I think he's better than fanatic for the way my deck is built. It feels really good to have so many guys with haste. It feels like I'm not behind removal or sweepers because I'm back in the red zone so quickly.
Do not allow for the opponent to fill his/her board. Keep beating and making them block your gobbos. If one of their high value creatures dies killing a lowly goblin, that is good. It's like taking out a rook with a pawn. Keep a bolt or two for the lifegain guys and you've got it. I have won against several GW decks by confusing the opponent until he/she makes mistakes. Attacking with a guide, loyalist and fanatic, having him block my valuable loyalist and then, after first strike, exploding fanatic, killing the other guy and saving the loyalist. That is why I told you that fanatic is WAAAAAAAAAAY better than firebrand, due to those little advantages it creates in the field thanks to attacking and then exploding.
The answer for improving the Goblin deck is not just adding more cards. Trying to turn a Tier 3 deck into a Tier 1 just by putting cards to see which one is cool is not the answer, like with Savage Alliance or that sword, which will only be playable by t3, and usable by t4. And if the gobbo dies you are screwed. The answer is, from my point of view, playing better. From my point of view, the difference between a good Goblin player and an expert Goblin player is OUTSMARTING the opponent.
The only deck I see nearly unbeatable is Soul Sisters, due to high creature count, guys with protection and plenty of lifegain. All other decks can be beaten. The only way to defeat Soul Sisters is by playing a permanent anti-lifegain card and by praying they don't draw enchantment removal.
PD: I am preparing a list of all the combat tricks, bluffs and techniques I use when I play with my Atarka Sexy Goblins deck. I'm still learning and I am far from an expert, but these tricks have proven useful to me.
None of what you're saying is outsmarting anyone. You are basically saying, "don't make unprofitable attacks" which isn't a trick; it's just on board information. You're tricks you give in a later post are, again, "just don't attack into a block." Both players have access to creature's P/T information, and nobody with a cursory understanding of the game is benefiting from your advice. Jayhooks is trying to have a conversation about sideboarding, and you're stifling conversation by demanding that he take your advice to just be better. The majority of games of magic played have been post sideboard, and adding cards is the answer for improving any MU. That is an undeniable fact.
I've been through gatherer countless times, scouring the modern card pool, for any card I think can address a need, and I passed fireslinger over time and time again. After having tried it, though, it is by far my most sideboarded card. If I had conceded to the fact that I could only improve bad MUs by being better I'd have never found a card that has vastly improved my deck.
@hellakevin - thanks for the response. I have to agree, control has felt virtually unloseable, im like 8-0 in games vs UW. I imagine Jeskai to be harder, but I haven't come across it yet. Combo has seemingly been about the same, I feel way faster then them.
It is also my experience so far that the GWx decks, Coco, or just GW value are the hardest. Sounds like you've come to a similar conclusion as I have; we aren't effective at being the beatdown there. I've been trying to figure out a way to give up the role entirely, but I think it's important to keep up the facade. I find I'll punch through around 10 damage, then the board stalls and they slowly gain life and don't bother to attack and I feel dead from about turn 4 on, but in reality the game goes on until like turn 10, and I usually end up on about 4 or 5 lands with a real wide board. Often Magmatic chasm isn't good enough in these scenarios because they've gained too much life, or thier birds or whatever other random fliers aren't affected. This is why I was looking into Savage Alliance. They don't expect us to run sweepers, so they don't pace threats. There isn't a red wrath of God, but I think of there was it would be good enough for this matchup because we can empty our hand so quickly and probably kill in 2-3 turns after sweeping. I don't hate MrCojonudo's suggestion of banners raised here, but I think it's similar to electrickery, except electrickery type effects are going to be more effective at one sided sweeping without needing to be combined with first strike from something like legion loyalist.
I think it's important to sill be the beatdown deck. The trick is just figuring out how to get the last points through before they gain too much or infinite life. I don't think it's a MU worth sideboarding for. IMO it's better to piece together a plan with what we're running than to dedicate SB slots to it. In a mono red deck I think skullcrack is a card you should have. It plays well into finishing them with burn and stopping at least a little life. Also I forgot to mention I have harsh mentor in my SB and will bring that in for the sake of stopping them from any infinite combo, but it's not good against most of what they're doing unless they're heavy on things like tireless tracker or scooze. That's something you could try that's good in other places. I think you mentioned you're on 3/3 split of fanatics and firebrand, with that many sac effects(Mogg War Marshal as well) you could swing some lavamancers in your SB as a way to get around a gummed up board too.
[quote]So again, I'll offer up the question to everyone here. What is our worst matchup(s) and how do you board, both on the play and on the draw?
I don't think the other guy is right about control and combo being worst MUs. Control is pretty free unless you flood or play a bunch of guys without haste into a sweeper. Combo is tougher, but SB options(eidolon) are really good and make it more even.
I think the actual worst MU are the CoCo + finks decks for obvious reasons. It's hard to be faster than CoCo because if you bolt bird they finks turn three, and if you don't they CoCo turn three. Good news is those decks are down right now. I used to play rain of gore, but have since switched to hoping to dodge the MU or nut draw them. This is a MU I bring in fireslingers instead of a haste guy who will just run into a 2/2. I keep one cage in my SB, and bring that in for CoCo. Sometimes I play one Gruul charm, and will bring that in for the 'Magmatic Chasm' mode.
The other MU that I consistently find hard is other tribal decks that focus on creatures and lords to make them bigger; think merfolk, elves, and though I haven't played it the humans deck. Usually by turn 3 or 4 when we want to win attacking their guys are all bigger and just eat our board. For this MU I just hope to have a fast hand or a hand with mostly burn spells, and rely less on guys attacking. This is another fireslinger MU. I also bring in my 'Magmatic Chasm' effect, but keep it at that. Don't worry about killing vial, vial hands are slower for them and usually wins. I wouldn't bring in X/1 hate besides against elves where their first guy will be an X/1 dork.
Runes wouldn't fit into my build with fetches and shocks. Maybe one, but I doubt that one would do any good in a 19 land deck with fetches. I can see, however, 4 in a 20 land deck making an impact often enough to run them. I say ignore what anyone is saying about convention since you won't die to them in most MU in a game in which you wouldn't die anyways. If they didn't work the standard deck wouldn't play them.
It's a good summary. One thing that might have been overlooked is how much better a play like t1 denizen into t2 firebrand + other haste creature, especially on the play. Looking at swinging in for between 5-6 on turn 2 before they get to drop a 2 drop that will die to your untapped firebrand next turn (pyromancer, Bob, desperation snap, thalia etc.),
Do you consider Reckless Bushwacker to be a 'lord' I didn't see any in your list, but I think it's pretty good, especially if we are looking at adding additional 1drops.
I think the two are so close that the question shouldn't be which one or there other, but how many do we want? Obviously 4 is standard, which leaves me to believe that 5 is probably correct as well, and why not 6 or 7,8 etc.
In the primer I write about why I'm not playing the new bushwhacker. Essentially I like the higher floor on boros charm/atarka's command. I've found that the direct damage spells more often result in more damage, and diversify my angles of attack. I feel like with 8 whacks the game is to telegraphed and easier to plan for and play against.
I'm very conflicted! On one hand, I like how Fanatical Firebrand has haste and makes for a fun turn 1 drop. However, I do like Mogg Fanatic's ability to swing and sac at the same turn.
I think others have it right, though; this is probably strongest when played alongside Mogg Fanatics rather than instead of them. And, yes, the No Lords build run Raging Goblins in the main, and this is a strict upgrade for them!
I'll definitely be playing with these guys when ROI drops.
Do you have a link or could you post one of these 'no lord' lists?
I'm conflicted as well, but I've been trying to recall the times when it is necessary to attack with Fanatic and Sac him in the same turn cycle, and I honestly don't think it's that often. Other than needing to deal the last point of damage to the opponent or to a creature, I can't think of much else. One of my favourite plays is to kill one of my own creatures that is being blocked by a lifelinker, but in that case you are saccing before damage is dealt anyways so it's the same as not attacking really. Matters on blocks though I suppose, but generally speaking if it gets to the point where we need to block we probably aren't winning anyways.
Since it's been a while since I last played goblins, I would like some thoughts on the sideboard. Is there anything I've overlooked? Do we actually need graveyard hate in the current meta or can we do without? I can see Gruul Charm become either Blood Moon or Kari Zev's expertise. I'll be sure to write a small report when I get back.
Glad to see some people are still playing my list. Right now I think you want eidolon in the board instead of thalia. Thalia was in there for combo decks, but the combo deck to beat right now is storm and eidolon is just much better against storm than thalia. I really did love grull charm, but I don't think bringing in more than one is right. I think you probably want a third eidolon or thalia because of storm's prevalence as a top deck. I like kari zev, but I think you should probably be playing off the top of your deck by the time your opponent is going to cast a creature you want to steal. I think deflecting palm would accomplish the same thing as kari zev, turning a big creature around for a turn, with more surprise factor.
The reason I'v moved away from piledriver completely is because he is boltable. The whole theory I developed the No-Lords list with was that I would be the goblins deck that's good against bolt, and he doesn't fit that philosophy. The most important turns for my deck are turns two and three, and putting a piledriver out on turn two, and have him be bolted, eats the whole turn two at a tempo loss resulting in no damage done to our opponents. It's true that when he doesn't die he takes over games, but the fact is that so does forcing our opponents to play at our extreme tempo especially if they aren't playing removal. I even took him out of the board because I found myself only bringing him in against merfolk, and otherwise he was just underwhelming.
Quick Tuesday night tournament report with the list I posed a few pages back running the raging goblins. The more I play the deck like this the more I love the changes I made. It runs so smoothly, and way less hands look like mulligans.
Round one- Bant eldrazi. Game one on the play I ran him over pretty hard. Killing the mana dorks delayed him too long to do anything with the reality smasher he had. Game two on the draw was close. I got him to 7 with grenade, but had to use it to kill reality smasher. We were both out of gas at that point and his matter reshaper hit the board a turn before my vexing devil, and got me down. My last topdeck wasn't the burn spell I neeeded to win. Game three, on the play, I keep a one land hand with FSD, fanatic, and two grenades. I play FSD then on the second turn fanatic his bird. I draw my second land on the third turn, and get him to a position where turn four I can grenade him twice for the win. He revealed that if I hadn't killed bird he had turn three smasher with two more in hand, but I had him on the back foot enough that they didn't even come down before I won.
Round two- Mono white eqipment; this deck is really quick with the kor eqip guys and cranial/swords. Game one he mulled to 4, and it was a non game. Game two I mulled to five, but controlled his board with lavamancer. I lost to a misplay when I elected to go to 9 poison to kill one of his kors instead of his third poison nexus, and post combat he dropped his 4th one with me haveing only one lavmancer activation available the next turn. I dropped him to 1 my last turn, but was just short. Game three on the play. he didn't have a turn one play and I got way ahead with FSD, guide, loyalist. I sealed the game with a shattering spree that put him too far behind to fight back effectively.
Round three- GR tron. Without much interaction I ran him over, on the play, game one. Game two I had a really burn heavy hand with two atarka's and fanatic to fog wurm if he had that. He kept a natural tron hand with kozilecks return, but no threat. he couldn't find one before I just burned him out with grenades and commands.
Round four- Burn. We drew intentionally in the last round, but played it out. Both games I just went faster than him with grenades. The burn MU is very heavily favored towards me.
EDIT #2: Has anyone tried splashing black for Spike Jester main and Thoughtseize/Inquisition of Kozilek side? I haven't seen anyone do that but it could be an interesting build. It'd also provide better access to something like dismember (not that we need it).
I love atarka's command, but I don't think you can play both it and all the bushwhackers mainboard. It's just too much of the same effect without the enablers, and leads to too many clunker hands. The best SB card you can get with green is gruul charm. I recently put it in my board and it has over-performed my expectations by far. Every time I see it it's great, and I think it's the SB card I was looking for for so long to fight against junk decks. Just monday I beat a tooth and nail player who cast a turn two baloth, and backed it up with a turn 4 hornet queen; no goblin grenade shenanigans, I won in combat because I was able to answer all the deathtouch guys with the charm. The instant speed is also a huge bonus. I got a junk player super hard by swinging into his board of a couple big goyfs and souls tokens because he let my legion loyalist trigger, and I was able to cast gruul charm before blocks.
Thoughts on Echoing Ruin over Smash to Smithereens in the SB? No damage, but still plays around Chalice and can occasionally take down multiple artifacts vs Affinity.
I'm sort of tempted to replace my 3x StS with 2x Shattering Blow and 1 ER, but I'm not sure giving up the collateral damage is correct.
I think if you want artifact removal that isn't doing damage you want shattering spree. you can hit two of the same thing, and really what are the odds of them getting more than two, or two different things for the same two mana.
An other example, against Burn, I would like to do : In : +2 Lightning Helix +1 Blood Moon and Out : -2 Mogg Fanatic -1 Frenzied Goblin.
Lightning Helix permit to burn your opponent with some lifegain and Blood Moon deals with their mana base (but not too much, like for Tron, that's why just 1 Blood Moon seems enough, if you've got it that's better for you but all your game plan is not based on this card, unlike Tron).
Gus
You wouldn't want to do this because if you play blood moon now you can't play lightning helix or boros charm.
the idea of playing boros charm sounds great to me, I just don't know if it's worth the manabase concessions you have to make. I know other people have tried it, but it never picks up steam for some reason. give it a try and let us know if it feels better than command or if your mana kills you!
I’m Jund player but I’ve always been in love with Goblins and their unique style.
I’ve read the different kinds of decks and I’m surprised to not see the No-Lord version with splash W for great sideboard cards like Stony Silence or Rest In Peace or with Boros Charm in MD to finish your opponent / protect your board from sweepers.
I'd love to play with MB boros charm, in fact I think it's probably better than atarka's command. The problem with white that I've always found was the lack of a fast land. You're either playing with ETB tapped lands some percent of the time with clifftop retreat, or dealing yourself A TON of damage with fetches, shocks, and battlefield forge. Also while those SB cards are great they are counterproductive to goblins gameplan of being the aggro deck. You need to be really sure RIP or stony is going to win you the game if you are going to present a deck with it.
Here's a super later SCG states tournament report I have been too busy to write until today. I included the reddit link too if you want to read it there.
so a little while back I took consecutive weekends to bring my [No-Lords](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/) list to SCG states in MN and then the SCG open in Milwaukee, and since this sub is moving a little slowly lately I figured I'd take the opportunity to write up a report.
Before I start I've fielded a lot of questions about how my deck compares to 8-whack, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to give my reason for playing my build with atarka's command over the new bushwhacker. I think 8-whack is a very fast and powerful deck. I've played it with my deck and it always puts me on the back foot. It's also a great way to get into modern and goblins for players on a budget. There are three main reasons why I've decided to stick with my No-Lords build, besides obvious personal bias =P, rather than switch to 8-whack after having tried both. The first reason is the weakness to sweepers inherent in playing a deck with more creatures. I've won games where my opponent casts two pyroclasm/anger of the gods, and that's just something I cant see 8-whack doing. The second reason is atarka's command being instant speed. There are a lot more blue decks out there now, and being able to force action on their turn gives me more options in a game in which they're trying to take options away, and opens up more sorcery speed plays. Finally playing with command just lets me play a game as a burn deck, and sometimes that's a winning proposition where playing a creature deck isn't; for example, against creature decks that get just a little bigger like elves or big zoo.
**SCG states**
**Round 1**- Storm, Win 2-0.
I was on the play game one, and just ran him over faster than he could combo off. he helped me out with his lands, and didn't stand too much of a chance on the draw. Game two I started with a guide and got him for two; then on his turn two he went rit, rit, rit, rit, empy the warrens for 10. Yikes. I traded guide for two tokens, and the rest of my hand was 2 bolts, grenade, and some goblins. I resolved the bolts and had him at 8 with one draw step left. I found the atarka's command I needed to pair with the grenade for the win the turn before I was dead to tokens.
**Round 2**- Jeskai delver, win 2-0.
Game one he played a delver which I killed with a fanatic. The rest of the game he couldn't find a threat to stick, and he couldn't hide behind his interaction forever. Game two he kept a hand based on it having izzet staticaster, but he missed his land drop turn three and four and wasn't able to recover.
**Round 3**- Jeskai control, win 2-1.
Game one I ran him over. It's tough preboard for jeskai to beat me with as much burn is in my deck. Game two he stabilized and beat me down with resto angel before I got enough burn spells in my mand to finish him off. Game three I ran him over on the play and he didn't see his cheap interaction fast enough to stop me.
**Round 4**- Ad Nauseum, loss 2-1.
Game one I ran him over with 3 FSD on the first two turns followed up by a bushwhacker. It would have been a turn three kill, but he stalled the game a few turns with angel's grace. he couldn't find ad nauseum to win though. Game two I had to mull to 5 and was one card short of winning on turn three or at least forcing out his angel's grace so he couldn't combo me his turn four. He untapped and had it. Game three I mull to 6 again. My hand it alright, but he has a sideboard darkness into phyrexian unlife to stall me three extra turns and buy him time to win.
**Round 5**- Burn, win 2-1.
Not too much to see here. This is a very easy MU, and I only dropped a game, on the draw, to double eidolon. I couldn't get on the board without killing myself which is about the only scenario I don't win from.
**Round 6**- Junk/Jund, loss 2-0.
At 4-1, with 7 rounds, this match was a win-and-in to top-8 for me because the adnaus player was undefeated. This guy's deck was more like jund with bolts and bob, but he was splashing white for souls and rhino. He played bob at 9 life, and I elected to unload the burn in my hand and hope bob killed him. I swear this guy is the luckiest guy on the planet. At three life, with me having a mogg fanatic on board, he flipped 4 lands in a row while I only drew creatures that couldn't get through his wall of lingering souls tokens! His last turn he flipped a bolt to push through his team and end the game at one life. Game two he had a big wall of guys thinking he was safe, but my sideboard gruul charm let me get in a big hit and put him to 3 with atarka's command in hand and mogg fanatic on board again. His courser showed him a card that wouldn't save him so he shuffled with a fetch, and the card he found was IoK to take my command. I couldn't draw a grenade or another relevant burn spell before courser and rhinos ran away with the game.
**Round 7**- Big Zoo, loss 2-0.
I thought maybe I had an outside chance at making top-8 if I won this match if all the X-1 players played, but table two was also able to draw so I was realistically playing for 9th or 10th place. Game one I mull, but kept a 6 card hand with FSD, guide, devil, grenade, grenade, one land. I got on him really fast and had him in grenade range with the help of his manabase. I never drew my second land though to be able to play a blocker and grenade in the same turn, and died to a big knight and goyfs only being able to play chump blockers. Game two I had to mull again, and kept a hand that needed way too much help to win. After the first game, and the previos match, I had checked out though.
**Summary** I finished 21st out of ~110 players, and had the best 4-3 record of the field. I got off to a really strong start, but puttered out at the end of the tournament. I think I played pretty well. The only questionable decision was against junk/jund: maybe I should have bolted bob and tried to win on the ground, but I think counting on him to flip two damage was probably a better plan that just didn't work out. I was also happy with my SB. I didn't bring in piledriver besides against storm, but I want him in there regardless of how much I needed him that day. I don't think I need the surgical anymore. I also think people have gotten away from kor firewalker enough to justify cutting one reality hemmorage.
**Bonus report**- I also played in the SCG open in Milwaukee the week after. I started 2-0 then dropped four matches in a row, three of them to titanshift. I think I have a good MU against titanshift(beat it easily round in 1), but I swear my deck only wanted to give me the slow half of the deck(the moggs) that weekend.
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/
None of what you're saying is outsmarting anyone. You are basically saying, "don't make unprofitable attacks" which isn't a trick; it's just on board information. You're tricks you give in a later post are, again, "just don't attack into a block." Both players have access to creature's P/T information, and nobody with a cursory understanding of the game is benefiting from your advice. Jayhooks is trying to have a conversation about sideboarding, and you're stifling conversation by demanding that he take your advice to just be better. The majority of games of magic played have been post sideboard, and adding cards is the answer for improving any MU. That is an undeniable fact.
I've been through gatherer countless times, scouring the modern card pool, for any card I think can address a need, and I passed fireslinger over time and time again. After having tried it, though, it is by far my most sideboarded card. If I had conceded to the fact that I could only improve bad MUs by being better I'd have never found a card that has vastly improved my deck.
I think it's important to sill be the beatdown deck. The trick is just figuring out how to get the last points through before they gain too much or infinite life. I don't think it's a MU worth sideboarding for. IMO it's better to piece together a plan with what we're running than to dedicate SB slots to it. In a mono red deck I think skullcrack is a card you should have. It plays well into finishing them with burn and stopping at least a little life. Also I forgot to mention I have harsh mentor in my SB and will bring that in for the sake of stopping them from any infinite combo, but it's not good against most of what they're doing unless they're heavy on things like tireless tracker or scooze. That's something you could try that's good in other places. I think you mentioned you're on 3/3 split of fanatics and firebrand, with that many sac effects(Mogg War Marshal as well) you could swing some lavamancers in your SB as a way to get around a gummed up board too.
I don't think the other guy is right about control and combo being worst MUs. Control is pretty free unless you flood or play a bunch of guys without haste into a sweeper. Combo is tougher, but SB options(eidolon) are really good and make it more even.
I think the actual worst MU are the CoCo + finks decks for obvious reasons. It's hard to be faster than CoCo because if you bolt bird they finks turn three, and if you don't they CoCo turn three. Good news is those decks are down right now. I used to play rain of gore, but have since switched to hoping to dodge the MU or nut draw them. This is a MU I bring in fireslingers instead of a haste guy who will just run into a 2/2. I keep one cage in my SB, and bring that in for CoCo. Sometimes I play one Gruul charm, and will bring that in for the 'Magmatic Chasm' mode.
The other MU that I consistently find hard is other tribal decks that focus on creatures and lords to make them bigger; think merfolk, elves, and though I haven't played it the humans deck. Usually by turn 3 or 4 when we want to win attacking their guys are all bigger and just eat our board. For this MU I just hope to have a fast hand or a hand with mostly burn spells, and rely less on guys attacking. This is another fireslinger MU. I also bring in my 'Magmatic Chasm' effect, but keep it at that. Don't worry about killing vial, vial hands are slower for them and usually wins. I wouldn't bring in X/1 hate besides against elves where their first guy will be an X/1 dork.
Runes wouldn't fit into my build with fetches and shocks. Maybe one, but I doubt that one would do any good in a 19 land deck with fetches. I can see, however, 4 in a 20 land deck making an impact often enough to run them. I say ignore what anyone is saying about convention since you won't die to them in most MU in a game in which you wouldn't die anyways. If they didn't work the standard deck wouldn't play them.
In the primer I write about why I'm not playing the new bushwhacker. Essentially I like the higher floor on boros charm/atarka's command. I've found that the direct damage spells more often result in more damage, and diversify my angles of attack. I feel like with 8 whacks the game is to telegraphed and easier to plan for and play against.
Here's my no-lords list. I'll be playing Fanatic Firebrand now instead of raging goblin obviously.
https://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/
Also I wrote a thing about exactly why I think Firebrand is better than Mogg Fanatic if you're only playing one or the other. https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinsMTG/comments/7o86f5/fanatic_mogg_or_monkey_a_write_up_i_did_about_if/
Glad to see some people are still playing my list. Right now I think you want eidolon in the board instead of thalia. Thalia was in there for combo decks, but the combo deck to beat right now is storm and eidolon is just much better against storm than thalia. I really did love grull charm, but I don't think bringing in more than one is right. I think you probably want a third eidolon or thalia because of storm's prevalence as a top deck. I like kari zev, but I think you should probably be playing off the top of your deck by the time your opponent is going to cast a creature you want to steal. I think deflecting palm would accomplish the same thing as kari zev, turning a big creature around for a turn, with more surprise factor.
Round one- Bant eldrazi. Game one on the play I ran him over pretty hard. Killing the mana dorks delayed him too long to do anything with the reality smasher he had. Game two on the draw was close. I got him to 7 with grenade, but had to use it to kill reality smasher. We were both out of gas at that point and his matter reshaper hit the board a turn before my vexing devil, and got me down. My last topdeck wasn't the burn spell I neeeded to win. Game three, on the play, I keep a one land hand with FSD, fanatic, and two grenades. I play FSD then on the second turn fanatic his bird. I draw my second land on the third turn, and get him to a position where turn four I can grenade him twice for the win. He revealed that if I hadn't killed bird he had turn three smasher with two more in hand, but I had him on the back foot enough that they didn't even come down before I won.
Round two- Mono white eqipment; this deck is really quick with the kor eqip guys and cranial/swords. Game one he mulled to 4, and it was a non game. Game two I mulled to five, but controlled his board with lavamancer. I lost to a misplay when I elected to go to 9 poison to kill one of his kors instead of his third poison nexus, and post combat he dropped his 4th one with me haveing only one lavmancer activation available the next turn. I dropped him to 1 my last turn, but was just short. Game three on the play. he didn't have a turn one play and I got way ahead with FSD, guide, loyalist. I sealed the game with a shattering spree that put him too far behind to fight back effectively.
Round three- GR tron. Without much interaction I ran him over, on the play, game one. Game two I had a really burn heavy hand with two atarka's and fanatic to fog wurm if he had that. He kept a natural tron hand with kozilecks return, but no threat. he couldn't find one before I just burned him out with grenades and commands.
Round four- Burn. We drew intentionally in the last round, but played it out. Both games I just went faster than him with grenades. The burn MU is very heavily favored towards me.
Overall went 4-0. I love this list so much. It feels like I can't lose on the play. Posting the list so you don't have to go digging around. http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/
http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinsMTG/comments/4sp1jz/changing_the_core_of_nolords_goblins_also_a_whole/
I love atarka's command, but I don't think you can play both it and all the bushwhackers mainboard. It's just too much of the same effect without the enablers, and leads to too many clunker hands. The best SB card you can get with green is gruul charm. I recently put it in my board and it has over-performed my expectations by far. Every time I see it it's great, and I think it's the SB card I was looking for for so long to fight against junk decks. Just monday I beat a tooth and nail player who cast a turn two baloth, and backed it up with a turn 4 hornet queen; no goblin grenade shenanigans, I won in combat because I was able to answer all the deathtouch guys with the charm. The instant speed is also a huge bonus. I got a junk player super hard by swinging into his board of a couple big goyfs and souls tokens because he let my legion loyalist trigger, and I was able to cast gruul charm before blocks.
I think if you want artifact removal that isn't doing damage you want shattering spree. you can hit two of the same thing, and really what are the odds of them getting more than two, or two different things for the same two mana.
You wouldn't want to do this because if you play blood moon now you can't play lightning helix or boros charm.
the idea of playing boros charm sounds great to me, I just don't know if it's worth the manabase concessions you have to make. I know other people have tried it, but it never picks up steam for some reason. give it a try and let us know if it feels better than command or if your mana kills you!
I'd love to play with MB boros charm, in fact I think it's probably better than atarka's command. The problem with white that I've always found was the lack of a fast land. You're either playing with ETB tapped lands some percent of the time with clifftop retreat, or dealing yourself A TON of damage with fetches, shocks, and battlefield forge. Also while those SB cards are great they are counterproductive to goblins gameplan of being the aggro deck. You need to be really sure RIP or stony is going to win you the game if you are going to present a deck with it.
https://www.reddit.com/r/GoblinsMTG/comments/4lwfxd/super_late_scg_states_report/
so a little while back I took consecutive weekends to bring my [No-Lords](http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/no-lords-goblins/) list to SCG states in MN and then the SCG open in Milwaukee, and since this sub is moving a little slowly lately I figured I'd take the opportunity to write up a report.
Before I start I've fielded a lot of questions about how my deck compares to 8-whack, so I thought I'd take this opportunity to give my reason for playing my build with atarka's command over the new bushwhacker. I think 8-whack is a very fast and powerful deck. I've played it with my deck and it always puts me on the back foot. It's also a great way to get into modern and goblins for players on a budget. There are three main reasons why I've decided to stick with my No-Lords build, besides obvious personal bias =P, rather than switch to 8-whack after having tried both. The first reason is the weakness to sweepers inherent in playing a deck with more creatures. I've won games where my opponent casts two pyroclasm/anger of the gods, and that's just something I cant see 8-whack doing. The second reason is atarka's command being instant speed. There are a lot more blue decks out there now, and being able to force action on their turn gives me more options in a game in which they're trying to take options away, and opens up more sorcery speed plays. Finally playing with command just lets me play a game as a burn deck, and sometimes that's a winning proposition where playing a creature deck isn't; for example, against creature decks that get just a little bigger like elves or big zoo.
**SCG states**
**Round 1**- Storm, Win 2-0.
I was on the play game one, and just ran him over faster than he could combo off. he helped me out with his lands, and didn't stand too much of a chance on the draw. Game two I started with a guide and got him for two; then on his turn two he went rit, rit, rit, rit, empy the warrens for 10. Yikes. I traded guide for two tokens, and the rest of my hand was 2 bolts, grenade, and some goblins. I resolved the bolts and had him at 8 with one draw step left. I found the atarka's command I needed to pair with the grenade for the win the turn before I was dead to tokens.
**Round 2**- Jeskai delver, win 2-0.
Game one he played a delver which I killed with a fanatic. The rest of the game he couldn't find a threat to stick, and he couldn't hide behind his interaction forever. Game two he kept a hand based on it having izzet staticaster, but he missed his land drop turn three and four and wasn't able to recover.
**Round 3**- Jeskai control, win 2-1.
Game one I ran him over. It's tough preboard for jeskai to beat me with as much burn is in my deck. Game two he stabilized and beat me down with resto angel before I got enough burn spells in my mand to finish him off. Game three I ran him over on the play and he didn't see his cheap interaction fast enough to stop me.
**Round 4**- Ad Nauseum, loss 2-1.
Game one I ran him over with 3 FSD on the first two turns followed up by a bushwhacker. It would have been a turn three kill, but he stalled the game a few turns with angel's grace. he couldn't find ad nauseum to win though. Game two I had to mull to 5 and was one card short of winning on turn three or at least forcing out his angel's grace so he couldn't combo me his turn four. He untapped and had it. Game three I mull to 6 again. My hand it alright, but he has a sideboard darkness into phyrexian unlife to stall me three extra turns and buy him time to win.
**Round 5**- Burn, win 2-1.
Not too much to see here. This is a very easy MU, and I only dropped a game, on the draw, to double eidolon. I couldn't get on the board without killing myself which is about the only scenario I don't win from.
**Round 6**- Junk/Jund, loss 2-0.
At 4-1, with 7 rounds, this match was a win-and-in to top-8 for me because the adnaus player was undefeated. This guy's deck was more like jund with bolts and bob, but he was splashing white for souls and rhino. He played bob at 9 life, and I elected to unload the burn in my hand and hope bob killed him. I swear this guy is the luckiest guy on the planet. At three life, with me having a mogg fanatic on board, he flipped 4 lands in a row while I only drew creatures that couldn't get through his wall of lingering souls tokens! His last turn he flipped a bolt to push through his team and end the game at one life. Game two he had a big wall of guys thinking he was safe, but my sideboard gruul charm let me get in a big hit and put him to 3 with atarka's command in hand and mogg fanatic on board again. His courser showed him a card that wouldn't save him so he shuffled with a fetch, and the card he found was IoK to take my command. I couldn't draw a grenade or another relevant burn spell before courser and rhinos ran away with the game.
**Round 7**- Big Zoo, loss 2-0.
I thought maybe I had an outside chance at making top-8 if I won this match if all the X-1 players played, but table two was also able to draw so I was realistically playing for 9th or 10th place. Game one I mull, but kept a 6 card hand with FSD, guide, devil, grenade, grenade, one land. I got on him really fast and had him in grenade range with the help of his manabase. I never drew my second land though to be able to play a blocker and grenade in the same turn, and died to a big knight and goyfs only being able to play chump blockers. Game two I had to mull again, and kept a hand that needed way too much help to win. After the first game, and the previos match, I had checked out though.
**Summary** I finished 21st out of ~110 players, and had the best 4-3 record of the field. I got off to a really strong start, but puttered out at the end of the tournament. I think I played pretty well. The only questionable decision was against junk/jund: maybe I should have bolted bob and tried to win on the ground, but I think counting on him to flip two damage was probably a better plan that just didn't work out. I was also happy with my SB. I didn't bring in piledriver besides against storm, but I want him in there regardless of how much I needed him that day. I don't think I need the surgical anymore. I also think people have gotten away from kor firewalker enough to justify cutting one reality hemmorage.
**Bonus report**- I also played in the SCG open in Milwaukee the week after. I started 2-0 then dropped four matches in a row, three of them to titanshift. I think I have a good MU against titanshift(beat it easily round in 1), but I swear my deck only wanted to give me the slow half of the deck(the moggs) that weekend.