Hi there, so I was playing my deck at a FNM the other day and a situation came where if my opponent would have had casted another removal I would not have known the correct ruling, so here it goes:
Say me, with a spellskite and another minion. My opponent cast a path to exile on my spellskite, I respond with an apostle's blessing naming white. It resolves. Then my opponent cast another path to exile targeting my other minion this time. Can I redirect this 2nd path to exile to my spellskite or since it has now protection from white it's an invalid target and the path to exile will resolve on my other minion?
So this situation happened during a match and I was wondering if it was a legal move or not:
Say you have a dryad arbor without summoning sickness and an inkmoth nexus. A 2/2 creature is attacking you. Can you block with the dryad arbor, tap it for mana, activate inkmoth nexus and then block with inkmoth nexxus as well during your block phase? Hence trading your two 1/1 with the 2/2 creature attacking you?
I prefer forked bolt because it can kill 2 toughness minions and also gives extra reach. The downside of it being a sorcery is pretty minimal since most of the time we are tapped out on the first few turns. But in a field crowded with 1 thoughness creatures, I can see those options being better indeed! Also vs inkmoth nexxus and blinkmoth nexxus, forked bolt feels bad.
I will for sure suggest Grafdigger's Cage to my friend, since there seems to be some living end and graveyard strategies at his lgs.
Pithing needle seems also good for problematic cards for us. However I really dislike Torpor Orb. It basically kills our own deck... I can see its upside, but I feel like the downside is too great to be worth it.
Ratchet Bomb seems okayish to kill something that costs 2 mana, but at 0 and 1 I feel we hit more of our stuff than theirs. Yes it kills a chalice, but it will also kill our tokens and 0 cmc creatures. Might as well have a destroy artifact spell. But could be good vs certain decks I guess.
And yes land hate doesn't seem as good in this deck as traditional goblin, unless you're in a meta where you can punish your opponents real hard with it, otherwise it seems pretty slow indeed.
And with Kari Zev's Expertise you can't whack unless you're mana flooded on 4-5 lands, but still the free one drop can add one or two dmg which can be relevant + the dmg of the stolen creature itself. It can be a really big swing turn, especially vs decks who only have 1 creature by turn 3. I think I will keep one in the sideboard for these reasons.
Thanks for your feedback, I will cut the devastating summons and up the creature to a playset of each. However I think for now I will up my land counts, but will keep it at 18, with regular 8whack 18-19 lands seemed to work well and I feel like Gobots is a little less mana hungry, so I will test at 18 for now. With the extra slot I think I will play the full playset of kuldotha rebirth. Yes that means I will have to kill some bomat courier and signal pest to activate it, but without fast mana I feel like I must increase the chances of having the combo turn 1. I also will keep 2 contested war zone for now, it can leads to more clunky hands, but I feel there's such an upside when I draw one with already some creatures on the board, that I want to have 2 mainboard for now. But it it ever create too many bad starting hands I will drop to one for sure.
How about the sideboard?
For grindy matchups that doesn't play a lot of creatures 2-3x Genesis Chamber feels really good
For artifacts hate, 2x Smash to Smithereens + 2x Shattering Spree seem like a good mix, maybe more if there's a lot of artifacts decks running around
For small annoying creatures/blockers and extra removal 2x Forked Bolt
For decks with big creatures 1-2x Kari Zev's Expertise
For path/grindy matchups 1-2x Devastating Summons
For graveyard hate 2x Tormod's Crypt
For anti lifegain I don't know what is the best between Leyline of Punishment or Skullcrack. Leyline feels really good when you have it turn 1, but feels bad when you draw it. Also I think it means running it at least 3 times to increase your chances of having one in your starting hand. For skullcrack it's good, but keeping 2 mana open it something we pretty much never do in the first few turns, so is it really reliable?
And is land hate worth it? My friend has 2x Magus of the Moon
I know sideboard is really meta dependent, but knowing the general ideas and concepts for sideboarding with this deck will help me a bunch!
Thx in advance!
Hi, so my friend is currently playing this 8whack list and is doing pretty well, but sometimes it feels a bit too slow, so we thought about trying out Gobots.
The grenade is to finish off opponents and the bolts serves both as removal and face damage. I have being trying lists without bolts and I was always craving for removal. I also tried Burning-Tree emissary, but it felt really clunky at times. Devastating Summons is pretty good when you have a land heavy hand or the game drags on... Devastating Summons into Bushwhacker feels pretty good though, 10dmg haste in one turn is amazing! However maybe 2 is too much? Never got the 2 in the same game, but could happen...
Also Bomat Courier sometimes feels really good when you can have a 4-5 cards refill out of him!
In a list not running Mox Opal, is it worth it to run Hope of Ghirapur? If yes, what would you remove to make space for it? @spec.ops
My guess would be that if I steal a kitchen finks and it dies during my turn, it would it my graveyard, come back as a 2/1 and I would gain 2 life and then at the end of the turn my opponent would get the control back of the 2/1 kitchen finks.
Is this correct?
For doomed traveler, my guess would be that if I steal it and it dies during my turn, the doomed traveler would go in my graveyard and I would get the spirit permanently.
Is all of this correct too?
Hey, so in one of my deck I will be using both Cauldron Haze and Bant Sureblade and let's say Marisi's Twinclaws. I was wondering if, after a board wipe and the use of Cauldron Haze on both creatures in response, Bant Sureblade would come back as a 3/2 with a -1/-1 counter on it, so a 2/1, or would it just die when entering the battlefield back from persist?
For what I understand it would survive since the +1/+1 is not a trigger, it's just there as a check ability so the creature is never a 1/0, but I just wanted to be sure!
Try a couple botanical sanctum over 2 of those breeding pools; your life total will thank you. Solid list.
You can't fetch a botanical sanctum and you never want to have a land enter the battlefield tapped when you need mana, so botanical sanctum is not a good card choice for the deck. Imagine situations where you're on the inkmoth infect plan... you will probably hit the 4th land before going for the kill with protection back up and trust me you want that 4th land to enter the battlefield untapped, you don't want to give your opponent an extra turn.
botanical sanctum a good budget option, but if you're trying to make the deck optimal, skip on this land
1) No one runs basic island.
2) Windswept Heath is perfectly fine if you have access to them. The deck optimally wants 9-10 green fetches, but using the 8 Khans green fetches as the bulk of them is good. Cheaper option if you're looking for that. Ditching Foothills is useless, you want to fill your GY for the delve w/Become Immense.
3) 4 Become Immense once you are running 8+ fetches.
The standard manabase is below (20 lands if Dryad Arbor main, 19 if in the SB)
10 green fetches
2 Pendelhaven
1 Forest
1 Dryad Arbor
4 Inkmoth Nexus
2 Breeding Pool
No, the standard manabase always have and always had at least 2 forest...
Most of the lists usually run 9 green fetches (rarely 10, only if dryad in sideboard), 2 breading pool, 2 forest, 4 inkmoth and dryad arbor (sometimes sideboard)
People who doesn't have access to a 9th fetch usually put a third breading pool to get to 20 lands which is the standard number
Look at the lists posted on mtggoldfish if you want to have a good idea of which cards people usually run in their decks.
The small changes in the mainboard and sideboard all depends on the meta where you're playing
So in your case I would go for a 2/2 split between the breading pool and the forest. You want forest vs blood moon and vs matchups like burn and zoo where you don't always want to chock yourself to preserve some life.
Say me, with a spellskite and another minion. My opponent cast a path to exile on my spellskite, I respond with an apostle's blessing naming white. It resolves. Then my opponent cast another path to exile targeting my other minion this time. Can I redirect this 2nd path to exile to my spellskite or since it has now protection from white it's an invalid target and the path to exile will resolve on my other minion?
Thank you in advance!
Say you have a dryad arbor without summoning sickness and an inkmoth nexus. A 2/2 creature is attacking you. Can you block with the dryad arbor, tap it for mana, activate inkmoth nexus and then block with inkmoth nexxus as well during your block phase? Hence trading your two 1/1 with the 2/2 creature attacking you?
Thank you in advance!
I will for sure suggest Grafdigger's Cage to my friend, since there seems to be some living end and graveyard strategies at his lgs.
Pithing needle seems also good for problematic cards for us. However I really dislike Torpor Orb. It basically kills our own deck... I can see its upside, but I feel like the downside is too great to be worth it.
Ratchet Bomb seems okayish to kill something that costs 2 mana, but at 0 and 1 I feel we hit more of our stuff than theirs. Yes it kills a chalice, but it will also kill our tokens and 0 cmc creatures. Might as well have a destroy artifact spell. But could be good vs certain decks I guess.
And yes land hate doesn't seem as good in this deck as traditional goblin, unless you're in a meta where you can punish your opponents real hard with it, otherwise it seems pretty slow indeed.
And with Kari Zev's Expertise you can't whack unless you're mana flooded on 4-5 lands, but still the free one drop can add one or two dmg which can be relevant + the dmg of the stolen creature itself. It can be a really big swing turn, especially vs decks who only have 1 creature by turn 3. I think I will keep one in the sideboard for these reasons.
Thanks for your insights! @spec.ops
How about the sideboard?
For grindy matchups that doesn't play a lot of creatures 2-3x Genesis Chamber feels really good
For artifacts hate, 2x Smash to Smithereens + 2x Shattering Spree seem like a good mix, maybe more if there's a lot of artifacts decks running around
For small annoying creatures/blockers and extra removal 2x Forked Bolt
For decks with big creatures 1-2x Kari Zev's Expertise
For path/grindy matchups 1-2x Devastating Summons
For graveyard hate 2x Tormod's Crypt
For anti lifegain I don't know what is the best between Leyline of Punishment or Skullcrack. Leyline feels really good when you have it turn 1, but feels bad when you draw it. Also I think it means running it at least 3 times to increase your chances of having one in your starting hand. For skullcrack it's good, but keeping 2 mana open it something we pretty much never do in the first few turns, so is it really reliable?
And is land hate worth it? My friend has 2x Magus of the Moon
I know sideboard is really meta dependent, but knowing the general ideas and concepts for sideboarding with this deck will help me a bunch!
Thx in advance!
4x Foundry Street Denizen
4x Legion Loyalist
4x Goblin Guide
4x Mogg Fanatic
4x Goblin Bushwhacker
4x Burning-Tree Emissary
4x Mogg War Marshal
2x Goblin Piledriver
4x Reckless Bushwhacker
4x Lightning Bolt
4x Goblin Grenade
Lands (18)
18x Mountains
For the Gobots list we don't have access to Mox Opal, so we thought we would play something like this. Tried it out online and it works pretty well.
2x Bomat Courier
4x Memnite
3x Ornithopter
4x Signal Pest
4x Goblin Bushwhacker
4x Reckless Bushwhacker
4x Goblin Guide
4x Legion Loyalist
4x Kuldotha Rebirth
2x Devastating Summons
4x Goblin Grenade
4x Lightning Bolt
2x Contested War Zone
15x Mountain
The grenade is to finish off opponents and the bolts serves both as removal and face damage. I have being trying lists without bolts and I was always craving for removal. I also tried Burning-Tree emissary, but it felt really clunky at times.
Devastating Summons is pretty good when you have a land heavy hand or the game drags on... Devastating Summons into Bushwhacker feels pretty good though, 10dmg haste in one turn is amazing! However maybe 2 is too much? Never got the 2 in the same game, but could happen...
Also Bomat Courier sometimes feels really good when you can have a 4-5 cards refill out of him!
In a list not running Mox Opal, is it worth it to run Hope of Ghirapur? If yes, what would you remove to make space for it? @spec.ops
I was wondering what happens when you use a card such as Act of treason on cards with dying effects such as kitchen finks and doomed traveler.
My guess would be that if I steal a kitchen finks and it dies during my turn, it would it my graveyard, come back as a 2/1 and I would gain 2 life and then at the end of the turn my opponent would get the control back of the 2/1 kitchen finks.
Is this correct?
For doomed traveler, my guess would be that if I steal it and it dies during my turn, the doomed traveler would go in my graveyard and I would get the spirit permanently.
Is all of this correct too?
Thank you in advance!
For what I understand it would survive since the +1/+1 is not a trigger, it's just there as a check ability so the creature is never a 1/0, but I just wanted to be sure!
Thank you in advance!
You can't fetch a botanical sanctum and you never want to have a land enter the battlefield tapped when you need mana, so botanical sanctum is not a good card choice for the deck. Imagine situations where you're on the inkmoth infect plan... you will probably hit the 4th land before going for the kill with protection back up and trust me you want that 4th land to enter the battlefield untapped, you don't want to give your opponent an extra turn.
botanical sanctum a good budget option, but if you're trying to make the deck optimal, skip on this land
No, the standard manabase always have and always had at least 2 forest...
Most of the lists usually run 9 green fetches (rarely 10, only if dryad in sideboard), 2 breading pool, 2 forest, 4 inkmoth and dryad arbor (sometimes sideboard)
People who doesn't have access to a 9th fetch usually put a third breading pool to get to 20 lands which is the standard number
Look at the lists posted on mtggoldfish if you want to have a good idea of which cards people usually run in their decks.
The small changes in the mainboard and sideboard all depends on the meta where you're playing
So in your case I would go for a 2/2 split between the breading pool and the forest. You want forest vs blood moon and vs matchups like burn and zoo where you don't always want to chock yourself to preserve some life.