So, I would like to make a deck for casual play focused around Springjack Shepherd and Goblin Bombardment - just because sacfrificing a ton of goats to bomb the oponent would make a greatly satisfying win condition. It should preferably be within the legacy format.
I guess the Shepherd calls for a (primarily) white shell and plays well together with blink effects. One major downside is, that he seems very slow so there must be an early game plan to survive. I have been playing around with the thought of squeezing the cards into a Death & Taxes style shell, allowing to slow the opponent down in the early stage and survive long enough, while setting up the key pieces. To generate an excessive amount of goats, one could use cards like Eldrazi Displacer / Flickerwisp / Charming Prince to flicker the Shepherd.
Militia Bugler - Digs for creatures (cannot fetch Flickerwisp, which seems like a heavy downside to me).
Springjack Pasture - Could potentially generate a lot of life/mana, however we don't have any instant speed mana sinks.
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Very sweet land fitting the devotion theme of the Shepherd. Price is currently high and I don't plan on investing in this card.
Arcanist's Owl - Adding all four to devotion, digs for Goblin Bombardment and Aether Vial, evasive threat. Downside is the 4 CMC. An alternative would be Sumala Woodshaper which would be able to target more cards in the deck but only adds 1 to devotion, would require splash for green and is a lesser threat.
Mangara of Corondor - Targets any permanent (including lands) and plays well with instant flicker effects in response to his ability. Adds to devotion.
Hearthfire Hobgoblin - Adds 3 to devotion, a solid beater if unblocked, fetchable with Bugler.
Crusade - Adds two to devotion and pump goats. Could be a one-of for an alternative win condition.
I don't know what kind of opposition you'll be facing in the early game, but white has a huge array of WW first strikers that make for a very decent wall when held back for defense, like Knight of Meadowgrain, which can also help stalling by gaining you life. At 3 mana, there are likewise many 2/2 double strikers for 1WW, like Mirran Crusader. Such cards will vastly increase your devotion to white (and chroma) for a larger batch of goats. Other early white creatures like Daxos, Blessed by the Sun or Tomik, Distinguished Advokist also offer good disruption and defense. Wall of Omens draws you some extra cards especially when paired with repeatable blinking.
I would also consider white permanent based removal, like Oblivion Ring, Quarantine Field, or Fiend Hunter. That later can also further your game plan by exiling a Shepherd and then returning it when used as ammunition for the Bombardment. Plumeveil also ramps up the white mana count and acts as a combat based removal besides being a big early wall to hide behind.
I don't see much value in Eldrazi Temple for this deck. But some Battlefield Forges could provide more color fixing and the nessessary colorless mana for the Displacer.
If you go up to 80 cards, you can use Yorion, Sky Nomad as companion. Yorion is crazy good with Charming Princes and Flickerwisps. You can blink your entire board every turn and make lots of goats. I would even play a Yorion in the main deck as well.
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So, I would like to make a deck for casual play focused around Springjack Shepherd and Goblin Bombardment - just because sacfrificing a ton of goats to bomb the oponent would make a greatly satisfying win condition. It should preferably be within the legacy format.
I guess the Shepherd calls for a (primarily) white shell and plays well together with blink effects. One major downside is, that he seems very slow so there must be an early game plan to survive. I have been playing around with the thought of squeezing the cards into a Death & Taxes style shell, allowing to slow the opponent down in the early stage and survive long enough, while setting up the key pieces. To generate an excessive amount of goats, one could use cards like Eldrazi Displacer / Flickerwisp / Charming Prince to flicker the Shepherd.
What i have so far is something like
4 Giver of Runes
4 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
3 Leonin Arbiter
4 Springjack Shepherd
2 Charming Prince
3 Flickerwisp
3 Eldrazi Displacer
2 Arcanist's Owl
4 Aether Vial
3 Goblin Bombardment
4 Path to Exile
Land (24)
2 Flagstones of Trokair
4 Ghost Quarter
2 Eldrazi Temple
2 Field of Ruin
4 Plateau
9 Plains
1 Mountain
Cards I am considering:
How could you see such a deck come about?
Do you have any other idea's to build around Springjack Shepherd and Goblin Bombardment?
On a side note, I am generally playing on a budget (the vials and plateau I already own from back in the days).
I would also consider white permanent based removal, like Oblivion Ring, Quarantine Field, or Fiend Hunter. That later can also further your game plan by exiling a Shepherd and then returning it when used as ammunition for the Bombardment. Plumeveil also ramps up the white mana count and acts as a combat based removal besides being a big early wall to hide behind.
I don't see much value in Eldrazi Temple for this deck. But some Battlefield Forges could provide more color fixing and the nessessary colorless mana for the Displacer.
Spear of Heliod and Scepter of Dominance offer some board control and fetchable white artifacts for your Owls.
edit:
Evangel of Heliod and Phyrexian Metamorph can act as additional copies of the Shepherd.
Another card for making Goat tokens is Trading Post, if you'd rather stay with the Goat theme.
For a more comboliscious approach, you might want to consider Zirda, the Dawnwaker, so that you can blink the Shepherd for just C with Eldrazi Displacer. That would make lands like Battlefield Forge and Rugged Prairie more suitable for the deck.
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