And here is Report:
I didn't play modern for a 2 month (job,holidays and other things...). Finally I was able to get to the lgs.
It was small week modern tornament 14 or 16 people (on one of them i remember, we have 32 players) , some of my buddies were there, but most players I played against wasn't.
There was some control decks and UWR Mid, my sideboard was prepared for them(Caverns and Blood Moons), but I still didn't expect that my return will end in glorius VICTORY!
ROUND 1: UGR HIVE MIND 2:1
Piloted by one of my buddies, I played against him a lot, still I never saw this deck. I started with muligan till six, my hand was pretty good with some first drops and Bushwhacker, but after he put Hive Mind on turn 3, I was sure I'm gonna lose. He had tons of mana but against Bushwhaker and Grenade in the end, it didn't save him.
Before match 2 I sided 2 Blood Moons, at that time I thought that I forgot Shattering Spree at home.
It started like first one, he fot lost of mana I manage to damage him a lot but he had Summer Bloom and some chick from Kamigawa at turn 3, then he cast Hivemind and finally kill me with Pact.
Third match didn't start too well, I took muligun till six again and . He definately started with good hand, but without pact. I had a feeling that I was doomed.
At his 2 second turn he had everything and even brag that he can kill me on next turn(and he could), but at my 2 turn I used Magma Jet and Scry myself Blood Moon on top deck, so I didn't worry. And when Blood Moon rised, his plan started to crumble. I manage to drag game and finish him with 3 goblins on the table.
It was a fun match, I heard about Hive Mind before but never played against it. Also I must add he was a little bit nerfed, he played only 2 green pacts instead of four. He put 2 Emrakuls in there place.
ROUND 2 UGR SCAPESHIFT 2:1
Unlike first match I knew this deck too well, played against partically this build for a lot of times. I started with muligun till six again and he started with lots of lands. I had only one advantage Cavern, and that helped me to beat him at first match which I never did before.
I sided 5 cards before second match: Blood Moons, Sawing Salts and Vexing Shusher.
None of them came at second match, and I didn't have caverns, somy early atack was stopped. I damage him but not enough. After he summon green titan I knew that I lost.
Third game i started with muligun again, no caverns, but with Shusher, which wasn't bad. My early attack was pretty good, he couldn't counter since Shusher was on the table.
Then he casted Pyroclasm, I was sure I lost, he had 5 lands. Little by little I casted 2 Foundry street denzin and then mogg marshal, he try to stop me with Cryptic command but then I casted Bushwhaker and attack for 15 damage, he had 11 lifes, so I won.
Match was hard, even with lots of muligans i manage to win it and unlike Hive Mind , Scapeshift was at his full power.
ROUND 3: Red BURN 2:0
Most intense round of the night. I played against a lot of burn decks and I know that speed is the key to win this. Sadly he had the first turn.
Muligun till six again at first match, started with Guide that he immediately killed. After each attack we have the same ammount of lifes, still i manage to put 4 goblins with Bushwhaker on table and turn his lives to 5. And on next turn grenade came so yeah, he lost.
He sided 4 cards against me, I sided nothing, there is no card that can help me against burn.
I started with muligun. Got pretty good 6 cards but with only one land, it was risky, but I took it. he was surprised I casted bolt at him on first turn. For a long time we have smae ammount of lifes, but then he casted Pyroclasm, gladly I have 1 card that didn't die Boggart Ram-Gang.
He had few good cards on hand but, only 2 lands, so he can't cast them. He drive my lifebar till 3 lives, while I attacked him with Ram-Gang and cast Ember Hauler. In the end I win. Still must admit he made one grave mistake. He used bolt against me instead of killing Ram-Gang, but he was so sure to get third land on next turn.
And finally after long battle my last enemy emerged. We both have 9 points, both have monocoloured decks and both played tribal. It was battle of CENTURY!
ROUND 4: MONO U FAIRIES 2:0
First match I win easily, for some odd reason he started with 2 Tectonic edge on hand. So i just attack and he couldn't do anything.
Sided only Shusher since there is barely any unbasic lands in his deck.
Second match was much better, he casted clique and get my Chieftain, funny thing is there was another one on topdeck. Through match 1 Cavern protected me against he counterspells, in the final he had Clique faerie lord and faerie champion on the table, I had Denzin, Ram-Gang, 2 Chieftain and 1 Loyalist. After attack he lost all fairies and I finish him with bolt.
Results spoke for themselves. I didn't have perfect hands, muligun a lot till whole evening and still I manage to beat all opponents with some pretty good decks.
Just wanna suggest a few things for a fellow goblin masters (hey, let's call ourselves that way!):
- Give Magma jet a try, this card helped me a lot and I am sure it will help you.
- Speed is everything, "haste" is our gold, you know be QUICK or be DEAD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLv2G0Hhn4 (ok I just want to put Iron Maiden in my post)
Finaly, I am happy with my deck, still gonna upgrade sideboard(second Vexing Shusher and some other things).
I planning to start playing with new deck ( it was hard to built it), so there is a chance I won't write new goblin report for some time.
GENERAL IDEA:
Fast deck with cheap goblins that can attack fast. A lot of "haste" goblins. If early game plan doesn't work, we have Krenko and Ram-Gang so we don't run out of steam in midgame.
BTW Magma jets are awesome! They help me so much.
And Frenzied goblins in sideboard is just a placeholders, for now.
Goblins are more like a tempo deck than a aggro one - the highest curve goblin costs 3 Mana and have haste(Goblin Chieftain, Boggart Ram-Gang), nth bigger than that hasn't got any place in deck (no Goblin card).
I played against BG Aggro elves and while build itself was pretty weak the idea in general is good.
And there is few points, why BG elves can be a good deck:
Well Murio already suggested Legion loyalist and I 100% agree with him, it's extremely good card.
I used Wardrivers too and wasn't satisfied with them. They are good, but don't have haste and don't do anything immediately.
I swap 2 Goblin Wardriver with 2 Ember Hauler.
Hauler proved to be a really good replacement, he is like an additional burn spell, he can be sacrificed in the same turn he came, and he is 2/2 goblin for 2 mana, which is not bad.
Well, two biggest problems in my opponents' hands for me was Iona, Shield of Emeria and Wurmcoil Engine, which each game was two on board, even counting removing one of Tron's pieces with Sowing Salt.
Any good responses for that?
I thought I can beat Tron with speed. That's just not the case here
I normally do not have problems with Tron, Sawing salt and Blood moon do there job pretty well.
Of course wurmcoil is a problem, but you can side few artifact hate against him, it's much easier to deal with two 3\3 wurms than with a big one.
Iona, Shield of Emeria is a bigger problem, cause she disables whole deck, but I never saw her in modern.
Which deck can actually play her?
And more importantly how can they play her?!?!?
She have 9 cmc, which is a lot and 3 of that mana must be white, how the hell can you cast her in modern !?!?
I personally prefer second plan.
Other option will require moderators to move threads from one subforum to another too often.
I think it's much easier to add {Competetive} tag to thread and stick it in top, than to move to another subforum, it will be harder for people to find thread they want to read.
Just poking my head in this thread as another red deck player. Did aether vial cease being a useful or integral part of the goblins' strategy?
Sadly, in modern goblins, it's not that useful.
Unlike Legacy goblins, modern version uses a lot of 1cmc goblins, minimum 12, 16 if you count Bushwhacker, and some prefer to use even more one drops, so vial don't do much in that case.
Again unlike legacy there is not much good goblins with high cmc, i know only three ( Siege-gang commander , Krenko, Mob Boss , Earwig Squad).
Another problem is that we don't have goblin matron or goblin ringleader and since there is no good drawing cards in red, we cast our hand pretty fast, in that case it will be much better to have additional goblin on hand instead of vial.
But if you think that vial builds are competitive, I think everyone will gladly see your build and report (if you want to share it, of course).
There is a few builds with vial on page 1 or 2.
What do you think of the build ? Anything you would do different
Well the build itself looks pretty solid.
But I see one major problem, there is no cards against control decks.
You either need Cavern of souls or Vexing Shusher or both of them.
Bloodmoon can be very useful, if there is a lot people who play Tron and Scapeshft, i would recommend to add Sowing salt
Also, I would replace Smash to smithereens with Shattering Spree.
I also have doubt against Devastating Summons, but I wanna know how it will play. Hoping for a report from you.
Good luck!
Yes it hurt us, but it hurt our opponents much much more. Pod and Twin can't use combo and Finks. Sadly I don't see any better card against them (at least in red or green).
Also, I think Goblin bushwhacker becomes disable if we use it, so yea it hurts.
I have a question, maybe stupid, but I don't uderstand one thing... You wrote that Skullcrack can't stop Martyr of Sands. How's that? It says that "Players can't gain life". Effect triggers, but there is no life to gain.
To be honest, I'm not 100% sure about it. I know for sure that Martyr can be stopped with Sudden shock.
You know what, I'll ask judge next time I'll be in my LGS.
Thanks for the excellent tournament report. I'll have to try Torpor Orb instead of combust.
I wouldn't call my reports excellent, but thank you. I hope i can provide useful information in the future too.
Torpor orb is important because it deactivates Pods, Twins and Decks with Kitchen Finks. It's a very underestimated card.
Did you ever get Krenko out? I cut him a while ago. 4 was just too much. I've also cut Chieftain down to 3.
Personally I prefer to have a big finisher card and Krenko is that type of card. I won 3-4 games because of him, also he have good synergy with Chieftain and Denizen. 4 is a lot for this deck, but since I run only two copies, Krenko comes to hand in right time and he is pretty powerful for his cost. Also with Cavern of Souls control decks can't counter him.
Also, I don't think cutting Chieftain is a good idea, it's the best 3 drop we have and one of 2 cards that can grant haste to other goblins.
I don't like Five Alarm Fire. It does nothing if you can't get through and at best is a Goblin Grenade.
Actually when I can't get through I prefer to have it on the table.
I side this card mainly against other aggro decks with bigger creatures, like Zoo and Modern Naya blitz (popular deck in my area). If i can't get through blockers this card allows me to damage player or destroy big creatures. Can say it's too important, but it helped me to win 2 times against Zoo, which is not bad.
No, Faithless Looting is a good card for something like Burn, but not for goblins. I normally cast my had pretty fast and I need to draw more cards, not to swap ones that I already have. In Burn decks this card works because there are lots of cards with Flashback there, so they don't lose too much. If you looking for the alternative to Lead the Stampede, I would recommend Dangerous Wager, it allow us to draw 2 cards when we have nothing on hand and it's pretty cheap in mana.
Krenko's Command is good with Foundry Street Denizen, I'd run at least 3 maybe 4.
Well Mogg war marshal have a little bit better synergy, so I run Commands as additional marshals. I was planing to put two more copies , but decided to put 2 Ember Hauler instead, since I really need burn spells.
I wonder if Skull Crack has potential as a sideboard card.
I personally don't think so. It not very effective against Soul sisters and Martyr proclamation, since it can't stop Martyr of sands.
It works against Kitchen Finks, but Torpor Orb works better and can damage more than just Finks. And there is not much other decks that we can side it for.
Yesterday played in a small tournament (9 people, which is low for my area) results is are pretty positive, but here is the story.
Round 1: RUG Scapeshift 2:1
Never played against this deck before, luckily I have pretty good sideboard against it. First match i lost because of mana flood and my opponent destroyed my early attack with Pyroclasm. I sided Stone rain , Blood moon and 2 Sowing salt.
He kept pretty bad hand (he told me that later) while I mulligan till 6. I casted a lot of 1 drops and finish with Chieftain. Opponent had 2 Pyroclasm,1 mass removal and zero land.
Third match was tough. I started pretty well but pyroclasm stop my early assault and a lot of my goblins were countered. I lost last goblin token and was sure to lose ,but suddenly blood moon was on top deck and opponent used all his counter spells, he wasn't happy when I casted it. At that point he still have 10 lives but in few turns I manage to cast few goblins and finished him.
Overall I think it's a positive match up and i definitely need to get a second blood moon.
Round 2: BG aggro Elves 2:1
Never saw this deck before, but to be honest it reminded me of my old decklist which I never used.
First match I won pretty easily, dropped Foundry Street Denizen , spamed him with goblins. He had no second land for a few turns, which gave me enough time to destroy him.
Didn't know what to side, so i started second match without changes.
No mana flood, no problems. With both had pretty good hands but my deck was faster this time.
He droped Llanowars again and even manage to put Glissa on battlefield , at that time I had already 5 goblins and with Goblin Bushwhacker match was finished.
It was pretty interesting match, I got lucky cause my opponent didn't have much removal. I recommend him to put full set of Abrupt Decay and put Ezuri, Renegade Leader instead of Glissa the Traitor.
BTW I think that deck is very interesting, it used Talara's Battalion and Wren's Run Vanquisher, which in my opinion very underestimated cards. The main problem with that deck was build, few changes and it can become pretty solid deck.
Round 3: WUR midrange 2:1
Surprisingly first match was a win for me. I cast Goblin Guide and again spam with goblins.
At first my opponent tried to stop me with removals, but he got flooded with lands, so pretty soon he ran out of options and lost.
Before second match I sided Stone Rain and Blood Moon.
He got better hand and i took milligan till 5 and still got flooded with lands. I manage to drag game for quite a while and even damage opponent till he had 5 lives, sadly at topdeck was land so I lost.
Third match was most intense match of the night. I started pretty fast with two bolts on hand. At first he countered everything I had, he even used Path of exile on goblin token, but with time i manage to damage him enough .
I bluffed for last two turn that i have something on hand, he destroyed my land with Tectonic Edge and I manage to cast grenade on last token, he had counter spells, but didn't have any mana to cast them.
Can't say that game was in my favor, opponent made some weird decisions, still I can't say he was playing bad. The important thing that I'm happy i won that game and happy that opponent didn't have any pyroclasm in side.
Round 4: WUR midrange 0:2
Things didn't go well in that match. Stakes were high, i had 9 points, he had 7 points and it was for 1 place.
Unlike my previous opponent this WUR had different build (mainly better side and Hellkite) and was piloted by more experienced player(at least in terms of WUR).
First time in the night i had problems with mana. In first game i had 2 lands for 6-7 turns and had lots of 3 drops on hand. Opponent countered a lot of goblins and kill others, there was no chance to win that match.
I sided blood moon, stone rain and 2 sowing salts (against colonnade).
It started pretty bad , I took mulligan till five and started with not very good hand, but with two lands.
The worst part is that were the only lands from my deck that i saw at that match, and zero cards from sideboard came during game (they couldn't help anyway but still...).
So it was clean loss. I still got 2 place, not bad.
Overall I am pretty happy with results, not 100% sure about green splash, while Lead the stampede helped me a little bit, can't say it was vital.
Funny but without Pod it's easier for Goblins to dominate tournaments.
There is a lot of Naya blitz players in my area and surprisingly some of them have pretty strong results.
If you have a lot of standard cards and love aggro decks, it's a good option.
You'll probably need set of lightning bolt and fetchlands, which are pretty expensive, but if you have everything else it won't be a big problem.
Added: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=492348
Here is primer, it's in a standard forum, but believe me with few tweaks it can easily become pretty strong modern deck.
I didn't play modern for a 2 month (job,holidays and other things...). Finally I was able to get to the lgs.
It was small week modern tornament 14 or 16 people (on one of them i remember, we have 32 players) , some of my buddies were there, but most players I played against wasn't.
There was some control decks and UWR Mid, my sideboard was prepared for them(Caverns and Blood Moons), but I still didn't expect that my return will end in glorius VICTORY!
ROUND 1: UGR HIVE MIND 2:1
Piloted by one of my buddies, I played against him a lot, still I never saw this deck. I started with muligan till six, my hand was pretty good with some first drops and Bushwhacker, but after he put Hive Mind on turn 3, I was sure I'm gonna lose. He had tons of mana but against Bushwhaker and Grenade in the end, it didn't save him.
Before match 2 I sided 2 Blood Moons, at that time I thought that I forgot Shattering Spree at home.
It started like first one, he fot lost of mana I manage to damage him a lot but he had Summer Bloom and some chick from Kamigawa at turn 3, then he cast Hivemind and finally kill me with Pact.
Third match didn't start too well, I took muligun till six again and . He definately started with good hand, but without pact. I had a feeling that I was doomed.
At his 2 second turn he had everything and even brag that he can kill me on next turn(and he could), but at my 2 turn I used Magma Jet and Scry myself Blood Moon on top deck, so I didn't worry. And when Blood Moon rised, his plan started to crumble. I manage to drag game and finish him with 3 goblins on the table.
It was a fun match, I heard about Hive Mind before but never played against it. Also I must add he was a little bit nerfed, he played only 2 green pacts instead of four. He put 2 Emrakuls in there place.
ROUND 2 UGR SCAPESHIFT 2:1
Unlike first match I knew this deck too well, played against partically this build for a lot of times. I started with muligun till six again and he started with lots of lands. I had only one advantage Cavern, and that helped me to beat him at first match which I never did before.
I sided 5 cards before second match: Blood Moons, Sawing Salts and Vexing Shusher.
None of them came at second match, and I didn't have caverns, somy early atack was stopped. I damage him but not enough. After he summon green titan I knew that I lost.
Third game i started with muligun again, no caverns, but with Shusher, which wasn't bad. My early attack was pretty good, he couldn't counter since Shusher was on the table.
Then he casted Pyroclasm, I was sure I lost, he had 5 lands. Little by little I casted 2 Foundry street denzin and then mogg marshal, he try to stop me with Cryptic command but then I casted Bushwhaker and attack for 15 damage, he had 11 lifes, so I won.
Match was hard, even with lots of muligans i manage to win it and unlike Hive Mind , Scapeshift was at his full power.
ROUND 3: Red BURN 2:0
Most intense round of the night. I played against a lot of burn decks and I know that speed is the key to win this. Sadly he had the first turn.
Muligun till six again at first match, started with Guide that he immediately killed. After each attack we have the same ammount of lifes, still i manage to put 4 goblins with Bushwhaker on table and turn his lives to 5. And on next turn grenade came so yeah, he lost.
He sided 4 cards against me, I sided nothing, there is no card that can help me against burn.
I started with muligun. Got pretty good 6 cards but with only one land, it was risky, but I took it. he was surprised I casted bolt at him on first turn. For a long time we have smae ammount of lifes, but then he casted Pyroclasm, gladly I have 1 card that didn't die Boggart Ram-Gang.
He had few good cards on hand but, only 2 lands, so he can't cast them. He drive my lifebar till 3 lives, while I attacked him with Ram-Gang and cast Ember Hauler. In the end I win. Still must admit he made one grave mistake. He used bolt against me instead of killing Ram-Gang, but he was so sure to get third land on next turn.
And finally after long battle my last enemy emerged. We both have 9 points, both have monocoloured decks and both played tribal. It was battle of CENTURY!
ROUND 4: MONO U FAIRIES 2:0
First match I win easily, for some odd reason he started with 2 Tectonic edge on hand. So i just attack and he couldn't do anything.
Sided only Shusher since there is barely any unbasic lands in his deck.
Second match was much better, he casted clique and get my Chieftain, funny thing is there was another one on topdeck. Through match 1 Cavern protected me against he counterspells, in the final he had Clique faerie lord and faerie champion on the table, I had Denzin, Ram-Gang, 2 Chieftain and 1 Loyalist. After attack he lost all fairies and I finish him with bolt.
Results spoke for themselves. I didn't have perfect hands, muligun a lot till whole evening and still I manage to beat all opponents with some pretty good decks.
Just wanna suggest a few things for a fellow goblin masters (hey, let's call ourselves that way!):
- Give Magma jet a try, this card helped me a lot and I am sure it will help you.
- Speed is everything, "haste" is our gold, you know be QUICK or be DEAD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZLv2G0Hhn4 (ok I just want to put Iron Maiden in my post)
Finaly, I am happy with my deck, still gonna upgrade sideboard(second Vexing Shusher and some other things).
I planning to start playing with new deck ( it was hard to built it), so there is a chance I won't write new goblin report for some time.
Oh, if someone miss here is built: http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showpost.php?p=11578387&postcount=364
Build first:
4 Goblin guide
4 Legion loyalist
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Mogg War Marshall
2 Ember Hauler
4 Goblin Chieftain
2 Boggart Ram-Gang
2 Krenko, Mob Boss
Instant:
4 Lightning bolt
2 Magma Jet
2 Krenko's command
4 Goblin Grenade
16 Mountain
3 Cavern of souls
1 Relic Of Progenitus
1 Leyline of Punishment
2 Blood moon
2 Sowing salt
1 Vexing shusher
2 Dismember
2 Frenzied Goblin
2 Shattering Spree
1 Shattering Blow
GENERAL IDEA:
Fast deck with cheap goblins that can attack fast. A lot of "haste" goblins. If early game plan doesn't work, we have Krenko and Ram-Gang so we don't run out of steam in midgame.
BTW Magma jets are awesome! They help me so much.
And Frenzied goblins in sideboard is just a placeholders, for now.
Hey Krenko, mob boss is pretty good 4 cmc card, also Sowing salt is a good sideboard option.
And there is few points, why BG elves can be a good deck:
1) Elves got a lot of lords in modern, not as much as merfolks but still more than enough.
The best are Imperious Perfect, Elvish Archdruid,Joraga Warcaller, Bramblewood Paragon
2) BG in general is strong color combination.
Just look at Abrupt Decay and Maelstrom Pulse.
3) With Gilt-Leaf Palace it's very easy to make BG version. There is also a lot BG lands in modern.
4) There is a lot of good elven cards in modern. Here just a few: Wren's Run Vanquisher, Ezuri, Renegade Leader , Talara's Battalion.
Well Murio already suggested Legion loyalist and I 100% agree with him, it's extremely good card.
I used Wardrivers too and wasn't satisfied with them. They are good, but don't have haste and don't do anything immediately.
I swap 2 Goblin Wardriver with 2 Ember Hauler.
Hauler proved to be a really good replacement, he is like an additional burn spell, he can be sacrificed in the same turn he came, and he is 2/2 goblin for 2 mana, which is not bad.
Also want to mention Boggart ram-gang, really like this card.:D
I normally do not have problems with Tron, Sawing salt and Blood moon do there job pretty well.
Of course wurmcoil is a problem, but you can side few artifact hate against him, it's much easier to deal with two 3\3 wurms than with a big one.
Iona, Shield of Emeria is a bigger problem, cause she disables whole deck, but I never saw her in modern.
Which deck can actually play her?
And more importantly how can they play her?!?!?
She have 9 cmc, which is a lot and 3 of that mana must be white, how the hell can you cast her in modern !?!?
Other option will require moderators to move threads from one subforum to another too often.
I think it's much easier to add {Competetive} tag to thread and stick it in top, than to move to another subforum, it will be harder for people to find thread they want to read.
Sadly, in modern goblins, it's not that useful.
Unlike Legacy goblins, modern version uses a lot of 1cmc goblins, minimum 12, 16 if you count Bushwhacker, and some prefer to use even more one drops, so vial don't do much in that case.
Again unlike legacy there is not much good goblins with high cmc, i know only three ( Siege-gang commander , Krenko, Mob Boss , Earwig Squad).
Another problem is that we don't have goblin matron or goblin ringleader and since there is no good drawing cards in red, we cast our hand pretty fast, in that case it will be much better to have additional goblin on hand instead of vial.
But if you think that vial builds are competitive, I think everyone will gladly see your build and report (if you want to share it, of course).
There is a few builds with vial on page 1 or 2.
Well the build itself looks pretty solid.
But I see one major problem, there is no cards against control decks.
You either need Cavern of souls or Vexing Shusher or both of them.
Bloodmoon can be very useful, if there is a lot people who play Tron and Scapeshft, i would recommend to add Sowing salt
Also, I would replace Smash to smithereens with Shattering Spree.
I also have doubt against Devastating Summons, but I wanna know how it will play. Hoping for a report from you.
Good luck!
Yes it hurt us, but it hurt our opponents much much more. Pod and Twin can't use combo and Finks. Sadly I don't see any better card against them (at least in red or green).
Also, I think Goblin bushwhacker becomes disable if we use it, so yea it hurts.
To be honest, I'm not 100% sure about it. I know for sure that Martyr can be stopped with Sudden shock.
You know what, I'll ask judge next time I'll be in my LGS.
I wouldn't call my reports excellent, but thank you. I hope i can provide useful information in the future too.
Torpor orb is important because it deactivates Pods, Twins and Decks with Kitchen Finks. It's a very underestimated card.
Personally I prefer to have a big finisher card and Krenko is that type of card. I won 3-4 games because of him, also he have good synergy with Chieftain and Denizen. 4 is a lot for this deck, but since I run only two copies, Krenko comes to hand in right time and he is pretty powerful for his cost. Also with Cavern of Souls control decks can't counter him.
Also, I don't think cutting Chieftain is a good idea, it's the best 3 drop we have and one of 2 cards that can grant haste to other goblins.
Actually when I can't get through I prefer to have it on the table.
I side this card mainly against other aggro decks with bigger creatures, like Zoo and Modern Naya blitz (popular deck in my area). If i can't get through blockers this card allows me to damage player or destroy big creatures. Can say it's too important, but it helped me to win 2 times against Zoo, which is not bad.
No, Faithless Looting is a good card for something like Burn, but not for goblins. I normally cast my had pretty fast and I need to draw more cards, not to swap ones that I already have. In Burn decks this card works because there are lots of cards with Flashback there, so they don't lose too much. If you looking for the alternative to Lead the Stampede, I would recommend Dangerous Wager, it allow us to draw 2 cards when we have nothing on hand and it's pretty cheap in mana.
Exactly, Scapeshift is very vulnerable to this card and lots of decks can be hurt pretty bad with it.
Well Mogg war marshal have a little bit better synergy, so I run Commands as additional marshals. I was planing to put two more copies , but decided to put 2 Ember Hauler instead, since I really need burn spells.
I personally don't think so. It not very effective against Soul sisters and Martyr proclamation, since it can't stop Martyr of sands.
It works against Kitchen Finks, but Torpor Orb works better and can damage more than just Finks. And there is not much other decks that we can side it for.
I was thinking to put Rancor in my build. Goblins don't use much pump cards, cause we either need creatures or bolts to damage opponents.
Round 1: RUG Scapeshift 2:1
Never played against this deck before, luckily I have pretty good sideboard against it. First match i lost because of mana flood and my opponent destroyed my early attack with Pyroclasm. I sided Stone rain , Blood moon and 2 Sowing salt.
He kept pretty bad hand (he told me that later) while I mulligan till 6. I casted a lot of 1 drops and finish with Chieftain. Opponent had 2 Pyroclasm,1 mass removal and zero land.
Third match was tough. I started pretty well but pyroclasm stop my early assault and a lot of my goblins were countered. I lost last goblin token and was sure to lose ,but suddenly blood moon was on top deck and opponent used all his counter spells, he wasn't happy when I casted it. At that point he still have 10 lives but in few turns I manage to cast few goblins and finished him.
Overall I think it's a positive match up and i definitely need to get a second blood moon.
Round 2: BG aggro Elves 2:1
Never saw this deck before, but to be honest it reminded me of my old decklist which I never used.
First match I won pretty easily, dropped Foundry Street Denizen , spamed him with goblins. He had no second land for a few turns, which gave me enough time to destroy him.
Didn't know what to side, so i started second match without changes.
At first it was ok, but then I was flooded with lands again.
He casted 2 Llanowar Elves and then Glissa, the Traitor. It became worse after he summon morph giant and Imperious Perfect.
I tried to play in defense but when he dropped Elvish archdruid, I knew I was done.
Before third match I sided 2 Five-alarm Fire.
No mana flood, no problems. With both had pretty good hands but my deck was faster this time.
He droped Llanowars again and even manage to put Glissa on battlefield , at that time I had already 5 goblins and with Goblin Bushwhacker match was finished.
It was pretty interesting match, I got lucky cause my opponent didn't have much removal. I recommend him to put full set of Abrupt Decay and put Ezuri, Renegade Leader instead of Glissa the Traitor.
BTW I think that deck is very interesting, it used Talara's Battalion and Wren's Run Vanquisher, which in my opinion very underestimated cards. The main problem with that deck was build, few changes and it can become pretty solid deck.
Round 3: WUR midrange 2:1
Surprisingly first match was a win for me. I cast Goblin Guide and again spam with goblins.
At first my opponent tried to stop me with removals, but he got flooded with lands, so pretty soon he ran out of options and lost.
Before second match I sided Stone Rain and Blood Moon.
He got better hand and i took milligan till 5 and still got flooded with lands. I manage to drag game for quite a while and even damage opponent till he had 5 lives, sadly at topdeck was land so I lost.
Third match was most intense match of the night. I started pretty fast with two bolts on hand. At first he countered everything I had, he even used Path of exile on goblin token, but with time i manage to damage him enough .
I bluffed for last two turn that i have something on hand, he destroyed my land with Tectonic Edge and I manage to cast grenade on last token, he had counter spells, but didn't have any mana to cast them.
Can't say that game was in my favor, opponent made some weird decisions, still I can't say he was playing bad. The important thing that I'm happy i won that game and happy that opponent didn't have any pyroclasm in side.
Round 4: WUR midrange 0:2
Things didn't go well in that match. Stakes were high, i had 9 points, he had 7 points and it was for 1 place.
Unlike my previous opponent this WUR had different build (mainly better side and Hellkite) and was piloted by more experienced player(at least in terms of WUR).
First time in the night i had problems with mana. In first game i had 2 lands for 6-7 turns and had lots of 3 drops on hand. Opponent countered a lot of goblins and kill others, there was no chance to win that match.
I sided blood moon, stone rain and 2 sowing salts (against colonnade).
It started pretty bad , I took mulligan till five and started with not very good hand, but with two lands.
The worst part is that were the only lands from my deck that i saw at that match, and zero cards from sideboard came during game (they couldn't help anyway but still...).
So it was clean loss. I still got 2 place, not bad.
Overall I am pretty happy with results, not 100% sure about green splash, while Lead the stampede helped me a little bit, can't say it was vital.
Funny but without Pod it's easier for Goblins to dominate tournaments.
If you have a lot of standard cards and love aggro decks, it's a good option.
You'll probably need set of lightning bolt and fetchlands, which are pretty expensive, but if you have everything else it won't be a big problem.
Added:
http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=492348
Here is primer, it's in a standard forum, but believe me with few tweaks it can easily become pretty strong modern deck.
Personally i think it's a pretty good common.