The smuggler's copters are an interesting choice, and different from what else I've seen in this thread. What's your reasoning behind them? I think it's an interesting choice to explore.
I think Bristling Hydra is generally being underrated around here. Its ability to easily dodge removal and even get bigger doing so is really impressive. Worst case scenario, it's a 4/4 for 4 that blanks a removal spell.
My manabase can, in my current opinion, handle 4 Aether Hubs. My reasoning is that I want G on turn 1, but I don't need R or a second G immediately on turn 2 in most cases. I feel like this green-heavy build can afford to have the Hubs produce colorless 9/10 times.
The sideboard is designed so that if need be I can swap out 1 and 2 drops for bigger threats in matchups where that would be helpful. It's a really rough SB with no testing behind it yet, so it will likely change.
Trickster-kun, I don't really like pulse, at least in the main. We don't have crucial things that merit extra recursion so it does nothing to further our aggro plan. I do think clip winds is an auto include in the SB.
Ultra_magnus, I agree to an extent about multicolor manabases. They're worse than they were last format but they are still quite good and people will adapt if aggro starts to do well. Also, are the full four titanic growths worth it?
Hello! I played a deck like this in theros-khans standard, with avatar of the resolute, surrak, and more combined with Aspect of Hydra and such. It was pretty fun and quite competitive, so I'm looking to build something similar for this new standard format.
I put a pretty big +1/+1 counter theme into this deck (more than I did the first time round), which I think gives it some synergy to glue it together. All the creatures have a lot of strength on their own, too. Here's my first draft list:
How do you feel about those Chieftains on mainboard? I like the idea of including Frenzied. Atm I'm testing cards like this one too (+ PD is just nuts).
Have you ever been stucked with 1 Reckless in hand? Just asking because you're actually running 4 copies MB.
I like the chieftains. They're certainly not always what you want, but having 2 at the top end of my curve was nice as essentially a permanent bushwhacker. I wouldn't run any more copies than 2, since it dies to most removal in the format, but I wouldn't dip lower than that either.
The frenzied goblin was disappointing for me, and I sided it out a lot, but that was likely just due to the fact that I faced a lot of uninteractive matchups.
As for the Reckless Bushwhackers, I did get stuck with one in hand a couple of times but I also got it + a Mogg Fanatic or something down on turn 3, which is excellent. It can get stuck on occasion but even then it can be a 2/1 haste if you really need a body. I'd say it's worth keeping it for the huge upside of being Bushwhackers 5-8, even if it's not quite as good.
So I just 5-0'd a modern league on MTGO, which is pretty exciting for me. I was lucky that although I faced a diverse set of matchups I never felt like I needed Blood Moon (since I don't have any in digital form). My Dragon's Claw, Smash to Smithereens, and Tormod's Crypt were all relevant at least once.
My deck is a pretty standard mono-red list. I should note I run a cavern of souls in the paper version, but other than that it's quite similar:
Round 1: vs Lantern Control (2-1)
Game 1: I won handily with a good curve-out.
Game 2: My opponent locked me down and had multiple copies of Ensnaring Bridge. I lost to mill.
Game 3: Very close game. I won by holding onto 2 Smash to Smithereens, one of which pushed through lethal by blowing up a Ghoulcaller’s Bell.
Round 2: vs 4-Color Midrange Brew (2-0)
Game 1: This was a W/B/R/G deck with Birds of Paradise, Lightning Helix, and a bunch of powerful 4-drops. Anyway, I won this game with a near-perfect hand of Foundry Street Denizen into Goblin Guide + Legion Loyalist into more gas.
Game 2: I had a strong start and my opponent durdled a lot. I’m pretty sure they flooded out. Just when I was losing momentum I finished them off with a Goblin Grenade.
Round 3: vs Naya Burn (2-1)
Game 1: Another good opening game. I won pretty easily.
Game 2: My opponent stuck a turn 2 Kor Firewalker and I couldn’t keep up, even with a Dragon’s Claw on turn 4.
Game 3: I mulled to 5, kept a hand with no lands, missed the first two land drops, and somehow managed to pull it off by hitting the next two lands, dropping a Dragon’s Claw, and slowly applying pressure. It was a crazy game; my opponent even got out a Kor Firewalker near the end!
Round 4: vs Living End (2-1)
Game 1: My opponent comboed off and demolished me with a total of 3 castings of Living End.
Game 2: It was close but I won thanks to my opponent’s failure to draw into a third land to cast Living End.
Game 3: A really tight game; I worked really hard to put out damage while not overcommitting to the board. I won, even though my opponent gained a total of 10 life off of two castings of Gnaw to the Bone.
Round 5: vs Storm (2-1)
Game 1: Overwhelmed my opponent before they could get set up.
Game 2: They got to storm off for exactly lethal damage because I tried to force through more damage when I should have just bolted their Goblin Electromancer.
Game 3: It was close, but they spent 2 uses of Grapeshot to clear my board and that wasn’t enough to stop me.
So yeah, thought I'd share with you guys. Any thoughts on my results or my build?
Hello! I just finished putting this deck together. I'm going to play one or two modern events this week at local shops, and I'll definitely post my thoughts and results after the tournaments. Here's my list:
I would like a second Stony Silence for the board, and I might put a 4th Detention Sphere in the board if I had one.
The Azor's Elocutors might look like a strange choice. That's because it is. See, I used to collect this guy as a running gag with some of my friends, accumulating over 120 of them at one point. I kind of just felt like throwing him in there and bringing him in against the really grindy matchups. Stupid? Definitely, but I should get a laugh out of it, especially if he filibusters his way to a win.
I'll report back within a couple of days with some results!
Unfortunately I did not make day 2, but ended up with my third loss in round 7, so my record was 4-3. So at least I had a winning record! Now I'll go through my round-by-round report and some general notes afterwards.
Round 1: 1-2 vs zoo
First Round was super close but my opponent got me in games 2 & 3 by putting out a huge knight of the reliquary and using it to fetch kessig wolf run. I didn't draw fast enough hands to win before the wolf run activated either of those games; some flooding was involved.
Like I said it was close all 3 games but I did take my first loss in round 1.
Round 2: 2-0 vs hydra homebrew
This was basically a free win. The guy playing this deck was really nice but he had no idea what he was doing. Both games he had turn 1 hardened scales, turn 2 nothing, turn 3 hydra of some sort (I had bolt for it both times) and then I got the kill in turn 4. I felt kinda bad bit a win's a win.
Round 3: 0-2 vs elves
I lost another very close match here. Both times I started strong but my opponent stabilized and ran me over with ezuri's ability. Perhaps one of my biggest mistakes of the day was not siding in pithing needles for Ezuri. At the time it didn't seem worth it just for Ezuri but looking back that was his only real way of beating me.
Round 4: 2-0 vs burn, Round 5: 2-0 vs zoo, Round 6: 2-0 vs burn/zoo hybrid
These rounds are a bit of a haze to me honestly, partly because I won all 3 and the decks were all fairly similar. I won these matches all handily even though there wasn't much I had to side in for them.
Round 7: 0-2 vs Jund
My last loss was against a pretty skilled player. I made a couple smaller play errors against him but I would have lost either way. He just stabilized too fast for me and in game two he fired off 2(!) feed the clans and was at around 23 life when he finally cleared my guys out and beat in with a huge scooze.
General notes:
Although I didn't make day 2 as I had hoped to, I'm really proud of myself. I have never piloted this deck as well as I did on Saturday. I was very methodical and careful and I was always thinking a few turns ahead. I made no large play mistakes and very few small ones, though I was starting to slip by round 7.
There was a TON of zoo. Not only did I face 3 zoo decks plus some burn, but my friend who was with me played against 3 zoo decks as well. Just a note that it's popular in the meta. Generally Atarka goblins does pretty well against zoo unless it's the higher curve version with knight of the reliquary like I faced round one.
One more thing is that I really like the 2 chieftain-3 command-4 bushwhacker arrangement for mass pump that I ran. Chieftain is bad in some matchups and I did board him out a good deal but I think a couple copies in the main is important due to the pump that can last multiple turns, the haste, and the body it provides.
This deck is really fun and it's also pretty damn good. I don't regret my deck choice for this past weekend at all.
Rdwkidd personally I cut 2 of the chieftains when I added Atarka's commands. I find that although chieftain is very powerful, he's too vulnerable against decks with a lot of spot removal. Paying 3 mana for a creature that just does nothing if hit by a bolt, path, or abrupt decay. I generally prefer bushwhacker and command because they're harder to answer. Obviously chieftain has a more long term effect and that's why I still run 2.
bring in the spellbombs against every deck that plays white! The only exception I can think of is against Junk when they may not be running Forge-tenders/Firewalkers, so Dismember may be a better catch-all.
When you play Pithing Needle, wait for your opponent to respond before naming a card. If you name the card immediately that may give the opponent extra information which you never want to do.
You already mentioned this, but I feel the need to stress this point. Play slowly! I have literally never gone to time with this deck in months of playing it, so feel free to take the time to double-check and triple-check your math before any combat phase.
Other than that, trust yourself to know your deck. You know your deck better than your opponents. Do your thing, do it well, and beat some faces in with some goblins!
Thanks for the extra advice, Keystone. I definitely agree about the pithing needle and am adding that note to my list. As for the pyrite spellbomb, that advice is usually sound. However, when I go up against burn decks splashing white I tend to not bother putting it in because it's almost useless unless they happen to be running the Firewalkers AND hit 2 white sources in a timely manner. And some white-heavy decks don't even run SB firewalkers. However in most of those matchups, I bring in the spellbomb anyway since there's a good chance it will pay off.
Hello all! I made some notes to keep in mind while playing this deck at the GP. Some of these are particular to me but I think it's worth sharing these notes. They are some things I often screw up or forget in gameplay that I want to fix.
Play sloooowly. No reason to rush with such a fast deck. Think everything through no matter what; don’t feel pressured to rush by opponents.
Have a plan. Always know what you want to do a few turns down the road but be flexible in case things change.
Announce Triggers for goblin guide, piledriver, loyalist, FSD, MWM upkeep, name goblins w/ cavern.
Be aggressive. You’re an aggro deck. While it’s bad to make massive attacks for little damage and lose a lot of creatures in the process, don’t hold back if you’re only losing 1-2 disposable creatures.
SEQUENCING! Don’t forget to play cards because you held onto them for postcombat main. It’s usually right to play creatures before combat due to FSD and haste. Play Bushwhackers last thing before combat. FSD should come down before anything that would give it haste.
Misc: Remember to sac Fanatic if it would die to removal or w/e. Atarka’s command can stop lifegain and also ramp if need be. Piledriver has pro blue! Loyalist prevents tokens from blocking. Loyalist is off if only attacking with 2 or less creatures or if you leave out the loyalist from combat. Protect the loyalist when possible, because he’s key in a lot of MUs.
Hello! I'm very new to this deck so this may just be a stupid idea, but I'm toying with a W/g list that puts us more on the slower end of Midrange than control. The green splash would be mainly for Thragtusk, Beast Within, 1-2 Eternal Witness, and maybe some Sylvan Ranger in place of the Pilgrim's Eye.Here's my vague first draft of the list:
I like the idea of beast within in this sort of deck because you can use it to turn your smaller guys into 3/3s or get rid of any opposing permanent then kill the beast by flickering it. Thragtusk is the other big draw to Green in my mind, as that guy generates a ton of value, especially when you flicker him.
Guys it won't kill you to have some more reach, and, oh I don't know, enough land to cast your spells consistently? I am nervous about going down to 19 land and have to start testing soon to find out if it works. Even if you don't run 3 drops, 17-18 lands seems ridiculous. You'd just get stuck on 1 land way too often and lose tempo because you're playing just a 1 drop on turn 3 while your opponent has Liliana or electrolyze of wurmcoil engine.
Also I love the explanation that goblins is not "naturally midrange". For a long time a midrange build was ideal given the suite of goblin creatures in legacy in contrast with the metagame of that format. Modern goblins is in a totally different, more speedy/tempo environment with very few of the midrange type cards that make the typical legacy goblins work. They're incomparable.
4 Kessig Prowler
4 Voltaic Brawler
4 Longtusk Cub
3 Sylvan Advocate
3 Sage of Shaila's Claim
4 Tireless Tracker
2 Architect of the Untamed
4 Lathnu Hellion
2 Bristling Hydra
4 Harnessed Lightning
3 Attune with Aether
23 LANDS
4 Aether Hub
4 Cinder Glade
4 Game Trail
7 Forest
4 Mountain
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Savage Alliance
3 Incendiary Flow
1 Architect of the Untamed
1 Sylvan Advocate
2 Arlinn Kord
2 Verdurous Gearhulk
I've got some notes, too:
What do you think?
http://www.mtggoldfish.com/archetype/standard-mono-green-aggro-25768#paper
I like inspiring call for sure.
Trickster-kun, I don't really like pulse, at least in the main. We don't have crucial things that merit extra recursion so it does nothing to further our aggro plan. I do think clip winds is an auto include in the SB.
Ultra_magnus, I agree to an extent about multicolor manabases. They're worse than they were last format but they are still quite good and people will adapt if aggro starts to do well. Also, are the full four titanic growths worth it?
I put a pretty big +1/+1 counter theme into this deck (more than I did the first time round), which I think gives it some synergy to glue it together. All the creatures have a lot of strength on their own, too. Here's my first draft list:
4 Servant of the Scale
4 Avatar of the Resolute
4 Baloth Pup
4 Den Protector
4 Deathmist Raptor
4 Undergrowth Champion
4 Surrak, the Hunt Caller
3 Nissa, Voice of Zendikar
3 Collected Company
2 Nissa's Judgment
2 Oath of Nissa
22 Forest
3 Plummet
4 Jaddi Offshoot
2 Nissa's Judgment
3 Sylvan Advocate
3 Tajuru Warcaller
The sideboard definitely needs some work, and obviously since I'm making this thread I am very open to feedback on the deck. What do people think?
I like the chieftains. They're certainly not always what you want, but having 2 at the top end of my curve was nice as essentially a permanent bushwhacker. I wouldn't run any more copies than 2, since it dies to most removal in the format, but I wouldn't dip lower than that either.
The frenzied goblin was disappointing for me, and I sided it out a lot, but that was likely just due to the fact that I faced a lot of uninteractive matchups.
As for the Reckless Bushwhackers, I did get stuck with one in hand a couple of times but I also got it + a Mogg Fanatic or something down on turn 3, which is excellent. It can get stuck on occasion but even then it can be a 2/1 haste if you really need a body. I'd say it's worth keeping it for the huge upside of being Bushwhackers 5-8, even if it's not quite as good.
My deck is a pretty standard mono-red list. I should note I run a cavern of souls in the paper version, but other than that it's quite similar:
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
3 Mogg Fanatic
1 Frenzied Goblin
4 Reckless Bushwhacker
4 Mogg War Marshal
3 Goblin Piledriver
2 Goblin Chieftain
4 Goblin Grenade
19 Mountain
Round 1: vs Lantern Control (2-1)
Game 1: I won handily with a good curve-out.
Game 2: My opponent locked me down and had multiple copies of Ensnaring Bridge. I lost to mill.
Game 3: Very close game. I won by holding onto 2 Smash to Smithereens, one of which pushed through lethal by blowing up a Ghoulcaller’s Bell.
Round 2: vs 4-Color Midrange Brew (2-0)
Game 1: This was a W/B/R/G deck with Birds of Paradise, Lightning Helix, and a bunch of powerful 4-drops. Anyway, I won this game with a near-perfect hand of Foundry Street Denizen into Goblin Guide + Legion Loyalist into more gas.
Game 2: I had a strong start and my opponent durdled a lot. I’m pretty sure they flooded out. Just when I was losing momentum I finished them off with a Goblin Grenade.
Round 3: vs Naya Burn (2-1)
Game 1: Another good opening game. I won pretty easily.
Game 2: My opponent stuck a turn 2 Kor Firewalker and I couldn’t keep up, even with a Dragon’s Claw on turn 4.
Game 3: I mulled to 5, kept a hand with no lands, missed the first two land drops, and somehow managed to pull it off by hitting the next two lands, dropping a Dragon’s Claw, and slowly applying pressure. It was a crazy game; my opponent even got out a Kor Firewalker near the end!
Round 4: vs Living End (2-1)
Game 1: My opponent comboed off and demolished me with a total of 3 castings of Living End.
Game 2: It was close but I won thanks to my opponent’s failure to draw into a third land to cast Living End.
Game 3: A really tight game; I worked really hard to put out damage while not overcommitting to the board. I won, even though my opponent gained a total of 10 life off of two castings of Gnaw to the Bone.
Round 5: vs Storm (2-1)
Game 1: Overwhelmed my opponent before they could get set up.
Game 2: They got to storm off for exactly lethal damage because I tried to force through more damage when I should have just bolted their Goblin Electromancer.
Game 3: It was close, but they spent 2 uses of Grapeshot to clear my board and that wasn’t enough to stop me.
So yeah, thought I'd share with you guys. Any thoughts on my results or my build?
4 Sun Titan
3 Court Hussar
3 Pilgrim's Eye
3 Flickerwisp
4 Wall of Omens
3 Lone Missionary
Spells (16)
2 Mana Leak
2 Supreme Verdict
3 Detention Sphere
2 Mortarpod
1 Negate
2 Aether Spellbomb
4 Path to Exile
1 Windswept Heath
4 Flooded Strand
3 Hallowed Fountain
1 Prairie Stream
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
3 Ghost Quarter
7 Plains
2 Island
1 Ghost Quarter
1 Azor's Elocutors
1 Celestial Purge
1 Lone Missionary
1 Keening Apparition
2 Meddling Mage
2 Spreading Seas
1 Stony Silence
1 Dispel
1 Negate
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Day of Judgment
Some notes on my build:
I'll report back within a couple of days with some results!
Decklist:
2 Goblin Chieftain
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Legion Loyalist
4 Goblin Guide
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Mogg Fanatic
1 Krenko's Command
3 Atarka's Command
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Stomping Ground
4 Copperline Gorge
6 Mountain
Sideboard:
1 Shattering Spree
1 Rending Vollley
2 Blood Moon
1 Goblin Piledriver
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Ancient Grudge
2 Dismember
2 Pithing Needle
2 Pyrite spellbomb
Unfortunately I did not make day 2, but ended up with my third loss in round 7, so my record was 4-3. So at least I had a winning record! Now I'll go through my round-by-round report and some general notes afterwards.
Round 1: 1-2 vs zoo
First Round was super close but my opponent got me in games 2 & 3 by putting out a huge knight of the reliquary and using it to fetch kessig wolf run. I didn't draw fast enough hands to win before the wolf run activated either of those games; some flooding was involved.
Like I said it was close all 3 games but I did take my first loss in round 1.
Round 2: 2-0 vs hydra homebrew
This was basically a free win. The guy playing this deck was really nice but he had no idea what he was doing. Both games he had turn 1 hardened scales, turn 2 nothing, turn 3 hydra of some sort (I had bolt for it both times) and then I got the kill in turn 4. I felt kinda bad bit a win's a win.
Round 3: 0-2 vs elves
I lost another very close match here. Both times I started strong but my opponent stabilized and ran me over with ezuri's ability. Perhaps one of my biggest mistakes of the day was not siding in pithing needles for Ezuri. At the time it didn't seem worth it just for Ezuri but looking back that was his only real way of beating me.
Round 4: 2-0 vs burn, Round 5: 2-0 vs zoo, Round 6: 2-0 vs burn/zoo hybrid
These rounds are a bit of a haze to me honestly, partly because I won all 3 and the decks were all fairly similar. I won these matches all handily even though there wasn't much I had to side in for them.
Round 7: 0-2 vs Jund
My last loss was against a pretty skilled player. I made a couple smaller play errors against him but I would have lost either way. He just stabilized too fast for me and in game two he fired off 2(!) feed the clans and was at around 23 life when he finally cleared my guys out and beat in with a huge scooze.
General notes:
Although I didn't make day 2 as I had hoped to, I'm really proud of myself. I have never piloted this deck as well as I did on Saturday. I was very methodical and careful and I was always thinking a few turns ahead. I made no large play mistakes and very few small ones, though I was starting to slip by round 7.
There was a TON of zoo. Not only did I face 3 zoo decks plus some burn, but my friend who was with me played against 3 zoo decks as well. Just a note that it's popular in the meta. Generally Atarka goblins does pretty well against zoo unless it's the higher curve version with knight of the reliquary like I faced round one.
One more thing is that I really like the 2 chieftain-3 command-4 bushwhacker arrangement for mass pump that I ran. Chieftain is bad in some matchups and I did board him out a good deal but I think a couple copies in the main is important due to the pump that can last multiple turns, the haste, and the body it provides.
This deck is really fun and it's also pretty damn good. I don't regret my deck choice for this past weekend at all.
Rdwkidd personally I cut 2 of the chieftains when I added Atarka's commands. I find that although chieftain is very powerful, he's too vulnerable against decks with a lot of spot removal. Paying 3 mana for a creature that just does nothing if hit by a bolt, path, or abrupt decay. I generally prefer bushwhacker and command because they're harder to answer. Obviously chieftain has a more long term effect and that's why I still run 2.
Thanks for the extra advice, Keystone. I definitely agree about the pithing needle and am adding that note to my list. As for the pyrite spellbomb, that advice is usually sound. However, when I go up against burn decks splashing white I tend to not bother putting it in because it's almost useless unless they happen to be running the Firewalkers AND hit 2 white sources in a timely manner. And some white-heavy decks don't even run SB firewalkers. However in most of those matchups, I bring in the spellbomb anyway since there's a good chance it will pay off.
Play sloooowly. No reason to rush with such a fast deck. Think everything through no matter what; don’t feel pressured to rush by opponents.
Have a plan. Always know what you want to do a few turns down the road but be flexible in case things change.
Announce Triggers for goblin guide, piledriver, loyalist, FSD, MWM upkeep, name goblins w/ cavern.
Be aggressive. You’re an aggro deck. While it’s bad to make massive attacks for little damage and lose a lot of creatures in the process, don’t hold back if you’re only losing 1-2 disposable creatures.
SEQUENCING! Don’t forget to play cards because you held onto them for postcombat main. It’s usually right to play creatures before combat due to FSD and haste. Play Bushwhackers last thing before combat. FSD should come down before anything that would give it haste.
Misc: Remember to sac Fanatic if it would die to removal or w/e. Atarka’s command can stop lifegain and also ramp if need be. Piledriver has pro blue! Loyalist prevents tokens from blocking. Loyalist is off if only attacking with 2 or less creatures or if you leave out the loyalist from combat. Protect the loyalist when possible, because he’s key in a lot of MUs.
Also, I have my finalized list:
2 Goblin Chieftain
3 Goblin Piledriver
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Goblin Bushwhacker
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Goblin Guide
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Legion Loyalist
Spells (12):
3 Atarka’s Command
1 Krenko’s Command
4 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Cavern of Souls
2 Stomping Ground
4 Copperline Gorge
4 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
6 Mountain
2 Dismember
1 Rending Volley
1 Goblin Piledriver
2 Destructive Revelry
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Shattering Spree
2 Pyrite Spellbomb
2 Pithing Needle
2 Blood Moon
I'm hyped for GP Pitt and I hope to see some other goblin players there!
4 Sun Titan
3 Thragtusk
2 Restoration Angel
3 Blade Splicer
4 Flickerwisp
2 Eternal Witness
2 Kitchen Finks
3 Lone Missionary
3 Sylvan Ranger
3 Wall of Omens
3 Beast Within
4 Path to Exile
Lands
3 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
4 Ghost Quarter
4 Windswept Heath
4 Temple Garden
7 Plains
1 Forest
I like the idea of beast within in this sort of deck because you can use it to turn your smaller guys into 3/3s or get rid of any opposing permanent then kill the beast by flickering it. Thragtusk is the other big draw to Green in my mind, as that guy generates a ton of value, especially when you flicker him.
Also I love the explanation that goblins is not "naturally midrange". For a long time a midrange build was ideal given the suite of goblin creatures in legacy in contrast with the metagame of that format. Modern goblins is in a totally different, more speedy/tempo environment with very few of the midrange type cards that make the typical legacy goblins work. They're incomparable.