MTG Salvation

Quote from 00Flour »

Any more updates? I did not see mention of Goblin Wizard and Goblin Goliath. Did you consider those for this deck? And then their is the new krenko commander who could come in as well.

Goblin Wizard isn't necessary, as there is rarely a time when I can't afford to just cast a goblin in my hand, and Goblin Goliath is too expensive for what it does.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin will be added once I actually get my hands on the card.

The only thing you missed is the background for Chronicle of Bolas, which takes place in the past but establishes a bunch of Elder Dragon lore. You can find it on the main magic website under 'story', or linked in my resources thread.

Quote from enzie »

In another thread, people were referencing a story about Vraska and Isperia meeting up.. post-ixalan but pre-War of the Spark, as Vraska is the guild master. I don't know where they read this story. Can anyone point in the right direction? I read everything they post on the WOTC story page, but I don't recall this event, unless I somehow missed it.

They're referring to what was shown in the Guilds of Ravnica story spotlights and what's discussed in the Ravnica Art Book.

In all seriousness, the origins of it are probably from The Dark. In The Eternal Ice, Jodah, who only remembers the Dark at the time, gives his birth date from both the birth of the brothers and the destruction of Argoth. It was probably common to count from that devastation on Terisiare, and it was formalized as "Argivian Reckoning" at some point before Time Streams, which was itself just a few centuries after the Ice Age.

Quote from Grammis »

With the removal of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker are you considering bringing back Arms Dealer for Lightning Crafter?

I'm currently playing with Arms Dealer as a Lightning Crafter replacement but I was wondering if you consider Lightning Crafter to be the stronger of the two? If so I'd gladly hear your reasoning.

To be honest I had forgotten Arms Dealer wasn't in the deck anymore. I'd have to play around and see, but Lightning Crafter benefits from all the untap engine stuff still in the deck while Arms Dealer doesn't.

Quote from darrenhabib »

I'm can anybody tell me if the location in the background of Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle and Aven Sentry is some known location? Is it Halcyon?
https://mtg.gamepedia.com/Halcyon





It's some floating city.

Halcyon was destroyed 10,000 years ago. That's the floating bits of the new Church of Serra.

November 6 Update: Guilds of Ravnica update

IN: Legion Warboss
Legion Warboss is definitely the stand out goblin card of Guilds of Ravnica. A sort-of fixed Goblin Rabblemaster that only requires the token to attack, it provides token fuel for all the engines of the deck and is great with Krenko, but also helps fuel to cast Krenko and your bigger spells in the late game. Repeatable goblin token production can't be passed up, here. Remember: you can tap Krenko to count that little guy and sacrifice it all before it ever has to attack.

Massive Raid
Massive Raid is potentially a win con, but more than likely it'll just be more removal for this deck, which I found it needed.

Hordeling Outburst
I'm not sure why I was sleeping on this card, but three goblins for three mana is nothing to sneeze at. It can easily jump start any of the engines this deck sets up.

OUT: Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
If you've been following the last few updates, I've been angling this way for a while. Kiki-Jiki pushes for play styles that didn't really line up for what I was going for with this deck. All the combos are still listed under 'Cut Combos' in the primer if you want to go that route, but I never found a situation where I really wanted to cast Kiki-Jiki except when I had all the other combo pieces in play. It's a lot of risk to bet so much on one card.

Hammer of Purphoros
I have enough haste enablers in this deck at this point that I found myself never really using the Hammer. I may re-evaluate in the future if I find myself struggling for haste enablers again. Also I got tired of carrying around the golem tokens just in case, lol.

Helm of the Host
A nine mana investment for something that other players will rarely allow just isn't worth it. I really wanted to like this card more (who doesn't want more Krenko?), but it just didn't do what I wanted it to. As part of my efforts to bring this deck back to basics, I get more value out of Hordeling Outburst than I would with this card.

Quote from Grammis »

Hey Jay13x I'd just like to say that I really enjoy the playstyle of this deck. I've seen a lot of Krenko decks that feel too aggro for me and some that have too much combo and lose that tribal goblin feel.

Yeah, I'm angling back toward the original feel of the deck after going a little too corner case combo heavy.

Quote from Grammis »

I made my own first EDH deck just a while back (I started playing in Dominaria) before I discovered this primer. So I was wondering what your thoughts are on swapping Gamble for Sensation Gorger for budget reasons?

There's nothing wrong with that!

Quote from Grammis »

I was also curious what your current thoughts are on Arms Dealer and Gempalm incinerator do you think they are suitable when if you're trying to up the goblin count to 30 or if they're staying on the shelf?

Most of what you'll be killing with these cards will be power 4 or less. For instance, Gempalm can kill Linvala or other utility creatures (excepting creatures with protection from Gempalm's colors/types). Arms Dealer can always sacrifice himself for damage. They're useful to get around counterspells and various other tricks.

Quote from Grammis »

Edit: You've written that Sol Ring is a good budget replacement for Phyrexian Altar but Sol Ring is already in the decklist.

Aaaaaah. This is what happens over the course of over a dozen revisions. I need to update the list anyway. I'll fix it now.

It me! Thank you everyone.

I should be clear that I'm an independent contractor, a lot like the Flavor Text team of writers. I’m not staff. Nothing I say should be taken as “Word of God” for canon purposes. Basically I make recommendations and annotations. If you saw my “Let’s Talk About” series on Tumblr, it’s kind of like that.

I am, essentially, looking for things that I would complain about - I am not writing stories.

I've added my story summary for Chronicle of Bolas!

It's fake. That's a panel from the original IDW comic.

Quote from Mowagh »

I have a question regarding Oona, Queen of the Fae.

My friend who has the Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block novels sent me a page which she says is one of the final pages of the block's story. It alludes to Oona still being alive or possibly being able to return at some point? Does anyone have more information on that?

Maralen was a copy of Oona that rebelled, and took over after Oona was defeated. It's possible she 'becomes' Oona again for real.

Quote from wery67564 »

I think I read through everything fairly thoroughly, but I didn't see any mention on the exclusion or inclusion of Massive Raid. Thoughts?

Massive Raid was on a very, very early version of this list (before the primer). As I'm not looking at the 'back to basics', I'm going to figure out where I could slot it in again.

Quote from snowfox54119 »

Would this list have any use for the new Volley Veteran?

Seems like it could offer some fun utility too with Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker as a potential wincon.

It could! Volley Veteran didn't make the initial cut, but it's on the list to figure out a space for.

BACK TO BASICS UPDATE

So, I've been thinking about this for a while, and I'm finally pulling the trigger. The more I diluted the essence of this deck, the less fun it was becoming to play. I've been adding things for the sake of combos, not because they necessarily work with the goblin theme or not.

So today's edits take Dominaria, Battlebond, and Core 2019's wealth of great cards and replaces some combo pieces that were taking up space, were essentially win-more, or were not that helpful and went against the core philosophy of the deck.

IN:Cheering Fanatic, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Goblin Instigator, Goblin Trashmaster, Helm of the Host
OUT: Combat Celebrant, Izzet Chemister, Zealous Conscripts, Splinter Twin, The Immortal Sun

Additions:
Cheering Fanatic is a fantastic curve card. Attacking with a Cheering Fanatic on Turn 3 means I can also cast Krenko.
Dark-Dweller Oracle is insane for this deck. I have no shortage of creatures to sacrifice and 'Impulse Drawing' helps filter through the deck. Because I keep my CMC relatively low, I should be able to cast almost anything I exile this way.
Goblin Instigator is just another Mogg War Marshal/Dragon Fodder. That's not a bad thing, as it lowers my curve again and provide two bodies.
Goblin Trashmaster is a repeatable Smelt. That's good.
Helm of the Host is just a great commander card, but being able to make non-legendary copies of Krenko, Kiki-Jiki, or Purphoros has obvious advantages.

Subtractions:
Zealous Conscripts and Splinter Twin are infinite combo pieces, but much harder to set-up than the ones that already exist for Krenko. The only reason I haven't cut Kiki-Jiki is that he's still very useful in this deck outside of infinite combos. These two are not, and sit dead in my hand unless I have one of the other pieces. That's obviously bad for a deck that emphasizes the early game.

Combat Celebrant is strong, it's true, and I would recommend including him in just about any aggro deck with red. In this case, though, I'm looking to cut out the non-goblin creatures for my 'back to basics' efforts.

Izzet Chemister doesn't really add the value I'd wanted from it in this deck. I might give it another go if I bring my number of instants and sorceries up.

The Immortal Sun was in her for late-game card draw, but Goblin Dark-Dweller is just so much better in this deck, and on curve, that I decided to replace it.

Note: I'm working on updating the Primer so you may not see these changes reflected for a few hours. 'Back to Basics' doesn't stop here, I'm going to be looking at moving back to a more goblin-centric deck overall, and hopefully getting the number of goblin creatures back up to 30ish.

Quote from SecretInfiltrator »

Quote from Moppi »

Man, this announcement was not the morning gut punch I wanted.

I'm holding on to Aysen Abbey, a Serra related card that would point to her supporting Bant colours

Did you know the same set contains Castle Sengir and Baron Sengir? Those lands produce three colors not following the logic you suppose.

If this was Homelands, I would agree. The point is that Serra as a Bant-Aligned walker isn't outside the realm of possibility.

Also note Graven Cairns and Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood have pushed Sengir-themed stuff into black and red in recent years.