Goblin Army (Modern) [Revision 2]

//Lands

You've got 17 mountains and Shinka (if you read the card is a mountain with another cool effect that you can rarely use, but, hey, it may save you one day). This deck has a curve so low that 2 mana in your starting hand is more than enough, and sometimes even 1 mana if you have a really cheap hand (your chances of having a 2 mana starting hand is around 70%). Anyways, if you dislike to play that risky you can remove 1 dolmen gate, 1 shared animosity and Tuktuk the Explorer, but I woulnd't go further than 21 lands (and if you remove less cards do it in the order I mention the cards).

// Spells

Since the goblin decks usually rely on creatures more than spells this section is quite small.

Goblin Grenade is your happy burst card. I use to finish people with it or sometimes I kill planeswalkers or big creatures. Trust me, the best use for your goblins is as grenades (specially Tuktuk, the arsonist and the Mogg).

Shared Animosity is like a coat of arms but only for attack. Since you can create giant boards this card becomes a finisher by its own.

Dolmen Gate is card that I use for the sake of keeping my board alive. Sometimes I draw two of them and I hate it, other times I like to have two copies since the chance of getting one of them is higher, so it is the chance of survival of my board. Unfortunately there are some decks that use very few creatures. The less creatures, the worse this card is.

// Creatures

Here it comes, the main section. You like goblins, you spam goblins, you kill enemies with a swarm of goblins (and some explosives). Let me introduce your main troops:

Legion Loyalist: Is the heart of your deck, you love him, you protect him (I still don't know how to do it propperly, but I use him less as a grenade than other goblins). This guy makes your goblins hard to kill giving them first strike, you don't waste your extra damage in little blockers, so you kill your foe faster and if he uses tokens he can't block with them (you'd be surprised of the amount of tokens that people creates even if they deck is not token based).

Goblin Bushwhacker: He makes your deck incredible fast and gives you some burst potential with his cheap aoe haste/stats boost. Once you've used his kicker he becomes just another 1/1 goblin.

Goblin Arsonist: I know what are you going to say, the heck is this guy doing in a goblin deck instead of the goblin guide, my true hero who will make me win every game (or at least a Mogg Fanatic). At the end of this there is an explanation of why I don't use any of those cards. Here I'll explain why I do use this little goblin. At first this is a card that lacks of, well, everything. Standard one mana 1/1, when he dies deals 1 damage. I found this guy being surprinsingly amazing as a cheap blocker, a good sacrifice for the grenade or just an attacker. The 1 damage makes him extremely valuable since he can free kill a lot of creatures like the snapcaster mage, vendilion clique, dark confidant, young pyromancer, grim lavamancer, etc, also it can slow down planeswalkers, hit the life points of something damaged or just the opponent if there are not good targets. As a blocker he can kill 2 hit points bodies, making him more efficient than a Mogg Fanatic in defense, unless the Mogg can block and kill another attacking creature. The main drawback is that I can't force the damage, so the only ways to kill him is in combat or using the grenade, wich has sorcery speed, making him less efficient versus high response decks (don't even try to mention the enemy using removals on him, it has happened to me only 1 time in four years).

Warren instigator: This guy is a gambit, in early game he can win the game by itself if they don't remove him and if you have the best goblins of your deck in hand. If you draw him later he can do some damage if you have some other goblins, specially the legion loyalist, if not he's garbage for a 2 mana goblin. Since he is a bit risky to use I only use 2 copies, but the risk is worth.

Mogg War Marshal: He's my early game board creator. It also happens that he is good as a blocker, as a grenade and if you give him haste as an attacker. Don't forget that you must choose to echo or not on your next turn.

Goblin Wardriver: As long as you have some other goblins he becomes a threat (and a removal target). Alone this guy is just a little better than the standard goblin.

Goblin Piledriver: If the loyalist is your beloved right hand goblin, this guy is your man for dirty jobs. He can put a lot of damage with very few goblins (and I mean a lot of damage), he can't be blocked by blue creatures (freaking snapcaster flash) and also happens that he can't be targeted by the control abilities of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Jace, the Mind Sculptor. ¿Azorius control? Hah.

Goblin Chieftain: If this guys survives one or two turns the game is yours. Static aoe haste is the goblin wet dream, plus that stat boost you can't complain.

Tuktuk the Explorer: I introduced this guy in the deck as a joke. Then he did...Tuktuk stuff. It happens that he's better than what he looks like. Three mana 1/1 haste is not impressive, but I can easily trigger the loyalist ability on third turn without fearing a removal into one of my 3 mana big guys. He's good as a grenade since I can bring an impressive 5/5 legendary goblin (godlike stats for the race). This token is extremely valuable if I can give him haste, and since he's legendary I can use Shinka's ability in a good target (once I used it for killing a Baneslayer Angel who thought that he was an easy target for blocking). One of my favourite attacks is when I summon Tuktuk, and in my next turn I grenade him and then summon kicked Bushwhacher.

Sensation Gorger: Your draw engine. Sometimes your goblins are wiped so many times that you need extra cards. With a 34 creature cards deck your chances of activating his ability are higher than 50%. When you summon him is quite usual that your enemies have already used all his removals in hand. Other times he's just another goblin, so you use him as an attacker.

Krenko, Mob Boss: Warren instigator best friend along the Goblin Chieftain. When everything fails he manages to make you win (if he survives).

//Sideboard

I use the sideaboard mainly for dealing with control decks, wich make you unable to attack as you'd like.

Goblin Chainwhirler: This guy is amazing, good stats, removes tokens, first strike. The only reason making him unable to be in the main deck is that the 3 mana cost is a very reduced group, because I can't force the mana curve more and I can't even think of removing any card of it unless the right scenario is given. If you need to deal with another swarm deck or a deck wich punishes swarm decks too much this card works better than shared animosity.

Goblin King: Amazing versus red decks, not so amazing versus the other colors. Use him wisely and think what do you change for him (it depends a lot of what are you facing).

Relic of Progenitus: I use this card for graveyards decks (hello dredge). This cards allows you to fight better this kind of decks than the dolmen gate (and pls, don't use this sideboard because the enemy uses just 2 cards wich take advantage of the graveyard).

Skullcrack: Have you ever dealt with a deck wich heals a lot? And I mean a lot in one turn, with cards like Martyr of Sands or Sphinx's Revelation. This cards is a little answer for those decks or just as cheap damage if you can't reach the enemy with your goblins. Be careful with the interaction of this card with dolmen gate.

Blood Moon: Lovely card versus decks with a lot of nonbasic lands (almost every three color deck), the slower is the deck, the stronger will be the effectivity of this card. Shinka is not that hurt since it's my "special montain".

Purphoros, God of the Forge: When someone controls you so hard that you can't even attack with your goblins, this card becomes a great option since it makes summoning goblins a true hell for your enemy.

Siege-Gang Commander: Another card that I like to use for those "you can't move" decks. Combined with Purphoros is really funny to see.

Krenko, Mob Boss: A second Krenko for those lovely pure control decks.

Burn at the Stake: This is the big kaboom, the finish him of your sideboard. When the pure control deck happens to also heal a lot not even Purphoros can save you. This card makes you one turn kill almost everything. Burn those sticky bastards.

//Why not play...

Goblin Guide: This is a personal reason. Goblin guide gives you a lot of early game damage, most of the time managing to deal at least 4 damage. BUT, he can also make your enemy draw free lands (as a fast deck I dislike to give my opponent a chance to balance his mana curve, specially when he mulligans). Later he's a 2/2 haste with less chances of dealing damage but still the same chances of making your enemy to draw cards or at least know what card will draw (and information is power). The final reason I don't play this guy is because I can't find a place to put him in the 1 mana section. The loyalist makes the whole group too good, the bushwhacker gives me a lot of surprise and burst potential and the arsonists gives me control, expendable cards and a light defense.

Mogg Fanatic: The battle between the arsonist and this guys is almost tied. After some games I found the arsonist more effective for my playstyle, but the fanatic is also a great option that could work better versus some specific decks.

Aether Vial: I put this into this section because some people has asked me along the tournaments. The vial is a card that I've seen in legacy goblins, mainly because they use those lands that tap other lands or the ones that sacrifice themselves and then destroy another land, so they can keep summoning while they control the opponent mana. In modern doesn't work in the same way.

More Kings: Is not worth it, I can't see a way to fit four kings in the deck.

More Goblin Chainwhirler: More or less the same problem than the king.

More Blood Moon: Okay, this is different than the previous two. Sometimes I think that a third moon or even the fourth would be amazing because they really break some decks. If you want to replace something form the sideboard for more moons I won't discourage you (best options are the skullcracks or maybe the second Krenko).

Other Goblin stuff: I have tested a lot of goblins over the years (even a flying first strike goblin). Maybe the only worth mentions are the goblin cratermaker and the dominaria Squee, wich are quite new, so I haven't tested them enough, but at least the first one would be an amazing response for those artifact decks. Anyways you can try a lot of combinations and goblins, maybe you find something I haven't seen in the past or a synergy with a new goblin (try Squee, the Immortal with Lightning Crafter, is super funny to see).

Other spells: If you search for other spells there are a few one that you may like. Forked Bolt works when the meta has weak creatures or spams a lot of 1 health tokens and lightning bolt is a good replacement for the grenade if you prefer the instant speed and/or dislike the summit of goblins (for those pacifist and "don't hurt the goblins" organizations).

Mutavault: If you haven't noticed I play a risky deck that uses very few mana, so having a colorless mana that transforms into a killable 2/2 goblin is not worth it for me. Maybe if you play more lands you can try one copy, but not with 18.

Cavern of Souls: The only reason why I don't play this card is because is too expensive for me. If you can afford it, is worth it to have 4 copies of it instead of mountains. You've got only 8 noncreature spells in your whole deck, the other cards being lands or goblins. From those 8 spells the dolmen gate can be played with colorless mana, the shared animosity costs 2 colorless mana, and at three mana you should already have at least one mountain and the goblin grenade is the only one that you can find situations where you can't play it (wich is solved as long as you draw a mountain). If you make some maths you find that the cavern of souls only has minor problems with 4 of your 60 cards deck, so there is almost no risk and a lot of reward in playing this amazing card. It works a little worse with some cards of the sideboard, but is doesn't work that bad.