[Horde] Advice for a Goblin Horde

[firebrand549]

Hi y’all, I’m building a horde deck to be used kind of like an archenemy non-human player. I found the idea on Commander Vs. but I’m sure they didn’t invent it and that lots of other people have tried this out. I’m looking for advice on what makes a good Horde deck, how to find a good power level for it, etc... If anyone has experience building/playing with this kind of deck please leave a comment on how I could improve this, I think it could be a great addition to commander sessions if I can tune it right.

Deck: Goblin Horde for co-op EDH

[firebrand549]

Oh and here’s the ruleset/programming for the Goblin Horde, any suggestions on this would be appreciated too.

The Goblin Horde starts with 0 cards in hand and gets more and more powerful in phases. The horde enters a new phase every 4 human turn cycles.
In Phase 0, the horde draws 0 cards on its turn.
In Phase 1, the horde draws 1 card on its turn.
In Phase 2, the horde draws 2 cards on its turn.
In Phase 3, the horde draws 3 cards on its turn.
In Phase 4, the horde draws 4 cards on its turn.
In Phase 5+, the horde draws 4 cards on its turn and creatures the horde controls get +X/+0, where X is the phase number minus 2.
The Goblin Horde takes a turn in between each human player’s turn (including turns that would be taken by eliminated players).
Each turn, the Goblin Horde plays all the cards in its hand during its first main phase without paying their mana costs.
Each turn, all creatures the Goblin Horde controls attack the same randomly chosen player if able.
The Goblin Horde always targets the player with the lowest life total with spells/abilities when given a choice, and targets players before creatures.
The Goblin Horde always targets the creature with the most power with spells/abilities when given a choice.
The Goblin Horde always targets the highest-loyalty planeswalkers with spells/abilities when given a choice, and targets planeswalkers before creatures or players.
The Goblin Horde’s graveyard cannot be interacted with.
The Goblin Horde is considered as just another human player for “target player, target opponent, each player, each opponent, etc...” effects.
The Goblin Horde does not block, and takes damage in the form of mill.
The Goblin Horde only loses if it runs out of cards AND it has no creatures in play.

Special Instances:
The Goblin Horde always activates Skirk Fire Marshal once per turn before combat if able, and prioritizes tapping creatures that would be destroyed.
The Goblin Horde never sacrifices creatures to use Goblin Trashmaster’s second ability.
The Goblin Horde cannot pay Goblin Marshal’s echo cost.
If Goblin Goon is in play and not affected by summoning sickness, the Goblin Horde’s target for the turn is determined randomly among players Goblin Goon can legally attack. If there are no legal attacks for Goblin Goon, the target is chosen randomly among all players and Goblin Goon does not attack.

[Morganator 2.0]

I've made a horde deck in the past, and it was also a goblin horde. Lucky you.

I made mine quite powerful, and the rules are different than what you do.

• There are 3 turns before the horde plays.
• On the horde's turn, they reveal cards from the top of their library until a non-token is revealed. The tokens enter play, and then the non-token is cast. The horde does this once for each player in the game.
• Players share a life total of 20 per player. They take their turn at the same time, go through phases at the same time, and attack and block together.

Specific to my horde:

• Krenko, Mob Boss never attacks, and instead uses his ability each turn if able.
• Purphoros, God of the Forge never uses his activated ability, and is never a creature.

https://deckstats.net/decks/82803/1229376-horde-magic-goblins/

Other than that, it's just like what you do.

I'd need to know what your playgroup is like. I made this horde to go against stronger decks, which might not be what you're aiming for. But feel free to have a look through to gain inspiration.

[CleanBelwas]

One method I found to be fun with the horde is:

There are 3 set up turns for each player.

Then the horde comes in to play. It takes a turn between each players turn. It draws one card for one turn cycle. Two cards for two turn cycles. 3 for 3 etc. Always attacks. Attacks at random. See how long you can last.

My horde is zombies just because I own a lot of black cards  doesn't have tokens and is about 300 or so deep. It's super simple but pretty fun.

Horde is a super fun way to play. I hope you find a balance that works for you.

[firebrand549]

Thanks for the tips, and I did look through your list Morganator, it looks dope! One thing I noticed is that your token list is only 100 cards, doesn't that make it mill out kinda quick? Do you think the reveal until you hit a non-token is more or less powerful than just snowballing every few turn cycles? Obviously it depends on how many tokens you put in and how often it ramps up, but... any thoughts? Currently working on a token version of the gobbos and made a zombie horde with the token approach to try it out.

[Morganator 2.0]

100 cards does make it mill out quick, but more cards wouldn't help that. There's a point where you can tell that the players are going to win, so there's not much point of continuing after that. I do think that the reveal until you hit a non-token is more powerful, especially considering how many tokens I put in the deck. If you go for only 50% tokens then your method might be better.