"Be fruitful and multiply": A Legacy Goblins Deck Tech

Goblins is one of the oldest tribes in Magic: the Gathering!

Since Alpha, Goblins have surprised us with their momentum, ingenuity, and of course, quantity! And it is exactly this strongest characteristic in a Goblins deck: multiplication of creatures, very synchronous abilities, but, mainly: aggressiveness! You blink, a Goblin sprouts, breathe, another is born and even stronger!

Even being such an old tribe, it was only in the Onslaught block, in 2002, that the Goblins began to shine in the competitive scenario of Magic. And even today we can see them doing well in tournaments, as we can see here.

Here is the version of the deck I chose for us to analyze.

First and foremost, the Lands!

Of course, we'll have mountains and the classic Legacy staple Wasteland and, since we're not playing a mono-red version, we'll also run Arid Mesa, Badlands, Bloodstained Mire, Cavern of Souls, Karakas e Rishadan Port.

We use 4 copies, after all, the Goblins deck is excellent at generating card advantage. As you advance your army quickly, you also think about the possibility of destroying your opponent's mana source.

Wasteland is an absolute fundamental resource and will be able to win the matches by eliminating colors that your opponents need, or preventing them from giving up while you still manage to cast your creatures, or better yet, put them on the field with Aether Vial.

We use four copies as well! It's very useful against blue-based decks to guarantee your spells will resolve. After all, this deck's gameplan can be easily interrupted if your first spells are countered. By including Cavern of Souls you can potentially make your opponents' Daze and Force of Will useless for a few turns.

This card is great against decks that run few lands or that run a greedy manabase with four colors. After all, Rishadan Port can be used alongside Wasteland to drain off your opponent's mana resources while your Goblins count on the possibility to be put into play by multiple means such as Aether Vial, Goblin Lackey and Muxus, Goblin Grandee.

It's the land you need against Show and Tell decks or Depths. This card can actually save your game against some awful matchups.

So that we can have better precision on this deck, we run Fetchlands. At the cost of one life, we can fix our mana especially in a deck with two or three colors. On this Goblins deck, it's not very different, especially on this version.

Even though we have only a few main deck multicolored cards, this manabase makes our sideboard notoriously better.

The Aether Vial is one of the centerpieces of the deck. Goblins have specific effects, so being able to put them into play indisputably and at instant speed can be crucial in the combat stages. That is, in addition to circumventing counterspells, the Aether Vial allows combat tricks, such as, for example, putting a lord on the battlefield before the damage phase.

It also allows for an immense mana advantage when combined with Wasteland and Rishadan Port. If the starting hand comes with Aether Vial and some creatures, we will possibly have a big advantage.

Creatures

Here's the heart of the deck!

Goblins are your win conditions and will also work well alongside sorcery effects too. They will help you to control the game while also going for the beat down!

One of the best cards in the deck! And honestly one of my favorite cards from Urza's Saga.

On the right curve, Goblin Lackey can make you have some unbeatable plays that will put you so much ahead that most decks will have difficulty answering properly, especially alongside Wasteland and Rishadan Port.

While Matron tutors exactly the card you need, Goblin Ringleader and Muxus find creatures on the top of the deck.

For four mana, Ringleader reveals the top four cards of your deck and the Goblins go into your hand while the rest goes to the bottom.

Muxus, for 6 mana, reveals the top six cards of the deck, and all Goblins that cost 5 or less go onto the battlefield.

This is one card that makes you wonder: Isn't there a better option?

Mogg War Marshal is essentially 3 creatures in one card. And the fact of one of the remains on the battlefield, if it dies, is great. If you have a Mogg at the end of the match and an Aether Vial and, being able to pay the cheap Echo cost, it's possible to have a guarantee against board wipes and, if you cast it at the beginning of the game and it dies, there are still two goblins in play.

These cards are great removal spells, and Munitions Expert remains in play, which means it is another body to attack or another card to feed Sling-Gang Lieutenant.

This card reduces the cost of all Goblins and gives them Haste. Not much to say about this one. The more, the merrier.

Depending on the metagame, Piledriver is usually a very good choice. He is an excellent attacker, greatly increasing his power according to the number of attacking goblins. In addition to having protection against blue, giving it an advantage against decks of this color such as Delver decks.

A great early-game card that speeds up your Goblin hordes.

Works very well against Young Pyromancer. It's an extremely versatile creature that is strategically put into the deck and can be a great tutor option for Goblin Matron

This little Legendary goblin causes damage in any target whenever a Goblin deck, which might be quite punitive to your opponent if he has to focus on other threats instead of Pashalik himself.

This card is the maindeck reason to run black on this deck. Sling-Gang mixes sacrifice with life drain and can give the deck a lot of reach.

Now, to the sideboard:

Goblin Trashmanster helps on matches against decks that run plenty of artifacts such as Eldrazi Stompy, Dragon Stompy, and decks that run Chalice of the Void or Ensnaring Bridge.

Chalice of the Void is a great way to play around Delver decks, that run a huge amount of one-mana cards.

Karakas, as mentioned before, can be used on matchups such as Reanimator, decks with Show and Tell, and Depths.

Leyline of the Void and Surgical Extraction go very well against Reanimator or Dredge decks.

Mindbreak Trap works well against Storm decks, such as TES or Ad Nauseam Tendrils.

Pyrokinesis can clean your opponent's board and works well against Elves, Death and Taxes, and UR Delver, it also works well against decks running Young Pyromancer.

Red Elemental Blast is an excellent answer to blue threats or to resolve your spells through a Counterspell.

That's all for today. If you have any suggestions or questions, feel free to leave them in the comments!

Thanks for reading!