Pauper: Sticker Goblin Zoo - Deck Tech and Sideboard Guide

_____ Goblin is in Magic Online, and we have more interesting decks to showcase with it than just red Aggro decks with Seething Song on a stick.

Naya Zoo is a sweet Aggro deck that utilizes aggressive creatures of the past which care about land types: Wild Nacatl and Kird Ape.

Using those, we can have _____ Goblin, Burning-Tree Emissary and the powerful "draw 2" effects that Red has to carry them to victory. Let's take a more in-depth look into the deck to see how it works.

The Lands

I really like this mana base. It allows it to be a basic red Aggro deck with _____ Goblin and the draw spells. But it also helps power through with strong 1 drops like Wild Nacatl and Kird Ape, all glued together by Land Grant.

You get to run the forest-based type duals and still have numerous red mana sources in the form of basic mountains. This allows you to keep a high speed with untapped mana sources.

Spells

Land Grant is the glue of the deck. Low land count, high threat count, and mana fixing lets it over-perform for such a niche card at face value.

Reckless Impulse and Wrenn's Resolve are a strong in combination with _____ Goblin. It lets it act like a pseudo "Storm" deck, chaining spell after spell and increasing the threat count along the way.

This is the only removal spell you need. There's no need for Skred or Chain Lightning. Efficient and clean, it goes upstairs and deals with problematic blockers.

Lightning Bolt is still the most efficient and versatile removal spell in Pauper, being able to kill most creatures, especially ones out of UW Glitters and other decks that are out the gates quite early.

The Threats

Kird Ape and Wild Nacatl are great threats even for today's standards. Don't get me wrong: they can struggle to compete against Monastery Swiftspear, but, as a stand alone 2/3 and 3/3, they do a perfect job.

Monastery Swiftspear numbers seem odd, but you don't have many spells.

In some draws, this card is great, and in others it's a glorified Raging Goblin.

Experiment One is my favorite card in the deck. Having so many ways to make this a giant threat that is difficult to deal with is perfect for what I want out of my Zoo deck.

Goblin Bushwhacker is such a versatile threat. You can play it at every point of the game, and it will still be strong! We have seen its strength in Kuldotha and it is no different here. Even with 1-2 creatures out, this provides a utility the opponent most likely won't be prepared for.

Hooting Mandrills is the Gurmag Angler of this Aggro deck. It grows the Experiment One, it is hard to deal with, and is usually cheap to cast. In some games, 4 is too many, but, overall, it is so strong it's worth the slots.

Burning-Tree Emissary, like _____ Goblin, allows you to put an insane amount of pressure on incredibly early. This deck plays like a mix of Mono Green Stompy, Kuldotha and Storm. It can do a lot with very little mana.

I am not going to involve the perfect hand, as that involves a lot of Burning-Trees and Sticker Goblins.

But this hand lets you set up really quickly. It has two lands, but it can still put on a good amount of early pressure and has Lightning Bolt to help clear the way of any annoying creatures.

The sideboard choices are very narrow and niche. It's pretty clear what these are supposed to do, so I will only lightly touch on these.

Pyroblast and Red Elemental Blast are for Blue-based decks, mainly to fight Terror but can also be used to push threats through Counterspell.

Deglamer is for Affinity or Glitters. It is good at buying time to close the game out.

Blazing Volley and End the Festivities are for Kuldotha decks or decks with a lot of X/1s. They are good at dealing with Bogles, as well as White Weenie.

VS Mono Red

IN:

OUT:

Time. Time is all you need. Cutting the slow cards for interaction is what you need. It should be a fairly easy change and the matchup I wished I had 4 Monastery Swiftspear post-sideboard.

VS Mono Blue Terror

IN:

OUT:

Goblin Bushwhacker is the weakest threat in the deck due to all the red hate they will have. It will be rare you will have a decent and relevant Bushwhacker play.

_____ Goblin folds hard to Hydroblast as you can kill it in response, and you get 0 mana from it. So, it is more of a liability than anything.

VS Caw Gate

IN:

OUT:

This is the same as Terror. _____ Goblin is a liability here due to Hydroblast.

VS Golgari Gardens

IN:

Nothing

OUT:

Nothing.

_____ Goblin can be an issue here with all the removal. But the way the sideboard is built, there really isn't anything to improve the matchup.

VS UW Glitters

IN:

OUT:

They will bring in Hydroblast, which makes Sticker Goblin worse and the game will be over quick. Hopefully, they shouldn't have time to deploy any mandrills.

Wild Cantor is an option to help you chain spells if you want to make it more Storm-like. Getting 5 Red mana from _____ Goblin using Wild Cantor to get Wild Nacatl and Experiment One down is a thing.

Other sticker cards are options, but these aren't on Magic Online at the moment, so I can't test them effectively. However, using the Chicken card and the Fight card can be useful to add another dynamic to the deck.

I think this deck is really refreshing and a breath of fresh air!

It is super fun to play other Aggro decks that aren't Mono Red, and we're always happy to shuffle up Kird Ape and Wild Nacatl.

Until next time!