For many Commander enthusiasts, typal archetypes remain some of the most fun decks to play. After all, there’s nothing not to like about flooding the board with creatures and using thematic payoffs to cement your advantage.
While typal decks are significantly more popular in a casual setting, there are some strategies that can still hold their own in a competitive environment. In fact, earlier this week, a dedicated Goblins shell boasted a top-four finish in a 67-player cEDH event. Built around Muxus, Goblin Grandee, this deck is capable of putting together a formidable offense in a flash.
Goblins Galore
As is typical for a Muxus Commander deck, the majority of cards in this deck fill one of two roles. As you may expect, there’s a super high density of Goblins to hit off this Commander’s enters trigger. This includes Lord effects, like Goblin King and Goblin Trashmaster, alongside go-wide elements such as Krenko, Mob Boss. When combined with Goblin Warchief, Howlsquad Heavy, and other Haste enablers, you can often set up a huge attack the same turn you resolve Muxus.
Thanks to the speed of cEDH, Muxus also needs to run a lot of mana rocks to hit the board on time. Unsurprisingly, this deck comes equipped with tons of mana rocks, Rituals, and mana-producing Goblins like Skirk Prospector to help the cause. With a few accelerants in your opening hand, like Jeska’s Will, you can resolve Muxus as early as turn one.
Even on the off chance you whiff off Muxus’ trigger, numerous copy effects can give you another crack at things. Heat Shimmer, Molten Duplication, Twinflame, and more do a great job keeping the pressure on so you can reliably cross the finish line.
Combo Options
While attacking for lethal is certainly an option, this deck also incorporates a multitude of combos that threaten to end games faster. Of all the options available, the easiest to set up revolves around Goblin Recruiter. By tutoring for Conspicuous Snoop, Torch Courier, and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, you can enable a win during your next turn.
Once you untap and draw Conspicuous Snoop, you’ll want to cast the strong two-drop. Once in play, the Snoop will allow you to cast Torch Courier from the top of your library, leaving Kiki-Jiki on top. After giving Snoop Haste with Torch Courier, you can start using Kiki-Jiki’s copy ability on Conspicuous Snoop. This allows your Conspicuous Snoop to make infinite copies of itself, thanks to being nonlegendary. After making a boatload of tokens, you can copy Goblin Recruiter to tutor up Mogg Fanatic to the top of your deck, and sacrifice all of your token copies of Snoop to ping each opponent to death.
Notably, even though this is the most efficient combo line available, there are other options available in the event you draw Kiki-Jiki naturally. For example, you can deal infinite damage to each opponent by getting Kiki-Jiki, Lightning Crafter, and a sacrifice outlet like Skirk Prospector or Goblin Chirurgeon into play together.
Simply start by tapping Kiki-Jiki to make a copy of Lightning Crafter. When the token copy enters, Champion Kiki-Jiki. After that, tap the Lightning Crafter token to deal three damage to an opponent, then sacrifice the token to your sacrifice outlet, returning Kiki-Jiki to play in the process. Repeating this whole sequence over and over should easily win you the game.
Fighting a Hard Fight
Overall, Goblin Typal in cEDH has its fair share of both strengths and shortcomings that make it an intriguing deck choice. If uninterrupted, Goblin Typal is capable of racing most other decks. Plus, because Muxus can put a ton of creatures into play at once, spot removal is of minimal concern.
On the flip side, though, this deck’s reliance on Muxus’ enters trigger does leave it vulnerable to Torpor Orb. Fighting against a wall of Counterspells can also be a nuisance if you don’t draw Cavern of Souls. As a mono-red deck, Goblin Typal has similar struggles disrupting opposing combos, which are super prevalent in cEDH.
With these factors in mind, Goblin Typal’s position in cEDH still seems firmly below the top tier of decks. Yet, this impressive tournament finish still showcases that Muxus has what it takes to compete. If you want to try to give the top decks a run for their money with a unique and fun archetype, consider giving Goblin Typal a whirl.
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