Back when MTG Foundations first came out, there was some hope that typal decks would arise in Standard. Major typal upgrades like Elvish Archdruid and Searslicer Goblin made their way to the format, but unfortunately, Elves and Goblin completely fell short of expectations.
As it turns out, though, Aetherdrift may have provided the spark necessary to make Goblins a real contender. The archetype boasted a breakout performance yesterday, making top four of a Magic Online Standard Challenge. There’s a lot to like with this current iteration of the deck, so if you’re a fan of beating down with a horde of Goblins, look no further.
The Old Cards
- Mana Value: 1R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 1/1
- Card Type: Creature- Goblin Warrior
- MTG Sets: Dominaria United
- Card Text: Other Goblins you control get +1/+1. Whenever Rundvelt Hordemaster or another Goblin you control dies, exile the top card of your library. If it’s a Goblin creature card, you may cast that card until the end of your next turn.
Even before the release of Aetherdrift, there were a handful of elite Goblin payoffs that provided an incentive to give the archetype a shot. At the top of that list, we have Rundvelt Hordemaster. Rundvelt Hordemaster is the perfect reward for constructing your deck with a high density of cheap Goblins.
Right away, you get the “Lord” effect of buffing all of your other Goblins, enabling some big attacks if you’re able to go wide. On top of that, though, Rundvelt Hordemaster generates value anytime any of your Goblins die. This not only makes removal a bit less concerning but also can make combat a bit of a nightmare for the opponent.
Let’s say you have a Cacophony Scamp and a Searslicer Goblin in play to go along with your Rundvelt Hordemaster. If you attack with your Scamp, chances are your opponent doesn’t have a great block. Even if they can block down Scamp, you’ll get death triggers from Scamp and Hordemaster, and you’ll still get to generate a token via Searslicer Goblin’s raid ability.
Rundvelt Hordemaster pairs nicely with Dropkick Bomber, too. Dropkick Bomber pumps your Goblin squad all the same and can provide evasion to your other Goblin threats at will.
The downside, of course, is that doing so forces you to sacrifice your attacker once you connect in combat. Luckily, with Hordemaster out, sacrificing your Goblins gives you the upside of exiling other Goblins from the top of your deck to cast.
Fixing Some Problems
- Mana Value: 2R
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 2/3
- Card Type: Creature – Goblin Mercenary
- MTG Sets: Aetherdrift
- Card Text: Start your engines!
Other Goblins you control have Haste.
At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token. That token attacks this combat if able.
Max Speed — Tap: Add R for each Goblin you control.
With two different “Lord” effects present and a nice go-wide element in Searslicer Goblin, you might think this deck would’ve had success prior to Aetherdrift’s release. However, the Goblins deck had two major flaws that kept it from making a splash in Standard.
First, the deck lacked good one-drops. Outside of Cacophony Scamp, all the one-drop options were pretty poor. Without a one mana Goblin that could reliably connect in combat, Searslicer Goblin just wasn’t that scary of a card.
The second issue the Goblins deck faced was with its inability to play through a slew of removal spells from the opponent. Outside of Rundvelt Hordemaster, the Goblins deck had little recourse if the opponent simply killed your Lords and slammed a burly blocker, like Preacher of the Schism.
Aetherdrift successfully addressed both of these concerns. With regards to one-mana cards to pair with Searslicer Goblin and your Lords, Burnout Bashtronaut is as good as they come. Menace means that your opponent will have a tough time blocking it down early. Curving Burnout Bashtronaut into Searslicer Goblin on the play means that even if the opponent has a one-drop, you can freely attack without fear.
Burnout Bashtronaut also scales well as they game goes on. Getting to max speed is not difficult, and the combination of menace, double strike, and pseudo-“firebreathing” can put your opponent in a rough spot.
To help address the second concern, Howlsquad Heavy makes it easy to generate a big board of Goblins in no time. Each turn that Howlsquad Heavy sticks around, you’ll be generating more and more attackers. Even if the opponent has a blocker like Preacher at the ready, if you have Searslicer Goblin in play, you’ll still get a Goblin token for your troubles at your end step.
Furthermore, Howlsquad Heavy synergizes perfectly with Krenko, Mob Boss. Krenko is an army in a can, but you usually need to wait a full turn cycle to activate it and just hope the opponent doesn’t have removal. Howlsquad Heavy completely changes this narrative.
Krenko will have haste when you play it, and once you activate Krenko to make a bunch of tokens, those tokens can all attack that same turn. If you’re lucky enough to have max speed at this point, Howlsquad Heavy can then tap for a boatload of mana, which you can use to cast more Goblins, pump Burnout Bashtronaut, animate Soulstone Sanctuary, or activate the Exhaust abilities of Draconautics Engineer. The world really is your oyster!
A New Hope
- Mana Value: 1WW
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Enchantment
- MTG Sets: Dominaria United
- Card Text: When Temporary Lockdown enters the battlefield, exile each nonland permanent with mana value 2 or less until Temporary Lockdown leaves the battlefield.
With the new Aetherdrift cards in the mix, mono-red Goblins has a real shot in Standard. The deck is fast enough to race Sunfall out of Domain in a lot of instances. Even in the face of hate cards like Temporary Lockdown, Howlsquad Heavy can help you recover in no time.
Torch the Tower and sideboard copies of Screaming Nemesis give you a better shot at combatting the red Prowess decks you’re bound to run into. Versus other go-wide decks, like Jeskai Convoke or Selesnya Cage, a single Krenko activation may spell doom for the opponent.
Efficient removal spells like Cut Down and Torch the Tower are still going to be very annoying to face across the table, considering they are capable of trading up on mana. If your opponent is representing Cut Down, it may be worth trying to bait out the removal spell rather than tapping out for Howlsquad Heavy and having it die before you get any value.
Ultimately, while Goblins may not be as popular as decks like Prowess or Esper Pixie, the deck finally has some competitive appeal. Consider giving Goblins a run at your next FNM.