If there’s one thing most Magic players love, it’s a good typal deck. More intricate decks are appealing in their own way, but the elegant simplicity of just jamming a bunch of synergistic creatures together has something more primal to it. While it’s rare to see these decks do well, players are always keen to try them out.
MTG Foundations, being a celebration of all things Magic, includes plenty of typal support. As a result, a brand-new Goblins deck is already taking names in the Standard MTG format. Thanks to a cool combo twist, this deck may actually have a serious shot in the format.
Goblins In MTG Foundations Standard
This new Goblins list comes to us via Fleshgrafter, who has been playing the deck extensively on MTG Arena. Currently, their win-loss ratio sits at 33-14. This puts the deck’s win rate at around 70%, which is impressive by anyone’s Standards. We’re in the early days of the format, of course, but these results are still encouraging.
As for the deck itself, MTG Foundations provided a ton of tools for Goblins to work with in Standard. Foundations added Searslicer Goblin, which is a very solid token generator in an aggressive strategy like this. It also added Goblin Surprise, which pulls double-duty as a means of building a board and closing out a game. It’s not super-efficient in either mode, but the flexibility makes it a clutch card in many situations.
Beyond these new additions, things are about what you’d expect. Cacophony Scamp and Fanatical Firebrand make up the deck’s one-drop suite, giving you a means of getting onto the board early. Rundvelt Hordemaster comes in at two, surprising many with the fact that it exists at all. You probably forgot that a full-on Goblin lord with a built-in card advantage engine was legal in Standard right now, but you won’t again if you see it played against you in this deck.
There are a couple of interesting one-offs in the three drop slot here, too. Squee, Dubious Monarch and Breeches, Eager Pillager offer a lot of value, but their mana costs make them best suited to the limited numbers they have here. Squee in particular is great as a one-of, giving you an outlet for your mana when you hit topdeck mode later on.
The Call Of The Cauldron
All of the above is standard fare for Goblins, but the new MTG Foundations version has a few spicy tricks up its sleeve. Looking over the list, the big outlier jumps out right away: three copies of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. This definitely isn’t the kind of card you’d expect to find in a Mono-Red Goblins list. There’s a very good reason for its inclusion here, however, and that reason is Krenko, Mob Boss.
Krenko’s activated ability doubles the number of Goblins you have in play, which can quickly get out of hand if left unchecked. Normally this is balanced out by Krenko’s mana cost and vulnerable body, but Cauldron gets around those issues. Now you can exile Krenko from your graveyard and give his ability to any old Goblin in play. Maybe even a Goblin with Haste, such as Fanatical Firebrand, to get the mob massing right away.
This synergy is pretty scary on its own, but Fleshgrafter takes things even further with a three-of Enduring Courage. This grants +2/+0 Haste to all of your creatures that enter play, which serves the combo in two ways. It lets you activate Krenko’s ability quicker, and it lets the tokens the ability generates attack immediately too. Even a few 3/1 Goblins swinging in out of nowhere is enough to make some decks sweat, and this deck can regularly make more than that.
As with any new deck, it’s exciting to examine the new lines here, but equally important to temper expectations. Goblins is still unlikely to top the next Pro Tour, after all. That said this is an innovative take on the archetype, and one that has the potential to take Magic’s little green guys much farther than normal.
