Over the last few months, I've discovered a newfound respect and enjoyment from the Commander format. As many of you know, I've really wanted to enjoy EDH but I just couldn't wrap my head around the larger than life play style and complex interactions between multiple players. I constantly thought of magic in terms of 20 life and not the doubled 40 life totals Commander brings.
This all changed around Christmas when I received the premade EDH deck "Swell the Host". I highly recommend this deck for players like me that think in terms of small creatures. The deck is great at allowing you to play creatures you are used to without sacrificing the deck's strength.
Upon gaining this new respect for Commander, I began to brew and build decks from my collection. One of these decks was based around Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician. The deck is very cheap considering the other expensive EDh decks out there, weighing in at a measly $85. The strategy is simple and Ib himself says it best, "Everybody but me - CHARGE!"
Ib isn't known for his bravery but still knows how to get the job done. Just like many of his goblin predecessors before him, Ib Halfheart knows the only way to win is throw more goblins into the fray and hide like a coward.
Ib Halfheart's first ability is used to clear the way for future goblin assaults as well as make smaller goblin attackers undesirable to block. When one of your goblins attacks and is blocked, before damage is dealt the goblin "explodes" and deals the blocker 4 points of damage. This is vital to scoring damage early on in the match while you build your goblin forces.
Your commander's second ability, sacrificing Mountains to bring more goblins into play, is a great way to make sure you have ample attackers all game long. Rarely will you ever need more than 4-5 mana sources in your matchups so keep that in mind as you bring more and more scrawny attackers into the battlefield.
Creatures
This list is a who's who of goblin decks over the last 20 years of Magic: The Gathering. Many of these goblins build your army into a formidable powered horde, while several of these have valuable special abilities and some have great come into play effects.
With that said, nothing here is really that valuable for it not to CHARGE! Each turn should be filled with a 90% attack, with Ib staying back doing what he does best, being a coward and directing traffic. This does not mean you don't have to pick your spots carefully and attack haphazardly every turn. Choose the player with creatures with toughness 4 or less or opponents with less blockers than you have attackers. Be smart! More goblins are on the way but don't attack brainlessly.
Spells
Your Sorcery and instant spells focus on two things, bringing more goblins into play and dealing a massive amount of game ending damage. Eventually, dealing 4 damage to a blocker just isn't going to cut it in some late game scenarios, so having a Plan B with Cleaver Riot, Massive Raid and Last-Ditch Effort.
Enchantment
There are quite a few enchantments in the deck and they either build your goblins into an elite fighting force or punish players for doing simple things like blocking. Spells like Kyren Negotiations allow even Ib Halfheart to get into the action, spitballing from behind the lines.
Lands
This deck has a noticeable amount of lands but considering Ib Halfheart's ability, each Mountain is essentially another goblin. The deck also lacks the typical artifact mana and other non-basic lands. Ib can't sacrifice non-basics or artifacts so having too many of them would be pretty pointless.
Swing Last!
