Goblin War Drums

Enchantment

Creatures you control have menace.

Discussion (51)

bitterblossom125 on

1 month ago

To elaborate on why I’m not running the evasion enablers that are in my maybeboard:

My problem with evasion enablers is not just that they are situational. It’s that the evasion options I have either don’t help very much, or they ask so much mana that they’re terrible outside of that situation.

For me, Cover of Darkness is the only one up to par. Fear is so powerful that it’s a 10/10 on Mark Rosewater’s storm scale, and this does it for just . Even when it isn’t useful, the cmc is low enough that it won’t slow me down to cast, so I can still gain value from it.

I think Goblin War Drums and Raging River come close, but and is a little too much to ask when they aren’t helpful.

It is also often a nonissue in my deck when I need evasion and don’t have it, because I run a high number of tutors.

I play in a very versatile meta, but if I knew I would get enough value out of evasion enablers every game, all of the cards in my maybeboard would be fine options.

bushido_man96 on Xenoblade Chronicles Thantis

1 month ago

War Cadence is a card that can help you punch damage through, and Goblin War Drums can provide a similarly annoying effect.

You may benefit from more ramp and card draw. Endless Atlas doesn't seem too good. Rishkar's Expertise , Greed , Arguel's Blood Fast  ^Flip, or even Fecundity would be better in its place (I would probably run all these in a list myself). I'd probably cut Dreamstone Hedron for a cheaper rock, and since you're running Jund, I'd probably run each of the according Signets for fixing/ramp.

With all your high CMC creatures, you could gain help from Elvish Piper and Quicksilver Amulet , and another helpful card for you might be Sunbird's Invocation . I find it to be a very good card in any deck I run it.

Hope these suggestions help!

momikulski on Ramos commander

1 month ago

Darksteel Myr , Guardians of Meletis , and Workshop Assistant Are all cards that seem like they don’t really do good things for your dragons, they are good blockers at best, but they are going to be really low impact on the board and don’t really fit the theme. Some options for replacements are blockers that are less hardy but ramp you into your dragons faster like— Palladium Myr and Iron Myr . And if you’re looking for quicker ways to interact with the board I’d use something like Dragon Hatchling before I’d use the artifact dudes.

Alchemist's Vial and Explorer's Scope Seem not that great, mana rocks or permanents that aren’t lands, but give mana are super good for the high casting cost dragon archetype, but I’d go for some of the other ones like Fire Diamond , Hedron Archive , Darksteel Ingot , Dreamstone Hedron , Burnished Hart

Angel's Tomb Seems pretty mediocre, it makes a single angle, some of the time. Yeah it gets around board wipes like Wrath of God but there are cooler ways to get around that like Dragon Egg or cards that actually benefit from being blown up like Anger

Battle Hymn is only particularly good, when you have several creatures out. When you are running so many big creatures it is going to be tough to have a lot out. So I’d hesitate to use it here.

Tomb of the Spirit Dragon Is also not great, as you are only running a handful of colorless creatures, I’d probably use something like Temple of the False God over it.

Glimmerpost is only really useful in conjunction with Cloudpost , and even then I’d likely skip them in a format where you can only use one of each, they get powerful when you can run four copies of each in a deck.

Comet Storm Earthquake Pyrohemia and Hour of Devastation are all great for clearing out boards with a lot of stuff on it and since you’ll likely be trying to wipe out the game with a lot less creatures a lot of the time they’ll hurt your opponents way more than they hurt you. Relentless Assault is also just super good and cheap. You’ll also likely not have to deal with as many blockers as dragons fly, but a neat card to make your dragons more evasive and harder to chump block is Archetype of Aggression and also Goblin War Drums

Two cards that are likely out of budget, but are crazy good for the deck are Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and Zirilan of the Claw . And Since you are in Mono Red I would 100% switch to Lathliss, Dragon Queen

Ender666666 on C'mon... Do it... You know you wanna...

1 month ago

Hi Savaaage, Thanks for the comments and questions. I've been wanting to discuss the deck with someone for a while now. I built this back when Grenzo, Havoc Raiser was first spoiled and haven't really looked at other Grenzo builds too heavily. My initial thinking with him was to try to build a deck that capitalized on the Goad mechanic, and I tried to include a bunch of Goad creatures and spells... Unfortunately, It wasn't that great.

I chose to go with Goblins for a couple reasons. Primarily, they are cheap and easy to spam the board with... Which is perfect for a deck that wants to go wide. And going wide IS what I believe to be the correct strategy. I also chose Goblin tribal because I had a Goblin deck already built which I cannibalized to build this (See Goblins... Why do they always come out Goblins?)

In terms of your thoughts and fears, yes, it is easy to get blown out by a well timed boardwipe, so that's where you the player need to determine how many creatures on the board at once are enough. I often find myself holding some back to recover from a wipe.

As far as play strategy, I would say my usual turn is a very short main phase, casting as little as possible or necessary, then swinging wherever I feel I can get through to exile cards, which I will then cast if possible, or just leave in exile. It's very disruptive to your opponents to see their key combo pieces exiled and then used against them.

Concerning how to actually get attackers through, I have packed the deck with cards like Rogue's Passage , Goblin War Drums , Key to the City , Break Through the Line , as well as wonky shenanigans like Raging River and Stand or Fall . Menace is your best friend.

I hope this is helpful, at least to start answering your questions. Please hit me back with more. I love chatting about this deck.

All the best,

-Ender

99LandOTK on Dashed Hopes

2 months ago

Since you're using Dash costs, which to be honest I had never heard of before now but good for you for using it, Brave the Sands does not seem like a good fit. You creatures will be returned to your hand at the end of the turn, they do not need vigilance or better blocking. The ones that aren't dashed in will likely be better off alive than blocking, and I doubt your opponent will tap out against you with such a threat of burst damage. Speaking of burst damage, Lightning Bolt , Lightning Strike , and other burn cards may give you the reach you need once an opponent begins to develope a board to contest yours. Instead of Brave the Sands , I would recommend cards such as Mardu Ascendancy , Flowstone Surge , Glorious Anthem , or Goblin War Drums .

Dash Hopes , while flavorful (which may be good enough to keep it in, your call), is not particularly good. Mardu counterspells include Lapse of Certainty , Pyroblast , Red Elemental Blast , Imp's Mischief , and Withering Boon depending on what you need for your play group. Though to be honest, I'm not sure whether you need them. The counterspells are what I would replace for extra burn or card draw.

Hope this helped and good luck with your deck!

Liquidbeaver on Ib Halfheart and The Expendables

3 months ago

Great looking deck you have here!

I really like the idea of Goblin Wizard because he helps to dodge counterspells for clutch creatures like the lords or Krenko, but he can also save a lot of mana on things like Goblin Goliath since rather than cast him you can put him into play and have mana left over for using his damage doubler. I think to really make the Wizard work best is to get Goblin Lackey and/or Warren Instigator for some redundancy of the freecast effect, but you can also chain T1 Lackey into a T2 Wizard into a T3 Goblins (x2) just for the original cost of the Lackey. I think I'm going to add the Wizard now...

Speaking of Goblin Goliath as you probably already know he has bugged Legality which is why your deck is showing as not legal for the format. What I discovered is that decks that are flagged like that also don't show up in deck searches for that format. To get your deck more visibility I would suggest moving it to the Maybeboard and using an equally costed placeholder for him so your deck shows up again. I had Goliath in for months before I realized my deck wasn't showing up anymore :/

I think the only vital Ib-related card you are missing is Soul-Scar Mage . Its only non-bo is Repercussion (creatures wouldn't be dealt damage anymore, so nothing to carry over to the player), but otherwise it makes every exploded Goblin much better. It also improves the potential of Blasphemous Act so it can permanently maim say an Emrakul, but it can also kill Indestructible creatures. The number of counters can also be doubled with the damage doublers in the deck, as you can choose to have the doubling resolve before the replacement effect does.

Your landbase looks good, and I like the inclusion of Path of Ancestry . I miss having fetches and have started to add them back in, because they also help a lot with Scroll Rack / Sensei's Divining Top , Experimental Frenzy , and the Surveyor's Scope .

I've been considering adding Goblin War Drums for a while now, and after reading your list last night and walking through a bunch of combat ideas, I am definitely going to make some space for it. Not so much for the free shots at players where the Goblin doesn't die (why Blood Moon + Goblin King is so good), but also the idea of having a very tiny Nemesis Mask effect spreading blocked damage (and Repercussion damage) to at least 2 creatures. I think it even makes Goblin Sledder better by proxy just because you get more Goblins through unblocked sometimes.

I really like the effect of Vicious Shadows but the CMC always turned me off. I've never actually ran it though, so it may be better than I think just because I see how leery people would be of boardwiping, and that's half the struggling in my meta anyway, rebuilding after wipes. Boggart Shenanigans would be the budget CMC version, but it also has the more budget effect.

You'll have to let me know how you like Ashnod's Altar in place of Phyrexian Altar . I don't think either one is the only choice, I just think it depends on your high end spells. Now that I am thinking about it, I don't need the red mana out of Phyrexian all that often (it does allow me to sac all my lands with relative comfort), but Ashnod's would make it easier to get out the larger creatures, the Vicious Shadows, get a Chancellor of the Forge or a Kindred Charge back in, etc...

So I'm not kidding when I say I didn't even realize Massive Raid was an Instant until I read this, haha. I just knew I wanted another Goblin War Strike and Massive Raid is the next best one. Looks like it is even better than I thought! Saccing mountains and killing, blocking attacks, and then killing someone with Raid all on their turn just sounds awesome.

That's all I can think of right now. I still am really happy that you've built out the deck! 2 years ago when I started working on it and no one thought Ib could command anything but a chaos deck I never thought it would get to this point.

If you have any other questions or ideas, let me know!

multimedia on Navy Seals Hold a Fundraiser

6 months ago

Hey, extra combats during your turn is good with Brass. Each combat during your turn you can attack a different opponent. Then at your end step you gain control of a permanent of each of your opponents who you did combat damage to. Arcane Adaptation makes any creature you steal from your opponents with Brass a Pirate, meaning you can then attack next turn with that creature to help to trigger Brass. Consider also adding some cards to give your Pirates constant evasion? With constant evasion they can more easily do combat damage to your opponents.

Cards to consider adding:

• Aggravated Assault: repeatable way to have extra combats each turn.
• World at War
• Combat Celebrant
• Goblin War Drums: give Pirates menace.
• Cover of Darkness: give Pirates fear.
• Levitation: give Pirates flying.
• Wonder
• Filth: combine this with Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth to make Pirates unblockable with swampwalk.

Good luck with your deck.

StopShot on Alesha, Who Smiles at Extra Combat

9 months ago

Hmmm, I could think of a few ways to up-tune this deck if you'd like your combat phase to be a little spicier.

Akroan Hoplite I would swap for Eidolon of Countless Battles as it's power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you have, not just the attacking creatures.

Archetype of Aggression has three power so it can not be recurred with your commander. Since most of your creatures have 2 power giving them trample is not the greatest keyword ability you could give them. Instead I think Goblin War Drums could give your creatures more of an edge and damage output instead.

Armored Transport is alright, but Everdawn Champion would be a good upgrade as you can also use the champion to block without it dying, and it doesn't die to artifact removal.

A better card for Ashmouth Hound would be Benalish Cavalry as it has one more toughness and it decreases the blocking creature's power as well. This makes the Cavalry better as it is much more likely to survive in combat unlike the Hound.

Attended Knight is alright, but a stronger inclusion would be Blade Splicer as it puts more power on the board for the same mana, and if the Splicer dies, recurring it multiple times produces bigger tokens than the Knight.

Battle-Mad Ronin can be a 3/3 for 2 mana, but when it's not blacked it doesn't do a lot of damage to your opponent, and sometimes you are forced to attack with it when it would not be preferable to do so. War-Name Aspirant would be more preferable, as you get a 3/2 with an added ability that makes it harder for your opponent to block it. It also doesn't have to attack each turn so you can use it to block if needed.

Capashen Knight is alright, but if you're short on mana to pump into him he can be rather ineffective. A reasonable replacement would be Knight of Grace which should easily be a 3/2 first strike if you or another player have a black card or creature on the battlefield. Having a constant 3-power first strike creature would be the equivalent of paying 4 mana into the Capashen Knight every turn. Plus the Knight of Grace has one more toughness and hexproof from black so it's much harder to remove as well.

Devoted Retainer's Bushido can make it a 2/2, but Isamaru, Hound of Konda would be a strong inclusion as it's always a 2/2 which means it would deal more damage to your opponent when not blocked.

Dragon's Eye Sentry can be a sizeable 1 mana defender, but I think this deck would enjoy Snubhorn Sentry more as most of the time it will be a 3/3 for one mana that can also attack.

Kiln Walker is a standard 3 mana 3/3, but a better card to run would be Nighthowler as having just 3 creatures in any graveyard makes it just as big all the time rather than when only attacking. In commander graveyards tend to fill up fast so the Howler will always be larger and larger as the game drags on.

Paragon of Fierce Defiance, Paragon of New Dawns, and Paragon of Open Graves do provide anthem effects, but since their anthems are limited by color of creatures you won't always get the paragon you need to buff up your whole team. Instead I would recommend running Angel of Invention, Ravos, Soultender, and Drana, Liberator of Malakir as they all can pump up your creatures regardless of color restrictions.

Pulse Tracker has a unique effect however you may want to switch it out for Vicious Conquistador as it is the same exact card, but with 1 more toughness, which will help it last longer in combat.

Rogue's Gloves does provide card draw, however; you may enjoy Mask of Memory more as the equip cost is cheaper, and drawing two cards then discarding one card can be more advantageous than drawing just one card.

Legion's Initiative only really buffs the attack of half your creatures which can be not as helpful if you don't have any red creatures out besides your commander. Leonin Sun Standard may prove better as it can pump all your creatures multiple times if needed.

Orcish Oriflamme can provide increased attack power for your creatures, but it's nowhere near as good as Glory of Warfare which provides more attack power, and it also provides more toughness when you need blockers.

You might also want to touch up on your mana-base a bit. Path of Ancestry works exactly like Nomad Outpost as it produces the same colors, but you can also scry with your commander off it. Command Tower and Ash Barrens also provide excellent mana fixing that you might want to look into. Other lands you may want to consider obtaining would be Wind-Scarred Crag, Tainted Peak, Isolated Chapel, Clifftop Retreat, Graven Cairns, Fetid Heath, and Rugged Prairie.

I hope you find these card suggestions useful to you.