Goblin's has been around in magic for a very long time. From Vintage to Modern these green monsters have been surprising most players with the explosiveness of any Red Aggro deck, but with the ability to use very effective burn spells to win games. Goblins have once again come around, and red's tribal can only get better with Goblin Piledriver, being reprinted in ORI, thus being Modern legal.
Modern Goblins offers players the ability to get a more aggro approach then burn does. With the tribal theme, card synergy, and the ability to make use of the best burn spell in the format (Lightning Bolt and of course Goblin Grenade) this deck offers a variety of ways to kill the opponent at the same speed as burn. With the use of 1-3 cmc drops, goblins can kill an opponent by turns 3-4 against most decks if left unchecked.
CMC 1:
Goblin Bushwhacker: The Goblin Warchief of Modern, giving our goblins Haste and +1/+0 until eot. So it helps dealing early damage or forcing through enough damage to kill the opponent.
Goblin Glory Chaser
: New card from ORI has the possibility to be a real pain in the neck, as soon it becomes renowned. But it is a mediocre Topdeck
Goblin Guide: Best CMC1 Goblin, 2/2 Haste let's you know your opponents Topdeck or sometimes lets him draw a land.
Legion Loyalist
: Battalion is no issue in this deck, great together with a huge Goblin Piledriver or against Lingering Souls or other token producers.
Lightning Bolt needs no introduction.
Goblin Grenade wins games, but bad after a sweeper.
CMC2:
Goblin Piledriver this guy is simply strong, it isn't a 7dmg for R, due to the lack of Goblin Warcheif in Modern, but still incredibly strong. Paired with
Legion Loyalist
s trample nuts.
Spike Jester
3/1 Haster for BR, but doesn't die easily together with
Legion Loyalist
Terminate kills large blockers or combo pieces.
Magma Jet Burn is always useful, scry also is.
CMC3:
Goblin Chieftain: The best Lord for Goblins, giving Haste and +1/+1 to all your guys
Goblin King: Second best Lord for Goblins, giving +1/+1 and Mountainwalk to all your guys, strong against Zoo, and when there is Blood Moon on the board.
Shared Animosity
: Possibly a win-more card, but turns all our Goblins into half-Goblin Piledrivers. This card has been around with modern goblins since the beginning. It's an on again off again card, meaning players have used it with great success and kept it, and also have had very little benefit from it as well. The idea is simple, build up on army of goblins, bring out shared Animosity, swing, win
Sideboard
Blood Moon: Effective Tron/UWR control hate, Blood Moon is one of the very powerful sideboard cards we have in the format. Paired with Goblin King, this card is a monster in certain match ups. In the current Modern metagame, it is great against Tron variants, decent against Abzan, but it might be wrong to board in against UWR now that they have access to all their fetches, even though it is still able to turn off their Celestial Collonade. Also great against Zoo, considering they run little to no basics.
Dismember Sometimes better than Terminate. e.g. against Twin, you can leave up two mana open and the end of the turn, when the opponent casts either
Pestermite
/Deceiver Exarch, they can only tap down one land leaving you able to pay Phyrexian mana to take their creature out in response to Splinter Twin being cast.
Earwig Squad stops combo. Works well against Tron, Twin, Living End, Ad Nauseam and Ascendancy. Also great in games 2-3, to take away the opponents hate in turn 3
Rain of Gore
A card that stops the most common forms of lifegain in Modern, barring possible creatures with Lifelink,
Rain of Gore
is great against Siege Rhino, Lightning Helix, Kitchen Finks, Sphinx's Revelation, stops
Martyr of Sands
combo, and even Timely Reinforcements, which is often in sideboards given the amount of Burn players.This card should only be brought in when life gain will lock you out of the game and not simply draw the game out a few more turns.
Rakdos Charm Artifact removal for Affinity, instant speed removal against Tron to prevent a blocking Wurmcoil Engine from gaining life, exiles Living End and Storms graveyards, can exile a graveyard in response to a Snapcaster Mage being cast, can provide the last few points of damage against a deck that has created a wall of 4/5s against your 1/1s, and can burn out Twin players after they have combo-ed off. The versatility makes it worth running in builds that can be sure to cast it when it is needed.
Rending Volley
: The successor of
Combust
. It doesn't kill Siege Rhino, but
Deciever Exarch
,
Pestermite
,
Restoration Angel
, Celestial Colonnade, Loxodon Smiter or
Wilt-Leaf Liege
and can't be countered.
