Creature (29)
- 1x Beetleback Chief
- 1x Burnished Hart
- 1x Cavalier of Flame
- 1x Conspicuous Snoop
- 1x Dockside Extortionist
- 1x Goblin Chieftain
- 1x Goblin Chirurgeon
- 1x Goblin King
- 1x Goblin Lackey
- 1x Goblin Matron
- 1x Goblin Recruiter
- 1x Goblin Warchief
- 1x Goblin Welder
- 1x Goblin Wizard
- 1x Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
- 1x Imperial Recruiter
- 1x Krenko, Mob Boss
- 1x Magus of the Moon
- 1x Moggcatcher
- 1x Muxus, Goblin Grandee
- 1x Pain Distributor
- 1x Pashalik Mons
- 1x Purphoros, God of the Forge
- 1x Skirk Fire Marshal
- 1x Skirk Prospector
- 1x Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
- 1x Soul-Scar Mage
- 1x Toralf, God of Fury Flip
- 1x Warren Instigator
Enchantment (13)
- 1x Blood Moon
- 1x Brazen Cannonade
- 1x City on Fire
- 1x Connecting the Dots
- 1x Descent into Avernus
- 1x Glacial Crevasses
- 1x Goblin Bombardment
- 1x Gratuitous Violence
- 1x Impact Tremors
- 1x Raid Bombardment
- 1x Repercussion
- 1x There and Back Again
Artifact (11)
- 1x Lightning Greaves
- 1x Mana Crypt
- 1x Maskwood Nexus
- 1x Memory Jar
- 1x Nemesis Mask
- 1x Phyrexian Altar
- 1x Rings of Brighthearth
- 1x Sol Ring
- 1x Surveyor's Scope
- 1x Swiftfoot Boots
- 1x Sword of the Animist
Instant (7)
Commander (1)
Land (32)
- 1x Ancient Tomb
- 1x Arid Mesa
- 1x Bloodstained Mire
- 1x Boseiju, Who Shelters All
- 1x Cavern of Souls
- 1x Command Beacon
- 1x Den of the Bugbear
- 1x Mines of Moria
- 1x Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
- 1x Scalding Tarn
- 20x Snow-Covered Mountain
- 1x Treasure Vault
- 1x Wooded Foothills
Sorcery (7)
Maybeboard
Artifact (17)
- 3x Crucible of Worlds
- 1x Cryptic Gateway
- 2x Elixir of Immortality
- 3x Illusionist's Bracers
- 1x Manascape Refractor
- 2x Phial of Galadriel
- 1x Skullclamp
- 4x Tempting Contract
Enchantment (9)
Creature (11)
- 1x Gimli, Counter of Kills
- 1x Goblin Goliath
- 1x Goblin Ringleader
- 3x Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
- 1x Keldon Firebombers
- 1x Siege-Gang Commander
- 3x Treasure Nabber
Instant (9)
I've wanted to build a deck around Ib ever since I first saw him, but it took a long time to figure out how to make it work. This is by far my favorite deck that I own, and the one I enjoy playing most in just about any meta. Don't let his adorable features fool you, he is a ruthless fighter that loves to bring chaos to the battlefield.
This deck is a lot of fun to play, and there's a ton of unique interactions in it that wouldn't work in many others, so if you are curious why an awkward card was included, just ask! If you have an awkward card you think needs to be included, just scream!
Leave a comment if you have any ideas/criticisms. If you like the deck, or simply just love Ib, slap your little Goblin hand across this upvote button like it just insulted your Auntie Wort, but didn't do a good job of it!
SLAP......[HERE-ISH]
I'm Already Tired Of Reading!
Already threw in the towel, eh? Why does it smell so weird?
Here is a summary for those Goblins among us who can still read, but get bored quickly because of terminal BDB (Battlefield Drain Bramage):
Reasons You Might Enjoy This Deck
- Look At It
- Seriously, Just Look At It
- You've Never Seen A Serious Ib Deck
- Don't Lie, You Haven't
- It's Incredibly Fun To Play
- It's Deceptively Powerful
- It's Hilarious To Pilot
- Other Commanders Aren't Really Sure How To Go To War Against Ib
Reasons You Might Not Enjoy This Deck
- You Didn't Look At It
- You Don't Know Any Better
- You Have A Fever
- You're Drunk
- You're Not Drunk
- You're Illiterate (Showoff...)
- You Don't Like Sacrificing Your Land Or Creatures ("Shameful." - Ib Halfheart)
If this summary was enough for you, click the button below to go back to your pirated copy of Troll 2:
[Definitely NOT An Upvote Button. Probably.]
Now for those of the us that know that you can't just read the Cliff Notes and become a great commander, here's the gooey parts in the middle...
"Everybody but me--CHARGE!"
At first glance, Ib looks like an awkward commander with some distinct drawbacks... and that's absolutely right! But we Goblins are known for our stubbornness, so let's turn those negatives into positives!
First up, let's fix up those mechanics.
Goblin Ingenuity
Ib's triggered ability only procs at the end of the Declare Blockers Step, meaning it happens before opponent's First/Double Strike, Deathtouch, Lifelink, etc. factor into play.
It also does not count as combat damage, and is unaffected by most fog effects.
Saccing can be done at any time you have priority, which includes between when blockers are declared, and Ib would sac the Goblins.
This means that with our numerous sac outlets, you can either let Ib turn your Goblin into a bomb, or sacrifice that Goblin for an entirely different reason (mana, damage, buffs, etc).
Maximizing the effectiveness of this ability means a few things, but predominantly it is making opponents block when they don't want to, and be unable to block when they do. We can accomplish this through cards such as Nemesis Mask and the Goblin King + Blood Moon combo.
We want as many lands as we can get into play, so we are going to use:
Burnished Hart: Great extra land effect for fairly low cost. I bring him back from the graveyard frequently.
Surveyor's Scope: The Scope works really well, as long as someone like Ib is using it. Sac a few lands until you have 2 less than the rest of the table, create some Goblins, and then crack the Scope to get back to where you started, or even a little ahead! The best part is the lands come into play untapped. A fetchland can be cracked to sit at the bottom of the stack so that your land count shows up as -1 already. Can be doubled with Rings of Brighthearth. Also combos well with Spiteful Repossession.
Sword of the Animist: Great card to throw on a token just to guarantee another consistent land drop.
These cards could allow as few as 5 Mountains to come to the battlefield in a single turn, but with Rings of Brighthearth/Illusionist's Bracers/Recursion and several opponents you could easily coordinate a dozen land drops at once.
Now that we can see that Ib is only crazy instead of crazy bad, we get to have some fun at everyone else's expense!
Goblin Shenanigans
The worst thing about Mono-Red is its ability to draw cards. It is really easy, especially with such a low CMC, to end up with one or two cards in hand as early as T3. Often you then draw into a game winning card on T8 that could have given you the game 2 turns prior had you gotten to it. To help remedy this, we bring in as many good draw spells as we can:
Cavalier of Flame: This card does a bit of everything we want, and I should have added it much sooner. Good potential to setup a strong draw when needed that also combos into a heavy hitting combo piece.
Commune with Lava: A seriously underrated card. At first glance it looks really bad, until you notice that it says "Until the end of your next turn, you may play those cards. This card has never performed badly for me, and often gets me enough fuel to win the game on that next turn. Come on in, the lava's warm!
Conspicuous Snoop: While not quite draw, definitely helps to dig through the deck as needed. Already high power level boosted even more when Maskwood Nexus is out.
Memory Jar: This is my replacement for Wheel of Fortune. Reforge the Soul/Magus of the Wheel are okay, but the true wheel is expensive for a reason. The problem I have with Wheels in this deck is that that huge flare up of cards for everyone ends up going one of two ways: Either you pitch an opponent's good hand and they ignore their threat assessment and attack you out of spite for a while, or you pitch their bad hand and give them a much better one. I much prefer the Jar in that I can get the full benefit of the wheel for myself, I don't lose any cards to the graveyard where it is almost impossible to get them back, and the benefit to an opponent is short lived. I much prefer the slow burn method of adding fuel to Ib's fire, than the Wheel method of dumping gas on everyone. On top of that, I can recur the Jar with Goblin Welder, and I have no way of getting back a Wheel.
Valakut Awakening : Putting cards back into the library instead of discarding them before drawing is very rare for Red, and being a land when needed makes this an easy include.
Sometimes we just need to slow the game down as much as possible to give us an opportunity to get the deck rolling, or punish people for trying to outpace us. To do this, we are going to bring in:
Acidic Soil: Great card to backup Price of Progress. Depending on your life total, either leave all your lands out and cast it anyway, or cast it and sac all your mountains in response. A really punishing way to start your final combat, especially at such a low CMC.
Blood Moon/Magus of the Moon: Hurts our nonbasics as well, but does make them saccable to Ib, so it isn't that bad. Definitely hurts opponents more than us. Magus is also tutorable with Imperial Recruiter.
Price of Progress: Really hurts everyone a lot more than it does us. Does damage even when Blood Moon is out, as those lands are now considered Non-Basic Mountains. If you are Mooning everyone, just sac your non-basics in response to your own PoP, and you will take no damage.
Descent into Avernus/Pain Distributor: Ramp, table damage, and Group Hug (more like Smug). Fun!
In order to double (or triple!) down on some of our ETB/LTB effects, tapped and triggered abilities, and combat, we are going to run:
Goblin Goliath: While it won't effect Ibsplosions, it does double just about everything else.
Repercussion: Don't keep all that blood to yourself, share it with your enemy too! Ib bomb for 4 each, and then just carry that bomb right over on to the opponent while you're at it. Worried about it being used against you? Just sac the Goblin after blocking with it you so you won't take any damage! Pairs very, very well with Nemesis Mask.
Rings of Brighthearth/Illusionist's Bracers: These will double up on a lot of stuff in this deck. Ib's mountain sac ability, Krenko, Mob Boss, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Goblin Welder, Burnished Hart, Moggcatcher, and lots of our sac outlets, just to name a few.
Solphim, Mayhem Dominus: Provides a higher value than other traditional red damage doublers because it can attack/block, and has a fairly cheap evasion investment.
Toralf, God of Fury : Toralf can have an enormous impact on the battlefield, but just like family feuds it takes forever to resolve.
--Click Here For An (Incomplete) List Rings/Bracers Interactions-- Show
Our little Goblin bodies generate a lot of heat, especially when you furiously rub them together, so we are going to be fighting on the snow-capped mountain tops to keep cool! This allows us to run:
Glacial Crevasses: A great instant speed fog, with less of a drawback because we get so many landdrops and have Crucible of Worlds. Can even be used politically to protect another player until you have time to kill them.
Glimpse of Tomorrow: Just straight up fun, and and fits the all-or-nothing motif to a tee.
Raid Bombardment: This is just ridiculous damage. Shared Animosity doesn't interfere with it either, because when Raid Bombardment goes on the stack Animosity hasn't resolved yet. At worst you have Goblin King/Goblin Chieftain/Hobgoblin Bandit Lord out at the same time, in which case you can sac one before declaring attackers to get maximum benefit.
Soul-Scar Mage: This card allows blocked Goblins to do permanent damage to large creatures. With support cards like Nemesis Mask this allows tokens to whittle down even the largest enemies, where before the damage would just fall off at the end of combat, and you would be down a Goblin. Now, an attack with even a single Goblin can not only neuter larger creatures so it hurts less when they attack in upcoming turns, it is also a deterrent to be blocked or attacked at all, which is great too. Unfortunately a nonbo with Repercussion, but being a 1/2 it is easy enough to get rid of if we have to.
Goblin Assassin(SIDEBOARDED): The Badassassin is capable of doing some serious work. Gets around Indestructible, Hexproof, and even Shroud. I try to use this before tapping Krenko, Mob Boss so that, at the worst, my boardstate only goes back to what it used to be.
Mogg Infestation: This is a great multi-use card. Your opponent has an army of 5/5 flyers ready to beat your face in next turn? Turn them all into wingless 1/1 Goblins and breathe easier. What else can it do? You can cast it on yourself and double your Goblins. This works best when your battlefield is either primarily or entirely composed of tokens, or when you have Purphoros, God of the Forge/Impact Tremors/Goblin Bombardment out.
Combo this with Goblin Chirurgeon to regenerate the important Goblins, or to just keep half of the destroyed Goblins alive.
We have an odd bunch of fodde...friends..in our army, so let's get to know them.
Meet The Famn Damily
Conspicuous Snoop: Not only does it help us dig, but it also a strong combo Goblin with support from Goblin Recruiter.
Dockside Extortionist: His real life cost is just as extortionate as he is. Almost always the hardest ramping card in the deck, and drastically reduces the risk of sacrificing mountains to Ib later.
Goblin Chieftain: Provides a great anthem effect to our army, at a low cost.
Goblin Chirurgeon: Taught Dr. Spaceman everything he knows.
Goblin Goliath: What is a goblin hulk...a gulk? GULK SMASH!!!
Goblin King: This sneaky bastard is a bad influence on our impressionable army, turning them all into sneaky bastards too.
Goblin Lackey: Cheat out our friends!
Goblin Matron: Mama Goblin makes sure we get our strongest Goblins out on the field to fight the enemy.
Goblin Recruiter: Great tutor with the little bit of extra draw effects the deck has. Could be stronger if I included a Goblin Ringleader to combo with, however.
Goblin Warchief: Another great anthem with haste to boot!
Goblin Welder: Turns your junk into sparkly new inventions, or turns their war machines into junk. Either way, he is awesome.
Goblin Wizard: The world's ugliest wizard is right at home in our army.
Grenzo, Havoc Raiser: Goad, freecast, or mill makes this guy hated on pretty hard, but even one round of swings can change the tide of the battle.
Hobgoblin Bandit Lord: This new recruit shot straight up the ranks with his ability to buff the throngs around him while also providing the much needed War Strike effect. Doubles up well with any of the ETB damage dealers.
Krenko, Mob Boss: Our best source for tokens, and quite frankly why Cavern of Souls is in the deck. Just a powerhouse of pumping out fuel for our sac outlets.
Muxus, Goblin Grandee: Another very strong card that combos very well with Goblin Recruiter that can set up some brutal turns, especially when things are hasty. We also like that his name sounds funny.
Pashalik Mons: Not only does it recruit more Goblins, but also punishes the stupid idiot that decides to boardwipe us? You're hired!
Skirk Fire Marshal: One of the most dangerous Goblins in our army. In typical selfish Goblin fashion he doesn't hurt himself, just everyone else, including us! He is forgiven, however, for he rains down fire for the Grace of Gob!
Skirk Prospector: One of our strongest sac outlets. Turn those grunts into something useful, little bubbles of anger!
Warren Instigator: Cheat two friends into battle at a time!
Burnished Hart: Just a really cute Elk. It just so happens that he can bring you more land to turn into murder.
Cavalier of Flame: Does everything we want and then some. A very welcome addition to the army. Bonus spicy horse.
Imperial Recruiter: Helps us recruit some of the more stubborn Goblins that didn't come out early to be on the front lines. Everyone joins in on the fighting! Except Ib... never Ib.
Magus of the Moon: No one who prays to the Blood Moon gets left out when Ib is in charge!
Moggcatcher: Slower than the professional Imperial Recruiter, but still a great creature to have in the ranks.
Purphoros, God of the Forge: Just a really strong play, regardless of when you cast it. Really, really hard for opponents to remove, and if they do get it to leave, you probably already did a ton of a damage with it already.
Soul-Scar Mage: Makes Ibsplosions even more scar-y.
Toralf, God of Fury : The only bad thing about Toralf is he makes us do math and we hate math.
Goblins That Didn't Get Invited To This (War)Party
Bloodmark Mentor/Legion Loyalist: Any goblin that attacks and is blocked while Ib is on the field never makes it to the First Strike/Double Strike Damage Phase, as they blow up at the end of the Declare Blockers Phase. Unfortunately that makes these two useless to me a lot of the time.
Goblin Marshal: Was in a previous version of this deck, but ultimately too expensive.
Goblin Piledriver/Battle Squadron/Horde of Boggarts/Reckless One: While very strong in other decks, these hulking Goblins are the first to be chump blocked, and could easily be reduced to 4 damage from 20+. I don't want creatures that are only good when my commander isn't out.
Goblin Pyromancer: While fun and chaotic (especially if you've Mogg Infestation'ed an opponent), really just too risky for me for +3/+0.
Goblin Rabblemaster: This one is always suggested as a good token generator. While it is okay at it, having to attack with all your Goblins whenever able is really, really bad in my opinion. I will never include this.
Mana Echoes: While this card gets really ridiculous in a Goblin tribal deck, this deck has no large mana sinks, so it doesn't matter if I get 200+ colorless mana during a single phase. What would be triggering the Mana Echoes in the first place is what is more likely to win me the game.
This deck is built off of using our Goblins exactly how we want to, in spite of our opponents. This means turning every form of damage or removal used against us (except "sacrifice X creatures") into something we can turn right back at them. So...
Goblin Bombardment: Fling some poor bastard right at another poor bastard! Use this at almost any time, including when blocking and it is about to die anyway. Might as well have an honorable death as a streaking red comet plummeting to the earth. Siege-Gang Commander can also help you heave your friends, but he doesn't do any heavy lifting for free.
Goblin Chirurgeon: Homeopathic medicine doesn't work, but psychopathic medicine does! Use half your Goblins to regenerate the other half.
Goblin Welder: Has various cards for fuel, including bouncing mana rocks back and forth to untap them.
Pashalik Mons: We hate math but 2 is bigger than 1 and bigger is always better right?
Phyrexian Altar: This altar can fit so many bodies.
Skirk Prospector: This is especially good if you sac'd most of your mountains away and need to finish someone off.
Look At Me! Look At Me! I Am The Captain Now.
Tips on how to pilot this [REDACTED] deck of [REDACTED] Goblins to success:
- Don't pull out your Ib too soon. (This applies to both MTG and dating)
- Wait as long as possible to sac lands. It is very hard to recover from saccing them all, unless you Mainboard Treasonous Ogre, or swap in a lot more mana rocks. Saccing single pairs is also viable, if the chump blockers are absolutely necessary.
- Don't underestimate the politics of EDH. I've won games from Glacial Crevasses and Goblin Sledder alone.
- Goblins are fuel, not friends.
- Save your equipment for the turn you want to use it, if possible. Don't give opponents multiple turns to plan around your Nemesis Mask, Basilisk Collar, or Thornbite Staff.
- ???
- Profit.
Mulligans are fairly straightforward.
Since we rely so heavily on basics, do not keep a hand with less than two Snow-Covered Mountains or fetches, even if you have all the other manarocks in the deck at the same time. Three lands is also good, but 4+ is too heavy in almost every situation unless it is accompanied by a good draw spell or wheel.
Mulligan hands that are full of the highest costed (4CMC+) creatures, or the non-Goblins, unless you also have the ability to T1/T2 a Goblin Lackey or Warren Instigator.
Removed for regular playgroup.
We have a few of these.
Infinite Goblins:
Krenko, Mob Boss + Thornbite Staff + (any creature sac outlet)
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Thornbite Staff + (any creature sac outlet)
Infinite Damage:
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Lightning Crafter + (any creature sac outlet)
Either infinite goblin combo with an ETB/LTB trigger, or sac damage dealers (why not both?!), on the battlefield.
POSSIBLE ADDITIONS:
Godo, Bandit Warlord + Helm of the Host
Non-Infinite Non-Zero Damage For Your Non-Friends:
Nemesis Mask + Repercussion + (a token) = Dead ex-friend
Blasphemous Act + Repercussion = Table wipes (and most often game ending sweeper) for as little as 4 mana. This is only really advisable if you have a sac outlet out so you can remove all of your creatures first. I try to Boseiju, Who Shelters All on the Blasphemous Act to make sure I don't sac my creatures for no reason.
Mogg Infestation (cast on yourself) + Impact Tremors/Purphoros, God of the Forge = Gobs of damage.
Krenko, Mob Boss + Impact Tremors/Purphoros, God of the Forge = Classic tablewide fireball.
Blood Moon + Goblin King: As long as each opponent has a regular mountain or at least one non-basic you can attack to your little goblin heart's content.
Creatures
Artifacts
Enchantments
Instants
Sorceries
Land
The two D's are for a double-dose of pimpin'! Here are some cards to consider if you want to upgrade the deck:
--More TBD--
That's it! Now, away with you, squeaky little Goblin!
If you like the deck and want more people to see our Glorious Leader Ib, stab your creepy little Goblin finger into the upvote button below!
[Catch Me On Ibstagram]
-- ALL HAIL HIS ROYAL SLYNESS!! --
Ib's Solo Accomplishments He Achieved All By Himself Without Any Help Whatsoever:
-
The #1 Ib Halfheart deck on TappedOut!
-
The #1 Goblin deck on TappedOut!
-
Best Daily Rank: #1 Overall on November 25th, 2017!
-
Best of #9 in the list of TappedOut's Top Primers of All Time!
-
Best of #12 in the list of TappedOut's Top Commander Decks of All Time!
Make sure to check the more budget friendly version of this deck here:
Ib Halfheart, Goblin Sac-tician [BUDGET]
Commander / EDH*
SCORE: 31 | 18 COMMENTS | 2425 VIEWS | IN 17 FOLDERS
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| Top Ranked |
|
| Date added | 7 years |
| Last updated | 2 weeks |
| Legality | This deck is Commander / EDH legal. |
| Rarity (main - side) | 9 - 0 Mythic Rares 51 - 0 Rares 12 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons |
| Cards | 100 |
| Avg. CMC | 2.91 |
| Tokens | Goblin 1/1 R, Shapeshifter 2/2 U, Smaug, The Ring, The Ring Tempts You, Treasure |
| Folders | Serious EDH Decks, Decks to obtain, Reference, Interesting Commander Decks, Welcome to Nilbog, Gebirge, EDH Decks, Just for fun, Budget shiite, Goblin EDH |
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