Budget Deck-Building Challenge!!1!!1!11!1!1SHIFT+1ELEVEN
Da Rulz as Presented to Me: Only cards that are part of what little unsold leftovers I have left after liquidating all of my valuables can be used. As stated, this strictly locked-in card pool is the "cube", if you want to call it that. The idea being to keep the card pool extremely limited, maybe moreso than usual in a typical cube format. No rares will be allowed regardless of how junky; only whatever random selection of Commons and Uncommons that I already happen to have laying around will be allowed, with some minor exceptions as outlined below. BTW: THIS DECK IS NOT FRIGGIN' GRUUL LOL. It's GOBLIN TRIBAL, ya nerds! No way this is Gruul, it's Krusty-Brand IMITATION Gruul. 9 out of 10 Goblins we grenade can't tell the difference.
EXCEPTIONS:
1.) You find a card, but it's foil or mangled to a point where you can't use it. Leeway is allowed here, and these may be replaced by a purchase.
2.) You find a card that is functionally equivalent to another one already in your deck (eg. Hulking Goblin vs. Goblin Raider). Making a purchase is allowed here if completing a playset is your thing, the play would be the same either way. Notice how this doesn't work with things like Fanatical Firebrand & Mogg Fanatic or Incinerate & Searing Spear.
3.) You've found an older card with the distinguishing darker patina on the back, allowing you to know what you're looking at if not using sleeves. These cards may be replaced with newer versions if applicable - if not, everyone just has to shut up and deal, it's what we did in the 90's.
INB4 anyone asks about Burning-Tree Emissary! The ideas behind its are as follows:
1.) If I have more than one in hand, they can cast themselves in a seamless chain once you've summoned the first, and you'd only need 3 extra Mana to cast something simple like a Lightning Bolt or any of the 8 1CC Goblins. You would be perfectly positioned to cast an Empty the Warrens with a Storm factor of 4. At that stage, sending whatever squadron of goons you've got across the table one combat phase later, and backed up by a Trumpet Blast? Lobbing a Goblin Grenade into the opposing Mage's face using a surviving attacker will most likely make for a quick finish...with a fun flourish.
Well, fun for you (me), anyway...there are SOME downsides to being 65/35 Johnny/Spike since '96, lol.
2.) For the sake of conversation, let's just remove the concept of chain-summoning multiple copies back to back in order to facilitate pump-and-dump gobs as a strategy. Along these lines, the Emissary can stand just fine among the gobbos as a solid 2/2 body for 2 alone, but with one fantastic bonus: for a deck like this one, the prompt replacement of the casting cost upon arrival means I can summon one and still have the gas to keep my momentum going during the turn (as long as the contents of my hand are - see what I did there). Despite being out of the deck's wheelhouse, fuels the ability to immediately cast easy burn spells like Incinerate, or throw an extra haymaker into the mix by summoning one of the deck's 10 combined 2CC/3CC Goblins as backup. Access to removal or solid, albeit sometimes kooky-looking help when the clock is ticking can go a long way toward evening the odds in a non-zero percentage of games. With only having to pay to summon, I figure it beats out any other offering Mono-Red could give me in the Common or Uncommon rarity for that casting cost. Didn't really look into artifacts with any level of seriousness, however. In the current version of the deck, I would also be down to utiliz Brimstone Volley, but again ... can't seem to find more than 1 copy in with my extra stuff, even though I know I owned some duplicate copies at one point or another.
Oh well, this is only a minor inconvenience and not exactly the same as being sent to the bone zone, so I'd imagine we can more than make do by maximizing the resources we have! For games where the stated restrictions aren't in place, you'll find a list of easy swaps I'd be likely to make (AND preserve the motif of drawing only from Common/Uncommon spells) in the addendum to #3. For now, take just a moment to sit back and picture having three rounds of Brimstone in your Library before we move on: sling a Goblin Grenade in the midgame to make use of a stymied Goblin Raider, raining down a Brimstone Volley on the opposing Mage as a follow-up puts you at 10 damage, Speaking strictly in terms of cost/benefit analysis, the price of a useless mook already-past-its-time and a lousy 4 Mana makes for an attractive this deck, One Lightning Bolt, an Incinerate from earlier, or leaving many a Goblin Fireslinger or Lobber Crew squadron spinning the hits and relentlessly pinging away turn after turn ... this shit is annoying asf, and I should know because I'm the one who made it. This is the downside of being 65% Spike/35% Johnny your whole ass life since about '96-'97. I blame Tempest and the Rath Cycle for my behavior, that's where I came in. Mogg Fanatic, anyone?
3.) I used Enslaved Scout just because it's a Rebecca Guay card, she's my all-time favorite, it's a Goblin, and it fit my curve! Don't @ me, 'cuz I don't care & I think it's funny to see people get all stuck up and react LOOOOL. However...
AND NOW...SWAPS!
If I had access to extra copies of some of these things, I would make the following changes:
ALL VERSIONS would fix the Firebrand/Denizen imbalance, and ALL VERSIONS would swap around to have 2 ea. Peaks/Spires
[KEEPING THE SAME SPIRIT]
-2 Enslaved Scout
+2 Mogg Flunkies
-3 Trumpet Blast
+3 Brimstone Volley
[PAUPER VERSION]
-4 Burning-Tree Emissary
+4 Rakdos Shred-Freak
-2 Enslaved Scout
+2 Lobber Crew (I would also consider Skirk Shaman here.)
-3 Browbeat
+3 Dangerous Wager OR Electric Revelation (I'd have to screw around with it to see what I liked more or what worked...but I like the idea of Instant-speed card draw when your hand is routinely empty or you're bluffing with Mountain LOL.)
[ASSHOLE VERSION]
-2 Lobber Crew
-2 Enslaved Scout
+3 Guttersnipe
+1 Empty the Warrens
Just keep in mind if you're gonna make all these suggestions:
1.) I can't go buy anything or trade anyone for anything outside of this house.
2.) If I had it, I would probably use it. Because:
3.) I'm probably aware that the card you're finna suggest exists - and that's why it ain't in there, cuz I ain't got it. YA HEARD. This is why there is currently 3 copies of Fanatical Firebrand inside w/1 Goblin Arsonist to back it up: I only had 3 & 1, so that's what I have to do lol. Don't you think I'd pack on at least TWO copies of Guttersnipe if I had 'em?
4.) I'm keeping Browbeat, don't even consider asking me anything about it. I've liked it since it was made, I don't care if it's awful or what, shit's fuckin' cash cuz casting it is almost always hilarious, yo. Eff the haters.
The fact that I was able to build a consistent, redundant Goblin burn deck off of just whatever I had laying around is enough for me to be content and play the deck as is. A lot of this stuff is either stuff that ostensibly has value in the right environments but was not worth selling, or had next to no value at all in almost any environment and happened to be a good card for the purpose that was out (a good example of this is Goblin Fireslinger - I have about 7 copies for some godforsaken reason. That shit wasn't the worst thing to draft at the time tho...).
....spare a Goblins of the Flarg, anyone??
