Ib Halfheart, Goblin Sac-tician [PRIMER]

Commander / EDH Liquidbeaver

SCORE: 703 | 402 COMMENTS | 62344 VIEWS | IN 260 FOLDERS


1500 views and high of #27 on T/O!!! —March 14, 2017

Thanks everyone for the support! I think it's awesome that you all like my Ib deck so much.

I'm going to keep it coming with the updates to the deck and the primer. There is a lot of testing and tweaking to be done.

As always, if you have comments, criticisms, or if there is a fun or unique card that just needs to be in the deck, let me know!

Liquidbeaver says... #1

Changes:

Dropped two basic lands in favor of a few more answers. I am getting close to finding the perfect land count, and since I have a lot of fetch mechanics, it is just as consistent as before.

Explorer's Scope out for Wayfarer's Bauble - This is for consistency's sake, after quite a few playtests where the Scope did nothing but cost me mana. Having to swing didn't help either.

Sensation Gorger out for Wheel of Fortune - With so few castable Goblins, opportunities to use the mini-wheel effect were few and far between.

Gemstone Array out - Got some feedback that brought up a good point. If I am making a ton of mana between turns and I have literally no other places to put it, it is more of an indication of an underlying deck problem than it is a missing mana bank.

Gravity Sphere out - Going to be sideboarded for use with my regular playgroup, which is heavy on flyers with Angels, Dragons, Slivers, etc..

Mana Vault in. Gimme dem rocks! These really help to minimize the impact of saccing Mountains.

Urabrask the Hidden out for Goblin Chieftain - This is the original setup, and I think it's the better one. I prefer the lower CMC, and the change only hurts Moggcatcher and Chancellor of the Forge. I lose a mini-Stax effect, but it would be better to add a more potent one in anyway. In most situations I want to be blocked, the way this deck is built.

Strip Mine in because Strip Mine.

Gamble in so I can tutor for a boardwipe or Crucible of Worlds. I would really like another one or two tutors if possible.

Chaos Warp in mostly for the enchantment removal, and a little for indestructible creature options.

Goblin King in to abuse Blood Moon being out. Mostly likely only used as a finisher, or when Coat of Arms is out and I don't want token damage to be downgraded to 4.

Seismic Assault out - while great when Crucible of Worlds is out, when it isn't it is just a little too risky. It is rare to have more than one basic in hand, because all my extra land mechanics go directly to battlefield.

Vandalblast in - Needed a few more answers to artifacts. Now that I'm not running Mycosynth Lattice and Nevinyrral's Disk, I need more one-sided wipes.

Still slowly adding more mana rocks, board wipes, and Stax effects to clean up the curve and make the deck more consistent. As it stands when the deck lines up it really, really goes off, but when it doesn't I tread water for quite a while.

March 6, 2017 1:28 p.m.

Trtl says... #2

Well this is pretty cool, glad to find a fellow Goblin Tactician! Though your deck is far more competitive and less gimmicky... If you're interested, here's my deck! Halfhearted Tactician

Also, why not add Impending Disaster?

March 6, 2017 9:32 p.m.

Liquidbeaver says... #3

Trtl: Thanks! This one is definitely trying to make him as competitive as possible. I have other tribal EDH decks that I play for fun, but I really wanted a meaner one that could hang with the favorite decks of my regular playgroup (Angels, Dragons, Slivers, etc..). Once I started building it I decided I really wanted to make it strong in general, not just in my playgroup. I will definitely check out your deck!

I've dropped some fun cards that were either really highly costed or too gimmicky to include, but I tried to run something strong that had a similar effect. The best example I have is instead of Goblin War Drums I am running Nemesis Mask. They both have similar effects, but the Nemesis Mask condenses it into it's most potent version. Running both wouldn't be bad either, as your chances of drawing that effect double.

I had Impending Disaster sideboarded for a long time, but ultimately decided not to run it because of the lack of control I had over when it goes off. Yes, the land destruction probably hurts you the least, but your opponents have some control over when it pops off. I much prefer a Ruination or Boom/Bust, especially with Crucible of Worlds and Blood Moon out.

March 6, 2017 9:52 p.m.

Trtl says... #4

Another suggestion is Wild Swing, you can target two of your mountains and the thing you want to die, then sac the mountains. It is a bit costly but it makes for a pretty good removal spell, considering it's mono red and all.

March 6, 2017 10:19 p.m.

Trtl says... #5

Last suggestion; Gratuitous Violence, Dictate of the Twin Gods and/or Furnace of Rath. all three make your goblins go from Gunpowder bombs to full on TNT.

March 6, 2017 10:33 p.m.

Liquidbeaver says... #6

Trtl: I really like Wild Swing a lot, and it's one I was sad to see go. Unfortunately, I have the most problem with Enchantments at the moment, so Chaos Warp has taken its place.

Gratuitous Violence has been in my sideboard longer than any other card (sideboard is my pending includes atm), and it's probably the one I want to get in the most. I really, really want it in there, but I'm not sure what to cut to make space. Regardless of the cost, I love that I can drop it when it's most convenient, not just as a finisher. I could see myself running Dictate because of the tricky things you could do with the flash. Furnace would be a little harder to run for me, unless I could guarantee I had a sac outlet out (getting easier at ~8).

March 6, 2017 10:42 p.m.

Trtl says... #7

(I'm just spamming now, aren't I?) I just realized you aren't running Stranglehold. Is there a particular reason why? Keep in mind that it doesn't affect you and screws up land searches too.

Unless I'm missing something, you can ditch Past in Flames for Gratuitous Violence, you're only running twelve instants and sorceries that aren't Past.

You might also want to replace Impact Tremors with Purphoros, God of the Forge. Yes, he costs a bit more, but he is also more explosive. (and harder to remove)

March 6, 2017 11:28 p.m.

Liquidbeaver says... #8

Spam away, I love working on this deck, and not many people have more than a single card suggestion at a time, so go right ahead!

Stranglehold is in a list of Stax and Stax-ish cards I have. There isn't a particular reason why I'm not running it other than I wasn't sure of the impact. Admittedly though, I haven't spent much time working it through, though. I am wanting to go heavier with the Stax effects, so it definitely fits the bill, I just have no experience with it.

Good call on Past in Flames. I would get a lot more mileage out of Gratuitous Violence in every circumstance I can think of.

I chose Impact Tremors over Purphoros, God of the Forge a long time ago, before I had lowered the CMC significantly, or had the mana base to back it up. Now that I have the deck working much more smoothly, there's no reason not to switch it out. Good idea.

March 6, 2017 11:48 p.m.

Liquidbeaver says... #9

Made some strength and curve changes.

Altar of Dementia out for Phyrexian Altar: Even though Dementia is stupidly strong with Coat of Arms out, when it isn't this card is kind of dead. Sideboarding it for now.

Impact Tremors out for Purphoros, God of the Forge: I took this out before because of the higher cost, but now that my curve and ramp package are much better, it is a straight upgrade for me.

Snow-Covered Mountain out for Boseiju, Who Shelters All: Making sure my Scrap Mastery or Blasphemous Act go off is really important if I am keeping priority and saccing in response. Without it I could cast it, sac in response, and then get counterspelled and have almost no boardstate left over.

Damping Engine out for Tangle Wire: Just a stronger version of the same effect.

Snow-Covered Mountain out for Mox Diamond: This is normally not a strictly better trade off, but with so many fetches and extra land mechanics, I can run off of fewer basics.

Goblin King out for Gratuitous Violence: I've been wanting to fit this card in for a really long time. Even though Goblin King combos very well with Blood Moon, since I don't have any real pump spells for my Goblins besides Coat of Arms, I actually end up doing less damage overall. I could use Goblin King as a finisher, but Gratuitous Violence gives me a bigger boost, regardless of when it comes out. Sideboarding Goblin King for now, in case I do want to add him in just as a finisher later.

Snow-Covered Mountain out for Stranglehold: This puts me down two lands total from where I was, but it gives me a ton more control over the battlefield. I didn't realize it's potency before, until I realized it included cracking fetches as well. This actually makes me consider running From the Ashes instead of Ruination in my future MLD additions.

I will have to playtest a lot more to see if I took out too many basic lands, or added too many non-basics, but with all the ramp and mana rocks I should be okay.

Still looking for ways to get sideboard cards into the deck, but as it stands the deck is more consistent and stronger than ever.

March 8, 2017 5:10 p.m.

Chiberia says... #10

He has my favorite flavor text in this game, comedy wise anyway

March 8, 2017 6:17 p.m.

1000 internets for you! Giblins is one of my favourite tribes, and this creation is simply amazing! So well crafted, and so cool. This is my kind of deck! If I had the smarts to come up with it, that is ;) well done, dude! Stay frosty!

March 10, 2017 12:57 a.m.

Game_of_Cones says... #12

Goblins + sacrifice = can't go wrong.... "nothin beats rock" is my other favorite Goblin flava text

March 12, 2017 1:16 a.m.

Liquidbeaver says... #13

Thanks for the support everyone! I'm really glad so many people are enjoying the deck. It's been a lot of fun to build and play, and I'm looking forward to optimizing it as much as possible.

Just found Claws of Gix. This is a perfect way to round out my sac outlets, and I will be fitting it in ASAP.

March 13, 2017 12:04 p.m.

Infral says... #14

I love this, so happy to see my favorite goblin being used in an awesome way. I need to try make this, despite I lack a couple of the cards.

March 13, 2017 3:44 p.m.