pie chart

Purphy's Blasta Boys *PRIMER*

Commander / EDH Aggro Bracket 3 Casual Goblins Mono-Red Multiplayer

NV_1980

Upvote 0
0

Creature (27)

Enchantment (8)

Artifact (17)

Sorcery (9)

Instant (2)

Commander (1)

Commander: foil Purphoros, God of the Forge

Land (35)

Planeswalker (1)

Welcome to Purphy’s Blasta Boys !

Hi there! Welcome to the primer of this mono-red, ETB damage and minor Goblin tribe deck, commanded by Purphoros, God of the Forge. Wielder of the hammer, unleashes his servants of the flame, freshly forged on his anvil of ever-hot, hardened steel. They hit the battlefield with the ring of bronze on steel; sparks of this impact hit the opponents that surround us; like fiery bolts of lightning. Then, before anything has time to recuperate from this blow, a flood of creatures (mostly goblins) unleashes a blood-curdling roar into the sky and descend upon whatever remains of their foes pounding them into oblivion with steel, teeth, and claws. This deck is meant to be played in casual formats. It’s not meant to be used in a competitive fashion, but of course anyone is welcome to try! Feel free to comment on anything you (dis)like throughout this primer; hope you will enjoy it!

There’s quite a few ways in which this super-charged Impact Tremors can be abused. First off, red features many creatures with abilities like dash and creatures/spells that generate (temporary) creature tokens. Second, multiplying damage is something red is very good at, so there are plenty of ways available to increase Purphy’s damage substantially. Third, gods from the Theros series start out as indestructible enchantments, which makes them unbelievably hard to remove. This ensures that even though this deck will rely on its commander quite a bit, it will be harder to get rid of him by default. Fourth, Purphy’s creature boosting ability will occasionally prove worthwhile as well, as token armies are this deck’s secondary form of dealing bunches of damage. Lastly, having a god as an army general somehow seems fitting; what else could possibly do better?

The following ten parameters have been used to determine the strength of the deck. For each, a score of 5 (very good), 4 (good), 3 (mediocre), 2 (bad) or 1 (very bad) has been allocated; when totalized this score represents the power rating of the deck (maximum score is 50 points).

  • Mana: indicates the availability of mana sources within the deck.
  • Ramp: indicates the speed at which mana sources within the deck can be made available.
  • Card Advantage: indicates availability of filter- and draw resources represented within the deck.
  • Overall speed: indicates the deck’s potential for pace, based on resource availability and mana curve.
  • Combo: indicates the measure of combo-orientation of the deck.
  • Army: indicates the deck’s creature-army strength.
  • Commander: indicates how much the deck is commander-oriented/dependent (less dependency is better).
  • Interaction: indicates how much this deck can mess with opponents’ board states and turn-phases.
  • Resilience: indicates whether the deck can prevent and take punches.
  • Spellpower: indicates the availability and strength of high-impact spells.

Mana: 4

Chances of winning improve a great deal with an early Purphoros, God of the Forge. Therefore, several ways to generate additional mana have been added. Seven direct sources, a few that cheapen casting/double mana capacity and five spells/permanents able to generate mana based on the number of creatures on my board or the sacrificing of them.

Ramp: 1

This red deck contains one ramping option.

Card Advantage: 3

Five options have been included for direct draw, as well as four tutor options. This last factor will prove useful when entering stages in which it becomes feasible to combo-off.

Overall speed: 4

The mana-curve of this deck is superb (44 cards are CMC 3 or less). There is plenty of ways to produce mana in addition to using lands, the deck features a single ramp option and decent card advantage capability. All in all, the recipe for a deck with a very decent speed to it.

Combo: 5

Some true doozies in here when it comes to combos. Most of them are centered to either produce infinite damage (through creation of infinite tokens) or infinite mana (which can be used for several interesting purposes). The most important part of this deck’s combo strength comes from cards that can be used in multiple different combinations to provide dangerous combos.

Army: 4

This deck goes wide, quantity over quality, when it comes to its army composition. A bunch of Goblin generating creatures and spells are featured in this deck, along with several ways that allow them to keep generating. Then there’s a few ways in which the strength of the deck’s goblins can be boosted to hurt the opposition even more.

Commander: 3

Not having Purphy around (especially for longer periods) would be quite a nuisance. Fortunately, the deck contains such a nice collection of combos as well as a large army of small, green maniacs, that it would be just that, a nuisance.

Interaction: 3

Most of this deck’s interaction comes from non-combat damage (primary source of which is Purph himself), that can be dished out to opposing players or permanents. There’s also a few opportunities included to steal opposing permanents or destroy them.

Resilience: 3

Very little is needed for this deck to be extremely damaging to opponents; even multiple opponents. Just Purph and a spell that summons creatures. The deck is therefore pretty resilient against removal and wipes (provided Purph is not singled out). In case that does happen, one can still rely on artifacts that provide him with hexproof.

Spellpower: 4

Most beneficial to this deck’s impact, are the spells that suddenly cause new creatures to appear; especially the versions one can repeat are very useful (seven one-offs have been included and three repeatable ones). Five damaging spells (all of them repeatable) have also been added for additional impact.

Total power score: 34

Overall, well above average strength. Reasons for this are the deck’s speed (despite the absence of ramp), its combo potential, the way in which it damages all opponents (by not needing to even do all that much) and its army-strength, which can become quite considerable (even limitless at times). Its resilience could be improved, though at the expense of cards that contribute to its primary strategy.

This deck aims to chip away at the opposition’s life totals until it can combo off or flood the battlefield with a large pile of greens. The power of Purphoros, God of the Forge’s ETB effect is significant but it is meant to (at least partly) act as a distraction from the game’s final phase. Usually, the games played with this deck will go through the following phases:

  1. Initial resource build-up and quick casting of Purph.
  2. Chipping away at opponents by dropping (small) creatures; bringing the pain incrementally through Purph as well as the occasional army attack, while searching for combo pieces.
  3. Surprising the opposition with an infinite combo (that in many cases will not require the deck’s commander to be used at all).

To keep the opposition distracted (and well away from combo pieces), their focus needs to be fixed on Purph and his army. In terms of play style, this means keeping up the pressure with Purph’s triggered ability as well as regular attacks.

At least three cards in the starting hand ought to be lands (or two lands and a CMC0 or CMC1 mana rock). It is recommended not to start a game without this hand (even if one has to mulligan down to three cards). The ideal hand would also contain some acceleration in the form of rocks, draw- and/or filter options.

Distract by applying pressure. This means Purphoros, God of the Forge needs to appear early and start chipping away at life-scores as fast as possible. The means to summon him therefore need some focus first. Arcane Signet, Chrome Mox, Mox Opal or Sol Ring will help greatly to this effect; Ruby Medallion will allow for cheaper red spell-casting.

Once basic resources have been deployed, get Purph online. Follow this up with some army options every turn. There are some great, early-game, cheap-to-cast opportunities for this. Creature cards like Mardu Scout, Norin the Wary and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer can be summoned, used, bounced and re-summoned for continuous ETB benefit. Then there are some cheap sorceries that can be utilized for some goblin token summoning, like Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst or Krenko's Command.

While distracting the opposition, one starts a search for the combo pieces within the deck. A few cheap methods to accelerate this process are Gamble, Idol of Oblivion, Sensei's Divining Top and Skullclamp.

During this phase, one wants to put even more attention on how dangerous the deck’s godly commander can become, as well as the power of his army. This will keep the opposition distracted while the means can be grabbed to permanently end them. The easiest way to do this is by summoning as many creatures as fast as possible. The best bet for this involves creatures that generate numerous tokens, like Beetleback Chief, Hanweir Garrison  , Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin, Krenko, Mob Boss and Siege-Gang Commander. Non legendary creatures that generate tokens on ETB, can also be copied by Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  , Feldon of the Third Path, Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker or Splinter Twin for even more tokens.

To get really crazy with the token generation, it’s possible to employ some nasty sorceries like Firecat Blitz and Tempt with Vengeance. Once the token weeny army is there, it can be transformed into a flame-belching behemoth of destruction, by applying some minor touches of insanity like Goblin Chieftain, Goblin King and Shared Animosity. Of course an overall damage increase works too. Impact Tremors, Panharmonicon and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell are all excellent cards that make things worse for one’s foes. Whatever way chosen, there are plenty of ways at to deal a lot of damage all around, and the opposition is going to want to go do something about that.

It’s combo time! This deck contains several ways to generate a lot of goblins, infinite mana, infinite attacks and infinite damage. Some of the key cards to accomplish these feats that were not mentioned in this description before include Aggravated Assault, Goblin Sharpshooter, Goblin Warrens, Mana Echoes, Phyrexian Altar, Skirk Prospector and Thornbite Staff.

  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Zealous Conscripts:
    1. Use Kiki to copy Conscripts.
    2. Once Conscripts enter the field, use them to ‘gain control’ of Kiki
    3. Untap Kiki which allows creation of a copy of Conscripts again.
    Rinse and repeat to create a zillion Conscripts.
  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Combat Celebrant:
    1. Use Kiki to copy Celebrant.
    2. During the attack phase, exert one of the Celebrants; this untaps all other creatures (including Kiki and all other Celebrants).
    Rinse and repeat to create a zillion (attacking) Celebrants.
  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Skirk Prospector + Thornbite Staff:
    1. Equip Staff to Kiki.
    2. Copy Prospector with Kiki.
    3. Sacrifice the copy to the original to generate one red mana.
    4. The death of the token allows Staff to untap Kiki.
    Rinse and repeat for infinite red mana.
  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker + Goblin Sharpshooter + Thornbite Staff:
    1. Equip Staff to Kiki.
    2. Tap Kiki to create a copy token of Sharpshooter.
    3. Tap the token to deal 1 damage to any target.
    4. Tap the original to deal 1 damage to the Sharpshooter token.
    5. This kills the token and allows Staff to use this death as the trigger to untap Kiki.
    Repeat this process to deal as much damage as you need to do.
  • Goblin Sharpshooter + Basilisk Collar:
    1. Equip Collar to Sharpshooter. Now Sharpshooter has deathtouch.
    2. Use Sharpshooter to deal 1 damage to another creature. This kills it because of deathtouch (unless it has indestructible) and therefore untaps Sharpshooter.
    Repeat until all non-indestructible creatures have been destroyed.
  • Splinter Twin + Zealous Conscripts:
    1. Put Twin on Conscripts.
    2. Tap Conscripts to create a token copy of Conscripts.
    3. Once the token Conscripts enter the field, use them to ‘gain control’ of the original Conscripts
    4. Untap the original Conscripts and use it to copy itself again.
    Rinse and repeat to create a zillion Conscripts.
  • Splinter Twin + Combat Celebrant:
    1. Attach Twin to Celebrant.
    2. Tap Celebrant to make a token copy.
    3. Attack with the copy and choose to exert it.
    4. This untaps the original Celebrant (and grants a second attack phase).
    5. Tap the original Celebrant (with Twin) to create a second Celebrant copy.
    6. During the second attack phase, exert the second Celebrant copy to untap all creatures and create a third attack phase, etc.
    Provided your attacking creatures keep surviving, this combo creates infinite attacks.
  • Splinter Twin + Goblin Sharpshooter:
    1. Put Twin on Sharpshooter.
    2. Tap Sharpshooter to create a token Sharpshooter (with haste).
    3. Tap token Sharpshooter to deal 1 damage to itself. This kills the token and untaps the original Sharpshooter.
    This process can be repeated ad infinitum, just for the ETB’s.
  • Goblin Warrens + Skirk Prospector/Phyrexian Altar + Mana Echoes + 2 goblins and at least 2 :
    1. Use the available mana and sac the two goblins to Warrens to have it create three 1/1 goblins.
    2. As the new goblins enter the battlefield, Echoes is triggered and generates 3 colorless mana (assuming no other goblins are on the field).
    3. Now sac one of the new goblin tokens to Prospector/Altar, to generate .
    4. Use the and two of the newly generated colorless mana to sac the remaining new goblin tokens to Warrens and generate three new 1/1 goblin tokens (which again triggers Echoes).
    This process can be repeated for endless ETB triggers (which is game-over with Purph around) and nets one additional (and thus, infinite) colorless mana per cycle, which can be used to cast something fun like an infinitely large Firecat Blitz or Tempt with Vengeance.
  • Krenko, Mob Boss + Skirk Prospector/Phyrexian Altar + Thornbite Staff:
    1. Equip Staff to Krenko.
    2. Tap Krenko to generate a Goblin.
    3. Sacrifice the Goblin to Prospector/Altar for a red mana.
    4. Because the Goblin dies when sacrificed, Staff allows you to untap Krenko.
    5. Repeat this process once entirely.
    6. Now tap Krenko to generate one more Goblin.
    7. There’s now two (red) mana and a single token Goblin available.
    8. Tap Krenko and pay the two mana to deal 1 damage to an opponent.
    9. Sac the remaining Goblin token to Prospector/Altar (which generates a single red mana again and allows Staff to untap Krenko again).
    Repeat this entire sequence of events to kill off all opponents.
  • Krenko, Mob Boss + Skirk Prospector/Phyrexian Altar + Aggravated Assault + at least three other Goblins on the battlefield:
    1. Tap Krenko to create five Goblin tokens.
    2. Attack with your army (except for the five tokens, unless you can guarantee their survival during the attack).
    3. After the attack, sac the five tokens to Prospector/Altar and use the mana to activate Assault.
    Rinse and repeat for infinite attacks.

Reliable sources of mana, and some utility:

  • Ancient Tomb: for a bit of life, this can get some additional mana advantage (mostly to be used for crucial castings, like an early Purph).
  • Arid Mesa/Bloodstained Mire/Scalding Tarn/Wooded Foothills: allows fewer actual lands in the deck while still getting the lands needed; great for filtering through the deck.
  • Blast Zone: fantastic wiper of enchantments for a deck like this.
  • Cavern of Souls: helps to stop blue players from countering my gobbo spells.
  • Great Furnace: another artifact that helps to activate Mox Opal.
  • Hanweir Battlements    : very useful to grant recently summoned creatures haste, which helps a great deal if one wants to use said creature for a quick combo or attack.
  • Homeward Path: somebody steals Purph? This helps to get him back.
  • Inventors' Fair: potential for a little life gain, but more importantly helps to look for some combo pieces.
  • Kher Keep: with some spare mana, this can generate a Kobold for a small mana fee, which is great when Purph is around to use this summoning to Shock everyone.
  • Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx: staple land in a single-color, permanent-rich deck.
  • Terrain Generator: the deck's single ramp card, though it can only use land cards that are already in hand.
  • War Room: sometimes a bit of additional draw helps.

The cards used to accelerate mana-availability:

  • Arcane Signet: cheap rock to be used for .
  • Chandra, Torch of Defiance: multi-purpose planeswalker that provides mana, damage all-around and damage-dealing emblems; very useful for a variety of situations.
  • Chrome Mox: an exile for more free mana? Let’s take it!
  • Mana Echoes: since this deck has plenty of ability to summon (token) goblins, it can get some great value out of this enchantment.
  • Mox Opal: not as good as Mox Ruby, but the requirement of needing some additional artifacts before it can be used can be fulfilled easily with this deck.
  • Neheb, the Eternal: translating Purph’s damage before the 2nd main phase to be turned into mana, sweet.
  • Phyrexian Altar/Skirk Prospector: great for generating some mana in a pinch by saccing some goblins; also a great (infinite) combo piece as using these things doesn’t require tapping.
  • Ruby Medallion: helps to cast red stuff a little cheaper.
  • Sol Ring: are there EDH decks without this card?

The mechanisms that provide me with card advantage:

  • Gamble: red doesn’t really have unconditional tutors, but this one comes close.
  • Idol of Oblivion: great draw resource in a deck that generates this many tokens.
  • Mind's Eye: helps to obtain a massive amount of additional draw every turn; all one has to do is wait for opponents to draw, pay a negligible mana fee and presto.
  • Ring of Three Wishes: a necessary card in a deck that depends (at least to some degree) on finishing the game through combos.
  • Sensei's Divining Top: lets me filter and draw at negligible costs.
  • Skullclamp: gobbos are perfect targets for this thing; basically sacrificing them for some draw.
  • Valakut Awakening  : a wheel just for the deck’s controller; in case one’s stuck.

With lots of (re)summons, Purph’s ETB power can be used even more consistently:

  • Cloudstone Curio: this is the ultimate blinking tool; exchange something on the board with a creature you just summoned; especially useful with creatures that have ETB token generation abilities.
  • Mardu Scout: dash in a 3/1 goblin with haste, attack with it and then it returns to hand (and then repeat this the next turn).
  • Norin the Wary: combined with Purph, this creature is one of the nastiest, recurring pieces of work ever. Provided no one blasts him, he’s almost guaranteed to blink every person’s turn, which translates to a lot of damage with Purph around. This creature is a fantastic target for Feldon of the Third Path’s ability.
  • Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer: a fantastic blinky in the deck that represents crazy value for such a cheap-to-cast creature. Generator of treasure and a thief of opposing spells.
  • Reinforced Ronin: blinks into hand every turn; perfect!

Mostly mean, green, pointy-eared fighting machines:

  • Beetleback Chief: six legs, jaws and armed gobbo’s on their back coming to ruin your day. Oh yeah, that’s right, they will also bring two slightly less powerful friends.
  • Dragon Fodder/Hordeling Outburst/card:Krenko’s Mob: straightforward gobbo generation spells.
  • Elturel Survivors: in playgroups, together with Purph, a creature with myriad just slays; especially when they become as powerful as these guys.
  • Feldon of the Third Path: reliable resource for generating tokens of anything valuable in the graveyard; now it’s easier to take some risks with non-token creatures when this guy appears.
  • Firecat Blitz: this spell’s flashback ability combined with Purph’s presence is absolutely killer.
  • General Kreat, the Boltbringer: brings in more goblins and hurts people for having them appear; not to mention for having other creatures appear.
  • Goblin Chieftain: to other goblins while wielding a whip: ”Get your scrawny hides into gear and tear into those nasties over there! Before you go, here’s some magic pills”.
  • Goblin King: a goblin booster that allows for unstoppable passage provided the opposing side features a mountain or two.
  • Goblin Sharpshooter: important combo piece, though fun to use by itself as well. Also, the art on the commander 2013 version is almost enough motivation by itself to include this card.
  • Goblin Warrens: an innocuous looking enchantment that can yield a lot of additional goblins and ETB triggers, which is exactly what Purphy likes.
  • Hanweir Garrison  : generates tokens when attacking (that are also attacking; very handy). Combined with Garrison this thing becomes pretty insane, though I lose Garrison’s ability to provide haste to creatures if I do this.
  • Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker: one of the funniest copiers in MTG’s history; in my deck he works best when copying goblins with ETB token generation.
  • Krenko, Mob Boss: it’s too bad goblins are so ugly, because I’d marry this guy if he wasn’t. The amount of gobbo’s he can create can be so utterly ludicrous that combined with Purph, his ability can end games.
  • Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin: not as crazy as his other incarnation, but still very useful in keeping my gobbo army numerous.
  • Mogg Infestation: casting this with Purph on the field and a small gobbo army can be a game-ending proposition.
  • Siege-Gang Commander: another single goblin who brings some friends along. Great target for copying or blinking.
  • Siege-Gang Lieutenant: brings friends along repeatedly; neat!
  • Song of Totentanz: Rat Daaaaance!
  • Splinter Twin: so useful attaching this on any creature that can generate creature-tokens on ETB; a simple tappin’ is all that is required to generate a whole bunch of new tokens (hopefully gobbo’s).
  • Tempt with Vengeance: will you gamble? Will you?
  • Tilonalli's Summoner: this is one hell of a mana sink for some of this deck’s bigger mana generators like Neheb and Echoes.

Some stuff used to increase Purph’s impact as well as some other utility.

  • Aggravated Assault: this deck contains several ways to generate large amounts of mana, which means it’s possible to use this wonderful card to generate a number of additional attacks per turn.
  • Basilisk Collar: this is fun on Purph because of the obscene life-gain it can generate, and even more fun on something like Sharpshooter.
  • Combat Celebrant: the perfect cheap-to-cast creature with which attacks can be repeated (occasionally).
  • Deflecting Swat: that spell needs to be redirected! For free!
  • Fable of the Mirror-Breaker  : a seriously powerful saga-enchantment that turns into a new Kiki when it expires!
  • Goblin Bombardment: unfortunately token armies are removed relatively easy; this enchantment makes them think twice before doing that.
  • Impact Tremors: even more ETB damage.
  • Lightning Greaves/Swiftfoot Boots: a little more protection for Purph.
  • Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might  : our almost indestructible damage enhancer.
  • Panharmonicon: there’s a lot of ETB in this deck that benefits from this awesomeness; especially Purph.
  • Roaming Throne: hell yeah, let’s double Purph’s triggers.
  • Shared Animosity: a powered-down version of Coat of Arms in that it doesn’t grant a toughness bonus; though on the upside it only affects the deck’s creatures. Gobbo’s unite!
  • Solphim, Mayhem Dominus: doubling Purph's damage and a very good combatant on his own.
  • Thornbite Staff: a combo piece in a number of ways.
  • Torbran, Thane of Red Fell: this guy effectively doubles Purph’s damage potential, which makes one win just that much faster.
  • Twinflame Tyrant: all damage against them will be doubled.
  • Vandalblast: all red decks should have this card; an artifact nuke against opponents.
  • Zealous Conscripts: it’s useful to occasionally steal something; especially with a wonderful combo-piece like this.

This deck is still evolving. The following cards have been considered but not added (yet):

  • Blasphemous Act: hurts the deck’s wielder more than it does the opposition.
  • Goblin Warchief: the deck has more than enough mana most of the time.
  • Myr Battlesphere: not bad, but it’s not a goblin so it doesn’t fit the overall theme. Also it’s relatively expensive to cast.

Appreciate the time you took to read this primer. Hopefully it was entertaining and useful to you. If so, feel free to leave a +1 and/or feedback of any kind in the comments below. Thanks again!

Suggestions

Updates Add

Some very useful trades — Feb. 23, 2019
Edit

Based on how some of our most recent matches have gone, we felt like adding some more draw and get rid of some of the higher cmc spells. Value is the name of the game; these are the most recent changes:

Great additions due to nice trades! — Feb. 22, 2018
Edit
Ramp, copying, destruction — Sept. 14, 2017
Edit

Comments View Archive

Attention! Complete Comment Tutorial! This annoying message will go away once you do!

Become a supporter of TappedOut and hide ads for only $3/month!

Important! Formatting tips — Comment Tutorial — markdown syntax

Please login to comment

95% Casual

Competitive

Revision 7 See all

(2 months ago)

-1 Caged Sun main
+1 General Kreat, the Boltbringer main
+1 Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might  Flip main
-1 Witty Roastmaster main