Budget Magic: $49 (19 tix) Goblin Gift (Standard)
Sho'daache, Budget Magic lovers, it's that time once again! I realized this week that ever since the release of Core Set 2019, we've been accidentally working our way through different mono-colored decks in Standard, first with Mono-Black Zombies and then with the mono-green Bogle Horse Green deck last week. Well, let's keep the theme going for at least one more week with mono-red Goblin Gift! While people have tried mono-red God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 in the past, the addition of a bunch of new Goblins to Standard allows us to play a deck that is Goblin tribal and then, thanks to a bunch of natural Goblin sacrifice synergies, can randomly use Gate to the Afterlife #228 to tutor up a God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 as our backup plan. The end result is a deck that can win by curving out with powerful Goblins and some Goblin lords but can also win in the late game, even through a wrath or two, thanks to the reanimation power of God-Pharaoh's Gift #131. Better yet, the build we're playing for our videos this week costs less than $50 in paper, essentially making it an ultra-budget deck! Can Goblins compete in Standard? Let's get to the video and find out; then, we'll talk more about the deck!
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Budget Magic: Goblin Gift (Standard)
The Deck
While Goblin Gift does have God-Pharaoh's Gift #131, unlike decks like UW Gift, which are all-in on getting the artifact on the battlefield as quickly as possible, we're actually more of a Goblin tribal deck, looking to curve out and beat down with Goblins, with God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 being our backup late-game plan to fight through removal and sweepers. Oddly, many of the good Goblin cards also happen to have some sacrifice synergies built in, so without even trying, Goblins just happen to be a natural fit for Gate to the Afterlife #228 and God-Pharaoh's Gift #131.
The Goblin Curve
In the one-drop Goblin slot are two options, in Skirk Prospector #137 and Fanatical Firebrand #195. While both have just one power, making them a bit under par as far as beatdown one-drops, they do come with some extra upside. Skirk Prospector #137 is one of the most explosive cards in our deck, since we can sacrifice Goblins to make mana, which lets us do crazy things like hard cast God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 on Turn 4 or just turn random 1/1 Goblin tokens into more powerful threats like Siege-Gang Commander #228 or Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil. Meanwhile, Fanatical Firebrand #195 gets in hasty damage and can work like a removal spell for early-game creatures like Glint-Sleeve Siphoner #62 or Llanowar Elves #189; then, in the late game, it can sacrifice itself to trigger Gate to the Afterlife #228 and help us get enough creatures in the graveyard to tutor up God-Pharaoh's Gift #131.
In the two-drop slot are two new Core Set 2019 additions to the Goblin tribe, one giving us a sacrifice outlet and the other providing sacrifice fodder. Dark-Dweller Oracle #106 is especially good in the late game, when it allows us to sacrifice creatures for God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 and Gate to the Afterlife #228, while generating some weird card advantage along the way. While God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 helps to minimize the damage of flooding out, if we don't find the artifact, we can sacrifice underpowered 1/1 Goblin tokens to Dark-Dweller Oracle #106 in the hopes of finding some of our more powerful cards. Meanwhile, Goblin Instigator #327 provides two bodies to sacrifice to cards like Dark-Dweller Oracle #106 and Skirk Prospector #137. It's especially good as a weird ramp spell with Prospector, where something like Skirk Prospector #137 on Turn 1 into Goblin Instigator #327 on Turn 2 gives us enough creatures to sacrifice to hard cast God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 on Turn 4 (then, we can immediately get back Goblin Instigator #327, hit with a hasty 4/4, and have a token left over for blocking or future sacrificing!).
While most people are sick of Goblin Chainwhirler #129 by now, it's one of the best Goblins in Standard, and it would be silly to leave it out of a Goblin tribal deck just because it's annoying in Mono-Red / RB Aggro. Plus, the three-drop slot is one of the weaker slots for Goblins, so having a 3/3 first strike that also deals some random damage and wipes out our opponent's small blockers is pretty important to the deck. Otherwise, there isn't much to say about Goblin Chainwhirler #129—it's just a really good card that happens to both fall at a perfect point on our curve and be part of the tribe we're built around.
Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil is way better than it looks. While four-mana lords aren't usually Standard staples, the upside of being able to sac a 1/1 Goblin token or a small creature like Goblin Instigator #327 is actually a massive upside. It gives us a main-deck answer to things like Heart of Kiran #153, Aetherflux Reservoir #192, and opposing God-Pharaoh's Gift #131s, which would be really challenging for our removal-light Goblin deck to beat otherwise. Plus, pumping all of our Goblins is super helpful, both for getting in extra damage (we win some games just by casting Fanatical Firebrand #195 into Goblin Instigator #327 into Goblin Chainwhirler #129 into Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil to pump our team and get in a huge attack) and for keeping all of our 1/1s out of the range of our opponent's Goblin Chainwhirler #129s. Finally, the ability to sacrifice Goblins can also help with our God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 plan. In a pinch, we can even sacrifice Goblins to destroy our own Gate to the Afterlife #228 to get creatures in the graveyard, and then with the "destroy target artifact" trigger on the stack, we can sacrifice Gate to the Afterlife #228 to find our God-Pharaoh's Gift #131. Just be warned: one weird quirk of Goblin Gift is that when we reanimate Goblins with God-Pharaoh's Gift #131, they are no longer Goblins (instead being Zombies), so they no longer get pumped or sacrificed by Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil (although if we have a God-Pharaoh's Gift #131, this usually doesn't matter).
At the top of our Goblin curve is Siege-Gang Commander #228, which is pretty crazy in our deck. Not only does it add a ton of Goblins to the battlefield, but the ability to sacrifice Goblins to deal damage helps us close out games or take down annoying blockers. Then, we can eventually sacrifice Siege-Gang Commander #228 to itself, get it back with God-Pharaoh's Gift #131, and start the entire process over again! Siege-Gang Commander #228 is also great with Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil—if we have the lord on the battlefield, a single copy of Siege-Gang Commander #228 adds a massive nine power and toughness across four bodies to the battlefield, which is enough to take over the game against some decks all by itself. Finally, Siege-Gang Commander #228 gives us yet another sacrifice outlet to help support the Gate to the Afterlife #228 / God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 backup plan.
The Gift
As I mentioned in the intro, Goblin Gift is a lot different than a deck like UW Gift, since rather than being the primary focus of our deck, getting God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 on the battlefield is more of a backup plan for us. One of the problems with decks like Goblin Tribal is that they typically dump their hand on the battlefield, do some attacking, and hope that the opponent doesn't have a lot of targeted removal or sweepers because it's really hard for the deck to recover if the opponent can deal with the board full of Goblins. Having Gate to the Afterlife #228 and God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 solves this problem—if our opponent manages to Fumigate #575 away our Goblins, then we can simply use God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 to rebuild our board with even bigger creatures!
While the Gift plan is normally the backup plan, it's also true that we have some games where we win by getting a fast God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 on the battlefield. If you look at our Goblins, nearly all of them work as sacrifice outlets along with being fine tribal creatures, which means we occasionally play Skirk Prospector #137 on Turn 1, play Goblin Instigator #327 on Turn 2, play Gate to the Afterlife #228 on Turn 3, sacrifice our board, do a bunch of looting, and end up with not just six creatures in the graveyard but enough mana (thanks to Skirk Prospector #137) to immediately tutor up a God-Pharaoh's Gift #131, which is usually enough to win the game. Remember, if we have a Skirk Prospector #137 and Gate to the Afterlife #228 on the battlefield, additional copies of Skirk Prospector #137, Fanatical Firebrand #195, and Goblin Instigator #327 all turn into free creatures (since we can immediately sacrifice them to get back the same amount of mana we spent to cast them) that also allow us to loot with Gate to the Afterlife #228 to fill our graveyard with the six creatures needed to tutor up God-Pharaoh's Gift #131.
Other Stuff
Bomat Courier #199 is the one non-Goblin creature in our deck, and while it's annoying that it doesn't work with our tribal synergies, it's still extremely powerful for a few reasons. First, it gives us another source of card advantage, especially when it comes down on Turn 1 and gets in a couple of attacks. Second, it gives us another creature that can sacrifice itself to support God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 and Gate to the Afterlife #228. Third, apart from sacrificing itself, it can also allow us to dump a bunch of expensive creatures from our hand to our graveyard so we can reanimate them with God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 for free, rather than spending our mana to cast them. All around, this makes Bomat Courier #199 great in our deck, even if it's an honorary Goblin rather than a real one.
While we have a bunch of removal options in our sideboard, as far as our main deck is concerned, we only have a single copy of Abrade #311 Borderless as true removal. The idea here is twofold. First, we have a ton of blockers, so ideally we'll be able to stay alive by gumming up the board with our Goblins. Second, if our opponent has something like Lyra Dawnbringer #707 (which is unbeatable for most aggro decks), our sacrificing actually saves the day, since we can attack with a huge swarm of Goblins and, after our opponent blocks with Lyra Dawnbringer #707, simply sacrifice whatever creature Lyra blocks, fizzling the lifegain and (hopefully) allowing us to win the game with our Goblin swarm.
Wrap-Up
As far as our record, we ended up 4-1 in our video matches, only losing to UW Gift in a tough three-game match. This being said, we had a duplicate match against Mono-Green Stompy and lost, bringing our overall record to 4-2. Regardless, posting a solid winning record with a $50 deck is great! The combination of aggressive tribal starts and the ability to go long with God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 is a deadly combination and good enough to keep up with a lot of the best decks in Standard!
As far as changes I'd make to the budget build now that we've played some games, I'm pretty happy with the main deck. We've already got all of the best Goblins in the format, and the Goblins do more than enough to support the God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 plan without additional help. This being said, the sideboard is a bit clunky. While we have a lot of good removal spells (and someday, I'm going to get someone by sacrificing all of my Goblins to Skirk Prospector #137 and throwing a huge Banefire #31 at their face), having some more options for control could be helpful, but without adding expensive cards like Karn, Scion of Urza #1 or Chandra, Torch of Defiance #110, mono-red doesn't have a ton to offer for the matchup. If you have some sweet sideboard ideas, make sure to let me know in the comments!
All in all, Goblin Gift felt solid. For $50, it seems like a great deck to have fun with over the summer, especially if you like Goblins, tribal strategies, or reanimation. Then, once rotation hits in a couple of months, all of the Goblins will remain in the format, so you can simply drop the God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 package, add in some burn spells like Lightning Strike #136 and maybe even Goblin Barrage #128, and have a functional ultra-budget deck for Guilds of Ravnica Standard as well!
Ultra-Budget Goblin Gift
No ultra-budget list this week, since the build from the videos is already ultra-budget.
Rather than a non-budget list this week (if you want to add some money to Goblin Gift, maybe try Karn, Scion of Urza #1 or Chandra, Torch of Defiance #110 in the sideboard; otherwise, there isn't much to do), we've got a post-rotation Goblins list. Thankfully, it's not too hard to make Goblins into a post-rotation deck. We simply drop God-Pharaoh's Gift #131 and Gate to the Afterlife #228 for Lightning Strike #136, to deal with opposing creatures in the early game and their face in the late game, and The Flame of Keld #123, to help replace some of God-Pharaoh's Gift #131's late-game power. Then, we trade in Bomat Courier #199 for Rigging Runner #157 and some extra burn spells in Goblin Barrage #128 and Repeating Barrage #156, while maxing out with the full four copies of Goblin Trashmaster #144 Foil and Siege-Gang Commander #228. This leaves us with a pretty reasonable looking Goblin tribal deck! While it's too early to say what Guilds of Ravnica Standard will look like, a lot of the best mono-red cards are rotating, so there's some chance that Goblins will pick up the slack as the best red deck in Standard, especially if they get some help in Guilds of Ravnica. Worst case, post-rotation Goblins seems like a fine ultra-budget option that should be able to pick up some wins with the combination of good creatures, tribal synergies, and burn spells.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today. As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions, and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
