Yeah part of the charm of these cubes for me is how scrappy you have to be sometimes. The contrast between spells and creatures is pretty funny too!
Speaking of Red creatures, let's look at Goblins! Based on how shitty most of the creatures are, I am drawn towards kindred decks to get a little extra "oomph" and synergy. Does it draft on rails? For sure that is possible. It's also a pretty safe way to get newer players to latch onto an archetype and get people (like me) more excited to attack with a 1/1 for 2.
I will note that all of these have the correct creature type printed on them which greatly helps!
Goblin payoffs
I find myself with a few catergories of goblin payoffs. The first one is just tutoring
These lets you get your best targets and sometimes provide card advantage (or virtual CA in the case of Recruiter where it guarantees that you don't draw a land if you don't need one). The Ringleader requires a critical mass of Goblins to be worth it. I like these because you really get the feeling of playing with a goblin hoard. The downside is that these can make games feel a little samesy since you are likely to just get your Siege-Gang Commander and go face.
Next type of payoffs is using goblins as fodder
Skirk Prospector is a super interesting payoff. Converting creatures into mana has the potential to be busted (see Phyrexian Altar and friends). It's also a sacrifice outlet for something like Black Market.
Siege-Gang is a beating even absent a goblin theme, but it gets turbo-charged in one.
Clickslither base stats are perfectly fine, but in a goblin deck? It's nuts! This is a good way to support kindred decks. You can go combo with Berserk too.
Goblin Grenade is one I am less a fan of. There is enough good burn in old-border that you don't need to add a narrow card for the effect. The rate is top notch if you can pull it off though, but not worth the downside IMO.
Then you have pingers
Sparksmith is BS for me. Repeatable damage that can take down virtually anything in the right deck doesn't make for great Magic. Sure you lose life, so there is a cap on how much you can use it, but they lose their board. I'll add Goblin Sharpshooter as a messed up card that can take over the game with minimal effort. It's a sweet one, but a bit too pushed I think for old-bordered.
Incinerator is a better version of the effect I find. You ding one creature, you get your cycling value and move on. Maybe you can Tortured Existence it or something, but at that point it's an engine and I'm ok with that.
This one doesn't fit into any of my little categories, but it's an iconic goblin with a high ceiling you kind of have to work for. The Ragavan of old times maybe? You have to clear blockers and you get a snowballing board. I like it for the history and as a potential counterpoint to how explosive spells decks can be.
These are just extra goblins that are sweet and fill out your deck. Not sold on the Hunter, but I do like the rest.
Shout out to these two who are received the retro border treatment, but "feel" old school (for me at least).
Kindred or no for old-bordered aggro?
Edit: forgot one of my favourite goblin related cards
Double your sacrifice fodder or answer a big scary threat.
Speaking of Red creatures, let's look at Goblins! Based on how shitty most of the creatures are, I am drawn towards kindred decks to get a little extra "oomph" and synergy. Does it draft on rails? For sure that is possible. It's also a pretty safe way to get newer players to latch onto an archetype and get people (like me) more excited to attack with a 1/1 for 2.
I will note that all of these have the correct creature type printed on them which greatly helps!
Goblin payoffs
I find myself with a few catergories of goblin payoffs. The first one is just tutoring
These lets you get your best targets and sometimes provide card advantage (or virtual CA in the case of Recruiter where it guarantees that you don't draw a land if you don't need one). The Ringleader requires a critical mass of Goblins to be worth it. I like these because you really get the feeling of playing with a goblin hoard. The downside is that these can make games feel a little samesy since you are likely to just get your Siege-Gang Commander and go face.
Next type of payoffs is using goblins as fodder
Skirk Prospector is a super interesting payoff. Converting creatures into mana has the potential to be busted (see Phyrexian Altar and friends). It's also a sacrifice outlet for something like Black Market.
Siege-Gang is a beating even absent a goblin theme, but it gets turbo-charged in one.
Clickslither base stats are perfectly fine, but in a goblin deck? It's nuts! This is a good way to support kindred decks. You can go combo with Berserk too.
Goblin Grenade is one I am less a fan of. There is enough good burn in old-border that you don't need to add a narrow card for the effect. The rate is top notch if you can pull it off though, but not worth the downside IMO.
Then you have pingers
Sparksmith is BS for me. Repeatable damage that can take down virtually anything in the right deck doesn't make for great Magic. Sure you lose life, so there is a cap on how much you can use it, but they lose their board. I'll add Goblin Sharpshooter as a messed up card that can take over the game with minimal effort. It's a sweet one, but a bit too pushed I think for old-bordered.
Incinerator is a better version of the effect I find. You ding one creature, you get your cycling value and move on. Maybe you can Tortured Existence it or something, but at that point it's an engine and I'm ok with that.
This one doesn't fit into any of my little categories, but it's an iconic goblin with a high ceiling you kind of have to work for. The Ragavan of old times maybe? You have to clear blockers and you get a snowballing board. I like it for the history and as a potential counterpoint to how explosive spells decks can be.
These are just extra goblins that are sweet and fill out your deck. Not sold on the Hunter, but I do like the rest.
Shout out to these two who are received the retro border treatment, but "feel" old school (for me at least).
Kindred or no for old-bordered aggro?
Edit: forgot one of my favourite goblin related cards
Double your sacrifice fodder or answer a big scary threat.
Last edited:
