So normally I send Thursday champs a couple questions about their deck, but Tim was rad enough to totally tackle it on his own. For those of you that aren’t aware, Tim is one of the original pioneers of goblins in Highlander. Dude has turned more goblins sideways than you can shake a stick at.
Here’s Tim with coverage of his match ups:
Protip: don’t shake sticks at goblins
Round 1 – Duncan – Mac’s Goblins
A veritable Goblin mirror match, Duncan was unaware after the first time we played that he had beaten me with my own decklist (when I saw Fury Charm I had to ask where he got his list). I won the roll and kept an alright hand (my second 6 to his first) with Umezama’s Jitte, two land, a Gamble, and a bit of burn and Goblins. I kept stumbling on land, and my creatures couldn’t equip and connect before dying. A timely kicked Goblin Bushwacker put me to 2 life, and I finally started connecting with my Jitte, but it was too late and an alpha swing into Ember Hauler put me away.
In game two I kept a mediocre hand that had Goblin Guide on the play (Duncan also kept 7). I swung in a bunch, revealing Goblin Grenade and Goblin Glory Chaser on the first two attacks. Duncan’s second turn saw his Mogg Raider followed up by a Goblin Recruiter. It was immediately obvious Duncan only had 1 more land in his hand because he got the best 3-drop Goblins and a Legion Loyalist. I was really hoping that last land was non-basic because I had been sandbagging my Wasteland all game. Coincidentally Duncan had beaten me in a game last week where he did the same sort of thing to my Recruiter stack with Strip Mine, so I didn’t feel too bad when he dropped the Cavern of Souls.
Unfortunately in game three Duncan mulliganned all the way to his first 4. I kept my second 6 which was three Mountains, a Strip Mine, a Goblin Chieftain and a Moggcatcher. Not a great hand, but he had decided to mulligan to 5 when I was deciding to keep or not and I figured this 6 had a decent chance: if he’s stumbling on mana while starting the game down at least a couple cards, then Strip Mine can put me in good shape, conversely, if he’s flooding, that should give me enough time to get Chieftain on the board and wreak havoc. It worked out: he played Goblin Bushwacker on the first turn, I Stripped his Mountain, he played more Mountains but not much else, so I got my Chieftain down, then a Rabblemaster, then a Vexing Shusher and a Skirk Prospector to finish the game.
Round 2 – Derek – Eggs
I won the die-roll, we each kept a 7 and mine was a pretty fast hand – honestly I don’t remember much about this game but I wrote down that I won on turn 4. He had Artificer’s Intuition and played a Black Lotus before I sealed the deal.
In our second game I mulliganned to my first 6 and Derek to his second 5. I kept a 2-lander with Fury Charm and Gamble, which I thought could be pretty decent for disruption if he had a good start. Derek was able to make a lot of mana, and he did a lot of digging through his deck, but he couldn’t find any gas and the only card he had to slow down my meandering start was an Aether Spellbomb.
Round 3 – Garrett – Grixis Combo Control
Doug and Garrett had drawn in round 2, meaning there were only three X-0s left and I got the pair down against Garrett. If he beat me the tournament would be over (barring a draw at table 1?). Our first game was pretty unexciting. Garret kept 7 and I mulliganned to my second 6. Garrett played three Islands and little to no spells while I played – and attacked with – Goblins. As the game was finishing he drew a Swamp, but that was too little, too late for the Jace, the Mind Scuptor, Pyroclasm, and other great spells that motivated the initial keep.
In game two we kept our 7 card hands. Another relatively underwhelming game; Garrett tried to find his second black source for Damnation and couldn’t get there. I played Goblins and attacked with them. Goblin Chieftain into Goblin Rabblemaster with burn backup seemed more than enough considering the general lack of frequent disruption.
Round 4 – Pat SKB – Big RUG
I won the die-roll and kept a relatively weak 7 while Pat mulliganned to his second 6. Goblin Lackey, Sulfuric Vortex, Stoke the Flames, Fury Charm, and three Mountains. I played my Lackey and Pat shocked himself in order to cantrip. I drew a Mogg Fanatic so luckily I had a Goblin to drop on my first Lackey connection on the second turn. On Pat’s turn he motioned to Arc Trail my two dudes, putting one damage on Lackey and two on the Fanatic, so I sacrificed the Fanatic and pumped the charming Lackey. I drew a Mountain and played my Vortex and then smacked him with my lonely 1/1. Pat was slowly but steadily losing life points and on my fourth turn I connected with Lackey and dropped the Foundry Street Denizen I drew (so luckily!) so that my Stoke the Flames couldn’t be Force Spiked or Dazed (I don’t think he was playing those cards in this version of RUG). Stoke resolved, Pat drew a card and we went to the next game.
We each kept 7. I don’t remember all the details of this game, but I started with Sensei’s Divining Top and Pat played an early Courser of Kruphix. I had Skullcrack in hand but always had more important things to do with my mana. Courser only gained him two life points and one card before I gave it a Chain Lightning and half of a Forked Bolt, the rest going at him. Pat started playing Planeswalkers, ticking up Tamiyo, the Moon Sage many times, and Kiora, the Crashing Wave just once. My Goblin Rabblemaster got killed and I played an Obelisk of Urd (with the help of a Goblin Guide in gaseous form) which seemed pretty darn good in a somewhat creature-focused matchup. I killed Kiora with a 3/3 Goblin token and Pat played a Shardless Agent – I think it grabbed him a Deathrite Shaman. I played more Goblins, attacking and then burning Tamiyo until she was dead, though his Kessig Wolf Run blockers were thinning my attacking numbers. A giant Bonfire of the Damned (no miracle, x=5) set me back, and Pat was now threatening to win the game with his non-basic-pumping land. Fortunately Top let me go get my Wasteland that was a couple cards down. Now I could focus on bringing Pat’s life total to zero. I believe he was at 19 or 20 life at this point in the game but I finally had the board dominance and could start attacking him. After a decent attack he played a True-Name Nemesis and tried to stabilize, but my Top found me a Goblin Recruiter; I shuffled my Top away and put Goblin King on top of my deck. Now with the Obelisk and King, my Goblins would be +3/+3 and mountainwalking, so when Pat drew a Forest he extended the hand. 16 players, 4-0, 8-1, GGs, thanks guys!
List: Mac’s Goblins – Burn and Artifact
1 Boartusk Liege
1 Boggart Ram-Gang
1 Ember Hauler
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Frenzied Goblin
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Arsonist
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Fireslinger
1 Goblin Guide
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Recruiter
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Goblin Vandal
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Wardriver
1 Intimidator Initiate
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
1 Legion Loyalist
1 Mogg Fanatic
1 Mogg Raider
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Moggcatcher
1 Sensation Gorger
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Sparksmith
1 Spikeshot Elder
1 Stingscourger
1 Tattermunge Maniac
1 Vexing Shusher
1 Warren Instigato
1 Zo-Zu the Punisher
1 Sulfuric Vortex
1 Fireblast
1 Fury Charm
1 Lightning Bolt
1 Mental Misstep
1 Price of Progress
1 Tarfire
28 Mountain
1 Arc Trail
1 Chain Lightning
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Gamble
1 Goblin Grenade
1 Krenko’s Command
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Forked Bolt
1 Strip Mine
1 Flames of the Blood Hand
1 Skullcrack
1 Mox Ruby
1 Skullclamp
1 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Goblin Glory Chaser
1 Kargan Dragonlord
1 Obelisk of Urd
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Stoke the Flames
1 Wasteland
1 Mutavault
1 Adaptive Automaton
1 Gemstone Caverns
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Mardu Scout