Hello again! I’m writing this article not because I got first but because of the quite impressive performance of the BR Goblins at last Saturday’s tournament in our area. I’ve been piloting this deck for a while (almost 2 months now) and with the arrival of Morningtide, I’m choosing my options on what cards to add.
The new set has offered class-based creature types for each of the colors. The Rogue class has occupied black and Warriors for the red cards. Morningtide black offered me Earwig Squad, Frogtosser Banneret, Auntie’s Snitch and Stenchskipper. I made some playtesting on MWS by adding Stenchskipper to my current build (removing 1 Tarfire and 1 Siege-Gang Commander) but it seems to have no impact. I also created a build similar to the deck that placed 1st in the Standard Trial tournament in Magic-league last January 30 and added Morningtide Rogues to it. I play tested it with my friends and it showed poor performance due to lack of removal (only having a set of Incinerates and 3 Gravepacts). So with the last minute mind bubbling changes, I resorted to the old build and added 3 Frogtosser Bannerets. Here’s the list:
Black-Red Goblins V.2.0 by Mark Ian Alloso
Format: Morningtide Standard
Creatures (27)
3 Frogtosser Banneret
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Mad Auntie
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshall
4 Squeaking Pie Sneak
2 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Wort, Boggart Auntie
Spells (10)
3 Grave Pact
4 Incinerate
3 Tarfire
Lands (23)
4 Auntie’s Hovel
3 Graven Cairns
1 Keldon Megaliths
1 Pendelhaven
4 Sulfurous Springs
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
5 Mountain
4 Swamp
Sideboard (15)
1 Extirpate
3 Pithing Needle
3 Pyroclasm
1 Shriekmaw
4 Slaughter Pact
3 Thoughtseize
My sideboard was a last-minute build due to the availability of Thoughseize and Pithing Needle from my fellow friend Oliver because he piloted a different deck. I arrived at the tournament place at 2pm and with only 3 hours of sleep (that’s what you get for being a nightshift employee). After an hour of waiting for the other players (specifically Oliver, lol), the pairings were made and the tournament began. Here we go!
Round 1: John Ryan Burgos playing U/W Merfolks (Merfolk Wizards actually)
Game 1: A very tough match-up for me because of his 8 lords and counterspells (not to mention Tideshaper Mystic and Islandwalk). He got an early beatings and let out 2 two lords. I had a slow start and after a few minutes, he was beating me up with five 5/5 creatures (4 lords and a mystic). Oh my god, that’s a fifth turn kill.
Game 2: I got early beaters and was able to control his board. Wort was the MVP for this game because of the continuous burning (Tarfire) and pinging (Mogg Fanatic). After several bashes, he’s dead.
Game 3: Got a similar scenario as game 2. Wort was again the MVP for this game.
Record: 1-0
Matches: 2-1
Round 2: Philip Roy Melo playing B/G Elves
Game 1: He was stuck at two Swamps while I got early beatings with Fanatic and Frogtosser Banneret. A fourth turn Siege-Gang Commander was game over for him.
Game 2: He played out an elf and I killed it with my fanatic. He began to kill my critters with his Eyeblight’s Ending (3 in a row) but wasn’t able to stop them all. A few bashes and he scoops.
Record: 2-0
Matches: 4-1
Round 3. Gian Occeña playing Monoblack Rogue
Game 1: We trade bashes, him with his Nightshade Stinger and me with my fanatic. He let out additional critters but I was able to shoot them down. We were down to a scenario where he had 2 Bitterblossoms in play and several Faerie rogues while I had some “Taktak gurl” Goblin tokens and a few critters. He had the advantage because of his Pendelhaven and Mutavault but I was able to top-deck a Grave Pact and I attacked. He blocks and it ended up killing all of his creatures due to Grave Pact while I have Wort in play. I started to return some Goblins and gained board control while he ran out of gas. A few turns and he scoops.
Game 2: He got an early lead but I was able to control the board and played out Wort. A few turns of Goblin reanimation and he conceded.
Record: 3-0
Matches: 6-1
I was standing at 9 points and was very happy with my matchups. We were only 2 players at 9 points and we decided to draw the remaining two rounds to secure our spot in the top 8.
Round 4: Mark Kim playing Tarmorack
Mark was the other player at 9 points and we decided to draw the match.
Record: 3-0-1
Matches: 6-1-1
Round 5. Oliver Mastilero playing Doran Aggro
Oliver was at 3-1 and we also decided to draw this match.
Record: 3-0-2
Matches: 6-1-2
After 5 rounds, the top 8 players were Mark Kim, Patrick, Oliver, Jonathan T., Jaime, Jimmy, Rei and me. I was first and we have this tradition that the top player always gets eliminated by the 8th player. I was afraid that this will happen to me so when I saw the top 8 pairings, whom my opponent was Jaime playing Mono red burn, I got nervous. Oh well, no choice but to play it out so bring it on!
Quarterfinals: Jaime Hernandez playing Mono red burn
Game 1: He started shooting some burn at me while I played out a few critters and suspended a Gargadon. He damaged me down to 8 life due to Browbeat but I held on his Keldon Marauders with my tokens and fanatic. I played out Grave Pact and began killing his guys. I was at 3 life and he failed to draw a burn spell. I unsuspended my Gargadon by sacrificing my lands and attacked with all of my creatures. He scoops.
Game 2: Quite a similar scenario with game 1, except that I was able to Thoughtseized his Sulfuruos Blast. I played out Wort and returned my fanatic. With only a few suspend counters left on the Gargadon, I sac’ed my lands to play it and all-out attacked. He flashed Sulfur Elemental to block the big guy but I killed it with my 2 fanatics (“got it”) and it was game over.
Record: 4-0-2
Matches: 8-1-2
Semifinals: Oliver Mastilero playing Doran Aggro
Oliver has many bombs in his deck like Doran, Chameleon Colossus, Tarmogoyf and is supported by Thoughtseize and several elves. We’ve playtested in the office and I discovered how the deck performs. This is a difficult matchup though.
Game 1: My opening hand looked awkward with 2 red source (one of them a Keldon Megaliths) and 4 black cards but I decided to keep. Oliver takes a mulligan and decided to keep his six cards. I played a fanatic, killed his birds but he was able to play out a Doran and a vanquisher. I managed to get a Swamp and played a banneret. He brought me down to 9 and played a Tarmogoyf. I hold off his attackers by playing 2 Mad Aunties. Another auntie came down and was joined later by a pie sneak. No creature kills for him and after a few bashes through a 5/5 pie sneak, he conceded.
Game 2: I boarded in Thoughseize and a Shriekmaw and boarded out 2 copies of Gargadon and Grave Pact which I think was ineffective due to his birds/elves. He had a slow start while I killed his perfect with an evoked Shriekmaw and Thoughtseized his colossus. I played out my pie sneaks and he wasn’t able to play his Doran due to lack of mana source. I sneak through his Tarmo while holding it off with my war marshall and taktak gurl token. He didn’t draw answers and scoops.
Record: 5-0-2
Matches: 10-1-2
My opponent in the finals was the Tarmorack player, Mark Kim. It was late in the evening and we were very tired so we just decided to split the prize. We were discussing who will be 1st and Mark gratefully gave me the spot. I would’ve lost to his deck if ever we played it out so I was very thankful. Hehehe..
Overall, the deck performed very well and the Gargadon-Grave Pact with lots of critters to sac was proved very effective. Wort was really “wort-it” and he was the turning point in most of my games. I was thinking of tweaking some cards on the deck and the sideboard by adding Earwig Squad. Well, let’s see about that.
Till next time… Chow!
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