Because I saw the color first, I started off my MTG career a few months ago with a Mono-Red Wizards deck that I got for about $30, which began my love for the game and my love for red cards. Because all of the good cards that made Mono-Red Aggro so good are being rotated out on October 5, I wanted to make a Mono-Red deck that can still compete with everything else after rotation.
After looking at all the cards from Ixalan and up, I decided that a Goblin Tribal deck would be the best way to go, as they have a natural synergy, and are extremely cheap to get.
The Deck Itself
Before I go into the strategies of this deck, I want to give you the list of it first:
Creatures (33):
4 Skirk Prospector
4 Fanatical Firebrand
4 Goblin Instigator
4 Dark-Dweller Oracle
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Chainwhirler
2 Squee, the Immortal
4 Goblin Trashmaster
3 Siege-Gang Commander
Instants (5):
3 Lightning Strike
2 Shock
Lands (22):
22 Mountain
Sideboard (15):
4 Rigging Runner
1 Squee, the Immortal
1 Siege-Gang Commander
3 Banefire
2 Fight with Fire
2 Shock
1 Lightning Strike
1 Lava Axe
The Strategies
The real MVP of the deck.
As you can see, this Goblin deck is heavily based off of creatures and getting value out of them. Every creature in this deck is good at doing its job for the mana cost (even Trashmaster, as he is our only artifact removal in this deck).
For my Main:
Skirk Prospector is by far the best card in the deck. As a lot of the creatures in this deck cost quite a bit, Skirk Prospector can give us more wiggle room when it comes to mana, as it can exchange goblins for one Mountain. This can lead to getting a Goblin Chainwhirler or Warchief out Turn 2, or can help out with getting Siege-Gang Commander damage in the late game. Skirk Prospector also gives us the chance of being able to kick Fight with Fire for a full 10 damage to face, which when we use it our opponent may very well be at 10 or less health. It can also help out with getting more fuel for Banefire.
Goblin Warchief is another key card to this deck. Most people underrate the usefulness of this card (in all of my FNM games, they would kill everything but the Goblin Warchief, even though it was him who was making the deck so potent). Him making the rest of my Goblins one colorless less is helpful, but it's not what makes him shine. It's the haste he gives to every single Goblin, including himself. If I have both Goblin Warchief and Goblin Chainwhirler in my hand, I would go with Warchief most of the time, as next turn he would give Chainwhirler the ability to attack immediately, and he might be able to get 2 damage in.
Dark-Dweller Oracle is a surprisingly bad card in the deck, but it is very good at taking one for the team from my opponents, as they think of it as the biggest threat. The reason Dark-Dweller Oracle isn't as good as most people claim for it to be is, you need to have expendable goblins to use it, and you still need to have enough mana to use the card that you just exiled. Even with Skirk Prospector out, I would still want a few Goblin tokens and actual land on the board to make use of what I get. It's really hard to explain, but if you play a few games with it I believe you would be able to see why. Dark-Dweller Oracle is still very useful in getting cards, so I wouldn't shave it down to 3. He still gets removal priority from my opponents, which is really useful for my other cards, as I want them out on the field more than Oracle. Although I do suggest sideboarding out one or two Oracles for game 2.
For whatever reason, people think that Squee, the Immortal is a really bad card. I personally think that Squee is amazing, as it essentially gives me a chump blocker every turn, even when I run out of creatures. I know that Squee is only a 2/1, but he makes up for it by being playable from anywhere. Squee also combos really well with Dark-Dweller Oracle and Siege-Gang Commander.
Goblin Trashmaster may be expensive for being a lord, but his artifact removal and his ability to make all of my Goblins out of Chainwhirler range is more than enough reason to run him. With Warchief out, I only have to play him for 3 mana, which is a better price. Although I don't recommend attacking with Goblin Trashmaster, as you want to keep him alive to keep giving all of your Goblins a boost.
Goblin Instigator doesn't have much to it, but it makes the deck much, much better. For two mana, you can get two 1/1 Goblins out on the field. Both the Instigator itself and the token it creates can be used as sacrifice fodder for Skirk Prospector, Dark-Dweller Oracle, Goblin Trashmaster, and Siege-Gang Commander. It also adds immense value when you have a Trashmaster out, as you just paid two mana for two 2/2 creatures.
We all knew this explanation was coming, but I kinda have to do it anyways. Goblin Chainwhirler is just too good of a card for any red deck to not run. Especially with it being a Goblin, it destroys other decks that run off of 1/1 creatures, like Thopter or Saproling decks (both of which Chainwhirler saved me from). A downside of Chainwhirler is that I can't make it cheaper with Warchief, but that is perfectly alright, as a 3/3 First Striker who deals 1 damage to everything on your opponent's side of the field is still really powerful.
Siege-Gang Commander is an exceptionally versatile card in this deck. It provides a consistent source of damage to anything that I need to get damage done to (which is why this deck has a very low amount of burn spells), it gives me a fair amount of chump blockers, that can also be used for all of my Goblins that have sacrifice effects. Siege-Gang Commander is definitely worth it's 5 mana cost, and it is what will get you those clutch closers at the end of a match.
For my sideboard:
Rigging Runner is my alternative to Fanatical Firebrand. Fanatical Firebrand may be a good haste one drop, but Rigging Runner may potentially add more value, if its Raid ability is activated. If you can get Raid off on a Rigging Runner, you just got a 2/2 creature for one mana, that additionally has First Strike. First Strike is the main reason why I chose Rigging Runner, it can perform well against decks that have creatures with 2 or less health as an attacker or a blocker, as your opponent will probably not want to block it as it will be sacrificing creatures, nor will they want to attack into it, as they will be losing creatures.
Banefire is the best answer Red has to Control (other than Squee, the Immortal, although that depends on if the Control player is running Ixalan's Binding or not). It takes advantage of all the land you accumulated against them, and it turns it on them. As it can't be countered (if X is at least 5), their only option is to just take the damage, which is a huge win for you. Banefire even won me the game against a Control deck.
Fight with Fire is a good multipurpose card in this deck. It can get rid of pesky Lyra Dawnbringers, or it can also deal 10 damage to your opponents face (when kicked). The reason why I consider it being kicked a legitimate possibility is because of Skirk Prospector, which can get rid of a few more Goblins to make the Kicker happen.
I run a single copy of Lava Axe because I got two 8th Edition versions of them for free and I like the card. It might be useful, but it wouldn't harm the deck if it was swapped out for another card.
Summary
Overall, this deck has a lot of options, and aims to get more value than your opponent. Really any hand with 3-4 mana is a good hand, as long as it has a Skirk Prospector in it. I enjoy the deck, and I hope you do, too.
I will be posting a Friday Night Tournament recap with this deck tomorrow, so be on the lookout for that!
Thanks for reading, and as always, have an amazing day! :D
