Goblin Crusade
by Armyhead July 12th 2001

David Fedor wrote:
"Here is an idea i've been mulling over in my head ever since the Lord of the Undead and Dralnu's Crusade came out. It's what i call a 'Crusading Goblins' deck. It relies on cheap and effective goblins combined with 'Crusade' type effects in Goblin King, Dralnu's Crusade and Lord of the Undead. The rest of the deck is rounded out by efficient removal. Tell me what you think, and how i can improve it. This deck would fit in the Current T2 format as it uses Goblin Ringleader from Apocalypse"

"Crusading Goblins" v1.00

LAND

4 Urborg Volcano
4 Sulfurous Springs
8 Swamp
8 Mountain

CREATURES

4 Goblin King
4 Lord of the Undead
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Chariot
4 Goblin Raider
4 Raging Goblin

OTHER

4 Dralnu's Crusade
4 Terminate
4 Void

SB

3 Tsabo's Decree
3 Blood Oath
2 Haunted Crossroads
3 Backlash
4 Duress

Comments:

Goblins? Yes! I have been thinking about a goblin deck for a while now so lets go rogue and build a Crusade deck. But tell Tividar to stay home. Seriously now that Ive done a clinic for those pesky elves leaving out the Goblins would be unfair. Ok onto cards I wont use. Goblin Ringleader is not amazing so for 4 mana its overcosted. I am also thinking that we want to make as many things work with each other as we can.

Night of the Living Goblins version 2.0

•   4 Raging Goblin
•   4 Goblin Digging Team
•   4 Goblin Raider
•   4 Arms Dealer
•   4 Goblin King
•   4 Lord of the Undead
•   4 Dralnu's Crusade
•   4 Urza's Rage
•   4 Terminate
• 12 Mountain
•   4 Swamp
•   4 Darigaaz's Caldera
•   4 Sulpherous Springs

Sideboard:
•   4 Slingshot Goblin
•   4 Tsabo's Decree
•   4 Obliterate
•   3 Hull Breach

[Editor's Note:
Yang Liu wrote me and pointed out the following:
"you can't bring back goblin from graveyard even if Dralnu's Crusade is out. the reason is that Dralnu's Crusade only applies to the goblin creatures that are in play. but once they leave play, Dralnu's Crusade doesn't apply to them any more. it was a fun idea. maybe you should check out goblin trenches."

I goofed. If I had read Dralnu's Crusade more carefully I would have noticed that the wording doesn't include Graveyard or Library or any area of the game outside the play area. Unlike Conspiracy which does. Oh shucks ... Sorry bout that! Hmmm so ignore the references to graveyard recursion and enjoy... ]

Card by Card analysis:
Raging Goblin --- I dont like this goblin but he's cheap and gets his licks in while he can. In this deck he fits the niche perfectly
Goblin Digging Team --- Given the sudden popularity of Jungle Barrier and Glacial Wall this just seems prudent. We cant have our rush stopped by an inconvenient blocker or two. With Crusade and Lord on the table he become recycleable.
Goblin Raider --- Who blocks? Bears are always good.
Arms Dealer --- Artillery. There are any number of things that this card kills and if you have the recycling zombies combo in play he makes every goblin a cheaper more damaging though limited Pyre Zombie. Ooooh Fun!!!!!! Dont forget he doesnt do players.
Goblin King --- Not as exciting as Lord of the Undead he does give your guys Mountainwalk which just crushes Fires and Wild Research. Assuming they dont crush you first. Ok dont laugh too hard he's still a scrubby card but in this deck its expected.
Lord of the Undead --- More or less the reason this deck is so much fun. Recycling Zombies is ok. When they are Goblins too? Well how much fun can one person have? Dont play with this in a serious deck. Please. But here hes gold.
Dralnu's Crusade --- If this card didnt exist this deck wouldnt have a reason to exist. Making Goblins into zombies and bigger ones at that is what this deck does best.
Urza's Rage --- Utility. Sometimes burn becomes a necessity. Rage em out when your goblin zombie rush falls short. Rage that Idol that wants to block.
Terminate --- Removal. Ok I really want this to be Hull Breach since there are so many enchantments running around in the current environment but I think the manabase would falter too much if it was.

The Lands --- You will note that I changed the mana base to favor red. This is because even though you have 4 black spells that require BB your majority of cards are red. With 12 black sources your black mana will be sufficient.
Darigaaz's Caldera --- In this deck where your early turns are going to be spent playing low cost creatures this land doesnt interfere at all with your curve. In fact it can help if you are being messed with by a port or two. This card is in here solely because of Hull Breach which comes in against enchantment/ artifact heavy decks. If you truly dont like lairs then replace them with Karplusian Forests, and make 4 mountains into 4 Urborg Volcanos.

Sideboard:
Slingshot Goblin --- Artillery lite. Troubled by Rishadin Airships and other flying blue things? This goblin is just the ticket to take em out.
Tsabo's Decree --- As long as rebels are legal someone will play em and you will need these to rectify the situation.
Obliterate --- Control Hates this card like the Plague.
Hull Breach --- As I said earlier this card is a necessity for dealing with the many enchantments and artifacts in this environment.

Conclusion:

Goblins have always been fun to play. I know that Goblins dont get anymore respect than elves do and for good reason. One decree kills em all and your hand. Engineered Plague wipes em out too. Any deck that relies heavily on creature type will have to deal with this possibility. On the other hand this deck should prove fast enough to cause serious damage to slow decks. Mono Red and Red Black decks often get the short shrift but occasionally they make a big top8 and shock the world. Sometimes bruteforce gets the job done. Dont expect miracles but play it and learn its tricks and you might have a chance at winning.

Magickly,
Paul Emerson Leicht
pauleleicht@cs.com
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