Over the past two months I've been playing in the latest Middle School league run by Romancing the Stones. For this league, I played a twist on a common deck: Food Chain Goblins. For various reasons, I wanted to have a deck that was both Premodern and Middle School legal.
Back in 2003-2005, I almost exclusively played Goblins in Onslaught Block, Standard, and Extended. I've had enough reps that I didn't feel the need to play a stock-ish list, but then I was hit by intense nostalgia. My wife bought a space heater for our bathroom, and the smell of it triggered memories of sitting on my bedroom floor goldfishing Food Chain goblins (with no Lackey or Recruiter, but with Chrome Mox) in the winter of 2004. I remember thinking the deck was good enough back then, though I abandoned it for Aether Vial when Darksteel came out. Neither of the powerful artifacts are legal in Middle School though, so I thought I'd revisit Food Chain and see if there was anything there.
The Deck
4 Goblin Lackey
4 Mogg Fanatic
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Sparksmith
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Matron
4 Goblin Warchief
2 Goblin Sharpshooter
4 Goblin Ringleader
1 Goblin Pyromancer
2 Gempalm Incinerator
3 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Food Chain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Karplusan Forest
1 Forest
12 Mountain
1 Mossfire Valley
Sideboard
3 Pyrokinesis
4 Naturalize
2 Goblin King
4 Tormod's Crypt
2 Goblin Tinkerer
Food Chain Goblins in Premodern/Middle School is missing the other key card, Goblin Recruiter, but that doesn't mean the card is without application. Having a combo kill that can go off with no prior board presence besides the enchantment can be good against sweepers and Oath of Druids. It can also be a more consistent turn four kill when you are trying to be as fast as possible. Goblins can kill as early as turn three, but generally is in the turn four to turn five goldfish range.
To enable the combo, I played one Goblin Pyromancer to search for. This is usually enough damage to kill with just three other hasty goblins. It also means you are less reliant on continuing to find Matron and Ringleader when comboing. Sparksmith is a card I think is underplayed in goblins in general but I could only fit the one copy in. I played one Prospector because some combo lines with Sharpshooter require a sacrifice outlet but I'm not a fan of it in general.
I did not play any Rishadan Port or Wasteland and played only 22 land. This is probably too few by one. The deck needs some kind of mana disruption in post board games when you aren't trying to combo. I would lean toward Port over Wasteland. Mossfire Valley was better than City of Brass in one game, but significantly worse in another and I would not play it again. Nine green sources is probably enough anyway.
The Games
Round 1 - Robert on Ponza
Game one I stick early Food Chain and he doesn't have a good way to stop me from casting a bunch of goblins with it. Game two I keep a three land Food Chain hand with several Ringleader but he has turn one Black Vise and turn three Stone Rain to set me back. I die before I can play anything. Game three I keep hand with two land and Food Chain but fail to draw the third land in time and he has multiple Stone Rain to stop me and I die.
0-1
Round 2 - Rajah on the Rock
I don't remember this match too well. I do know game three I have Naturalize for Plague and draw all four Mogg Fanatic as well as Gempalm my own creature in response to a Spinning Darkness to do just enough damage to win.
1-1
Round 3 - Paul on Psychatog
Game one I play Lackey into Warchief Lacky Piledriver. All he plays is an Island and concedes. I board like he's on Dreadnaught. He catches me a bit off guard with turn three Engineered Plague, but I still manage to play a Warchief and a Ringleader. Hoping to draw a Naturalize. He has Cunning Wish for Tsabo's Decree and I concede. Game three he has Force SPike Hydrobalst and two Force of Will so he's able to stop my early plays while being stuck with just two Islands. I slightly flood out and can't punish him while he's mana light and eventually he gets two Psychatog in play and follows up with Intuition for Wonder to fly over and kill me. Really needed Port or Pyroblast for this matchup.
1-2
Round 4 - Lorien on a not very good deck
Game one he has StP for my Lackey. I follow up with Piledriver into Matron into Ringleader. All he has is a morph, but his four lands are Plains, Wasteland, Wasteland, Factory so he can't flip it. I find a Gempalm Incinerator but use it on the Factory when he tries to block since I have Goblin Pyromancer in my hand to beat a potential Exalted Angel. He misses a land drop and concedes before I can play it. Game two he has turn one Mother of Runes which I use Fanatic to kill. He follows up with Meddling Mage on Ringleader and a morph, but I force a trade of Meddling Mage with my Goblin Warchief and get damage through with a Piledriver. He is stuck on three land so plays another morph. I then play out two Warchief and the following turn a Ringleader and Piledriver. He never finds a fourth land and concedes.
2-2
Round 5 - Chad on GW Threshold Wayfarer
Game one he plays to Nimble Mongoose but doesn't have threshold. I only have one land but have Fanatic and Prospector to hold off attacks. He plays two 2/2 Terravore but I still can't find second land. I draw it finally and Gempalm one Terravore and trade Fanatic for the other. Now he has threshold and plays out two Weathered Wayfarer. I draw third land and can resolve Food Chain before he Wastelands my Karplusan Forest. He attacks me down to 5 but I untap and play Warchief, exile prospector for a Matron, find another Warchief and play a Ringleader. Ringleader finds another Ringleader and a Matron, and it is easy to kill from there by playing out hand and finding Pyromancer. Game two he once again has two Nimble Mongoose but no Mox to speed up his development. He has Swords for my turn two Piledriver but I follow up with two Warchief and two Sharpshooter. A Ringleader finds a Piledriver. He has CoP: Red to mitigate some of the damage but its not enough when I have Fanatic and Gempalm on my own creature to untap the two Sharshooters several times.
3-2
I finished in 13th place, not particularly close to top 8.
Takeaways
Food Chain won me two games that no other card would have and that I would not have won otherwise. I left it in after sideboarding in round one and round five, but I don't think they are common matchups. The base Goblin cards felt very strong without Food Chain. I think it could be something to further explore given a particular expected metagame. I will continue to work on this and its a possibility for LobsterCon.
No comments:
Post a Comment