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Food Chain Goblins (FCG) is a deck
that suddenly became really good with the printing of goblin warchief in
onslaught block. the deck is aggro/combo, using food chain, goblin
ringleader, goblin recruiter, and goblin warchief to play a LOT of hasty
goblins in one turn and attack for lethal damage. goblin piledriver is
the deck's primary source of beatdown, and goblin sharpshooter serves as
an anti-opposing weenie alternate win condition when combined with
siege-gang commander and skirk prospector.
first: the combo.
1) get food chain into play
2) play goblin recruiter, stacking your deck with four goblin ringleader
on top, with many goblins below. the order should be:
top: goblin ringleader
second: goblin warcheif
third: goblin ringleader
fourth: goblin piledriver
fifth: goblin piledriver
sixth: goblin ringleader
seventh: goblin piledriver
eight: goblin piledriver
ninth: goblin ringleader
tenth: goblin sharpshooter
followed by all the other goblins
or something of the sort.
3) remove goblin recruiter to play
goblin ringleader. draw four goblins.
4) remove goblin ringleader to play another goblin ringleader. draw four
goblins.
5) remove goblind ringleader to play another goblin ringleader. draw
four goblins.
6) remove goblin ringleader to play another goblin ringleader. draw four
goblins.
7) remove goblin ringleader to play goblin warchief, and use the excess
mana to drop sharpshooter.
8) remove goblin sharpshooter to play four goblin piledrivers
the deck can also play straight
aggro, using goblin lackey to get siege-gang commander into play for
free.
now: a type one decklist
"land": 22
4 wooded foothills (key mana fixing)
4 taiga (get these with foothills)
1 mox emerald
1 mox ruby
1 black lotus
1 mana crypt
1 lotus petal
1 chrome mox
4 elvish spirit guide
3 mountain
1 forest
combo: 4
4 food chain
goblins: 30
4 goblin lackey
4 goblin recruiter
4 goblin piledriver
4 goblin warchief
4 goblin ringleader
4 skirk prospector
3 goblin sharpshooter
1 siege-gang commander
2 gempalm incinerator
2 goblin matron
non-goblins:
2 mirri's guile
sideboard:
1 goblin sharpshooter
4 ground seal
2 gempalm incinerator
2 oxidize/null rod
4 chalice of the void/artifact mutation
2 tormod's crypt/pyrostatic pillar
budget decklist:
"land": 22
4 wooded foothills (key mana fixing)
1 lotus petal
1 chrome mox
4 elvish spirit guide
8 mountain
4 forest
combo: 4
4 food chain
goblins: 30
4 goblin lackey
4 goblin recruiter
4 goblin piledriver
4 goblin warchief
4 goblin ringleader
4 skirk prospector
3 goblin sharpshooter
1 siege-gang commander
2 gempalm incinerator
2 goblin matron
non-goblins:
2 mirri's guile
sideboard:
1 goblin sharpshooter
4 ground seal
2 gempalm incinerator
2 oxidize/null rod
4 chalice of the void/artifact mutation
2 tormod's crypt/pyrostatic pillar
these lists have relatively balanced
sideboards with a variety of hate options. if your metagame was very
combo-heavy, you might try
4 pyrostatic pillar
4 tormod's crypt
4 null rod
3 red elemental blast
and if your metagame was very
welder-heavy, you could play
4 ground seal
4 null rod
4 artifact mutation
3 fire/ice
in a very control heavy metagame,
4 red elemental blast
4 blood moon
4 artifact mutation
3 tormod's crypt
in a workshop heavy metagame,
4 blood moon
4 null rod
4 artifact mutation
3 wasteland (if you arent maindecking these)
FCG doesnt really need help with
aggro metagames, though, since you can "go off" before they
kill you.
CARD DISCUSSION:
mogg fanatic:
not really necessary. one point of damage? when your piledrivers are
each 21/2?
goblin sharpshooter:
bring in this house versus fish, gay fish, gay red, sligh, or anything
else you want!
gempalm incinerator:
use this fool to deal 16 damage to that opposing platinum angel! there's
no more stylish way to kill a 4/4 flying!
sparksmith:
remarkably similar to the incinerator, except worse in most situations.
if you are playing beatdown instead of combo, though, it can be helpful
as another 1/1 body.
ground seal:
with the amazing tier-one-ness of goblin welder-based decks, this
enchantment is an excellent choice, since it will prevent them from
doing ANYTHING with their welder. incidentally, it is also good against
worldgorger dragon-based combo. and it's a cantrip!
goblin matron:
good for fetching that recruiter/ringleader and then getting it into
play by removing it from the game with food chain.
naturalize:
it's okay, but not really as good as artifact mutation, since artifacts
are WAY more common in type one than enchantments. not bad for the
mirror, i suppose. AND, it kills dragon. if you play vs a lot of that
deck, you could consider this.
goblin vandal:
cheap artifact removal. good for taking out that trinisphere that's
stopping you from really going off.
null rod:
some decks have a LOT of artifact mana sources. null rod is helpful
versus many non-welder-reliant workshop-based decks (mud, welder-mud,
stax), and non-worldgorder dragon combo (think draw-seven.dec, or any
incarnation of long).
chalice of the void
put this in against random scrubs who annoy you! nothing better than
dropping a first-turn chalice for one against a suicide black or 10-land
stompy player.
sol ring:
this may seem useful at first, but what this deck really needs is
colored mana, so you are better off with the other accelerant options.
chrome mox:
excellent.
the power three:
more excellent. there's a reason why they are worth hundreds and it is
$15-$20.
elvish spirit guide:
an excellent way to get green mana. gets around trinisphere, chalice of
the void set at zero, and blood moon.
lotus petal:
better than ESG, for the most part.
tormod's crypt
helpful against academy rector combo, or psychatog. 'nuff said.
wasteland and strip mine:
doable, but because of this deck's reliance on its lands to produce
mana, it would be necessary to remove some good goblins to fit it in.
blood moon:
useful, but look out! if it's in play, your taigas can't get green mana
to play food chain!
artifact mutation:
excellent artifact removal, especially versus goblin welder-based decks
with expensive artifacts, but i picked oxidize due to its increased
effectiveness at killing chalice of the void for two.
wheel of fortune:
it's alright, i guess. dangerous because of its ability to help other
decks, though.
HOW TO PLAY THE DECK:
keep a hand that can't "go
off" if it contains goblin lackey and siege-gang commander, if you
know the lackey will attack sucessfully. in games two and three, it is
easier to tell what exactly will be effective against your opponent, and
so you can analyse your hand by the presence of cards such as food
chain, goblin sharpshooter, and goblin piledriver as well.
this deck can have some AMAZING
topdecks, due to the presence of ringleader and recuiter, so don't be
afraid to do a bunch of stuff only to "fizzle." it is easy for
you to come back.
make sure that you do not overextend
against control decks packing board-sweepers like balance, unless you
are killing them THIS TURN. this goes for all aggro decks, so those of
you with experience playing TnT, classic sligh, stompy, etc know what's
up here.
WHAT MAKES THIS DECK GOOD:
the advantage of FCG over more
traditional goblin decks is that you have the "combo" with
food chain. in the traditional rock-paper-scissors metagame, combo beats
aggro, aggro beats control, and control beats combo. FCG can play combo
versus aggro, aggro versus control, and attempt to be faster combo
versus other combo decks. as such, you "have a chance" in
every matchup.
FCG is also quite resilient to force
of will, which is in a sense the defining card of type one. if they
counter your food chain, just play goblin beatdown!
FCG also has green, which allows for
ground seal sideboard versus goblin welder, giving it a very favorable
matchup in games two and three against those decks.
the deck is also quite playable on a
budget. elvish spirit guide is not very expensive, and it CAN allow you
to "go off" on turn two, though a "god draw" is not
really possible without power.
WHAT MAKES THIS DECK BAD:
with mindslaver in the type one
environment, FCG can be in trouble. if they get to use it even once,
they can wreck you. for example, a slavery player will "go
off" for you, but instead of attacking with all your goblins, he
will sacrifice them all to food chain, leaving you with a severly
diluted library, and no combo. goblin sharpshooter can also allow them
to deal damage to you while they are sacrificing your little red men to
Herr Prospector.
MATCHUP ANALYSES AND SIDEBOARDING
STRATEGIES:
workshop slaver:
ground seal will be important here, to stop recurrance of mindslaver.
make sure, in game one, that you oxidize their mindslaver before they
get to use it. it can wreck you.
in sideboarding,
-1 siege-gang commander, -4 skirk
prospector
+4 ground seal
+1 oxidize
mana drain slaver:
sideboard pretty much the same way, except for being a little more wary
of countermagic. try to draw their drains with cheap spells before
dropping ground seal.
draw-seven combo:
hope to god you go off before they do. beatdown as fast as you can to
make their yawgmoth's bargain less effective and their city of brass
dangerous.
-3 goblin sharpshooter
+3 chalice of the void (set it at zero or one)
if you chose to incorporate null rod
into your SB, put that in instead, or pyrostatic pillar.
The Perfect Storm:
play the same way as against draw-seven combo.
psychatog:
beat down while you can, and then try to "go off." goblin
lackey is very important here, since they can counter your food chain.
-3 goblin sharpshooter
-1 skirk prospector
+2 gempalm incinerator
+2 tormod's crypt
use the incinerators to make them
discard/remove a LOT to keep their psychatog alive, but make sure you do
it before they attack for 100 damage.
keeper:
beatdown all the way. if you have red elemental blast sideboarded, you
can
-3 goblin sharpshooter
+3 REB
but this is not really necessary. as
i said earlier, aggro beats control.
fish/gay fish/gay red/UR fish/Worse
Than Fish aka WTF:
again, use your beatdown, and look out for force of will and daze.
no sideboarding is really necessary.
use your removal to kill their
creatures, plain and simple if you make the right choices, this matchup
should be very easy.
landstill:
very similar to the fish matchup. kill them before they can use
nevinyrral's disk though. there's not much sideboarding that can be
done, though if you have artifact mutation/goblin vandal in the SB,
-3 goblin sharpshooter
+3 cheap artifact removal
stompy:
play combo. go off as fast as you can, plain and simple. no really
bombish sideboard options, though
-4 goblin lackey (it will NEVER get
through)
+2 chalice of the void (set it at one)
+2 gempalm incinerator
is not bad.
madness:
this one is tough. watch out for countermagic, and play combo, like
against stompy. chalice of the void will not help you, but lackey will
get though once in a while.
no sideboarding is really necessary
if you have red elemental blast, you
can put it in.
oshawa:
play the same as you would vs stompy.
suicide black:
in game one, you have it rough. a first turn lackey will win it though.
try to topdeck your food chain, because you sure won't have it in your
hand for long. if they tap out, kill nantuko shade.
no sideboarding is really necessary.
use gempalm incinerator to make them sacrifice ALL of their permanents
because of their phyrexian negator.
sligh:
you win. no sideboarding is necessary or even very helpful, though you
could go
-1 goblin lackey
+1 goblin sharpshooter |
