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Modern is an aggressive format where a large portion of the aggressive decks get hated out by very narrow sideboard cards like Rest in Peace and Stony Silence. One of the things to keep your eye on in such a format is an aggressive deck that dodges the hate that people have ready. Is it possible that Goblins could be that aggro deck in Modern?
Goblin - Modern | DoomSlayin, 5-0 Modern League
- Creatures (33)
- 4 Foundry Street Denizen
- 4 Goblin Bushwhacker
- 4 Legion Loyalist
- 4 Mogg Fanatic
- 4 Mogg War Marshal
- 4 Reckless Bushwhacker
- 3 Goblin Chieftain
- 3 Goblin Piledriver
- 2 Frenzied Goblin
- 1 Raging Goblin
- Instants (4)
- 4 Lightning Bolt
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Goblin Grenade
- Lands (19)
- 19 Mountain
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Goblin Chieftain
- 1 Goblin Piledriver
- 3 Dragon's Claw
- 3 Forked Bolt
- 4 Smash to Smithereens
- 3 Tormod's Crypt
The purpose of this deck is to leverage the power of Goblin Bushwhacker and Reckless Bushwhacker to apply enormous pressure to your opponent early on in the game, particularly in conjunction with the likes of Mogg War Marshal and Goblin Piledriver.
The strength of this deck is that it dodges most of the hate in the format. People are switching away from Pyroclasm and Anger of the Gods in favor of cards like Lightning Bolt and Path to Exile. Narrow sideboard cards like Stony Silence and Leyline of Sanctity are becoming more popular than more generic cards like Kitchen Finks and Timely Reinforcements. That’s a format where a fast deck like Goblins could come to thrive.
As long as the format is trending away from sweepers and towards spot removal, I think an aggro deck in this vein is a perfectly reasonable choice. Your creatures are largely interchangeable, which means that you don’t really care how many spot removal spells your opponents have. As long as you can deploy threats more efficiently than your opponent can deploy answers, there really isn’t a single lynchpin like Death's Shadow or Tarmogoyf that your opponent can target to dismantle your aggressive starts.
If you’re looking for a tricky tribal take on Modern that lets you beat down without getting crushed in sideboarded games, consider giving Goblins a try.
