Do you like pressing the issue? Being the player in your Commander game who gets the ball rolling? Skipping the setup phase and getting right to the good stuff? Do you hate two and a half hour, 40 turn games and just want things to happen?

Then boy do I have the Commander for you!

I will preface this week's article with the fact that I am fairly new to Commander. I've been playing professional Magic for around 15 years, but have only recently started to dabble into Commander for content, networking, and social reasons. And while I won't be putting down competitive Magic any time soon (come back to us Brad Nelson!), I've found myself having a lot of fun!

And a lot of that has to do with good ole Muxus, Goblin Grandee.

As a big Goblin fan, Muxus felt like a natural choice for my first Commander deck, but what's awesome is how well the deck has melded to how I've enjoyed playing Commander. I'm not a big fan of super long games, sitting back and politicking, or somebody needing a scientific calculator to figure out how many Scute Swarm tokens they've got. I'm still competitive and want to put my best food forward and try to win, but I'd much rather do a bunch of cool stuff and come in second in a blaze of fireworks than sit around for two hours.

With a decent amount of very enjoyable games under my belt and a number of revisions and updates, I feel happy to share my list with the world.

Muxus, Goblin Grandee | Commander | Jim Davis

• Commander (1)
• 1 Muxus, Goblin Grandee

• Creatures (45)
• 1 Arms Dealer
• 1 Battle Cry Goblin
• 1 Beetleback Chief
• 1 Changeling Berserker
• 1 Cheering Fanatic
• 1 Conspicuous Snoop
• 1 Dockside Extortionist
• 1 Foundry Street Denizen
• 1 Gempalm Incinerator
• 1 Goblin Bushwhacker
• 1 Goblin Chainwhirler
• 1 Goblin Chieftain
• 1 Goblin Chirurgeon
• 1 Goblin Instigator
• 1 Goblin King
• 1 Goblin Lackey
• 1 Goblin Matron
• 1 Goblin Piledriver
• 1 Goblin Recruiter
• 1 Goblin Ringleader
• 1 Goblin Sharpshooter
• 1 Goblin Tinkerer
• 1 Goblin Trashmaster
• 1 Goblin Warchief
• 1 Grenzo, Havoc Raiser
• 1 Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
• 1 Impulsive Pilferer
• 1 Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker
• 1 Krenko, Mob Boss
• 1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
• 1 Legion Warboss
• 1 Lightning Crafter
• 1 Mogg Fanatic
• 1 Mogg War Marshal
• 1 Pashalik Mons
• 1 Purphoros, God of the Forge
• 1 Reckless Bushwhacker
• 1 Siege-Gang Commander
• 1 Skirk Fire Marshal
• 1 Skirk Prospector
• 1 Sparksmith
• 1 Torch Courier
• 1 Treasure Nabber
• 1 Volley Veteran
• 1 Wily Goblin

• Instants (8)
• 1 Brightstone Ritual
• 1 Seething Song
• 1 Jeska's Will
• 1 Mizzium Mortars
• 1 Impact Tremors
• 1 Molten Echoes
• 1 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
• 1 Shared Animosity

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Grim Monolith
• 1 Heraldic Banner
• 1 Herald's Horn
• 1 Jeweled Amulet
• 1 Jeweled Lotus
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Mind Stone
• 1 Ruby Medallion
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Vanquisher's Banner

• Lands (33)
• 16 Mountain
• 1 Ancient Tomb
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Command Beacon
• 1 Crystal Vein
• 1 Dwarven Ruins
• 1 Flamekin Village
• 1 Mutavault
• 1 Myriad Landscape
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
• 1 Path of Ancestry
• 1 Ramunap Ruins
• 1 Sanctum of Eternity
• 1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 War Room
• 1 Wasteland

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It's obviously impossible to go over every card in a Commander deck, but let's break down the important parts.

Why Muxus?

The most common commander for Goblin decks is Krenko, Mob Boss.

This makes a lot of sense, as Krenko is an easy card to build around that is exponential enough to kill an entire table of players. All one has to do is search for cards that give things haste and cards that untap creatures and you're in the ballpark.

Krenko certainly has a much higher floor than Muxus does and is more consistent, but when it comes to raw power, explosiveness, and fun, Muxus takes the cake. Muxus also doesn't require anything but mana on the board and Goblins in your deck to go off, while also taking advantage of the Commander rule to always give you something huge to do with your mana. Getting hit with a sweeper stinks, but Muxus brings all the boys back to the yard at once to recover.

There are other commander options like Wort, Boggart Auntie that allow you spread into more colors and gain access to things like Patriarch's Bidding and Sling-Gang Lieutenant, but they seem significantly worse than Krenko and Muxus.

Consistency

There's no doubt about it, Muxus, Goblin Grandee is a wild ride. The spread of hits you can get from his trigger can easily range from "game winning" to "total dud."

The highs are unbelievable; hitting a spread of something like Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker, Goblin Chieftain, Dockside Extortionist, and Goblin Chirurgeon can see you sacrificing the Muxus to cast it again with your Dockside Extortionist mana, making an insane amount of goblins, copying Dockside Extortionist with Kiki-Jiki, doing it again, and probably the whole table in one shot.

However, the lows are, well, low. Sometimes you'll low roll into maybe one or two low impact goblins and a bunch of mana, leaving your king without much of a kingdom to rule over. However, the good news is that if you miss you can always go again!

With 44 of your 99 cards Goblins, you're going to average about three goblins per Muxus, which is excellent. It is very important to keep this Goblin count high in deck-building, as the entire deck revolves around casting Muxus as many times per game as possible and you want the highest chance to hit big each time.

Casting Muxus

Mana ramp is a defining feature of Commander and this deck is no different. Because of the high impact that Muxus, Goblin Grandee has on the board every time it is cast, we want to be casting Muxus early and often. We've got your usual stuff like Mana Crypt, Sol Ring, and friends, and this is one of the better decks for Jeweled Lotus as well as a phenomenal shell for Dockside Extortionist, but let's take a look at some of the more oddball mana rocks.

Ruby Medallion is nothing short of brilliant in this deck, far out performing all but the very best mana rocks and allowing for huge multi-spell turns. Heraldic Banner is a really nice find, providing a mana boost that's also a power boost as well to help you fortify your position while you prepare for Muxus. Herald's Horn is another exciting one that is similar to Ruby Medallion but also can help gas you up on cards in the mid game.

Because Muxus is so powerful, we're totally cool giving up resources in the short term to cast it with reckless abandon. We saw this with Jeweled Lotus, but we've also got a few ritual effects like Seething Song and Jeska's Will to allow for an early Muxus. Brightstone Ritual can play both sides of the ball, helping to cast Muxus or create a windfall of mana post-Muxus.

On the land side of things, Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is otherworldly in this deck, helping you cast Muxus ahead of schedule or then again giving you a monster influx of mana post-Muxus. Ancient Tomb and Myriad Landscape also stick with the plan - make mana, cast Muxus, profit!

Utility

While Goblins are aggressive you definitely want to be doing some attacking, they're quite good at interacting with the board early as well. Arms Dealer, Sparksmith, Goblin Sharpshooter, and Goblin Chainwhirler are all great at cleaning up small creatures and get extra milage out of Basalisk Collar as well. Goblin Trashmaster is king in Commander, allowing you to mop up all sorts of mana rocks with ease, which Goblin Tinkerer is also good at.

When it comes to actually killing your opponent, you've got some very heavy hitters.

Impact Tremors and Purphorous, God of the Forge are both templated to hit all of your opponents, which means you can dish out a lot of damage very quickly while also making Muxus extra deadly. However, the real prize is a silly rare from Morningtide called Shared Animosity. It's not uncommon for Shared Animosity to give +8/+0 to all of your creatures in a single attack step, which is overkill in Constructed play but perfect in Commander for taking out multiple players....

Your Best Goblins

There's not much need to go over why cards like Goblin Chieftain and Treasure Nabber are good, but there are a number of somewhat off the wall Goblins that play exceedingly well in the deck.

Skirk Fire Marshal, an easily forgotten Onslaught rare, is perhaps the most surprising and explosive card in the deck. Dealing 10 damage to everything is huge game, allowing you to sweep the board, just kill everyone if they're at lower life than you, or hold certain players who are at 10 or less life hostage. The effect is massive and perfectly suited for Commander and with protection from Red it gets to live for another go at it!

Changeling Berserker and Lightning Crafter are both okay cards, but what makes them special is how well the champion mechanic plays with Muxus. Both cards are creatures your opponent can't ignore, and if you get to champion Muxus you can easily be put in a spot where you're getting to Muxus again. This is especially good against sweepers.

The Combo

While it may be frowned on at some tables, the deck also is capable of killing on turn three with a fairly simple combo, which can all be put together with Goblin Recruiter.

As seen in Modern and other formats, Conspicuous Snoop can combo with a Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker on top of your library to target itself over and over and create infinite tapped copies of Conspicuous Snoop. The setup piece for this is Goblin Recruiter, which allows you to put the Kiki-Jiki on top of your deck, and then you have the last copy of Conspicuous Snoop copy your Goblin Recruiter and go put a Mogg Fanatic on top of your library. All of your copies now have the ability to sacrifice for one damage, which you then use to kill all your opponents.

Goblin Recruiter can actually set this entire combo up by himself by getting Conspicuous Snoop, Torch Courier, and Kiki-Jiki to the top in that order as early as turn two. Turn three you draw your Conspicuous Snoop, cast it, and your top card is Torch Courier. Cast that, revealing the Kiki-Jiki under it, give your Snoop haste, and execute the combo.

Given that turn three infinite combos aren't that fun unless you're playing in an extremely competitive group and resolving Goblin Recruiter's ability with a 100-card deck is very cumbersome, I usually don't include this, but if you were looking to "optimize" the deck completely you should play it.

On A Budget

Another nice perk about Muxus and his goblin friends is that they are relatively cheap. While the fully powered version of the deck clocks in at over $1,000, the majority of that cost is concentrated in the "Commander staple" mana acceleration that goes in almost every Commander deck.

These six cards are over 75% of the total cost of the deck, while also being must-own (or proxy) Commander staples. The cards that are unique to Muxus and the Goblin deck are all fairly cheap!

Spin The Wheel!

Make no mistake, having this deck at your Commander table certainly gets things going.

While most Commander decks want to spend their early turns setting up and ramping, you're slamming Goblins onto the battlefield and hopefully casting Muxus ahead of schedule and causing a ruckus. It's also important to note how much of a role Commander damage plays in this deck, as Muxus routinely has double digit power and you can clear a path with things like Goblin Sharpshooter or even take advantage of other players with Goblin King's mountainwalk.

Skirt convention, get the fires going early, and bow down to the king!