Tiny Leaders: Red Deck Wins- Goblin Style

There has been a new fad in the commander community as of late called tiny leaders. In a nutshell it is 50 card commander decks with all cards being less than 3 converted mana cost. It is meant to be a 1v1 format and competitive. What I want to do for today's exercise is take one of my favorite standard decks from the past and convert it into this new format. The deck is RDW goblin style from the zendikar/scars standard format.









My first step in building this deck is to reconstruct the old deck and examine. The deck I currently have put together has changed somewhat from the original (for modern play), but here is a close proximity.
20 Mountain
Creatures: 4 each, Goblin Bushwhacker, Goblin Guide, Spikeshot Elder, Ember Hauler, Goblin Wardriver, and Goblin Chieftain
Instants 4 of each Lightning Bolt, Incinerate, and Brimstone Volley (not sure what this was at the time)
Sorceries 4 Arc Trail


To break it down 33% land, 40% Creatures, 27% Instants/Sorceries. Mana Cost on creatures: twice as many 2 drops as 3 drops, 3 times as many 1 drops as 3 drops. Now into the new 50 card format


Land: 17
Creatures: 20 (1 drop:9, 2 drop:6, 3 drop:3- This leaves us with 2 more creatures to fill)
Spells: 13


Now to chose a commander. We have a few goblin options.


Ishi-Ishi and Slobad are off theme.
Squee, Goblin Nabob - squee is pretty pointless in my opinion. He dies and comes back, but commanders already do that. So, I'll pass.
Tuktuk the Explorer- A very solid option. The golem he turns into is a goblin as well. It also helps to support an artifact build (using cards like shrapnel blast or metalcraft good stuff).

Zo-Zu the Punisher- Kinda does what we want him to in this deck. He makes our opponent think twice about playing spare lands while lowering life totals. Also if we run any kind of land destruction package this guy gets better.

It's between tuktuk and Zo-Zu. I'm going to run this deck as Zo-Zu.

Non goblin options:

Alesha, Who Smiles at Death - Gives us the option of running black and white goblins. Without deterring from mono red we have boros recruit and hearthfire hobgoblin. I don't think either of these make the cut if I do want to run RW. Other option is including some black and white mana to give our goblins some recursion. This isn't the deck I'm looking to build here so I will pass.

Feldon of the Third Path- Really strong with an artifact theme. Again gives our goblins some survival. If I was looking for that he would be great.

So we have our leader, now who will he lead into battle? When choosing creatures I want creatures that have utility, are potentially bigger than they should be, or give me some sort of extra advantage. In goblin decks haste and granting haste is something that gives a creature an extra advantage.

3 Drops need to be strong finishers or serious disrupters to our opponent. We only have 2-3 spaces open to our 3 drops since our commander has already taken one slot.

Goblin Chieftain - Is a remnant of the initial deck and part of what holds it together. This guy is the measuring stick for a 3 drop. Making all our guys bigger while granting haste is exactly what we are looking for.

Goblin Rabblemaster- This guy tends to measure up quite well. Summoning his friendly raging goblin on his own every turn is quite powerful. Then he attacks typically for more than his 3CMC value almost every time. If this guy isn't answered, he will win games.

Goblin Sharpshooter - This guy is an old favorite of goblin players everywhere. He says, no more one toughness dudes for your opponent while completely messing up any combat math your opponent may be trying to do.

Goblin Warchief A close replica of the goblin chieftain. He makes goblins cheaper instead of stronger. Goblins are already cheap esp in this format. Many of the goblins I think we want to run cost RR which he doesn't help with. Haste is still amazing, and the lower cost could be relevant. A strong maybe.

I'm going to run chieftain, rabblemaster, and sharpshooter for this deck. (4- 3 drops counting our commander).

2 Drops are the meat of the deck. These are the guys who need to kill our opponent and trade with some of our opponents creatures. I'm looking for guys who are potentially stronger than they should be or double as something else. We have 2 already and need 6-7 so 4-5 more.

Ember Hauler - this is what I mean as doubling as something else. He is a removal spell or reach on his own.

Goblin Wardriver- Is what I mean by being bigger than he should be. He gives all our guys extra power.

Goblin Piledriver- A very strong player in it's time. Note that he always attacks as at least a 3/2 which is stronger than a typical 2 mana guy. Often he will be attacking as a 5 power or more. Very strong 2 drop.

Mardu Scout- A solid choice. I love the ability to sneak him in and out of play. Sneaking around mass removal spells and the like.

Stingscourger- They never expect a red deck to be able to answer their 20/20 token. It's a solid meta choice, maybe a sideboard card. Maybe you just run it for the tempo swing.

Warren Instigator- not my favorite card for the deck (as cheating in goblins is kinda pointless with 3CMC limit) but the double strike does fit well with the extra power boosters in the deck.

Skirk Drill Sergeant- Certainly interesting enough to warrant testing out. A 40% chance to replace any dieing goblins seems like a good option.

Mogg War Marshal- An interesting maybe. 2 1/1's is better for this deck, I think, than a 2/2. Also you can simply pay his echo cost and keep him around if he gets removed he replaces himself. I think there are better choices, but he is a maybe.

Dragon Fodder, Krenko's Command - Possibly a better version of the war marshal? kinda lessens drill sergeants utility...

Goblin Skycutter- not knowing what is good and what isn't I don't feel I can run this guy. He is great in a meta that has a lot of fliers. I'm just not sure this is that place.

Goblin Kaboomist- This guy could be very strong in an artifact build. Again not what I'm building but I thought I would mention it.

My picks going with 6

Ember Hauler, Wardriver, Piledriver, Mardu Scout, Stingscourger, Skirk Drill Sergeant.

This leaves 10 1 drops: We need these to be the appetizer for our opponents' life totals. Most of them  are meant to come down early and hit, hard forcing our opponents to answer them quickly or die. Others are actually late game cards that can be played along side others plays to give our turns some extra power. We need 7 in addition to the 3 we already have.

Goblin Guide- is a perfect early must answer threat. We give our opponents .4 cards each attack (on average against an average deck) but that's ok. 

Spikeshot Elder- On the other hand is a perfect example of a late game play. He will come down and help clear out blockers or finish off our opponent.

Goblin Bushwhacker- On the other hand is a perfect example of both. Early he comes down and attacks for 2 while pumping our smaller guys. Later in the game he comes down after another creature letting them both punch our opponent. This is my wild card, both a 1 and 2 drop. More often he will be used as a 2 drop.

Goblin Cadets- A 2/1 for 1 is great. I'm honestly not afraid of them being blocked as will typically remove blockers.

Legion Loyalist- Giving our team trample and 1st strike at a moments notice is a great late game play. Early on he is still a raging goblin.

Mogg Fanatic- still fantastic, I don't care if he was nerfed years back. being able to double as a removal spell (even only 1 damage) is great. Bonus points for being played in a deck with sharpshooter.

Mogg Sentry- As a deck that likes to play spells prior to attacking, this guy loves interactions with the opponent. Counter spells simply make him attack for more. Have you ever seen an elfball deck go off and cast 10 spells in a turn only to have a mogg sentry fling hit him in the face? Yeah, I have to run fling if I run this guy...

Goblin Arsonist- This guy is actually very difficult to deal with favorably. Great for going against other aggro decks.

Foundry Street Denizen- Be careful not to overextend with this guy. He should often just be a 1/1 until a big turn comes around where he attacks a little bigger. That or he eats a removal which is good too.

Goblin Grappler- Provoking unfavorable trades is always fun. And with this guy you can do it within the game as opposed to just taunting your opponent.

Those are the one's I'm going to run. There are a few more options.

Frenzied Goblin- Not a huge fan of preventing creatures from blocking repeatedly, but at times this could get a lethal attack through the line.

Intimidator Initiate- Probably a little better at it than frenzied goblin...

Keeper of Kookus- possible meta game call. Possibly just really good, who knows. Red is a very strong mass removal color in this format.

Goblin Vandal- Against an artifact deck, this is a must answer threat. Maybe a sideboard card, or maindeck in the right meta.

Spells: We need 13, we have 4. We want burn spells to primarily kill creatures, they have to be capable of killing creatures. Reach (finishing off our opponent with burn) is secondary.

Lightning Bolt- Is your standard damage spell, its cheap and really good at removing creatures.

Incinerate- for one more mana it gets rid of the regeneration clause.

Brimstone Volley- and for 1 more mana you have the potential to deal 5 damage (provided a creature dies, we are playing goblins right?)

Arc Trail- at sorcery speed we are looking for something a little more. This often kills 2 creatures giving us something we desperately need, card advantage.

9 More:

Burst Lightning- Lightning bolt is too strong for its mana cost, so it was replaced by shock. This is a variant on shock that can deal 2 more damage for 4 more mana. 5 mana for 4 damage is fairly weak, but the option added on to the standard 2 damage for 1 mana is really good.

Dead // Gone- Interesting option to bounce a threat if it gets too powerful to kill.
Skred- This is why we are running snow covered mountains. Even if we don't play with this card the snow covered mountains threaten this card.
Wild Slash- So, it's shock, but has the potential to be better than lightning bolt at specific times.
Fling- I already mentioned I want this card. The reach potential is absurd, but it can remove blockers pretty well too. No, I want this for finishing off my opponent,
Char- 4 damage for 3 mana. 2 damage to your is usually irrelevant.

Chain Lightning- A sorcery speed lightning bolt 90% of the time.

Goblin Grenade- on theme and strong reach or removal.

Mizzium Mortars- Im playing this for the 2 mana 4 damage to a creature. 6 mana to slay the board is a nice bonus.

Those are the options I'm going to run.

Galvanic Blast, Shrapnel Blast- these are the reasons I keep mentioning an artifact version of the deck. It's really tempting. We would need about 10 artifacts, maybe 15 to run this version. Would it dilute the deck too much for the benefit of 2-4 cards?


Hope you enjoyed today's deck. See you next time.