GOBOTS
Overwhelming Rage and Shimmering Steel!
Gobots is a hyper aggressive deck comprised mostly Goblins and artifacts designed to quickly saturate the board state. Once saturated, haste and attack buffs are provided to carve out massive swaths of health from an undeveloped opponent.
JANK: Gobots is a synergy-like-deck; meaning, the whole is greater than the sum of its individual parts. Take indvidual parts away and the machine grinds to a halt. All synergy-like-decks have a percentage of jank; meaning, the deck lacks a certain percentage of consistency. Note, I started development of Gobots in 2014. Since then, it has been honed, like a fine stick of metal, sharpened and streamlined over hundreds if not a thousand matches in a four-year period. Over this period, the percentage of jank has been reduced as low as it can go while proportionally increasing its consistency. But in the end, jank is inherent to all synergy-like-decks and can never be reduced to zero.INTERACTION: No reach. No Goblin Grenade. No Lightning Bolt. Full stop. Here is the deal. Gobots is a creature based deck. It requires a high density of low costing creatures and artifacts to maximize explosive opening hands. By adding reach the density drops. The lower the density the slower the opening hand. Slow starts equal quick losses.
CREATURES:
RECKLESS BUSHWHACKER:
- A three-costing goblin with a 2/1 body and “surge” tax granting an attack buff and haste to the hoard. His surge tax is an issue; however, with 12 zero costing spells and 24 one costing spells it is typically not a problem.
- A one-costing goblin with a 1/1 body and “kicker” enter the battlefield effect that grants a +1 attack buff and haste to the hoard. He will typically be cast for two; however, on rare occasion, you will need to cast him for one for the extra body followed by another whacker.
- A one-costing goblin with a 2/2 body and haste. The drawback is that you can provide your opponent free land draws. On rare occasion, you will gain valuable insight on your opponent’s next draw i.e. sweeper or counter.
LEGION LOYALIST:
- A one-costing goblin with a 1/1 body and “battalion” attack trigger granting first strike and trample to the hoard! Plus, tokens cannot block. That is huge. Because of this, LL will be targeted for removal.
- A one-costing artifact with a 1/1 body and flying. Plus, it can also sack itself post combat damage to stop your opponent from casting any non-creature spells on their turn. It can be quite useful in control and combo matches to stay off a T3 combo, T4 sweeper, or exiled cards like Ancestral Vision. If you find yourself with multiple copies, you can chain them post attacking to lock your opponent for a period. HoG improves consistency i.e. helps activate Opal and is sackable to Rebirth.
- A one-costing artifact with a 1/1 body and haste. Plus, you can stack, pop, and draw a pile of cards! Because of this, Courier is typically targeted for removal. From experience, do not count on drawing any cards off of Courier let a lone a stack, typically three cards, off of Couriers back. If he is not removed by your opponent you will typically be strapped for resources for a more important play.
SIGNAL PEST:
- A one-costing artifact with a 0/1 body and “battle cry” attack trigger granting a +1 attack buff to the hoard. Because of this, Pest is typically targeted for removal. An unanswered Pest can quickly overwhelm your opponent since the hoard can saturate the field quickly. You can lead with Pest turn one followed by two hast creatures or turn two or three following a whacker.
- A zero-costing artifact with a 1/1 body. Like Robots, he is cog in a much larger machine at work. Memnite activates Reckless Bushwacker, adds to the hoard, often time used to activate Battalion early on, add value to Battle Cry, activates Mox Opal, or sacrificed for Kuldotha Rebirth. Memnite is critical for success.
- A zero-costing artifact with a 0/2 body with flying. Similar to Memnite, but worse due to the 0 attack value. Though, Thopter is needed for the deck to work smoothly.
SUPPORT:
KULDOTHA REBIRTH:
- A one costing spell for three 1/1 goblins minus an artifact. This is the heart of Gobots. To be able to go wide AND early is critical for the success in this hyper aggo deck. For example, T1 you cast Ornithopter and sack it to Rebirth netting three 1/1 goblins. T2, you cast Goblin Bushwhacker for a classic 8 points of damage. Or, on T3, after developing a board state, you cast Rebirth chaining Reckless Bushwhacker. But now, you have LL and/or Pest providing support. Rebirth tilts the deck into an “answer me or die” type of deck if the hoard cannot be stopped.
RESOURCES:
MOX OPAL:
- A zero-costing artifact that provides one mana if you have three other artifacts in the battlefield. If Rebirth is the heart, Opal is the lungs of Gobots. Early starts are critical for success and Opal aids in that initiative. That one free mana can be the difference between a win or a loss. Plus, it adds to all the benefits that the other zero costing artifacts add minus the body.
- A land that provides two colors with zero downside for an aggro deck i.e. Copperline Gorge. Color splashing is based off the Reinforcements making this deck incredibly flexible to the ever changing meta and card releases.
- Sacrifice this land for 1 life to search out a land and put it into play i.e. Wooded Foothills. Note, I have always been hesitant about adding fetches due to the low land count, life loss, and fetch mechanic’s potential exploitation. However, quick access to a splash color is sometimes critical for success. You will need to determine your personal ratio of fetches to basics or desired quantity.
- A two color land for 2 life with the added benefit that it is searchable by Fetch Lands i.e. Stomping Ground. You will typically only need one of each desired splash color shock land so long as you have fast lands and fetches. Note, the life loss is a serious concern, so bear that in mind when adding more than one shock land per color splash.
- A basic red mana that is searchable by Fetch Lands. Note, basic lands are becoming more and more profitable since a lot of other cards prey on non-basics, fetch abilities, or rely on life loss. Typically, four or more is the standard.
SAMPLE DECK #1: This is the list I used to rack a body count I was proud to mount my banner. Density, as you can see, it is essentially 40 creatures. Jank has been reduced to its lowest percentage. And, Kuldotha Rebirth and Mox Opal have been energized with 24 low costing artifacts. It also utilizes the coveted Cavern of Souls and multi colored lands to bolster reinforcement options of any color.
SAMPLE DECK #1
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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CREATURES: 36 4x Reckless Bushwhacker 4x Goblin Bushwhacker 4x Goblin Guide 4x Legion Loyalist 4x Gingerbrute 4x Bomat Courier 3x Hope of Ghirapur 4x Signal Pest 4x Memnite 1x Ornithopter | SUPPORT: 8 4x Mox Opal 4x Kuldotha Rebirth RESOURCES: 16 4x Cavern of Souls 4x Gemstone Mine 4x Prismatic Vista 4x Mountain REINFORCEMENTS: 15 3x Pithing Needle 3x Abrade 3x Shapers' Sanctuary 3x Genesis Chamber 3x Grafdigger's Cage |
SAMPLE DECK #2: This list is a recent development that has yielded many victories even though the density is significantly lower. The reason for that is its consistent draw power. Because of its draw power, the resource base is changed out for the more common fetch land design. This reduces the amount of lands you will draw into while allowing you to make use of three colors without much drawback.
SAMPLE DECK #2
DeckMagic OnlineOCTGN2ApprenticeBuy These Cards | |
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CREATURES: 28 4x Reckless Bushwhacker 4x Goblin Bushwhacker 4x Legion Loyalist 4x Gingerbrute 4x Bomat Courier 4x Signal Pest 4x Memnite SUPPORT: 16 4x Mox Opal 4x Mishra's Bauble 4x Kuldotha Rebirth 4x Light Up The Stage | RESOURCES: 16 4x Wooded Foothills 1x Stomping Ground 4x Bloodstained Mire 1x Blood Crypt 1x Castle Embereth 5x Mountain REINFORCEMENTS: 15 2x Pithing Needle 3x Abrade 2x Rakdos Charm 2x Dragon's Claw 2x Shapers' Sanctuary 2x Genesis Chamber 2x Grafdigger's Cage |
REINFORCEMENTS:
When sideboarding you want to add around three to four cards total. Artifact density is key to Gobots, so it is best to typically side out artifacts for artifacts and non-artifacts for non-artifacts. As for what to remove that is match dependent. But, this is a guideline not a rule. Below, you will find some of the best cards to help support Gobots.
SIDEBOARD OPTIONS:
- ANTI-ACTIVATION: Phyrexian Revoker and Pithing Needle
- ANTI-ART//ENC: Abrade and Ancient Grudge
- ANTI-AGGRO CREATURES: Glaring Spotlight, Dolmen Gate and Rakdos Charm
- ANTI-AGGRO SPELLS: Dragon's Claw, Life Goes On and Peach Garden Oath
- ANTI-MIDRANGE: Claim the Firstborn and Shapers' Sanctuary
- ANTI-CONTROL: Genesis Chamber
- ANTI-COMBO SPELLS: Deafening Silence
- ANTI-COMBO GRAVEYARD: Grafdigger's Cage and Rest in Peace
- ANTI-OTHER: Leyline of Punishment
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I get where you’re coming from on Marshal because I’ve been running a Humans Package and considered him for my deck also. If you’re having trouble casting her, your mana might be the problem. You could either go up on lands, or drop her by 1. Running her as a 3 of with only 22 lands could be the trouble.
@Ulka, I usually don’t bother removing Bloodghast against dredge. It’s a constant trigger for us, easy to block, and once we stabilize it can’t defend.
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You seem to have the sideboard pretty well figured out, so how about being more specific? Only thing I noticed is you have no artifact/enchantment destruction, so you’re doomed if you face a Chalice / Worship / Bridge deck.
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1. His ETB effect just isn’t fun. Imagine doing it for a battlefield full of tokens. Yuck.
2. It’s not guaranteed to affect the board.
3. He’s quite easy to remove, and 6 mana is a big investment.
4. He seems to have very little synergy with the rest of his guild cards.
Terrible design. I guess we are never going to get a playable Rakdos.
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1. Only run 3 Thalia, since she’s Legendary.
2. Ajani’s Pridemate is always a 4-of, even in our slightly modified shell.
3. Windbrisk Heights is still really good; you can drop a Lieutenant, an Angel, or sideboard card off of it.
4. I ran without Honor of the Pure at a local PPTQ and sorely missed it. I’d find a way to work it in, if I were you.
Good luck and be sure to provide event reports!
*EDIT*
I’ve also wanted to run Cavern of Souls, which would help immensely with the control matchup. Abzan Falconer would also help as a pseudo-lord in matchups where the evasion matters.
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Record: 3-3
Round 1 vs. Mono B Rack Won 2-1
G1 Aggro’d him, won with a surprise Thalia’s Lieutenant off of a Windbrisk.
G2 he dropped 3 Racks after I belched my hand, and I couldn’t get an angel or anthem.
G3 same as first game
Round 2 vs Ad Nauseum Lost 1-2
We both misplayed so badly we should have received a loss for this one. Dude was kinda shady and may have cheated, but I’ll watch him more closely next time.
Round 3 vs BW miracles Lost 0-2
He usually had answers and when he didn’t, he drew into them. I used GQ to keep him off Azcanta, and had two angels in play at one point, but then he had Lyra with Jace and Teferi on board *facepalms*
Round 4 vs. Burn Lost 1-2
G1 I won despite playing through ALL FOUR SKULLCRACKS. G2 he just drew the right stuff. G3 made me sick... opening hand, GQ, 6 creatures. Mull to six gets me six lands. Mull to five is 2 Plains, a Champion of the Parish, Angel, and Path. Drew no life gain. Shoulda won this one. Still hurts.
Round 5 vs. big Zoo with Blood Moon 2-0
Shocker here, but I won 2-0. She had nothing for me.
Round 6 vs. Opp who dropped and didn’t tell anybody he dropped 2-0
Played a miracles player for fun and won 2-1.
I’m still mad about that burn match. Maybe I shoulda gone to 4.
Fun night either way, and I’m going to try it again next week with my original list.