Dies to Removal

I've been testing Bobby Birmingham's SCG Standard Open Baltimore Goblin list while I wait for Origins to come online:

[deck]Goblins[/deck]

Its quite fun, once origins hits I just plan on swapping out Titan's Strength for Pile Driver >D

I may or may not also cut the swiftspears for that new menace 1cc goblin as well

Just recognized the name. Bobby's the guy I beat on Camera in Vegas a year or so ago

How do y'all feel about the green splash for Atarka's Command and the one-of Become Immense in the Goblins deck? My feeling is that just because we have access to an incredibly powerful card in Goblin Piledriver doesn't mean we should ignore Atarka's Command which is almost as powerful.

I'm thinking the list would look something like this. I like the three Swiftspears in any deck with Atarka's Command.

[deck]Atarka Goblins[/deck]

Looks solid~

I would cut Urd for 2x Hall of Triumph MD in that list though.

How many goblins do we need for Goblin Piledriver to be strong? Would this work (only 20 goblins spells)?:

[deck]Rg Goblin Sligh[/deck]

The Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh are for the durdle green decks...

Cutting the goblin theme maybe better:

[deck=Atarka's Sligh]Lands 21
10 Mountain
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Mana Confluence
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Forest

Creatures 15
4 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Lightning Berserker
3 Zurgo Bellstriker

Spells 24
4 Exquisite Firecraft
4 Atarka's Command
4 Lightning Strike
4 Stoke the Flames
4 Hordeling Outburst
4 Dragon Fodder

Sideboard 15
4 Eidolon of the Great Revel
4 Searing Blood
4 Roast
3 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh[/deck]

But this thread is for Goblins!!

Yeah I like both of these lists. I'm honestly not sure which one is going to be better. Goblin Piledriver may just be bad in this format. It could be amazing. No real way to know yet without testing and a base of tournament results.

If it is in fact just bad, the Exquisite Firecraft list is definitely where I'll want to be for an aggressive red deck - a burn decks with a tokens sub-theme to produce resilient threats that don't just (ahem) die to removal.

That being said, if Piledriver is a must have 4-of in aggro red-based decks, I definitely like your list better here. The higher density of burn is probably needed.

[deck]Goblins[/deck]

I would like to try this out

With 12 1cc creatures and Fodder + Outburst it doesn't like that hard to cheat out T3 Urds and just take over

(p.s. I do think the Rg Burn focus list is where I want to be at once Origins comes out but I think Goblins will be much more hilarious to play)

Wescoe mentioned the possibility of Mardu Goblins using Ascendancy and Piledriver. Since Piledriver's and Ascendancy's abilities trigger at the same time, you resolve the Ascendancy triggers first and pump up Piledriver to 7/2 on turn 3. And even if your opponent is holding a sweeper, just sacrifice Ascendancy to put your guys out of reach.

[deck]
Creatures
3 Goblin Healcutter
2 Subterranean Scout
3 Frenzied Goblin
2 Mardu Scout
2 Goblin Glory Chaser
3 Foundry Street Denizen
4 Goblin Piledriver
2 Chandra, Fire of Kaladesh

Spells
3 Exquisite Firecraft
3 Hordeling Outburst
4 Dragon Fodder
2 Lightning Strike
2 Twin Bolt
4 Stoke the Flames
3 Collateral Damage

Lands
18 Mountains

Sideboard
2 Roast
2 Titan's Strength
2 Temur Battle Rage
2 Firey Impulse
2 Smash to Smithereens
2 Rending Volley
2 Clear a Path
1 Arc Lightning
[/deck]

My GDW that I recently used to 4-0 and win Game Day Origins at my local shop. It 2-0 UG TurboFog, 2-0 Selesnia Aggro, 2-1 Silumgar Control and 2-1 Naya Dragons.