reya

I'd appreciate constructive criticism. Note that the deck is way cheaper than displayed though as i didn't bother editing the sets of individual cards and the price is partly due to the two Onslaught fetchlands i had lying arround anyway.

Hi,
this deck seems rather complicated which potentially makes it slow and easy to disturb. Why do you want to get everything in your graveyard, just to get it back on top of your library or in your hand? There is so much graveyard hate out there that this seems pretty risky and furthermore there are tutors that simply get the cards you need directly from your library into your hand.
Besides, running 1 offs without a way to tutor them seems pretty random as well. The chance to draw them when you need them is simply too small. Especially cards like Ponder and Preordain, which are intended to give a deck a certain stability, only work if you can rely on drawing them once in a while. Otherwise you have an inconsistent way of improving the consistency which in itself seems ...
I'm not sure i understand why you added blue and green anyway. It seems you added blue primarily for Artful Dodge and green for colour fixing. That alone doesnt seem worth it compared to a mono black version. It makes sense to use blue to get your combo pieces but you'd use 4 Ponder and 4 Brainstorm instead of 1 Ponder, 1 Preordain and this weird Tracker Instincts / Forbidden Alchemy / Buried Ruin etc combo. That way the deck should run more stable and get you your combo pieces more reliably. Again, alternatively you'd use tutors.

Tbh i dont think red is worth the splash. It slows down your ramp and doesnt offer you that much more. I'm not running blue actually, the fetch lands are simply to promote landfall. I'd considered running Garruk's Companions as two drops, but honestly, i want to play Chalice, Trinisphere and Nature's Lore asap, so even if i'd draw a creature that early, i wouldnt usually want to play it. For the moment i'm experimenting with a version where i've even dropped the Leatherback Baloths and added Ancient Tombs as a Turn 1 Chalice on CMC 1 or a Turn 2 Trinisphere is simply brutal.
Also, i have tried Sacura Tribe Elder instead of Nature's Lore and found that the untapped land is usually better than the extra blocker early on

Hi,
as you're playing Goblin War Strike and Matron, i assume this is neither for standard nor modern. In that case there is quite some room for improvements. I have a lot of suggestions but that doesnt mean i dont like your deck. A lot of the cards you use have better alternatives that do the same for less mana or more for the same mana cost. However, the main reason for replacing a lot of those cards is that they are not goblins. Goblin decks (probably beside standard decks) thrive of the amazing synergies. Those synergies get stronger with every additional goblin you play. One example is Goblin Matron, which you're already playing. If you'd replace Shock with Tarfire or Dragon Fodder with Mogg War Marshal, the new cards would almost do exactly what your cards do, but they would be tutorable with Goblin Matron. However, that was just an example, i wouldnt actually run Tarfire, as there are even better alternatives...

Goblin Matron is amazing, but it becomes way more powerful if you add the right targets. Goblin Ringleader let's you easily draw 3 cards, Siege-Gang Commander or Krenko, Mob Boss usually win the game. Some situational cards that are worth tutoring with her include Gempalm Incinerator, Mogg War Marshal or Goblin Sharpshooter... It is, of course, not worth tutoring for a Siege-Gang Commander, if you dont have enough mana to actually play him. However, that is where the second strength of Goblin decks comes in (provided you call Goblin Matron & Ringleader the first strength). Goblin Lackey, Warren Instigator and Aether Vial allow you to play a lot of cards for free. Again, that only applies to Goblin creatures which is another reason why you want to cut a lot of Instants etc for their goblin equivalents (e.g. Mogg War Marshal for Dragon Fodder)
To sum up, the best cards in a legacy goblin deck are Aether Vial, Goblin Lackey, Goblin Matron and Goblin Ringleader. You'd make sure to add them. Let's take a look on cards you'd take out:
- Bloodmark Mentor is ok but not great. For two mana, you'd play guys like Goblin Piledriver. If you find First Strike helpful and dont have any other important two drops keep him.
- Goblin Glider & Sky Raider: you want to be aggressive. Evasion is generally nice, but you outmass your opponent anyway. Furthermore, you want to be aggressive. Spending 2mana for a 1/1 or 3 mana for a 1/2 is not aggressive. For 2 or 3 mana you'd play Goblin Piledriver, Mogg War Marshal, Goblin Warchief, Goblin Chieftain etc.
- Goblin King is nice, but usually Goblin Warchief and Goblin Chieftain are far better. Goblins need haste. On the one hand you want to keep up the pressure and attack directly with every new guy. Secondly, if you play Sharpshooter or Krenko (or even Kiki-Jikki) you want to use them directly when they come into play as that will win the game - you dont want to give your opponent the chance to get rid of them before you can use them. However, combined with Blood Moon or in a mountain heavy meta, Goblin King has his purpose. One should do it though, as you can tutor for him with Goblin Matron
- Goblin Matron: great card, you want to play her 4 times ;)
- Horde of Boggarts is ok, but 4 mana is a lot. By comparison to Goblin Ringleader and Krenko, Mobb Boss, Horde of Boggarts seems pretty weak suddenly
- Mogg Sentry is not bad at all but it has one flaw. It usually gets big during your opponents turn, not when you're attacking. As you are usually the more aggressive deck, you want big attackers, not big blockers.
- Mudbrawler Cohort is a 2/2 haste for 2 mana. Goblin Guide is a 2/2 haste for 1 mana. Mogg War Marshal are two (or even three) 1/1 for 2 mana. Goblin Piledriver is easily a 5/2 or 7/2 for 2 mana.
- Mudbotten Torchrunner: it deals 3-5 damage for 3 mana. Seems to me that Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike, Pyrokinesis etc just do a better job
- Raging Goblin is a nice card and you can play him if you dont like Goblin Guide's side effect. But the most important one mana drops in a good goblin deck are Aether Vial and Goblin Lackey. If you need space for them in the deck, drop Raging Goblin.

- Goblin War Paint gives haste, which is nice. But it's not a goblin (and therefore disturbes Goblin Ringleader, doesnt synergies with Matron and Krenko etc) and is only working with one creature. Goblin Chieftain and Goblin Warchief are 1 mana more expensive, but far stronger. Additionally, you can bring them into play with Aether Vial and Goblin Lackey for free.
- Granite Slip / Brute Force: What is their purpose? You basically want to deal 3 more damage to a creature or your opponent, so why dont you use Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike, Chain Lightning, Rift Bolt or Goblin Grenade which fulfill that purpose a lot better
- Shock / Seal of Fire / Blaze: again, Lightning Bolt, Lava Spike etc. do more damage. The game will almost always be over before you have enough mana for an efficient Blaze
- Goblin War Strike is one of my all time favorite goblin cards. However, Goblin Grenade is usually better. Goblin War Strike can be better in the later stages, e.g. after Krenko, but when it comes to that you usually dont need it anymore or your opponent has lost so much live already anyway, that Goblin Grenade does it as well
- Dragon Fodder: it's ok, but Mogg War Marshal is better

I hope you got some ideas to improve the deck, i really like the idea behind it. Goblins are awesome ;)

sadly, Madness is just not strong enough even though it's an awesome ability
if you want to give it a try anyway, you need Basking Rootwalla and Dark Withering, probably Fiery Temper as well. imo those are the best cards with madness, so why dont you play them?

1. why are there only 58 cards in your main deck?
2. you noted in the forum that you know that you're sideboard isnt legal. you're main deck isnt (legacy) legal either though, mental mistep is banned (just something you have to remember if you ever want to take this deck to a tournament)
3. is there a particular reason you dont run Brainstorm? Granted, Careful Study is a must have in reanimator and lim-dûl's vault certainly has it's place as well but so does Brainstorm. As an instant it gives you the opportunity to save a blue mana for Spell Pierce and use it at the end of your opponent's turn for Brainstorm. Additionally it let's you "hid" cards on top of your library in response to your opponent's discard spells. last but not least, combined with a fetch land it let's you get rid of "dead" hand cards such as Living Death in the early game
4. Angel of Despair used to be common in reanimator decks but nowadays there are better choices such as Terastodon, Angel of Serenity (or combined with fetch lands potentially Admonition Angel) or my personal favorite Tidespout Tyrant
5. personally, i prefer Animate Dead to Exhume as it gives you access to your opponent's graveyard, doesnt come with a disadvantage vs reanimator / dredge decks and is bouncable with Tidespout Tyrant but that's a matter of personal flavour
6. why do you run Phyrexian Tower? I dont see any creature you would want to sacrifce (or is this just your way of dealing with Bridge from Below?)
7. Except Careful Study, i dont see any way you can discard creatures. Hence there is the risk that they get stuck on your hand - the only place you dont want them to be. You'd consider Putrid Imp or Hapless Researcher to increase your discard options. Additionally they are decend turn 1 blockers which you could sac for Phyrexian Tower

finally: if you're looking for additional ideas, you're more than welcome to check out my legacy b/u reanimator:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=402456

If you want to be able to deal with Rest in Peace you'd splash another colour
the only way (I'm aware of) black can deal with it is Dystopia
The creature base shows that you're not too familiar with reanimation decks, though you run four entombs, so you clearly take it serious to some point, so... what is going on with Rise from the Grave? Exhume, Necromancy, Dance of the Dead, Victimize, even Zombify is better (at least given that you can already access your opponent's graveyards with Animate Dead)
:)

i gotta say Krenko and Intruder Alarm is a nice combo.
though i dont see any reason to add black, if you're comfortable with a three coloured deck i'd rather add white for Enlightened Tutor instead of black for Diabolic Tutor. Addionally, white gives you access to spot removal and Thalia
Instead of Tidings and Divination you'd add Goblin Ringleader, instead of Fervor you'd considerate Goblin Warchief (though you'd tutor for Fervor with Englightened Tutor - but then again you can tutor for Warchief with Matron)
You might want to add Mogg War Marshal just to have enough blockers until you can pull off your combo

the reason why lackey is far superior to instigator is that lackey attacks in T2 while Instigator only hits T3 - and literally every deck can either block or handle a creature T3 whereas a lot struggle with this T2 - as long as you're only playing decks that cant deal with Instigator go ahead, in that case he is a valid option

Besides Lackey, the other core card of every legacy goblin deck is Aether Vial - the reason for that is that it not only brings your gobbos into play for free but on top of that doing so almost counter-proof

Mogg War Marshal is a great card for several reasons but mostly for its synergys with Goblin Ringleader/Matron/Lackey/Instigator/Aether Vial/Cavern of Souls, disregarding those synergys the only advantage over Dragon Fodder and Krenko's Command is that it gives you a free blocker though it comes with the disadvantage that one of the two tokens still has summoning sickness in the following turn - so i guess if you're not playing on a competitive level Krenko's Command and Dragon Fodder are ok choices

Why do you run Lackey in your sideboard only? 4x Goblin Lackey and 4x Aether Vial in your main deck would make this deck A LOT better
apart of that i can only stress what s.o. has already mentioned in the forum: Mogg War Marshal is a lot better than Dragon Fodder and Krenko's Command for two reasons: 1) he is drawable with Matron/Ringleader 2) there is no disadvantage using him to block
4 Goblin Kings seem a little too much given that Mountainwalk doesnt stack anyway and you've already got four Goblin Chieftains. Goblin Warchiefs would do a better job as they increase the speed of your deck in two ways: you play a lot of expensive creatures, so reducing their mana cost is essential (and would potentially free up the two slots of brightstone ritual) but more importantly he gives haste instead of mountain walk: Krenko becomes soooo much better with haste, not to mention all the tokens you're generating anyway. I'm not saying you'd take out all 4 Kings (especially as you're playing Blood Moon in your sideboard) but 1 or 2 should do the job as you could always tutor them with a Matron if you really need the mountainwalk
i think the next point was already mentioned in the forum as well: you need creature removal to make your Lackeys / Warren Instigators more effective: Lightning Bolt, Pyrokinesis, Gempalm Incinerator - choose whatever you deem best

finally a link to my own goblin deck, if you're looking for further card ideas:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=402453

a couple of thoughts:
i'd much rather go for Watery Grave than Thoughtseize, not only offers that a more stable mana base but also allows you things such as supporting a turn 1 entomb with daze. Thoughtseize's advantage over Duress seems minimal by comparison in my view as you usually shouldnt need to cast it on yourself anyway
Tainted Isles are nice, but you could replace it with Darkslick Shores as the disadvantage doesnt concern you as you wont need more than 3 mana anyway while it has the clear advantage of not requiring a swamp
I used to run Angel of Despair in my reanimator deck as well but replaced it with Tidespout Tyrant as he's more than just the one time wonder Angel of Despair is and he can even bounce (his own) Animate Dead (which i'd recommend running at least 2 anyway as 8 reanimation spells seems not enough) if a better target entered a graveyard in the meantime

regarding your sideboard:
most importantly you need something to counter the usual graveyard hate, the most common card to do that is Pithing Needle i guess, you might want to get a playset - however, it doesnt deal with Rest in Peace and Leyline of Void - which is why most reanimator decks either run Echoing Truth or Chain of Vapor in their sideboards
probably the most common creature in reanimator sideboards is Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite as you want him to aid Blazing Archon vs Aggro Decks as he simply annihilates Goblins, Merfolk etc. another creature you'd think about is Empyrial Archangel as he can save your day not only vs Burn decks and also allows you to go more easy on your own lifecount e.g. by considering a Griselbrand or just to reanimate twice in a row etc.

finally a link to the current state of my own legacy reanimator deck, which might help you as i havent bought FoW or duals yet either:
http://www.mtgvault.com/ViewDeck.aspx?DeckID=402456

firstly: i really like the Assault Strobe + Ball Lightning / Blistering Firecat approach :)
secondly, a couple of suggestions:
Spark Elemental deals at best 3 damage for 1 mana to your opponent, at worst 0 - hence you'd exchange it with Lava Spike
Depending on whether you want to use Flame Slash in the early or mid game you could replace it either with Pyrokinesis (so you'd play it for free in the early game and split the damage among several creatures) or Flamebreak or Volcanic Fallout which you'd use in the later stages to clear the board before you play another elemental
finally you'd consider Braid of Fire to provide the mana for Blistering Firecat / Elemental Appeal and / or a combo with Assault Strobe or a removal spell like Flame Lash or Flamebreak

thanks, not sure about caged sun though

"if i play 5 lands at 1 round it is op" - how likely is that?
"why not fastbond play many land in landfall" - because most of the time you simply dont have enough lands on your hand, hence rampant growth etc to let you tutor for them
"you dont need trample" - you will get outnumbered by any tribal / token deck, if you dont have either trample or evasion such as flying, intimidate etc they will crush you

- Hedron Scrabbler
- Hedron Rover
(- Adventuring Gear)
(-Fastbond)
+ Rampant Growth
+ Cultivate
+ Explosive Vegetation
+ (Mountain Valley / Grasslands /) Wooded Foothills / Windswept Heath / Misty Rainforest / Verdant Catacombs
(+ Primal Rage)

Just to give you an idea:
Mono green beast tribal:
Rapant Growth, Cultivate, Explosive Vegetation, Rites of Flourishing, Garruk Wildspeaker etc should let you get out your beasts quicker and in bigger numbers than using Ebon Stronghold, Buried Alive or Living Death / Patriarch's Bidding

Reanimator:
if you replace your beasts with creatures with a bigger impact, such as Jin-Gitaxias, Griselbrand, Akroma, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, Inkwell Leviathan, Stormtide Leviathan, Blazing Archon, Sheoldred, Elesh Norn, It that betrays etc you will usually only need to reanimate one of them - keeping Buried Alive can make sense if you want to use Sheoldred or Reya Dawnbringer, but Patriarch's Bidding and Living Death are simply too expensive. So, if you want to go down the reanimation patch, drop the beasts and expensive reanimation spells, thereby making Culling the Weak and Dark Ritual obsolete. Not to mention Ebon Stronghold, which is slowing you way too much down.

Is there a particular reason why you want to reanimate beasts? Apart from Patriarch's Bidding i dont see any reason why you'd focus on one particular creature type if you want to reanimate them anyway - why you have to given the lack of green, blue and red mana. On the other hand, i doubt that reanimating them is that much more efficient than playing mono green with mana ramp. Bottom line, this seems like you're combining two different strategies (beast tribal and reanimator) which could both do better separately.

At first you'd decide whether or not you want to stick to Swampwalk. If not, which i'd recommend, get rid of all of them - otherwise you'd at least add Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth that will help with your own manabase - and seriously you cant build half of your deck on the assumption that you'll eventually draw evil presence.
Secondly you'd consider whether you really need the intimidation, looks like it could make more sense to focus on lifelink and increase the amount of creature hate and thereby making evasion unnecessary.
Thirdly, Celestial Mantle seems way to expensive to have it 3 times in this deck. Firstly because its CMC of 6, secondly and more importantly because it requires 3 white mana which you will struggle to get. Getting another Divinity of Pride or two seems way more useful as you're much more likely to be able to play them.

and now that i think about it: Disenchant should also work vs Blood Moon if i use the lands for mana while Blood Moon is still on the stack and cast Disenchant after Blood Moon comes into play, shouldnt it? Dont laugh at me if that doesnt work, as i said i havent played any tournaments yet ;)

Thanks. The only reason I did it is because it's a lot easier to splash white with those shock lands than i had initially thought. All Fetch lands can still get all shock lands, so there isnt really any harm in splashing white. I was even thinking of other white cards for the sideboard, but so far nothing came to mind. I'm not yet one hundred percent satisfied with disenchant, but for the moment i havent found a better way to both deal with Leyline / rest in peace on the one hand and Grafdiggers Cage, Tormod's Crypt, Nihil Spellbomb etc on the other hand