Goblins have always had a special place in Magic: The Gathering. They are aggressive, numerous, and usually more than happy to throw themselves into danger if it means getting a little closer to victory. In Commander, Goblin tribal has become one of the classic creature-type strategies, with commanders and payoffs that reward going wide, attacking, sacrificing creatures, and turning a battlefield full of small creatures into something considerably more threatening.

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This time we will be showcasing The Great Goblin, which takes that familiar formula and gives it an interesting new direction. Rather than simply rewarding you for controlling a large number of Goblins, the commander cares specifically about counters and deaths. Whenever you put one or more counters on a Goblin, Orc, or Army you control, The Great Goblin deals 2 damage to an opponent. Meanwhile, whenever another Goblin, Orc, or Army you control dies, you exile the top card of your library and can play it until the end of your next turn.

That creates a deck that is still unmistakably Rakdos Goblin tribal, but isn’t restricted to simply attacking with a massive army. The creatures can grow through +1/+1 counters, die for value, come back from the graveyard, and generate additional resources along the way. The deck also makes use of Amass, allowing Orc Armies to participate in the same counter-based strategy.

Most importantly, this is a deck that has plenty of room for things to go sideways. There are several sacrifice outlets, token producers, damage engines, and recursion effects, meaning that a seemingly harmless board can quickly become a complicated engine. It even contains a few legitimate infinite-combo lines, giving the deck a higher ceiling than its casual tribal appearance might initially suggest.

The Great Goblin’s Gameplan

The first thing to understand about The Great Goblin is that the commander is not really asking you to choose between counters and sacrifice. The two abilities naturally support each other.

The counter ability encourages you to grow your Goblins, Orcs, and Armies. The death ability then turns those creatures into additional cards when they eventually leave the battlefield. This means the deck is perfectly happy to sacrifice creatures that have already generated value, especially when their deaths can create mana, deal damage, or enable another round of counter placement.

A large portion of the deck therefore revolves around creating creatures and finding ways to put counters on them. Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted is particularly important because it immediately creates an Army with three +1/+1 counters. That means casting or attacking with the creature can immediately turn on The Great Goblin‘s damage trigger.

March from the Black Gate and Mordor Muster provide additional ways to use Amass. These cards are especially interesting because the Army created through Amass is also a Goblin or Orc, depending on the effect, allowing the resulting creature to interact with many of the deck’s tribal payoffs.

The deck is therefore capable of developing its battlefield in several different ways. Traditional Goblin tokens are the foundation, but Armies and other creatures can become part of the same engine. Metallic Mimic, Gev, Scaled Scorch, First Day of Class, Thran Vigil, and Uncivil Unrest provide additional ways to put +1/+1 counters onto creatures, which can repeatedly trigger the commander’s damage ability.

This makes the seemingly simple act of growing a creature much more valuable. Putting a counter on one Goblin doesn’t just make that Goblin larger; it also represents two damage to an opponent. When multiple creatures receive counters simultaneously, the damage can add up surprisingly quickly.

Building a Goblin Army

The deck still needs plenty of actual Goblins, and fortunately there is no shortage of them. Goblin Lackey is an excellent early play, potentially putting a much larger Goblin directly onto the battlefield if it connects. Goblin Chieftain provides the traditional tribal lord effect, giving the army haste and making your Goblins substantially more threatening in combat.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin and Krenko, Baron of Tin Street give the deck two different approaches to generating more Goblins. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin rewards attacking by producing more tokens, while Krenko, Baron of Tin Street interacts with artifacts and +1/+1 counters. The latter is particularly interesting here because sacrificing an artifact puts a counter on every Goblin you control, potentially creating a massive burst of damage through The Great Goblin.

General Kreat, the Boltbringer is another excellent token engine. Whenever your Goblins attack, it creates another Goblin tapped and attacking. More importantly, whenever another creature you control enters, it deals 1 damage to each opponent. With enough token production, this transforms a wide battlefield into a direct-damage engine rather than requiring every creature to successfully connect in combat.

Purphoros, God of the Forge and Impact Tremors serve a similar purpose. Once the deck begins producing Goblins in large numbers, every new creature represents additional damage. This is particularly effective when combined with sacrifice loops or cards that can repeatedly create temporary creatures.

Sling-Gang Lieutenant provides another useful angle by turning Goblins into direct life-loss and life-gain. It can help finish off weakened opponents without requiring combat, while also providing a sacrifice outlet for creatures that have already served their purpose.

Sacrifice as a Resource

Sacrifice is one of the most important themes in the deck because so many of the creatures are expendable. Goblin Chirurgeon, Skirk Prospector, Goblin Bombardment, Warren Soultrader, and Sling-Gang Lieutenant all give you ways to turn creatures into something else.

Skirk Prospector is especially useful because every Goblin becomes a source of red mana. This can allow the deck to convert a board of tokens into a huge burst of mana, potentially powering out a large spell or enabling several activations in a single turn.

Warren Soultrader offers a similar conversion, although it produces Treasure instead of directly generating mana. Paying life and sacrificing another creature creates a Treasure, meaning a large board can become a significant amount of mana when necessary. Because the deck already cares about creatures dying, the sacrifice cost is often much less painful than it would be in another strategy.

The death of those creatures is also exactly what The Great Goblin wants to see. Every time another Goblin, Orc, or Army dies, you get temporary access to another card from the top of your library. This creates an interesting incentive to sacrifice creatures even when you don’t immediately need to.

The timing matters, however. Because the card is only playable until the end of your next turn, you need to make sure you have enough mana and an appropriate opportunity to use the cards you exile. The commander therefore rewards active play rather than simply accumulating an enormous hand.

Infinite Combo Potential

Although the deck is fundamentally a casual tribal strategy, it does contain some legitimate infinite-combo potential.

Murderous Redcap and Putrid Goblin have persist, so sacrificing either causes it to return to the battlefield with a -1/-1 counter after it dies. If another effect places a +1/+1 counter on it, the two counters can effectively cancel each other out, allowing them to repeatedly return.

Cards such as Metallic Mimic, Gev, Scaled Scorch, First Day of Class, Thran Vigil, and Uncivil Unrest can provide the necessary +1/+1 counter interaction, while Goblin Bombardment, Warren Soultrader, or another appropriate sacrifice outlet gives the creature a way to repeatedly die.

With Murderous Redcap repeatedly entering and leaving the battlefield, its damage ability can be used to deal infinite damage. The exact pieces required depend on which counter provider and sacrifice outlet are available, but the important point is that the deck has a genuine combo finish hiding inside its tribal shell.

This also makes The Great Goblin more versatile than it might initially appear. You can play a normal Goblin tribal game for most of the match, then pivot toward a combo line if the right pieces become available. That flexibility is particularly valuable in casual Commander because it allows the deck to participate in longer, more unpredictable games without being entirely dependent on a single win condition.

Mana and Acceleration

The mana base is built around the traditional needs of a Rakdos tribal deck, with a mixture of basic lands, dual lands, utility lands, and a small amount of acceleration. Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Talisman of Indulgence, and Ruby Medallion help the deck get its more expensive threats onto the battlefield ahead of schedule.

The mana base itself also contains several utility lands that support the tribal plan. Cavern of Souls protects your Goblins from counterspells, while Three Tree City can potentially generate a huge amount of mana once your creature count becomes substantial. Mount Doom provides another late-game mana sink while also offering a way to deal incremental damage or reset the battlefield.

The deck’s ability to generate mana through creatures is equally important. Skirk Prospector can turn a swarm of Goblins into a massive burst of red mana, while Warren Soultrader can convert creatures into Treasures. This means the deck can sometimes operate with fewer traditional mana sources than a slower tribal deck because its creatures themselves become part of the mana engine.

That interaction is especially useful after developing a wide board. Instead of simply attacking with every creature, you can decide whether the board is more valuable as an offensive force or as a collection of resources. A handful of Goblins might produce enough mana through Skirk Prospector to cast a game-ending spell, while sacrificing them also activates the commander’s card-advantage ability.

Card Advantage and Recursion

The Great Goblin‘s death trigger is already a substantial source of card advantage, but the deck contains several other ways to keep its hand full. Skullclamp is particularly effective in a strategy built around small creatures and tokens. Equipping it to a 1/1 Goblin allows that creature to replace itself with two cards when it dies, while the death itself can also trigger The Great Goblin.

Patriarch's Bidding provides a dramatic form of recovery. In a deck where the overwhelming majority of creatures share the Goblin type, returning an entire graveyard of Goblins can rebuild the board immediately. The resulting wave of creatures also creates opportunities for Impact Tremors, Purphoros, God of the Forge, and The Great Goblin to generate additional damage.

Grub, Storied Matriarch contributes more modestly. Its front side can return a Goblin from the graveyard to your hand, while transforming it gives you another way to generate temporary copies of your creatures. In a deck where individual Goblins can be valuable because of their triggered abilities, copying the right creature at the right time can be surprisingly powerful.

The deck also has several recursion tools that make sacrificing creatures much less painful. Malakir Rebirth can save an important creature while returning it to the battlefield, while the various Amass effects ensure that the deck can continue generating counters even after a board wipe.

Ultimately, this is what gives the deck its staying power. Losing a board of Goblins doesn’t necessarily mean losing the game. Those creatures can have already produced mana, dealt damage, drawn cards, or triggered other effects. Rebuilding afterward can therefore be much easier than it initially appears.

The deck:

Closing Thoughts

The Great Goblin brings together everything that makes a casual Goblin deck so much fun: a growing board, explosive turns, sacrifice synergies, and plenty of ways to turn a pile of small creatures into a serious threat. The deck can play a straightforward tribal game, but its many interactions give it enough depth to reward careful sequencing and creative play.

It also has a surprisingly powerful ceiling. With sacrifice outlets, +1/+1 counter effects, and cards like Murderous Redcap, the deck can assemble infinite loops and convert them into lethal damage. That gives the deck a few ways to end a game beyond simply attacking with a huge army of Goblins.

Ultimately, this is a deck built to embrace the chaotic, explosive side of Rakdos Goblins. It may not be aiming for cEDH efficiency, but it has plenty of power, personality, and synergy to make every game memorable.

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