Art credit: Kevin Sidharta
At the end of March 2025 a key component of my Goblin Synthesizer pauper deck was banned. Losing Kuldotha Rebirth meant that running all the additional artifacts seemed almost pointless.
Because that deck was essentially the tier 1 Burn deck with my own suboptimal changes added I couldn't truly call it my own brew. However I have now put together a new goblin deck for pauper, combining elements I learned from playing with the old list, and one that is something I can claim as my own brew from scratch.
May I present Mogg the Decks; Goblin Pirates!
Knowing that Goblin Tomb Raider was one of the strongest creatures in the previous lists I started there, then adding Reckless Lackey as that had also performed well. This is where I remembered they are both Pirates so I looked at other goblin pirate commons; Fanatical Firebrand and Impulsive Pilferer, both went into the deck.
The reason I then went for this focus on pirates was my inclusion of Fiery Cannonade which deals 2 damage to all non-pirate creatures, I had included in my changes to the old burn list. Now I thought that including this in the mainboard could give me a strong game one advantage against other creature decks.
But that was all the available goblin pirates in the format, what else to include? Goblin Bushwhacker was a no-brainer so that went in. Sarpadian Simulacrum was an artifact creature which enabled Tomb Raider, plus it had the late game removal ability which helps.
To finish off the list I wanted goblins that somehow worked around me board wiping myself. Goblin Arsonist and Dynamite Diver both deal 1 damage when they die, I went for Arsonist as it felt a little more on flavour. Then finally Goblin Sledder and Goblin Raider have the ability to sac a goblin to grant a +1/+1 buff to another creature, this is really helpful to get around blockers and even making the most of my pseudo-one-sided board wipes. Initially I went for Raider as again it was on flavour, however it doesn't have a foil printing so the inclusion of Sledder over Raider is purely for this reason. I'm in the process of foiling out this list.
That was it for creatures and I chucked in the typical 4 Lightning Bolts and 4 Goblin Grenades. 17 lands again consisting of 4 Great Furnace to enable Tomb Raider, then 13 mountains.
I played with this list on MTGO for a while and realised I was missing something. Goblin Blast-Runner had been really strong in the previous Burn list. I toiled with cutting a mountain and a Cannonade to squeeze 2 in but it didn't seem that good, I tried shaving other cards to make room but then ultimately decided to cut Impulsive Pilferer completely so I could fit all 4 Blast-Runners. Pilferer did seem kinda lackluster compared to all the other cards anyway. Then I had done it, my list was complete and I was satisfied with it.
The sideboard is almost identical to my Synthesizer list however because I have the Cannonades mainboard it freed up two slots for additional Red Blast effects which are always helpful in many match-ups
I took my new list to a pauper event at my LGS and cleaned up, my only loss was to U Faeries but I feel this was only because I was mana screwed game 1 then couldn't pull ahead game 2. Since playing more games on MTGO I'm really happy with how the deck performs and also what nice little synergies it has. Sledder helps Blast-Runner and is useful for getting through blockers, Arsonist Grenades for 6, even our Cannonades have more reach if we let an Arsonist die to it. Late game Lackey can draw us that final card, Simulacrum can clear a big creature and Firebrand is great for pinging that final 1 point of damage wherever it's needed. Firebrand is another way to power up Blast-Runner.
I guess its rather obvious how proud I am of myself. Please do let me know if you try the deck and how you doing with it.
As always, leave a comment below to let me know what you think. Cheers.
-Trashman
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