Goblin Decks: Swarm, Last Stand, and Powder Kegs

Why Ride With Goblins?

Goblins are the fastest faction on the frontier — a hyper-aggressive swarm that trades long-game stability for early pressure and explosive burst damage. Their signature keywords are Ambush (attack the turn it lands), Double Barrel (attack twice per turn), Overshot (excess damage spills onward), and Gold Rush (get paid to play creatures). The catch is printed right on the stat lines: high attack, low defense. If the duel goes long, Goblins lose the attrition war — so the deck's whole job is making sure it does not go long.

All costs below read like the cards do: 3M/1G means 3 mana and 1 gold. Every card named here is in the card gallery if you want a closer look.

The Swarm: Turns One Through Three

A Goblin deck wants a body on the board on turn 1, every game. The 1-mana slot is crowded with good reasons:

• Mud Slicker and Fuse Alley Scrapper (1M, 2/1, Ambush) — two attack on turn 1, before the opponent has any board at all.
• Wingnut Scout (1M, 1/1, Flying) — ignores Cover Tokens for the entire game; the chip damage adds up.
• Scrap Picker and Greasefinger Pickpocket (1M, 1/2, High Noon) — each replaces itself with a card draw, keeping the swarm's hand stocked.

At 2 mana the aggression sharpens: Bog Raider and Mire Sneaker (2M, 3/1, Ambush) hit like 3-mana cards, and Guttersnipe Archer (2M/1G, 3/1, Quickdraw) strikes first, so it clears most early blockers without a scratch. At 3, Spitfang Berserker and Rustfang Alpha (3M, 4/3, Ambush) keep the curve honest while Boomstick Bruiser and Junkyard Sniper (3M/1G, 4/2, Quickdraw) bully anything mid-sized.

Why the flood works: combat is open, so every Goblin can pick its own target — and every separate hit on the enemy sheriff earns +1 Gold next turn. Five small attackers connecting is five bounty payments. The swarm literally funds its own top end; that loop is covered in depth in the mana vs gold guide.

The Gold Rush Economy

Goblins turn excess gold into tempo better than anyone, and they generate it three ways:

• On-play payouts. Tinker Tot and Scrap Spark (1M, 1/1, Gold Rush), Powderkeg Picker and Jackpot Scavenger (2M, Gold Rush) — each mints a gold the moment it lands. Junkwall Tinkerer (1M, 0/3) even pays you to build a wall, pairing Gold Rush with Barricade.
• Death payouts. Scrapmask Saboteur (4M/1G, 4/3, Ambush) leaves 2 gold behind when it dies. On the frontier, even the funeral is profitable.
• Combat payouts. The bounty rule again — wide attacks mean wide income.

Where does it all go? Into the /G surcharges on your best cards — the Quickdraws, Double Barrels, and the 5-drop finishers below — and into your Deputy plays, which are paid in mana and gold. A Goblin pilot who ends turns at 0 gold with nothing to show for it is doing it wrong; one who banks three gold and drops a legendary a turn early is doing it very right.

Powder Kegs: The Hex Package

The Goblin arsenal includes a proper demolition corps — creatures that make your spells hit harder, and things that explode on schedule:

• Hexbomb Lobber (2M/1G, 2/2) — Hex 1: your spells deal +1 damage, and it has Ambush for immediate pressure.
• Cursed Cannon Gruk (3M/2G, 3/3) — Hex 2 plus Double Barrel; a spell amplifier that also swings twice.
• Hextech Amplifier (4M/2G, 2/4) — Hex 2, and creatures in adjacent lanes gain +2 Attack. Park it in the middle of the swarm.
• Chain Hex (2M/1G spell) — deals 1 damage to a target creature and each creature adjacent to it, increased by your total Hex value. With two Hex creatures out, this sprays serious damage across a whole neighborhood.
• Explosive Barricade (3M/2G rare spell) — summons a 2/3 Barricade token that deals 3 damage to all adjacent enemies when destroyed. A powder keg your opponent has to shoot.

Positioning matters more here than anywhere else in the faction — "adjacent" effects care exactly where things stand. Scrapheap Sentinel (2M, 1/4, Barricade) grants Ambush to creatures in adjacent lanes, turning every fresh summon next door into an instant attacker. If lane wording is new to you, the positioning guide maps it all out.

Last Stand: Death Pays Dividends

Goblins do not fear the graveyard; they invoice it. Last Stand triggers an effect when the creature is destroyed, and the Goblin roster runs several of the best:

• Goblin Spark Turret (1M, 2/1) — a Barricade blocker that deals 2 damage to whatever destroys it.
• Scrapmask Saboteur — the 2-gold severance package mentioned above.
• Boss Boom Brakka (5M/3G, 5/4, legendary) — Double Barrel while alive, 3 damage to the opponent when it dies. There is no good way to interact with this card: block it and it shoots twice, kill it and it explodes.

This is the honest version of the "sacrifice" fantasy: you are not feeding your own creatures to a ritual — you are making every removal spell and every trade cost your opponent extra.

Closing the Deal

When the opponent stabilizes at low health, Goblins reach for the top of the curve:

• Cart Cannoneer (4M/1G, 5/3, Double Barrel) — ten damage a turn if both barrels go face.
• Ironjaw Fireboss (5M/3G, 5/4, legendary) — Double Barrel and Overshot; blockers barely slow it down.
• Mire Giant (4M, 5/4) and Toxic Trencher (4M, 5/3) — Overshot bodies that punish chump blocks and spill through Cover.
• Midnight Marauder and Grimshadow Raider (5M/2G, 5/5, rare) — Wanted means no targeted effects can touch them; the opponent must trade creatures into a 5/5, twice.

Round it out with neutral spells: Ricochet Shot (1M Quick Spell, 1 damage to up to two target creatures) clears the 1-toughness chaff that blocks your swarm, Adrenaline Rush (3M) gives all friendly creatures Ambush for the turn — a hand-dump that attacks immediately — and Reinforce Lines (3M) pumps your Middle Lanes +1/+1 for one lethal push.

Weaknesses and Pairings

Know what beats you: board wipes like Dust Storm (2 damage to all creatures) execute half a Goblin deck at once, Barricade walls blunt the swarm, and healing drags the game past your best turns. Keep one hand of gas in reserve instead of dumping everything into a wipe, and finish through the air or with Overshot when the ground clogs up.

For deckbuilding, the faction page recommends pairing Goblins with Desert Devils for maximum aggression, or with Beasts for versatile creature pressure — and remember Beasts never count toward your two-race limit, so a Beast splash is always legal. Compare all eight crews in the faction picker or dig into the full Goblin faction page for lore and signature pulls.