Arcane Foundry › Commanders › The Great Goblin
The Great Goblin
Legendary Creature — Goblin Noble · {1}{B/R}{B/R} · Black/Red commander
Whenever you put one or more counters on a Goblin, Orc, or Army you control, The Great Goblin deals 2 damage to target opponent.
Whenever another Goblin, Orc, or Army you control dies, exile the top card of your library. You may play it until the end of your next turn.
Build a The Great Goblin deck →
What The Great Goblin actually does
Read off the card by the same engine the Forge and Analyzer use — this is the mechanical classification, not a summary.
- Triggered ability · countersWhenever you put one or more counters on a Goblin, Orc, or Army you control, The Great Goblin deals 2 damage to target opponent.
- Triggered ability · otherWhenever another Goblin, Orc, or Army you control dies, exile the top card of your library. You may play it until the end of your next turn.
What a The Great Goblin deck needs
Plays as goblin typal. What the commander asks of the other 99 — read from the card and checked by hand.
- expendable creatures and free sacrifice outlets (its payoff is creatures dying)
- cheap spells and lands to play off its impulse draw (exiled cards must be played that turn)
- +1/+1 counter producers and payoffs (its text places or reads +1/+1 counters)
- goblin/orc creatures (its text counts them)
The The Great Goblin deck plan
The roles the Forge fills for this commander, and how many cards of each.
- 26× A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- 14× Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- 4× Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- 5× Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- 9× Find the exact card the plan needs
- 1× Answer a whole board at once
- 7× Refill your hand
- 2× Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- 11× Get ahead on mana
Best cards for The Great Goblin
Ranked by an engine that reads what each card does — its real cost, its delay and how reliably it works — rather than counting how often other people play it.
A body of the exact type the commander's trigger requires — the wrong type is worthless here regardless of quality
- Orcish Bowmasters2 mana
- Goblin Welder1 mana
- Impulsive Pilferer1 mana
- Skirk Prospector1 mana
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Dragonlord's Servant2 mana
- Goblin Engineer2 mana
- Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei2 mana
Put +1/+1 counters on creatures you control, or multiply the ones already there
- Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain2 mana
- Blightbelly Rat2 mana
- Scheming Aspirant2 mana
- Cacophony Scamp1 mana
- Gallia, the Merrymaker2 mana
- Glistening Sphere3 mana
- Walking Ballista0 mana
- Forge of Heroes0 mana
Sacrifice a creature for no mana, repeatably
- Carrion Feeder1 mana
- Viscera Seer1 mana
- Altar of Dementia2 mana
- Goblin Bombardment2 mana
- Spawning Pit2 mana
- Umbral Collar Zealot2 mana
- Bloodthrone Vampire2 mana
- Dark Privilege2 mana
Actually remove one problem permanent — preventing its damage is not removing it
- Wild Magic Surge2 mana
- Defile1 mana
- Tragic Slip1 mana
- Infernal Grasp2 mana
- Terminate2 mana
- Fatal Push1 mana
- Bitter Triumph2 mana
- Black Sun's Twilight1 mana
Find the exact card the plan needs
- Demonic Tutor2 mana
- Diabolic Intent2 mana
- Vampiric Tutor1 mana
- Imperial Seal1 mana
- Demonic Consultation1 mana
- Grim Tutor3 mana
- Tainted Pact2 mana
- Scheming Symmetry1 mana
Answer a whole board at once
- Toxic Deluge3 mana
- Damnation4 mana
- Blasphemous Act9 mana
- Chain Reaction4 mana
- Bontu's Last Reckoning3 mana
- Street Spasm1 mana
- Sickening Dreams2 mana
- Crypt Rats3 mana
Refill your hand
- Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer1 mana
- Skullclamp1 mana
- Black Market Connections3 mana
- Braids, Arisen Nightmare3 mana
- Herald's Horn3 mana
- Morbid Opportunist3 mana
- Phyrexian Arena3 mana
- Professional Face-Breaker3 mana
Keep a permanent you control alive through removal
- Hexing Squelcher2 mana
- Lightning Greaves2 mana
- Swiftfoot Boots2 mana
- Eldrazi Monument5 mana
- Commander's Plate1 mana
- Mithril Coat3 mana
- Akroma's Memorial7 mana
- The Walls of Ba Sing Se8 mana
Get ahead on mana
- Sol Ring1 mana
- Rakdos Signet2 mana
- Palladium Myr3 mana
- Worn Powerstone3 mana
- Chrome Mox0 mana
- Everflowing Chalice0 mana
- Mox Diamond0 mana
- Mana Vault1 mana
Combos with The Great Goblin
Known combos from Commander Spellbook that The Great Goblin is a piece of, and how many decks list them.
- The Great Goblin + Mortuary + Skirk Prospector89 decks
- The Great Goblin + Mortuary + Impulsive Pilferer + Goblin Bombardment42 decks
- The Great Goblin + Mortuary + Pitiless Plunderer + Goblin Bombardment28 decks
- The Great Goblin + Mortuary + Impulsive Pilferer + Phyrexian Altar28 decks
- The Great Goblin + Heliod, Sun-Crowned25 decks
- The Great Goblin + Maskwood Nexus + The Red Terror20 decks