Some new FCG ideas and a small tournament report - Tied 1st

[cryolyte]

This FCG List just won me a 16-person tournament last week, my first, and I would appreciate any help in tweaking it for an upcoming power tournament. Obtaining cards is not a problem in this case.

4 Mountain
2 Taiga
2 Badlands
3 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloostained Mire
2 Wasteland
1 Strip Mine
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mana Crypt
1 Black Lotus
1 Lotus Petal
4 Food Chain
4 Goblin Recruiter
4 Goblin Piledriver
4 Goblin Ringleader
4 Goblin Warchief
4 Goblin Lackey
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
2 Seige-Gang Commander
3 Gempalm Incinerator
2 Goblin Matron
1 Skirk Prospector
2 Goblin Welder (he's a goblin and keeps artifacts under control)
1 Meltdown (looks good, never got to use it though)
1 Fling (looks good, never got to use it though)

SB:
3 Planar Void
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Pyrokenisis
2 Artifact Mutation
4 Null Rod

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Tournament Report Section:

Round 1 vs Stax:
Game 1: he had a God hand and after a few turns under a Tangle Wire and 2 Spheres I scooped.

Game 2: Welder tricks on Tangle Wire and Smokestacks; I beat for the win (no boarding)

Game 3: Same as game 2

1-0 (2-1)

Round 2 vs Control Slaver:
Game 1: I had early beats, he got out a platinum angel and I welded her out for his black lotus when my army got large enough.

Game 2: Early beats, he got out a platinum angel and I artifact mutationed her and swung for the win.

2-0 (4-1)

Round 3 vs Tog (4 color):
Game 1: Early on he mind twisted me for 5 and I top-decked Goblin Lackey, which resolved. He got locked under his own back to basics and never came back.

Game 2: First turn planar void . I ReB his first tog and run around his next one with the pro blue piledriver.

3-0 (6-1)

Me and a friend were tied for first and decided to ID and split the prize (store credit)

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It wasn't a big tournament so I'm not reading anything into my victory. Looking back on it, I'm probably quite fortunate to have drawn the matches I did, rather than get any Oath or TPS (or Glimpse Kobolds), all of which were in attendance.

Also, I never got a chance to go off. My Food Chains were always forced or drained. Which is actually kind of ok, because it allows me to play lackeys and piledrivers. I beat everyone in Aggro mode.

I have tweaked my deck since as follows:
-1 Mountain
-1 Bloodstained Mire
-1 Fling
-1 Gempalm Incinerator
+1 Great Furnace
+1 Wasteland
+1 Goblin Welder
+1 Vampiric Tutor

My reasoning for the Goblin Welder: He justified himself in the Control Slaver match by being able to weld out a platinum angel, and also playing stax he wreaked havoc on smokestacks and tangle wires. He does compete with my Goblin Lackey for the one-drop, but here's what I do: If I know my opponent is playing blue, and it's game 1, I drop him off a Mountain to bait a force. Otherwise I always drop the Lackey.
Also, he's a Goblin (duh) and also according to some the best creature in the game. He pumps the piledriver. He baits counters.

I decided to splash Black initially for Planar Void and Chains of Mephistopheles. At the last minute I changed the 2x Chains in my board for 2x Pyrokenisis. I've never used Chains and the thought of Ancestral Recall targeting me and making me dump cards into my graveyard scares me a little. Open to any thoughts about whether Chains is good or not. After the tournament, someone asked me why I didn't run any tutors, so I added Vampiric (because it is an instant and doesn't compete with my casting threats on my turn, as Demonic Tutor would).

I threw in the Great Furnace to use for welder tricks, although I think hoping for Lotus and the furnace may be a bit much. Also, meltdown will kill the furnace so maybe not such a good idea.

Skirk Propector seems overkill as a four-of. I find I only need him there when I go off, and I can stack the one I need with the recruiter.

Gempalm incinerator seems sub-optimal. If I have the 6-7 goblins needed to kill anything big I'm already out-racing them. Besides I have Platz under control with my MD welders and artifact mutations from the board.
He is good against aggro, but I have a couple of Pyrokenisis in the board so I think dropping one is safe.

On Wasteland: I felt like wasteland was competing for the mana I needed to combo out and/or get more threats on the board. I just feel like I need mana on the board. I now realize that it's needed for dragon's Bazaars, but I am unsure of running 4.

So here are cards in maindeck contention:
1 Great Furnace
3 Goblin Welder
1 Meltdown
1 Vampiric Tutor
1 Gempalm Incinerator

Other cards I am thinking about in these slots:

Sylvan Library (draw engine possibility)
Sol Ring
Wheel of Fortune
Goblin Goon (just as a possibility; doesn't look great)
Burning Wish, which would take up board slots for (perhaps) Chainer's Edict, Pulverize, Decompose (my gut says yuck), and Meltdown.

Board changes:

My board was:
SB:
3 Planar Void
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Pyrokenisis
2 Artifact Mutation
4 Null Rod

and now it is:
3 Planar Void
2 Red Elemental Blast
2 Pyroblast
2 Pyrokenisis
2 Artifact Mutation
4 Ground Seal

I never sided in Null Rods once in the tournament, so I have swapped them out for dragon hate - Ground Seal. I am concerned that my board sucks for other combo, which I fear since I am not running FoW or Duress.

My goal in the board is to shore up my defenses for Dragon, Other Combo (TPS Deathlong), and especially Oath. Board Space is at a premium, which is why I am hesitant to add the burning wish option.

These cards are considerations right now:

Null Rod (never boarded it in)
Chalice (is this the combo hate I'm looking for? what to cut?)
8-Blast plan or not?
Tormod's Crypt (surprise value of 0)
Root Maze (doesn't look good to me though)
Chains of Mephistopheles (help, looks scary to me)
Pyrostatic Pillar (looks like it would hurt me more than them)
Mogg Salvage (meh... I have enough artifact hate methinks, but it's free most of the time)
Rack and Ruin (seems like a high casting cost for this deck's man curve.

Of course the burning wish option would impact the board as well.

Constructive Criticism is welcome....

[JamesPr]

In your meta it seems that four wastelands are a must, they WILL help against control slaver, 4C Tog, and Stax.

Is it really worth it to splash a whole new color for some fancy sideboard stuff, and a Vampiric Tutor?

Welder might be tech in some areas as a one of, but definitely not more than that.  Your deck already has enough tutor goblin effects to get him pretty easily.

Meltdown and Fling are of no use as one ofs, fling (you've taken fling out, good) is only good with a piledriver, and Meltdown is only good against affinity (too slow for stax).  

Also I strongly recommend not going below three Gempalms.  They're just savage especially against slaver.  Blowing up your opponent's only welder with an uncounterable (except maybe stifle) effect is pretty good.  They're also some good against any aggro you should face.

[Mark_Story]

I would have to strongly suggest that you not play black as well.  The manabase for FCG is pretty tight.  It requires tons of red mana, and a bit of green.  Also the black splash for planar void, can easily be replaced by ground seal, which is functionally similar, and is in the colours you are already playing.

Don't play great furnace, why open yourself up to more non-basics? If you are hoping to use it to weld with, then you are not aiming to combo out as fast as possible.  I like to play FCG as combo deck that can beat face if it can't draw the combo in time.

Platinum angel can usually be burned with an incinerator, or mutated, or shot with seige-gang/sharpshooter.  I would stay away from the burning wish, what are you going to tutor for?  Your kill is goblins, and burning wish won't get you more goblins.  I'm wary with sylvan,  yes it is card manipulation, however, it can be a dead draw sometimes. Definately play at least 3 artifact mutations MD or SB.  They are simply awsome against everydeck in the meta.  Even if you nuke some mana acceleration, you have slowed the opponent down enough that you can squeeze a win out.
Incinerators are not really there to burn down fat men, they are used to kill welders, and any other small men you find, such as lavamancers, meddling mages, etc.

As for other sideboard options that you listed off:

Null Rod:  Great against combo and slaver.  

Chalice: Bad idea,  anything that can be chaliced for easily RUINS your deck ie) 1 and 2

8-Blast plan or not:  Never found it necessary.  This is a aggro deck with a combo element.  The threat density is so high that I've never found 8 blasts to be necessary, 4 is the most you would need I think

Tormod's Crypt (surprise value of 0): Great against slaver, and dragon, can be played around but it's decent.  

Root Maze (doesn't look good to me though):  Not good.  You win by beating face.  Tapped men can't swing.  It may seem tempting against combo, but FCG really can't take that hit in speed.  It's not powerful as is, stripping its speed away doesn't seem like a good idea

Chains of Mephistopheles (help, looks scary to me):  I wouldn't play black, and wouldn't play this either.  What advantages does it give you?  what deck does it stop, without interfering with your game plan.

Pyrostatic Pillar (looks like it would hurt me more than them) This is actually very good.  You don't need many 2 CC goblins against a combo deck.  If you recruit for 4 Pildrivers 2 seige-gangs, a warchief or two and a few ringleaders, you have enough damage to swing for the kill and only 4-5 2 or less CC spells.

Mogg Salvage :  Not a bad choice but mutation or Rack and Ruin are better.  Only really good if you could wish for it, which you can't.

Rack and Ruin:  Awsome SB card against artifact heavy decks.  Only use this and Mutation if there is a lot of stax or other grey/brown heavy decks.

If you haven't already, I'd suggest looking up the FCG primer by vegeta.