BUDGET Old School 93/94 deck tech (Goblins)

If you want to jump into the possibly greatest format in Magic The Gathering right now, this could be your entry! Budget Goblins! This build IS INDEED effective in the format and it includes NONE of the super high dollar cards. The basic deck below and in the video is just the starting point, adjustments should be made to the main deck and sideboard based on the Metagame in your local area.
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=== HOW TO CONTACT EDWIN ===
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PO Box 2333
Windermere, FL 34786
Here is the full list.
===Spells/Creatures===
4 Goblin King
4 Goblins of the Flarg
4 Goblin Balloon Brigade
2 Goblin Hero
3 Goblin Grenade
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Chain Lighting
1 Fireball
2 Fork
2 Nevinnyralls Disk
2 Shatterstorm
3 Blood Moon
1 Wheel of Fortune
2 Winds of Change
===Mana===
4 Mishra's Factory
4 Strip Mine
14 Mountain
===SB===
4 Red Elemental Blast
2 Nevinnyralls Disk
2 Stone Rain
1 Disintegrate
2 Earthquake
2 Shatterstorm
2 Detonate
Follow me on Instagram at: / edwin_the_magic_engineer

[@mtgoly6518]

I've watched this 4 or 5 times over the past few months building, testing, and tuning my Goblin deck. I keep hearing new tips that suddenly make sense after more testing. Great primer! Thank you.

[@joeb1522]

Do you have any tips you would be willing to share? I am about to build this deck.

[@KidAran]

Fallen Empires changes so much. Here in Sweden we usually only allow ABU+first for expansions, so Goblin Grenade and Hymn to Tourach is not legal, and we also restrict Strip Mine to 1 copy. Even if that doesn't seem like much difference to some it does a huge thing for budget decks like this, 4 Grenades and 4 Strip Mines makes the whole difference for this kind of deck.

[@chaosmonkey6896]

Thanks for this video! I played since 3rd ed, don't know too much about the new cards. This I can enjoy.

[@Lyrici17]

Fork-ing a counterspell, genius. Another great option for the card.... Thanks!

[@bendimiero380]

Great videos Edwin! I started watching your channel over the last few weeks, great stuff!

[@francoisrdt]

Loved the vid, thanks for it! I play a similar build myself. Great call on the Winds of Change, had totally overlooked the card! Something i run that keeps turning out being a MVP & you didnt mention is a couple Dragon Whelps. They really play out as Fireballs with legs... errr, wings! Also a blast : forking your Goblin Grenade for ten dmg out of the blue!! Keep it up :)

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Francois Raouf Derbas Thibodeau Hi Francois! Dragon whelp is good, as are other red creatures but I wanted every creature slot to be filled with very cheap goblins to keep the aggression high and the mountainwalking tactic on point. Yes I've definitely been forking everything that's a valid target. The Goblin Grenade is great to Fork because you don't need to sac another Goblin to the Fork copy and 10 damage is a LOT!

[@donnasprague767]

Watching these really makes me miss the old / early days. Tempted to construct some even though currently i don't know any old school players.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

You don't need to know them in person. Most of us meet up via a private Facebook group. We then connect via Skype or Appear.in and play a game online over the web cam! Doing this has brought Vintage, Legacy, and Old School magic games back into my life. It's been very grand! I made this whole video about it. kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX2uqaKElpKIn5o And "Old School Ron" wrote this blog about it, even citing my video as what got him into it! oldschoolron.blogspot.com/2018/01/how-i-learned-to-play-old-school-online.html?m=1

[@Blackadder75]

@@EdwintheMagicEngineer your webcam solution is nice for people who already have the vintage cards,,, but for a newcomer that makes no sense, they would just buy magic online decks (all of these cards are available there for 10 to 1000 times less money) and play online

[@baker3254]

Thanks for another great video. I would love to see an Old School Mono-Green deck. That is something I don't believe I have ever seen.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I have 3 more Budget OS decks in the pipeline right now. I'll try to hit all 5 colors eventually.

[@francoisrdt]

Edwin the Magic Engineer looking fwd to this!! :)

[@metal6641]

Great video. I just started getting into Magic, mainly old school and this is the first deck i build. Granted i couldn't get the most expensive ones "for now" but at least i got some of the other cards that you recommended from your side board to use in their place. Now i'm working on the Black Aggro/ Discard deck.

[@xzaviernoel798]

sorry to be off topic but does someone know of a way to get back into an instagram account..? I stupidly forgot my password. I appreciate any tips you can give me

[@desmondgraham1249]

@Xzavier Noel instablaster :)

[@mikelong2756]

Yes, please do these two decks! I need some advice on building these two decks! Not full budget, but no power! Underworld dreams, howling mine, black vice, library of leng, winds of change, wheel, relic barrier, maybe icy and maze of ith combo deck. And secondly..lands edge land tax combo deck. Both with no power. I can't even really afford duals right this second but I want to acquire some within the next year and sets of underworld dreams I can do and get that full build by Christmas . A good third suggestion would be black green red land destruction maybe. I would need 12 duals for that though lol. Maybe birds of paradise and city of brass to replace some duals and do it budget could be great. Gotta have 4 sinkholes, 4 ice storm, 4 stone rain, and 4 strips. I'm already almost 75% there on that. Have all the sinkhole, strips, and stone rains already

[@kasperhannberg4209]

Thanks for doing budget deck tech :) What could I use instead of Goblin Grenade. Trying to play without Fallen E.

[@LastAirshipGames]

Thank you. Excellent content.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

JaxTwins thanks for the comment, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[@RA-jk9qd]

Great breakdown Edwin! Have you tried playtesting this in Forge or Xmage yet? I had to cut 1 Strip/Mishra & replace them with Mountains, was getting mana screwed too much.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

R A Hello again, no new testing in other tools yet. Nor mal life stuff has surged and put me behind with Hobbies. Especially everybody getting the Flu! I need to get some other videos finished soon. I hear ya about the need for red mana... but honestly when I get those colorless mana hands I just pitch them and mulligan into another hand. Getting around the lack of draw with mono red is hard, running few lands does cause you to mulligan more often but every game does get a higher ratio of spells to mana versus 1/10 games that might get an extra mulligan. So the benefit has outweighed the cost for me. I definitely hear ya though.

[@mtgmeansmagic4758]

omg... I actually justified Goblin Hero when the Dark came out. My friends puzzled, but I explained “It’s a Grey Ogre you can actually use!” Thanks Edwin for feeling the same way, and your content!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Yay! Somebody else agrees! Seriously though, I looked pretty hard at the other Goblins in Old School and for what this deck is (aggressive aggro with disruption) the Goblin Hero is actually good! His 2/2 body ends up being the deal breaker many times.

[@clynnwilkinson8980]

I love nevs disk as an answer to moxen

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Clynn! Good to hear from you dude. We need to exchange numbers! Can you get mine from Daniel and send me a text? Yeah Nevs disk is not only the best colorless mass destruction answer in Old School, but it's a really strong play to make your opponent hold back all his cards. Coupled with discard it's a powerful tactic.

[@donaldriley9724]

I run a similar deck and I use gauntlet of might (along with the other expensive artifacts that you showed lotus, Ruby, sol ring,... Etc). Helps with the low Mana and pumps all your creatures.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Yeah the deck would most certainly be better with those cards, but it would not longer qualify as "budget" :)

[@donaldriley9724]

Of course! I understand you are going budget. I was just saying as one starts to improve the budget deck as money allows for upgrade, my opinion is gauntlet of might before the 4 plateaus. Gauntlet helps the goblins and let's you get more out of the mountains you have. Great deck. I love playing mine which is very similar (but I have a few other tricks like relic barrier with howling mine and winter orb to speed up my draw and slow down my opponent). Love the channel!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Very cool Donald, can you post your list with upgrades?

[@donaldriley9724]

Sure. Mine is less budget, but the core is very similar to yours. I'll post it soon.

[@donaldriley9724]

I started playing during Beta (lucky me) and this is the deck I actually played in 93/94 tournament scene that I have recently reassembled to play with local friends that have also been in magic since Beta. I really am digging 93/94 old school magic. Anyway here are the similarities to your deck: 4 Goblins of the Flarg 3 Goblin Balloon Brigade 2 Goblin Grenade 4 Lightning Bolts 4 Chain Lightning 1 Fork 1 Wheel of fortune 3 Blood Moon 2 Nevinyrral's Disk 4 Strip Mines 17 Mountains Here are the upgrades/differences (and why): 3 Blood Lust (I use these rather than Goblin king to pump up my creatures and it allows me to kill opponents big creatures more easily with a lightning bolt or blocking goblin since it gives them -4 to defense) 2 Ball Lightning (trample damage is great and works well with Blood lust) 1 Black lotus (because black lotus) 1 Mox Ruby (free red) 1 Sol Ring (for mana acceleration) 3 relic barrier (for tricks with Winter Orb and Howling Mine Or to shut down many opponent artifact) 2 Howling Mine (to accelerate card draws for me) 2 Winter orb (to slow down opponents) 1 Gauntlet of Might ( Mana accel and creature boost) 1 Maze of Ith (Just in case I need to shut down a creature) I rely on blood moon to give opponents a mountain (so Goblins of flarg are unblockable) and use balloon brigade for flying. Not having goblin king stops all from having mountainwalk, but I gain damage with the blood lusts. I am toying with using 4 Mishra factories like you instead of 4 mountains. Yes, I run 62 cards. I get flack all the time, but I dont know what to remove and I like being different. :-) My side board has changed plenty throughout the years, but it is mostly color hate cards.

[@mikelong2756]

I think I'm going 4 fork main deck lol. Why not when red has no other counters and I don't have any power. 2 winds of change is definitely good and I agree I need to get 2-3 blood moons, furthermore the forks can help the blood moons land. I'm dropping 1 shivan in for flying over moat and to just have at least 1 fatty. I don't own a wheel right now and I really want one. Hopefully i can get one and I don't know where in the world I can get myself a chaos orb lol. Def will have to proxy it

[@memyopinionsche6610]

If you got 4 Neville's disc in your deck and 2 in your sideboard when that go against your 4 card limit?

[@natebullington6217]

Played an Eternal Central tournament a few weekends ago and it was the most fun playing Magic since 94 when I first started playing. Love your deck techs and suggestions. What are some great uses for Su Chi after it dies?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Thanks! And yeah I hear so many people echoing the same kind of sentiment about having the most fun ever in Old School games. I really do think it's the best competitive format out there right now. Within Old School there is definitely less good options for Su Chi Mana. If your Old School group is playing with modern rules and no mana burn, then it's only a positive thing. If your group is playing mana burn... and assuming Su Chi died during the Combat step (meaning you gotta use the mana NOW)... - Activate a Mishra's Factory 4 times. - Use it to draw a card of Jayemdae Tome - Use it to untap a Basalt Monolith - Add in 4 more mana and shoot something for 4 with Aladdins Ring - Use Cyclopean Tomb to turn a land into a Swamp - Fire off a Rocket Launcher - Use that mana to hide another creature with Safe Haven - Gain life with Alabaster Potion - Blow up creatures with Dwarven Catapult - Throw a Storm Seeker at their face There's just some options.

[@natebullington6217]

A few of those I didn't think of and that was what I was hoping for. I appreciate your help

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

My personal favorite on that list is untapping the Basalt Monolith :) I like that one the best because I can chose to use that mana when it works best for me. Also, Basalt Monolith is "free" to play because you pay 3 then you can immediately get 3. It filters your mana into colorless yes... but I look at it like a mana battery that can be untapped on my opponents end step. Like a counterspell deck that keeps its mana open to react, but if nothing is played you store up 3 more colorless for a bigger braingeyser, or a Serra that only costs 2 white, etc.

[@natebullington6217]

Edwin the Magic Engineer I definitely see your point. I'll play test and see what works best for the deck I'm not sure what to make just yet

[@yohantheman]

I LOVE TIMEWALK !

[@JessicaZane4realz]

The last time I played Old School was a couple of years ago in Newport, but last I heard Revised and Fallen Empires was not allowed in Old school.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Jessica Zane hi Jessica. The information you are missing is the knowledge that there are different accepted Old School rule sets. The Swedish guys whom made the format only allow original cards and no FE. Their B&R list is a little different to. Everybody else mostly uses the Eternal Central and Channel Fireball rule sets. Which allows reprints with the same art and card frame, as well as FE set.

[@steventabor8853]

I’m curious to see a vintage vampires deck lol 😆

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Interesting request... Not a lot of creature builds in Vintage. It would be very hard to make that viable but I'll think on it.

[@andreas.marcopoli]

What about Ydwen Efreet instead of Goblin Hero? He does 3 damages instead of 2 when attacking (in a format with the 3/3 blocking factories that could make the difference), he resists to bolt, chain lightning and psionic plast (three of the four most used creature removal in Old School) and it has 50% of the possibility to safely block juzam, ernham and su-chi , which are among the most played strong creatures in the format. It also works absolutely amazing with earthquake.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

All great points and I can certainly see him main deck in a Meta where big beefy creatures are seen really often. There are a few problems I do see though. 1. He's a bit spendy for a budget deck at $55 each. That really does not fit the theme of budget because when you are forced to be budget you are forced to make cheap and efficient card choices. A card like Blood Moon is probably worth splurging on because it's use in such a wide variety of decks. But the Ydwen Efreet would be over $200 for a playset which is nearly the cost of the rest of this deck and probably only works in a deck like this. 2. This EC build has 4x Mishra's Factory and 4x Strip mine. With that kind of mana base RRR is MUCH harder to come by. If you were going to play the Ydwen Efreet or Ball Lightning you would be forced to reduce the strips or factories. 3. The Ydwen Efreet is definitely more of a mid to late game creature considering it's cost. This deck is built for early game aggression. So the Efreet would sit in your hand as a dead card early game, and in case you make it to late game the more expensive cards are meant to blow up or disrupt the game state... effectively taking the game state back to "early game" where this decks aggression shines. Ydwen Efreet ends up being a bad choice for the same reason a Jayemdae Tome is a bad choice in an aggressive build. Now... again your points are valid about where the Ydwen Efreet has value. But I think that would be a deck that's more targeting mid/late game, mostly red, mid level expense, and still not having 8x colorless lands. That's really a different deck, perhaps a Candlestick/Fireball deck with Mana Flare.

[@andreas.marcopoli]

@@EdwintheMagicEngineer yes you are right. I play with the Ravenna rules with only one strip mine allowed, so maybe in that case it could be more doable. And yes, it is not cheap. So your considerations are super-correct. For the aggro-thing, I am just scared that a Goblin Hero not supported by the king will be easily stay on the board with no possibility to hurt factories, and you can put it in the game at the third turn, that means you cannot put the goblin king with the goblin hero together before the turn four, a bit late. It would be perfect with a mana cost of 2, maybe I should anyway give it a try, as I am building a deck like this one (no goblin grenade as we cannot use fallen empire, I was thinking to use copper tablet or ball lighting instead, need to think about).

[@aleksey6325]

What about Ali from Cairo? sometimes it helps a lot.

[@karawapo]

It feels safe to recommend Goblin Flotilla over Goblin Hero.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I feel pretty safe saying no way to that. Aggro is all about hit them fast, as had as possible, and as early as possible. Goblin Flotilla has Islandwalk yes.. but that's not even half the decks I play against when you consider the whole pool of Old School. And tying up a red makes you MUCH less aggressive on the attack.

[@Ormstunga]

This question may be a bit offtopic, b ut where could I get a playmat like the one you use? I saw a couple on cardmarket, but they are rather cheep, and I was wondering from where and for how much did you get yours. Thanks! PS: Your IG account is awesome. I actually came from there to this channel

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Gabriel Tamaș Hi Gabriel, thanks for the nice words about my IG channel. I think that green playmat was an Ultrapro playmat which was like $20 when I got it. It's typical material. Flexible black rubber matting on the bottom and green fabric that slides cards really well on the top

[@francoisrdt]

@Gabriel Tamas I just bought myself one, theyre actually Dragon Shield brand playmats. Google up « dragon shield spielmatte » and youll find plenty for cheap. Awesome looks!

[@Ormstunga]

Francois Raouf Derbas Thibodeau thank you very much!! If they come from Germany as the name suggests, it would be even better, since I wont be burried in shipping taxes

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Thanks for the correction Francois, It was so long ago I got that play mat I could not remember.

[@hunterlawson8889]

I missed my chance to buy into this format. I wish I got a wheel back when it was $100

[@bradj9545]

Now is a good time to buy in. Everything is pretty flat price wise right now, some retraction even. If you think they’re pricy now though, wait another 1 or 3 years…

[@joeb1522]

Fork copies an instant or sorcery. Counterspell is an interrupt. So how do you use fork on a counterspell? Am I missing something? Thanks for the great video.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Joe! Since 6th Edition rule set there are no more interrupts. They all count as instants and move at instant speed.

[@joeb1522]

@@EdwintheMagicEngineer That is fantastic. Thanks for the reply!

[@Mrtfarrugia]

What about adding a Goblin Warren's to pop out more goblins?

[@joeb1522]

Maybe adding 1 Goblin Warrens would be good. I thought the same thing.

[@scotsworth]

I'm curious how the Disk really works in such a deck. At best you won't be able to cast it until turn 4, and you'd mentioned that 4 is your ideal mana to work with... is it possibly just a little too slow, even though it does provide some level of threat?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

The disk is not meant as an early game aggression. The disk is there to clean up a mess late game, blow up your opponents board state and take the game back to "early game" where your goblins and fire show early aggression and do best.

[@BobbyxZx]

yes! goblin grenade!!!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Kaboom!

[@Mrtfarrugia]

Goblin grenade+both forks = 15 damage

[@riversparks6973]

Dude, I am so happy to see that you've uploaded another video! Keep the OS stuff coming, I'm super close to being Swedish legal, and ready to play on skype! What ways are there to contact you and set up games?

[@riversparks6973]

Nevermind! Saw the reply to my other comment!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi River, Don't worry about being Swedish Legal for me, I'm even ok with proxies much less 4th Edition, Revised, etc. Find me on Facebook and send me a friend request (Edwin Tracy) or find me on Instagram and message me that way (Edwin the Magic Engineer)

[@riversparks6973]

I've been looking, and you've got quite a cool instagram! I'll probably message you on FaceBook, but it'll be on my wife's account, since I don't have one. Looking forward to some fun games!

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

River Sparks I looked for your message on Instagram and didn't see it. Are you sure you found me? The channel name on IG is Edwin the Magic Engineer just like on KZbin.

[@markreed3344]

River Sparks I

[@plaguedr8831]

RG goblins of the Fog 🥵

[@plaguedr8831]

Gauntlet of Might in the non budget plzz

[@HarmonicSliver]

4:10: The Goblin King is played with actual wording, right? Therefore you should have mentioned that he gives the bonus to other goblins, but is a Goblin himself. So 2 of them make the Kings 3/3 with mountainwalk. He can also be thrown in a Goblin Grenade, because he is no longer a Lord. Speaking of Goblin Grenade, you can fork one without having to sacrifice another goblin which might be overlooked. Good Deck, but I would prefer Goblin Flotilla instead of Goblin Hero, because of the islandwalk. The extra mana should be no big deal in rare situations. But the benefit playing against Tundra, Underground Sea or Volcanic Island looks great.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

No in Old School format all cards are played using the updated errata and rule set, unless specifically otherwise noted. Thanks for watching the video and commenting.

[@greeneking77]

What happens if I fork my goblin grenade? Do I just need to sacrifice 1 goblin?

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

I'll give you an answer more generic then just the Fork situation. It depends if the sacrifice is part of the cost, or if it's something that happens during the resolution of a paid for spell. In modern MTG cards everything before the colon : is part of the cost. Fork duplicates the effect, and the cost is only RR no matter what the spell it's duplicating required as a cost. Goblin Grenade has the sacrifice as part of it's cost, not something that happens on resolution. So no you would not have to sacrifice a goblin if you Fork a Goblin Grenade. However a spell like Recall... upon it's RESOLUTION is when you discard cards to get cards back from the Graveyard. So a Forked Recall WOULD require you to dump cards to get back GY cards.

[@hunterlawson8889]

Wheel of fortune is like $500 now 😭

[@lucasfrench1841]

Yeah lol

[@Janshevik]

how lords work in oldschool? I remember from shandalar that they were a different type so they didn't pump each other.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

Hi Janshevik, In general, Old School sticks to current errata and rules with few exceptions. Some Old School groups use mana burn, Chaos Orb is only allowed to destroy a single target, not many exceptions. For the Lords, you can just look up their errata on the Gatherer. Lords now count as their creature-effect type, but their text box now includes "Other" creatures. You can see it here. gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=799 So Goblin Lord IS a Goblin now, but he does not pump himself. However if you have 2 of them in play, they pump and give mountainwalk to each other!

[@Janshevik]

yeah I know about the errata, just wondered if the errata is applied to oldschool too. Are Merfolk competitive too? They have a better lord, but merfolk creatures themselves seem a bit weaker though. I played them when I played Shandalar, but that game has no Fallen empires and only a portion of Legends and Dark cards.

[@EdwintheMagicEngineer]

They are indeed a competitive budget OR powered build in Old School yes! The budget blue deck I'm going to show eventually is based around Merfolk for it's beatstick.