Cloudy with a high chance of Goblins.
Unusual weather phenomena ahead! It’s a Goblin Storm! This bizarre precipitation can only be the work of the incredible Wizard of Barge!
That’s right, we’ve got a brand new Secret Lair Commander deck, with tons of new art by the delightful Wizard of Barge! We’ve seen his work in past goblin-themed Secret Lair releases, like the Goblin & Squabblin’ Drop, and now he’s the featured artist for the entire Goblin Storm deck!
Secret Lair Commander Deck: Goblin Storm
Secret Lair Drop Series
Of course, there’s the elephant-sized goblin in the room: This Secret Lair release sold out instantly. With that in mind, the upgrades in this guide will help whether you manage to snag one or if you want to make your own from scratch. Everyone deserves goblins, even with the pesky Secret Lair queue.
So, what’s Goblin Storm’s whole deal? It’s about two things: Goblins and Storm. It needed to stay simple because the goblins struggled to remember a third thing. You’ll be loaded up with tons of goblins and goblin support, but using the storm mechanic as a huge finishing blow. This is all enabled by the most intense goblin commander of all.
You Thought I Was Gonna Say Krenko, Didn’t You?
Zada, Hedron Grinder
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
Krenko is a powerful commander, and he’s a fantastic choice if you just want to make a bunch of goblins. For Goblin Storm, we need something different – that’s where Zada, Hedron Grinder comes in! Where Krenko is the setup, Zada is the payoff. Whenever you target Zada with an instant or sorcery (with no other targets – just Zada), she’ll copy that spell once for every creature you control!
The goal here is to use small, seemingly insignificant spells like Crimson Wisps. Normally this kind of card would never see play, but with Zada, you’ll copy it for your entire board and draw a ton of cards. There are plenty of similar cards in this deck to turn seemingly small spells into massive swings in card draw, mana, or attacking power.
Since Zada copies your spell once for each of your creatures, you still need to play with a go-wide strategy using lots of creatures. That’s what goblins do best, and this deck is packed with “army in a can” cards like Dragon Fodder and Mogg War Marshal. Zada will perform best if you have a board of creatures first, then cast her and one or two copiable spells all in the same turn. Zada’s been around since Battle for Zendikar in 2015, and experienced players will know they need to answer her immediately – try to make the most of her ability as soon as she’s in play.
Additional Goblins Forecasted
Krenko, Mob Boss
Secret Lair Drop Series, Rare
While Zada is the intended commander, you do have some additional legendary goblins included in the Goblin Storm deck, giving you some other directions to take the deck.
We mentioned Krenko before, and of course, he must be considered as a goblin commander! Simply tap Krenko to double your goblins – even goblins can do the math and see that this wins games. Krenko is at his best with a lot of untapping effects, letting you double your goblins multiple times in a turn. You’ll try to line this up with a haste effect like Goblin Warchief to end things in one fell swoop.
There are even more legendary choices in the Goblin Storm deck, like Pashalik Mons, who punishes your opponents for killing your gobbos, but also can turn one goblin into two. General Kreat, the Boltbringer makes more goblins while being an Impact Tremors effect, while Grenzo, Havoc Raiser pays you with cards or, well, havoc, whenever you connect with combat damage. Both Kreat and Grenzo are awesome if you can generate lots of goblins to trigger their abilities.
Any of these makes for a great goblin commander, but will require a rather extensive rebuild of the Goblin Storm deck to be at their best. As is, this deck leans a lot into the Storm part of Goblin Storm, where Zada is best at the helm. The rest of these goblin legends will still have a place supporting Zada.
Goblin Storm Secret Lair Commander Precon Decklist and Review
Market Price: $13.56
Let’s start with the most important part of Goblin Storm: the goblins! This deck comes with 25 creatures, many of which are geared towards adding even more creatures to the board. That’s in addition to the many sorcery and land cards that generate tokens, giving you plenty of ways to go wide for Zada’s ability.
The classic Goblin Lackey cheats out a goblin when it connects, bringing in heavy hitters like Siege-Gang Commander for free. Goblin Matron searches for any goblin for the moment. Howlsquad Heavy generates a goblin token and can even act as a payoff later in the game.
Market Price: $23.19
Next up, the Storm cards!
Market Price: $13.15
Market Price: $10.27
There are four cards with the storm ability in this deck. Grapeshot dishes out a bunch of damage, and Haze of Rage buffs our army. Empty the Warrens is the true goblin storm card, while Spreading Insurrection turns opposing blockers into your own attackers for a huge alpha strike!
You’ll need to line up a bunch of spells before these can shine – they’re pretty disappointing if you only copy them a couple times. There’s one key card that kicks things into overdrive and really lets Zada shine as a storm commander: Daring Discovery.
Daring Discovery
The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, Common
That’s right, Daring Discovery, the forgettable common from The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. This card’s effect is entirely irrelevant! What matters is that you can cast it, targeting just Zada, and get a copy for all of your creatures. Zada’s copies don’t normally add to your storm count, but Discover 4 on every copy of Daring Discovery will shoot your storm count to the moon. You’ll end up churning out a ton of spells for just the five mana of the first Daring Discovery.
Market Price: $13.41
To keep the (goblin) storm rolling, you’ll need mana. Storm-Kiln Artist sadly isn’t a goblin, but its magecraft ability pays out a treasure for every one of Zada’s copies. Since you’ll be drawing a lot through spells like Expedite, Storm-Kiln Artist’s Treasure tokens will let you cast the new spells you draw and repeat the process. You can also create an infinite loop using Storm-Kiln and Haze of Rage with its buyback ability. You’ll copy Haze with storm, and Storm-Kiln will quickly start generating more treasures than Haze’s buyback requires. You’ll get infinite treasure and infinite copies of Haze, which also means infinite storm for your other storm cards!
For additional sources of mana, you have plenty of ritual effects. Brightstone Ritual, Battle Hymn, and Mana Geyser give huge bursts of mana to kick things off. If Zada’s in play, Ancestors’ Aid generates heaps of treasures.
Goblin Storm Commander Deck: Cuts
This deck looks like a lot of fun out of the box, but I saw some cards that felt out of place. Whether they’re poor choices of card draw, mediocre goblins, or unexciting Zada spells, these are the first cards I’ll be cutting.
- Sazacap’s Brew
- Faithless Looting
- Glimpse the Impossible
- Searslicer Goblin
- Redcap Gutter-Dweller
- Boggart Shenanigans
- Quest for the Goblin Lord
- Wild Ride
- Hidden Volcano
Both Sazacap’s Brew and Faithless Looting do little for this deck’s plan. Sazacap’s looks interesting because it can target Zada… but it also will target you, so it won’t trigger Zada’s ability. This is just a weird Tormenting Voice and we can do better than that.
Faithless Looting is card disadvantage if we’re not flashing it back to break even. We have no synergies with the discarded cards, so it’s pretty unexciting as a way to dig through our deck. Glimpse the Impossible is a decent impulse draw, and it even makes tokens that extend Zada’s copying range. Unfortunately, the mana cost is a bit high, and the tokens come in later than you want.
Next, we have some less exciting goblin cards. Searslicer Goblin and Redcap Gutter-Dweller are the first to go. Searslicer makes a token every turn, but only if you can keep its raid trigger happening. Plus, you don’t get the token until your end step, so Zada can’t get value immediately. The Redcap is a lot of mana, and its tokens aren’t even goblins. That’s not a total dealbreaker, but we want more for four mana.
Finally, the kindred enchantment Boggart Shenanigans can go. While it does benefit from being a goblin card, it isn’t a creature – no help for Zada. It’s doing the same thing Pashalik Mons does, but on a worse type of permanent for this deck.
The last cards are some supporting pieces that don’t meet my standards. Quest for the Goblin Lord should get online quickly, but the effect isn’t needed. This deck already packs buff spells that pop off with Zada like Fists of Flame, Witch’s Mark, and Ancestor’s Aid, in addition to a bunch of lords like Goblin Chieftain. For the same reason, I’m trimming Wild Ride, which has a strong power boost but no additional effects.
The last card is the tapped land Hidden Volcano. The cost to use its discover ability is quite high, and the deck already has a few tapped utility lands. We want to go fast, and this is the worst of the bunch.
Goblin Storm Commander Deck: Additions
Market Price: $23.01
With nine cards out, we’re adding nine more. These focus on two main elements needed for a storm deck, or any deck, really: mana and card draw.
- Sudden Breakthrough
- Reckless Ransacking
- Runaway Steam-Kin
- Will of the Jeskai
- Snort
- Blazing Crescendo
- Hexing Squelcher
- Flashback
- Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
We want to keep Zada’s storm rolling, and mana is the first part of that equation. Sudden Breakthrough and Reckless Ransacking have the same function as the already included Ancestors’ Aid: making Treasure tokens. The stat boosts are also relevant when going for the finishing blow. Runaway Steam-Kin is a classic storm enabler, and being a creature means you’ve got one extra thing for Zada to copy onto. Making mana in bursts of three will help when we add in all the new card draw. Speaking of which…
A surefire way to keep storming off is to draw a fresh hand. Will of the Jeskai and Snort give you new cards, each with an additional upside. Snort can be cast an additional time with flashback, while Will of the Jeskai grants flashback to everything else if you don’t need the extra cards.
One more way to dig deeper into your deck is with Blazing Crescendo, another Zada combo card and finishing blow all in one. Crescendo stockpiles the cards until your next turn, giving you a bit of insurance if your storm fizzles out.
Market Price: $23.01
Whether you love storming off or just want a bunch of goblins on the board, this deck is going to deliver on both stormfronts! Your opponents better get their umbrellas!