Welcome to another great Precon Recon here at Pojo.com! At Precon Recon I take a look at Preconstructed Decks, and Reconstruct them into much better playing decks. This week, I had a very special request. It seems that Caroline has been having some trouble with Vampires, and asked for some help dealing with them. So I looked more into the situation. She said that she would like a red or blue deck, constructed towards Modern Format, and be able to hang in with the Vampires. Well, I thought one thing immediately, GOBLINS! So I looked at the preconstructed decks in Modern, and felt strongly that the Mirrodin Besieged Event Deck Into the Breach. For a look at the original deck list, check it out here: http://www.wizards.com/magic/tcg/productarticle.aspx?x=mtg/tcg/mirrodinbesieged/eventdecks

      So the main purpose of the Into the Breach deck is to be fast on the attack, and keep up the pressure. The main creature type for the deck is Goblins, and therefore I felt that this would be a great deck to reconstruct to keep up with Vampires. I did feel that the main purpose of the deck should have remained focusing on the Goblins, and not so much on trying to add in the Metalcraft. That will be one area that will be addressed.

      Vampires used to be slow, and not a main creature type back in the day. Nowadays, Vampires are cheap, and come out very fast, and hit hard and fast, and have lots of tricks up their sleeves. But, Goblins got it right first.

      So on with the reconstruction. The first part is the pulls. I want to say first that some of the cards I elect to pull may seem weird at first, but I assure you that they are some of the better choices for what we will replace them with. The first card I would recommend pulling is Contested War Zone. You should never settle for a card that you may risk losing control of that would then benefit your opponent. The next card I would like to suggest removing is the Devastating Summons. While it is nice, and perhaps you may want to keep them in, I’m not sure sacrificing your lands is a good thing. The next card I would remove is the Panic Spellbombs. There is a much better options that we will look at later. I would also remove the Goblin Bushwakers, again, there is a better option. I would also remove the Darksteel Axes. While they are nice, they are slow, and slow and Goblins do not mix. The final pulls would be the Galvanic Blasts and the Lightning Bolts. This makes fifteen cards out, counting the land, fourteen if we don’t.

      The first thing is obviously the land. The best bet is to just add another Mountain. However, should you feel like getting fancy, you could add a Buried Ruin. The Buried Ruin will allow you to return an artifact from your graveyard to your hand. For the reason of how few artifacts are still in the deck, that is why one is a good replacement option.

     Now, on with the rest of the additions. The majority of the cards removed were from the spell category. While we will add in some spells, a large portion of the replacements will be creature based. For starters if you are running a Goblin based deck than you must either get your hands on a Goblin Chieftain or Goblin King. I prefer the Goblin Chieftain because it grants haste, and only to your Goblins. The Goblin King could easily back fire if you are not careful. I would try and get two to three of them. I would add in two copies of Bloodmark Mentor at least. Bloodmark Mentor grants all of your red creatures First Strike, which is exactly what you need to give yourself an advantage to take on the Vampires head on, or remotely anything. If you wish to increase the numbers of these two creatures, you can do so as you see fit.

     The remaining spells are kind of simple and straight forward. In place of the Darksteel Axes, I would add in Quest for the Goblin Lords. Once fully developed, these grant all of your creatures the same pump a Darksteel Axe would, only it applies to ALL of your creatures. And all you need to do to grant the pump is get Goblins into play, five of them in total. Think you can handle that? Since the deck includes a spell that drops three goblins into play for the cost of one artifact, I think completing this quest should be rather easy. Next, I really feel that you should add in Goblin Grenades. The fact that in exchange for one goblin, you can deal five damage to target creature or player, I think that you can afford to lose one goblin if the circumstances allow. Another spell that I feel is a sure bet in a goblin deck is Ember Gale. Ember Gale makes it so that creatures your opponent controls cannot block you. This makes it really easy for your pumped Goblins to get in and take care of business. The cards included in the sideboard could help you avoid an impromptu Fog or Holy Day.

     I think that if you can get your hands on four copies of the Goblin Chieftain, you should probably add in three of the Bloodmark Mentor. The rest of the spells could go any way, but remember that the more you have of something in a deck, the better the chances of getting your hands on one. The Goblin Grenades are more of a back up strategy, so you could always lower the amount of those. This means two Ember Gales, two Goblin Grenades, and then three Quest for the Goblin Lords. This ratio greatly increases the chances of pulling what you need, without weighing the deck down with unnecessary amounts of cards.

     And there you have it, a Goblin deck that should be able to hang in there with several different kinds of decks. But definitely fast enough to give Vampires a run for their money. Remember to keep up the assault, don’t hold back. Once you stall your opponent could gain the advantage. But should you run into things you cannot handle, don’t take unnecessary risks. Once you draw an Ember Gale, go for the kill. And the Goblin Grenades are also good for the final kill. The Quest for the Goblin Lords should always be the first drop if you can, this way a majority of the creatures you will drop afterwards will be Goblins.

     I hope that this deck can help Caroline out with her Vampire troubles, and give some of you out there a good Modern Goblin deck to begin with.

     Perhaps next week we can begin taking a look at the new preconstructed decks from Dark Ascension. If not, perhaps another reader will write in, I always look forward to hearing back from you all and helping with direct problems. Just send me a message and include what deck (if you know which one you would like worked on), if not, preferred colors, and what format you would like the deck constructed to. Or, I will just find something to work on, as it is what I do.

      Thank you all for reading, I appreciate it always. Be sure you get to a Prerelease for Dark Ascension next weekend. My store will be holding one Saturday January 28^th.

      So as always, keep safe, and keep gaming!