Commander blueprint · The Hobbit

How to build The Great Goblin

The Great Goblin deals 2 damage each time a Goblin, Orc or Army of yours gets counters, and one counter does exactly as much as ten. So this build counts creatures rather than counters, and fills its slots with cards that put counters on several of them at once.

Art by Miklós Ligeti

Amass 1 and amass 4 both deal 2, so this list amasses often

The Great Goblin's first ability triggers when you put one or more counters on a creature, and amass puts all of its counters down in one go. So the number after the word amass changes the size of the Army and nothing about the damage. An amass of 1 every turn is worth far more here than an amass of 6 once, and the list is built that way. Dreadhorde Invasion costs two mana and amasses 1 at the start of every one of your turns, which is 2 damage a turn for the rest of the game at the price of 1 life a turn. Bothersome Noisemaker amasses 1 whenever you cast a noncreature spell. March from the Black Gate amasses whenever an Army of yours attacks, Moria Scavenger whenever it discards a creature card to draw, and Orcish Bowmasters whenever an opponent draws more than the first card of their draw step. Tidings of War amasses twice from one card, once from your hand and once more by flashback.

The Army does not need to survive for any of this. When you amass with no Army on the battlefield, a 0/0 token is created first and the counters go onto it, and that still counts. So an Army that trades in combat or dies to a sweeper costs you only the counters on it. The next amass builds a fresh one and deals its 2, and the death itself exiles a card for you to play. Fearsome Goblin Pair gets two triggers out of one death for the same reason: it is a Goblin, so dying exiles a card, and it amasses 4 on the way out.

Mauhúr, Uruk-hai Captain names the same three creature types as the commander, and it is still not in the list. It adds one more counter each time +1/+1 counters go on a Goblin, Orc or Army, which makes the Army bigger and never adds a trigger. A slot here is worth what it adds to the number of times counters go down, and Mauhúr adds none.

Proliferate is a trigger for each creature that already has a counter

When counters go onto several creatures at the same moment, a trigger like this one fires separately for each of them, and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons carries the same ruling. Proliferate adds a counter to every permanent you choose that already has one, all at once, so it is not one trigger here but one per creature it touches. With the Army, Uglúk of the White Hand and Exuberant Fuseling all carrying counters, one proliferate is three triggers and 6 damage, and The Great Goblin counts as a fourth whenever it has a counter of its own.

The list proliferates eight ways. Karn's Bastion is a land that does it for four mana, Throne of Geth does it for an artifact, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician for two black mana and a discard, and Cacophony Scamp when it connects with a player and you sacrifice it. Contagion Engine proliferates twice per activation, so every creature with a counter triggers twice. The other three are removal. Volt Charge deals 3 to any target, Grim Affliction puts a -1/-1 counter on a creature and Drown in Ichor gives one -4/-4, and each then proliferates. Killing an opposing creature with one of those is also damage to a player, which is why three of the list's removal spells are these rather than more of the plain kind. Scheming Aspirant adds to every one of them, since each proliferate also drains 2 from each opponent.

Krenko, Baron of Tin Street spends one artifact on a counter for every Goblin

Krenko, Baron of Tin Street taps and sacrifices an artifact to put a +1/+1 counter on each Goblin you control. That is one trigger per Goblin, so six Goblins make a single activation worth 12 damage, and it has haste, so the first activation can come the turn it lands. Goblin tokens are what the rest of the deck makes most of, and the Army counts too once a Hobbit card has amassed Goblins with it, because amass Goblins makes the Army a Goblin as well as whatever it already was.

The artifacts are mostly Treasure. Unexpected Windfall makes two, Deadly Dispute and Black Market Connections one each, and the token from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker makes one whenever it attacks. The mana rocks are artifacts as well. Each artifact you sacrifice then pays out twice more. The Baron's second ability makes a 1/1 Goblin with haste for whenever an artifact goes to a graveyard, which is one more body for the next activation, and Exuberant Fuseling takes an oil counter, which is 2 more damage. Throne of Geth eats the same artifacts to proliferate.

Andúril, Narsil Reforged is the same effect on an attack. Whenever the equipped creature attacks it puts a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control, and two on each once you have the city's blessing from controlling ten permanents. Either way that is one trigger per Goblin, Orc and Army, the attacker included.

Roaming Throne set to Goblin makes each trigger happen twice

Roaming Throne becomes the creature type you choose, and the triggered abilities of your other creatures of that type trigger an additional time. Choose Goblin. The commander is a Goblin Noble, so both of its abilities double: every creature that gets counters is 4 damage, and every death exiles two cards. Most of the engines are Goblins too. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin puts a counter on itself and makes tokens twice per attack, the second time at its new power. Legion Warboss makes two tokens a turn, Siege-Gang Commander makes six tokens as it enters instead of three, and Exuberant Fuseling takes two oil counters for each creature or artifact of yours that goes to the graveyard. Taurean Mauler and Bloodline Pretender are changelings, which makes them Goblins as well.

Orc is the choice that looks tempting and is not. It would double Uglúk of the White Hand, Orcish Bowmasters and Moria Scavenger and leave the commander untouched. Bloodline Pretender asks for a type as it enters, and the answer is Goblin for the same reason: it takes a counter whenever another Goblin enters, so Krenko, Mob Boss making five tokens is five triggers. With Roaming Throne out as well, each Bloodline Pretender trigger and each commander trigger doubles, and those five tokens are 40 damage.

Yawgmoth's -1/-1 counter deals 2 before the Goblin it lands on dies

The commander never asks what kind of counter it was. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician lets you pay 1 life and sacrifice another creature to put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card. Sacrifice a Goblin and point the counter at one of your own 1/1 Goblin tokens. The counter is 2 damage, the token dies, and both deaths exile a card, so one life buys three cards and 2 damage. Grim Affliction does the same thing once, with a proliferate after it, and Contagion Engine's enter trigger can target you, putting a -1/-1 counter on every creature you control at once. Exuberant Fuseling's oil counters and the two +1/+1 counters Goblin-town hands out when you sacrifice it count just the same.

Skullclamp turns a Goblin token into three cards

The second ability is the deck's card draw. Whenever another Goblin, Orc or Army of yours dies, the top card of your library is exiled and you can play it until the end of your next turn, so a death on an opponent's turn is still a card on yours. Skullclamp makes that pay twice. Attached to a 1/1 Goblin it makes a 2/0 that dies at once, and you draw two and exile one for an equip cost of one mana. Goblin Bombardment, Skirk Prospector and Ashnod's Altar sacrifice for no mana at all, and Bolg's Company turns one Goblin a turn into two mana. Goblin Recruiter decides what the exiled cards will be: it stacks any number of Goblins on top of your library in the order you choose, and the next few deaths hand them over. Skullclamp draws from the same stack, so once the Goblins are lined up its two cards are Goblins as well, and each of those is another body to clamp.

The same rule changes what a sweeper does to you. Widespread Brutality amasses 2 and then has the Army deal its power to every creature that is not an Army, yours included, so your Goblins die beside the table's creatures and each of them leaves a card behind. Toxic Deluge does it for the life you choose to pay, and paying less than the Army's toughness keeps the Army.

Pitiless Plunderer waits for bracket 4, because it completes a loop with the Baron

Orcish Bowmasters is the one Game Changer in the core list, so the floor sits at bracket 3. Goblin Matron and Goblin Recruiter are tutors, but they find only Goblins. What decides the bracket is a card the core list leaves out. With Krenko, Baron of Tin Street on the battlefield, Pitiless Plunderer and any sacrifice outlet that costs no mana make a loop. Sacrifice a Goblin and Pitiless Plunderer makes a Treasure. Sacrifice the Treasure for , and as it goes to the graveyard the Baron's ability spends that on a new 1/1 Goblin. The lap ends where it started, with one more dead Goblin, so it repeats as often as you like. With Goblin Bombardment each lap is 1 damage to any target, with Exuberant Fuseling out it is 4 more from two oil counters, and the commander exiles a card every time.

That is an unbounded loop from three cards, and Goblin Matron can fetch the Baron. Bracket 3 tolerates a combo like that late in a game, but this list does not need one to win, so the core list stops at the Baron alone, whose Goblins run out when the Treasures do. The bracket 4 rung adds Pitiless Plunderer and Phyrexian Altar along with the tutors that find them.

The core list

Ninety-nine cards behind The Great Goblin, 24 of the 32 creatures Goblins. Hover a name to see the card, and each row is priced at the cheapest paper printing on the date given.

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Twenty-nine sources of each colour, and a commander that takes either

The list runs 35 lands, 19 of them basic, with 29 black sources and 29 red. The Great Goblin costs one generic and two hybrid pips that each take black or red, so any two coloured sources cast it on turn three and neither colour can hold the commander back. A first black source by turn two comes in 94.5% of the time, and so does a first red one. Two of the same colour by turn three is 80.4% for either, and the cards that want that are few and late: Bedevil and Phyrexian Arena on the black side, and on the red side Krenko, Mob Boss, Beetleback Chief, Widespread Brutality and Unexpected Windfall at four, Siege-Gang Commander at five and Assault on Osgiliath as an X spell.

Goblin-town is the only land that always enters tapped, and it is in for its sacrifice ability. Barad-dûr enters untapped once the commander is out, since it only asks for a legendary creature. Karn's Bastion makes colourless mana in a two-colour deck and earns the slot by proliferating. The six rocks are Sol Ring, Arcane Signet, Rakdos Signet, Talisman of Indulgence, Fellwar Stone and Mind Stone, and every one of them is an artifact for the Baron to sacrifice once the lands have caught up.

Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted is a different card, and both fit on one battlefield

The Hobbit Eternal printed a second Great Goblin. Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted is a five-mana Goblin Noble that amasses Goblins 3 whenever it enters or attacks, and gives your Armies trample. The legend rule only compares full names, so it can sit beside The Great Goblin, and each of its attacks is one more amass on the Army and so 2 more damage. A search for the bare name turns up both. This page builds The Great Goblin from The Hobbit, the three-mana card with two hybrid black or red pips in its cost, and runs the Eternal one in its ninety-nine.

Bracket 2 loses the doubling, and bracket 4 adds the Plunderer loop

Thirteen swaps bring the deck to $66.96, under a quarter of the core list's $292.10, and with Orcish Bowmasters gone there is no Game Changer left in it. The swap that changes the most is Roaming Throne, because nothing cheap doubles triggers. Book of Mazarbul takes its slot as a card that amasses twice by itself, 1 on its first chapter and 2 on its second. Andúril, Narsil Reforged becomes Swarming of Moria, an amass 2 that leaves a Treasure for the Baron. Orcish Bowmasters and Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted become Lazotep Reaver and Dunland Crebain, which amass as they enter. Contagion Engine becomes Contagion Clasp, which proliferates once per activation instead of twice. Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Ashnod's Altar become Snowslope Hunter and Viscera Seer, two sacrifice outlets, and the Hunter exiles a card of its own once a turn on top of what the commander exiles. Black Market Connections becomes Read the Bones, Goblin Recruiter becomes Goblin-town Flunkies, and four lands that enter tapped replace Bloodstained Mire, Blazemire Verge, Blood Crypt and Luxury Suite.

Everything the deck is built on stays. Krenko, Baron of Tin Street, the three removal spells that proliferate, Karn's Bastion, Throne of Geth, Exuberant Fuseling, Dreadhorde Invasion, Bloodline Pretender, Taurean Mauler and Skullclamp all keep their slots, so the budget deck wins the same way, only without anything doubling it.

The bracket 4 rung costs $679.96 and runs six Game Changers, which puts its floor at 4. Ancient Tomb, Bolas's Citadel, Necropotence, Demonic Tutor and Vampiric Tutor join Orcish Bowmasters. Pitiless Plunderer and Phyrexian Altar are the loop from the section above, and with the Altar as the outlet each lap makes a mana instead of dealing 1, which pays for the cards the commander exiles along the way. Goblin Sharpshooter untaps whenever a creature dies, so inside the loop it pings once a lap. Warg Rider amasses 2 in each of your turns as combat begins and gives your other Orcs and Goblins menace. Bolas's Citadel suits a list whose average mana value is 2.81, since most of the cards it casts off the top cost 3 life or less. The cuts are two of the rocks, Phyrexian Arena for Necropotence, Tidings of War, Mogg War Marshal, Goblin Instigator, Moria Scavenger, Feed the Swarm and a Swamp.

FAQ

Does The Great Goblin trigger once per counter?

No. It triggers once for each creature that gets counters, however many go on it. Amass 4 on the Army is 2 damage, the same as amass 1. A proliferate that adds a counter to three of your Goblins, Orcs or Armies is three triggers and 6 damage, because each creature that gets counters is its own event.

Does amass trigger The Great Goblin when you have no Army?

Yes. Amass creates a 0/0 Army token first and then puts the counters on it, so the counters still go on an Army you control. Any Army counts, whether it began as a Goblin Army, an Orc Army or a Zombie Army.

What bracket is The Great Goblin?

Whichever bracket its ninety-nine make it, and this page builds three. The core list runs one Game Changer, Orcish Bowmasters, so nothing lower than bracket 3 fits it. The budget rung drops Orcish Bowmasters and sets no floor, and the bracket 4 rung runs six Game Changers and the Pitiless Plunderer loop.

How much does The Great Goblin deck cost?

$292.10 for this core list, buying each card at its cheapest paper price on 23 October 2026. The budget rung comes to $66.96 and the bracket 4 rung to $679.96.

Do -1/-1 counters and oil counters trigger The Great Goblin?

Yes. The trigger says counters, not +1/+1 counters, so a -1/-1 counter from Yawgmoth, Thran Physician or Grim Affliction and an oil counter on Exuberant Fuseling each deal 2 when they go on a Goblin, Orc or Army of yours.

Is The Great Goblin the same card as Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted?

No. The Great Goblin is the three-mana commander from The Hobbit. Great Goblin, Foul-Hearted is a five-mana Goblin from The Hobbit Eternal that amasses Goblins 3 when it enters or attacks. The names are different, so the legend rule lets both stay on the battlefield, and this core list runs the Eternal one.

Is there an infinite combo with The Great Goblin?

Not in the core list. Krenko, Baron of Tin Street, Pitiless Plunderer and a free sacrifice outlet such as Goblin Bombardment loop without end, each lap a dead Goblin that comes straight back. That is why Pitiless Plunderer only appears on the bracket 4 rung.