(Pashalik Mons| Art by Dave Kendall)

Goblins are one of the most popular creature types in the game. Some players love the rapid ramping and mana generation that Elf decks provide. Others crave the reanimating recursion that Zombie decks offer, or the unmatched power of a deck that can fill the sky with Dragons. Yet, although it's a simple strategy, there is arguably no matching the thrill of coating the table in a thick layer of 1/1 Goblin tokens and then turning them all sideways for massive damage. There are currently (as of 08/10/2024) more than 35,000 Goblin decks logged on EDHREC. More than half of those decks, just over 19,000, are commanded by Krenko, Mob Boss. This Goblin gangster is undoubtedly hugely powerful, his ability to generate Goblin tokens at a completely unmatched rate makes him cEDH viable. Yet there are many other great Goblin commanders who have been left languishing in the vast shadow cast by Krenko, Mob Boss. In Under the Radar, it's our job to delve into this darkness and to bring the commanders trapped within out into the light.

Today we will be looking at one of these overshadowed Goblins. We will be talking about what makes them a unique Commander and analyzing their average deck list. Introducing the first named Goblin in Magic's history: Pashalik Mons.

The story of Mons

Mons Johnson was one of the playtesters of Alpha, Magic: The Gathering's first release, and a friend of Richard Garfield, the game's creator. Johnson loved Goblins more than any of Magic's other designers, and this was immortalized on the card Mons's Goblin Raiders.

While Goblins in contemporary Magic are depicted as stocky creatures with giant ears and noses, the Goblins depicted on Mons's Goblin Raiders are essentially humans, albeit with greyish-green skin. Similarly, Goblins on Magic cards today are frequently depicted as comic relief characters whether they are charging ineffectually toward certain doom like Goblin Assault Team or implying that Giants have BO problems like Tin Street Dodger.

Mons's Goblin Raiders in contrast, despite being a vanilla 1/1, is presented as as a credible threat. The card bears an intimidating paragraph of flavor text, concluding with the boastful claim that "Pashalik Mons and his raiders are the thunderhead that leads in the storm".

After the printing of Mons's Goblin Raiders in Alpha in August 1993, it would take more than two and a half decades before their leader got a card . The thunderhead finally arrived, almost 26 years after the storm, with the printing of Pashalik Mons in Modern Horizons in June 2019. After all this time though, was Pashalik Mons worth the wait?

Mono-Red Mons

For Pashalik Mons is a 2/2 Goblin Warrior. Whenever a Goblin you control dies, including Mons himself, he deals 1 damage to any target and for Mons sacrifices a Goblin and creates two 1/1 Goblin tokens. It is clear then that Mons is a Goblin sacrifice commander. Mons always deals 1 damage whenever a Goblin you control dies. It doesn't matter if that Goblin is killed in combat, destroyed by a removal spell, or deliberately sacrificed, the damage from Mons will still come through. This deck wants you to build up a massive army of Goblins, and then get them all killed off, to have Mons ping everyone else to death.

It is slightly unfortunate that Pashalik Mons is mono-red. If Mons was Rakdos colored instead, he would have access to a huge suite of extra sacrifice spells, and payoffs, like Village Rites, Murderous Redcap, and Putrid Goblin. If you're looking for a black and red Goblin sacrifice Commander then Wort, Boggart Auntie is available to fill that niche. If, in the immortal words of Mark Rosewater, you know that "restrictions breed creativity" and the challenge of building a mono-red Goblin sacrifice deck sounds appealing, then keep on reading.

Mons's Average Deck

Pashalik Mons currently (as of 08/10/2024) has 402 decks to his name. The EDHREC average deck feature takes all of these lists and smushes them together into a single usable deck. Here is what that deck looks like...

There's a small issue with this list, but it can be easily addressed. The curve here is a bit higher than it should be. The stats generated by Archidekt tell us that the average mana value of cards in the deck is 2.77 , and that it contains more three-drops than two-drops. Goblin decks rely on flooding the board with large numbers of low-cost creatures. Similarly, Sacrifice decks utilize low-cost cards, to serve as fodder to fuel their strategy. This deck's high curve is a bit of an issue, as it interferes with both of its themes. We will address some ways of fixing this in the "cards to cut" section later.

Beyond the problems with the mana curve though, the fundamentals are all in place here. We have a nice selection of cards that make Goblins like Mogg War Marshal, Legion Warboss, and Goblin Instigator. We also have plenty of sacrifice outlets like Goblin Bombardment, Ashnod's Altar, and Mons himself.

This list does feature a few expensive cards, that can be cut if you're brewing on a budget. While Goblin Sharpshooter is a powerful card, that synergizes excellently with this deck's sacrifice theme, it is also $30+ and no one would blame you for getting rid of it. Arena of Glory is also a $6+ land with a haste-enabling upside, that can be swapped out for a basic mountain if you're looking to reduce costs. This price of the card Goblin King is also highly variable, and if you don't mind picking up a white-border copy from Eighth or Ninth Edition, then you can save a few bucks.

With all of this out of the way, let's start talking about modifications we can make to this average list. All of the usage data for the cards discussed below was sourced on 08/10/2024.

Five Cards to Keep

Currently in 4% of decks.

Siege-Gang Lieutenant is the newer, slicker variant of Siege-Gang Commander. Both of the cards are in the deck, and both fulfill a useful function as sacrifice outlets that also provide some useful tokens to be offered up. Siege-Gang Commander provides an additional Goblin token upfront and its sacrifice ability deals one additional point of damage. Siege-Gang Lieutenant is one mana cheaper, and provides a reoccurring flow of Goblins every turn, if you keep your Commander alive. Both cards have a place here and provide you with the necessary Goblin glue that keeps your strategy stuck together.

Currently in 47% of decks.

This deck features plenty of lords (creatures that provide a +1/+1 bonus to other creatures of their type). There's Goblin Chieftain, Goblin King, Hobgoblin Bandit Lord and Goblin Trashmaster. Despite being one of the cheapest of these lords, both in terms of its mana cost and financial value, Rundvelt Hordemaster has a very useful effect. Whenever a Goblin you control dies, Rundvelt Hordemaster exiles the top card of your library and allows you to cast it, before the end of your next turn, if it's a Goblin. While there is a reasonable chance that Rundvelt Hordemaster's ability can end up missing and not getting a Goblin, if you're sacrificing enough Goblins then the Hordemaster is sure to hit something and keep your field full of Green goons. Also, for the Magic lore aficionados out there, Rundvelt Hordemaster needs to be kept in the deck because they share the same home as Mons up in Dominaria's Rundvelt mountains.

Currently in 20% of decks.

Mons's ability to ping opponents is this deck's primary win condition. If you triple the damage of these pings, then you can close games out three times as quickly. Enter City on Fire. Whilst, at eight mana, City on Fire, might initially not seem like a good fit for the deck, its convoke ability means that it can be played surprisingly early. Convoke allows creatures, as well as lands, to be tapped down to pay the cost to cast a spell. Even if you don't have a huge board of Goblins in play, once you have three or four of them out, then they can provide a significant cost reduction to City on Fire. Goblin decks tend to have huge boards, which makes City on Fire a great card here, and makes it a better choice than its marginally cheaper counterpart that lacks convoke Fiery Emancipation.

Currently in 30% of decks.

While City on Fire demonstrates the power of Mons's ability when it's targeted at your opponent's life totals, Basilisk Collar shows that you shouldn't forget to use it to kill their creatures as well. While Mons is equipped with the Collar, any time a Goblin you control dies, you'll be able to take down an opponent's creature along with them. Deathtouch causes any damage dealt by a creature to be lethal, not just damage dealt in combat. The life gain the Collar provides is also a nice bonus, but turning Mons's ability into a removal effect is the real reason it's here. If you've decided to spend the $30+ to get your hands on a copy of Goblin Sharpshooter then the Collar also fits nicely on them. With the Collar equipped, then the Goblin gunner can wipe out every non-invincible creature that your opponent's control.

Currently in 91% of decks.

Skirk Prospector being in 91% of Mons decks, speaks volumes to its amazing utility as a sacrifice outlet. While Siege-Gang Lieutenant and Pashalik Mons charge you mana to sacrifice your creatures, Skirk Prospector sacs a Goblin and then leaves you one red mana up. The red mana which the prospector generates can be used to play more Goblin, or turned to whatever end you need, whilst also enabling Mons's ability. If you put a copy of the spell Mana Echoes into your deck, then you can pull off an infinite combo with just the Prospector, Mons, and one other Goblin in play. This combo will grant you an infinite amount of mana, deal an infinite amount of damage to all of your opponents, and give you an infinite number of Goblin tokens. There may not be gold in them there hills, but Skirk Prospector ensures they will certainly be full of Goblins.

Five Cards to Cut

Currently in 39% of decks.

We've talked about how the curve of this deck is quite high, and how certain cards could be cut and replaced with lower-cost alternatives. Squee, Dubious Monarch is one of these cards. Squee is a 2/2 Goblin for with Haste that generates a 1/1 attacking Goblin token whenever it attacks. Legion Warboss already does this card's job more effectively, as it doesn't need to risk itself by attacking every turn to generate tokens. While Squee's ability to return from the grave, by exiling four cards and paying four mana, can be useful, it's pretty overcosted and this is never the way you'll want to be spending your mana unless you're completely out of other options.

Currently in 73% of decks.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin is another legendary three-drop Goblin that doesn't live up to its reputation. While this card can be very powerful in the right context, this deck simply doesn't provide Krenko with the support it needs. Whenever Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin attacks it gains a +1/+1 counter, and then you can create a number of 1/1 Goblin tokens equal to its power. This card works well in decks that can buff it up, pumping its power to huge heights and increasing the number of Goblin tokens that it generates at the same time. In this deck though, Krenko is often just a 1/2 Goblin for three mana. It will spend a turn idle, and then there's no guarantee that it will be able to attack any opponent safely on the ground, meaning that it may not even be able to get started generating tokens.

Currently in 35% of decks.

Thrill of Possibility isn't necessarily a bad card draw spell, but it has, for better or worse, been power crept. There is no reason to run this card over Demand Answers which is in a much smaller selection of Mons decks (less than 15%). Demand Answers provides the same effect, for the same mana cost, but enables you to sacrifice an artifact, as an alternative to discarding a card, to activate it. The deck doesn't need both of these effects, it is already running Faithless Looting which is a superior draw spell to both, and has Skullclamp which can chew through Goblin tokens to draw more cards than either of these two could ever provide. If you're going to run one of the two cards go for Demand Answers though rather than Thrill of Possibility.

Currently in 30% of decks.

Fire Diamond simply isn't a very good mana rock. It enters play tapped, making it a lot slower than many of the alternative choices out there. Since Mons is a monocolor Commander, unfortunately, Arcane Signet is the only signet that he's able to make use of, but even so Fire Diamond isn't a very good alternative. Even Fellwar Stone, which I advised cutting in my previous article, is a better choice, as it enters play untapped and it often won't matter if it can't generate red mana, as you'll have no shortage of red sources available.

Currently in 73% of decks.

There is a small part of me that really doesn't want to cut this card. Goblin War Strike has the potential to deal absolutely obscene amounts of damage for only a single piece of Red mana, while at other times it is a dead draw or pretty close to one. This tumultuous, highly variable, level of power, gives the card a huge amount of chaotic energy. If Goblins built Magic: the Gathering decks, this is absolutely the kind of card that they would use. Nevertheless cutting it is probably the right choice. Unlike the damage dealt by Mons, this card can only go for an opponent's face and it cannot remove any creatures. While we can all imagine the scenarios in our mind, where we close out a game by dealing 25 damage to an opponent with a Goblin War Strike, if we already have 25 Goblins in play then chances are that we are already winning and don't need the war strike.

Five Cards to Add

Currently in 0% of decks.

Earlier we discussed cutting several expensive Goblins, which begs the question, which cheap Goblins should we use to replace them? Well, there are lots of excellent low-cost Goblins out there. Cards like Ember Hauler, Goblin Sledder and Exuberant Fuseling. Fanatical Firebrand is, arguably, the Goblin that fits in with this deck's objectives best though. This strict upgrade over both Raging Goblin and Mogg Fanatic was introduced in 2018's Rivals of Ixalan. It's a 1 mana hasty 1/1 that can sacrifice itself to deal 1 damage to any target. Thanks to Mons's ability, that is functionally two damage. This card can be surprisingly impactful, despite its low cost, and it is definitely worth a look.

Currently in 0% of decks.

Gut, True Soul Zealot has the power to sacrifice a measly 1/1 Goblin and turn it into a massive 4/1 menacing Skeleton token. You can sacrifice a Goblin to activate Gut's ability and get a decent, but fragile, attacker out of the deal who will either damage an opponent for 10% of their life or take some blockers down with them. This deck can always use more sacrifice enablers, and Gut, True Soul Zealot is a pretty powerful one.

Currently in 6% of decks.

While it may seem like heresy to add a non-Goblin to this Goblin typal deck, Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might earns their place. This Ixalani god has four power and causes all noncombat damage dealt by its controller's red sources to become equal to its power. City on Fire triples the damage that Mons's ability deals, while Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might quadruples the damage. Even if this card is killed, it returns to play as land, that can be transformed back into its creature form by dealing four or more noncombat damage during your turn. This is a feat that's remarkably easy to achieve with Mons on the field.

Currently in 31% of decks.

Torbran is another non-Goblin that works remarkably well with Mons and his raiders. For Torbran, Thane of Red Fell is a 2/4 Dwarven Noble who causes all damage dealt by its controller's Red sources to increase by +2. This card slots into the same niche in the deck that Ojer Axonil, Deepest Might, and City on Fire do, as a means of rapidly increasing the amount of damage dished out by Mons's effect.

Currently in 3% of decks.

We've talked about cards that can increase the damage dealt by Mons's ability, now let's look at one that tacks on some additional card advantage. Virtue of Courage allows its controller to exile cards from the top of the top of their library, and play them until the end of turn, when noncombat damage is dealt to an opponent. This is a really useful way of ensuring that you'll never run short of Goblins, however many you end up sacrificing or getting killed off in battle. This card is a bit pricy, by this deck's standards, at five mana but it can be cast as a two-mana Shock in the early game, ensuring that it is never a dead draw.

Conclusion

Maybe Mons doesn't have the raw token-generating power of Krenko, Mob Boss, or the ability to slam out a bunch of free Goblins like Muxus, Goblin Grandee but Mons does have an appeal all his own. Magic's first named Goblin forms the centrepiece of an interesting sacrifice-themed Goblin deck. You're not just playing a bunch of Goblins and slamming them into your opponent's faces until they can take no more, you're launching them into the air with Goblin Bombardmentor sending them down into the mines to be turned into red mana with Skirk Prospector.

With Pashalik Mons is in your command zone, you're deck is led by the game's premier Goblin. Bonus points if you throwMons's Goblin Raiders into the mix somewhere as well.

Read more:

Under the Radar - Feather, Radiant Arbiter

Singleton Shmingleton - Mono-Red Goblins with Goblin Tunneler

Ben Macready

Ben is a freelance writer from the UK. He's has been playing Magic since he was 8 years old, back when he thought Enormous Baloth was the best card in the game. You can find more Magic content from him on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2iSANUGoKzdK6XgLyB1qLw