Krenko, Mob Boss Budget Commander Deck Breakdown: Strategy and Full Decklist for Magic: The Gathering
A couple of weeks back, I rounded up the five best commanders for beginners in Magic: The Gathering, and I talked about one pointy-eared crime lord in particular. Krenko, Mob Boss is about as gleefully explosive as this format gets.
Even better for a new player, he’s one of the cheapest legends to build around. The list below is made up almost entirely of commons and uncommons, with not a single reserved list card or pricey staple in sight.
For the uninitiated, Krenko is a mono red 3/3 Goblin Warrior who costs four mana, and his ability is simple. Tap him, and you create a 1/1 red Goblin token for every Goblin you already control, and that counts Krenko himself plus every token he’s already made.
Say you’ve got Krenko and three other Goblins in play. Tap him and you make four tokens, leaving you with eight Goblins.
Untap next turn, tap him again, and that’s eight more — 16 Goblins and counting. The math snowballs out of control in a hurry, and that’s the entire pitch.
The deck has four jobs: flood the board, keep Krenko tapping, pump the team, and turn that army into damage.
Flooding The Board
This is the easy part, and it’s where the budget shines.
One-shot token makers like Krenko’s Command, Dragon Fodder, Hordeling Outburst, and Empty the Warrens are pennies apiece, while repeatable engines like Goblin Rabblemaster, Legion Warboss, and Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin keep the assembly line running.
Every Goblin already on the battlefield makes Krenko’s next tap that much scarier, so the goal is to land a few before you ever activate him.
Keeping Krenko Tapping
Krenko’s tap ability is useless the turn he lands unless he has haste, so the deck is stuffed with cheap ways to grant it.
Goblin Chieftain, Goblin Warchief, Goblin Motivator, Fervor, and Howlsquad Heavy all hand it out, and Swiftfoot Boots throws in protection from the removal that will absolutely come his way.
Getting Krenko online the turn he enters is the single biggest tempo swing in the deck.
Pumping The Team
You need cards that turn a pile of 1/1s into a real kill threat by adding counters, without spending real money.
Goblin King, Goblin Trashmaster, and Hobgoblin Bandit Lord are great choices, while cheap anthems like Goblin Oriflamme and Quest for the Goblin Lord push the whole swarm over the top. None of them will cost you more than a cup of coffee.
Turning The Army Into Damage
This is where games end, and you don’t even need combat to do it.
Impact Tremors ping each opponent every time a Goblin enters the battlefield, so a single big Krenko activation chips in a surprising amount of damage on its own.
Goblin Bombardment converts your horde into a removal spell or a finisher, Throne of the God-Pharaoh drains for your whole tapped-out board, and burn payoffs like Goblin War Strike, Massive Raid, Mob Justice, and Burn at the Stake all scale directly off your creature count.
The real budget all star, though, is Illusionist’s Bracers. Equip it to Krenko, and every time you tap him, the Bracers copy the ability, so you make Goblins twice in a single activation.
For a couple of bucks, that’s about as close to a win-the-game button as a beginner deck gets.
A handful of cheap support pieces round things out, like Sol Ring, Mind Stone, Fire Diamond, and the explosive Brightstone Ritual and Battle Hymn.
These cards pour out a burst of red mana scaled to your board, which lets you dump your hand early, while Goblin Matron, Goblin Ringleader, and Conspicuous Snoop keep the gas flowing.
Final Advice
One word of warning, because it’s the lesson every Krenko pilot learns the hard way, you will have a target on your back.
The board looks harmless one turn and lethal the next, and your opponents know it.
Keep a little interaction handy (Chaos Warp, Abrade, and Vandalblast are all in here for a few cents each) and don’t be afraid to sit on Krenko an extra turn to set up a haste enabler first.
Patience before the explosion is the whole game.
Here’s the complete budget decklist:
Commander (1)
1 Krenko, Mob Boss
Creatures (34)
1 Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin
1 Siege-Gang Commander
1 Goblin Rabblemaster
1 Legion Warboss
1 Beetleback Chief
1 Mogg War Marshal
1 Goblin Instigator
1 Goblin King
1 Goblin Chieftain
1 Goblin Warchief
1 Goblin Trashmaster
1 Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
1 Skirk Prospector
1 Goblin Sledder
1 Dark-Dweller Oracle
1 Goblin Matron
1 Goblin Ringleader
1 Conspicuous Snoop
1 Goblin Chirurgeon
1 Goblin Cratermaker
1 Goblin Piledriver
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Pashalik Mons
1 Squee, Dubious Monarch
1 Goblin Chainwhirler
1 Reckless One
1 Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei
1 Howlsquad Heavy
1 Hellrider
1 Goblin Motivator
1 Battle Cry Goblin
1 Foundry Street Denizen
1 Gempalm Incinerator
1 Goblin Lookout
Instants & Sorceries (14)
1 Krenko’s Command
1 Dragon Fodder
1 Hordeling Outburst
1 Empty the Warrens
1 Goblin War Strike
1 Massive Raid
1 Mob Justice
1 Burn at the Stake
1 Brightstone Ritual
1 Battle Hymn
1 Faithless Looting
1 Chaos Warp
1 Abrade
1 Vandalblast
Enchantments (8)
1 Goblin Bombardment
1 Impact Tremors
1 Goblin Oriflamme
1 Raid Bombardment
1 Cavalcade of Calamity
1 Quest for the Goblin Lord
1 Fervor
1 Outpost Siege
Artifacts (8)
1 Sol Ring
1 Mind Stone
1 Fire Diamond
1 Heraldic Banner
1 Hazoret’s Monument
1 Illusionist’s Bracers
1 Swiftfoot Boots
1 Throne of the God-Pharaoh
Lands (35)
1 Castle Embereth
1 Den of the Bugbear
1 Rogue’s Passage
1 Hanweir Battlements
31 Mountain
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Protect Your Collection With:
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