Best Krenko, Mob Boss Commander Deck In MTG

Goblins aren’t known for their intelligence, but Krenko is one of the exceptions that proves the rule. One of the most storied Goblins in the lore of Magic: The Gathering, he’s also one of the most popular commanders.

Goblins tend to be small and weak, but Krenko, Mob Boss can summon an army of them, smothering your opponents under an ever-growing swarm of the grimy green goobers. Then, with all of your Goblins riffing off each other, you’ll be able to bury your opponents with their bodies or use them to generate tons of mana for a big payoff.

Sample Decklist

The Commander

Krenko, Mob Boss, is a 3/3 legendary Goblin Warrior who costs two generic and two red mana. He has a single ability: You can tap Krenko to make X 1/1 Goblin tokens, where ‘X’ is the number of Goblins you control.

Krenko, Mob Boss allows you to effectively double the number of Goblins you control at instant speed any time he’s untapped. If he’s the only Goblin in play, this is an okay ability, but as you get more and more Goblins, it becomes more and more powerful.

There are a lot of Goblins that get better when there are more Goblins in play, and a lot that empower other Goblins.

Between these two categories, Krenko, Mob Boss allows you to build an incredibly powerful gamestate incredibly quickly.

Building The Deck

Krenko, Mob Boss only does one thing: Make Goblins. But he does that exceptionally well, and if you paid attention in Algebra, you’ll realize just how wild your Goblin gang can get with exponential growth.

In order to get the engine going, you need a handful of Goblins before you activate Krenko’s ability. Any Goblins you have on hand will work, but there are several exceptional ones that make all the rest of your Goblins better. Each of these that you control makes Krenko’s Goblin tokens bigger and meaner.

While Goblins are great at going wide, Krenko also lends himself to combos. A few Goblins on the field and you’ll be able to tap him to do massive damage through Impact Tremors, or generate absurd amounts of mana that you can turn into even more Goblins.

This decklist takes a mixed approach, allowing you to win in a variety of ways, both with visible threats on the board and with hidden traps in your hand.

Ramp

Goblins tend to be cheap, so this deck doesn’t need much mana acceleration. But there are a few pieces to speed the game up, or to generate really absurd amounts of mana in the late game.

Skirk Prospector allows you to sacrifice Goblins for red mana at a one-to-one ratio. You don’t usually want to throw away your hard-earned Goblins, but this allows Krenko, Mob Boss to turn your battlefield into a battery. Make some tokens, then scrap a few for mana!

Ashnod’s Altar works about the same way, but it produces two colorless mana per creature instead of one red. It also doesn’t count as a Goblin, but since it isn’t a creature it’s a little more resistant to removal effects, which most often hit creatures.

Howlsquad Heavy doesn’t even require you to sacrifice creatures: Once you have Max Speed, you can just tap it for one red for each Goblin you control. He builds his own crew of Goblins, making a token each turn, and gives all of them haste, so he’s a must-have in this deck!

Max Speed takes a few turns to reach, so we included Muraganda Raceway and Amonkhet Raceway as alternative ways to “Start Your Engines” before you play Howlsquad Heavy, allowing you to reach Max Speed before it enters and use its ability immediately.

This deck also contains two rituals that you’ll be able to make excellent use of. Brightstone Ritual is a Goblin staple that gives you one red mana for every Goblin in play, while Battle Hymn gives you one red for each creature you control. Usually Brightstone Ritual will be slightly better, but they can both turn one mana into dozens whenever you need it.

The biggest burst of mana will come from Mana Echoes. This enchantment will give you one colorless mana for each Goblin you control every time a Goblin comes into play. Since Krenko’s Goblins come into play at the same time, they see each other and each trigger Mana Echos.

Combo Mana Echoes with Krenko, Mob Boss and Umbral Mantle to make an infinite Goblin and mana loop.

Draw

Red’s draw options are limited, mostly falling into either the “impulse draw” or looting mechanics. But there are a few excellent options available that you should take advantage of.

Slate of Ancestry is like a reusable Wheel of Fortune: For four mana you can discard your whole hand and draw one card for every creature you control. You need to be careful with this one, because Krenko can have you draw your entire deck if you aren’t keeping track of how many cards are left.

Vanquisher’s Banner isn’t going to give you card advantage, but it will keep you from running out of cards by replacing every Goblin creature that you play with a new card. On top of that, it’s also a noncreature lord, giving all of your goblins a passive +1/+1 bonus.

Other card advantage options don’t count as draw, but do put cards into your hand or into play. Icon of Ancestry, for example, has the same +1/+1 typal bonus as Vanquisher’s Banner, but for three mana it allows you to search the top three cards of your library for a Goblin to put into your hand.

Goblin Ringleader isn’t repeatable like Icon of Ancestry, but it allows you to find up to four Goblins from the top of your library when it enters. Of course, the deck does contain a way to repeat this effect, which Goblin Ringleader can find in the form of Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker.

Goblin Kings And Other Lords

“Lords” are cards that look for a specific creature type and give those creatures a bonus. Vanquisher’s Banner and Icon of Ancestry work like this, giving all your Goblins +1/+1, but the more Goblin lords you control, the more of a threat your swarm of 1/1 creeps will be.

Goblin King is a classic: It simply gives all other Goblins +1/+1 and Mountainwalk. It’s great if your opponents have red in their decks, but not so great if they’re also playing with Goblins.

If you’re building a higher-power Krenko, Mob Boss deck, consider adding Blood Moon. Combined with Goblin King, your Goblins will usually be unblockable.

A little lower in the pecking order is Goblin Chieftain, which gives all other Goblins you control +1/+1 and haste. This is especially good for Krenko, since it means he can start cranking out Goblins immediately, and that they can attack as soon as they come into play. Goblin Warchief also gives haste, and makes Goblin spells one mana cheaper, but doesn’t provide a stat boost.

Hobgoblin Bandit Lord not only gives your Goblins +1/+1, it can straight up kill one of your opponents. If Krenko, Mob Boss is left alone for a couple of turns, it can easily put 40+ Goblins into play. Then you just pay one red and tap Hobgoblin Bandit Lord to blast an opponent for all that damage at once.

Since you’ll usually have a lot of junk Goblin tokens, Goblin Trashmaster offers excellent artifact control. Like the other lords, it gives your Goblins +1/+1, but it also allows you to sacrifice a Goblin to destroy an artifact. Is it worth it to sacrifice a token to destroy a combo piece? Yes! What about a Sol Ring? Heck, you might have enough to start breaking your opponents’ Treasure tokens.

Goblins, Goblins…

Goblins are good at sticking together, which means that a lot of them look for friends. This deck includes a few tutors that can help you find the perfect Goblin for any circumstance.

Goblin Recruiter allows you to stack your deck, arranging as many Goblins as you want on the top in the order that you want. This can find you the perfect card to play in the next turn, or set you up for a combo with Conspicuous Snoop.

Goblin Matron is a little less powerful, since she only finds one Goblin and adds it to your hand. But with nearly every creature being a Goblin, she, too, can find you the perfect card… or grab the Goblin Recruiter and stack the deck anyway.

With a lot of Goblins in the deck, Muxus, Goblin Grandee is likely to hit gold. But if you can arrange the top few cards of your library (there’s the Goblin Recruiter again!), you can use him to get all of your best Goblins into play all at once.

Probably the best way to find Goblins isn’t a Goblin at all. Moggcatcher is a Human Mercenary, but for three mana it allows you to search your library for any Goblin and put it directly into play. This allows you to hit enter triggers at instant speed, or to dig up any Goblin you need on the spot.

…And More Goblins

The most important part of a Krenko, Mob Boss deck is getting enough Goblins into play for Krenko to do his job. You can only have so many cards in your deck, though, so it’s important to include ways to make extra Goblins.

Dragon Fodder and Krenko’s Command are functionally identical: Each sorcery produces two 1/1 Goblin tokens for two mana. But Mogg War Marshal does the same thing, while providing an extra sac target and boardwipe resistance.

Siege-Gang Commander is a classic Goblin Staple: It comes into play with two 1/1 Goblin tokens, and can sacrifice Goblins to do two damage to a target for two mana. But Siege Gang Lieutenant is even better, since it can make two Goblin tokens with haste on each of your combat phases. It can’t do quite as much damage, but you’ll have way more fodder!

It doesn’t create Goblin tokens, but Warren Instigator puts Goblins into play from your hand almost for free. All it needs to do is land a hit on an opponent, but since it only costs two mana, you can probably sneak out a couple higher-cost Goblins early, before one of your opponents gets defenders in place.

Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin grows in size over time, and makes more Goblins based on how big he is. While this isn’t as powerful of an effect as Krenko, Mob Boss has, it’s able to take advantage of assorted buff effects in the deck to scale quickly, and with Coat of Arms it can match or exceed the commander’s output.

Winning

There are several ways to end the game with this deck. You could, of course, just swing with a couple hundred Goblins, but there are some more amusing and less direct ways to win, as well.

Impact Tremors pings each of your opponents whenever a creature comes into play under your control, which can be an absurd amount of damage once Krenko has a few bodies on the board. General Kreat, the Boltbringer replicates that effect, but also creates her own Goblin tokens!

Meanwhile, Pashalik Mons takes the opposite approach, pinging players or other targets whenever one of your Goblins dies. This can turn a Wrath of God into a suicide wish, but it also includes a way to sacrifice Goblins to make even more!

Goblin War Strike and Mob Justice are almost identical in function: For one mana, they deal one damage to an opponent for each Goblin you control. The only difference is that Mob Justice will also count your other creatures, in case you have any non-Goblins in play.