The 44 Best Goblins in Magic Ranked

Last updated on December 8, 2025

Goblin Wizardry | Illustrationby Izzy

Goblins are ubiquitous to Magic: The Gathering. These puny, sniveling creatures are wild and careless in their demeanor, and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a format where a straight-up goblins deck isn’t somewhere in the meta. The nasty little guys are fast and low to the ground but can pack a surprising punch.

With such a long history, there are over 500 goblin cards in MTG. But which are the best? Let’s take a dive into the warrens and find out which goblin deserves to be king.

What Are Goblins in MTG?

Muxus, Goblin Grandee | Illustration by Dmitry Burmak

Goblin is a creature type characteristic of red, but sometimes found in other colors. They're not really my favorite creature type in Magic, but they are fun. If you like red deck wins then you probably like goblins. These little guys spread chaos, mayhem, and destruction everywhere they go. And that’s how they like it.

I'll admit that while their playstyle isn’t really my cup of tea, their flavor is top notch. Goblin cards have some of the best (and funniest) flavor text in the game. But that’s enough about that; let’s talk mechanics.

Like I said, goblins are chaotic little creatures. They’re violent and destructive and they’re good at it. Here are the main mechanics you’ll run into if you dive into this type:

• Token creation
• Haste
• First strike and double strike
• +1/+1 counters
• Sacrifice effects and payoffs
• Dealing damage
• Creating (red) mana

Now that you know what goblins are all about, it’s time to take a look at the best in the game. Let’s go!

Honorable Mentions

Several goblins deserve special recognition, and these two are hard to ignore. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker isn’t technically a goblin, but the tokens it makes are absolute all-stars. The Goblin Shaman token basically pays for the saga by making Treasure; once it flips into Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, things get wild fast. Copying your best creature every turn turns even small plays into game-ending threats, especially in a deck full of goblins.

And, of course, there’s Dockside Extortionist. This little troublemaker is famous and banned in Commander for a reason—it’s one of the strongest mana engines red has ever seen. Drop it early and it still gives you value, but wait until later and it can explode into a pile of Treasure big enough to win on the spot. Whether it’s fueling combos or powering out massive spells, Dockside always delivers chaos in true goblin fashion.

#44. General Kreat, the Boltbringer

General Kreat, the Boltbringer is what happens when leadership meets chaos. Every time your goblins attack, you get more goblins, and every creature that enters your side of the field pings your opponents. With cards like Mogg War Marshal or Krenko, Mob Boss, that damage adds up fast. It’s one of those cards that makes your opponents groan every time you add another token because they know what’s coming next.

#43. Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s Goro-Goro, Disciple of Ryusei continues the legacy of Kamigawa’s original 5/5 legendary dragon cycle. Goro-Goro beats the bear test as a 2/2 for 2 mana, and it’ll give itself and any other creature hitting the field haste for just 1 mana. Its second ability makes a great mana dump in the latter half of EDH games: The conditional “modified” attacker stipulation is easy enough to satisfy, so 5 mana for a 5/5 flier is a great price. Run an extra combat enabler like Breath of Fury so you can attack with those dragons right away.

#42. Dropkick Bomber

Dropkick Bomber gives your whole goblin squad a power-up, literally. It’s a solid anthem effect that makes every small goblin feel more dangerous. You can even give one of them flying for a surprise aerial attack—just don’t mind the self-destruct trigger afterward. Try pairing it with Goblin Piledriver to sneak in a lethal hit out of nowhere. It’s risky, it’s flashy, and it’s exactly the kind of chaos goblins love.

#41. Legion Warboss

Legion Warboss uses its mentor ability to swing in with a 2/2 goblin each turn, assuming you can protect your Warboss in combat. Getting a guaranteed creature to buff with mentor each turn makes Legion Warboss valuable, and those Goblin tokens and +1/+1 counters are effectively free.

#40. Ultimate Green Goblin

Ultimate Green Goblin turns chaos into profit. Discarding every upkeep might sound rough, but it pays you back with Treasure tokens and fuels its own mayhem ability. Once you’ve tossed it into the graveyard, you can bring it back swinging for cheap. Pair it with Faithless Looting or Bag of Holding to make every discard count, and soon you’ll be sitting on a mountain of mana and mischief.

#39. Searslicer Goblin

Searslicer Goblin rewards one thing—attacking. As long as you swing each turn, it pays you off with more Goblin tokens at the end step. It’s simple, it’s steady, and it stacks up quickly. Cards like Impact Tremors or Shared Animosity make those tokens hit even harder. If you like decks that keep the pressure on every single turn, this little warrior fits right in.

#38. Moria Marauder

The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth appropriately featured a slew of new goblin and orc cards, and Moria Marauder might be the best of them. Reminiscent of Warren Instigator, it has a combat damage trigger and double strike, so you’ll get two triggers per unblocked Marauder. Plus, its ability applies to all goblins and orcs you control, meaning you’re guaranteed to threaten two or more triggers when swinging in with a full field of goblins.

#37. Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer

Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer brings some serious artifact synergy to the table. Its power scales with your biggest artifact, so things get wild if you have something like Wurmcoil Engine out. You can even bring artifacts back from the graveyard by sacrificing another one—perfect for keeping your value train running. In decks that love self-mill or discard, Daretti ensures nothing useful ever stays gone for long.

#36. Rundvelt Hordemaster

Two-mana lords are always welcome in a goblin deck, and Rundvelt Hordemaster’s got the added bonus of replacing any of those dead goblins, including your tokens! There’s no reason you won’t have enough mana to play some more cheap Mogg War Marshals or Goblin Arsonists.

#35. Crime Novelist

Crime Novelist looks like a weak goblin on the surface, but it grows very quickly if you're sacrificing artifacts like treasures or clues for any purpose.

#34. Burnout Bashtronaut

Burnout Bashtronaut is the ultimate adrenaline junkie. It starts off small, but as you deal damage and crank up your speed, it becomes an unstoppable threat with double strike. The menace keyword makes blocking rough, while cards like Reckless Bushwhacker make it hit even harder. If you love fast-paced, all-gas-no-brakes gameplay, this fiery goblin is ready for liftoff.

#33. Goblin Rabblemaster

Goblin Rabblemaster is a great way to get free goblins, but it makes it hard to keep those goblins around. Your best bet is to give it first strike in some way so it can’t just be chumped by any ol’ 2/2 your opponent has lying around.

#32. Breeches, Eager Pillager

Breeches, Eager Pillager can give you up to three benefits every turn you're attacking with pirates. You’ll often get at least a Treasure from this card simply by attacking with someone else. Breeches is an excellent incentive to run cheap pirates like Goblin Tomb Raider and Spyglass Siren, at least in Standard.

#31. Ignoble Hierarch

Ignoble Hierarch is a fan-favorite mana dork. A 1-mana dork that taps for three different colors is pretty good by itself, but when you take the exalted effect into account, this card has a much wider application than you’d think. I run four copies in a Modern poison counters deck, where that extra +1/+1 really makes a difference when I attack with a Phyrexian Crusader.

#30. Goblin Matron

Goblin Matron is the most basic goblin tutor, but it’s still a 3-mana body that’ll fetch you any relevant goblin in your deck. There’s basically no goblin deck that can do without one, similar to Goblin Recruiter.

#29. Goblin Piledriver

The best goblins capitalize on the things goblins are good at; namely, making lots of goblins. Goblin Piledriver is a 2-mana rare that shouldn’t be any smaller than a 3/2 when it attacks. More likely, you’ll see it get +8/+0 or more with a horde of goblins on the field. The protection from blue is just icing on the cake; this goblin is playable even outside of blue matchups.

#28. Green Goblin, Nemesis

Green Goblin, Nemesis takes the chaos of discarding and turns it into pure value. Toss a nonland card and one of your goblins gets stronger; discard a land and you get a Treasure token instead. It works beautifully with cards like Tormenting Voice, helping you draw, discard, and profit all at once. Plus, with flying, it can chip in for damage while fueling your next explosive turn.

#27. Goblin Chainwhirler

Goblin Chainwhirler is straightforward in its value. It’s potentially quite a bit of direct damage spread out across the board, and it’s still a 3/3 with first strike for 3 mana. Survives Shocks and their equivalents, guaranteed to get its value back in damage, and both a good attacker and defender. A monster in Limited and a card that teetered on the edge of being banned in Standard during its time.

#26. Zo-Zu the Punisher

Do you hate your friends? Do you want to make playing Magic as difficult as possible? Let me introduce you to Zo-Zu the Punisher. Zo-Zu hits any player who plays a land with a Shock each time. Finally, a way to deal with those damn landfall decks running rampant everywhere! Go ahead, Traverse the Outlands. I’ll wait.

#25. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser

If a card costs , it better be very red. Grenzo, Havoc Raiser is pretty close to being the reddest goblin there ever was. While its 2/2 body isn’t impressive, Grenzo’s combat damage trigger counts each creature you control, meaning you can sneak by with evasive flying or menace creatures and still get to “impulse draw” off of your opponent’s library. Grenzo’s goad mechanic has much more functionality in a multiplayer game, so it excels in EDH.

#24. Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician

I’ve got a soft spot for Ib Halfheart, Goblin Tactician. It was one of the first legendary creatures I remember playing with (shout out to Duel Decks: Elves vs. Goblins), and it did wonders as a late-game bomb to clear my opponents' field. Ib, in all its strategic genius, has “solved” the problem of having too many goblins without a way past your opponents’ creatures. Normally, those 1/1 Goblin tokens die immediately upon contact with almost any other creature, but Ib turns them into 4 damage on the spot.

Suddenly, your army of tiny goblins actually removes your opponent’s creature when they try to block them, making you much more of a threat. Run out of goblins? Sacrifice those Mountains! You don’t need more than a few in the average goblin deck anyway.

#23. Stadium Headliner

Stadium Headliner knows how to get a crowd going. Every time it attacks, it mobilizes a warrior token to join the fun, and it can sacrifice itself to deal a burst of damage based on how wide your board is. It pairs beautifully with cards that flood the battlefield, like Goblin Instigator or Hordeling Outburst. It’s a cheap, aggressive creature that loves turning numbers into pure damage.

#22. Broadside Bombardiers

The sheer applications of Broadside Bombardiers are broad indeed, as you can get rid of a Treasure to Shock any target, or sac something more expensive. Cards like Spine of Ish Sah come to mind – dealing 9 damage and getting the card back. Or just the ol' “threaten and sac”, getting a 6-drop from your opponent for a turn, sacrificing it, and dealing 8 direct damage to any target.

#21. Warren Soultrader

Warren Soultrader is a rare free sacrifice outlet. You even get mana in the form of Treasure tokens, and each creature becomes two pieces of fodder in a sacrifice-dedicated deck. It can even go infinite if you have a way to create tokens by paying 1 mana (tip: Krenko, Baron of Tin Street). 

#20. Krenko, Baron of Tin Street

Goblins are known for their numbers, and Krenko, Baron of Tin Street gives you a way to produce goblins and put +1/+1 counters on them. In many ways, it's better than a typical goblin lord. Plus, a 3/3 haste creature is already a solid rate. Keep in mind that the ability triggers when an opponent loses an artifact too, making it a great anti-Treasure card.

#19. Guttersnipe

The famous Guttersnipe is an essential synergy piece for burn decks the world over. For a mere 3 mana, you’ve got a bear that turns every instant or sorcery you play into bonus damage. Run four in any spellslinger deck. Run a copy or two in any Izzet deck you build. There’s no reason not to.

#18. Goblin Guide

The best time to start attacking your opponent is, on average, as early as possible. Goblin Guide’ll do just that. Any 2/2 for 1 mana has a downside, but Goblin Guide’s really isn’t that horrible. Flooding your opponent’s hand with land cards beats the hell out of just drawing them cards, and you’ll always get to see what nonland they’re about to draw. Two or more turns of unblocked attacks from Goblin Guide is more than enough pay off for any aggro deck, especially when two or more hit the field and every trigger just reminds the defending player about that useless counterspell they’ll draw next turn.

#17. Skirk Prospector

Skirk Prospector is your ticket to a massive X-spell when you can’t seem to squeeze your army of goblins past an opponent’s field. Red’s access to ramp is sparse at worst and conditional at best, so the Prospector’s relatively stipulation-free activation means it’s the superior choice for ramp in any goblins deck.

#16. Howlsquad Heavy

When Howlsquad Heavy hits the field, your goblins go from 0 to 60. Suddenly, everything you control has haste, and you’re spitting out tokens at the start of every combat. The best part? You can tap it to generate red mana for each goblin you control. It’s pure speed and aggression—especially when you pair it with Skirk Prospector or Krenko, Mob Boss. This card doesn’t just go fast—it stays fast.

#15. Goblin Warchief

Goblin Warchief is one of the classic goblin lords. With a cost-reducing effect and a haste anthem, Warchief pours gasoline directly onto the fire of an already aggressive creature type. Suddenly, you’re playing multiple Mogg War Marshals per turn and swinging in with five or six goblins where previously there was one.

#14. Warren Instigator

Some of the best goblin cards are just easy ways to play more goblins. Warren Instigator is one of the best goblins for this. An unblocked Instigator means you’ll drop two goblins for free after the first strike and regular combat damage resolve. This is the best way to sneak those 5-mana goblins into play without wasting a whole turn’s worth of mana casting them.

My favorite targets are goblin lords that can hit the field between the first strike and normal combat damage, squeezing an extra point of damage out of the Warren Instigator. Also: Warren Instigator doesn’t specify combat damage, so you can always equip it with a Viridian Longbow-type effect.

#13. Cacophony Scamp

Hey, have y’all heard about Colossus Hammer? Wouldn’t it be nuts if attaching the Hammer to Cacophony Scamp and then flinging it at an opponent was a meta-defining strategy in Modern right now?

Modern “Hammer Time” decks have evolved beyond the use of Cacophony Scamp, but it's a nice way to demonstrate this card's potential.

#12. Vial Smasher the Fierce

Vial Smasher the Fierce has a reputation for being one of the most popular partner commanders. Its popularity isn’t undeserved, either. It’s a popular group slug leader and combines with Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix for a powerful 4-color deck that’ll ramp into some huge spells for a ton of damage.

#11. Conspicuous Snoop

On its face, Conspicuous Snoop is fair card advantage with some interesting utility. Dig a little deeper, and you’ll uncover the Kiki-Jiki combo. So long as Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker is on top of your library, the Snoop sees it and can use its copy ability to make a copy of itself, which can then create a copy of itself, etc. This results in infinite ETB triggers and an infinite number of Snoops. Use an Impact Tremors to turn that into damage or sacrifice them all to Goblin Bombardment.

#10. Goblin Lackey

Goblin Lackey is the quicker Warren Instigator. Play it turn 1, swing in on turn 2, then put Muxus, Goblin Grandee into play and get another five goblins to boot. Suddenly you have seven goblins in play on turn 3, and a Muxus that’ll swing in as a 12/12 before your opponent knows what’s hit them.

#9. Legion Loyalist

Many of Gatecrash’s battalion creatures don’t see the light of play anymore, but Legion Loyalist has stood the test of time. What makes it valuable is the combination of haste with the battalion trigger. Opponents can usually sniff out which battalion creature to remove before it has a chance to attack, but Legion Loyalist attacks the turn it hits the field, hopefully with a boardstate that’ll allow you to trigger its effect. It was a huge hoser against Selesnya populate decks back in the Return to Ravnica Standard, and it still makes waves against token decks in Commander today.

#8. Goblin King

The original goblin lord was Alpha’s Goblin King. A +1/+1 anthem and mountainwalk (which was much more relevant way back when) made it a powerful creature, even if there were only two other goblins around at the time.

#7. Goblin Recruiter

Goblin Recruiter is both a great goblin-specific tutor and a nasty combo enabler with Conspicuous Snoop and Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker. This combo is so effective that Goblin Recruiter is banned in Legacy. Do you know what you have to do to be banned in Legacy? It shares this honor with cards like Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus.

#6. Vexing Shusher

If there’s one thing creature decks struggle against, it’s counterspells. Vexing Shusher fixes all that. That control deck better have an answer besides another Essence Scatter; otherwise you’ll be unstoppable. Without a doubt one of the best sideboard cards for any format with a control-heavy meta.

#5. Wort, Boggart Auntie

Wort, Boggart Auntie is your go-to commander for any Rakdos goblins deck. Wort’s automatic free recursion of your goblins makes things like Mogg War Marshal great targets for your Village Rites, keeping the goblins rotating in and out of your graveyard all while pinging your foes with Boggart Shenanigans. There’s really nowhere else to turn for a black/red goblin deck. Just run Wort.

#4. Muxus, Goblin Grandee

Muxus, Goblin Grandee absolutely crushed some Constructed formats upon release. Its ETB effect means it won’t make the best commander (unless you invest heavily in ways to bounce it in mono-red), but nothing beats hitting Muxus for free thanks to Warren Instigator and Goblin Lackey.

#3. Krenko, Mob Boss

The only thing better than 100 goblins is 200 goblins. Krenko, Mob Boss is the most powerful goblin commander out there, and perhaps the best mono-red commander in Magic. I’ve seen enough to know that you can’t let a Krenko go unanswered. The second it starts doubling up on goblins, it’ll be hard to catch up. Two turns after a Krenko hits the field, the only solution is a board wipe, and that might not even be enough.

#2. Goblin Wizard

Goblin Wizard beats out Warren Instigator and Goblin Lackey by simple virtue of not having to attack and risk its life for that extra free goblin. It’s also only ever been printed in 1994’s The Dark, making it a pricey pickup.

#1. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

You can’t beat Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker when it comes to sheer goblin energy. It combos with just about everything with an enter-the-battlefield trigger, and it’s easily exploited to activate multiple times per turn. Popular targets for Kiki-Jiki include Fury, Snapcaster Mage, Pestermite… the list goes on.

This doesn’t even take into account the goblin-specific combos Kiki-Jiki enables: Conspicuous Snoop can make infinite copies of itself with Kiki on top of your library; combine with Thornbite Staff and Goblin Sharpshooter to blow the board away; just about any time you think a Splinter Twin effect could be useful, the Mirror-Breaker is there and making it that much better.

Best Goblin Lords and Payoffs

Goblin Chieftain and Goblin Warchief are great as cards that boost your other goblins and help them land a little sooner. You should probably grab both of them if you’re looking to bolster your forces.

Hey, you! Bow to your king! I already covered Goblin King; boosting your other goblins while giving them full access to beat your opponent to death is probably one of the best goblin lord abilities there is.

It goes without saying that Goblin Bombardment should work its way into every goblin deck. You can effectively double your damage output by swinging in with your army of 1/1 tokens and then sacrificing them after damage for that same amount. Or, you have a free outlet for death triggers to synergize with Boggart Shenanigans.

Okay, I know it’s not a goblin or a goblin payoff per se, but Purphoros, God of the Forge decks in EDH are often built as goblin token decks, seeing as each token you put in play can dome your opponents for 2. They recently printed General Kreat, the Boltbringer which lets you stay on-theme, even if the damage output isn't as strong on Kreat.

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning that a few non-goblin cards from The Lord of the Rings—like Saruman, the White Hand, Corsairs of Umbar, and Uglúk of the White Hand—can boost both orcs and goblins. They might not be goblins themselves, but their synergies make them excellent additions if you’re building a deck themed around Middle-earth’s rowdiest tribes. If you’re aiming for a flavorful, dedicated goblin deck from that set, these are definitely worth exploring.

Wrap Up

Goblin Guide | Illustration by Filip Burburan

That just about does it for the Best Goblins Ever list. I’m sure by this time next year we’ll have another slew of goblin lords to add to the list, and personally, I can’t wait.

What are your favorite goblins? Which artists do the best goblins (objectively, it’s Wayne Reynolds, but you’re entitled to your opinion, too)? And what’s your favorite Goblin creature token? Let me know in the comments, or over on Draftsim’s Twitter.

Thanks for reading, stay Gobbin’!

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