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Goblin Warchief

Creature — Goblin Warrior

Goblin spells you cast cost {1} less to cast.
Goblins you control have haste.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{1}{R}{R}
Color identity
R
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Vintage Masters
Price
—
EDHREC rank
#2193
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Goblin Warchief card art
Goblin Warchief does two things at once — it cuts the cost of every Goblin you cast and hands them all haste — and a three-mana lord that accelerates into itself the turn it lands is the kind of card tribal decks are built around. Whether you're spinning Krenko, Mob Boss's tap ability the same turn you untap or looping creatures through Wort, Boggart Auntie's recursion, the cost reduction compounds fast enough that Warchief warps how quickly the deck reaches critical mass.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Wort, Boggart Auntie

Wort, Boggart Auntie

88.8% of decks · synergy 0.86

Wort, Boggart Auntie returns a Goblin from the graveyard each combat, and Goblin Warchief's cost reduction means those recycled creatures hit the battlefield faster and swinging immediately — the haste clause turns what would be a slow rebuild into a live threat the same turn it enters.

02
Muxus, Goblin Grandee

Muxus, Goblin Grandee

93.9% of decks · synergy 0.78

Muxus, Goblin Grandee already wants to cheat cost and speed, and Goblin Warchief appears in nearly 94% of Muxus decks because its discount directly lowers the bar to casting the six-mana Grandee itself while ensuring every Goblin Muxus flips off the top can attack the same turn.

03
Krenko, Mob Boss

Krenko, Mob Boss

87.4% of decks · synergy 0.72

Goblin Warchief is in 87% of Krenko, Mob Boss lists for one reason: Krenko needs to tap, and haste lets it tap the turn it enters. The cost reduction then lets you flood the board around it faster, turning the exponential token math into an immediate kill rather than a setup turn.

04

Grub, Storied Matriarch

71.7% of decks · synergy 0.69

Grub, Storied Matriarch rewards playing cheap, aggressive creatures, and Goblin Warchief's cost reduction keeps the curve low enough to trigger Grub repeatedly in the same turn while the haste clause ensures any token or creature produced can contribute to combat right away.

05
General Kreat, the Boltbringer

General Kreat, the Boltbringer

79.4% of decks · synergy 0.64

General Kreat, the Boltbringer incentivizes piling up hasty attackers to maximize combat triggers, and Goblin Warchief delivers exactly that — cheaper Goblins that attack immediately, letting Kreat's ability fire off early and often.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

Commander is where Goblin Warchief earns its reputation — tribe-wide cost reduction and haste on a three-mana body is the backbone of every competitive Goblin shell, and 87–94% inclusion rates across the format's top Goblin commanders reflect that consensus. In Legacy, Goblin Warchief sees real play in dedicated Goblin tribal lists where the speed boost can matter against fast combo and control, though the format's power ceiling limits how far tribal aggro can go. Modern Goblins are less of a factor post-rotation of key pieces, but Warchief still shows up in tribal builds looking to accelerate past fair interaction. Pioneer is the weakest home — the Goblin card pool is thin enough that the payoffs for running a dedicated tribal shell aren't compelling. Oathbreaker mirrors Commander's tribal logic and Warchief slots in cleanly whenever the planeswalker at the helm supports a Goblin strategy.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

306 decks
Breath of FuryBattle Cry GoblinGoblin Warchief

Breath of FuryBattle Cry GoblinGoblin Warchief

Infinite combat damage; Infinite combat phases; Infinite death triggers; Infinite ETB; Infinite LTB; Infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Infinite sacrifice triggers; Infinite untap of creatures you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

unknown tier

Pricing data isn't available in the current feed for Goblin Warchief, so check Scryfall or TCGPlayer for a live number — it has been reprinted multiple times and historically sits in the $1–3 range, making it an easy pickup for any Goblin deck. At whatever it's currently selling for, the power-to-cost ratio is almost always favorable given its role as a core tribal engine piece.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.