Top 10 goblins for Commander ranked with practical reasons

1. Krenko, Mob Boss

Krenko is the archetypal goblin snowball engine: he turns a board of goblins into a tidal wave of tokens and turns small advantages into game-ending pressure. In Commander he accelerates storm-style swarm plans, doubles down in token synergies like anthem effects and sacrifice outlets, and often serves as the primary win-con in mono-red goblin decks. If you want a consistent plan that scales from aggressive starts to explosive finishes, Krenko is the anchor card to slot into your 99 or build a commander around.

2. Muxus, Goblin Grandee

Muxus functions as a high-variance but high-impact reset button that can instantly refill your board and dig for threats, making him a natural finisher in decks that already produce goblin tokens. He excels in lists that can create tokens early and then capitalize on a huge late-game dump—think decks that combine token anthem, haste enablers, and ways to protect or recur Muxus. For players who love big moments and chaotic plays, Muxus produces those headline turns and pairs well with tutors, protection, and cards that benefit from a one-time massive creature influx.

3. Skirk Prospector

Skirk Prospector is the sacrificial fuel line that converts tiny bodies into explosive plays, enabling turns where you cast multiple big spells or activate win conditions using generated red mana. He’s essential in sacrifice-focused goblin builds, and he lets you turn tokens from Krenko or Muxus into repeatable ramp and reach—often powering out outsized threats far earlier than normal. In a 100-card highlander environment, Skirk’s reliability makes him a staple for anyone running goblin sacrifice engines, dragon or big artifact finishers, and combo lines that need single-color mana.

4. Goblin Lackey

Goblin Lackey is the cheat-card that gives you on-demand board presence and tempo by dropping a goblin from hand for free or near-free when it hits the battlefield. That effect makes it a perfect enabler for explosive turns, whether you’re setting up a Krenko turn, assembling sacrifice fodder, or finding a key piece to push damage through. Include Lackey in aggressive or combo-adjacent builds where reducing the friction between card draw and board presence pays off—it's a small body with huge downstream value.

5. Goblin Matron

Goblin Matron is the cheap tutor every goblin deck wants: it finds the exact piece you need and puts it into hand, smoothing games and reducing variance in a highlander format. In Commander, where singleton consistency matters, Matron’s ability to fetch removal, combo pieces, or a one-of answer can swing tight games. Play it in lists that need reliable toolbox access—tribal decks that are short on redundancy gain outsized value from one-card tutoring.

6. Goblin Piledriver

Goblin Piledriver is the go-to damage engine when your plan is to swing with a board full of goblins, especially in decks that buff creatures or grant unblockable effects. Its combat-based scaling lets it turn a horde of small attackers into enormous single-card threats, and it pairs particularly well with cards that grant repeated pump effects or protect while attacking. If your deck leans on combat math and prioritizes creature-based win conditions, Piledriver provides consistent raw damage output that rewards swarm strategies.

7. Siege-Gang Lieutenant

Siege-Gang Lieutenant offers immediate board impact plus a late-stage burn outlet by creating a handful of attackers and providing tokens you can sacrifice or fling for extra reach. That flexibility—midrange board presence plus direct damage—makes it a strong inclusion in meta-diverse pods where you need to both pressure multiple opponents and close out single targets. In practical terms, Siege-Gang buys turns, provides insurance against sweepers, and doubles as a finishers’ toolkit when paired with sacrifice engines.

8. Treasure Nabber

Treasure Nabber is a clever utility pick that punishes opponents for playing mana-producing artifacts by stealing their value temporarily and turning it into your own tempo advantage. In pods heavy with mana rocks, Nabber turns common resource sources into asymmetric payoffs, creating chaotic shifts in the table’s economy and often allowing goblin decks to turbocharge a key turn. It’s an underappreciated tech piece for meta-aware builders who want interaction that scales with opponent plays rather than competing on raw stats.

9. Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker

Kiki-Jiki is the replication maestro: he creates copies of creatures that can generate tempo, extra triggers, or combo wins depending on the target. In goblin shells he serves as an enabler for infinite or loop-style lines when paired with the right piece, and as a straight-up value engine when you need to double a premium enter-the-battlefield threat. If your build leans into combo windows or likes to convert a single high-value creature into multiple threats, Kiki-Jiki deserves a spot in the 99.

10. Goblin Warchief

Goblin Warchief is the cost-reduction and haste-provider that smooths early game speed and enables surprise lethal attacks by letting your army hit immediately. He’s the logical inclusion for aggressive tribal commanders and for lists that want to amplify tempo—reduced casting costs plus haste compresses turns and increases the range of lines you can execute. In many builds Warchief is the glue card that keeps a swarm from being merely cute and turns it into a turn-based threat machine.