Mainboard (60)
Instants (21)
Sorceries (5)
Artifacts (5)
Enchantments (3)
Gruul Goblins is a fast tribal aggro deck that wins by flooding the board with Goblin Lackey, Goblin Warchief, and Goblin Piledriver before you can stabilize, so your primary goal is to answer threats faster than they can accumulate. Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast are your best answers since they cleanly counter or destroy any red permanent at instant speed, invalidating much of their threat base. Wrath of God and Powder Keg are your primary stabilizers — Powder Keg at two counters sweeps most of their creatures while Wrath of God handles anything that slips through, and the extra Keg from the board helps you find sweepers more reliably. Standstill is too slow and passive against a deck that will happily run out creatures before you can set it up, and Phyrexian Furnace does virtually nothing in this matchup since Goblins have no graveyard synergies. Swords to Plowshares, Counterspell, and Mana Leak remain in to answer Siege-Gang Commander and Goblin Ringleader, which are the most dangerous late-game threats if the board stalls.
This is a permission war defined by one specific threat: the opponent uses Stifle to counter Phyrexian Dreadnought's triggered ability, deploying a 12/12 trampler for a single mana. Annul is your best answer, countering the Dreadnought on the stack as an artifact spell before Stifle becomes relevant; Swords to Plowshares and Disenchant handle any that resolve. Exalted Angel is an excellent threat in this matchup—the opponent runs no permanent-based removal, so a resolved Angel should close the game quickly while the lifegain buys time against a racing Dreadnought. Phyrexian Furnace is dead here as the opponent has negligible graveyard synergy, and Powder Keg is far too slow to ever reach twelve counters to destroy a Dreadnought, so both come out to make room.
Mono-Black Midrange pressures you with hand disruption via Duress and Cabal Therapy before deploying efficient threats like Hypnotic Specter and Nantuko Shade, so protecting your hand and stabilizing the board are paramount. Blue Elemental Blast and Hydroblast answer their key threats — Hypnotic Specter, Graveborn Muse, and Nantuko Shade — while also countering Dark Ritual to prevent explosive starts. Phyrexian Furnace comes out because Withered Wretch handles any graveyard concerns on their side and there are no opposing graveyard strategies worth hosing. Disenchant loses value as the opponent has minimal enchantments or artifacts game one, with only Cursed Scroll being relevant. Post-board, your Standstills and Mana Leaks are well-positioned since their disruption forces you to act, but resolving a Wrath of God or Decree of Justice through their disruption usually closes the game.