Pointed Discussion

bloody awesome with mudbutton torchrunner or the crazy lorwyn boggo token deck i run

Great card, but you really don't wanna get rid of your mountains. Just play some cards which give you Goblins over it.
3.5

Paladin, the point of his second ability is for late game. You don't need that many Mountains in late game anyway, and if you draw a Mountain it's no longer a dead draw, but rather a 1/1 goblin.
Granted, goblin decks shouldn't be running into late game very often, but if you run out of steam before you win, this guy can give you a little jump start.

Awesome artwork, and this guy uttered just as many awesome flavor text quotes as Jaya

I like how this little guy is the fuel source for the other rares in the Elves vs Goblin set. Since there is 22 mountain(Not counting the none basics) you can make up to 22 1/1 Goblins with him alone. So if you ever go into the late game you'll have three ways of winning.

1: Sac as many Goblins as you can for Siege-Gang Commander.
2: Sac a few Goblins for Clickslither.
3: Risky if your opponent has 11+ life(or you have less then 11), you can tap 5 for Skirk Fire Marshal. You'll kill every creature probably but it's a clear field. Then you just have to summon a quick Goblin with haste and the game is pretty much yours!

Also a good combo with Goblin Lackey. Lackey attacks and your opponent will have to decide whether to take the 1 along with you getting a free Goblin, or blocking it and possibly losing a creature.

There are also some great Burn cards that you can take advantage of with the Goblin tokens.

Goblin Grenade cost and one Goblin for 5 life on an opponent.

Goblin Bombardment is great for when you have a ton of 1/1 Goblin tokens. Sac them all and see if you kill your opponent at one life apiece.

Goblin Sharpshooter is nice for when you have alot of mana and can plop some 1/1's for (or Halfhearts ability) so you can do a few nice little 1 damage burns.

Edit: I read Sharpshooters ability wrong. I thought he untaps whenever a creature comes into play. My bad :S

Goblin War Strike is epic when you have 10+ 1/1 Goblin on the field. And for mana you can sac quite a bit of your Mountains for the Goblin.

Squee, Goblin Nabob is great for the block/burn ability. Since he comes back into your hand at the beginning of your upkeep. You can keep having him attack and get blocked(Although I doubt your opponent will block him much). Also he's pretty good with Goblin Bombardment.

So as you can see; You can make a whole deck centered around him. I don't understand why he doesn't get as much praise as the other big Goblins but I'm glad to have discovered him in the Duel Deck.

would your 1/1, when attack, still deal it's 1 combat damage to the blocking creature? meaning, would you deal 4 damage total, or 5?

Can you sacrifice ONE mountain and get ONE 1/1 Goblin ? or it necessarily has to be TWO mountains to get TWO 1/1 Goblins ?

@feliciano182 You must sac. two mountains.

@ applecorn It would only do the 4 of Lb halfheart because the goblin would never get to deal combat damage because when it is declaredit blocking it is then sac. to the effect.

Combos well with a caterwauling boggart

I like this guy. There's no tactic more Goblin than sending a lot of guys screaming into battle with a torch in one hand and a large barrel of gunpowder under the other arm.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I like it when a character quoted in flavor text makes an appearance as a creature.

Lol! Epic for just the flavour text. The ability is quite good as well

Is it just me, or would Mana Echoes, Furnace Celebration, and Ib Halfheart be insane (tap 4 mountains, sac 2 of them to Ib, use Furnace Celebration to shock stuff, and then use Mana Echoes to pay for more Furnace Celebration triggers, and next turn, sac more mountains to pay for Furnace Celebration in combat).

derp.

Free Mogg Alarms for me! For you? DEATH BY SNU-SNU

This guy is insane in mid-range aggro goblin decks. Drop a Goblin Chieftan on your 3rd turn, and then this on your 4th: If you sacrifice all of your lands, you'll end up with four 2/2's and a 4/3, all with haste, for the bargain price of four mana. That's 12 damage in a four-mana package, assuming Ib and his tokens gets through, and it gets even more ridiculous if you dropped a Goblin Wardriver on your 2nd turn.
Albeit being very powerful, this card is still fair in the sense that you're putting yourself in a very vulnerable position when sacrificing your lands. You're gaining a temporary advantage, but if your gamble doesn't pay off then and there, you'll be left with no lands and a bunch of small tokens. Even worse is if your opponent manages to land a removal spell on your Chieftan in response to the combat step. Still, I really love this card. It creates exciting moments in the mid-stages in the game, and it's an awesome topdeck once the game has gone into "draw, go"-mode, giving you a way to make use of all of those excess lands that you weren't using anyway.

@Feliciano: As Caesar1994 said, you must sacrifice two mountains each time you want to activate the ability.

@Applecorn: Ib Halfheart's ability makes you sacrifice your goblins during the declare blockers step (before the combat damage) step, so your goblins never get to deal combat damage before they die. Barring shenanigans, each sacrificed goblin deals 4 damage to each creature blocking it. For reference, in the event that a creature is blocking multiple goblins (say, via High Ground), all of those goblins would be sacrificed, and the blocking creature would take 4 damage per creature.

Siege-Gang Commander seems like a an obvious combo here. One creates, the other provides the better sac outlet and if they're killing you on creatures, it helps as well.. Btw, FLAVA-FLAV!!

I have this guy in my goblin deck along with Goblin wardriver, Goblin chieftain, and Krenko.
What follows is Absolute Devastation.

Even though there are probably LOTS of combos that are better, I've wanted to try splashing green for Predatory rampage, and maybe adding in Pyreheart wolf just for fun.
Still, i love this card.

Gotta love first-est strike. And for a pretty amount of damage too!

Cut little card.

Ib has successfully memorized the 2,071 tips for survival (and would survive a Spire Barrage).
He also knows steps 5-6 for loading the Fodder Cannon.
And when it comes to operating the Goblin Artillery, Ib is the Ammunition Holder.
Ib
is
the most Tacticiacal Goblin in Dominia.

Terrorist bombs for EVERYONE!

Goblin tactics are best tactics.