Pointed Discussion

i'm not a big fan of the noggles, but this is one of the better hedge mages.

A decent card if played with the Ravnica dual land Steam Vents.

Does anyone else think it's strange that Aven, Leonin, Loxodon and Rhox creatures are still their respective animals in the creature types while these noggles, on the other hand are not donkeys in their creature types. I think I know why.
Because they would be associated with donkeys from the unhinged set, and anyone would notice how stupid these things really are. It is strange to put donkeys in a fun-set, have a good laugh over it, and then put them in a real set as if it wasn't ajoke at all.

Really dumb flavor, really good card. Not as good as Duergar Hedgemage.

I'd like to see some serious Noggles. I like the visual quality these guys have. A good blue and red cross-over creature.

Eventide really worked blue over (due to Faerie decks being rather overpowered at the time it was printed), and the blue enemy colors were largely weak or disappointing.

However, the hedge mages were pretty close to being incredibly cool creatures, on par with the Guildmage cycle from Ravnica, and this one is one of my favorite.

Both effects are pretty sweet for what they are. My sole, minor complaint is the red trigger ability only hitting players, I would rather it hit creatures as well. 3 mana for a shock and double twiddle on a creature, but with a rather nasty requirement (for non-green anyway)..I'd say it's fair.

Barring Steam Vents, there is no way to get both effects without four lands in Extended (valid as of this comment), so I seriously doubt it would be unbalanced in any real way.

Still, I like the semi-surreal nature of the "noggles" and this card in particular was one of the few bright spots that the Red+Blue combination got in Eventide, but it's a really cool cycle all the same.

@ garbagegatherer
A noggle is a creature of British folklore. It is actually a horse, not a donkey, and wanders around the countryside wearing a saddle. As soon as someone gets on the saddle, it dashes to the nearest body of water where it jumps in, turns to steam, and generally inconveniences its victim. So, if it were to have a different creature type, it would be horse rather than donkey.

@OMFGrhombus; That sounds too much like a Kelpie, which was used as a different creature in the same set. Admittedly, the magic Kelpies are water dwellers but do not reflect the folklore they represent, so this should not have been a problem, since Noggle/Nuggle is the Orkney interpretation of the same shapeshifting creature.

Another card that would have been phenomenal if not for the restriction of targeting players and not creatures with damage... Every time I read this Noggle is just ***es me off... Tap 2 permanents at sorcery speed with some kind of R/U deck which does nothing unless you support it with other cards... and then 2 damage to target player... wtf is damage vs player good for while trying to run any kind of blue control deck. The idea of the card is great... but the bounce was given to Selkie Hedge-Mage.... Sure selkyie needed something to compensate for the pitiful healing salve effect... but in doing so... both Noggle & Selkyie got seriously hosed... If bounce was on noggle that would compensate for damage only on the player... and I really feel that Selkie was just rushed... the green effect is that of a white effect? You serious...? The guys debating creation of selkie were like "Why not regeneration or ressurection... or maybe create a saporling token... ooh wait a sec we gave those to Gwyilion & Hag... hmm nothing left for Selkie... maybe a growth effect... NAH!!! just give it a half a$$ bounce and a healing salve.... I am beat! lets call it a day! True dat props!

Duergar Hedge-Mage #1 hedgemage hands down
Hag Hedge-Mage #2
Gwyllion Hedge-Mage #3
Selkie Hedge-Mage # 4
and if you want to see #5 just scroll back up to top of page... would have been #1 if damage could hit a creature...

3/5

This creature is versatile, especially when used in conjunction with a Boomerang-effect creature, like Shrieking Drake or Man-o'-War. If you have two mountains and two islands out, you can target two of your opponent's permanents to be Boomeranged AND do two points of damage. Return him to hand every turn with Capsize and you could leave the opponent beaten and weeping.

Noggle!

This is actually quite a strong effect, especially in formats like Commander where manabases are huge. Steam Vents and/or Volcanic Island are necessities if you want our noggle friend out as soon as possible, or instead play it late-game and flicker it.
Also of note: its converted mana cost is , which means it can be played at instant speed for free with Aluren. Combined with an engine like Cloudstone Curio, it can be bounced back and forth off the battlefield until you've pinged your opponents to death. Ghitu Slinger saw play in Aluren decks for the same reason.
All in all, a quite reasonable package considering the limitations, and easier to combo with than Duergar Hedge-Mage (the most utilitarian of the Hedge-Mages).