It's from The Dark. It's obviously going to suck. But this is just sad...
brunsbr103
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
There ARE worse cards out there... I guess you could turn all creatures into 1/1's and goblins using some of that funky lowryn/shadowmoor stuff then use it as a weird board cleaner...
or ya know, use any other possible board cleaner.
GainsBanding
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
In ME4 limited - I've never seen anyone cast this and win. And even though there is no enchantment removal in the set, Sinkhole and Strip Mine are in there. So it can be a liability.
Equinox523
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@brunsbr103 - I believe you're talking about Mogg Infestation, or Mirrorweave shenanigans. That would certainly do it.
Mode
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Very flavorful piece of card. With Ron Spencer artwork, made back then when they wanted Goblins to give you nghtmares rather than comic relief.
I never quite understood why they made it like this when in comparison Goblin King was usually a preferable choice though. Would have been interesting for or if it gave +2/+0 i think. (Talking about the nightmare fuel intention, compare the king's artwork and flavortext from Alpha with the newer ones from 5th Edition or 7th Edition, and the way the flavor text was rewritten.)
And i never noticed this flavor text features Norin the Wary. Wouldn't have thought this guy existed that early! Edit: Wow, in fact he's even one of the very first persons mentioned in Magic, he's quoted on Jade Statue.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love the exact power level of this card, because I do not believe Goblins should have very High Tech. While it's irritating that Wizards sometimes looks like it's Designing THE ENTIRE REST OF THE GAME the way I would Design Goblins (making all the Creatures so good you are tempted to try not running any other spells).
I appreciate that this card is a lot like a "Bad Goblin Chieftain". Compare to Crusade, remember that Goblin decks are always going to run straight Mountain landbases, and have fun with how flavorful "Enchant Land" usually is, even if it's weak, setting you up, "A TRAP!", etc.
It's a 3-cost card that gives all your creatures a pump. I would REALLY like it if it was a 2-cost card, and then It might have even seen some real play in competition, but Red already had such good creatures back then that it might have...not exactly been too powerful for the control decks to beat, because they DID have Terror, Wrath of God, and Counterspell back then, but...to my knowledge nobody was running those 3 cards in the same deck for a LOONNGG time, because everyone sucked at MAGIC at/or near the time of this card's printing?
Alpha, Beta, Arabian Nights, Unlimited, Antiquities, Legends, Revised, the Dark.
Fallen Empires, Ice Age, and Homelands might be bad SETS, but the 5-10 total cards between them (Necropotence, Jester's Cap, Merchant Scroll, Hymn to Tourach, High Tide, Ihsan's Shade) that anyone cares about changed the game and taught people how to think like us and have better mana curves and card advantage. And we'll count Ball Lightning from the Dark. Before these "Worst Sets in Magic Ever" came out, everyone was MISEVALUATING all the amazing stuff from Alpha-Legends.
I mean, they GOT it when you HIT THEM OVER THE HEAD with the Power Nine, but there's literally gotta be almost 100 cards that were better than they thought they were....I'd say in between Chronicles and Portal coming out, people roughly knew how good cards were actually likely to be, with Tempest block being the first time people actually called the good cards as they were announced.
The_Riddle_of_Steel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Sure, it is not a great card, but you have to compare it to the time and place it was released. The sets of this period (The Dark, Fallen Empires, Ice Age) were purposefully toned down in power. I think they wanted the games to last longer, with more momentum swings back and forth instead of one player steamrolling the other right out if the gate. This makes sense to me since most of the mana costs of this generation were higher than what came before and after. Most decent-size creatures had drawbacks and/or huge mana costs and most abilities seem over-costed and slow by modern standards. It was a time of slower-paced games, but it was great fun because everyone was using the same under-powered cards so they seemed competitive. Duels didn't end on turn four or five back then (for those of us who missed out on the Power Nine, anyway). And if a card looked as cool as this, you played it, whether it was good or not. This was before Sligh so no one was talking about "mana curve" or anything like that. For a bunch of us junior high D&D players, Magic wasn't about tournaments and competition as much as it was an extension of friendly gaming with your friends and immersion in a fantasy world unlike any other. A card with awesome flavor and art like this went in every goblin deck, period. How can you not love the wicked beasts dancing around an ancient totem and a massive bonfire! I can picture the drums, the chanting, the howling... Thank you, Mr. Spencer!
Comments (7)
I guess you could turn all creatures into 1/1's and goblins using some of that funky lowryn/shadowmoor stuff then use it as a weird board cleaner...
or ya know, use any other possible board cleaner.
With Ron Spencer artwork, made back then when they wanted Goblins to give you nghtmares rather than comic relief.
I never quite understood why they made it like this when in comparison Goblin King was usually a preferable choice though. Would have been interesting for
(Talking about the nightmare fuel intention, compare the king's artwork and flavortext from Alpha with the newer ones from 5th Edition or 7th Edition, and the way the flavor text was rewritten.)
And i never noticed this flavor text features Norin the Wary. Wouldn't have thought this guy existed that early!
Edit: Wow, in fact he's even one of the very first persons mentioned in Magic, he's quoted on Jade Statue.
I appreciate that this card is a lot like a "Bad Goblin Chieftain".
Compare to Crusade, remember that Goblin decks are always going to run straight Mountain landbases, and have fun with how flavorful "Enchant Land" usually is, even if it's weak, setting you up, "A TRAP!", etc.
It's a 3-cost card that gives all your creatures a pump. I would REALLY like it if it was a 2-cost card, and then It might have even seen some real play in competition, but Red already had such good creatures back then that it might have...not exactly been too powerful for the control decks to beat, because they DID have Terror, Wrath of God, and Counterspell back then, but...to my knowledge nobody was running those 3 cards in the same deck for a LOONNGG time, because everyone sucked at MAGIC at/or near the time of this card's printing?
Alpha, Beta, Arabian Nights, Unlimited, Antiquities, Legends, Revised, the Dark.
Necropotence doesn't exist yet. Hymn to Tourach doesn't exist yet so Discard is bad too, even though they've got Hypnotic Specter and Mind Twist, they don't yet "SEE" it.
The best deck you can make with these cards is probably Nicol Bolas + Animate Dead.
Fallen Empires, Ice Age, and Homelands might be bad SETS, but the 5-10 total cards between them (Necropotence, Jester's Cap, Merchant Scroll, Hymn to Tourach, High Tide, Ihsan's Shade) that anyone cares about changed the game and taught people how to think like us and have better mana curves and card advantage. And we'll count Ball Lightning from the Dark. Before these "Worst Sets in Magic Ever" came out, everyone was MISEVALUATING all the amazing stuff from Alpha-Legends.
I mean, they GOT it when you HIT THEM OVER THE HEAD with the Power Nine, but there's literally gotta be almost 100 cards that were better than they thought they were....I'd say in between Chronicles and Portal coming out, people roughly knew how good cards were actually likely to be, with Tempest block being the first time people actually called the good cards as they were announced.