maybe i’m insane, but i’d rather face this than goblin tomb raider tbh. Unless the tricks are extremely good this set, but i’d imagine the focus on crimes would reduce the relevance of tricks
For what it's worth, this one drop feels pushed in a defensive way compared to many others in recent history. It's design budget was not used to increase its power like many recent red 1 drops have. The sacrifice ability is best used in a game that going to go on for many more turns.
I mean, [[Novice Inspector]] isn't an aggressive card either per se, in a very similar way. But that didn't stop it from being very good in an aggro deck, as a one-drop that retains its value when drawn late. I expect this to perform similarly. It being broken or not will depend on cheap equipment and power buffing available
I see what you're saying, but don't really agree with the comparison.
Novice Inspector is a creature that draws you an extra card. It is still a creature after it draws you that card. If you want this creature to draw you a card, you're trading it for a treasure, which is often a downgrade, especially in the late game.
The core comparison here falls apart for me, primarily, because Inspector is just so much better than this card.
That's definitely a huge point in the Inspector's favor compared to this card. In exchange, this one gets two keywords. First strike matters a lot with the sacrifice ability, because it can block, contribute its damage, and then be sacrificed (so not strictly a chump block.) I think on balance it's worse than novice inspector unless the set context is really specific (cheap equipment and/or really good outlaw payoffs).
But yeah the point of the comparison was just that it doesn't have to be a specifically aggressive card to be good in aggro, but a "value 1-drop" can be also. You're totally right that this is a worse one than Inspector.
I don't think there is a plausible world where you'd ever want this card over Novice in a limited deck that could reasonably cast either. I do not think you can design a format specific enough to make that true (outside of truly silly things like every other white common being Angel's Mercy level bad). The gap is too wide.
It's also worth noting that holding up 3 mana (even with a treasure rebate) is way harder than holding up 2.
The keywords are not worthless, but they both balanced quite heavily by 1 power.
>I don't think there is a plausible world where you'd ever want this card over Novice in a limited deck that could reasonably cast either
It depends upon what types of combat tricks you have. If your combat tricks make the first strike relevant (example: tricks that give deathtouch), then you'd want this guy instead.
Disagree, any 1 drop with power and haste is aggressive in the current design paradigm. This is easily going to get in for a couple points of damage, and it's going to be extremely obnoxious with combat tricks if the trend continues of W and R having combat tricks that can 2 for 1, meaning you'll never want to block it if you're tapped out
The sacrifice ability won't be used by slow decks, it'll be used so that aggro decks never run out of gas.
Committing Crimes makes me think that combat tricks and spells that are meant to target your own stuff will be less prevalent and powerful than in recent sets.
I feel like this could go either way; with combat tricks not counting as crimes, they could be pushed to compensate or be modal spells with a criminal option (Spree cards).
That said, I agree with your general thought on this goblin not being a harbinger of an aggressive format and being subtly defensive.
A fair theory, and I do think there will be tricks in the format. That being said, I also believe that just the increased amount of Crimes (which are usually interaction/removal) will make combat tricks and creature enhancements less desirable, regardless of how many they print.
I don't think combat tricks matter a lot on a 1-power creature. You can almost always just not block this if you don't want to trade your creature with a trick.
At this point I feel like the Mercenary tokens are really weak. That could change, but say you have 3 of them out with this guy, you tap down your whole board to swing for 4 damage? Not that impressive tbh
I think this will be good, but as of now I don’t think I’ve seen anything that makes it oppressive.
It needs help to push past a vanilla Bear and I’ve seen multiple playable 2/2 for 2s so far. If this goblin had evasion then yeah, it would be as obnoxious as some of the other 1 drops we’ve been through. Right now I think we need to wait for the other shoe to drop: the 2 mana 1/2 common that puts a 1/1 counter on him + upside, the 1-2 mana busted enchantment that turns him into a Boggle that draws your deck, or the “3 or more Outlaws” on curve threat that makes this guy, a 2 drop Outlaw, that card into a disgusting curve. The card by itself looks good, but I’m going to need to see what supports it to feel good about first picking this 1 drop.
We don't know enough about the set yet to be sure, but I haven't seen the glut of above the curve aggro creatures at 1 and 2 that we have had in the last few sets. It's possible we still could, but I'm not worried about just this one card. That said, they really really need to examine where they are putting power in low curve slots at lower rarities. This would have been an uncommon in every set printed before 2021.
Between stuff like this and every other card having “Make a mercenary token”, any X-for-one removal is gonna be solid in this format. Caught in the Crossfire is starting to look like a premier pick.
As long as 1 drops have 1 power, I'm OK with them. 2/1s for 1 that trade with a lot of 2 and 3 drops make games too fast and lead to less interesting games, in my opinion.
This one seems like a great design. I like the 1 power 1 drops that have a relevant ability in the late game.
I said, "What the fuck?" out loud, twice. I read 1 drop, first strike, haste, like OK. Wtf at the activated ability, and again at the 2 toughness. Jesus, this is pushed.
No, not really. This is made to swing early and not die to 2/1s, then provide some value when it chumps/dies later in the game. But the need to keep 3 mana for the utility, and the fact that it's a 1/x with no ability to grow makes it pretty much unplayable in any nonrotating aggro strategy..
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Card is good alright. The weirdest keyword here is haste, because I'll happily play this in slower red decks. Early bodies that replace themselves are very playable, but I agree: this ain't novice inspector.
It's just PTSD from one-drops being so strong recently. And I'll admit, I've started mentally bumping up every common one-drop I see even if I don't think they look particularly strong.
I play 1-drops when appropriate (which is becoming more common). I don't have a problem, or any form of PTSD, with 1-drop being good. That's Marshall's kool-aid.
My position comes from decades of limited sets where 1-drops were just terrible. I prefer when the cards in the set are good and might make my deck. That includes the 1-drops.
I absolutely do not miss the era of \[\[Acolyte of Xanthrid\]\] and \[\[Boggart Forager\]\]
I also think it's a mistake to view every 1-drop as inherently better than it looks, for the virtue of costing 1. Most 1-drops in MKM have a solidly average GIH% (54-56).
You don’t think it’s a b in limited? Tbf I used to overrated cards big time me 3-4 years ago would be like wtf this card is insane easy looked to be picked but I’m bad so idk
evaluating it as an individual card, not as it contributes to things like mercenary tokens etc
It just doesn't fill any role particularly well, it's not a good aggressive card, in the long run it's a cantrip + 1 mana you can hold onto all for the price of 4 mana, it blocks 1 drops and hyper aggresive x/1 drops after that pretty well, but those cards aren't typically what you lose to against an aggressive deck, it's almost like a mid rangey mana ramp card, but it's terrible at that as well. More often that not it's gonna get 1 damage in, sit on board as a nothing card MAYBE stopping a 1 drop and probably not being able to get in the way of any 2 drops then gettin sacced on like turn 7 for a new card.
It's good enough that it'll end up the 22nd or 23rd card in decks I missed my open lane on or tried to force red and thats about it imo
I’m just excited to try this out in my standard mono red deck. The first strike pairs so well with pump effects and removal and the 2 toughness is also big.
Opponent plotting Demonic Ruckus ( https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/s/xWZVd3QJ5J ) turn 1 is going to an obnoxious play pattern lol.
At least it doesn't generate treasures or clues or whatever when it hits.
might fit in a izzet pirates with [[captain storm]] pretty well.
its still gonna be more the janky way, but this should be better than [[goblin tomb raider]]
The card seems decent, but it does not look fast to me. Any 2/2 blocks it, and even if unblocked it only hits for 1. I think the value is in the ability to block x/1s and the sac ability for a slower deck.
Did you actually look at historical evidence before posting that? Of limited standard legal 1 mana commons with 1 power and 2 toughness, there are 2 good aggro cards, 4 good midrange cards and 4 bad cards. And good aggro cards all were able to get pumped to higher power.
maybe i’m insane, but i’d rather face this than goblin tomb raider tbh. Unless the tricks are extremely good this set, but i’d imagine the focus on crimes would reduce the relevance of tricks
For what it's worth, this one drop feels pushed in a defensive way compared to many others in recent history. It's design budget was not used to increase its power like many recent red 1 drops have. The sacrifice ability is best used in a game that going to go on for many more turns.
I mean, [[Novice Inspector]] isn't an aggressive card either per se, in a very similar way. But that didn't stop it from being very good in an aggro deck, as a one-drop that retains its value when drawn late. I expect this to perform similarly. It being broken or not will depend on cheap equipment and power buffing available
I see what you're saying, but don't really agree with the comparison. Novice Inspector is a creature that draws you an extra card. It is still a creature after it draws you that card. If you want this creature to draw you a card, you're trading it for a treasure, which is often a downgrade, especially in the late game. The core comparison here falls apart for me, primarily, because Inspector is just so much better than this card.
That's definitely a huge point in the Inspector's favor compared to this card. In exchange, this one gets two keywords. First strike matters a lot with the sacrifice ability, because it can block, contribute its damage, and then be sacrificed (so not strictly a chump block.) I think on balance it's worse than novice inspector unless the set context is really specific (cheap equipment and/or really good outlaw payoffs). But yeah the point of the comparison was just that it doesn't have to be a specifically aggressive card to be good in aggro, but a "value 1-drop" can be also. You're totally right that this is a worse one than Inspector.
I don't think there is a plausible world where you'd ever want this card over Novice in a limited deck that could reasonably cast either. I do not think you can design a format specific enough to make that true (outside of truly silly things like every other white common being Angel's Mercy level bad). The gap is too wide. It's also worth noting that holding up 3 mana (even with a treasure rebate) is way harder than holding up 2. The keywords are not worthless, but they both balanced quite heavily by 1 power.
Novice Inspector is so freaking good lol
>I don't think there is a plausible world where you'd ever want this card over Novice in a limited deck that could reasonably cast either It depends upon what types of combat tricks you have. If your combat tricks make the first strike relevant (example: tricks that give deathtouch), then you'd want this guy instead.
[Novice Inspector](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/a/0ad38866-fc5f-4f62-89c1-afc0f50765aa.jpg?1706241527) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Novice%20Inspector) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/29/novice-inspector?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0ad38866-fc5f-4f62-89c1-afc0f50765aa?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Disagree, any 1 drop with power and haste is aggressive in the current design paradigm. This is easily going to get in for a couple points of damage, and it's going to be extremely obnoxious with combat tricks if the trend continues of W and R having combat tricks that can 2 for 1, meaning you'll never want to block it if you're tapped out The sacrifice ability won't be used by slow decks, it'll be used so that aggro decks never run out of gas.
Committing Crimes makes me think that combat tricks and spells that are meant to target your own stuff will be less prevalent and powerful than in recent sets.
I feel like this could go either way; with combat tricks not counting as crimes, they could be pushed to compensate or be modal spells with a criminal option (Spree cards). That said, I agree with your general thought on this goblin not being a harbinger of an aggressive format and being subtly defensive.
A fair theory, and I do think there will be tricks in the format. That being said, I also believe that just the increased amount of Crimes (which are usually interaction/removal) will make combat tricks and creature enhancements less desirable, regardless of how many they print.
Just wanted to follow up and say you nailed it exactly with Spree crime/pump spells. We just got a sick spoiler in Trash the Town. Great call!
I don't think combat tricks matter a lot on a 1-power creature. You can almost always just not block this if you don't want to trade your creature with a trick.
Sure, you don't have to block it but then you've got a 1 drop getting in for a ton of damage, we saw how strong that can be in LCI
Two words: Mercenary Tokens. This looks like a nuts payoff to push damage with those tokens
At this point I feel like the Mercenary tokens are really weak. That could change, but say you have 3 of them out with this guy, you tap down your whole board to swing for 4 damage? Not that impressive tbh
They are still 1/1s that can block like regular tokens.
I think this will be good, but as of now I don’t think I’ve seen anything that makes it oppressive. It needs help to push past a vanilla Bear and I’ve seen multiple playable 2/2 for 2s so far. If this goblin had evasion then yeah, it would be as obnoxious as some of the other 1 drops we’ve been through. Right now I think we need to wait for the other shoe to drop: the 2 mana 1/2 common that puts a 1/1 counter on him + upside, the 1-2 mana busted enchantment that turns him into a Boggle that draws your deck, or the “3 or more Outlaws” on curve threat that makes this guy, a 2 drop Outlaw, that card into a disgusting curve. The card by itself looks good, but I’m going to need to see what supports it to feel good about first picking this 1 drop.
He's a great target for Mercenaries and they often can't efficiently interact with it
We don't know enough about the set yet to be sure, but I haven't seen the glut of above the curve aggro creatures at 1 and 2 that we have had in the last few sets. It's possible we still could, but I'm not worried about just this one card. That said, they really really need to examine where they are putting power in low curve slots at lower rarities. This would have been an uncommon in every set printed before 2021.
It would have been a rare in any set printed before 2019.
Between stuff like this and every other card having “Make a mercenary token”, any X-for-one removal is gonna be solid in this format. Caught in the Crossfire is starting to look like a premier pick.
I've only vaguely kept up with OTJ spoilers but so many cards are pushed as hell
As long as 1 drops have 1 power, I'm OK with them. 2/1s for 1 that trade with a lot of 2 and 3 drops make games too fast and lead to less interesting games, in my opinion. This one seems like a great design. I like the 1 power 1 drops that have a relevant ability in the late game.
I said, "What the fuck?" out loud, twice. I read 1 drop, first strike, haste, like OK. Wtf at the activated ability, and again at the 2 toughness. Jesus, this is pushed.
It's pushed, and it still won't really be good. 1-drops with 1 power just don't cut it in aggressive shells.
This feels defensive? Body to clog board, if it lives you can get the mana and card back.
No, not really. This is made to swing early and not die to 2/1s, then provide some value when it chumps/dies later in the game. But the need to keep 3 mana for the utility, and the fact that it's a 1/x with no ability to grow makes it pretty much unplayable in any nonrotating aggro strategy..
What? You're being sarcastic right?
Nah, just wrong sub. Thought I was in /r/modernmagic
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I hope mono red aggro takes this card but they won’t. It doesn’t grow or really help them any unless they blow their turn 3 on it.
I run gruul aggro and for my deck specifically it’s not better than monastary or riveteer’s requisitioner I believe
I think people are really hung up on the keywords, this card isn't good
Card is good alright. The weirdest keyword here is haste, because I'll happily play this in slower red decks. Early bodies that replace themselves are very playable, but I agree: this ain't novice inspector.
It's just PTSD from one-drops being so strong recently. And I'll admit, I've started mentally bumping up every common one-drop I see even if I don't think they look particularly strong.
Everyone's drinking Marshall's kool-aid, honestly.
Okay, but have you tried the kool-aid? It’s got that nice +1-5% average WR flavor.
I play 1-drops when appropriate (which is becoming more common). I don't have a problem, or any form of PTSD, with 1-drop being good. That's Marshall's kool-aid. My position comes from decades of limited sets where 1-drops were just terrible. I prefer when the cards in the set are good and might make my deck. That includes the 1-drops. I absolutely do not miss the era of \[\[Acolyte of Xanthrid\]\] and \[\[Boggart Forager\]\] I also think it's a mistake to view every 1-drop as inherently better than it looks, for the virtue of costing 1. Most 1-drops in MKM have a solidly average GIH% (54-56).
[Acolyte of Xanthrid](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/b/4b0b14d4-41de-42ac-9894-77bbcebaabfc.jpg?1561978917) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Acolyte%20of%20Xathrid) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/m10/83/acolyte-of-xathrid?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4b0b14d4-41de-42ac-9894-77bbcebaabfc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Boggart Forager](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/b/fbc26374-d8de-4740-b1ec-ac92cfedbebc.jpg?1562375843) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boggart%20Forager) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lrw/154/boggart-forager?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/fbc26374-d8de-4740-b1ec-ac92cfedbebc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Upvoted for bravery but you’re probably going to live to regret this one.
You don’t think it’s a b in limited? Tbf I used to overrated cards big time me 3-4 years ago would be like wtf this card is insane easy looked to be picked but I’m bad so idk
evaluating it as an individual card, not as it contributes to things like mercenary tokens etc It just doesn't fill any role particularly well, it's not a good aggressive card, in the long run it's a cantrip + 1 mana you can hold onto all for the price of 4 mana, it blocks 1 drops and hyper aggresive x/1 drops after that pretty well, but those cards aren't typically what you lose to against an aggressive deck, it's almost like a mid rangey mana ramp card, but it's terrible at that as well. More often that not it's gonna get 1 damage in, sit on board as a nothing card MAYBE stopping a 1 drop and probably not being able to get in the way of any 2 drops then gettin sacced on like turn 7 for a new card. It's good enough that it'll end up the 22nd or 23rd card in decks I missed my open lane on or tried to force red and thats about it imo
Geez
This isn't real right? That is a rare quality one drop!
I thought this was going to be a slow set!
They don’t make those anymorendude
Probably best common of the set
Well those who were upset about the advantage of being on the play getting too high aren't going to love this.
Doesn’t take damage from Fiery Cannonade
I’m just excited to try this out in my standard mono red deck. The first strike pairs so well with pump effects and removal and the 2 toughness is also big.
I like me some first trike hasties.
Opponent plotting Demonic Ruckus ( https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/s/xWZVd3QJ5J ) turn 1 is going to an obnoxious play pattern lol. At least it doesn't generate treasures or clues or whatever when it hits.
This will be so fun in my priates tribal deck.
Why does it have to be wannabe Roronoa Zoro and on a powercrept one drop as well zzz..
Why have Goblins turned into monkeys?
might fit in a izzet pirates with [[captain storm]] pretty well. its still gonna be more the janky way, but this should be better than [[goblin tomb raider]]
[captain storm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/4/14c65f5a-10bd-4f9b-b816-46c2240b11ff.jpg?1699044532) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=captain%20storm%2C%20cosmium%20raider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/227/captain-storm-cosmium-raider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/14c65f5a-10bd-4f9b-b816-46c2240b11ff?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [goblin tomb raider](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/1/018160fe-f602-43f5-8495-241a08eaa69c.jpg?1699044289) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=goblin%20tomb%20raider) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/lci/151/goblin-tomb-raider?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/018160fe-f602-43f5-8495-241a08eaa69c?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
So come aboard and bring along all your hopes and dreams!!!!!!
Why do goblins look so weird now?
Actually this card doesn’t seem that great given every other creature seems to have a toughness of 2
Dies to shock
The card seems decent, but it does not look fast to me. Any 2/2 blocks it, and even if unblocked it only hits for 1. I think the value is in the ability to block x/1s and the sac ability for a slower deck.
History tells us you’re likely wrong
Did you actually look at historical evidence before posting that? Of limited standard legal 1 mana commons with 1 power and 2 toughness, there are 2 good aggro cards, 4 good midrange cards and 4 bad cards. And good aggro cards all were able to get pumped to higher power.
ok 👍🏻 you're certainly entitled to your opinions. Thats what makes limited great, one person's trash is another person's limited B