A bit less than 1% :cry:
Printable View
The sky is falling!
No, really, while this guy might not be just as good as lackey he is still really good. And the important thing is he makes Goblins more consistently fast. Not every deck has the turn 2 Goyf out there. Especially the combo decks are essentially out of range for Goblins and this guy can make that matchup a little more interesting. (not that this matchup is favourable now but the comboplayer is going to sweat a lot more often.)
The most important thing is that he fits the curve perfectly. Piledriver was the only permanent four-off in the two-dropp-slots. Having another good two-dropp is oil for the machine.
I just had a couple matches with Istigator against Piceli playing Quinn.
I start with lackey, he swords.
I play Istigator. He doesn't have a second sword. I drop a Ringleader (revealing ringleader) and Ringleader (revealing Warchief+Pile). I drop a Chieftain.
He has to Wrath in order to not take at least 12 next turn (double strike+lord effect).
In my turn I drop Warchief+pile and continue swinging. The next turn I win with a matron.
Turn 5 win through a sword and a wrath.
This guy is indeed good.
You kind of had a godhand there (revealing ringleader of ringleader)
But yeah, he's obviously good. I'm going to play him in R/b I like Weirdings and it's an easy splash anyway. Thinking atleast 3 chieftains maindecked.
I think that it's useless to prove that he's good when it connects and you have 1 mother or 1 ringleader in hand. It's obvious. The problem is: does it happen often enough to justify playing a 1/1 vanilla that kills only 1 turn after connecting.
In the tutorable slot Kiki-Jiki may be really awesome: mother that fetches Kiki that duplicates mother that fetches anyting else. Imagine also duplicating Instigator to put into play 4 free goblins. That would be completely nuts.
As somebody said earlier, maybe warchief is not as good as it used to be?
It's not 1/1, but more like 2/1, considered that it deals 2 damage attacking. And a bit more with Chieftain in the equation.
The guy is not only good with Matron or Leader, but with SGC, and even double chieftain or warchief+chieftain.
It's also much, MUCH better than the other 2 drops contending this slot.
Would you play Instigator or War Marshall? Instigator or the 4th copy of Stingscourger?
It's a card more that the opponent must deal with, or lose savage amounts of tempo/card advantage. And it's also adds a lot of surprise effect with vial and the haste guys. ANd the possibility of being even better than lackey with Caverns in the deck.
Warren instigator:
RR
1/1 doublestrike
When it deals damage to an opponent, put a goblin from your hand into play
I know the 2 spot is already a bit clogged, but we have to make room for this guy. Between him and lackey, things might go bonkers.
So backing off of the Warren Awesomegator for a minute,
Mindbreak Trap
:2::u::u:
Instant - Trap
If an opponent cast three or more spells this turn, you may pay :0: rather than pay Mindbreak Trap's mana cost.
Exile any number of target spells.
Is this our new sideboard anti-combo card? It's not perfect, but it does a fair amount. Is this better than Chalice of the Void, or is it better than just letting combo crush you?
I remain of the idea that combo will still crush us.
But if you want to waste slots for the Combo matchup, this is indeed a strong choice, maybe backed up by cards that might be useful in other matchups, like Reb or Chalice.
It doesn't interfere with the gameplan of tapping out every turn and putting creatures into play and you don't even have to take a single turn to make it work, so yes, this is definetly better than most cards Goblins has as an option.
Goblin Guide - r
Creature - Goblin Scout Rare
Haste
Whenever Goblin Guide attacks, defending player reveals the top card of his or her library. If it's a land card, that player puts it into his or her hand.
2/2
I'm not sure I'd run it, but the fact that it is being printed could still be relevant to our combo game. If off color agro decks are packing this SB, then combo may start waiting for Chant protection against agro rather than just goldfishing us. So even the fact that combo players might expect the card game 2-3 will likely be good for us.
Sort of similar to Ichorid, if they're expecting hate artifacts and board in Needle/Grudge, or are expecting Leyline and board in Ray of Revelation; even if the opposing deck isn't playing those cards they still gain some edge from the fact that the cards exist and are feared.
Dear Goblins Players-
We already really hate you. And based on what I've seen from the Zendikar previews so far, I can only imagine that we're going to start hating you more.
Sincerely,
-The Merfolk Players :wink:
p.s. Looks like your easiest match-up is only becoming easier for y'all.
Funniest post I've seen in a long time. Thank you.
Possible reasons for a deck not having answers:
A combo deck that hasn't assembled all of the pieces.
A MUC deck that you went first against and didn't have Force of Will.
43 Lands and they didn't find a Factory or Maze.
Solidarity.
Seems surprisingly good. The drawback is annoying, but it's actually strong enough to be played as a pure beater-type 1-drop. I mean, it's a hasty 2/2; that means it's dealt 8 damage by turn 4.
When they're flooding, it becomes worse, but lots of Legacy-decks cheat on lands anyways so the drawback should only do anything one-third of turns and given that Gobs usually uses land denial as a tempo tool, it just might work.
Frankly, I'm more excited by this card than by the new Lackey. Would give us a second decent 1-drop. The Instigator isn't bad either; if it connects, it means almost an instant SGC with Ring/Matron often transforming into SGCs too. It could give us additional tools against counter-based decks and another must-block creature (which allows you to force them to hold back or remove your guy, and at some point they just can't block all your piles, Lackeys, Instigators and company; and yeah, even midgame, extra SGCs on the board are something opponent usually doesn't want to deal with).
I'm just not sure there's room for Instigator in the deck, and additional X/1s are kinda annoying as they make us more vulnerable to Plagues. Another reason I sorta like the Guide, to be honest.