Quote Originally Posted by Illissius View Post
Mogg Fanatic has come up from time to time, and the verdict thus far -- which I agreed with -- has always been "keep him". Is this still the case? Ichorid and Breakfast are diminishing in popularity, and decks which play creatures these days often play extremely fat ones -- Goyf, Doran, Crusher, and friends. Fanatic's potential impact on games seems to be much lower right now than at any time in recent memory; the only two important creatures I can think of offhand which are still commonly played and he kills are Birds of Paradise and Dark Confidant (EDIT: okay, and I obviously forgot the mirror, where he kills Lackey). Is this enough to keep playing him? A 1/1 who deals one damage is just a lower level of power than basically every other card in the deck. Would it be worth cutting him for more of the more powerful removal options, for example? Weirdings and Gempalms and such. There's also definitely the issue of mana curve to consider, though.
I'm pretty sure you keep him because he's a goblin that fits the curve perfectly. In stuff like Zoo or Boros the only card that was red in the 1 mana slot was Lavamancer, and I don't think that's any better than Fanatic here. The fact is that Fanatic can be huge in any given game because of the math advantages it can provide. In my build (Which is TB's from a few pages back), he gets the added advantage of being that "deal 1 uncounterable damage per turn" with Wort. I don't think I'd ever cut him. Ever.