Comments on: Week in Review (as seen on the Starkington Post.com!)

By: Jonathan Medina

Jonathan Medina — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:52:48 +0000

Jund scoops to Day of Judgment. End of Story 😉

By: KBR

KBR — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:15:42 +0000

Primal Command gives you tempo in a deck that needs it. Tutor up a guy and time walk them. Mark of Asylum is fine, and with R/W fetch lands could be a viable SB card to keep GOblins from scooping to Fallout. Unfortunately without a good way to reload, dedicated Goblins can't afford the tempo loss.Splash options are something I'll look into when I know more about the set. I actually love the idea of some sort of Zoo deck – R/W Fetchlands, Ruel, and the 2/2 Haste guys alone make me want to try the deck. You have to go all-in Goblins and I just plain don't care for Instigator that much without more tribal support.Baneslayer dying to everything isn't "fan boy group think" so much as it is a material fact of the card. That doesn't mean it's bad. It just means that before you go all in on Baneslayer, you need to be prepared to protect her. Goblins as a tribe can't afford to protect itself since it operates on turns 1 thru 3. It needs tempo to win. Think about Jund Aggro – it doesn't protect its guys – it runs them out there and lets them trade and die . It just ALWAYS has more. That's the kind of deck that wins games, not a cute tribal strategy without the proper support yet.For the record, Goblin Guide its totally insane with Ruel and I'm thinking both should be more expensive than they are…I'll say it again. All a deck like Jund or 5CC needs to beat Goblins is any combo of 2 of these cards: Fallout, Bolt, Pulse, Doom Blade, Path, DoJ, Pyroclasm. That's the short list. Basically, any 2 of those can keep you alive long enough. That's because they have no way to refuel right now. Blue's card draw isn't that great right now, getting BB for Sign in Blood is already challenging in post-ZEN Jund which has a tight mana base, and the other options just aren't that attractive. Long story short, if Goblins uses Bloodbraid Elf and other such cards and functions more like Jund Aggro, then I'll buy it. I just think that Instigator is way too "live the dream", and it will be overpriced at release. If material information about the Tribe or metagame changes or is released in a second set, this can change, but for the pre-release and the first month, Instigator is not worth getting.

By: Jonathan Medina

Jonathan Medina — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 16:38:41 +0000

LOL - I played elves for the last couple of months and a T3 Primal Command is not a common occurrence. What does a T3 Primal Command have to do with not loosing to Fallout anyway? BFT was definately the card of choice against fallout, but toward the end of the season Mark of Asylum started to see play in Elves sideboard. If you splash white in Goblin - you get Ruel (Ranger of Eos) and Mark of Asylum. You also have access to Harm's Way and Safe Passage. Siege-Gang and Ruel – Give you resilience, much like Ruel and Cloudgoat in Kithkin.You are ignoring the splash options to support your statements. You can splash White, Blue or the Traditional Black. All of these colors have answers for Fallout and other Board Sweepers. These options set the stage for the deck to climb the constructed ladder. It may take a while even for the other set to be released, but when the deck becomes Tier 1, you don’t want to be scrambling to get Instigators.I used Baneslayer as an example of how the fan-boy-group-think mentality can cause people to under estimate cards and strategies. I wasn't saying Baneslayer Angel the creature is like Goblins the Archetype. What I was saying in more words was something like this:Statements like "All it takes to beat Goblins is a fallout or any combination of spot removal." are very narrow minded. This was the argument against Baneslayer Angel "It dies to everything.", that frame of thinking falls apart when you are sitting across the table from an army of goblins or a 5/5 flying lifelinking first striker and you don't have the “savior” card in hand. I suppose if you could guarantee what cards you would draw every turn then this line of thinking would be solid. The bottom line is that you don't know anymore than I do. We both made guesses; I say we have enough information to say that the deck will be rocking! Time will tell. Peace!Jonathan Medina www.mytradebinder.com

By: KBR

KBR — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:56:34 +0000

Elves could T3 a Primal Command and had Burrenton Forge Tender main deck. Kithkin sided them and could boost their guys out of range w. crusade effects very quickly. Kithkin also only needed 1-2 cards to generate a board position and had Windbrisk Heights as a card draw engine. Elves had Primal Command, Ruel, and Regal Force.As of now, Goblins has nothing to refuel once it goes all-in on its initial push. Its god draw puts you pretty low on the play ( -2, then -2, then -9), but on the draw it just begs to be blown out by VF.Baneslayer is not an appropriate comparison – it's a control finisher, not an aggro deck archetype, and can be backed up with a suite of countermagic and card draw. All it takes to beat Goblins (RIGHT NOW, if they spoil something awesome this could change) is a fallout or any combination of spot removal. Path, Bolt, Doom Blade, Etc all work well. As aggro decks are concerned, I still like Jund Aggro over Goblins. Losing Ram Gang is going to suck hard but we get another stupidly good 2-drop in that landfall first striker. He's really friggin good.

By: Jonathan Medina

Jonathan Medina — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:28:49 +0000

Re: GoblinsBoard sweep is good against aggro – Duh!? But that hasn't stopped Kithkin and Elves from becoming tier 1 decks. I think that it's a bit short sided to say that Goblins will not reach Tier1 because of board sweep.With the RW fetchland we could see a RW Goblin build with Harms Way and or Mark of Asylum.. Those cards cure any case of "Diestofalloutius" I mean Baneslayer suffers from "Diesfromeverythingitus" but still see plenty of play and is packing close to a $30 price tag.The fact that Goblins have tools like Lightning Bolt, Siege-Gang (DOJ Recovery), and other thing depending on the splash (we could see a UR splash for Levitation and counter magic – Remember Counter Elves! LOL)is a strong case for the deck. Personally I think we will see a Tier 1 Goblin deck. Jonathan Medina http://www.mytradebinder.com

By: Patrick

Patrick — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 20:30:15 +0000

I think it could be worth while regarding picking up the Vampires, but the spoiler isn't even half done yet. I think you might have a better chance to pick up some of those cards that will likely go up in value shortly. However, when we only have 73 cards spoiled including basic lands, its still hard to make good investment calls unless we have cards like the fetchlands or cards that will have an impact on Eternal formats or Extended. In this specific instance with a Vampire tribe, they haven't had a previously strong showing as a tribe in a format so the spoiler would really have to show a strong tendency to make them worth picking up imo…

By: zetjintsu

zetjintsu — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 14:24:29 +0000

Do you think Vampire Nocturnus will see play in an aggro Vampire deck? WoTC seems to be pushing Vampires hard, so now might be a good time to pick up their Lord while he's cheap.

By: argus

argus — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 03:02:55 +0000

I don't agree with the falloutitis statement since goblins will probably be played with black to include duress and terminate and maybe something new zendikar provides. Goblins also have post wrath game with Siege-Gang Commander.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:29:12 +0000

I agree on the parts concerning Warren Instigator for sure. I don't think Goblins will have a break out tribal deck for several reasons. Besides dying to board sweepers, Instigator will also have a lightning rod tied to his back. All of the spot removal ranging from Path to Bolt will be aimed solely at him. Additionally, one of the primary reasons that Goblins has been successful in a format like Legacy is because it has Matron for tutor and Ringleader to refill the hand. Without those two, Goblins drops into top deck mode and can't get the explosive restarts that help it overcome the board sweepers.Nissa Revane looks like the planeswalker with the greatest potential value to me. It has appeal to nearly all aspects of players. Timmy and Johnny like her because she combos well and is an Elf based planeswalker. Spike might like her because of the double wellwisher effect and the ability to tutor out Elvish Warrior every turn seems like a powerful ability. Ob Nixilis, the Fallen seems like junk with the first once over. But landfall on a five cc isn't terrible. Plus, with fetchlands. You can get +6/+6 and an 11 life swing all for the cost of playing a fetchland… Not too shabby.