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.
Posted By:
Mode
(8/15/2011 6:46:12 AM)
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.
Posted By:
brunsbr103
(11/21/2010 7:08:05 AM)
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.
Posted By:
GainsBanding
(2/1/2011 5:15:02 AM)
@brunsbr103 - I believe you're talking about Mogg Infestation, or Mirrorweave shenanigans. That would certainly do it.
Posted By:
Equinox523
(6/10/2011 11:59:39 AM)
It's from The Dark. It's obviously going to suck. But this is just sad...
Posted By:
NARFNra
(11/19/2010 10:36:08 PM)
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 T... (see all)
Posted By:
DarthParallax
(10/1/2013 8:24:39 AM)
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 anythin... (see all)
Posted By:
The_Riddle_of_Steel
(2/12/2014 5:35:10 PM)