If vanilla creatures had effects like Goyf, we wouldn't currently have to pay nearly $200 for a copy of him.
You could look at Goyf's effect as a disadvantage, really. If you look from the perspective that he is a 1G for a potential 8/9 body, with heavy reliance on the graveyards being stocked. Think of goyf the same way you think about Death's Shadow
Death's Shadow is a potentially good card. It's hard to make good, but a potential 12/12 is pretty damn good for a one-drop.
It's in the potential Goyf's ability that he is good.
Now, what if they printed a GG vanilla creature that was a 5/5? You get exactly what's on the card, without the reliance on graveyards. No strings attached.
If Wizard's wanted to print a very strong vanilla I don't think it would be very hard to make one that fetches goyf prices.
What everyone seems focused on is how the cards don't match their four-color make-up. Why didn't the abilities match the colors? The answer is pretty simple: The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. There is no such thing, for instance, as a White/Blue/Black/Red ability. We could have included elements from all four colors, but we felt that it would end in poor design. Instead we decided to do weird offbeat effects that weren't particularly assigned to any one color mostly because we hadn't done too much like them. We chose what color combination to match them to more by feel than anything else.
The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. I'd agree with this. On the level of design, it seems pretty tough to make a graceful card, omitting one color.
I doubt we'd see any sets as recent as Lorwyn. Anything that came out after Ravnica is too recent, imo. I'd rather they explore other, new planes, actually. We've revisited two planes in the last three years....
I ran a similar build at FNM last week and went 3-1, losing only to Mono-R, which I believe is beatable with the right sideboard options (of which I did not have...).
It's not for every deck, but will find a minor home somewhere in the next couple years.
I highly doubt they will print lilly though. Looks like the usual necromantic shenanigans.
You could look at Goyf's effect as a disadvantage, really. If you look from the perspective that he is a 1G for a potential 8/9 body, with heavy reliance on the graveyards being stocked. Think of goyf the same way you think about Death's Shadow
Death's Shadow is a potentially good card. It's hard to make good, but a potential 12/12 is pretty damn good for a one-drop.
It's in the potential Goyf's ability that he is good.
Now, what if they printed a GG vanilla creature that was a 5/5? You get exactly what's on the card, without the reliance on graveyards. No strings attached.
If Wizard's wanted to print a very strong vanilla I don't think it would be very hard to make one that fetches goyf prices.
The color pie doesn't handle four-color cards. I'd agree with this. On the level of design, it seems pretty tough to make a graceful card, omitting one color.
Agreed with this kid.
I ran a similar build at FNM last week and went 3-1, losing only to Mono-R, which I believe is beatable with the right sideboard options (of which I did not have...).
It's not for every deck, but will find a minor home somewhere in the next couple years.