MTG Salvation

I really want to like this but don't run enough goblins to find this worthwhile. There are synergies, sure, with the likes of Hellrider and a few other cards...but I think I need to trigger the firebreathing or it's just a crappy hero of bladehold. Unlike hero, this guy is too fragile to be blocked.

Quote from Warden »

I really want to like this but don't run enough goblins to find this worthwhile. There are synergies, sure, with the likes of Hellrider and a few other cards...but I think I need to trigger the firebreathing or it's just a crappy hero of bladehold. Unlike hero, this guy is too fragile to be blocked.

You do realize that since the token has haste, he'll always at minimum be attacking as a 3/2 with a 1/1 at its side?

I don't think it needs additional tribal support to justify his 2R cost. He does a lot for that mana, including having an immediate impact on the board and generating an additional attacking threat per turn.

Quote from Warden »

I really want to like this but don't run enough goblins to find this worthwhile. There are synergies, sure, with the likes of Hellrider and a few other cards...but I think I need to trigger the firebreathing or it's just a crappy hero of bladehold. Unlike hero, this guy is too fragile to be blocked.

A crappy Hero of Bladehold for 3 mana. SOLD! Seriously I expect this thing to be a mythic and make an impact in standard and other formats with goblins. As for cube, this guy will be the red Brimaz. I know I am prone to hyperbole but he is going to do what no red 3 drop has really done before.

If anything this is better with less goblins since you don't have to worry about suiciding stuff you don't want to get rid of.

Quote from dschumm »

Quote from Warden »

I really want to like this but don't run enough goblins to find this worthwhile. There are synergies, sure, with the likes of Hellrider and a few other cards...but I think I need to trigger the firebreathing or it's just a crappy hero of bladehold. Unlike hero, this guy is too fragile to be blocked.

A crappy Hero of Bladehold for 3 mana. SOLD! Seriously I expect this thing to be a mythic and make an impact in standard and other formats with goblins. As for cube, this guy will be the red Brimaz. I know I am prone to hyperbole but he is going to do what no red 3 drop has really done before.

But like Brimaz or Hero, they have a 4 toughness. That survives attacks. This guy has trouble doing that.

Quote from Warden »

Quote from dschumm »

Quote from Warden »

I really want to like this but don't run enough goblins to find this worthwhile. There are synergies, sure, with the likes of Hellrider and a few other cards...but I think I need to trigger the firebreathing or it's just a crappy hero of bladehold. Unlike hero, this guy is too fragile to be blocked.

A crappy Hero of Bladehold for 3 mana. SOLD! Seriously I expect this thing to be a mythic and make an impact in standard and other formats with goblins. As for cube, this guy will be the red Brimaz. I know I am prone to hyperbole but he is going to do what no red 3 drop has really done before.

But like Brimaz or Hero, they have a 4 toughness. That survives attacks. This guy has trouble doing that.

But this guy is often falling into decks that do damage at a much faster pace with burn and what not, and his army is produced without ever having to make a bad attack with the original token producer to get the token.

He's really easy to cast compared to most all other 3cmc creatures, plus he does the most damage unobstructed for a 3cmc in cube, unless you count Blistering Firecat

Goblin Rabblemaster, T3: 1, T4: 6
Geist of Saint Traft, T4: 6
Master of Feast, T4: 5
...many do 4

He is very cubeable because of his ease of casting and that the competition in red's 3cmc slots are weak. Pretty soon here I think Goblin Bombardment will be back in my cube.

I really like the 2R cost of this guy. Most of the strong 3-drops have a 1CC cost.

I also like that it is a self-contained tribal card, like Siege-Gang Commander or Deranged Hermit: You need zero other cards of its tribe to make it good, but if you just so happen to have more creatures of its tribe, it just gets better. (Or at least it gets mostly better, since you sometimes have to watch out for goblins that you don't want to commit suicide right now.)

Looks extremely strong to me. Agree in particular with everything Star Slayer says. It's an interesting must-deal-with effect and gives a bit of a boost to the red tokens support doing the rounds. I don't know why people expect him to be Mythic though. It screams Rare to me anyway.

Here's the actual full art if anyone wants to proxy it for testing (I'll probably do so, I've been decently happy with it in cube so far.)

Sweet, ill proxy this guy up!

Nice art! Thanks for posting that Usman.

Quote from NathanZimmerer »

He's really easy to cast compared to most all other 3cmc creatures, plus he does the most damage unobstructed for a 3cmc in cube, unless you count Blistering Firecat

Goblin Rabblemaster, T3: 1, T4: 6
Geist of Saint Traft, T4: 6
Master of Feast, T4: 5
...many do 4

He is very cubeable because of his ease of casting and that the competition in red's 3cmc slots are weak. Pretty soon here I think Goblin Bombardment will be back in my cube.

If I wasn't sold on this guy before, I totally am now.

(Also, I wouldn't count the Firecat because you have to sink more than 3 mana into him to get 7 damage)

I heard a few people not planning on running this fellow. I think they don't really understand how he will play out on board. How has play testing been?

The card is really strong. It has the highest damage output of pretty much any 3cc creature in the cube, it's splashable, and plays well in generic aggro and midrange decks and in token builds and pox/stax builds. It's a fantastic cube card, and it's been a slam-dunk in testing so far.

I've been testing the card for like 10 days. It's a ridiculous amount of damage on an open board and not bad in closed positions. It's one of red's best three drops.

Its in the best color to clear a path. Red finally has a 3 drop who's aggressiveness matches the rest of the mana slots.

Saw him out with curse of predation, it was ugly.

This is solid. I will find place for it in my cube.

Quote from dschumm »

Saw him out with curse of predation, it was ugly.

Oh... Oww.

This guy looks great...but unsure what to cut for him at 360.

I've noticed folks seem to be really high on Rabblemaster variants. I'm not sure if I'm missing something, but I've found they were essentially dead on the draw and there were very few games where I was able to successfully attack with a rabble master.

However, I've found Screaming Nemesis / Preacher of the Schism to both be better alternatives - I've had cases where I was on the draw and I was able to profitably block with a Preacher / Screaming Nemesis against both faster creature decks OR decks that just had bigger creatures.

I would appreciate if folks can educate if I'm doing something wrong.

I'd say Rabblemaster is awesome when the opponent is stumbling. That can be due to land destruction, counterspells, discard, protection like Mother of Runes, or simply ramping out threats before they can react effectively. And it's so punishing if you get a mox or mana crypt.

But on the other hand, I think few people will argue with you if you said that Nemesis and Preacher are usually better when things are looking more grindy.