If you’re already running all the best 1 mana ramp creatures, then Delighted Halfling might be a nice addition. Here's where I would rank it in the 1 mana ramp creature hierarchy:
My 540 card cube has 88 nonland legendary cards, so having legendary creatures, planeswalkers, enchantments, sorceries, and artifacts be fixed and uncounterable could matter. 2 toughness is also fine against aggro or token decks.
I cut all my one drop ramp creatures that don't either tap for 2+ mana in the long run, or fix multiple colours. This doesn't always fix mana, but the uncounterability and second toughness are nice bonuses. I think I'll be trying this out.
I more or less agree with meltingsho's tier list in the OP.
I'm not as high on this as other people, as this will be a 1/2 Boreal Druid most of the time. You're likely to have a few legendary cards in any given deck, but not a huge number. Uncounterability and mana fixing for them is nice, but I'd much rather just have a second color.
That said, it's more interesting than some of the other mana dorks, and I'll probably end up playing it somewhere.
Interesting that it's called a halfling rather than a hobbit even in the card name.
I cut all my one drop ramp creatures that don't either tap for 2+ mana in the long run, or fix multiple colours. This doesn't always fix mana, but the uncounterability and second toughness are nice bonuses. I think I'll be trying this out.
Do you mean to write "I cut all my two drop ramp creatures ..."
I once farted during the final match for prizes at an FNM. It was a tense moment, everything was quiet, control vs control, I was about to mana leak, thought about it.. and farted. Then mana leaked.
I more or less agree with meltingsho's tier list in the OP.
I'm not as high on this as other people, as this will be a 1/2 Boreal Druid most of the time. You're likely to have a few legendary cards in any given deck, but not a huge number. Uncounterability and mana fixing for them is nice, but I'd much rather just have a second color.
That said, it's more interesting than some of the other mana dorks, and I'll probably end up playing it somewhere.
Interesting that it's called a halfling rather than a hobbit even in the card name.
I've been wondering about the lack of hobbits also
I've been wondering about the lack of hobbits also
I have to assume it's to match existing creature types an enable future "hafling" synergies if they print them in non-LOTR sets. I can't imagine it's a copyright thing (wasn't that the reason Magic originally had kithkin?) since they are making a LOTR set.
I've been wondering about the lack of hobbits also
I have to assume it's to match existing creature types an enable future "hafling" synergies if they print them in non-LOTR sets. I can't imagine it's a copyright thing (wasn't that the reason Magic originally had kithkin?) since they are making a LOTR set.
I assume copyright 100%. They shot themselves in the foot with the 40k since they used type likes like "astartes" that make a reprint hard/expensive to do.
"'Hobbit' is a trademark owned by the Middle-earth Enterprises, as some of names, places and artifacts included in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.'
Using halfling means they can reprint those without licenc8ng issues.
I assume copyright 100%. They shot themselves in the foot with the 40k since they used type likes like "astartes" that make a reprint hard/expensive to do.
"'Hobbit' is a trademark owned by the Middle-earth Enterprises, as some of names, places and artifacts included in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.'
Using halfling means they can reprint those without licenc8ng issues.
Surely "gandalf" is also owned by Middle-earth enterprises? I guess I don't see what the difference is between using Hobbit and using Gandalf when it comes to reprtints.
I'm really surprised people like this so much. It can enable certain splashed but only narrowly and only for incredibly specific cards.
This can fix for second color symbols in 2 color decks sometimes (help you cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor in UG or Liliana of the Veil in BG) or splashing with single-symbol off color splash legends (Teferi, Time Raveler in UG or Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes in BG). For the latter you'd also want the splashed card to be worth splashing for. I'd imagine you'd want 4 or 5 (one in 10 or 8 cards) cards that fit one of those molds in your deck.
While that's not a ton of cards needed to get fixing value out of this thing, there aren't actually that many card like that readily available to most decks. I can't account for a specific number of possible cards taht fill that niche since it changes contextually based on what decks end up being drafted, but having more than 4 or 5 possible payoffs for the color-fixing to make it more productive than Boreal Druid in all your green decks seems a little unlikely to me? We cut Joraga Treespeaker for being too narrow, so I'm sure we can make space for this and try it and very well might, but I'm not convinced this can consistently fix your mana and enable splashes as well as something like Gilded Goose, which we do play and I'm now surprised to learn many other don't play.
Card is probably fine, but I think it's closer to Boreal Druid (which we've played before and was disappointing) than it is to Gilded Goose.
Surely "gandalf" is also owned by Middle-earth enterprises? I guess I don't see what the difference is between using Hobbit and using Gandalf when it comes to reprtints.
I suspect there were 2 designs philosophies that cards from this set could fit in. Cards like Gandalf and Frodo were designed with the idea that they're only going to appear in LotR sets - Gandalf won't show up in Wilds of Eldraine or whatever. The other design for cards like Reprieve and Delighted Halfling were designed to be generic enough that they could fit in future sets, which is why they went with "Reprieve" and "Delighted Halfling" instead of something like "Gandalf's Reprieve" and "Delighted Hobbit" - those names would be more flavorful, but would limit how/if the cards could show up in reprints.
Surely "gandalf" is also owned by Middle-earth enterprises? I guess I don't see what the difference is between using Hobbit and using Gandalf when it comes to reprtints.
I suspect there were 2 designs philosophies that cards from this set could fit in. Cards like Gandalf and Frodo were designed with the idea that they're only going to appear in LotR sets - Gandalf won't show up in Wilds of Eldraine or whatever. The other design for cards like Reprieve and Delighted Halfling were designed to be generic enough that they could fit in future sets, which is why they went with "Reprieve" and "Delighted Halfling" instead of something like "Gandalf's Reprieve" and "Delighted Hobbit" - those names would be more flavorful, but would limit how/if the cards could show up in reprints.
That was my thinking. Named Legends are always going to be hard reprints but also flavourful, splashy cards. They will be peoples comanders and stand out as a big deal. Its unlikely to be a card they could use to fill a slot in another set.
Delighted Halfling can be given a fresh coat of paint (art) and reprinted into any set with a legendary sub theme. It's not splashy or important, but a design they are likely to want to reuse if it plays well.
Kinda the same reason so many flexible cards are humans; they can show up anywhere and no-one thinks its weird. Delighted Halfling could show up in Eldraine, Delighted Hobbit couldn't.
I'm really surprised people like this so much. It can enable certain splashed but only narrowly and only for incredibly specific cards.
This can fix for second color symbols in 2 color decks sometimes (help you cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor in UG or Liliana of the Veil in BG) or splashing with single-symbol off color splash legends (Teferi, Time Raveler in UG or Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes in BG). For the latter you'd also want the splashed card to be worth splashing for. I'd imagine you'd want 4 or 5 (one in 10 or 8 cards) cards that fit one of those molds in your deck.
While that's not a ton of cards needed to get fixing value out of this thing, there aren't actually that many card like that readily available to most decks. I can't account for a specific number of possible cards taht fill that niche since it changes contextually based on what decks end up being drafted, but having more than 4 or 5 possible payoffs for the color-fixing to make it more productive than Boreal Druid in all your green decks seems a little unlikely to me? We cut Joraga Treespeaker for being too narrow, so I'm sure we can make space for this and try it and very well might, but I'm not convinced this can consistently fix your mana and enable splashes as well as something like Gilded Goose, which we do play and I'm now surprised to learn many other don't play.
Card is probably fine, but I think it's closer to Boreal Druid (which we've played before and was disappointing) than it is to Gilded Goose.
I rate the cannot be countered clause very highly. I'd mostly agree with your analysis if that wasn't present.
Every single counter spell in my cube goes highly and is maindecked. Blue almost never goes completely undrafted.
A one mana creature that fixes for some of the most powerful "fair" cube cards that also prevents the most effective way of negating their value has a ton of potential.
green ramp -> multicolored planeswalkers is an effective strategy in my cube that this slots right into.
I think I over-rated it a little at first, but I still suspect it's on par with llanowar elf type cards , higher ceiling and lower floor.
Every single counter spell in my cube goes highly and is maindecked. Blue almost never goes completely undrafted.
That's an excellent point, maybe I'm underestimating the Cavern of Souls effect. Blue is the best color, and green is probably our second best, and both end up with higher playrates. Having easy access to this type of effect might be more innately desirable than I'm giving it credit for.
The fact that this helps splash and make uncounterable Minsc & Boo, Oko, and Grist is very good. We see a lot of “nearly mono green” decks that splash these cards.
If you’re already running all the best 1 mana ramp creatures, then Delighted Halfling might be a nice addition. Here's where I would rank it in the 1 mana ramp creature hierarchy:
S Tier
Noble Hierarch
Ignoble Hierarch
Birds of Paradise
Joraga Treespeaker
Tier 1
Llanowar Elves
Fyndhorn Elves
Elvish Mystic
Arbor Elf
Tier 2
Delighted Halfling
Gilded Goose
Deathrite Shaman
Avacyn's Pilgrim
Boreal Druid
Elves of Deep Shadow
My 540 card cube has 88 nonland legendary cards, so having legendary creatures, planeswalkers, enchantments, sorceries, and artifacts be fixed and uncounterable could matter. 2 toughness is also fine against aggro or token decks.
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I think the days for 2 CMC dorks are over.
On spoiled card wishlisting and 'should-have-had'-isms:
I'm not as high on this as other people, as this will be a 1/2 Boreal Druid most of the time. You're likely to have a few legendary cards in any given deck, but not a huge number. Uncounterability and mana fixing for them is nice, but I'd much rather just have a second color.
That said, it's more interesting than some of the other mana dorks, and I'll probably end up playing it somewhere.
Interesting that it's called a halfling rather than a hobbit even in the card name.
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Do you mean to write "I cut all my two drop ramp creatures ..."
I've been wondering about the lack of hobbits also
I have to assume it's to match existing creature types an enable future "hafling" synergies if they print them in non-LOTR sets. I can't imagine it's a copyright thing (wasn't that the reason Magic originally had kithkin?) since they are making a LOTR set.
465 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I assume copyright 100%. They shot themselves in the foot with the 40k since they used type likes like "astartes" that make a reprint hard/expensive to do.
"'Hobbit' is a trademark owned by the Middle-earth Enterprises, as some of names, places and artifacts included in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.'
Using halfling means they can reprint those without licenc8ng issues.
Surely "gandalf" is also owned by Middle-earth enterprises? I guess I don't see what the difference is between using Hobbit and using Gandalf when it comes to reprtints.
465 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
This can fix for second color symbols in 2 color decks sometimes (help you cast Jace, the Mind Sculptor in UG or Liliana of the Veil in BG) or splashing with single-symbol off color splash legends (Teferi, Time Raveler in UG or Minsc & Boo, Timeless Heroes in BG). For the latter you'd also want the splashed card to be worth splashing for. I'd imagine you'd want 4 or 5 (one in 10 or 8 cards) cards that fit one of those molds in your deck.
While that's not a ton of cards needed to get fixing value out of this thing, there aren't actually that many card like that readily available to most decks. I can't account for a specific number of possible cards taht fill that niche since it changes contextually based on what decks end up being drafted, but having more than 4 or 5 possible payoffs for the color-fixing to make it more productive than Boreal Druid in all your green decks seems a little unlikely to me? We cut Joraga Treespeaker for being too narrow, so I'm sure we can make space for this and try it and very well might, but I'm not convinced this can consistently fix your mana and enable splashes as well as something like Gilded Goose, which we do play and I'm now surprised to learn many other don't play.
Card is probably fine, but I think it's closer to Boreal Druid (which we've played before and was disappointing) than it is to Gilded Goose.
I suspect there were 2 designs philosophies that cards from this set could fit in. Cards like Gandalf and Frodo were designed with the idea that they're only going to appear in LotR sets - Gandalf won't show up in Wilds of Eldraine or whatever. The other design for cards like Reprieve and Delighted Halfling were designed to be generic enough that they could fit in future sets, which is why they went with "Reprieve" and "Delighted Halfling" instead of something like "Gandalf's Reprieve" and "Delighted Hobbit" - those names would be more flavorful, but would limit how/if the cards could show up in reprints.
[180 classic cube]
That was my thinking. Named Legends are always going to be hard reprints but also flavourful, splashy cards. They will be peoples comanders and stand out as a big deal. Its unlikely to be a card they could use to fill a slot in another set.
Delighted Halfling can be given a fresh coat of paint (art) and reprinted into any set with a legendary sub theme. It's not splashy or important, but a design they are likely to want to reuse if it plays well.
Kinda the same reason so many flexible cards are humans; they can show up anywhere and no-one thinks its weird. Delighted Halfling could show up in Eldraine, Delighted Hobbit couldn't.
I rate the cannot be countered clause very highly. I'd mostly agree with your analysis if that wasn't present.
Every single counter spell in my cube goes highly and is maindecked. Blue almost never goes completely undrafted.
A one mana creature that fixes for some of the most powerful "fair" cube cards that also prevents the most effective way of negating their value has a ton of potential.
green ramp -> multicolored planeswalkers is an effective strategy in my cube that this slots right into.
I think I over-rated it a little at first, but I still suspect it's on par with llanowar elf type cards , higher ceiling and lower floor.
Last Updated 06/28/23
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That's an excellent point, maybe I'm underestimating the Cavern of Souls effect. Blue is the best color, and green is probably our second best, and both end up with higher playrates. Having easy access to this type of effect might be more innately desirable than I'm giving it credit for.