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So everyone gets an understanding of what this is, this is the Goblin of the Week. Each week I will pick a random Goblin card (has to have Goblin in it's subtype) and I discuss the card from a gameplay perspective (and the occasional flavor behind it). This week is Firefright Mage. We love having our one mana Goblins. But this isn't that good. If this was just 2 mana, tap for giving a creature intimidate than we like this in draft. This is okay in draft if your opponent isn't playing any artifact or red creatures and you're both trying to top deck. Unfortunately this card isn't good in 99% of games. Theoretically, if you had an all Goblin cube this card would probably be horrific. One of the cards that doesn't get played or even noticed.

So everyone gets an understanding of what this is, this is the Goblin of the Week. Each week I will pick a random Goblin card (has to have Goblin in it's subtype) and I discuss the card from a gameplay perspective (and the occasional flavor behind it). This week we have Goblin Instigator. On the surface this card it is a Mogg War Marshal that doesn't care about dying or Echo. It keeps in flavor of the War Marshal with its flavor text - implying there's no benefit to the card dying and the token should die instead. When this was spoiled every one thought it could replace the War Marshal but the issue with Goblin Instigator is that there's no value if it dies. Simultaneously the biggest (and probably only downside) to the War Marshal is too good of a synergy with it's death trigger. But the card of the week isn't Mogg War Marshal so I need to stop comparing this to that from here on out... ...Goblin Instigator is an actually really good card. It's almost a Dragon Fodder - or any other 2 mana get two 1/1 goblin tokens - but it can be recurred by small other Standard cards like Memorial to Folly. This fits into the Return to Return to Ravnica Standard Goblins deck as a 4 of. If you are interested in playing this in Standard (for the last few months it will be around) your deck would probably look something like this: Goblin Instigator Goblin Warchief Siege-Gang Commander Goblin Gathering Goblin Cratermaker Goblin Trashmaster Goblin Ringleader Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin Skirk Prospector Icon of Ancestry Radiant Destiny Outside of Standard this card would definitely be played in Commander but it has no place in Modern or Legacy. This card is perfectly okay, not the best but definitely not the worst.

Hollow One has some new toys from Modern Horizons and has become my favorite deck again. The goal of the deck is still the same...discard a bunch of stuff (many times at random) to pump Flameblade Adept and dump out free Hollow Ones and discounted Gurmag Anglers. However, with the addition of Unearth and Lightning Skelemental, the deck has a new and more powerful graveyard synergy, more discard effects to disrupt our opponent, and more chance to pile on the damage early before our opponent has a chance to set up. There is a lot of graveyard hate in the format right now which pushed the traditional Hollow One out of Tier 1, but the ability to hard cast Lightning Skelemental and use the cycling ability on both Unearth and Hollow One to pump Flameblade Adept forces opponents to make tougher decisions when it comes to removal, blocking, and mulliganning. Currently the deck is 6-1 in my testing and only lost to Mono-Red Prowess, a slightly faster and more reactive deck. I've beat UR Gifts Storm, Bant Spirits, UW Control, Hogaak, BU Fairies, and Jund Lands. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!