Weekend Art Challenge Review 031414—JordyLakiere

Weekend Art Challenge Review
Here's the challenge we're reviewing today.

Ambassador Oak goes multicolor. Ambassador Brute is comparable to Rhox Brute and still quite solid in Limited.

Bushwhacker Giant isn't strictly worse than Goblin Bushwhacker (because it's better on its own, and when you get to 7+ mana with no other creatures to cast), but it is usually inferior.
Pretty sure new players would take this one over the original, despite that much higher price.

Conscripted Troll is a Phyrexian Rager with a variant of suspend that only makes you wait for the "ETB" effect (and you have to keep the creature alive long enough). I liked suspend, and I think unchain is neat, but it's a tough sell justifying so much wordiness and book-keeping for small effects (at common).

For some cards, the difference between sorcery and instant is subtle or even unimportant. Here, it's pretty significant. As an instant, Rise to the Challenge is a trick that will turn a combat trade (or even chump block) into a victory. As a sorcery, Devil on the Shoulder plays more like a punisher card: Either you chump block this creature, or it will hit you and for 2 extra damage. For contrast, making Syphon Life an instant would be nearly meaningless. It's impressive how much meaning the game derives from those contextual differences.

Drag to the Ground is strictly worse than Grasp of Darkness, even though it can potentially be equal because most of the time, you'll control fewer than four goblins and have to pay more. I love affinity for goblins, especially on a card that shows a mob of goblins, and it's only a matter of time before they make black care about goblins again: black and red shared tribal types in Lorwyn, Innistrad, and Theros.

Empty the Caverns is an Empty the Warrens with an upper limit of one bonus copy. That greatly reduces its potential in Constructed, but retains most of its value in Limited, comparing well to Goblin Rally.

Enslaved Troll is strictly worse than Twisted Abomination in two ways, and it's still a conditionally great Limited card.

Gang Up is strictly worse than Massive Raid in two ways, but the way the rules fit the name and art is great, and this becomes a card the red tokens player can count on wheeling late in draft.

Goblin Gang is worse than Dross Crocodile. Its drawback is usually red-only, but we're looking at a set that bleeds goblins into black anyhow, so that exception might work here.

What if you had to pay Mogg War Marshal's cost entirely up-front? Goblin Platoon Leader. That's a big difference and pushes the card to a more niche strategy (you have to actively want lots of small creatures to pump or sack). You can also compare to Dragon Fodder. Neat.

Goblin War Marshal references the same source as above, but takes a different path. It's not strictly worse (because you can pay less for two goblins, or more for unlimited goblins), but it is mostly worse. It's also really interesting (even if cumulative upkeep is a tough sell in NWO).

I believe Kralfen Brute is a Hill Giant with something along the lines of "can't attack without a smaller creature" which kind of fits the art, but is a strange ability otherwise. "Can't attack alone" or "Can't attack unless at least two other creatures attack" might be more intuitive.

Large Growth is strictly worse than Monstrous Growth (which is strictly worse than Phytoburst, which is slightly worse than Titanic Growth and Giant Growth).

Lead the Charge is a Goblin-flavored version of Trumpet Blast.

Make an Example is strictly worse than Innocent Blood (and also worse than Bone Splinters except in multiplayer).

Oblivious Oaf is strictly worse than Fire Elemental, whom I still have trouble remembering is common. It looks so much better than Kralfen Brute, but that's to be expected given the relative power of the two source cards. That variance is one of the more interesting points this exercise has brought to the foreground.

Ogre War Cry is worse than Gorilla War Cry by a full cantrip, and is the entry most in need of printing.

Ogremaul is functionally identical to a card that had been sitting in my CCDD folder. Lightning Bolt gets the full Char / Orcish Cannonade treatment. That's what I call Deadguy Red.

What if Madcap Skills only worked for a single turn? On the Shoulders of Giants doesn't dominate the game the same way, but could still snatch victory out of nowhere. This card also deserves a printing.

Piggybacking Goblin is like a Caterwauling Boggart that only helps another tribe. Makes me wonder what other kinds of inter-tribal synergy goblins and trolls would have in this set.

Many suggested this should be a Troll that aids goblins instead. That makes a bit more sense with the art and would work in a more average set.

Scab-Clan Marauder is identical to Scab-Clan Mauler, except that its trample is conditional on tapping another goblin, which could potentially combo with inspired or Q, though it makes for a very text common. I'm glad we have representation from the make-something-strictly-worse-to-make-it-effectively-better camp.

Scion of Despair is a less dangerous Ulamog's Crusher (on several axes) and while it's not too strong for a common, it doesn't look like a common anymore. In most sets, Ulamog's Crusher doesn't look like a common. In fact, it being common was actually the most notable thing about it. So Scion couldn't go in just any set, but you could make a set where it's common and intentionally looks out of place.

Scornful Ogretist is more elegant than Scornful Egotist.
(And could still be a runnable card in a set that cares about CMC.)

Scumback Marauders is another example of a common that's so good you can make a strictly worse version that's still very good AND of a card that's strictly worse but functionally better: Scuzzback Marauders was red/green which is easier to cast, but in draft that meant the red player would see them half as often, because the green player was fighting for them too. Fascinating.

Seer of Kookus is meant to be functionally identical to Marauding Maulhorn, but contextually worse because the card it wants to be next to doesn't care about it. It's a marginal difference on a marginal condition of a marginal drawback, but it absolutely qualifies as strictly worse, which lends a bit of perspective on the value of that label.

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This exercise wasn't as hard as most, but it was still fun and there were some legitimate takeaways. Will run some lighter exercises again, because it's nice to have a break from the tough stuff every once in a while.