Once a card dominates, it can be easy to forget that it was ever misunderstood.
Bloodbraid Elf was initially greatly misunderstood by players. Why? Because of the extremely variable Black Lotus attached to it. Yeah, a 3/2 haste that often draws a card, that sounds reasonable. It’s the whole “without paying its casting cost” part that made the card hard to evaluate. After all, how much mana are you saving when you flip a Lightning Bolt? What about a Terminate? Does it matter which you flip if your opponent’s only creature is a Noble Hierarch?
Oath of the Gatewatch has come on strong this spoiler season, and I’ve gotta feeling (ooh-ooh) that it’s going to take a little bit of time for some of the big new cards to be really appreciated. One of these is, almost assuredly, Goblin Dark-Dwellers.
Goblin Dark-Dwellersis a very Bloodbraid Elf type of card, all things considered. The spell you get even costs three or less, just like Bloodbraid Elf! It is true that you have to have already played a sorcery or instant this game, and that’s what you get to copy; but the upside is that it’s easy to have cast a spell by turn 5, and you get your pick of what to “cascade” into, rather than rely on a random spell to flip.
Of course, Bloodbraid Elf is a messed up Magic card. What in the world would make it okay to compare a new card to it? You’d have to be pretty insane…
…Or it would have to be.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers (sic) is a 4/4, which is slightly better than a 3/2 haste on rate alone. Of course, Bloodbraid Elf only cost four, so maybe it’s not the right comparison. Let’s compare the Dark-Dwellers with another five mana card advantage creature.
But wait! Doesn’t Mulldrifter draw two cards?
True, but they are both random cards and cost however much they cost. It’s sort of like Goblin Dark-Dwellers draws two cards. One of them is “better” than a card in that you get “selection.” Some amount of the time, you get to choose between Crackling Doom and Read the Bones, or whatever. Yeah, some of the time, you’re just going to choose whatever is available; but in that case, you’re still getting a non-land card (which is generally a good thing by the time you’ve got five mana).
The other “card” Goblin Dark-Dwellers draws is a “Black Lotus.” Getting to cast the card we flashbacked for free saves us 1-3 mana (usually), so in a way, it’s like we drew a card that produces between 1-3 mana. There is the catch that it has to be used right now, but Black Lotus is a bit more powerful than a card usually is.
Yes, Black Lotus is worth less on turn 5 than it would be worth on turn 1, but when you’re drawing extra cards and getting a nice bit of card advantage, one of the best things you can buy is tempo. That’s part of what made Bloodbraid Elf such a devastating card. It’s giving you card advantage and tempo at the same time.
Getting back to our Mulldrifter comparison, Goblin Dark-Dwellers has a major, major weakness compared to Mulldrifter. It can’t be played as a Divination. That’s the best part about Mulldrifter, right? Of course, Goblin Dark-Dwellers has something really valuable going for it. A 4/4 is a lot better than a 2/2 flier. Like a lot. That’s a big body, and a very real threat.
Without the evoke ability, Goblin Dark-Dwellers ends up playing radically different than Mulldrifter. What about a closer comparison in terms of play pattern?
Nucklavee was a niche role-player in Standard and is somewhat similar to Goblin Dark-Dwellers in many regards. After all, it is a 4/4 that draws two cards, right?
Goblin Dark-Dwellers costs a mana less than Nucklavee, which is already a massive, massive upgrade. That alone is enough to suggest the card will show up in tier 1 decks immediately. However, neither Nucklavee, nor Goblin Dark-Dwellers are straight draw-twos. Nucklavee’s draw two was actually not trivial to set up. You need both a sorcery and an instant to get the full draw two power. Dark-Dwellers needs only a single sorcery or instant to get the full power.
Additionally, if you’re playing a three-for-one, a Black Lotus is typically a great one to be one of your three. The fact that Goblin Dark-Dwellers gives you a tempo boost at the same time as it gives you card advantage at the same time as it gives you selection?
I don’t know, man. That’s just weird.
Creatures with menace can’t be blocked by only one creature.
What?! This thing even has an ability?!
Well, getting back one and two-cost spells is all well and good, but three-cost spells are the ones that really push the power level and lead to some pretty obnoxious turns. As long as there aren’t any insane three-cost sorceries or instants, this is probably a fair Magic card.
Okay then.
Right. Well, we’ve already determined that Crackling Doom is basically the best sorcery or instant for three or less mana, and there’s even a deck with it that uses Kolaghan’s Command. What’s it look like if we put some Goblin Dark-Dwellers in there?
Creatures (14)
Lands (27)
Spells (20)
Of course, we shouldn’t actually use Wind-Scarred Crag, but WotC already confirmed more creature-lands. Assuming the R/W one is decent, we can just cut for them. If it’s not that good, we just play a manabase similar to previous Jeskai Black decks, but we’re still going to need a little bit more red mana than previous builds to support the double red of Goblin Dark-Dwellers.
Flashing back Crackling Doom has obvious appeal. I mean, just picture playing a Soulfire Grand Master or Monastery Mentor into Crackling Doom. Then drop Goblin Dark-Dwellers and you’re really putting some serious pressure on your opponent.
What if they kill your Soulfire Grand Master? Kolaghan’s Command it back on turn 3 while Shocking something or making your opponent discard a card. Then on turn 4, drop it again, followed by a Roast or Fiery Impulse. What is your opponent going to do? Not kill it again? After all, you’re threatening to start Fiery Impulsing or Duressing with buyback next turn.
Of course, if they kill it, they’re walking face-first into Goblin Dark-Dwellers flashing back Kolaghan’s Command to get back Soulfire Grand Master with yet another Shock or discard. Goblin Dark-Dwellers flashing back Kolaghan’s Command does a great job of demonstrating just how easily you can make the Dark-Dwellers a three-for-one, not just a two-for-one.
One “weakness” of Goblin Dark-Dwellers is that because you are getting the spell for free, it doesn’t work with converge. This means Painful Truths isn’t as good a fit as it normally would be. Instead, a couple Read the Bones can try to mostly get there for us, and when we need the extra cards, we can flash one back with the Dark-Dwellers.
Why only one Treasure Cruise? Well, it’s very possible that there should be several Treasure Cruises. It’s not like the exiling is interfering with Goblin Dark-Dwellers that much. However, there is a limit to how much slow card advantage-y stuff we can play. Goblin Dark-Dwellers isn’t the slowest, but it is slower than anything we were playing.
Three Duresses? That’s kind of a lot, right?
Well, once you’re playing Goblin Dark-Dwellers, you really don’t want to get Ojutai’s Commanded. Dispel also helps, but the difference between five and six mana can sometimes be a lot.
Wait, why are we blue?
Well, the short answer is Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy. However, if we don’t need Treasure Cruise as much, and we don’t need Dispel, and we’re not even playing Mantis Rider, maybe it’s worth considering a straight Mardu build.
Creatures (12)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (22)
Spells (19)
This is 56 cards, so you just add the R/W creature-land and you’re set. The printing of another creature-land will really help open up the possibility of playing a Mardu deck that is structurally similar to Abzan midrange decks.
Even though Radiant Flames doesn’t “work” with Goblin Dark-Dwellers, it is an ideal sweeper for us. To begin with, you only get to Flashback one card with the Dark-Dwellers, so it’s not the end of the world if we draw a card we can’t hit. Besides, Radiant Flames isn’t the type of card that always needs to be cast twice to get the job done. The combo with Soulfire Grand Master is just so sick. And besides, it’s a sweeper that deals three damage. That’s already a combo with a 4/4 that needs two creatures to block it!
Of course, there are a lot of ways to go with Mardu. Maybe we’re supposed to try to keep the curve even lower?
Creatures (15)
Planeswalkers (3)
Lands (21)
Spells (17)
Interestingly, this deck is a single Cinder Glade away from having 11 sources, and it would be real easy to get more fetchlands in here, not to mention using whatever Golgari Creature-land gets spoiled. Siege Rhino into Goblin Dark-Dwellers is an aggressive opening…
Creatures (16)
Lands (27)
Spells (18)
Yeah, this one is 61 cards. I’m not sure yet how to evaluate this whole “abundance of creature-lands” thing. Are we supposed to be playing 27 or 28 lands and just tons of them? Or are we supposed to be more restrained, play a lower landcount, and then play more instant-speed removal to punish opposing creature-lands.
Goblin Dark-Dwellers flashing back Abzan Charm is already pretty hot, but Goblin Dark-Dwellers flashing back Kolaghan’s Command getting back Den Protector while making our opponent discard? As if Standard wasn’t grindy enough…?
Given that Goblin Dark-Dwellers is a sweet card in red, black, or blue, there’s only one reasonable thing to do…
Creatures (10)
Planeswalkers (1)
Lands (27)
Spells (22)
This deck looks fun, and it looks kind of sweet, but I’m kind of off it at the same time. See, there’s two big problems. First, the spells we’re flashing back aren’t as good as Crackling Doom. Second, we’re not really taking advantage of the 4/4 menace as much as the above decks. We’ll have to see what else gets printed, but I’m not in love with the Grixis options yet.
What if we got less fancy with Goblin Dark-Dwellers?
Creatures (19)
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Lightning Berserker
- 4 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Lands (23)
Spells (18)
This approach is interesting, as Hordeling Outburst and Exquisite Firecraft are pretty sweet cards to Flashback, but even Atarka’s Command is the real deal. The thing is, Goblin Dark-Dwellers is a grindy, card advantage card. That’s not exactly what red aggro is trying to do, baseline. I would guess it’s more of a sideboard option (or a specific metagame call).
Maybe there’s a compromise to be had?
Creatures (20)
- 4 Seeker of the Way
- 4 Monastery Swiftspear
- 1 Monastery Mentor
- 4 Zurgo Bellstriker
- 4 Abbot of Keral Keep
- 3 Goblin Dark-Dwellers
Lands (24)
Spells (16)
Even with this deck, I can’t help but feel like we’re still a little too wishy washy. Duress and Kolaghan’s Command are such what Goblin Dark-Dwellers wants to be a part of. My guess would be to start with Mardu with the option to possibly splash Siege Rhino or Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy, depending on what other awesomeness gets spoiled.
Depending on the power of each of the three new creature-lands, there could be a powerful argument to build towards the color combination that gives us the lands we want. One way or the other, though, Goblin Dark-Dwellers is the real deal and will put up good results week 1.
Verdict: Standard Staple
And we didn’t even get into Modern combos…