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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day


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Goblin Cannon 
Fifth Dawn Uncommon


Reviewed June 24, 2004

Constructed: 2.1
Casual: 2.3
Limited: 2.9

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

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Card of the Day Reviews 


Chris
Gerhardt

* game store owner in CA, ShuffleAndCut

Goblin Cannon has the interesting scenario where you can respond to its ability over and over, up to your available mana will allow.  It's different than other abilities where sacrificing the item is a PART of the cost, so can only be used once.  On Goblin Cannon, the deals damage card text ends with a period....so you sacrifice it AFTER the damage resolves.  It works like this:

  • Pay 2: Put "deal 1 damage" (on the stack
  • Respond before damage resolves, Pay 2: put Deal 1 damage on the stack
  • Respond before damage resolves, Pay 2: put Deal 1 damage on the stack
  • and so on...

So as long as you respond, over and over, before any of the abilities resolve, you're cool.  Once the last damage put on the stack resolves (the last 1 damage on the stack is first to resolve), the Cannon is sacrificed, but the abilities stay on the stack and resolve 1 by 1 until they are all done.

A good point to remember is that you can target more than one target with it.

Will this work in Constructed?  I really don't know. It's colorless damage, which makes it decent. It's versatile.  But it costs 4, then more to set it off, so I'm leaning on the no side of maybe.  It might be seen in block.

In casual, it could be a kill engine in a deck that produces infinite mana.  But there are a LOT of cards that fit that bill, and Blaze and Fireball have more pizzazz.  Cannon could become part of a deck that packs multiple burn spells.
  
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 3.5

   Current Price:
Goblin Cannon - Darksteel - $0.96

   Combos Well With:
Blaze - 8th Edition - $0.59
Fireball - Darksteel - $1.13
 


Judge Bill

*Level 2
MTG Judge

*game store employee

Goblin Cannon
 
A remake of Rocket Launcher, done in Goblin style. In some circles, I've seen Rocket Launcher as a very popular card to play with. Those people can now rejoice that they can get it cheaper (or even run 8 Rocket Launchers in their deck now if they want).
 
I've played this in quite a few of my drafts involving Fifth Dawn, and have never been unhappy to have this. Especially in 555 drafts, where removal is at a high premium.
 
In competitive constructed, the only real use I see for this is an alternate win condition for the Ironworks decks.
 
Constructed: 1.5
Casual: 3
Limited: 4
 
Jonathan
Pechon


2 Grand Prix Top 8's

Multiple Pro Tour appearances

Goblin Cannon

 

As a colorless source of a whole lot of damage at once, this might conceivably provide a kill mechanism when combined with Krark-Clan Ironworks.  I don’t see another practical application for this; it’s a little too slow to take care of multiple small creatures before you end up dead, and Fireball still probably just does the job if you have access to red. 

 

It’s pretty fun to see the reprint of Rocket Launcher trying to find a niche in decks; at least it can be a measure of fun in some of the more relaxed formats.  Anything that can make a lot of mana (look at Mana Flare or Mirari’s Wake) that might not want to Fireball people can use this instead.  Optimal?  Maybe not, but at least it can be amusing.

 

For limited, this is probably another piece of removal that you don’t want to be playing unless you really need to.  Every time I’ve had this in a deck, I’ve either chosen to play something else when it’s in my hand or felt like I just wasted a turn putting it into play.  If a game goes long, this can serve a pretty solid purpose as a low-end Fireball, but you generally don’t want to let a game go to that length if possible.

 

Constructed:  2.5

Casual:  2.5

Limited:  2.5

 


Jeff Zandi

5 Time Pro Tour
Veteran

Goblin Cannon
A salute to the Rocket Launcher of Magic sets long past, Goblin Cannon
provides a way to deal direct damage to creatures and or players for
colorless mana. Goblin Cannon can be activated in response to other
activations of itself, meaning that you could activate it to do one damage
to one creature, then respond by activating it again to deal one damage to a
different creature and respond to that activation by activating it a third
time to deal a point of damage to your opponent. Once you stop activating
the Goblin Cannon, the first activation that resolves (which will be the
last activation you put on the stack) will require you to sacrifice the
cannon, which means you won't be able to activate it again. However,
sacrificing the cannon is not part of the cost of using it, so the first two
activations, which are already on the stack, WILL resolve. While this is a
complicated explanation, I hope it shows that this card, while not exactly
mana efficient, can be used to gain a serious bit of board and/or card
advantage. This card will make the cut in a lot of limited decks,
particularly in sealed decks, and will also be good in some constructed
decks, like an Iron Works artifact deck, for instance.
CONSTRUCTED: 3.5
CASUAL:              4.0
LIMITED:              3.5

Ray "Monk"
Powers
* Level 3 DCI Judge
*DCI Tournament Organizer

Goblin Cannon:

 

Rocket Launcher was some good times. It was never amazingly good, but it had its uses. Goblin Cannon, being basically the same card, is the same way. Like we talked about with Infused Arrows, sometimes colorless damage is very handy to have. In this format it may actually be a bit of a hindrance, since more creatures have Protection from Artifacts, but the ability to spread the damage makes it more than worthwhile, and a solid card in limited.

 

Constructed:                 2

Casual:                         2

Limited:                        3

 


DeQuan
Watson

* game store owner (The Game Closet - Waco,TX)

Goblin Cannon
 
This card is a throw back to Rocket Launcher.  I'm sure many of you have either forgotten about or have never seen that card.  Regardless, what you need to know about Goblin Cannon is that you can activate it multiple times in a turn.  You just have to spend the mana and stack the effect a bunch of times at once.  Blowing up the cannon is part of the resolution, so all the other triggers will still resolve normally. 
 
Casual players can get better artifacts to deal damage.  However, the limited players will want to draft this as damage for a finisher or to kill off problem critters.
 
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 1.5
Limited: 3.5
 

Jason
Chapman
Goblin Cannon is really expensive and probably a wasted card for most decks. Combo decks of all stripes that produce massive (or infinite) mana will love this card, however.

Constructed - Got mana? Many more efficient damage spells but good in combo - 2.0

Casual  - Not so good with multiple players - 2.0

Limited - Creature removal is always good no matter the cost - 3.0

PEZ - Only useful as an alternative to Magna Mine in DrakeTides decks - 2.0

 


Andy
 Van Zandt

Goblin Cannon
Hard to say if this card's "you must use all in response" or rocket
launcher's "must start a turn in play" drawback is bigger.  Either way, this
card is a bit slow, and fireball is prolly a better choice in most cases- 
but it does give you a colorless source of damage, and in limited it can
kill multiple creatures.
constructed 2
casual 2.5
limited 2.5

w00t
Goblin Cannon
 
Constructed - Krark-clan Ironworks is the first card that comes to mind when thinking of how to abuse this. Get tons of mana with a myr incubator, than cast and kill with this. Each artifact in your deck is another life point ticking away from their head. The only other deck I think of using this, is W/X control, but doe W/X control really need any more creature kill/win conditions?
 
Casual - Nothing to build a deck around of. You can ofcourse, with the whole Lotsa mana, lotsa damage theory. I'd like to think of it of more of a solid card to use as removal in a White or blue deck, as they have not much to deal direct damage with. Not bad, but nothing special.
 
Limited - I love this card. It's solid removal, that can kill multiple creatures, or deal the last 4 damage. Not much to say, except this is a solid overall card. If you have mana, it has the damage.
 
Constructed - 2.5
Casual - 2.5
Limited - 3.5
 
 

 

 

 

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