Searslicer Goblin – Foundations
Date Reviewed: November 4, 2024
Ratings:
Constructed: 4.00
Casual: 4.75
Limited: 4.50
Multiplayer: 3.50
Commander [EDH]: 3.75
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
I’ve never done a gameplay-free review of a core set, but I’m tempted to do one for Foundations. Not because it has a coherent story or setting; not because I’m all caught up, because you know I haven’t posted ones for Bloomburrow or Duskmourn yet. Not because I think I’ll be able to do every single thing that comes out – there are six major sets coming out next year, can I really review them all? No, it’s because Foundations has clear links not just to the old core sets, but also to Time Spiral or Modern Horizons. Some of its cards ask Time Spiral-style questions like “What if an akki from Kamigawa could use a mechanic from Tarkir?”, and the answer seems to be “the same thing that happens when akki use anything”. Attack steps, fire, and more attack steps and more fire. Searslicer Goblin also exists at a sweet spot right on the border of casual and tournament cards, able to play both roles – it has built-in mini-quests like seeing how many tokens you can generate in the shortest possible time, how many Glorious Anthem variants can you jam in between its triggers, and how many goblin lords can you fit in your deck while still triggering it every turn. It’s fragile and slower than other Goblin Rabblemaster variants, and Orcish Bowmasters is still a thing in bigger formats, but it also rewards a lot more deck types than something like Young Pyromancer and it gets out of hand very fast. Play it often, and don’t even fear the Uruk-hai card that’s the talk of Modern (goblins have always been cooler anyway!).
Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 3.5
A new style of “core set” product brings some new, some old, and all cards that will be sticking around in Standard for a while. But even with the set being a more “foundational” product, there’s room for both the ability words and keywords to run around, and raid has a pretty prominent place in this product. It’s a simple binary check that’s not too hard to track, and you can always play a raid card later as long as you have attacked.
Searslicer Goblin is pretty simple in both concept and execution, pouring more fuel on the Goblin-shaped fire. It itself is a pretty mediocre attacker, and you get the Goblin at turn’s end…but Goblins historically are a tribe that loves going wide, and this definitely goes wide in a particularly spectacular way. It’s not too hard to ensure you can get one attack, regardless of where it comes from, and Searslicer Goblin shines if you cross that low bar.
The only real knock against it is that it has 1 toughness, and 1 toughness has been a major weakness of cards in recent years. That being said, it is a Goblin and thus privy to the bevy of cards supporting the tribe; I have not counted, but I would not be surprised if Goblins have more tribal lords than any other tribe. This is a fun, functional weapon in the Goblin war machine, and it will serve you well as a good source of value for minimal investment.
Constructed: 4
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.5
Multiplayer: 3.5
Commander [EDH]: 4
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