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Moxonomy

Goblin Arsonist

Creature — Goblin ShamanRed mana

A 1/1 for one that throws a half-priced Shock when it dies turns every combat trade and every sacrifice into a free ping, which is exactly the kind of redundant aristocrats fodder that wants to be a body in play and a Lightning effect in the graveyard. The "may" and "any target" clauses are doing quiet work: you choose whether to fire, so the trigger never strands you with a forced shot at your own creature, and the ability can reach a planeswalker or a player's face when there is no clinging creature worth killing. What makes the card durable across formats is that it asks nothing of the deck except a way to die: block, chump, get sacrificed, fall to a board wipe, and the damage comes regardless. The single point is small, but it stacks (two copies, two pings, a creature out of burn range suddenly in it), and it converts a 1/1's death from a non-event into a resource. It sits in the lineage of cheap creatures that pay you for dying, the goblin-flavored cousin of effects that turn a disposable body into reach you can schedule.

Goblin Arsonist (ddk)
DDK · #42common
Pricing
Normal: $0.14
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

When this creature dies, you may have it deal 1 damage to any target.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
Legal
Modern
Legal
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
Legal
Brawl
Legal
Historic
Legal
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
Legal
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
N/A
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
Legal
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
Legal
Penny Dreadful
Legal
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
Legal
TLR
Legal
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

5 sets
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