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Moxonomy

Goblin Grappler

Creature — GoblinRed mana

A single red mana buys the right to dictate one of the opponent's blocking decisions, and few bodies this cheap have ever carried Provoke to enforce it. The math runs one direction: attack, untap a chosen creature on the other side, and compel it to block this Goblin against its controller's will. The reward isn't the combat itself (a 1/1 loses every fight worth picking) but the leverage of choosing when and how a defensive creature gets committed. Provoke answers the creature that wants nothing to do with combat: a mana dork tapped for value, a pinger sitting back to chip away, a tapper waiting to neutralize the next attacker. Drag one of those into a block and it dies or trades, even if the Grappler dies too, because the opponent valued that creature for what it was doing elsewhere. The keyword's strict targeting is also its limit. The provoked blocker is locked onto the provoker, not onto a bigger attacker swinging alongside, so the obvious double-team never materializes. The cleaner combination is deathtouch on the Grappler itself: a forced block from any creature, no matter how large, becomes a one-mana execution, the target dying to a body it was compelled to fight. Note that evasion works against the keyword rather than with it, since "if able" releases a creature that physically cannot block a flier or an unblockable attacker; the trick wants a target that can block and shouldn't. Strip away the disruption and nothing is left, which is the point: you spend the body to bend the opponent's defensive math to yours.

Goblin Grappler (wc03)
WC03 · #we100common
Oracle Text

Rules text

Provoke (Whenever this creature attacks, you may have target creature defending player controls untap and block it if able.)
Legalities

Format Status

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

Other printings

1 set
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