Why is tarmogoyf so valuable

A card that was how the deck intended to close the game. By this point, Tarmogoyf had been in some slower decks before, sure.

Remi Fortier's winning deck from Pro Tour Valencia shortly before, a three-color control deck, was a good example of this.

It's unfair to give Chapin all the credit, surely. But this was the first deck I remember that tore up the PTQ season and felt like something else entirely, so distinctly playing green just for Tarmogoyf. Though Chapin's original versions also sported Living Wish as well. A fundamental part of making this work was that Tarmogoyf only has a single green mana in its mana cost.

Its inherent splash-ability allowed it to go places it otherwise never could have. Tarmogoyf was strong enough now to go anywhere—and everybody knew it. Now, years later, Tarmogoyf has been cemented as a cornerstone of every non-Vintage format it is legal in.

History bore out that it was quite strong in Standard, going so far as showing up as the only non-Elf creature in Lorwyn tribal Elf decks. It pushed through all the way through Extended to Legacy, where it is one of the most-played creatures in a format where practically every creature ever printed is legal. And, in Modern, Tarmogoyf sits atop the creature throne. Leading the charge in everything from Jund to Bant to Death's Shadow and more, it still conjures glee in its casters and fear from its opponents.

Tarmogoyf is around to stay. For one, creatures that are just stats can be plenty powerful. If anybody ever says that isn't the case, Tarmogoyf is a perfect example to point to. Second, playing ways to make your other cards strong can be totally fine, provided, in most cases, that you don't contort your entire deck around it. Tarmogoyf took in support and diversification early to make it as strong as possible.

Of course, like Tarmogoyf , if it turns out you don't actually need that support, feel free to take it out! And third, when it looks like something is powerful, don't be afraid to try it in places it wouldn't "normally" go.

Tarmogoyf has shown up in every manner of deck now, from hyper-aggressive to control to combo. Squadron Hawk is an unusual control card, but trying it in a control deck led to one of the most dominant Standard decks of all time. Who knows which new card might become the next Tarmogoyf.

But for now, you can be perfectly happy opening up a Tarmogoyf in Modern Masters Edition. TL;DR: Tarmogoyf is back, y'all. There's a quote for the top post of your thread, Reddit. I'll be back next week with more Beyond the Basics. For now, may your Tarmogoyf s always find that extra power they need to take down your opponent's copies!

Gavin GavinVerhey GavInsight. Jason Imperiale's Green-White Beatdown. Decklist Stats Sample Hand. Sort by: Overview Color Cost Rarity. Sorcery 7 3 Call of the Herd 4 Edge of Autumn. Instant 3 2 Thrill of the Hunt 1 Stonewood Invocation. Artifact 3 3 Chromatic Star. It's just that Ooze is a new card compared to Goyf. And since Green decks never had the previous option to play it, now they are switching over.

Ooze is a Green card, Goyf is a Blue card. That is why their prices are different for now. Decks that play Goyf now aren't going to be playing Ooze. No and no, and again It only represented possible futures. For example a card like Goldmeadow Lookout could only have been reprinted in Lorwyn block and it wasn't. Now that doesn't mean it can't in a possible return to Lorwyn but a number of people at Wizards has stated numerous times that Goyf was a mistake at 1G and wouldn't be reprinted in a standard legal set.

I could see a Judge foil in the style of Sword of Fire and Ice Classic Frame happening, though that would have a negligible impact on the price of regular Goyfs. One go around was enough. Yes, goyf is a BLUE card. It is a cheap, splashable, highly impactful card that we can cast while leaving mana up for our instants too.

He comes down early if need be , gums up the board, lets us grind advantage out, and then kills you quickly when we want to get the job done. It was supposed to be in Innistrad because its a graveyard theme, and its going to be in Return to Ravnica because they need it for Modern. They've said that it was a mistake and they won't print it again for Standard.

That should be the end of it. Zeckk Member posted June 19, PM quote: Originally posted by choco man: I think this is largely a misunderstanding. Sorry, but that kind of reasoning is just idiotic.

It's verifiable that existing decks like RUG tempo and Maverick have gone from using goyfs to using scavenging ooze, mainly because ooze tends to beat goyf in a head-to-head comparison against most existing deck archetypes. We've already seen this happen to some extent, with the old-border reprints of some of the best cards from the original Modern Horizons in Modern Horizons 2. Sticking Force of Negation in Modern Horizons 2 Collector Boosters does little to increase supply or decrease the price of the card, but it does generate a ton of hype and help Wizards to sell even more product.

As you can see, cards like Ragavan and Force of Negation are gifts that keep on giving for Wizards , helping its bottom line in both the short- and long-term. While printing cards so that they end up super expensive and increase reprint equity is a great thing for Wizards ' bottom line, it's the opposite for players. As powerful new cards are printed in the least accessible way possible, prices will continue to rise, and more players will be priced out of the decks and formats they want to play.

Even worse, it's unlikely that these cards will get cheaper anytime soon, even if Wizards does reprint them. Take Tarmogoyf , for example. Since then, Tarmogoyf has become less popular in Modern and been reprinted in earnest five times, almost once a year.

If something like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer follows the same trajectory, it's going to take many years of constant reprints to drop its price, and even then the card won't be cheap—it just won't be one of the most expensive cards in one of Magic 's most popular formats. And you know what else will happen during those years? So, by the time Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is cheap enough that you can play with it, it won't really matter because Mega-Ragavan will be the hot new one-drop that you'll need to compete in the Modern format.

All of this isn't an argument against Modern Horizons. I love the Modern Horizons series. The first set was one of my all-time favorites, and Modern Horizons 2 has managed to top it. As a Modern player and brewer, I'd love a new Modern Horizons set every year. This is an argument against Wizards designing Modern Horizons sets to be as expensive as humanly possible. These cards are absurdly expensive because Wizards purposefully designed them to be absurdly expensive, because doing so benefits Wizards ' bottom line in both the short- and long-term.

All it would take to fix the issue would be dropping cards like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer and friends from mythic to rare which, based on the original definition of what a mythic is supposed to be, probably should be anyway. This would go a long way toward solving the current problem of Modern Horizons sets spiraling the costs of playing Modern the format Modern Horizons sets are supposed to support out of control.

A little bit ago, we discussed how expensive cards from Modern Horizons sets serve Wizards ' long-term goals by creating new reprint equity. While this is true, it's also important for Wizards to realize that this only works if players are willing to play Modern. If prices continue to climb, the end result could be players switching to other formats or even other games. See: Legacy and Vintage, which are beloved but mostly unplayed because players can't afford the cards they need to build a competitive deck.

Pricing players out could end up hurting Wizards ' reprint equity by dropping demand for Modern-focused reprints altogether. If Wizards pushes too far and prices continue to climb, the whole house of cards could fall if players leave the format.

Modern is a great format, but no matter how great a format is, how much fun it is to play, or how much depth it offers, it needs to be accessible enough for players to enjoy for it to continue to thrive.

Hopefully, Wizards keeps this lesson in mind as we move toward Modern Horizons 3 and perhaps will choose to design the set in a more player-friendly way that will allow more people to enjoy the awesome product that it will make. Anyway, that's all for today.

Mill is just too much fun not to play. TheAsianAvenger is going to attack what is essentially 60 life instead of 20! Opinion finance.