Mogg Fanatic has long been a staple cube card but is falling out of favor as new red cards get printed that outclass it. Several high profile cubes still run it and advocate for it. Personally I no longer run Fanatic, for the reasons below.
The argument for against Mogg Fanatic (and his friend Fume Spitter) can't be made in a vacuum, it has to be made relative to what you would play over it, but here are the primary arguments against, IMO.
I think we can all agree that Gut Shot/Night aren't cubeable, or even really close to it. If that's the case, then Fanatic needs to provide some real advantages over those cards to make the cut. The advantages he has are as follows
-Can attack and deal damage as a regular creature before sacrificing to do his damage
-Can carry equipment
-Can be recurred or abused
I'm sure I'm missing something, but those are primary advantages he has. If that's the case, then the argument for playing Fanatic makes sense as long as there aren't better creature options. Until recently, red has really suffered in the creature department, but over the last few years we've gotten some quality playable cheap red creatures (I can think of 9 in the past 3 years alone, Goblin Guide, Stromkirk Noble, Stonewright, Torch Fiend, Plated Geopede, Lightning Mauler, Gore-House Chainwalker, Ash Zealot, and Stormblood Berserker). Since he no longer stacks up as a creature, the attacking or blocking really isn't all that relevant. Red can do better when it comes to creatures nowadays, and there's very little incentive to play a 1 power creature that doesn't have more upside than Mogg Fanatic.
The equipment carrying is only relevant when comparing it to another burn spell. As we continue to get more playable burn spells printed (a la Searing Spear), the choice is no longer between Volcanic Hammer and a Gut Shot that can carry equipment. In other words, now you get to play a much better burn spell as a tradeoff, which you didn't before.
Finally, the recursion just isn't worth it. Unless I'm missing something, there's no spell in the cube that recurs Mogg Fanatic effectively that you aren't usually disappointed to be recurring mogg fanatic with. If I have fanatic on my Mimic Vat and I'm paying 3 mana a turn to ping someone, or if I waste a Reveillark trigger bringing back mogg fanatic, I'm not happy.
I could go on but I've probably rambled enough. Counterpoint?
I think the card is awesome. It's cheap, flexible, does a lot of stuff and kills a ton of creatures in the cube for a single red mana. There's nothing that does what this card does that's better, so it's in absolutely no danger of being cut from the cube. I'd play more of them if they had others available that were anywhere near as good. I even run worse imitators of this card in other colors because it's such a workhorse. There is rarely a red deck I build that passes on an opportunity to maindeck the Fanatic.
I like the idea of comparing Mogg Fanatic to other creature and burn options, but I think everything that costs more than R is not fair game. Obviously when you pay twice as much mana, you should get a better effect.
I think a high number of one drops is important for aggressive decks. Current cube curves have too few one drops and too many two drops because there simply are not enough quality one drops. As long as that is the case, cutting quality one drops is not the right move. Mogg Fanatic is still a quality one drop, from your list only Goblin Guide is clearly better, the Noble is about on par and Stonewright is worse imho.
Mogg Fanatic lets you use your turn one mana. At the very least you get one point of damage to a player from it which clearly is not good enough, but that is only the worst case. Often you can get in for some damage first or take down an important utility creature or an evasion creature. It also helps getting rid of four toughness creatures in combination with a burn spell.
I have to side with wtwlf, here. I can't say that I've ever been disappointed to have Fanatic in my deck. All of the advantages you list in the OP are exactly why he still makes the cut and why he's always a solid performer.
Has red gotten a boost recently in the cheap creatures and burn department? Sure, but nothing has been released that does anything close to what Fanatic does.
I hear what you're saying about him being flexible, but there are a lot of flexible cards out there. IMO, Fanatic is dramatically outclassed in either mode, so he isn't good enough. As a 1 mana burn spell, he's horrible, 1 damage at sorcery speed. As a 1 mana creature, he's horrible, a 1/1 with no relevant abilities beyond the ability to become a burn spell and cease being a creature.
Can you elaborate on what makes him so much better than other options? He just seems like he's ALWAYS going to be an inefficient use of mana. There's never an upside potential on him that he's going to be amazing. He's always going to be either a 1/1 for 1 or 1 damage for 1. Sure, he might help you kill a 4 toughness guy with lightning bolt, but so would a bunch of other cards that have a much higher upside than him.
I hear what you're saying about him being flexible, but there are a lot of flexible cards out there. IMO, Fanatic is dramatically outclassed in either mode, so he isn't good enough. As a 1 mana burn spell, he's horrible, 1 damage at sorcery speed. As a 1 mana creature, he's horrible, a 1/1 with no relevant abilities beyond the ability to become a burn spell and cease being a creature.
But he's not just one or the other, he's both and that seems to be what you're missing.
Can you elaborate on what makes him so much better than other options? He just seems like he's ALWAYS going to be an inefficient use of mana. There's never an upside potential on him that he's going to be amazing. He's always going to be either a 1/1 for 1 or 1 damage for 1. Sure, he might help you kill a 4 toughness guy with lightning bolt, but so would a bunch of other cards that have a much higher upside than him.
What other options do you think he's keeping out of the cube? What's sitting on the sidelines that should be in instead of Fanatic?
Can you elaborate on what makes him so much better than other options?
What other options? What other red 1cc creatures are you comparing him to that can shoot 1 toughness creatures?
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I hear what you're saying about him being flexible, but there are a lot of flexible cards out there. IMO, Fanatic is dramatically outclassed in either mode, so he isn't good enough. As a 1 mana burn spell, he's horrible, 1 damage at sorcery speed. As a 1 mana creature, he's horrible, a 1/1 with no relevant abilities beyond the ability to become a burn spell and cease being a creature.
Just like Burst Lightning? Dramatically outclassed in either mode, but the flexibility of being both is what makes it good.
But he's not just one or the other, he's both and that seems to be what you're missing.
I'm fine with him being both, but he's DRAMATICALLY outclassed in either mode. If he was close in one mode, then maybe he'd be worth it.
Look at Bone Shredder. He's a bad creature, and he's a bad removal spell. However, IMO, as a removal spell he is closer to good than Mogg Fanatic is (I think 2B for removal is better than 1 damage for R, although I recognize that's completely subjective). He's actually abuseable with blink, recursion, or mimic vat, in a way that mogg fanatic isn't. And in a pinch, he can be a creature that blocks or attacks or carries equipment.
In My Opinion, Mogg Fanatic isn't "both" the same way that Bone Shredder is. Bone Shredder is an underpowered removal spell with a good best case scenario that involves abusing it being a creature. Fanatic is ALWAYS going to be underpowered, even if it can do two different things. In this way (and in this way only), I think Fanatic is far closer to something like Moriok Replica. Replica is a crappy creature, and a crappy draw spell, and there's no best case scenario that makes it ever really abuseable.
In other words, just because it does two different things doesn't make it good. There are lots of cards that do two things, but the ones that are cubeable are the ones for which flexibility is vital or the ones where one mode is almost good enough on it's own.
In other words, just because it does two different things doesn't make it good. There are lots of cards that do two things, but the ones that are cubeable are the ones for which flexibility is vital or the ones where one mode is almost good enough on it's own.
Like Sakura Tribe-Elder? It's a bad spell, and a worse creature, but it's a great card. Why? Because it's both. Even if you have to choose one mode or the other (which you do). He's never both either, and he's great.
And so are a lot of other cards that aren't great in either mode, but having multiple options are what makes the cards good. They fit what's needed in a few different scenarios. In an environment like the cube, that's most welcome.
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Grim Lavamancer? Repeatedly? and actually does 2 damage?
Lavamancer is better. But that's one card. And it still can't do everything Fanatic can do. Especially not in the early game. There's no cube size where I'd play both, and I wouldn't exclude Fanatic from a list simply because I have Lavamancer. Because they do different things.
That's like saying we should cut Savannah Lions because Isamaru exists. Or cutting Counterspell because of Mana Drain. Or Wasteland because of Strip Mine.
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Shock is a lot closer to Lightning Bolt (the standard) than Scorching Spear is. That's why Burst lightning is cubeable but Geistflame isn't.
So? Shock is AWFUL. So is a 5-mana Lightning Blast. But Burst Lightning is great because it's both.
Like Sakura Tribe-Elder? It's a bad spell, and a worse creature, but it's a great card. Why? Because it's both. Even if you have to choose one mode or the other (which you do). He's never both either, and he's great.
And so are a lot of other cards that aren't great in either mode, but having multiple options are what makes the cards good. They fit what's needed in a few different scenarios. In an environment like the cube, that's most welcome.
Sakura Tribe elder is Rampant Growth with an abuseable upside that helps block early on for your ramp deck. Yes, it's not an amazing ramp spell, but it's on par with what you would reasonably expect to pay for a ramp spell, and you run it in cube because the upside (essentially life gain, or the ability to be a creature late when you don't need to ramp anymore) is enough to push it over the top.
There's no way for me to convince you that Sakura Tribe Elder's rampant growth mode is closer to playability than either mode of Mogg Fanatic, because it's subjective, but that's my argument.
I think that seal of fire is superior. Harder to play around and kills like 568% more creatures. I'd take the upside of consistency over the ability to occasionally hold a knife.
Grim Lavamancer? Repeatedly? and actually does 2 damage?
Both of those cards are in my cube, alongside Fanatic. I would understand the argument of him being outclassed by better options and only staying in due to nostalgia if he was actually keeping a better 1-drop out of my cube. He's not, though. He's adding what I feel is a valuable resource to my current suite of cubeable 1-drops.
Sakura Tribe elder is Rampant Growth with an abuseable upside that helps block early on for your ramp deck. Yes, it's not an amazing ramp spell, but it's on par with what you would reasonably expect to pay for a ramp spell, and you run it in cube because the upside (essentially life gain, or the ability to be a creature late when you don't need to ramp anymore) is enough to push it over the top.
There's no way for me to convince you that Sakura Tribe Elder's rampant growth mode is closer to playability than either mode of Mogg Fanatic, because it's subjective, but that's my argument.
I think Rampant Growth sucks. If I didn't have the flexibility of having STE on a body, I wouldn't cube it at all.
Obviously it depends on the cube. In my cube, I brought in Stromkirk Noble when I cut Fanatic (5/31/12), and Noble has absolutely been better.
That is the main point maybe. You cut a one drop for a one drop, which indicates that in general you are happy with the number of one drops and you are just looking to upgrade the quality of the one drops. I am not there yet, I still want more. I think an aggro deck should have access to 5-7 one drops, so in my 450 cards cube I should have 8-9 per color (because in an 8 player draft, which is what I build my cube for, only 80% of the cards are in the pool).
That is the main point maybe. You cut a one drop for a one drop, which indicates that in general you are happy with the number of one drops and you are just looking to upgrade the quality of the one drops. I am not there yet, I still want more. I think an aggro deck should have access to 5-7 one drops, so in my 450 cards cube I should have 8-9 per color (because in an 8 player draft, which is what I build my cube for, only 80% of the cards are in the pool).
Agreed. The examples of cards that are better than Fanatic don't help me. I run them all already. I'm not excluding better 1-drops in favor of the Mogg, he's being run in addition to.
Like I said above, it's like trying to talk me out of playing Savannah Lions because Isamaru is out there. It doesn't matter that Issy exists; it doesn't impact the evaluation of the Lions at all.
I was a big Fanatic fan before the M10 rules change, but doubted it afterward. Through the suggestions of a few on here, my faith has been renewed. Fanatic is awesome. After seeing Gut Shot in standard there are many times where I think to myself, "Man, a Gut Shot would be really good right now," but it isn't good enough because it does nothing while you wait for that one damage to be relevant. On the other hand, Fanatic has a body and is a red 1-drop which is a very important slot in an aggro deck. Simply having a body greatly reduces the instances where it would be a dead card, but at the end of the day, I know that for a single red I'm getting at least one damage and probably more, and one of it is going wherever I need it most.
From my current 360 cube. Strongest counterpoints are in bold, and I think the bolded list is conservative seeing how it's not being looked at within context.
That is the main point maybe. You cut a one drop for a one drop, which indicates that in general you are happy with the number of one drops and you are just looking to upgrade the quality of the one drops. I am not there yet, I still want more. I think an aggro deck should have access to 5-7 one drops, so in my 450 cards cube I should have 8-9 per color (because in an 8 player draft, which is what I build my cube for, only 80% of the cards are in the pool).
I agree that aggro decks should have more one drops. I want them to have more one drops. Wanting more one drops doesn't make Mogg Fanatic a good card.
Yes, I could play Mogg Fanatic in my aggro deck. But when it comes time to build my aggro deck, I have found that other cards will do more damage over the course of the game than him, and overall I have a better chance of winning if I don't spend turn 1 doing something mostly irrelevant. He simply doesn't do enough damage to the opponent to be worth the slot, and he doesn't remove enough relevant creatures to be worth the slot either.
When building decks, I think you're better off playing an extra 2drop than playing Mogg Fanatic, or playing an extra burn spell than playing mogg fanatic. Your deck will on average do more damage to your opponent in those situations, I believe.
EDIT: @Theogeny: How much longer would that list be if you just played Seal of Fire? More than twice as long, right? So then how often is mogg fanatic actually attacking and dealing damage to be worth killing half the creatures seal of fire does? You could also replace Seal of Fire in that example with Forked Bolt
EDIT: @Theogeny: How much longer would that list be if you just played Seal of Fire? More than twice as long, right? So then how often is mogg fanatic actually attacking and dealing damage to be worth killing half the creatures seal of fire does? You could also replace Seal of Fire in that example with Forked Bolt
Seal of Fire is actually quite a good turn one play, which most other burn spells are not.
To present another metric, I am never happy to see my opponent play an early Mogg Fanatic. It interferes with combat, it invalidates cards in my hand or potential draws, it is a creature for their equipment. Even late game it can be a problem, being that one point of burn my opponent needed to finish me.
I agree with the other supporters so far. It's the fact that I get to choose between a body and the damage that makes it so valuable. I can't do that with Seal of Fire or Forked Bolt. The list I made would be longer sure, but the list of things the Fanatic can do that the others can't is also longer.
I think that seal of fire is superior. Harder to play around and kills like 568% more creatures. I'd take the upside of consistency over the ability to occasionally hold a knife.
The consistency of an early body is worth more than a one-shot removal that takes out two-drops and three-drops (many of which the Fanatic can hit as well, so you come out ahead in mana relatively often with the Fanatic anyway). There's no way that one-shot burn can ever really equal the damage output from a creature.
The consistency of an early body is worth more than a one-shot removal that takes out two-drops and three-drops (many of which the Fanatic can hit as well, so you come out ahead in mana relatively often with the Fanatic anyway). There's no way that one-shot burn can ever really equal the damage output from a creature.
I've lost track of the number of times I've played fanatic on turn 1 and never dealt damage to my opponent by attacking with him.
My major issue with including fanatic for aggro is he's a terrible turn 1 play in that deck. It's not aggressive at all. Aggro hates single 1/1s. I used to be an advocate of the card but when fanatic is your turn one play in aggro it just feels bad most of the time.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
I can't count the number of times mogg fanatic's ability to attack has been relevant to the final outcome.
I cant count count to 0
Ok that's a mild exaggeration, but the number of times where moggs swings/flexibility have actually decided a game haven't been high for me. I'm definitely not saying he's bad, but I do see seal of fire being a higher impact card.
My major issue with including fanatic for aggro is he's a terrible turn 1 play in that deck. It's not aggressive at all. Aggro hates single 1/1s. I used to be an advocate of the card but when fanatic is your turn one play in aggro it just feels bad most of the time.
I don't completely disagree with this. My aggro deck doesn't want a Mons's Goblin Raiders. But if that creature has a relevant ability strapped to it, then it becomes something I'm willing to work with. I'd say a majority of non aggro decks will play land and say go on turn one. A lot of them won't even play a creature until turn three. I feel like even if all he does is get in for two early damage then kill and early drop or chump and hit for one more, then he was sufficient for my aggro deck.
Mogg Fanatic has long been a staple cube card but is falling out of favor as new red cards get printed that outclass it. Several high profile cubes still run it and advocate for it. Personally I no longer run Fanatic, for the reasons below.
The argument for against Mogg Fanatic (and his friend Fume Spitter) can't be made in a vacuum, it has to be made relative to what you would play over it, but here are the primary arguments against, IMO.
I think we can all agree that Gut Shot/Night aren't cubeable, or even really close to it. If that's the case, then Fanatic needs to provide some real advantages over those cards to make the cut. The advantages he has are as follows
-Can attack and deal damage as a regular creature before sacrificing to do his damage
-Can carry equipment
-Can be recurred or abused
I'm sure I'm missing something, but those are primary advantages he has. If that's the case, then the argument for playing Fanatic makes sense as long as there aren't better creature options. Until recently, red has really suffered in the creature department, but over the last few years we've gotten some quality playable cheap red creatures (I can think of 9 in the past 3 years alone, Goblin Guide, Stromkirk Noble, Stonewright, Torch Fiend, Plated Geopede, Lightning Mauler, Gore-House Chainwalker, Ash Zealot, and Stormblood Berserker). Since he no longer stacks up as a creature, the attacking or blocking really isn't all that relevant. Red can do better when it comes to creatures nowadays, and there's very little incentive to play a 1 power creature that doesn't have more upside than Mogg Fanatic.
The equipment carrying is only relevant when comparing it to another burn spell. As we continue to get more playable burn spells printed (a la Searing Spear), the choice is no longer between Volcanic Hammer and a Gut Shot that can carry equipment. In other words, now you get to play a much better burn spell as a tradeoff, which you didn't before.
Finally, the recursion just isn't worth it. Unless I'm missing something, there's no spell in the cube that recurs Mogg Fanatic effectively that you aren't usually disappointed to be recurring mogg fanatic with. If I have fanatic on my Mimic Vat and I'm paying 3 mana a turn to ping someone, or if I waste a Reveillark trigger bringing back mogg fanatic, I'm not happy.
I could go on but I've probably rambled enough. Counterpoint?
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I think a high number of one drops is important for aggressive decks. Current cube curves have too few one drops and too many two drops because there simply are not enough quality one drops. As long as that is the case, cutting quality one drops is not the right move. Mogg Fanatic is still a quality one drop, from your list only Goblin Guide is clearly better, the Noble is about on par and Stonewright is worse imho.
Mogg Fanatic lets you use your turn one mana. At the very least you get one point of damage to a player from it which clearly is not good enough, but that is only the worst case. Often you can get in for some damage first or take down an important utility creature or an evasion creature. It also helps getting rid of four toughness creatures in combination with a burn spell.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
Has red gotten a boost recently in the cheap creatures and burn department? Sure, but nothing has been released that does anything close to what Fanatic does.
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Can you elaborate on what makes him so much better than other options? He just seems like he's ALWAYS going to be an inefficient use of mana. There's never an upside potential on him that he's going to be amazing. He's always going to be either a 1/1 for 1 or 1 damage for 1. Sure, he might help you kill a 4 toughness guy with lightning bolt, but so would a bunch of other cards that have a much higher upside than him.
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But he's not just one or the other, he's both and that seems to be what you're missing.
What other options do you think he's keeping out of the cube? What's sitting on the sidelines that should be in instead of Fanatic?
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What other options? What other red 1cc creatures are you comparing him to that can shoot 1 toughness creatures?
Just like Burst Lightning? Dramatically outclassed in either mode, but the flexibility of being both is what makes it good.
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I'm fine with him being both, but he's DRAMATICALLY outclassed in either mode. If he was close in one mode, then maybe he'd be worth it.
Look at Bone Shredder. He's a bad creature, and he's a bad removal spell. However, IMO, as a removal spell he is closer to good than Mogg Fanatic is (I think 2B for removal is better than 1 damage for R, although I recognize that's completely subjective). He's actually abuseable with blink, recursion, or mimic vat, in a way that mogg fanatic isn't. And in a pinch, he can be a creature that blocks or attacks or carries equipment.
In My Opinion, Mogg Fanatic isn't "both" the same way that Bone Shredder is. Bone Shredder is an underpowered removal spell with a good best case scenario that involves abusing it being a creature. Fanatic is ALWAYS going to be underpowered, even if it can do two different things. In this way (and in this way only), I think Fanatic is far closer to something like Moriok Replica. Replica is a crappy creature, and a crappy draw spell, and there's no best case scenario that makes it ever really abuseable.
In other words, just because it does two different things doesn't make it good. There are lots of cards that do two things, but the ones that are cubeable are the ones for which flexibility is vital or the ones where one mode is almost good enough on it's own.
Obviously it depends on the cube. In my cube, I brought in Stromkirk Noble when I cut Fanatic (5/31/12), and Noble has absolutely been better.
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Grim Lavamancer? Repeatedly? and actually does 2 damage?
Shock is a lot closer to Lightning Bolt (the standard) than Scorching Spear is. That's why Burst lightning is cubeable but Geistflame isn't.
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Like Sakura Tribe-Elder? It's a bad spell, and a worse creature, but it's a great card. Why? Because it's both. Even if you have to choose one mode or the other (which you do). He's never both either, and he's great.
And so are a lot of other cards that aren't great in either mode, but having multiple options are what makes the cards good. They fit what's needed in a few different scenarios. In an environment like the cube, that's most welcome.
Lavamancer is better. But that's one card. And it still can't do everything Fanatic can do. Especially not in the early game. There's no cube size where I'd play both, and I wouldn't exclude Fanatic from a list simply because I have Lavamancer. Because they do different things.
That's like saying we should cut Savannah Lions because Isamaru exists. Or cutting Counterspell because of Mana Drain. Or Wasteland because of Strip Mine.
So? Shock is AWFUL. So is a 5-mana Lightning Blast. But Burst Lightning is great because it's both.
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Sakura Tribe elder is Rampant Growth with an abuseable upside that helps block early on for your ramp deck. Yes, it's not an amazing ramp spell, but it's on par with what you would reasonably expect to pay for a ramp spell, and you run it in cube because the upside (essentially life gain, or the ability to be a creature late when you don't need to ramp anymore) is enough to push it over the top.
There's no way for me to convince you that Sakura Tribe Elder's rampant growth mode is closer to playability than either mode of Mogg Fanatic, because it's subjective, but that's my argument.
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Both of those cards are in my cube, alongside Fanatic. I would understand the argument of him being outclassed by better options and only staying in due to nostalgia if he was actually keeping a better 1-drop out of my cube. He's not, though. He's adding what I feel is a valuable resource to my current suite of cubeable 1-drops.
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I think Rampant Growth sucks. If I didn't have the flexibility of having STE on a body, I wouldn't cube it at all.
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Agreed. The examples of cards that are better than Fanatic don't help me. I run them all already. I'm not excluding better 1-drops in favor of the Mogg, he's being run in addition to.
Like I said above, it's like trying to talk me out of playing Savannah Lions because Isamaru is out there. It doesn't matter that Issy exists; it doesn't impact the evaluation of the Lions at all.
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From my current 360 cube. Strongest counterpoints are in bold, and I think the bolded list is conservative seeing how it's not being looked at within context.
Mother of Runes
Student of Warfare
Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
Mirror Entity
Looter il-Kor
Phantasmal Image
Glen Elendra Archmage - Fume Spitter, as well as once persisted.
Dark Confidant
[CARD]Dauthi Horror
Nezumi Graverobber
Oona's Prowler[/CARD]
Pack Rat
Grim Lavamancer
Fireslinger
Lightning Mauler
Blistering Firecat
Joraga Treespeaker
Jungle Lion
Llanowar Elves
Noble Hierarch
Wild Dogs
Wild Nacatl - Played turn one without a dual land.
Wolfbitten Captive
Lotus Cobra
River Boa
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
Dryad Militant
Kitchen Finks - Fume Spitter
Loam Lion - Played turn one without a dual land.
Murderous Redcap - Fume Spitter
Kird Ape - Played turn one without a dual land.
Figure of Destiny
Phyrexian Revoker
Blinkmoth Nexus
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I agree that aggro decks should have more one drops. I want them to have more one drops. Wanting more one drops doesn't make Mogg Fanatic a good card.
Yes, I could play Mogg Fanatic in my aggro deck. But when it comes time to build my aggro deck, I have found that other cards will do more damage over the course of the game than him, and overall I have a better chance of winning if I don't spend turn 1 doing something mostly irrelevant. He simply doesn't do enough damage to the opponent to be worth the slot, and he doesn't remove enough relevant creatures to be worth the slot either.
When building decks, I think you're better off playing an extra 2drop than playing Mogg Fanatic, or playing an extra burn spell than playing mogg fanatic. Your deck will on average do more damage to your opponent in those situations, I believe.
EDIT: @Theogeny: How much longer would that list be if you just played Seal of Fire? More than twice as long, right? So then how often is mogg fanatic actually attacking and dealing damage to be worth killing half the creatures seal of fire does? You could also replace Seal of Fire in that example with Forked Bolt
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To present another metric, I am never happy to see my opponent play an early Mogg Fanatic. It interferes with combat, it invalidates cards in my hand or potential draws, it is a creature for their equipment. Even late game it can be a problem, being that one point of burn my opponent needed to finish me.
"What am I looking at? Ashes, dead man."
360 Unpowered Cube | Cubetutor
The consistency of an early body is worth more than a one-shot removal that takes out two-drops and three-drops (many of which the Fanatic can hit as well, so you come out ahead in mana relatively often with the Fanatic anyway). There's no way that one-shot burn can ever really equal the damage output from a creature.
My Cube (DeckStats)
My Pauper Cube: 540 (CubeTutor link!)
Level 1 Judge
I've lost track of the number of times I've played fanatic on turn 1 and never dealt damage to my opponent by attacking with him.
My MTGSalvation Cube Page (not always up to date, but sweet pics of my alters)
I cant count count to 0
Ok that's a mild exaggeration, but the number of times where moggs swings/flexibility have actually decided a game haven't been high for me. I'm definitely not saying he's bad, but I do see seal of fire being a higher impact card.
My CubeCobra (draft 20 card packs, 2 packs.)
430, Peasant, Very Unpowered
Why you should take your hybrids out of your gold section
Manamath Article
I don't completely disagree with this. My aggro deck doesn't want a Mons's Goblin Raiders. But if that creature has a relevant ability strapped to it, then it becomes something I'm willing to work with. I'd say a majority of non aggro decks will play land and say go on turn one. A lot of them won't even play a creature until turn three. I feel like even if all he does is get in for two early damage then kill and early drop or chump and hit for one more, then he was sufficient for my aggro deck.
MTGS Average Peasant Cube 2023 Edition
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