Our first tie has happened: Goblin Bomb and Saproling Burst both got exactly 432 votes in Batch 82. Therefore, I as the creator of the Bracket will be casting my first vote (this will be recorded as a 0.5 vote in the stats).

As this is the first one, I am going to lay down the process here. I’m not just going to pick one, but spend some time talking about each card and laying down my reasoning before revealing the result. I’m going to measure each card on four metrics - design, flavour, art, and place in Magic history - and see where they come out. If that’s a 2-2 split, then each card’s place in my own personal history will be the tiebreaker.

Goblin Bomb

Design

Here’s an interesting one to start off with! The adding-and-losing counters mechanic seen on Goblin Bomb is basically unique. It is almost the same as the mathematical process known as a random walk - a process that randomly moves each turn (it’s not quite a proper random walk because the counters can’t go below zero). There’s probably some interesting statistics in the expected number of turns you have to wait before your terrible Goblin engineering pays off. And what a pay off! The magical 20 damage. Ok, I just made a quick Excel file and modelled 1,000 games - it averages 29-30 turns before exploding.

The card is of course actually very weak, as it will do nothing in most games. Even if you are perfectly lucky, it takes five turns to go off.

Flavour

Goblins that are bad at their jobs are a time-honoured tradition. This potent but unreliable device seems perfectly in flavour here.

Art

Now here is where I have a problem. This art is OK; it shows some goblins and an interesting looking device. The problem? It doesn’t fit the flavour! There’s wheels on here and no sign of a fuse. It looks more like a chariot than a bomb.

Place in Magic history

Unremarkable as a card; but is special for being the first card to deal 20 damage and the largest fixed-amount damage card until Aetherflux Reservoir.

Saproling Burst



Design

Saproling Burst is a clever little mechanical puzzle of its own, too - how best to split your power up? How to get the most damage out of your weird beefy Saprolings? It’s certainly the most interesting of the Fading / Vanishing cards, although less simply attacking than Blastoderm / Calciderm.

Fading was a weird mechanic - you sacrificed the card on the turn you couldn’t remove a counter rather than the turn you removed the last one - and that goes double for Saproling Burst, where the tokens will (usually) die the turn the Burst goes to 0, but then the enchantment hangs around for another turn. You can use pump effects to keep your Saprolings around for an extra turn, but then the card has the odd little cleanup trigger to get rid of them.

Overall, the design is a bit less compelling - but the power level is through the roof, with a card that can throw out double-digit power for five mana.

Flavour

The flavour of fading was done differently on different card - some cards were crumbling, some were disappearing into nothingness, etc. Saproling Burst doesn’t have a clear tie to its mechanics - and it’s also not clear how making more Saprolings makes the fading go quicker.

Art

Not much idea what’s going on here. Saprolings have changed their appearance several times over the years, but there are two different-looking things in this one image. The palette is certainly green enough, but the overall thing is still an odd (if very memorable) one.

Place in Magic history

This is where Saproling Burst really shines. As a big part of the “Fires” deck (based around Fires of Yavimaya), the card was one of the big finishers in that classic aggro deck. Adding haste to Saproling Burst is a very potent effect - making the largest possible first attack from 9 up to 12 as well as doing it a turn earlier. The Birds / Fires / Blastoderm / Burst curve was the thing to beat in Standard for a good long time.

Final reckoning:

DESIGN: Saproling Burst

FLAVOUR: Goblin Bomb

ART: Goblin Bomb

PLACE IN MAGIC HISTORY: Saproling Burst

The final tiebreaker is my own personal feelings. For me, I did tinker around with Goblin Bomb in my youth - tried to get it to work - but the tools just weren’t there and I never once got to live the dream. Meanwhile, I started to play Magic in Prophecy - right before the ascent of Saproling Burst - and it was one of the first high-level tournament cards I was ever aware of. As much as I love the originality of Goblin Bomb, the poor execution of the idea and the overwhelming power of Saproling Burst puts it over the top.

WINNER: SAPROLING BURST