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Most creatures score 0 on the ‘Elfbane Test.’ Goblin Assassins score 0.5. Some of the most powerful creatures, like Mogg Fanatic and Flametongue Kavu, score 1. And today’s official Shadowmoor preview card? Well, it scores…

…Hang on. The ‘Elfbane Test’...? What’s that?

The Elfbane Test measures how many Elves creatures you can kill without being involved in the attack step. A Mogg Fanatic can kill off a creature by sacrificing itself. Flametongue Kavu and Shriekmaw do it when they enter play. Goblin Assassins do it by flipping a coin.

All of these - as well as others such as Siege Gang Commander, Sparksmith, or Goblin Sharpshooter - are popular and effective cards which have found play in a wide variety of formats and situations, Limited and Constructed, casual and competitive.

So if scoring 1 on the Elfbane Test is a sign of a pretty good creature, how good would it be to have one which scores 2? As you might imagine, the answer is, very good indeed.

Murderous Redcap may look small and harmless, but he can go on quite a killing rampage. For example, imagine your opponent has an Imperious Perfect, a Wolf Skull Shaman, and two Llanowar Elves in play. You play Murderous Redcap, and he kills the Imperious Perfect. Then on your opponent’s turn, he blocks and kills Wolf Skull Shaman. His Persist ability then brings him back, and he kills a Llanowar Elf. Then he attacks and trades with the other Elf.

1 Goblin
2 Turns
4 Dead Elves

And if the opponent has no creatures? Unlike Flametongue Kavu, Murderous Redcap is just as happy to get stuck into your opponent, and can help deal the last few points of damage if they have held off an early assault from the Goblins.

Beyond killing Elves, which kinds of decks can make best use of Murderous Redcap?

In Limited, a 2/2 for four mana isn’t very exciting, but the ability to kill multiple creatures is, so he is likely to be a high pick. His ability makes combat difficult for your opponent and he is an excellent blocker. Shadowmoor Limited is likely to feature quite a number of spells and creatures which hand out -1/-1 counters, so it will be worth bearing in mind that his Persist ability can’t always be relied upon.

But overall it is pretty much an automatic inclusion in any deck running Mountains or Swamps, and gets better the more of them that you pick up (it’s also an uncommon, so you might be able to get multiples). Red/Black decks which feature lots and lots of ways to kill creatures are common in most Limited formats. One problem which decks like that often face is that they trade their removal spells one-for-one with the opponent’s creatures, but don’t have any ways of getting card advantage so find that they run out of removal or suffer against decks which can draw extra cards. Murderous Redcap is perfect in addressing this problem.

I don’t play much multiplayer, but Murderous Redcap’s flexibility looks like it would have a lot to offer. It discourages opponents from attacking you, and comes back if someone casts a spell which kills all creatures. It’s also worth noting that if you have a way of removing -1/-1 counters, or giving creatures +1/+1 counters (if a creature has a +1/+1 and -1/-1 counter, both are removed) then the Persist ability can be reused over and over again, and the Redcap can keep on coming back.

Some cards are good in multiplayer or in Limited, but not so much in Constructed. But Murderous Redcap definitely has a role to play in Constructed formats.

In older formats, such as Vintage, Legacy, or Extended, the Murderous Redcap is worth considering as a one-off in Goblin decks. These formats are too fast to make it worth having four copies of the Redcap in the main deck, but having one able to be fetched by the Goblin Matron, or for the sideboard, is possible.

In Standard, there are a much wider range of decks which could use the Murderous Redcap. Many years ago, I played a deck at the World Championships which was mainly Black and Green cards. Against aggressive decks, I would sideboard up to 4 Ghitu Slingers, which would kill off one small creature and then block another, giving me time to get to the midgame and use Survival of the Fittest and Living Death to win. Although the Redcap costs four mana rather than three, he might be able to fulfil a similar sort of role in today’s Black/Green control decks, or any other Black control decks which would otherwise lack access to small amounts of direct damage.

The Murderous Redcap also could fit well into a burn deck. Burn decks often find it difficult when faced with decks of small creatures. The Redcap can combine direct damage with blocking duty. There are already Incinerate, Shard Volley, and Rift Bolt, and if Shadowmoor gives us a couple more good burn spells, there might be a Standard burn deck which could feature the Murderous Redcap. It might look something like this:

4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Spark Elemental
2 Martyr of the Ashes
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Murderous Redcap
4 Shard Volley
4 Shock
4 Incinerate
4 Sulfurous Blast
4 Browbeat
2 Keldon Megaliths
4 Mutavault
16 Snow-Covered Mountain

There is one other important feature of Murderous Redcap which I haven’t yet mentioned. Chris Richter, of ‘Ask the Judge’ fame, explained to me that “Effects that need info from the game check the game when the effect is applied.”

So if you have a Goblin King or Mad Auntie in play, the Murderous Redcap will be a 3/3 when it comes into play, and hence will deal three damage when it comes into play, and 2 more if it goes to the graveyard and its Persist ability kicks in.

When Lorwyn was first released, players at first tried to make their Goblin decks as aggressive as possible. But Lorwyn Goblins aren’t like Onslaught Goblins. It’s been the slightly more controlling versions of the deck which have proved more successful. And Murderous Redcap is perfect for this kind of strategy. It works well with Greater Gargadon and with Knucklebone Witch. It is extra creature elimination and direct damage. Again, Shadowmoor might have other treats in store for us, but updating some of the Goblin decks from States might give us something like this:

4 Knucklebone Witch
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Mogg War Marshal
4 Frogtosser Banneret
4 Mad Auntie
2 Goblin King
4 Murderous Redcap
2 Wort, Boggart Auntie
2 Siege Gang Commander
3 Greater Gargadon
4 Bitterblossom
4 Auntie’s Hovel
4 Sulfurous Springs
4 Mountain
4 Mutavault
4 Swamp
2 Graven Cairns
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Goblins have a reputation for being simple and one dimensional. Murderous Redcap is quite the opposite – a solid, versatile and above all extremely tricky card. It is good at killing Elves, bounces back from a Wrath of God, and has great synergy with a whole range of other cards. It’ll be one of those which don’t immediately get stuffed into every deck, but which gets more and more popular as players come to appreciate what it has to offer and the little tricks to get the most out of it.

As ever, if you’ve got other ideas for making use of the latest addition to the Goblin army, please share th…

…Hang on. A Tatter-what?

So while I was writing about ‘if there are other good new Goblins in Shadowmoor.’ Mike Flores was introducing us to Tattermunge Maniac.

Before you all go and just put the Maniac into your Goblin decks, remember what Mike said, “You can lay Tattermunge Maniac out on the first turn, then just Tarfire, Incinerate, Rift Bolt - whatever - every creature the opponent plays, every turn, while clocking for two at a time until a friendly body joins the fray for four or seven or whatever, at which point the game ends in a blaze of direct damage (that's the plan, anyway).” Most Goblin decks don’t have many burn spells, and are more orientated towards control than pure aggression.

Tattermunge Maniac has some great synergy with Murderous Redcap. Murderous Redcap enjoys killing every creature that the opponent plays, being a friendly body to join in the fun, and ending the game in a blaze of direct damage. There is also the play where you have a Maniac and they have some kind of 4/4. In this situation the thing to do is to sigh, announce ‘well, I have to attack’ and send your Maniac in. Then after their 4/4 blocks it, you can play the Redcap, kill off their creature and still be ready to attack for two next turn. Put them together and you get something like:

Red Deck Wins 2008

4 Tattermunge Maniac
4 Mogg Fanatic
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Keldon Marauders
4 Fulminator Mage
3 Murderous Redcap
4 Incinerate
4 Tarfire
4 Rift Bolt
3 Lash Out
4 Karplusan Forest
1 Pendelhaven
3 Fire Canopy
2 Mutavault
2 Forest
10 Mountain

Take care!

Dan Paskins

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