With the sheer amount of power creep MTG has seen over the years, cards that were once iconic have since devolved into nostalgic but otherwise mediocre pieces. In an effort to give them a second chance, Wizards of the Coast has been reprinting a lot of cards with rich competitive histories into formats with smaller card pools.
Sadly, so far, these old dogs haven’t been able to keep up with changing times, but that may soon change. Reprinting, arguably, the most iconic creature in MTG history,
Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf's power is equal to the number of card types among cards in all graveyards and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1.
will officially be Standard and Pioneer legal with the release of Reality Fracture.
MTG Tarmogoyf Returns to Standard
Ever since it broke out in competitive play during 2007 in Simic Threshold,
Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf
Tarmogoyf's power is equal to the number of card types among cards in all graveyards and its toughness is equal to that number plus 1.
has become one of the most prominent creatures in competitive MTG history. It certainly didn’t help that the Lhurgoyf had its fair share of controversies, like being the first-ever reference to the Planeswalker card type, or the foil $2000 Tarmogoyf Pascal Maynard drafted at Grand Prix Las Vegas 2015, which came to be known as Goyfgate.
This span of time demonstrates just how long Tarmogoyf managed to dominate all of Magic’s formats despite being a vanilla creature. Between Fetch Lands and cheap cards like
Serum Visions
Serum Visions
Draw a card. Scry 2.
,
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt deals 3 damage to any target.
, or even
Force of Will
Force of Will
You may pay 1 life and exile a blue card from your hand rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Counter target spell.
, Tarmogoyf becomes a massive beater early and scales as the game develops. During its run, Tarmogoyf was the main threat in tons of beloved MTG archetypes, like 2015 Jund, Canadian Threshold, and much, much more.
Now, with Tarmogoyf’s reprinting in Reality Fracture as a mythic, the card is officially Standard and Pioneer legal. Despite its storied history, Tarmogoyf’s Standard viability is really difficult to assess. On top of a lack of Fetch lands hampering Tarmogoyf’s growth, other growing creatures in Standard, like
Moonshadow
Moonshadow
Menace
This creature enters with six -1/-1 counters on it.
Whenever one or more permanent cards are put into your graveyard from anywhere while this creature has a -1/-1 counter on it, remove a -1/-1 counter from this creature.
and
Marauding Mako
Marauding Mako
Whenever you discard one or more cards, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature.
Cycling {2} ({2}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
, can arguably grow even quicker than this Lhurgoyf. If this card sees play anywhere, it could be in mono-green Landfall lists, but only if the Lhurgoyf can grow quickly enough to pull off
Mightform Harmonizer
Mightform Harmonizer
Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, double the power of target creature you control until end of turn.
Warp {2}{G} (You may cast this card from your hand for its warp cost. Exile this creature at the beginning of the next end step, then you may cast it from exile on a later turn.)
kills.
Pioneer, on the other hand, could be a place where Tarmogoyf finds a home. Decks like Abzan Greasefang that already fill the graveyard, or Golgari Midrange, which will grow the Goyf at a quick rate, slot this card into their plans naturally. The format also runs a ton of damage-based removal in
Burst Lightning
Burst Lightning
Kicker {4} (You may pay an additional {4} as you cast this spell.)
Burst Lightning deals 2 damage to any target. If this spell was kicked, it deals 4 damage instead.
, which Tarmogoyf easily outscales, blocking smaller creatures in the process. That said, even small Prowess threats can now pile on stats at a rate that never existed in 2015 MTG.
Heck, with all the nostalgic reprints we’ve seen lately, MTG players can play something extremely similar to 2015 Modern Jund in both Standard and Pioneer now if they so choose. While it’s impossible to predict for certain, with such an iconic gang back together, Tarmogoyf could maybe rule MTG like it used to, bringing us back to a better day and age.
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