New Red Powerhouse is an Incredible Pick-up For Goblin Players

Last updated on January 31, 2025

Howlsquad Heavy | Illustration by Leonardo Santanna

It's hard to imagine a goblin with a better Standard pedigree than Goblin Rabblemaster. That goblin was an absolute menace that you could find terrorizing tables all the way from your FNM to the Pro Tour. Multiple playsets of it appeared in the top 8s of two PTs, and it even won Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir in the hands of Martin Dang. Does the latest variant, Howlsquad Heavy, live up the Rabblemaster name?

Let's first define what makes something into a new “Rabblemaster”:

• The most iconic ability of Goblin Rabblemaster was “At the beginning of combat on your turn, create a 1/1 red Goblin creature token with haste.”
• Of course, this wasn't the sole reason for the card's strength, as the second ability saw it hitting like a truck in very little time. But for comparison's sake, a neo-Rabblemaster is a 3-mana goblin that can consistently make 1/1 goblins each turn, often leading to a snowball effect.

In the decade that has passed since Goblin Rabblemaster, we have seen but a trio of imitators:

• Legion Warboss
• Squee, Dubious Monarch
• And today's card, Howlsquad Heavy

Legion Warboss

Legion Warboss was a very solid follow up to Goblin Rabblemaster that saw a good deal of Standard play. Compared to the original, Legion Warboss is a slower clock that spreads the love out a bit, often buffing the token friends it summons. While it didn't dominate the format like its predecessor, it was a consistent staple in aggro decks until rotation.

Squee, Dubious Monarch

It would be a dubious claim to say that this Squee has seen much play since it's printing. When it does show up, it's usually as a 1- or 2-of in mono-red, where it acts as a kind of “escape” card, making use of an otherwise inert graveyard.

Resilience is the main thing Squee, Dubious Monarch has going for it, but red decks have consistently preferred more explosive 3-drops like Goddric, Cloaked Reveler. The printing of Screaming Nemesis (one of the most disgusting aggro cards ever) certainly isn't helping matters either!

Howlsquad Heavy

Howlsquad Heavy is a powerful card entering a very powerful format, and thus has some stiff competition. But first, to evaluate the card a bit:

• Like other Rabblemasters, Howlsquad Heavy is a 3-mana creature that consistently spits out goblins.
• One very unique trait Howlsquad has over the others is that it's also a global haste lord for goblins! Even after 30 years of goblins, the only one with that text besides Howlsquad is Goblin Warchief.
• It also “Starts your engines!” when it enters, and can potentially make a huge amount of mana if you can max out speed. If Howlsquad Heavy is your sole SYE! card though, then you are far less likely to ever hit max speed.
• An extra third point of toughness helps a bit against Burst Lightning, Torch the Tower, Grim Bauble, and other 2-damage effects. Dying to Cut Down is a notable disappointment from a Standard perspective.

Standard Mono-Red

In Standard Mono-Red, Howlsquad Heavy mainly competes with the aforementioned three drops:

• Goddric, Cloaked Reveler
• Screaming Nemesis

In the average red deck with no goblin theme, it should not come as controversial that Howlsquad Heavy loses this battle. Screaming Nemesis is just such an absolute beating that Goddric, Cloaked Reveler has all but disappeared from lists, and even Goddric would outclass it. Is all hope lost for Howlsquad Heavy? Not quite.

Standard Goblins

Thanks to cards sneaking in from the Foundations starter collection, Standard has a surprising amount of goblin support! And a true goblins deck is definitely the best way to make use of Howlsquad Heavy, which is substantially more powerful when all aspects of the card are online. SaffronOlive sketched out a pretty solid looking first draft for what the deck might look like.

This is first and foremost a Krenko, Mob Boss deck, which loves the haste granted by Draconautics Engineer and Howlsquad Heavy. The deck also has eight lords, several token generators, and even a bit of resilience to removal in the form of Rundvelt Hordemaster. It's main shortcoming is a couple of individually weak cards, particularly the 1-drops which are much weaker in a vacuum than Monastery Swiftspear or Heartfire Hero.

Pioneer

Pioneer Goblins hasn't ever been much of a thing, but the expanded card pool means throwing together a list would likely be pretty easy. One notable improvement comes in the form of better 1-drops like Skirk Prospector and Legion Loyalist. It might be worth a try, though Pioneer is of course a more powerful format.

Modern

Modern Goblins is also not really a thing, as the power level of the format is much higher than Standard/Pioneer. Modern notably lacks two of Legacy Goblins' busted staples (Goblin Lackey, Broadside Bombardiers, both auto 4-ofs), which probably holds the deck back.

Legacy

Howlsquad Heavy seems like a very safe bet in Legacy Goblins! It likely won't show up in high numbers, but the deck is so good at tutoring that even one copy could go a massive way. While Goblin Warchief currently doesn't see play in most lists, Howlsquad Heavy is a much stronger card.

Commander

Goblin EDH players probably already preordered this one! Howlsquad Heavy is an absolute staple in any 99 built around goblins. It's the kind of must-have card goblin players could only dream of, really.

Limited

Howlsquad Heavy is likely to be a strong but not absurd Limited card. It likely won't kill on its own like Goblin Rabblemaster did, and the mana ability requiring two hoops (other goblins + max speed) means it will hardly be reliable. However, for just 3 mana, a 2/3 that generates 1/1s each turn and has further upside is still well above average.

One last trick to note is that you can use vehicles to save a 1/1 goblin token from attacking to its own death. Simply have the token crew a vehicle, and it will live to goblin another day! Just remember to turn on Full Control for this on MTG Arena, or to have a beginning of combat stop (on your turn) for MTGO!