Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Red’s love language in Magic isn’t just quick damage—it's a knack for turning chaos into momentum. Goblin Bombardment embodies that cheeky, high-velocity Red philosophy: spend a little to reap a lot of value by turning breathing bodies on your side into direct pressure on the board. Released as part of Modern Horizons 2, this rare enchantment leans into the old-school goblin-gunpowder ethos with a modern twist 🧙🔥💥. The flavor text—“With one motion, a pest is removed and a scourge inflicted”—isn’t just flavor; it’s a wink to red’s comfort with risk and reward, written by the ever-adept Dave Kendall 🎨.
Name, Theme, and the Red Sacrifice Engine
The name itself reads like a tableau of goblin ingenuity: a small, scrappy creature inspires a weaponized moment of chaos. Goblin Bombardment fuses a goblin’s appetite for mischief with the brutal certainty of sacrifice, a staple Red tactic that often translates into tempo and reach. In MH2’s draft-in innovation environment, this enchantment becomes a reliable engine for a deck built around quick sacrifices and repeatable damage. The red mana cost of {1}{R} keeps it accessible in early turns, letting you turn one or two creatures into a steady trickle of pings that can swing life totals or pressure planeswalkers over the course of a game 🧙🔥⚔️.
With one motion, a pest is removed and a scourge inflicted.
Card Details at a Glance
- Mana Cost: {1}{R}
- Type: Enchantment
- Rarity: Rare
- Set: Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) — a draft-innovation set
- Oracle Text: Sacrifice a creature: This enchantment deals 1 damage to any target.
- Color: Red (color identity R)
The text is stark in its simplicity, but the implications are deliciously deep. Sacrifice a creature, deal 1 damage to any target. If you’ve built a goblin or other sacrifice-centric shell, Goblin Bombardment becomes a reliable engine to convert small bodies into direct answers — a hallmark of red’s improvisational battlefield control. The card’s vintage flavor of quick, risky moves pays off when you can chain sacrifices into lethal bursts or stealthy chip-damage to close out a game ⚡🎲.
Strategic Uses: Tempo, Reach, and Red Sacrifice Symmetry
Goblin Bombardment shines in decks designed to flood the board with expendable creatures—goblins in particular, but any token or expendable creature will do. Here are a few practical angles to consider:
- Tempo engine: Early on, drop the enchantment while you rally a stream of little bodies. Each sacrifice can ping a stubborn blocker or the opponent directly, enabling a steady trickle of damage that compounds as the board evolves.
- Red sacrifice synergies: In a shell built around sacrifice outlets and token generators, Goblin Bombardment becomes a recurring threat. Pair it with creatures or tokens that you’re happy to give up, then watch as every sacrifice yields both board presence and incremental damage to an opponent or their threats.
- Endgame reach: In combination with a few burst-damage spells or a Red finisher, a board full of expendable creatures can become fuel for a dramatic final swing. The enchantment’s ability is narrow, but in the right setup it can close out games outright.
- Commander-ready utility: In commander circles, the ability to convert a creature into 1 damage on demand is a useful tool for removing troublesome permanents or finishing off opponents when life totals get hammered down by a swarm of red threats.
From a flavor perspective, the card embodies the goblin archetype: clever enough to cobble together a contraption that looks like a whole lot of trouble for the battlefield, while always riding on the edge of a costly backlash. The humor and danger are in balanced tension—perfect for a red-focused strategy that values improvisation as much as raw efficiency 🧙🔥.
Art, Flavor, and Collectibility
Dave Kendall’s artwork for Goblin Bombardment captures the kinetic energy of a goblin-run factory of mischief. The MH2 frame—packed with bold contrast and a slightly old-school vibe—helps the card feel like a nod to red’s lineage of explosive, quick-thinking tricks. The card exists in both foil and non-foil forms, with etched variants also circulating, appealing to collectors who prize tactile, glossy, or textured finishes. In EDH circles (where the card sits at a respectable niche rank), Goblin Bombardment shows up in red-based sacrifice or goblin-themed decks, delivering both nostalgia and practical utility ⚔️🎨.
From a market perspective, the card sits comfortably in the mid-range of modern-era rares. Current pricing gives you a sense of its value as a versatile staple in a red toolbox: around USD 3.26 for the non-foil, with foil at about USD 5.31 and etched around USD 3.41. In EUR, it clocks in near the low to mid three-euro range, making it an accessible, flavorful addition for players who want a reliable, repeatable effect without breaking the bank. If you’re building around a sacrifice or goblin theme, Goblin Bombardment is a natural centerpiece, with a steady demand across formats where red’s daredevil approach shines 💎.
Playful Lore and the Wider Multiverse
In the broader MTG tapestry, red’s appetite for sacrifice and burning damage often intersects with goblin culture—quick to celebrate a clever exploit and quicker to roar in victory when the plan lands. Modern Horizons 2’s design philosophy embraces those “what-if” moments, where a small card becomes a critical engine in a larger strategy. The goblin Bombardment you glimpse on the battlefield is more than a line of text—it’s a microcosm of red’s stubborn optimism: take the smallest creature, push a big effect, and insist that this moment matters right now 🎲.
Connecting to Your Setup: A Subtle Cross-Promotional Note
As you plan your next desk setup or gaming session, consider how a well-tuned play environment can heighten the tactile joy of MTG and digital play alike. If you’re chasing comfort during long tabletop sessions or streaming nights, a reliable surface matters as much as a solid deck. To that end, consider a practical addition: a Gaming Mouse Pad 9x7 custom neoprene mat with stitched edges. It’s a nice nod to the same hands-on spirit that makes Goblin Bombardment so satisfying in action. You can grab one here for a smooth, focused grip while you map out your next red-bombardment turn.