Gizmo--
Kind of talking about the present. What makes Raging Goblin bad in my opinion isn't as much any fault or quality of the card itself but what it gets compared to. Its just that Red has a zillion better one drops, and the card gets played a hell of a lot more than it should, usually by people who don't know any better.
Tempest Block Constructed itself had Mogg Raider, Jackal Pup, and Mogg Fanatic as 1 drops, all superior to Raging Goblin. I've never paid more than passing attention to the tournament scene, but I'm curious if there ever was a non-Vintage deck that required more than 12 1cc creatures. I remember playing during those days. I played in a little out of the way store against mostly 14-17 year old kids, and in those days, net-decking wasn't really the science it is now, and least not there. There was a fairly vibrant tournament scene there, though I'm sure it was pretty far from anything you would call competitive. These were kids who were building decks they called Sligh, who could only afford 1 Cursed Scroll(I never saw a deck with more than 2 ever). The same went for Ball Lightning, you just didn't see people with 3 or 4 of them. They also tended to be too scared of the drawbacks to play cards like Jackal Pup or Fireblast. I was beating the crap out of them playing a 4-Color, 20 Dual land Counterspell/Wrath of God/Big Creature deck that could only be called casual and pretty far from being either tournament competitive or legal(legal in anything aside from T1). Years later, at another store, during Invasion block, I ran into kids playing these sort of decks again, this time in Extended. It really wasn't any different, the decks weren't any better. I'm not sure I've ever really seen or played against a decent Sligh deck.
As far as the card being good in a specific tournament environement, I can freely admit that I wouldn't know or care anything about that. There are other cards, take for example Disciple of the Vault or Arcbound Ravager for example, that are absolutely game breaking in tournaments, and are completely WORTHLESS in the sort of games I play. In a hyper-focused deck where 3 mana is too much to pay for anything, maybe you would need the stupid Goblin. Not everybody plays those games, and if your deck doesn't require you to win in 5 turns, Raging Goblin is an absolute liability in a deck.
I've been playing this game since 4th Edition/Homelands. I've sold two collections, and taken a few breaks, but I've been around that long. I've usually been the best among the circle of friends I've played with. Having said that, I can honestly admit I've never been any threat to a serious tournament player. I can also say I've never had any interest or intention of being one. I'm pretty sure if I had the inclination, I could learn what I need to know in short order, add it to my long experience and do quite well. But I find the Tournament Style of magic not really any fun. First off, I've always been religiously zealous about building my own decks. I have looked over the years at tournament decks and reports to learn about how mechanics like Card Advantage, efficiency, synergy, and speed work, so I can apply them to my decks. Tournaments also are good for learning about cards my casual preferences have overlooked. That being said, I build original decks, and have never used the internet to build a deck in my entire playing life. The other thing is I've never really been inclined to build decks that prevent my opponent from playing the game, which is what pretty much every tournament deck I've ever seen tries to do. I've also noticed that tournament decks when built wrong, can be outlasted and fall flat when they run out of tempo. That always ticked me off, and I usually sacrifice that speed in order that my deck is just as scary on turn 30 as it is on turn 3.
As I've said before, I've been playing for about 10 years. I've played in a grand total of 1 sanctioned tournament, which was an Apocalypse booster draft where I found out you could net deck as much in a draft as in constructed. This is completely by choice. Give me my Timmy cards like Shivan Dragon and Weatherseed Treefolk and I'm happy beating on us other saps and teaching the newbies how to play.
You seem rather proud of your tournament prowess. You like to talk about it a lot. It isn't the only way to play this game, and this is the Casual Player's Alliance after all.
I have a deep and abiding love for Mogg Flunkies. They're currently one of the stars in my R/B aggro deck which is currently the best deck I own. I have learned from playing that deck that they have a fantastic synergy with creatures with haste, since people tend to burn everything but the Flunkies, and dropping a Haste creature alongside a lone Flunkies is generally very effective. I could build this deck to dominate starting from turn 1, and go for turn 4-5 kills. That's not the way we play in my world. I pair my flunkies with Ronin Houndmaster, which is dangerous beyond the first 5 turns. If I were to go mono-red someday, I'd look at Goblin Warchief in a goblin deck, or Slith Firewalker in a generic Red deck for Flunkies Support.
A 1/1 creature takes 20 turns to deal 20 damage. A 2/X creature takes 10 turns. That is an absolute world of difference, and the difference is great enough that a 1/1 creature is never really effective or efficient at dealing combat damage. 1 drops either need the magic 2 power to be dangerous, or have a killer ability, like Mogg Fanatic, Llanowar Elves, Mother of Runes and just being able to attack for 1 is a bonus. There are enough of them that there really isn't ever a need for Raging Goblin.
Raging goblin is a 1/1 that can only ever attack. Just doesn't get the job done.
