In Finland we used to call Tarmogoyf centric decks ”Tarmon valinta” (meaning Tarmo’s pick/choice) based on an old Finnish food market franchise with the same name. The idea being, like a shopkeeper retails a bunch of stuff just to grow the business, you’d slap a bunch of cards in to play just to grow the goyf.
@@noneofyourbusiness4133 it would, but then you can get the opposite trick, where a newer playsr may try to kill a 3 toughness Goyf that *doesn't* have an instant feeding it, a more experienced player may not realise that the Goyf *does* have an instant already feeding it as they're used to the idea that a 3 toughness Goyf is safe
It never really clicked for me to compare Tarmogoyf and Lightning Bolt. But they both fit nicely into that slot of "elegant simplicity" where they are clearly the strongest at what they do, but what they do is so baseline to the game it's hard to be mad at it for being good at it.
I wasn't playing in that era of Magic. 40 Minutes ago i didn't even know what Tarmogoyf is or what it means. But this video made me nostalgic somehow xD
I usually learn about magic's history throughout these episodes, but Tarmagoyf's been relevant for so long that I've actually experienced about half of it. It's a strange feeling to say the least.
started playing with the release of theros, stopped playing right about the release of ixalan. crazy to see my entire timeline with the game detailed in this video in the context of one creature
When you first put in clips of people saying, "wait how big is the Goyf", I felt like it unlocked a core memory for me saying that exact line and carefully counting all the graveyards
A few fun facts: Fun facts: - My first ever GP was Montreal TS block constructed where Tarmogoyf got its first result. - Your footage of PT Philadelphia (first Modern PT) shows me when I was 19 (grey shirt, white collar no beard). - The pro tour you reference as PT eldrazi is where I made my first PT Top 8. The plot thickens.
super cool to see you in the comments you made the right choice. Sad that the cards played with are more valuable than the prizes played for, but I think you chose right!
I love how you kinda turned it over and examined it hastily as yet saying "is this real"? 😂😂 The magic gods put that p1p1 fate in your hands and for auctioning it off and making a donation, that made it one of the coolest and sincerest moments in the history of the game we all love!
As someone that has been in Magic during this entire timeline, thank you so much for a walk down memory lane. I actually remember getting my first Tarmogoyf shortly after the set was released for giving a guy a ride home after FNM. It was even on my way.
Personally, these are your best videos. A single card explored through its history, mechanics, and the impact it had on the people who intersected with it.
@@leebard9335 My favourite video he has made is Black Lotus by far, but that Rancor one and its exploration of magic as short narrative is definitely a highlight.
@@furonet138 No yeah, I am sure, he gets a tons of views and likes on them as well. I just find them a bit too open a scope while these are far more focused on a subject which you could still literally write a book about. Plus, I do love a good story to go with it.
I think one of the most interesting things about tarmogoyf is that it could legitimately be printed into a standard set without worry about warping standard around it (given just how good creatures on average are nowadays). Like, sure, it would likely end up seeing play if they did that, but unless the enablers of goyf were completely free, chances are most decks would just have better things to do. Goyf largely scales with a format, almost always "one of the best 2 drop creatures" but rarely more than just an efficient beatstick.
It was put on Arena by the most recent Historic Anthology and tbh I don't really follow the new "pro scene" they try to build around Arena so I dunno if the goyf has seen any success in Historic, but if it did, it would be the closest we would get to it being put into Standard, at least for now.
True, its not like the Fetchlands, which I honestly agree are far too strong and format warping to print into standard - lets not forget that KTK standard degenerated into "4 colour goodstuff" when Failure of Zendikar launched, after already being one of the most expensive standards ever.
@@EmperorPylades ehh, that format degenerated into 4 and 5 color soup decks because there were fetchable duals to get, even ones that must enter tapped. If fetches can only grab basics, they're honestly pretty bad mana fixers. If you can't grab duals and aren't taking advantage of landfall or the shuffling with something like brainstorm or sensei's top, they're fine for standard. Not great honestly lol.
My friend raves about picking up Goyf shortly after Future Sight came out in buckets because he thought it would hit like a brick in green decks. Goyf is the line where surpassing the vanilla test hits hard enough to keep seeing play. It still has such a cool mystique for me as “the” creature.
I haven't played Magic long enough to have ever held a Tarmogoyf in my hand or even faced one in a game. Yet I still legit teared up at 37:18. One of your best videos to date, I am just in awe
You're not alone, it got me tearing up too. Pretty much anytime a new vid drops I'm basically guessing and waiting the whole time to find out what random or innocuous element he's going to use to bring me to tears 😂
I pulled a foil Goyf from a 2015 Modern Masters set, I had no idea how good it was, but the guy at the counter said he'd trade a box of Modern Masters for it. Opened the box with some buddies for a couple small drafts. No more Tarmogoyf, but one of the best $10 I've ever spent
It's honestly a shame how normalized it is for shop owners to offer dishonest trades to newer players who don't know how valuable their cards actually are. Glad you got good memories out of it though!
I will never forget the time that I, a lowly EDH player, opened a goyf in one of my modern masters packs and was sad to see it because I had no idea the value it had. I held on to that card for a bit and ended up selling it for a cool hundred.
It's so nice getting to see my boy on the big screen. As a kid I always dreamed of owning Tarmogoyfs I just loved it so much. Now as an adult I don't know what is harder to believe, that I own 4 or that they are now somewhat mediocre cards. I'd love to see a return to Goyf, maybe in pioneer one day. That being said I always smile when I cast it.
goyf in pioneer would honestly be so sick. graveyard based decks in fetchless formats are really cool and a lot more balanced--even deathrite shaman is just decent
The idea sounds neat, but I just feel it would lead to a slippery slope of pioneer turning into old modern, which isn't exactly bad, but not really what I want to see with the format.
The downfall of Goyf is literally so sad to me. I vividly remember buying the playset back in early 2018 for like 200 pounds thinking it was a great deal and felt so good about it. And now it sits in my folder and is not even good for the format anymore.
I love cards like Goyf and Delver of Secrets, creatures that on the surface look simple and kinda boring, but become fascinating and staples of the game when you see how decks built around them work
Delver is my boy. I played some pauper games before where turn one dover, turn to Blind flip play and attach artifact, swing unturned too with a flying 5/3 backed by a counter spell I could play by returning one of my Islands. The thing about Delver of Secrets is, when you see it played against you and it's a 1/1 for one, it's hard to gauge what's going to happen to it, what sort of threat it actually represents. It could not flip for five turns in a row and you wasted your premium removal for a one one for one Mana. Some games, it flips on turn two and someone throws a curiosity style effect on it and it hits you for at least three every turn in the air and draws your opponent a card. It's just bad enough to avoid a ban, but it's just good enough to be terrifying.
@@Spark-Gold Why? I think it’s pretty well designed. It requires building your deck a certain way, and even then it requires work/luck to flip it. And even then it’s still just a vanilla creature
That's why I love Querion Dryad or Death's Shadow. It's fun to watch an opponent bolt a Death's Shadow with a fetchland in play. Dryad just look up Alan Comers Miracle Gro. It's an outdated decklist but still mean.
Fuck me, I was not ready for a MtG video to make me this upset. I never cast Goyf, but played against it countless times with Twin, Scapeshift, Humans and it's truly an icon. These times were the times I was most invested in playing, watching pro tournaments etc... To think that is all gone and changed now is just so sad.
33:56 Man, you made me cry. I mourn the loss of Pro Magic everyday. I mourn the loss of rich history in favour of quick monetary gain. I mourn the loss of live coverage in favour of subpar streams from a spectatorless game client.
remember waking up after any given fnm and being able to put some wotc or scg tournament stream on while sorting out the packs you won or bought the night before? just me? I hope not.
16:45 I remember cracking a box of Modern Masters the night it came out and getting a Goyf and a Foil Goyf on top of a bunch of other decently priced cards. Needless to say I was quite happy I had made the choice to buy a box and open it against my better judgement.
I remember the whole "state based action" of goyf when it was in standard. Many people at my store learned the hard way to never cast nameless inversion targeting an opponent's tarmogoyf, especially while it's attacking.
I really want a promo card, or an un-set card, or something similar that reads: "at the beginning of your end step, If you own and control a creature named Stoneforge Mystic, Snapcaster Mage, Dark Confidant, Young Pyromancer, and Tarmogoyf, You win the game". Great video, as always
I started playing just before Modern became a format. I didn't understand why Tarmogoyf was so popular, or even what it was for a long time. The more I play Magic though, the more I feel like Tarmogoyf embodies what drew me to Magic in the first place. It's a potentially big body, sure, but it has interaction with other cards and the graveyard, and that's what makes Magic great to me. That makes it more interesting than just a 4/5 for 2. Or wait, is it a 5/6?
Sam, your videos always make me feel the game so much more emotionally, but that ending was something else. That collage of so many great Modern players isn't just a snapshot; like Tarmagoyf, it's a piece Magic's history. Thank you for illustrating that.
I got into Magic around the height of Tarmagoyf’s popularity when I was in high school around 2015. I never thought I would feel so emotional and touched walking through memory lane about a card I never owned. Thank you for this. Keep up the phenomenal work. ❤
Ithink the best thing about goyf is that.... it hasnt actually been printed. Its printed in future sight as a future sight print (a preprint, if you will) and a bunch of printings in reprint sets. I mean I know technically future sight printing is a printing, but theme-vise, it hasnt been printed yet. Just reprints of a preprint
What a blast from the past. This modern format was the peak of MTG imo and the better years I had with this game. I remember watching Modern streams in my old apartment and meeting with friends at the LGS for the weekly Modern tournament. I strongly relate to what you say at 34:11 and this is what ultimately drove me away from MTG.
It really is a damn shame what's happened to Modern as a format and competitive Magic as a whole. Between MH2, the end of general support for the competitive game, and Pioneer, WotC has really kneecapped what used to be an iconic format. Legacy's even deader in the water. I have hope that Modern can rise from the ashes, but with the general direction of the game I fear that's not possible.
They way you tell stories is just absolutely astounding. They way you cast a spell on all of the long time players, new players, and people who don't even play this game. Whether it be nostalgia of the love, fear, or perhaps both, for this card can be felt here. I too dream of days of the king. I have 4 foil's sitting in my binder just waiting for the day. What doesn't grow, dies right? Same can be said for us as people. I hope that we all keep growing like Tarmogoyf. I hope that we all never stop playing this game, smiling as we cast our favorite spells, and laugh with friends as we steal wins out of nowhere. What is Magic if not for the gathering? Each one of your videos remind us of that. And this one is no exception. Long live the King. ♥
Excellent video as always. You give me the feeling of longing and nostalgia for an era of Magic that I wasn't even a part of and was probably too young to be anyway. As sad as it is to feel like I only joined the game once it had already hit its decline, videos like yours give me hope that we can recapture the magic of Magic again...
Another incredible video by Sam. There's no magic related content online that makes me feel quite the way that your videos do. Elegance is oftentimes disguised as simplicity.
When Future Sight came out, my testing team cracked the Dredge deck right away. Keep in mind, dredge was legal in STANDARD here - this was the first time anybody was seeing Narcomoeba and Bridge from Below here. Anyway, we were trying to figure out how to beat targeted graveyard hard. And that's when someone suggested... What about Tarmogoyf? I tried 4 copies in my sideboard - "Wow, this is such a good beater!" I ended up trading various random cards for a grand total of 16 copies of Tarmogoyf - I'd get them as throw-ins. I figured my future sideboards might need them. Over the years, I've traded some away. A couple friends still have some of mine. A few were even swiped, cards I lent someone and never returned. But I still keep my playset of four Future Sight, slightly chipped at the corners from play Tarmogoyfs. It's a card synonymous with competitive Magic to me. Thank you for making a video about it. Excellent stuff.
Hey can anyone from wotc explain the justification of selling proxies for $999? Would greatly appreciate a better reason than hasbro wants more money and they told wotc to go whale hunting with middle fingers raised high
I don't know what it is, if it's the delivery, the editing, the clips you choose, or just the memories your videos invoke, but every single video just gives me the chills. Keep it up.
I never once casted a Tarmogofy in my life but damn do I miss him. It’s wild what Modern/MtG have become and has led me to not play as much anymore. I find it so strange now we live in a world where Liliana of the Veil isn’t good enough for Modern anymore.
I've rarely cast the king myself also but have VERY fond memories of casting Threads of Disloyalty in 2012 Modern :D It was a simpler time and why I'm such a big proponent nowadays for Pauper and 7 point Highlander; they have that honest feel and those unique moments of interaction that I find modern Modern is missing.
I didn't with real cards, but I did plenty of times in some of the PC games. Which had much more limited deck-building but since they had online play you could at least play against real opponents. Also of course proxies down the pub.
First Ravnica to Ravnica was the golden age of magic. Im happy to have experienced that age and wish it was always as good as that... The game has gone down so much since then.
I come back to this video now after looking through my old binders and finding my playsets of Goyf, Thoughtsieze,and other modern staples...it brings a smile to my face and a bit of sadness to my soul thinking about how magic Magic was 10 years ago
The modern scene in 2011-2015 is so nostalgic for me like seeing that fulminater mage and the pyromasters accention storm decks I used to play and watch modern religiously back when goblin guides and lightning helix’s were being throw around like crazy truly the best time of modern :)❤
Yea, that was peak Modern. I would extend that to 2018. Now Wizards has shown they will not keep established archetypes forever due to the fact they will ban format staples if it makes a new card break.
I'm glad you talked about the Pascal Maynard story. Nikachu featured once in his videos already, but it's such an iconic moment that it had to be told.
I once lost a tourney game of modern to a Jund player who got stuck on 2 lands and literally played nothing all game except for all 4 Tarmos. Felt bad.
I had already drifted away from mtg when future sight dropped but I still remember the mad frenzy of people try to get goyf and how dominant a card it was. It'll remain one of my iconic era defining cards.
Great video as always! Learning that Tarmogoyf made it to big events alongside Siege Rhino is like finding out that Samurai in history were still around when guns were being used.
Videos like these really capture the nostalgia I feel for the time period in which I heavily played Magic. The game just doesn't feel the same anymore. 😢
Thanks Sam!! I got into Magic much more seriously with Future Sight and was one of those crazy drafters at GP Vegas 2015. I have only been speechless when opening a pack foil twice in my life and both times were Goyfs. This brought back those beautiful memories. I needed this. Thank you!!
Here again with modern horizons 3 looming. The king is a token, and for the first time in my life, I actually don't want a new magic set to exist at all. To me, Goyf is gone, and that's a tragedy.
Fantastic video as always! Just got to the ending sponser and I’m super happy they’re printing more foglio prints and accessories. The two of them are treasures :-) I hope they print more shahrazad playmats, I missed out on the last batch of them
I gave up magic in 2018 when me and my play group dispersed, and coming back to see all the classic modern staples truly die takes my breath away. I never would have though I’d see the spinach monster himself truly die But seeing all my old decks in tapped out become suddenly cheap definitely made me splurge on some decks I had been meaning to make for a long time lol
The best MTG video I've ever seen - and on my favourite card of all time, one that is very important to me. Thank you for making this, I enjoyed every second.
I still remember the first time I saw a Tarmogoyf previewed, and I was only smitten with the card because it said "Planeswalker" on it. Little did I know that later, it would be the most expensive Magic card I can name off the top of my head. Now, I'm just happy to own a playset of history, even if it's from a bygone era.
Episodes about capital C Cards, are the best ones. I built a Jund deck recently with the goyf for the first time and it’s exactly the feelings that this video describes. It IS fair magic. It IS a fun card period. Playing tarmogoyf on turn two is that same indescribable feeling as assembling urzatron for the first time, or casting jace the mindsculptor. It’s special :)
I remember this game store near me that has been closed for a while now. Id go to their rival store, but I remember searching for an Emrakul, the Promised End and a Liliana, the Last Hope after Eldritch Moon came out. This store was the only place near me to have them. I remember seeing a foil Tarmogoyf hanging from the fridge in the store. I remember being astounded seeing it, just because it wasnt behind glass. I asked the owner, "arent you worried about someone stealing the goyf" and he laughed and said "hey, if they steal it, they need it more than I do!" I got started in Magic around Innistrad, but Return to Ravnica is the time I most fondly remember pro magic. The magic economy was booming, the pro scene was amazing, and the hype for new sets was real, but the card I remember most was Tarmogoyf. Thinking of picking up a playset since theyre so cheap, plus one Future Sight version and one MM15 foil copy.
This video hit me hard. I started playing magic in 2015. I remember GP vegas, Modern Masters 1, Eldrazi winter. I feel the death of professional magic and the death of modern hard. I used to love how modern rewarded having a deck you loved and piloting it with experience, sometimes even more than what the actual deck was. Makes me weep internally now
This all happened around the height of my love of MTG. I followed all these tournaments and knew all the players. You've hit me right in the nostalgia feels and I thank you whole heartedly!
It was so silly that people turned the draft pick into a matter of “ethics.” He paid his entry fee. As long as he’s not cheating he can do whatever he wants in that seat. For whatever reason he wants.
Your ability to communicate the feeling of nostalgia and the sense of the past is truly amazing, I started magic in the tarkir block, and by the time I reached out from my small group of highschool friends and no format, table magic modern was already a sea of hyper tuned cheap cmc decks whose average game turn count kept going down. I never experienced the time of the goyf, but I still felt like I was watching someone talk about the first time I zerod a life total with a burn spell. The first a deck clicked.
watching these videos always give me a rush of nostalgia and happiness and then by the end a growing feeling of sadness and remorse because i know the game i fell in love with is not the same and will never be the same again. Long live the King, Tarmogoyf. 👑
Idk if you'll see this Sam since it's been a year since this came out. But I love these videos of yours going over historical moments in pro MTG history and around how sets impacted the game because it lets me vicariously live those moments since I only got into the game a few years ago.
Sam, this whole video was amazing, but what you did in the last 6 minutes is just incresible. A commentary on the state of the game how it have changed for, what we consider, the worst and the beatiful simplenest of Goyf, the king. Thank you!
