Hobgoblin Captain
Creature — Goblin Barbarian
Pack tactics — Whenever this creature attacks, if you attacked with creatures with total power 6 or greater this combat, this creature gains first strike until end of turn.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- R
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- Adventures in the Forgotten Realms
- Price
- $0.13
- EDHREC rank
- #18767
Hobgoblin Captain gives your whole attacking team first strike and menace simultaneously — a combination that makes combat math nightmarish for opponents and pushes through damage that would otherwise trade evenly. The cost is a five-mana 3/3 body with no other text, which is a steep ask in any format where that mana could be doing more.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Hobgoblin Captain slots cleanly into token-aggro and go-wide red strategies where a blanket first strike and menace anthem closes games that have stalled into a board stall. Outside Commander, the five-mana cost is the ceiling — in Pauper, where it's legal, common-legal combat tricks and cheaper threats make it hard to justify, though it's a real card in casual Pauper goblin builds that need a finisher. Modern and Pioneer have enough redundancy at this price point that Hobgoblin Captain rarely makes the cut competitively, but budget goblin tribal builds at local game stores have a legitimate use for it. Legacy and Vintage don't want it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.13 bulk tier
At $0.13, Hobgoblin Captain is deep bulk — easy to pick up as a playset without a second thought. It won't appreciate; it's a niche tribal anthem at a mana cost that keeps it off the radar of competitive demand.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.