Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
Foreshadowing in This Set’s Storylines: Targeting Rocket
If you’ve ever squinted at a photo of a goblin-tinkered contraption and thought, “This looks like a premonition,” you’re not alone. Unstable—the signature funny set from 2017—operates like a chaotic, bubble-blown magnifying glass for MTG’s flavor and design ambitions. Its storylines aren’t the grim grandeur of past blocks, but they whisper about a future where rules are bent, jokes are a weapon, and curiosity is the real engine behind every crank. Targeting Rocket isn’t just a quirky artifact; it’s a microcosm of how this set foreshadows a designers’ playground where mechanics hack the very flow of combat and play patterns in unexpected, delightful ways 🧙♂️🔥.
At first glance, the card reads as a simple artifact—an Unstable contraption with a zero mana cost and a single line of text: “Whenever you crank this Contraption, target creature blocks this turn if able.” But read through the laughter and the goblin mischief, and you’ll see a thread. Unstable invites players to experiment with how and when blocks occur, how speed bends the pacing of combat, and how “crank” becomes a gateway to comic timing on the battlefield. That timing isn’t just flavor; it hints at a broader design ethos where tempo manipulation, nontraditional combat expectations, and playful interactions become design pillars for future sets. In short, it foreshadows a world where your opponent’s plans are constantly nudged off-kilter by clever, chaotic triggers ⚔️🎨.
Flavor, Lore, and the “Goblins First, Rules Second” Ethos
Targeting Rocket bears the goblinExplosioneers watermark, a clear nod to the goblin-centric chaos that defines Unstable’s flavor. Goblins in MTG are often the spark that ignites the most unpredictable moments at the table, and this card celebrates that spark with a mechanical twist. The artwork by Steve Prescott captures that gleeful, rickety energy—cogs, steam, spark lines—all aimed at turning a mundane encounter into a spectacle. The flavor isn’t simply garnish; it’s a design philosophy translated into the game: things don’t have to be fair to be fun. They have to be memorable, and sometimes the memory comes from forcing a block you didn’t expect to see until the crank finally turns 🔥💎.
“Unstable teaches you that the most ridiculous idea can still push the meta forward—if only by making us rethink what ‘combat math’ even means.”
Foreshadowing through Mechanics: Crank, Contraptions, and the Tempo Shift
- Crank as a tempo lever: The idea of cranking a device to push an outcome echoes later design directions where action economy and tempo become more flexible. Targeting Rocket’s effect—forcing a blocker for a turn—demonstrates how you can bend the normal order of events to fit a narrative moment on the board. It’s not about overwhelming power; it’s about orchestrating the rhythm of combat like a conductor wielding a very loud, very green tool 🧙♂️.
- Contraptions that reward timing: While this card is a single, standalone piece, it sits inside the broader “Contraption” ecosystem in Unstable—a playful precursor to gear-based and artifact-centered strategies we’d see revisited in later sets. The foreshadowing isn’t about a direct mechanic carryover; it’s about the mindset shift: imagine combat steps being a stage for gadgets to perform, not merely for creatures to swing. That mindset has influenced subsequent artifact and equipment archetypes that blend humor with real strategic depth ⚙️🔩.
- Storytelling through playability: The card’s text foregrounds a scenario you might actually engineer—pulling a blocker out of the air to reset momentum, or to unlock an otherworldly play where timing wins the day. It’s the kind of moment that makes players say, “Hmm, I can set up a turn so the monster arrives at exactly the right moment.” That kind of foreshadowing—where flavor and function collide—became a throughline for future sets that straddle whimsy and tactical nuance ⚔️🎲.
Practical Gameplay: How Targeting Rocket Helps You Think Like a Goblin Scientist
Even if you’re not drafting with Unstable in mind for a modern Constructed deck, Targeting Rocket offers a playful framework for thinking about blocks and tempo. Because the Crank trigger impacts combat timing, you can plan around moments when you’d like to force your opponent’s attackers to slow down or switch targets. The card’s 0-mana cost—along with its foil and nonfoil variants—makes it a fun inclusion in a collection or a casual commander sideboard where you’re exploring unconventional combat lines. The flavor of “target creature blocks this turn if able” is a gentle reminder that sometimes the best defense is a well-timed misdirection, a hallmark of Unstable’s storytelling approach 🧙♂️💎.
In practice, you might pair this with other contraptions on the table (or even with non-Cranks that create interesting board states) to coach a particular outcome: a brave but doomed chump block, a forced trade of a key attacker, or simply a moment of misdirection that keeps your opponent guessing. It’s not about raw raw power; it’s about creative use of the combat phase as a narrative beat—something the set consistently rewards. The result is a flavor-forward play experience that many players remember long after the last cherry bomb fizzles in their minds 🎨🔥.
Art, Collectability, and the Cultural Footprint
Steve Prescott’s illustration anchors the card in a moment of gleeful chaos. The borderless frame and full-art presentation emphasize the spectacle of goblin tinkering—the kind of aesthetic that invites players to linger on the board and imagine, just for a moment, how the contraption came to life. The Unstable set’s humorous, comic-book energy has a way of seeping into how players view their own collections: sometimes collectibility isn’t about rarity alone, but about the story a card tells when it slides into a match or a casual game night with friends 🧙♂️🎲.
From a collector’s standpoint, Targeting Rocket sits at an uncommon rarity in a set known for its playful subversion. The set’s “funny” type and goblin watermarking make it a charming addition to any Goblin, Artifact, or Contraption-focused shelf. If you’re chasing foil variants or first-printing nostalgia, this card’s art and era feel like a tiny window into MTG’s long-running experiment with what a narrative card can be—the moment when story, art, and play culture collide in a way that fans adore ⚔️💎.
For readers who like to connect the dots between flavor and commerce, the cross-promotional edge is clear. This article’s pairing with a lifestyle product offers a chance to celebrate how MTG culture extends beyond the battlefield, finding homes in everything from art to accessories to collector communities. The hobby thrives on these overlapping stories, and Targeting Rocket stands as a cheeky but sincere chapter in that ongoing epic 🧙♂️🎨.
Whether you’re drafting, collecting, or simply reminiscing about a game night where a goblin’s contraption stole the show, Unstable reminds us that foreshadowing isn’t always a prophecy—sometimes it’s a wink that invites you to push the limits of how you experience combat, humor, and community.