Norman Osborn in VS

So, next week is going to be the Thunderbolts, and I was thinking about how the Green Goblin is arguably Spider-Man's greatest enemy, and yet has only three versions. Luke Cage recently became a somewhat important character as part of the Avengers, although he currently has no versions on the Avengers. Before that, he was pretty obscure. Still, he has 8 cards for him. I think it is kind of sad that Norman gets so little respect. Now, it is true that he was dead for a long time before soming back, but he is still one of Spidey's greatest enemies. There are two other Green Goblins out there, with Harry and Phil being Goblins, but Norman himself has 3 cards, inlcuding only one for Silver Age from the MEX cards.

His weakest version is the one from MEX, Green Goblin, Friend and Foe. This one is also based off of Ultimate Green Goblin, so mainstream Norman gets left behind again.

Weak stats and loyalty, so his ability better be pretty good. Oh, look! Whenever a friendly character attacks a player directly, draw a card. That is pretty darn good! In Syndicate, they swarm and with swarming, comes attacking directly. With the crazy Green Goblin from USM, you get to draw each time you attack a player directly, allowing you to draw more ATK pumps or whatever else you need to finish them off. Definitely powerful.

Our next spot up the curve is his 5-drop version, Green Goblin, Norman Osborn. Part of the Spider-Man vs Sinister Syndicate deck before the MSM set came out, his numbering is low.

Okay, so we now have average stats, and let's see that ability. Holy crap! If they set up all in the front row to avoid Norman's ability, they leave themselves open to breakthrough. Otherwise, you get to outright KO one of theirs with them losing endurance also. Man, with something like Norman, Blastaar, Annihilus, nowhere is safe. Plus, it is just any character, not a stunned one or lesser cost, just any one. Only during your attack step, sure, but it is much better than attacking and will basically replace that. An amazing card that just represents how powerful Goblin is and how much he makes you hurt.

Last, and probably least, we have his 7-drop, Green Goblin, Altered Ego.

Wow, above average ATK and... DEF stats that a 6-drop could just stun him. Great. Oh, look! Loyalty also! Awesome. The ability is pretty crazy, I have to admit, but I don't think it's that great all in all. Basically, everybody loses 13. If you are winning, good for you. Otherwise, it doesn't help you, and could very well hurt you. Plus, you don't really want to leave him open to attack, so you probably would want to attack with him as opposed to try to make them lose a very bizarre amount of endurance. I do have to admit, though. The flavor text is great. He is definitely crazy on this card. Really powerful ATK, but doesn't do anything to defend himself, with an ability that hurts everyone. Man, who put this guy in charge of the Thunderbolts? Oh, yeah. Tony Stark, the Man of Iron that became an incredibly smart idiot.