Lately I've been making an effort to make sure that my recent cube reviews are up before the prerelease and this one's up on CSI now. About 10 drafts' worth of data, and while the article isn't as long as War of the Spark, the set's still great for cube and (what seems to be the trend) a lot of underrated cube stuff. I put a table of contents with anchor tags to make it (slightly) easier to read, since while it's not as long as War of the Spark, it's still a hefty set for cube.
Awesome article, Usman. There's some pretty surprising assessments here, especially this:
"Without snow basics, [Ice-Fang Coatl is] the best Simic card, and with snow basics, being able to organically get deathtouch later in the game (or even have it have deathtouch by casting it after turns 3 and 4) is absurd. Play this."
That's the review that most goes against the community consensus here--I don't think I heard anyone praise this at all, and certainly they didn't say it was better than Edric or Nissa. I'm pretty surprised; maybe I'll have to pick one up.
I'd also be interested to see in the coming months whether or not people sour as much on Urza, Lord High Artificer and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician as you have, since it seems like you're not going to even include them in your medium-sized cube.
Awesome article, Usman. There's some pretty surprising assessments here, especially this:
"Without snow basics, [Ice-Fang Coatl is] the best Simic card, and with snow basics, being able to organically get deathtouch later in the game (or even have it have deathtouch by casting it after turns 3 and 4) is absurd. Play this."
That's the review that most goes against the community consensus here--I don't think I heard anyone praise this at all, and certainly they didn't say it was better than Edric or Nissa. I'm pretty surprised; maybe I'll have to pick one up.
I'd also be interested to see in the coming months whether or not people sour as much on Urza, Lord High Artificer and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician as you have, since it seems like you're not going to even include them in your medium-sized cube.
If Coatl had deathtouch I think it would be pretty insane but as it I think it's short of that even in snow cubes (I've played snow extensively but haven't tested the Coatl yet)
Awesome article, Usman. There's some pretty surprising assessments here, especially this:
"Without snow basics, [Ice-Fang Coatl is] the best Simic card, and with snow basics, being able to organically get deathtouch later in the game (or even have it have deathtouch by casting it after turns 3 and 4) is absurd. Play this."
That's the review that most goes against the community consensus here--I don't think I heard anyone praise this at all, and certainly they didn't say it was better than Edric or Nissa. I'm pretty surprised; maybe I'll have to pick one up.
I'd also be interested to see in the coming months whether or not people sour as much on Urza, Lord High Artificer and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician as you have, since it seems like you're not going to even include them in your medium-sized cube.
Yeah this is an insane take on Coatl. With 0 other snow permanents it is definitely not the best simic card. I intend to test it, it's easily top 10, maybe top 5, but even as thin as Simic is Nissa is definitely better as are, I suspect, predator and mystic snake. A 1/1 flyer just isn't a card, so this isn't a 2-for-1 like strix is. How much better is this than the 2/1 hideaway guy for 2? I suspect not much.
If you run snow basics, though, this is definitely the best simic card.
Lately I've been making an effort to make sure that my recent cube reviews are up before the prerelease and this one's up on CSI now. About 10 drafts' worth of data, and while the article isn't as long as War of the Spark, the set's still great for cube and (what seems to be the trend) a lot of underrated cube stuff. I put a table of contents with anchor tags to make it (slightly) easier to read, since while it's not as long as War of the Spark, it's still a hefty set for cube.
Enjoy!
I used to write cube articles on StarCityGames, now for GatheringMagic and podcast about cube (w/Antknee42.)
"Without snow basics, [Ice-Fang Coatl is] the best Simic card, and with snow basics, being able to organically get deathtouch later in the game (or even have it have deathtouch by casting it after turns 3 and 4) is absurd. Play this."
That's the review that most goes against the community consensus here--I don't think I heard anyone praise this at all, and certainly they didn't say it was better than Edric or Nissa. I'm pretty surprised; maybe I'll have to pick one up.
I'd also be interested to see in the coming months whether or not people sour as much on Urza, Lord High Artificer and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician as you have, since it seems like you're not going to even include them in your medium-sized cube.
My Cube on Cube Tutor
If Coatl had deathtouch I think it would be pretty insane but as it I think it's short of that even in snow cubes (I've played snow extensively but haven't tested the Coatl yet)
I added Mist Syndicate Naga to intoduce more tempo cards. Im worried the Ninjutsu requirment may be hard to satisfy but anyway testing will tell.
Yeah this is an insane take on Coatl. With 0 other snow permanents it is definitely not the best simic card. I intend to test it, it's easily top 10, maybe top 5, but even as thin as Simic is Nissa is definitely better as are, I suspect, predator and mystic snake. A 1/1 flyer just isn't a card, so this isn't a 2-for-1 like strix is. How much better is this than the 2/1 hideaway guy for 2? I suspect not much.
If you run snow basics, though, this is definitely the best simic card.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588