Bob, The Second Coming? [Lotus Cobra]

It's hard to find someone who will say that Lotus Cobra is just plain bad. The general consensus is Lotus Cobra is good, but the question is How good?


I'm not going do what some magic writers do when a ridiculous card is released and just stick it in every deck known to man (I won’t mention any names *Cough –Patrick Chapin -Cough*)- "Look, Lotus Cobra Fae!". I would rather talk about the intrinsic value that the card brings.

Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may add one mana of any color to your mana pool.

At this point I am not sure where to go with writing this. If you don’t get it, I don’t want to spell it our for you like Flores did here, but at the same time I fell like people still haven’t wrapped their heads around power of this card.

Standard and Beyond (Especially Beyond)
This card will be used in standard, no doubt. There are already rumblings of the Cobra making Warp World decks Tier 1 (Not to mention the return of Bogardan Hellkite and printing of Ob Nixilis) – yeah take a minuet to let is sink in; first creatures (Lotus Cobra\s), then lands (Lots of Mana), then Warp World Again. I know that's exciting but Forget about standard for a second.

The spells in Standard are more expensive and less powerful than spells in other formats, so getting maximum value out of the Cobra won’t happen in standard. The older the format the better the Cobra gets; from extended to the extreme application in vintage, where you can play a turn one Cobra and on turn two play a Fetch and Ancestral Recall without cracking it -leaving you more options and protecting you from Wasteland for another turn.

If you revisit a deck I talked about last year “Fast Profusion” you can see Cobra’s power to make that deck and other decks viable when they would not be otherwise. Combining Cobra with Fastbond and Null Profusion seems like it will yield promising results.

With the printing of Mindbreak Trap, I can see the vintage metagame shifting; the slot that was filled by “Storm” will be replaced by “Grow” strategies (since they only require that you play a spell, fill your graveyard, ect..). Lotus Cobra gives “Grow” strategies the gas they need to maximize their turns, while still providing a beater.

"The Hype"
It's great to see a card generate so much dialog. I think some people are fearful to fully commit to the cards power because it's unknown how this card will truly impact magic. It's a hard card to asses because it its truly unique in what it does.

Lotus Cobra is good, absolutely, but I was promised Mind's Desire. I knew Mind's Desire, and Lotus Cobra, my friends is no Mind's Desire. –Patrick Chapin

Lotus Cobra is so dumb I can hardly explain it. – Evan Erwin

I really don't see it. Lotus Cobra is good, sure, but most of the time, it will just be one more mana each turn, and not even always. - Jeroen Cuvelier

Lotus Cobra seems SO much faster than the rest of Zendikar. You have all 7-8 land stuff... versus a Black Lotus on legs! – Mike Flores

Lotus Cobra is just as fast as devoted Druid. Not buying the hype here. - Greg Haenig (MTGS Admin)

As I've been reading different players trying to measure/ assess this card one thing that I’ve noticed is the metrics is always based on one Cobra being in play. What if there were two in play? Then a fetchland makes you a virtual Black Lotus and a virtual Lotus Petal! I don’t have the time or space to explore all subtle advantages that this card brings, but I can say with certainty that getting a virtual Lotus Petal or two every turn is really, really good. This card is the real deal. Don’t buy the anti-hype. Thanks for reading. I'm reading: Bob, The Second Coming? [Lotus Cobra]Tweet this!