Lotus Cobra – MTG Throwback Thursday, Zendikar (2009)

David
Fanany
Player
since
1995

I was still relatively new to the card-reviewing game when this guy had his first run in Standard, and we thought that tossing down Sphinxes of Jwar Isle on turn 4 and Avengers of Zendikar on turn 5 was the scariest thing a cute little snake could do. A lot of his power came from all the free landfall triggers you could get from fetchlands and Knight of the Reliquary, so he’d surely be less fearsome in a different format . . . right? Despite the fact that you now have to actually pay mana to get those extra lands, Uro is hardly a low-powered card, and when people figure out the right curve for both of them – well, for the sake of rotating formats’ players, I hope there’s a galdramaður somewhere in Kaldheim who knows how to conjure a Sulfuric Vortex.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 3/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 4/5

snek? snek?
sneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek

Back into Standard for the first time in almost a decade, Lotus Cobra was a very controversial mythic rare in Zendikar because it wasn’t particularly flashy or elaborate. It’s just a snek that makes your mana ramp out of control in an absurdly efficient manner; a turn 2 Lotus Cobra can set up for a four- or five-drop on your next turn (if you have fetch lands). In conjunction with the extremely fast format Zendikar wound up promoting, the little snek wound up being one of the non-fetchland chase cards from the set (and played absurdly well with them, as fate would have it). A fragile body means that its boopable snout tends to be a lot more vulnerable than you might ideally like, and most people on their game will kill the Cobra as soon as they’ve the chance to, but a single turn with the Lotus Cobra can definitely put you into a position that’s hard to dislodge.

With the current Standard and the dominance of U/G decks with Uro as the centerpiece, Lotus Cobra may well have a place as the Snek Supreme. Being able to chain together massive plays in one turn is a good place to be for the little slithering menace, and I would be surprised if it doesn’t have a home anew in the current format.

Constructed: 4.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 2.75
Commander: 3.25