[NCD] Lorescale Coatl

[Eldariel]

Let's not forget that it grows every turn too. It'll be at least 3/3 before it swings. And of course, Brainstorm means it's 6/6, Ponder 4/4 or Top 4/4. Then you draw some combination of the previous and you get something that's so fucking huge it could block the sun.

Then again, without help it's just a 3/3 that keeps growing, which is just fine. The problem is that you can actually draw extras...

[Aggro_zombies]

I love how the card is being made out to be this:



That said, Coatl is good but not godly. NLU is the deck best equipped (currently) to accommodate it, because this guy really, really wants four mana up before you play him so that you can Brainstorm or Top-Draw in response to removal spells. Yes, he gets big, and yes, he'll go a long way towards breaking through Tarmogoyf fights, but he takes a little while to get there unless you've got the draw in hand. He's a better topdeck than Dryad because he'll grow on his own, but still not z0mg t3h nu+z.

Basically, he's very much like Countryside Crusher, but without the whole "fixing your draws" thing.

[majikal]

Only he's better than Countryside Crusher because you don't have to affect your draws or do anything other than what you would do normally if you are playing a deck that contains U and G.

[Mayk0l]

And while we're on the subject, screw Pithing Needle. Stupid people always saying Need-al instead of Need-el.

Stop whining, at least in your country, people don't say "Stiff-l" instead of Stifle. It drives me crazy.
And yeah, we get the Prague thing here too, Pitching Needle my ass. Oh, and not to mention the mispronunciation of Dark Confidant; the way they're putting it, you're surprised the confident Dark guy has only a toughness of 1. Then again, I guess I'd be pretty confident too if I swung for two. I think that would make my girlfriend happy too, because I usually just swing for one. I'm a modest guy, I guess. Then again, who needs the power to swing for two when you have awesome abilities like me.

Back on subject, this Coatl (which will no doubt become Koo-tol instead of Ko-wa-tal here, same thing as with Final Fantasy Quezacotl, which quickly become a blurry kwitsekotol), is great in a lot of ways. Maybe it's not as good as Goyf, and maybe he will make Thresh better, I'm ok with that. The scene should constantly be evolving. If everything were as static as say, Vintage, I'd get bored pretty quickly. I love to see archetypes come, go, and come back again. Thresh over here died back when Grunt was printed, it came back with a vengeance. I love that.
Coatl is cool. I am so hoping on good art.

[Phoenix Ignition]

That said, Coatl is good but not godly. NLU is the deck best equipped (currently) to accommodate it, because this guy really, really wants four mana up before you play him so that you can Brainstorm or Top-Draw in response to removal spells.

All those lightning bolts and chain lightning going around... oh wait, counter/top ate burn. So this new 2/2 dork goes in the deck that shuts down the removal you are talking about, and thus comes out turn 3. Even without countertop, how often do you actually see lightning bolt as removal?

If he's going to get StP there isn't that much of a reason to wait and play him with 4 mana (sure 3 extra life off brainstorm might make a difference sometime, but not in the first 3 turns of the game).

Yes, he gets big, and yes, he'll go a long way towards breaking through Tarmogoyf fights, but he takes a little while to get there unless you've got the draw in hand. He's a better topdeck than Dryad because he'll grow on his own, but still not z0mg t3h nu+z.

With a top out he's 5/5 the turn after you play him. That's already big enough to get there 80% of the time against goyf.

Basically, he's very much like Countryside Crusher, but without the whole "fixing your draws" thing.

Except he doesn't require 2 of the worst color in magic to play him. That and he pitches to FoW which is very relevant. If they made him just mono green he'd be worse, since in the decks he's going in, FoW is an auto include. Pretty damn good if you ask me.

I still hope he's spoiled incorrectly. I really don't think they needed to make a better creature than goyf, in goyf's main deck color, they just needed to ban goyf.

[majikal]

With a top out he's 5/5 the turn after you play him. That's already big enough to get there 80% of the time against goyf.

LOL I forgot about topping at the upkeep! Wow what a dumb card.

[libingboy]

I still hope he's spoiled incorrectly. I really don't think they needed to make a better creature than goyf, in goyf's main deck color, they just needed to ban goyf.

The ARB set FAQ is already available.
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/TCG/Art...gic/rules/faqs

Final wording is:

Lorescale Coatl
{1}{G}{U}
Creature -- Snake
2/2
Whenever you draw a card, you may put a +1/+1 counter on Lorescale Coatl.

along with the following notes.

* If a spell or ability causes you to draw multiple cards, Lorescale Coatl's ability triggers that many times.

* If a spell or ability causes you to put cards in your hand without specifically using the word "draw," Lorescale Coatl's ability won't trigger.

[Nihil Credo]

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that this card is going to be as good as Countryside Crusher.

Correct. And Countryside Crusher gave Aggro Loam a significant power bump. What's this thing going to do to FoW/Goyf decks, I can only wonder.

[spirit of the wretch]

What I'm asking myself as a Thresh player is:
How does this card help my bad MUs? Especially against Tribal Aggro or Goyf Sligh I don't see how this card effects my MU too much in my favor (compared to the War Monk for example). If CB/Goyf.decs wanted another fat beater, why not simply go with Terravore? Granted, it doesn't pitch to Force and is a litte harder on the mana, but it tramples and doesn't die to a f**cking Shock...
My point is, that the Snake neither really provide any utility (unlike War Monk or Trygon), nor can it compete with the raw power of Terravore.
I may be wrong and if I am I will gladly eat my words, but I don't see this thing beeing too big in Thresh!
Now you can go on flaming me for not understanding the format =)

[C.P.]

@ Pronunciation Nazis:

Screw all of you. Do you know how hard learning English is when your first language is not a close relative of English? Stop butchering east Asian languages and I may listen to you.

EDIT: Right, I'm talking to you, Ani-mii and Meng-ga people. Also to the people who cannot handle Asian names ever.

This Card may not be second coming of Jesus, but it at least is a solid addition to UGx cantrip archetype. However, with this guy added, Goblins actually can be faster than NLU due to the curve issues. They just need to put ports back in to their manabase.

[undone]

The thing is that this card is falsely disguised as a 3/3 or a 4/4 when in reality it is disguised as a 5/5 +

Being vulnerable to removal for 1 turn is irrelivant when force is in the format and he is hard to counterbalance (Which is aquard that he will round out the 3CC slot nicely in said decks) Decks with 10 draw spells (counting top) make this stupidly absurd.

Also snake is tipicaly bigger than terravore in thresh, terravore is generaly a 7/7 ish by late game and a 3/3ish early game. This gets bigger faster and makes double top back breaking to the point where it is a ligitiment answer to dreadnaught and terravores.

Side note, I believe sower of temptation will be the new popular girl because of this + goyf, instead of being a 2 of in NLU they will be a 4 of in several decks.

[Peter_Rotten]

Screw all of you. Do you know how hard learning English is when your first language is not a close relative of English? Stop butchering east Asian languages and I may listen to you.

Bah! I'm American. I only speak American and ignore all other lesser languages.

[FoolofaTook]

Correct. And Countryside Crusher gave Aggro Loam a significant power bump. What's this thing going to do to FoW/Goyf decks, I can only wonder.

Tarmogoyf answers tribal aggro early on but is no longer the primary finisher, since Lorescale Serpent is now bigger in many cases in the critical midgame turns. Trinket Mage can go and get Sensei's Divining Top, Relic of Progenitus, Pithing Needle, Engineered Explosives and even Chalice of the Void. Sower of Temptation is more valuable than ever since there's another cheap mega-beater now.

I think Lorescale Coatl has opened up the NLU and Threshold archetypes to a lot of experimentation as people try to get the mix right. It's not inconceivable that Tarmogoyf will be seen as too brittle to survive in the build when all is said and done. There's no way to shrink a Lorescale Coatl back down to small size suddenly, like Tarmogoyf can be reduced. Goyf doesn't pitch to Force of Will either.

I think this a great move on WotC's part. Now they just need to figure out how to get blue under control after gorging them for 2 years with cheap reinforcements.

[quicksilver]

I agree this guy is no trmogoyf. He will not see nearly the amount of play because he is far mroe narrow than tarmogofy. I agree that he seems pretty similar to countryside crusher, only instead of loam he is played in thresh. I do think one of his main pluses over some of the other options is that he can pitch to force of will. I have been running 2 doran in thresh and the only thing i wished they could do is pitch to force. I am going to try two of these in the doran slot and I think they will be an inprovement in large because of that reason.

[TheCramp]

It's not inconceivable that Tarmogoyf will be seen as too brittle to survive in the build when all is said and done. There's no way to shrink a Lorescale Coatl back down to small size suddenly, like Tarmogoyf can be reduced. Goyf doesn't pitch to Force of Will either.

What? Seriously? too brittle? There sure is a way to shrink Coatl, bounce. (for what that's worth.) I don't think the sky is falling, but UG gets a monster this time around. Anyone read Nassif's report? Remember how he said Trygon's best feature was costing 3 and being blue? yeah...

[eq.firemind]

Another afwuly boring card. Maybe it's powerful, but I HATE cards are so dumb to play. And it's again the boost for the most popular archtype. Totally shit!

Tarmo is still the people's champion 'cause no- decks can run it.

[quicksilver]

Another afwuly boring card. Maybe it's powerful, but I HATE cards are so dumb to play. And it's again the boost for the most popular archtype. Totally shit!

Tarmo is still the people's champion 'cause no- decks can run it.

What? Tarmogoyf has been described as "the best blue creature ever." Why? Because blue can easily splash him and does. Tarmogoyf is most abused in blue decks and has given blue a significant power boost.

[survival]

he probably meant that even nonblue decks can run it.

[FoolofaTook]

What? Seriously? too brittle? There sure is a way to shrink Coatl, bounce. (for what that's worth.) I don't think the sky is falling, but UG gets a monster this time around. Anyone read Nassif's report? Remember how he said Trygon's best feature was costing 3 and being blue? yeah...

Commonly played spells that effect Tarmogoyf but not Lorescale Serpent: EE@2 (Thresh becomes less vulnerable to this if Counterbalance and the main threat are not both 2cc), Relic of Progenitus (tempo play to alpha strike against Goyfs, which probably are forced to block and thus go away), Chalice of the Void@2, Threads of Disloyalty, maybe a few others I missed.

Commonly played sideboard spells that effect Lorescale Serpent but not Tarmogoyf: Red Elemental Blast, Pyroblast, maybe bounce, although that also effects goyf in some situations - like when whatever is coming back down is getting CounterTopped and goyf is a much easier target than Lorescale Serpent.

Cards that work very well with Lorescale Serpent but are neutral with goyf: Brainstorm, Sensei's Divining Top, Sylvan Library (the big comeback card if Lorescale Serpent is printed with it's current wording.)

Cards that work very well with both but maybe somewhat better with Lorescale Serpent: Force of Will, Ponder (always +1/+1 with Lorescale Serpent whenever it is drawn, +1/+1 with goyf once if no other sorceries are in a graveyard yet), Counterbalance (3cc spells are usually in short supply in a CBTop deck - so Lorescale Serpent firms the deck up a little against midrange).

I think blue is going to fit Lorescale Serpent in just fine in most builds. The meta may adjust by playing more bounce, but that doesn't hurt blue because they have the best bounce available and counters to stop it from happening anyway if it's actually a critical event.

Adding a creature that just keeps growing naturally until removed is a fairly ridiculous effect to have given blue in my opinion.

[C.P.]

Commonly played spells that effect Tarmogoyf but not Lorescale Serpent: EE@2 (Thresh becomes less vulnerable to this if Counterbalance and the main threat are not both 2cc), Relic of Progenitus (tempo play to alpha strike against Goyfs, which probably are forced to block and thus go away), Chalice of the Void@2, Threads of Disloyalty, maybe a few others I missed.

None of this beats the fact that goyf is a fat right here and right now once you cast it, as opposed to Grey Ogre on turn 3/topdeck mode.