This card has me thinking about Opposition and Edric, Spymaster of Trest again. I like the idea of a new axis for blue in a tempo shell, but always felt the existing low CMC creatures are subpar individually. Blue is a hard color to find cuts and one wouldn't want to include fringe 1-drops for a niche archetype itself, but this one seems quite good to me. The Rishadan Port ability plays into the game of Opposition and Stax itself, and Islandwalk might make for a good unblockable in some matchups, fueling your hand with Edric.
I already cube Opposition just because it's so good, but I'm considering testing this card together with Edric to see what is possible.
I think this looks great for modern merfolk decks, but I don't think cube it the right home for this. Just seems really low impact for a creature the vast majority of the time. Rishadan Port is so good because its "free" since it comes strapped to an untapped land, but this costs you a whole card, has an ability that isn't typically worth investing mana into in the game, and only really goes in one deck.
As much as I want a 1 mana blue creature - this probably isn't it. Rishadan Port is pretty borderline in my 450 unpowered as it is and Port is a much better card.
I've been having a bit of burnout from all the new cards and not getting to test my cube enough, so I've been letting new cards pass me by for the most part.
This is the first one I've been really excited about. I love it. Taxing the opponent is totally
worth it, and islandwalk is such a sweet upside. This is the coolest card I've seen in a while, and I'd love to cube it. Definitely good enough for my cube.
The problem Rishadon Port is good because of its low opportunity cost, high reward. I don't think this card is anywhere close to it.
If you want a redundant Opposition, try Parallax Tide. Its actually pretty good.
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I'm actively maintaining a comprehensive article to help explain to new cube players how some complex vintage level cards work in a cube environment. Vintage Cube Cards Explained
I already cube Opposition just because it's so good, but I'm considering testing this card together with Edric to see what is possible.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
This is the first one I've been really excited about. I love it. Taxing the opponent is totally
worth it, and islandwalk is such a sweet upside. This is the coolest card I've seen in a while, and I'd love to cube it. Definitely good enough for my cube.
Low-power cube enthusiast!
My 1570 card cube (no longer updated)
My 415 Peasant+ Artifact and Enchantment Cube
Ever-Expanding "Just throw it in" cube.
If you want a redundant Opposition, try Parallax Tide. Its actually pretty good.
Vintage Cube Cards Explained
Here are some other articles I've written about fine tuning your cube:
1. Minimum Archetype Support
2. Improving Green Archetypes
3. Improving White Archetypes
4. Matchup Analysis
5. Cube Combos (Work in Progress)
Draft my Cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/overview/d8i