First off, the name Shark Typhoon and flying Shark tokens is AWESOME! At first, this looks like a terrible expensive enchantment. However, that mode is just gravy. This is {2X}: flash, flying, cantrip on cast, X/X! That in itself is a cubable card.
I may finally give Mulldrifter the Axe to test this spell.
I still prefer mulldrifter, but that doesn’t mean this doesn’t have a place. So let’s look at all it’s modes
1. 1U draw a card. Certainly not cube worthy but a reasonable play if your stuck which mulldrifter can’t do.
2. 2U Flash 1/1 flying draw a card uncounterable (yes I know not always true but for 99% of the time it is). Decent speed bump while replacing itself with upside of possible trade with a one drop. Compare to evoked mulldrifter I’d take the divination.
3. 3U Flash 2/2 flying draw a card uncoutnerable. Now it’s getting interesting. 1 mana cheaper than mulldrifter but you get flash instead of draw and card, which you would rather have the card some of the time but pressuring a walker at instant speed is super relevant some games.
4. 4U Flash 3/3 Flying draw a card uncounterable. Trading a card for flash and +1/+1 compared to mulldrifter is pretty close, some cases you might want the better ambushing evasive threat.
5. 5U Flash 4/4 Flying draw a card uncounterable. You get the gist now...
Or you know just cast the enchantment and go to town the turn after gaining incredible value of flying sharks for each cast!
All in all I think it’s safe to say calling this baby mulldrifter ir mulldrifter 2.0 isn’t that far off as it’s versatility and raw power late in the game is undeniable, though actually casting the enchantment will only happen in like 5% of games. Now does that mean it will make it? Remains to be seen.
I happen to support a WU cycling theme and I'm already warm to cards like this. I'll be giving it a shot because I see usefulness in not just the keyword, but also having flash creatures, tokens of any size, and a control wincon. Not sure what the cut is yet, though ... I wanna go ahead and say I don't wanna lose Mulldrifter.
I think I might prefer this over Mulldrifter. Mulldrifter isn't really in itself a great card, it's strength has always been its flexibility, and this card is way more flexible, is much better along certain parts of the curve, (Looking at you turn 2), and is as good or only slightly worse along other parts of the curve. not to mention, some of the worse times to have to evoke mulldrifter it seems is when you are facing an aggro deck, and you have to spend turn 3 digging for ways out. Placing a 1/1 to either chump, or take out a 1 drop should buy you an extra turn to try and draw whatever card your looking for.
Meloku might be a better cut though overall though. This card having flash (along with recent printing of brazen borrower), may need to have me relook at some of my blue section, UG Tempo keeps getting more and more support
Very fun card, and quite powerful. It's just unfortunate that this doesn't really play into any of the archetypes in cube: it's not a creature for blink or other creature shenanigans (Mulldrifter wins there) and it's not an instant or sorcery for cards that care about that.
I still prefer mulldrifter, but that doesn’t mean this doesn’t have a place. So let’s look at all its modes
1. 1U draw a card. Certainly not cube worthy but a reasonable play if your stuck which mulldrifter can’t do.
2. 2U Flash 1/1 flying draw a card uncounterable (yes I know not always true but for 99% of the time it is). Decent speed bump while replacing itself with upside of possible trade with a one drop. Compare to evoked mulldrifter I’d take the divination.
3. 3U Flash 2/2 flying draw a card uncoutnerable. Now it’s getting interesting. 1 mana cheaper than mulldrifter but you get flash instead of draw and card, which you would rather have the card some of the time but pressuring a walker at instant speed is super relevant some games.
4. 4U Flash 3/3 Flying draw a card uncounterable. Trading a card for flash and +1/+1 compared to mulldrifter is pretty close, some cases you might want the better ambushing evasive threat.
5. 5U Flash 4/4 Flying draw a card uncounterable. You get the gist now...
Or you know just cast the enchantment and go to town the turn after gaining incredible value of flying sharks for each cast!
This is a useful breakdown. The card is way better than I credited at first glance. It's not completely insignificant that it puts a bonus card in the graveyard (e.g. Delve) as well. I think the main enchantment mode could be an interesting win-con for decks like Counterburn too. I'll keep it on the radar.
I find this card hard to evaluate.
A lot if it's value is in it's modality, which makes it's value harder to quantify.
(X spells by nature are highly modal)
I assume most of the time it will be cycled, but in games where you'd rather hardcast it, just how good can it be?
You'd probably need a fair bit of non-creature ramp and card draw to really chain off... Otherwise it's hard to pass up on a 4/4 flying shark that draws a card for a 6 mana do nothing the turn it comes into play.
From my experience, tokens are much more fragile than creatures because of all the bounce type effects.
I expect this to not be good enough, but tornado sharks are too cool to not give it a test.
One thing I want to point out is this card could be a 2 mana, draw a card at worst.
I am definitely planning to test this card out. One thing I really like is with this card plus THOUSAND-YEAR STORM we could move towards a less parasitic storm archetype.
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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 think this is far and away the best cube card in the set. Pretty much every non-rarity restricted cube at every size and power level (except maybe some powered cubes) can make use of this. It's either a scalable flier with flash that cantrips, or an engine piece for decks that care about non creature spells. Sure, there are some more powerful cards in Ikoria, but they're not this universally usable. Don't sleep on this!
It's definitely good. Hard to see how this is going to be the best card from this set when Lutri, Lurrus, Vivien, Act, Broodmoth, and Zirda are in there.
I don't see why Zirda is in this list of "best cards in the set", but yeah there's a ton of great cards in IKO. Anyhow, Shark Typhoon is certainly among them and is probably the card I'm most excited about along side with Vivien.
First off, the name Shark Typhoon and flying Shark tokens is AWESOME! At first, this looks like a terrible expensive enchantment. However, that mode is just gravy. This is {2X}: flash, flying, cantrip on cast, X/X! That in itself is a cubable card.
I may finally give Mulldrifter the Axe to test this spell.
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Edit - Probably finally the end of Miloku.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
I can't stop laughing. That is so damn funny. This is the pet cube card for the ages.
[180 classic cube]
1. 1U draw a card. Certainly not cube worthy but a reasonable play if your stuck which mulldrifter can’t do.
2. 2U Flash 1/1 flying draw a card uncounterable (yes I know not always true but for 99% of the time it is). Decent speed bump while replacing itself with upside of possible trade with a one drop. Compare to evoked mulldrifter I’d take the divination.
3. 3U Flash 2/2 flying draw a card uncoutnerable. Now it’s getting interesting. 1 mana cheaper than mulldrifter but you get flash instead of draw and card, which you would rather have the card some of the time but pressuring a walker at instant speed is super relevant some games.
4. 4U Flash 3/3 Flying draw a card uncounterable. Trading a card for flash and +1/+1 compared to mulldrifter is pretty close, some cases you might want the better ambushing evasive threat.
5. 5U Flash 4/4 Flying draw a card uncounterable. You get the gist now...
Or you know just cast the enchantment and go to town the turn after gaining incredible value of flying sharks for each cast!
All in all I think it’s safe to say calling this baby mulldrifter ir mulldrifter 2.0 isn’t that far off as it’s versatility and raw power late in the game is undeniable, though actually casting the enchantment will only happen in like 5% of games. Now does that mean it will make it? Remains to be seen.
Meloku might be a better cut though overall though. This card having flash (along with recent printing of brazen borrower), may need to have me relook at some of my blue section, UG Tempo keeps getting more and more support
A++ for flavor and awesomeness tho :-D
This is a useful breakdown. The card is way better than I credited at first glance. It's not completely insignificant that it puts a bonus card in the graveyard (e.g. Delve) as well. I think the main enchantment mode could be an interesting win-con for decks like Counterburn too. I'll keep it on the radar.
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A lot if it's value is in it's modality, which makes it's value harder to quantify.
(X spells by nature are highly modal)
I assume most of the time it will be cycled, but in games where you'd rather hardcast it, just how good can it be?
You'd probably need a fair bit of non-creature ramp and card draw to really chain off... Otherwise it's hard to pass up on a 4/4 flying shark that draws a card for a 6 mana do nothing the turn it comes into play.
From my experience, tokens are much more fragile than creatures because of all the bounce type effects.
I expect this to not be good enough, but tornado sharks are too cool to not give it a test.
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One thing I want to point out is this card could be a 2 mana, draw a card at worst.
I am definitely planning to test this card out. One thing I really like is with this card plus THOUSAND-YEAR STORM we could move towards a less parasitic storm archetype.
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
Your right I missed that, but again probably only relevant in corner cases. still something to take note
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