Super cheap venom is awesome. Combine this with "creature can block any number of creatures" stuff for a one sided wipe.
Diachronos
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(7 votes)
@Mode: Actually it's better than Deathtouch. Deathtouch requires that you do damage to the creature, making First Strike your worst enemy. Tangle Asp's ability isn't triggered by dealing damage, but simply by blocking or being blocked, so First Strike offers no protection from being destroyed.
It's better and worse than Deathtouch. Deathtouch is better if you get first strike onto the creature, as you'll kill an opponent's creature before it can deal any damage to your own. This, however, can kill even creatures with protection from green (when attacking, of course, not when blocking), among other tricks like the aforementioned Bubble Matrix.
Chosen_of_the_Dark_Sun
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This card is actually amazing. I used to run 3 in a snake tribal deck, and it became the number one card my opponents feared. Why? Toss a lure onto this guy and he becomes a one-sided wrath against your opponent's untapped creatures, since it only requires him to be blocked, not to do damage. :)
I would not say that it is better then deathtouch deathouch+first strike= pwonage
Haxxoros
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
that card is so lame... is it possible, as some of you are saying, that with a lure on it it wipes all your opponents untapped creatures? If you read the card closly it says "blocks or becomes blocked by a creature, destroy that creature" ... does the word "a" refer to "one", as if it is only blocked by one creature, or does it mean like "for every creature blocked, destroy it" ? finding this really lame, as it too overpowered with a lure... to good to be that easy :S
achilleselbow
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Haxxoros, go play with some people who actually know the rules for a couple of months, then come back to the board. The ability triggers once for each creature that's declared as a blocker. And Lure + Thicket Basilisk was the very first combo new players would learn back during the days of Revised/Fourth edition.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
would work decent with fog and it's ilk. Maybe Fists of IronWood and then a pump spell would be good as well. Throw a ton of trample damage out so they have to block? Meh?
If it wasn't for the background you wouldn't notice this card actually comes from Mirrodin block. Actually surprising they didn't restrict the ability to affect non-Artifact creatues only, which would have made it rather awful for block-constructed.
Anyways, overall it's a decent card. Later in Kamigawa the Snake subtype even became a likable tribal type.
When printed these days it would simply say "deathtouch" i guess.
Edit (since 10/26/2009): I know that death touch and Tange Asp's ability are two very different animals. As EternalLurker said, it can both be advantageous and disadvantageous.
I wasn't talking about an Oracle change if we got a reprint of it^^ I merely said how the card would probably have looked like if it hadn't been printed in Fifth Dawn and instead got printed some years later when we finally had a keyword for these abilities that both follow the concept of a venomous creature. By the way: Deadly Recluse, anyone?
This is also done for simplicity - it's far easier to have six creatures with death touch than creatures that trigger in six different ways like Tangle Asp, Cóckatrice, Deathgazer, Evil Eye of Urborg, Ohran Viper and Stinkweed Imp (one group triggers by blocking or getting blocked, but some of them not for Walls or black creatures, some not when blocking; another group triggers through combat damage instead, but possibly before end of combat, which makes a difference if they get first strike)
Regarding flavor, death touch makes more sense than Tangle Asp's blocking variant - why should a creature that faced the snake but didn't get any damage from it (and therefore no venom) still die? But i'd also have prefered deathtouch to be triggered by combat damage only (as with Ohran Viper or Sosuke), since it doesn't make sense that a deathtoucher shooting with the Power of Fire still delivers a deadly blow. (Of course it doesn't make sense either that i could give a Viridian Longbow to a Tangle Asp with no hands, but you get the point.)
kiseki
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Replaced Thicket Basilisk in my Lure Deck. However, having played scores of games with the deck... However, the asp's effect on the game is relatively minor. When you run a lure, the biggest effect is usually that all of your other creatures get through, and only then if you are not ambushed by a disenchant. Killing a couple creatures is fun, but the ability to tap their own creatures to use their effects decreases the potency of the combo. I would rather put the Lure on a pygmy troll since it regenerates and can still kill key creatures that block it. You only get one shot at llanowar elves since they will never be forced to block once they have started a turn under their opponent's control.
Comments (14)
Actually it's better than Deathtouch.
Deathtouch requires that you do damage to the creature, making First Strike your worst enemy.
Tangle Asp's ability isn't triggered by dealing damage, but simply by blocking or being blocked, so First Strike offers no protection from being destroyed.
Anyways, overall it's a decent card. Later in Kamigawa the Snake subtype even became a likable tribal type.
When printed these days it would simply say "deathtouch" i guess.
Edit (since 10/26/2009): I know that death touch and Tange Asp's ability are two very different animals. As EternalLurker said, it can both be advantageous and disadvantageous.
I wasn't talking about an Oracle change if we got a reprint of it^^
I merely said how the card would probably have looked like if it hadn't been printed in Fifth Dawn and instead got printed some years later when we finally had a keyword for these abilities that both follow the concept of a venomous creature.
By the way: Deadly Recluse, anyone?
This is also done for simplicity - it's far easier to have six creatures with death touch than creatures that trigger in six different ways like Tangle Asp, Cóckatrice, Deathgazer, Evil Eye of Urborg, Ohran Viper and Stinkweed Imp (one group triggers by blocking or getting blocked, but some of them not for Walls or black creatures, some not when blocking; another group triggers through combat damage instead, but possibly before end of combat, which makes a difference if they get first strike)
Regarding flavor, death touch makes more sense than Tangle Asp's blocking variant - why should a creature that faced the snake but didn't get any damage from it (and therefore no venom) still die?
But i'd also have prefered deathtouch to be triggered by combat damage only (as with Ohran Viper or Sosuke), since it doesn't make sense that a deathtoucher shooting with the Power of Fire still delivers a deadly blow.
(Of course it doesn't make sense either that i could give a Viridian Longbow to a Tangle Asp with no hands, but you get the point.)
However, the asp's effect on the game is relatively minor. When you run a lure, the biggest effect is usually that all of your other creatures get through, and only then if you are not ambushed by a disenchant. Killing a couple creatures is fun, but the ability to tap their own creatures to use their effects decreases the potency of the combo. I would rather put the Lure on a pygmy troll since it regenerates and can still kill key creatures that block it. You only get one shot at llanowar elves since they will never be forced to block once they have started a turn under their opponent's control.