Aside from Frost, Cosmic was one of my favorite underdog types to play when I first started playing MetaZoo. While not particularly competitive, cards like Fresno Nightcrawler and Moon-Eyed People from Cryptid Nation could more than hold their own on the battlefield when paired up alongside another type that covers their weaknesses. Once Nightfall arrived however, cosmic players no longer needed to rely on those other types, as we were given not only an incredible removal spell in the form of Abduction. We were also given a theme deck packed with every beastie that essentially sets the stage for the two beasties we’ll be covering today. This theme deck, also known as the “Reptoid Ruler” tribal deck, introduced the go-wide approach in the form of super cheap beasties with sweet synergy such as Air Rods and Kinderhook Blob. These beasties not only gave cosmic a fun new win condition, it also gave the type competitive potential – but there seemed to be something missing to really make the deck take off. And that’s just what I think Atmospheric Jellyfish and Lizard People will bring to the table.

First up is my personal favorites of the duo – Atmospheric Jellyfish. For just one cosmic aura, you can contract this gorgeous flying beastie to the battlefield, but make sure it’s the second beastie you contract that turn. If you take a look at its contract effect, summoning this beastie second will generate an additional two aura that you can use for any card you’d like. Given cosmic’s new go-wide strategy which uses the spell card Tribal Warcry, this ability is extremely beneficial as it will allow you to summon one to two more beasties in the same turn for free. If you already have a beastie on the field powered up with Tribal Warcry, you can easily supercharge its attack damage by flooding the board with beasties using only three or four aura if you have a hand stocked with cheap beasties. If you don’t have any on hand however, this next beastie will be able to help you out.

For just a common card, Lizard People brings quite a powerful ability within its contract effect. The ability to search for any beastie alien in your deck and add it to your hand with no other restrictions attached is just the extra edge cosmic needed. What makes this ability especially beneficial is the fact that it’s attached to a beastie; see, typically the ability to search for a card is reserved for spells which have to be discarded at the end of your turn. Not only that, but they also typically prevented you from summoning the beastie you tutored for until your next term. However, that isn’t the case with Lizard People. Contracting this beastie will automatically power up any of your beasties on the field using Tribal Warcry and it’ll allow you to search for another beastie that you can then summon in the same turn.

Not only that but they have 50 life points to give them more staying power on the battlefield and an attack that gives you a huge advantage when determining future plays. I don’t know about you, but Lizard People and Atmospheric Jellyfish are two beasties I will definitely be throwing in every cosmic deck.

What are your thoughts on the beasties we went over today? Do you think that they’ll bring cosmic the competitive edge it needed? Leave a comment below letting me know! If you’d like to help support my writing and decide to add any of these cards to your decks (or purchase any other TCG products through ChannelFireball) feel free to use my code “GHOSTBEAR” at checkout.