MTG Salvation

Tragic Lesson
2U
Instant
Draw two cards. Then discard a card unless you return a land you control to its owner's hand.
Though Kefnet's followers feverishly searched his last words for some final riddle, they found only the gurgles of a dying god.

Not on the same level as Thirst for Knowledge, but could this potentially compete withCompulsive Research or similar? It offers instant speed and although it only digs two cards deep, the discard cost is capped at 1 card. The land bounce option offers some interesting interactions - hit landfall if you didn't already have a land to play, save a creature land from combat/removal, save a land in response to Wildfire or Wasteland, return a cycling land to hand, etc.

Probably not for the smallest of cubes, but figured it at least deserved some discussion.

Most of my blue decks don't want to be returning lands in the early stages of the game, and draw 2 discard 1 is not great as an alternative. Easy pass.

The interesting thing about returning a land (to me) is just that it effectively generates mana if you do so when you would otherwise miss a land drop. Still, probably a miss for me.

I like it. You can also get some extra value if you run the temples. Resetting Shelldock Isle is also nice.

Quote from steve_man »

Give me instant speed Strategic Planning, or Strategic Planning that digs for 4 (or both!) plz WotC.

Anticipate and Impulse but they don't put the cards in the graveyard, so I guess it's different.

Technically they add 1 card each lol but don't take that point seriously, Im being a bit flippant here

It seems decent in alot of situalions: Kor Skyfisher is good at filling out curves when you miss a land drop and this can do similar. Saving lands from LD is nice for cards like Armageddon, Wildfire or Stipmine. In artifact (Daretti, Goblin Welder based) or reanimation builds the discard can be a big upside. Instant speed card draw is great when you have Counterspells or ability's you want to threaten an activation on in hand.

I think the flexibility of the card is going to one of its big strengths and it seems like there are a bunch of tricks you will be able to pull off.

Strictly more metal than Catalog.

I don't really see the appeal here. I get that 3CMC card draw gets kind of thin after Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge, but I never want to be casting this card on curve in a control deck, and tempo/reanimator have better options.

Quote from TheTennesseeFireman »

Strictly more metal than Catalog.

I don't really see the appeal here. I get that 3CMC card draw gets kind of thin after Compulsive Research and Thirst for Knowledge, but I never want to be casting this card on curve in a control deck, and tempo/reanimator have better options.

This. One of the classic keys of control decks is to hit your land drops, but that's more so 'increasing the lands you have each turn' vs 'just playing lands without increasing the total count'. There's value to this spell in the late game where your 10th land is less important/almost irrelevant, but you are seriously putting yourself behind at that cost for just 2 cards if that's the rout you're taking. And draw 2 discard 1 isn't where you want to consistently be t3 with this card.

Being a small step up from Catalog isn't the best recommendation. I could see this in a cube that's nuts about the graveyard, but it's not like this is the only option for that kind of cube.

Still, this card does a thing that I like, in that it has quite a few potential synergies built in between land interactions, instant speed, and the graveyard. Nevertheless, I'll not be playing this.

I think this card is fine, but it's not pushing out Thirst for Knowledge or anything...