Whenever an opponent searches their library, you gain 1 life and draw a card.
2/2
"Knowledge is the greatest tool of the mortal mind and surpasses anything made by mortal hands. Before anything exists, the idea must exist"
Ok calling it opposition agent and hullbreacher were infact a cycle so If the theory is correct the red one should be later and the green one will be in “exit from exile” deck
The 3rd member of this cycle lets you draw whenever they search their deck that’s gonna trigger a bunch
Whenever an opponent searches their library, you gain 1 life and draw a card.
2/2
"Knowledge is the greatest tool of the mortal mind and surpasses anything made by mortal hands. Before anything exists, the idea must exist"
Ok calling it opposition agent and hullbreacher were infact a cycle so If the theory is correct the red one should be later and the green one will be in “exit from exile” deck
The 3rd member of this cycle lets you draw whenever they search their deck that’s gonna trigger a bunch
That seems pretty weird thing to make onto a cycle, given that a version of this effect has already appeared in white. As for the cars, I like it quite a lot.
I'm not sure this is part of a cycle with Hullbreacher and Opposition Agent. The Archivist doesn't replace the opponent's tutor, it just also adds you drawing a card to it.
Basically all the creatures like this have flash. The purpose is so that you can hold it until it's actually useful instead of just running it out onto the battlefield and *hoping* it does something before it inevitably dies.
Not exactly sure why this really needed flash, but okay.
This should have been in Standard so it could be in Modern, you'd probably draw quite a few cards with so many fetches.
so you can sneak it in in response to things like fetches?
No, I get it, but unlike say something like Aven Mindcensor which punishes the opponent this gives a minor reward and it's not really the "HAHA GOTCHA!" moment, but instead a "I played Think Twice" where your opponent goes "Okay....."
The problem I've been noticing with recent new card design for White is that they're still being designed to rely on other colors to make them work as opposed to being able to stand on their own via Mono Color and Colorless sources. Smuggler's Share had a similar design that felt like it relies a lot on other colors to be useful when there's no Colorless sources that can achieve what these other colors are doing to make it more functional in a Mono White build for EDH / Commander. A lot of players tend to view that as breaking the color pie for colors that don't deserve it while I like to think of it as equalizing the playing field so to speak.
Archivist of Oghma is a card that looks good on paper but in practicality seems to be very situational. Flash definitely makes the card more playable while at the same time the odds of someone tutoring in a game of EDH / Commander let alone cEDH is about 50/50 maybe even to say that the probability is much lower than what the design team at Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro initially had in mind when designing this card. I don't fault them for trying new things which is what they should be doing when what I'm saying is to add on these designs more instead of just being random about it as to throw something against the wall to see what sticks kind of mentality.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Instant staple. Very pushed for the cost. The chances of someone tutoring in a game of EDH approaches 100% asymptotically, so you'll always at least get a 2 mana 2/2 and draw a card, then trade it for removal, which is obviously fantastic. If you draw a second card (which you absolutely will unless someone kills it) then this thing is bananas. Best card in the set so far not close.
Well it's definitely a step above Rumor Gatherer which only triggers twice a turn and does nothing afterward.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
America Bless Christ Jesus
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
On the one hand, this does slot nicely into a “package” of cards that are fairly easy to slip into mono-white decks. path to exile, winds of abandon, oath of lieges, ghost quarter, and field of Ruin can all proactively trigger this card… and all five of those cards can also potentially get you a treasure out of smuggler’s share… and all of them except field could potentially put you behind on lands to benefit from effects like land tax or weathered wayfarer (the latter of which can find nonbasic lands like lotus field to make sure you stay behind on land count). That is neat.
Also, I acknowledge that this card’s reactive “sweet spot” (tables where people have the money to play fetches but are casual enough that a normal tutor might not signal an immediate infinite combo) likely exists out there. Probably not all that common but it exists.
If this card is relying on fetches and mana ramp like nature’a lore and farseek, I actually do think that this card will often end up drawing at least 2 cards a good deal of the time, which I think is enough to justify this. I do think that this card would be incredibly frustrating to use when compared to a similar hatebear like containment priest as 1) players are more likely to burn through their unexciting mana search cards in turn 1-2, meaning that you’ll be fretting over missing card advantage opportunities and worrying if you might not see more (whereas you probably won’t really benefit from containment priest until you reach the point in the game when you can cast it) and 2) this card won’t feel effective against meaningful tutors most of the time (whereas we are used to other hate bears like containment priest actively stopping someone when they are making their move to try winning the game).
Really hope this doesn't get banned in EDH / Commander. It's a 2/2 that dies to removal (pun intended btw) so unless you're equipping it with Lightning Greaves then it's going to be as much of a target as Consecrated Sphinx in Blue decks. Archivist of Oghma literally is White's answer to Consecrated Sphinx yet rarely ever sees play in Blue decks due to it's high mana value. This creature on the other hand costs 1W. If you really wanted to go nuts with Archivist of Oghma in a Mono-White EDH / Commander deck you could imprint it onto Soul Foundry to make token copies so that the ability stacks multiple times whenever an opponent searches their library. If you have two copies then you gain 2 life and draw 2 cards as the amount of life and cards you draw adds up for every token copy on the battlefield. Mimic Vat is a cheaper option but only triggers when the creature you want to copy dies and replaces the creatures you copy whenever the original version dies.
As for Rumor Gatherer I realized that you can still Scry after the draw trigger resolves so that the ability doesn't stop triggering whenever a creature you control enters the battlefield. That aside, I think Zedruu the Greathearted decks will love Archivist of Oghma on account that you can donate it to an opponent while you provide them with life gain and card draw through searching your library using Wild Research maybe? I just recently built a Zedruu EDH deck and I'm hoping this card won't be too expensive so that I can get two for her and my Heliod, Sun-Crowned EDH deck where the life gain adds up for +1/+1 counters. Another interesting interaction I've found is using Leonin Arbiter with Archivist of Oghma as a clever political tool to prevent opponents from searching their libraries but If they pay 2 to ignore the ability then I get to gain 1 life and draw a card. Hopefully Leonin Arbiter won't spike too much because of it but it's interesting to say the least.
Imagine casting Fractured Identity on Archivist of Oghma so that everybody gains life and draws whenever a player searches their library except the player who cast Fractured Identity. Let the hilarity ensue! Then Pull from Eternity your own Archivist of Oghma so that you have your own copy back. Anyone have any other funny interactions and combos with this card aside from Fetches and Tutors? My EDH / Commander Playgroup rarely ever runs Fetches because we sort of treated them as Reserve List cards from the ABU sets. That being said I wonder If it would be a good idea to add Fetches to the Reserve List? I know it's been debated and talked about before but at this point I'm absolutely fine with that prospect. Lands Matter players would probably hate the idea but it could give them an opportunity for other options that could be just as viable I suppose. What do you guys think? Bad idea or good idea? Feel free to let me know.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
My EDH / Commander Playgroup rarely ever runs Fetches because we sort of treated them as Reserve List cards from the ABU sets. That being said I wonder If it would be a good idea to add Fetches to the Reserve List? I know it's been debated and talked about before but at this point I'm absolutely fine with that prospect. Lands Matter players would probably hate the idea but it could give them an opportunity for other options that could be just as viable I suppose. What do you guys think? Bad idea or good idea? Feel free to let me know.
As someone who (mostly) owns foil playsets of all the fetchlands, I can say that the ensuing price spike would make me really happy. It'd be the perfect time to cash out of this game.
I think such a decision would be near-universally hated by the player base, though. Disregarding the fact that Wizards won't ever add new cards to the Reserved List, being put on the list would just make fetchlands prohibitively expensive while still being legal and practically necessary in the formats that they're relevant. It would force the enfranchised players who are willing to pay the higher prices to part with even more of their money, and it would force budget players to settle on suboptimal mana bases.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
All I know is that If White ends up getting more abilities that forces opponents to search their libraries like with an overloaded Winds of Abandon then that will only increase and influence the value of Archivist of Oghma. The only thing Mono-White EDH / Commander decks have going for them in terms of triggering Archivist of Oghma multiple times without relying solely on other colors being played at the table are Field of Ruin and Ghost Quarter which is only really good with blink / flicker effects and Sun Titan since lands have a mana value of 0 by default. One of which is mandatory while the other isn't depending If the player targeted by Ghost Quarter is okay with losing a land drop.
Some of my friends at my locals keep getting irked over the fact that White is getting more card draw now when players complained about Green getting too much card draw that it was completely unnecessary. Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer, Harmonize, and Return of the Wildspeaker? Green shouldn't be allowed to run that. Simic was too broken in Standard so we'll complain about that as well. Why not give White more Mana Flare abilties so that it can catch up with other players at the table in Commander without having to rely on Extraplanar Lens? It's like White wants to be everything at once just like Green and it's upsetting players for not staying true to the color pie.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
On the one hand, this does slot nicely into a “package” of cards that are fairly easy to slip into mono-white decks. path to exile, winds of abandon, oath of lieges, ghost quarter, and field of Ruin can all proactively trigger this card… and all five of those cards can also potentially get you a treasure out of smuggler’s share… and all of them except field could potentially put you behind on lands to benefit from effects like land tax or weathered wayfarer (the latter of which can find nonbasic lands like lotus field to make sure you stay behind on land count). That is neat.
Also, I acknowledge that this card’s reactive “sweet spot” (tables where people have the money to play fetches but are casual enough that a normal tutor might not signal an immediate infinite combo) likely exists out there. Probably not all that common but it exists.
I really like this take. I don't think the card is busted by any means, but I think that this, along with other "catch-up" cards recently printed, create a "preponderance effect" that makes for a nice package for mono white decks. I don't see this card seeing play outside of white/Boros decks, with the possible exception of hatebear strategies.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Ok calling it opposition agent and hullbreacher were infact a cycle so If the theory is correct the red one should be later and the green one will be in “exit from exile” deck
The 3rd member of this cycle lets you draw whenever they search their deck that’s gonna trigger a bunch
That seems pretty weird thing to make onto a cycle, given that a version of this effect has already appeared in white. As for the cars, I like it quite a lot.
This should have been in Standard so it could be in Modern, you'd probably draw quite a few cards with so many fetches.
so you can sneak it in in response to things like fetches?
No, I get it, but unlike say something like Aven Mindcensor which punishes the opponent this gives a minor reward and it's not really the "HAHA GOTCHA!" moment, but instead a "I played Think Twice" where your opponent goes "Okay....."
Archivist of Oghma is a card that looks good on paper but in practicality seems to be very situational. Flash definitely makes the card more playable while at the same time the odds of someone tutoring in a game of EDH / Commander let alone cEDH is about 50/50 maybe even to say that the probability is much lower than what the design team at Wizards of the Coast / Hasbro initially had in mind when designing this card. I don't fault them for trying new things which is what they should be doing when what I'm saying is to add on these designs more instead of just being random about it as to throw something against the wall to see what sticks kind of mentality.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
-Irini Sengir
You mean aside from the scry 1 from the third and subsequent triggers?
On the one hand, this does slot nicely into a “package” of cards that are fairly easy to slip into mono-white decks. path to exile, winds of abandon, oath of lieges, ghost quarter, and field of Ruin can all proactively trigger this card… and all five of those cards can also potentially get you a treasure out of smuggler’s share… and all of them except field could potentially put you behind on lands to benefit from effects like land tax or weathered wayfarer (the latter of which can find nonbasic lands like lotus field to make sure you stay behind on land count). That is neat.
Also, I acknowledge that this card’s reactive “sweet spot” (tables where people have the money to play fetches but are casual enough that a normal tutor might not signal an immediate infinite combo) likely exists out there. Probably not all that common but it exists.
If this card is relying on fetches and mana ramp like nature’a lore and farseek, I actually do think that this card will often end up drawing at least 2 cards a good deal of the time, which I think is enough to justify this. I do think that this card would be incredibly frustrating to use when compared to a similar hatebear like containment priest as 1) players are more likely to burn through their unexciting mana search cards in turn 1-2, meaning that you’ll be fretting over missing card advantage opportunities and worrying if you might not see more (whereas you probably won’t really benefit from containment priest until you reach the point in the game when you can cast it) and 2) this card won’t feel effective against meaningful tutors most of the time (whereas we are used to other hate bears like containment priest actively stopping someone when they are making their move to try winning the game).
As for Rumor Gatherer I realized that you can still Scry after the draw trigger resolves so that the ability doesn't stop triggering whenever a creature you control enters the battlefield. That aside, I think Zedruu the Greathearted decks will love Archivist of Oghma on account that you can donate it to an opponent while you provide them with life gain and card draw through searching your library using Wild Research maybe? I just recently built a Zedruu EDH deck and I'm hoping this card won't be too expensive so that I can get two for her and my Heliod, Sun-Crowned EDH deck where the life gain adds up for +1/+1 counters. Another interesting interaction I've found is using Leonin Arbiter with Archivist of Oghma as a clever political tool to prevent opponents from searching their libraries but If they pay 2 to ignore the ability then I get to gain 1 life and draw a card. Hopefully Leonin Arbiter won't spike too much because of it but it's interesting to say the least.
Imagine casting Fractured Identity on Archivist of Oghma so that everybody gains life and draws whenever a player searches their library except the player who cast Fractured Identity. Let the hilarity ensue! Then Pull from Eternity your own Archivist of Oghma so that you have your own copy back. Anyone have any other funny interactions and combos with this card aside from Fetches and Tutors? My EDH / Commander Playgroup rarely ever runs Fetches because we sort of treated them as Reserve List cards from the ABU sets. That being said I wonder If it would be a good idea to add Fetches to the Reserve List? I know it's been debated and talked about before but at this point I'm absolutely fine with that prospect. Lands Matter players would probably hate the idea but it could give them an opportunity for other options that could be just as viable I suppose. What do you guys think? Bad idea or good idea? Feel free to let me know.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
As someone who (mostly) owns foil playsets of all the fetchlands, I can say that the ensuing price spike would make me really happy. It'd be the perfect time to cash out of this game.
I think such a decision would be near-universally hated by the player base, though. Disregarding the fact that Wizards won't ever add new cards to the Reserved List, being put on the list would just make fetchlands prohibitively expensive while still being legal and practically necessary in the formats that they're relevant. It would force the enfranchised players who are willing to pay the higher prices to part with even more of their money, and it would force budget players to settle on suboptimal mana bases.
If this was printed in a Modern legal set, it would presell for 4x the price, then likely get banned within a year
I used to be a demigod, but now I'm an omnimage
you got to be kidding me
in what planet has a commander player never searched their deck more than once in a game
Planet lol, our group doesn't use tutors. It's basically unplayable.
(Not saying it isn't good just that you don't need to leave the planet)
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Some of my friends at my locals keep getting irked over the fact that White is getting more card draw now when players complained about Green getting too much card draw that it was completely unnecessary. Guardian Project, Beast Whisperer, Harmonize, and Return of the Wildspeaker? Green shouldn't be allowed to run that. Simic was too broken in Standard so we'll complain about that as well. Why not give White more Mana Flare abilties so that it can catch up with other players at the table in Commander without having to rely on Extraplanar Lens? It's like White wants to be everything at once just like Green and it's upsetting players for not staying true to the color pie.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
I really like this take. I don't think the card is busted by any means, but I think that this, along with other "catch-up" cards recently printed, create a "preponderance effect" that makes for a nice package for mono white decks. I don't see this card seeing play outside of white/Boros decks, with the possible exception of hatebear strategies.