@@slifer867 it's one of the best draw spells in my Kyler Sigardian Emissary deck because Kyler can easily make any human tokens big enough to trigger elemental bond.
It's criminal to see it on D tier, it's A at best and B at worst. The only drawback I can see is that you don't have a choice when a creature enters, you *must* draw a card; but that's it, it's so easy to put 3 power creatures or 3/3 tokens.
>Sign in Blood & Night's Whisper in C >Read the Bones in poop tier I play Read the Bones in non-blue decks that are thousands of dollars, I play it along side Night's Whisper. The ability to see up to 4 deep is well worth one extra colorless, and I'm always happy to see it in my hand and cast it.
@@mistysowards7365 i dont know about must have, but it is solid. Scry is definitely a nice bonus, but scry 2 is almost a full card and wont always be worth the extra mana for me. Things get a little different if you have cards like Vilis though to take more advantage of the life-loss
I thought they were a little too hard on it too. Foresee is honestly one of my favorite draw cards in U simply for this fact. Also if you love scry, look up "Cryptic Annelid." Thank me later.
I thought that, too. Read the bones looks good/OK. There must be a hundred (at least 50) black cards thst draw cards. . . . ‘Draw 5 cards, pay 5 life’. Lots of black cards that draw you cards printed over the decades. . .
I personally think read the bones isn't even that bad. It can help you smooth out your draws in the mid game, sometimes you just need to find your next land drop in time. Sure it might not be the best card draw in the format, but it gets the job done a lot of the time.
Cards like Elemental Bond and Kavu Lair are better for Token decks where you can reliably make larger tokens where beast whisperer and guardian project won’t work. Titania and Gruul Omnath come to mind.
Thanks for writing that. I was litteraly screeming at the monitor when this was not mentioned. Also Elemental bond and Guardian project triger on ETB not only casts so for me as a player who plays a lot! off reanimator decks that is a huuuge upside towards beast whisperer.
This, and what santaclawsui said too about Beast Whisperer being a cast trigger. Probably should've been evaluated separately, but also probably sits around the same spot because it has the extra synergy of being a creature itself.
While I do quite like read the bones, I pretty much never play it, I prefer both sign in blood and nights whisper. There is also the 3 mana one that draws a card for each color of mana spent to cast it, the name eludes me right now, which is also better, it just feels like there isn't any room in most decks for it.
The one aspect of elemental bond that you missed is that it triggers off of token creatures entering battlefield. So in the right deck, it can be better than both Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project. Not sure how much that would change the overall evaluation, but worth noting.
@@NitpickingNerds or in angry jellybean or Titania which both happen to be elementals. Now that I think about it, ELEMENTAL bond. What a time to be alive.
Great list as always, the only things I disagree on are Rhystic Study (definitely better than Jeska's Will and Bolas's Citadel), Archmage Emeritus (should be a tier higher, feels like a double standard to rate it down when you have stuff like Reconnaissance Mission which has the same issue of being a nonX type in your X type deck), and Toski (why are you rating this lower than Reconnaissance Mission when it's a creature in your creature deck, it's at least a net neutral at worst).
I discovered your guys' channel recently and have been binge watching episodes. I used to think think I didn't really like Commander, but I've learned a lot about how to evaluate cards and more effectively construct decks for the format, to the point I actually love it now. Just wanted to let y'all know! ☺
I don't play a lot of commander because I live in a small town and our playgroup is narrow, but I could listen to you guys talk about cards for days and days
Putting Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project as the same card is a bit problematic. The cast vs enter the battlefield matters a lot, I’ve found myself choosing between the two depending on what the deck is trying to do. Besides playing creatures how they get to the battlefield matters, which in my assessment makes guardian project an A while Whisperer remains a B.
I absolutely love Harmonize. Lower ceiling than Beast Whisperer and such, but Harmonize is never dead. Unconditional draw, underrated. So too with Read the Bones. They're both examples of cards that tie the deck together (like The Dude's rug). Both are C tier for me, but they end up in a lot of my decks. At the works, they're place-holders in decks that need more on-theme draw options. Harmonize is in Trelassara, for example.
Yeah this is a massive underrating of Harmonize right here. In a green deck without access to blue or black, harmonize always goes in (ok maybe not sythis buy you get the drift). The reason being that the rest of green card draw is reliant on you having cards in hand. If I spend early game on removal and wipes and end up empty handed on turn 6, this is the card I want, even over Great Henge (which of course is a better card but just run both).
Unconditional draw is true, but I feel like it’s one of those situations where 99% of the time there are better options. Like in Trelasarra, if you can gain 2 life then Rishkar’s Expertise and Return of the Wildspeaker both will draw you more cards because of her power. I’ll take the high upside every time
I play read the bones on my lathril elf tribal. Mana cost isn't too big a deal with typical green ramp and elves fairly low mana cost. If the mana is going to be spent to draw, it's a waste if you get 2 cards you don't need in the situation. So being able to scry and improve my odds of getting my gaming winning tutor, mana dork (priest/archdruid etc), or artifact (umbral Mantle/ staff of Dom) is worth it. Low b tier for me.
I think that people underestimate Vilis. He's insane on his own if you get him out normally, but if you can cast a reanimate on him, it's 1 mana, draw 8, and get a huge flyer that's gonna draw more cards than you can use.
Huh, weird. I wast adjusting my deck to include more card draw just now and was about to look for a video on the topic. The nerds never fail to amaze me with their timing as I see this droped minutes ago. This is like the 3rd time that something like this has happend to me with their videos.
Elemental Bond is CRAZY in Ghired style decks; you draw too many cards but it's specific. I would rate Esper Sentinel and Sea Gate restoration in A. Esper sentinel is easy to remove, hard to pump for many decks so you can afford a pay 1 because it only affects the 1st casted non-creature spell each turn. I do like Sea Gate restoration, but that's so far behind the fish I don't see why it is rated this high. It's not a good card at top deck either.
Esper Sentinel > Mystic Remora. It has no cumulative upkeep & Blue has tons of card draw options. Plus as both an artifact & creature it an easy target for search & reanimation.
I play read the bones not due to budget but mostly for power level reasons. My play group had a high level competitive phase and now we're kinda over it so read the bones is just kinda fun and decent
I'm surprised you didn't include Phyrexian Arena and Black Market Connections to rate on this list. I think I'd have Phyrexian Arena as D tier and Black Market Connections as B tier.
LITERALLY last night I was asking myself how to upgrade draw spells in my Veyran deck... and here you guys are right on time!! Wonderful vids as always
I believe the idea behind Biden of thassa was because mono blue was a very aggressive deck in that standard format, so forcing your opponent to attack you and then bashing on the crack back with a bunch of elemental tokens from a master of waves was probably the thought process.
Love your videos ❤! Stinging Study with 5+ converted mana cost commanders could be B+ to A+. Personally I use it in my Karador Ghost Chieftain deck to draw 8 card for 5 mana/-8 life at instant speed.
Loved this video and would really want to see a part 2! Card Draw and which ones you include in your deck are one of the more interesting parts of deck building for me
One of the things about cards like Read the Bones and Harmonize is they don't draw hate or counters because of their power level. Its nice to be able to let something resolve early, before your bomb spells, or after your bomb spell gets countered. Also, they aren't bad cards, but if you compare them to the best cards of course they're gonna suck. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Elemental Bond is crazy because it doesn’t have the nontoken restriction that guardian project has and obviously beast whisperer being a cast trigger means elemental bond can be nasty in specific decks. Particularly its been INSANE in Miirym but that commander is nutty in general
The thing I think being missed about how good Esper Sentinel is comes from the fact that it is playable in mono white. It was the only white card listed for a reason. Esper Sentinel is an amazing card for it's color set even if it is not even 1/3rd as good as Rhystic Study.
I love your content so much! Your rankings are always *chef's kiss*. I would love to see a video in the future where you rank the most fun new commanders that have come out this year!
Harmonize isn't the best, but when you're playing 10-12 draw spells in Green/Gruul, it's nice to have a spell that isn't dependent on the size of your biggest creature, or playing creature spells, or how many creatures you have, or paying life. At least one unconditional draw spell is always nice.
I would love to see a list of your top card draws, because decks on sites typically go for the mid level pricing choice of less than $20 for anything that isn’t just famously busted S-Tier. Especially on utility spells where there is always a cheaper alternative
List is missing (from what I own at least): Yawgmoth, mono green Selvala, Twilight Prophet, Grim Haruspex/Midnight Reaper, Erebos, Plumb the Forbidden, Fecundity, Glimpse of Nature, Primordial Sage/Soul of the Harvest, Greater Good, Secrets of the Dead, Monastery Siege, Verity Circle, Greed, all of the Monarch/Parley Mechanics and everything in white besides Esper Sentinel. I hope they (or you 2 if you see this) cover a few newer draw spells like Lethal Scheme, Seize the Spotlight, and a bunch of new white card draw too (like Aerial Extortionist/Smugglers Share).
I feel like throwing guardian project and beast whisperer together kinda overlooks the clear advantage/risk of Guardian Project caring about etb instead of cast. Guardian project becomes insane once you care about flicker or doubling ETB with panharmonicon effects. However it’s riskier because counters blow you out and you never get the cards
Rishkar and Wildspeaker are S-tier in my buddy's Omnath, Locus of Mana deck. He doesn't draw 6 or 7 off them. He usually draws anywhere between 20 and 50 XD also runs greater good/life's legacy/momentous fall/soul's majesty/garruk, primal hunter for more of the same type of draw. it's gross deck ramps out of control and gets a huge body in the process so they're basically auto-include.
Yeah, Esper Sentinel is insanely good... unless your opponents literally have (almost) no noncreature spells, which is what happened to me last night. I ended up just chump blocking with it. 🤦♀
would love to have part two of this. for example, what is Damnable pact, ancient craving, notion thief or deep analysis for you? there are so much card draws...
I really like Read the Bones because it can get you 4 cards deep which can be good in a pinch. Tons of cEDH decks are running Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood which are both two mana draw 2, and I think bones fills a similar space. You tend to get much higher draw quality which is often times better than an extra card.
I run garruk's uprising in my Omnath, Locus of Rage deck and it basically translates to drawing a card whenever I play a land as long as I have omnath out, also helps a ton to give all those elementals trample
Read the Bones is godly, it's basically 3 mana draw 3 with the scry and unlike cards like Study (which don't get me wrong, is still better) is immediate, you don't have to wait to get the value out of it. No nonsense draw=to the mana you paid is amazing.
Hot take: elemental bond vs beast whisperer. Bond may be better! Bond is one less mana Bond is harder to remove as enchantment and not hit with board wipes Bond draws on etb not cast- I think that’s huge- all the below are draws for bond and not for beast Tap your godsire Get a generous gift or a beast within Crack your ancient idol for the big creature
The reason we have so many S Tier cards is because cars draw is so powerful in a multiplayer 100 card singleton format. How nice is it when you have a full grip constantly?
Harmonize is good in wort. Gruul spellslinger. Tho, if they keep printing the "discard card, draw some cards make some treasures" cards, itll probably get power crept in that deck as well. They've already made 5 and like 3 of those were printed in the last few standard sets. Edit: You guys brought up wort right after the part where I paused the video to write this comment lol. I still think it's good in wort, it's a way to generate card advantage without needing wort in play. a lot of the discard to draw effects go even in card advantage.
Bolas's citadel is so good. I think I've won twice by using its tap ability. If you have sensei's divining top you can draw a card for one life, add an aetherflux reservoir and you can gain massive life.
Elemental Bond would be Amazing in my upgraded Draconic Rage deck I’m building. With the commanders ability it would make for a lot of card draw. Will definitely have to add this card.
@@Malverde888 I picked up that card while I was at a LGS, I was new to magic at the time but I thought it looked cool and would be good in my Draconic Rage deck 😂
I think that skullclamp should be A their and not s because it is extremely powerful, but when you look at S tier all of the card up there (besides great henge imo) are staples that can be thrown into almost any deck they’re allowed to be in whereas skull clamp require a little bit of set up
Skullclamp I still think you could throw into most decks simply bc it’s a bit of boardwipe protection in that you still draw, and you usually have 1 toughness guys that you could sac if needed. The cheapness for its effect is really strong. I do think it’s like somewhere in between A and S so I’d give it A+/S-
"Theft of Dreams" and "Necrologia" are my personal commander staples that always perform super well. Necropotence sucks ass in reanimation decks and Necrologia just reads "Set up your best possible hand and fill up your yard" for 5 mana.
For sure! I love Necrologia! You nailed it with the graveyard point. I've been saying the same thing to my friends for years. It's like the Ad Nauseum for casual decks. If I'm casting it, I'm usually going to go off with a huge play using my graveyard the next turn.
Honorable mention to Moonlight Bargain as well IMO. The lack of timing restrictions is way less all-in and you get to pick and choose very freely, throw your graveyard stuff in the bin and draw everything else that you need.
I think the read the bones and nights whisper effects are way better than given credit for. They aren't board dependant which is super important. Rishkars expertise and similar cards have a very very high ceiling but can be blown out by removal and are dead cards early game. Having consistant resources to me is better than having a few big dumb draw spells
I actually think Bident of Thassa is better than Beast Whisperer. Draw spells that can be cast AFTER the creatures have been deployed tend to be stronger. Beast whisperer forecasts to your opponent that your about to start dropping creatures. Same problem applied to Guardian Project.
I play Rishkar's expertise in my mono green omnath deck where it is so good I often forget I can cast a 5 cmc for free and still win. Huge on it in the right deck.
Elemental bond is a creature entering the battlefield, not being played or cast. Makes it way better then a D. Also it survives board wipes and will rarely be the target of enchantment removal. I am a green player and the bond does so much work in a green deck. If you go into 3 colors it starts to fall off since other colors don't hit the 3 power often enough. Rystic Study goes in enchantment decks and Zur the Enchanter, but otherwise is just busted.
Midnight Reaper and Grim Haruspex are good in creature heavy decks and/ or aristocrats decks, I think we can agree on that. I don't think they are as good as Read the Bones in decks that are not creature heavy. I play Read the Bones in my Orzhov Punisher deck (highly optimized, 8/10) with Liesa as my commander and it never feels bad when I draw it or cast it and man, in this deck, the card hurts even more than it usually would, but the scry 2 and the fact that the card is usable at any moment of the game and doesn't depend on me sacrificing or opponents boardwiping is the reason why I'm running it and why other people love it so much. I really encourage you guys to try it out more.
Just want to chime in like others, seems a bit too hard on Harmonize and Read the Bones. I always feel underwhelmed when I slot them in a deck, but then when I play with them I tend to be pretty happy they're there. Even if I am running much more powerful draw.
Why didn't get Windfall a mentioning? It's 3 mana for often 5cards or more.I want to put it in my 5c Deck, because often i ramp out and are left with max. 3 cards in hand. Additionally i have a Smothering Tithe in my deck which is bonkers with Windfall
I've consistently gotten incredible value out of rhystic study. Either I'm creating advantage by adding cost, or I'm creating advantage with cards. It pays off better than esper sentinel from my experience.
In my Opinion, Jeskas Will, would put it in A-Tier because it makes only red mana and is less viable in multicolor Decks (4 and 5c/ 3c is debatable) because of that restriction. it is an insanely good staple, but compared to Bolas Citadel, Esper Sentinel and Rhystic Study a tiny bit less consistent.
I actually do play elemental bond. Not for budget reasons, but cards like guardian project dont draw of tokens. Titania makes a lot of 5/3 elementals which all draw cards with the elemental bond.
I'm not saying it isn't awesome but i don't agree skullclamp is BROKEN. Your first draw is 2 mana plus sac a 1 mana minion. So 3 mana draw a card. You're even or down on card depending on how you created the minion. Second one is 2 mana on average from there on out. So until you cross into high procs it isn't that much better. 5 mana draw two sac two isn't wild.
The only time i would play read the bones is if I already have both night's whisper and sign in blood and I still feel as though my card draw is lacking. Also can be fun in the new Sheoldred.
Some odd evaluations for sure. Drawing cards in general is a strong play. Building around cards like skullclamp or beast whisperer are obviously incredibly powerful, but comparing them to more broad unconditional cards like Harmonize isn't fair. My token deck wants skullclamp, my mono green stompy doesn't. Harmonize fits into both. For this tier list to even go below C tier I think you'd have to fill it out with some really bad draw spells. I mean you're comparing staples, so it only makes sense that even the "worst" cards would be C or above.
You forgot amber is card draw. When she walks all over the table, and spills drinks and cards, you'll have cards on the field you didn't have before, boom, card draw :D
C for cuttable IMO. Arena scales with Turns as opposed to creatures, opponent spells, lands, etc. If your games have a lot of Turns, fire it up. But you may want to include some looting to ditch it when it's dead and not include too many more Upkeep draw things. Balance in all things. Cheers.
Garruks uprising is a staple in dragon decks. It is awesome in my ur dragon deck. Same with temur ascendancy. When you have big dumb dragons, those cards work really well.
interesting takes on pure card draw (harmonize, read the bones). i feel sometimes you just need card draw at decent rate. these two are like veggies - id put them in low C or D…poop tier seems harsh
I’m confused how you guys graded Return of the Wilderspeaker and Rishkar’s Expertise off of “In the decks you put them in they are so powerful” yet you failed to see the same analysis with Elemental Bond. As someone who plays all of them in different decks, Elemental Bond draw a lot more cards in the decks that want it than the other 2.
I wasn't paying attention the whole time, but I saw no Consecrated Sphinx up there. Show me a play group that doesn't immediately start sweating when that thing comes down.
You're missing some of the best card draw in the format: A tier: Tenuous Truce, Painful Truths, Reality Chip, Ingenious Mastery/Secret Rendezvous (Land Tax and Tithe if you consider them draw) B/C tier: Smuggler's Share, Archivist of Oghma, Bob, Keen Duelist, Syphon Mind, Mask of Memory Remora, Rhystic, and Necropot should be on a tier of their own.
Reality Chip is Future Sight that's easier to kill (being a creature before it's equipped) and requires another piece to function. It is one blue cheaper and easier on the manabase (you can do this over a couple turns), but the setup is harder. And I don't think anyone thinks Future Sight is an A tier card.
@@JD-gk7eh Fair, I'm probably ranking it too high. The chip does have advantages over Future Sight though: You're not giving info to your opponents, you can pay it in two payments, and it's not UUU, meaning it's more playable in 3c decks. In decks running smaller creatures in U, I think it's auto-include.
@@CrimsonQueso BTW, I *love* Future Sight as a card. It never seems to find a home in my decks, though. :( The comp with the Jellyfish is interesting because there's good and bad to both of them. Being able to be your commander makes the Jellyfish pretty cool and as you say, the hidden info is very relevant. Future Sight was a big deal when it came out, people figuring it was going to be super duper busted, and the reveal has always felt like an attempt to balance it (not needed, but in 2003, they felt it was.)
I think you could have bern a bit tougher on the S tier, sentinel is good but probably only A. But at this point i'm nitpicking the nitpicking, list was solid but top heavy. 👍
Elemental bond is good cuz it draws off tokens. If your commander makes tokens with 3 power or greater (koma in my case) its good.. But beyond that you are right
Hey Guys, great list as always. But I have to say it reminded me that this kind of evaluation does not fit for every playgroup. In my usual playgroup for example Rhystic Study and esper sentinel are not considered card draw at all :D In 95% of cases you can count them as a stax piece which says: "your opponents spells cost one more". Which ist not a bad effect in general but it is definetely not a reliant piece of card draw in my playgroup...
Omg Read the Bones is awesome While it doesn't beat Night's Whisper for rate, when you put both of those scries to the bottom, it feels insanely good. The new 4 mana instant one is a bit overkill, but you do see up to 4 cards for 3 mana with Read the Bones :)
It feels like S tier should be "consider banning in casual play." From that perspective not sure if sea gate is up their. Most of the others I would be happy to not play against.
Love the videos! Don’t agree with most of your opinions but I enjoy seeing what casual players use these days. Guardian project is draw on etb beast whisperer is on cast. Project is better. Some of these choices are kinda goofy to me jeskas will is good but under preforms the better your deck gets. Rhystic study is arguably the best card draw in the format. sea gate restoration is just a land that lightning bolts you. Mdfc cards have their places and it isn’t in higher tier decks. Also dig through time and treasure cruise are kinda bad in commander. XD
As always I agree with most of it but putting Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project together feels weird to me. In my Volo, Guide to Monsters Deck is Beast Whisperer one of the best spells and Guardian Project does not work at all if Volo is out.
Maybe this is a bit of a hot take, but I would almost never take an instant/sorcery that draws over a permanent that draws (whether on damage, ETB, upkeep, etc). I don't like one-off effects, and massively value having a permanent come along with the draw. I would be hard pressed to think of a situation I would even want Treasure Cruise (cast for 1 mana) in a deck.
Certainly depends on the deck and strategy. Permanents that draw cards are fragile, and easier to deal with. Pretty much every deck runs a way to answer Permanents that draw. Only certain types of decks run answers for draw spells, so you are almost always getting great value up front. Add to that, pretty much nobody counters draw spells unless it's like a big Finale of Revelation, Stroke of Genius, etc. They'd rather counter what you drew. A lot of players would absolutely counter a Great Henge, Beast Whisperer, Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, etc.
@@mantism.d.8363 Those are fair points (particularly about counters). One thing is that my playgroup doesn't really run many counterspells so it's not as much of a big deal, but the other thing is that if you have a critical mass of things that draw, it's not like they can counter everything. And I don't see many players countering something like Mulldrifter, which is a great source of reusable card draw (in a lot of decks). Overall, I would much rather have things on board that let me draw 3+ cards a turn than something that draws like 10 cards all at once, then that's it. My Rigo deck is a pretty good example of this, it can easily draw 6+ cards a turn with Rigo and Coastal Piracy/etc., and it has a very low average MV (27 1-drops) so it can usually play everything it wants each turn. If you're in a spellslinger deck, then instants/sorceries that draw are obviously the way to go, but I don't like playing spellslinger decks for the same reason as before. I think Rishkar's Expertise (and the handful of similar spells) are pretty good though, and could see myself playing them at some point. I could also see some combo decks opting for instants/sorceries that draw in very specific ways that the deck wants, or draw a massive amount of cards at once to storm off or whatever with Ad Nauseam and the like.
@@SWAT6809 I'm sure it would be an autoinclude from a power level perspective (it would absolutely be in every cEDH deck), but I don't think it would be that advantageous to break the synergy of your deck to include it (assuming you aren't already a spellslinger deck) in non-cEDH. It's a very powerful card, but it's a single card in a 99-card deck. I've heard people suggest it would warp the game around itself, with people even tutoring it up, but like, if you Demonic Tutor for Ancestral Recall, you drew 3 cards for 3 mana? It's above rate, but not significantly better than a lot of other cards. It would be busted with Archaeomancer loops, though. Generally, I'm all in on it if you can reuse the spell, my Yorion deck has a good bit of instants/sorceries (mainly flicker spells and boardwipes), but it has Archaeomancer/etc., so it's built to keep reusing the spells.
Elemental bond is good because it's etb not cast and it doesn't care if the creature is a token
Exactly! In decks that make large tokens like dragon decks or clones, this card can go off. Also see garruks uprising and kiora behemoth beckoner
@@slifer867 it's one of the best draw spells in my Kyler Sigardian Emissary deck because Kyler can easily make any human tokens big enough to trigger elemental bond.
Elemental bond with a Koma on the battlefield is bliss
It's criminal to see it on D tier, it's A at best and B at worst.
The only drawback I can see is that you don't have a choice when a creature enters, you *must* draw a card; but that's it, it's so easy to put 3 power creatures or 3/3 tokens.
Koma loves this def not d
>Sign in Blood & Night's Whisper in C
>Read the Bones in poop tier
I play Read the Bones in non-blue decks that are thousands of dollars, I play it along side Night's Whisper. The ability to see up to 4 deep is well worth one extra colorless, and I'm always happy to see it in my hand and cast it.
Agree 100%!
Their just haters, read the bones is a must have just because of adding scry
@@mistysowards7365 i dont know about must have, but it is solid. Scry is definitely a nice bonus, but scry 2 is almost a full card and wont always be worth the extra mana for me. Things get a little different if you have cards like Vilis though to take more advantage of the life-loss
I thought they were a little too hard on it too.
Foresee is honestly one of my favorite draw cards in U simply for this fact.
Also if you love scry, look up "Cryptic Annelid." Thank me later.
I thought that, too. Read the bones looks good/OK. There must be a hundred (at least 50) black cards thst draw cards. . . . ‘Draw 5 cards, pay 5 life’. Lots of black cards that draw you cards printed over the decades. . .
I personally think read the bones isn't even that bad. It can help you smooth out your draws in the mid game, sometimes you just need to find your next land drop in time. Sure it might not be the best card draw in the format, but it gets the job done a lot of the time.
Cards like Elemental Bond and Kavu Lair are better for Token decks where you can reliably make larger tokens where beast whisperer and guardian project won’t work. Titania and Gruul Omnath come to mind.
Very fair if you are making bigger tokens
Thanks for writing that. I was litteraly screeming at the monitor when this was not mentioned. Also Elemental bond and Guardian project triger on ETB not only casts so for me as a player who plays a lot! off reanimator decks that is a huuuge upside towards beast whisperer.
This, and what santaclawsui said too about Beast Whisperer being a cast trigger. Probably should've been evaluated separately, but also probably sits around the same spot because it has the extra synergy of being a creature itself.
@@NitpickingNerds I just built a Jinnie Fae deck where i create bunch of Power 3 Dog tokens, i will consider Elemental Bond for my next order ;)
@@NitpickingNerds Also way better in Gishath.
I love read the bones
Small impact, but quick, healthy carddraw with some sweet scry 2
Early, mid or lategame, I'm always happy to see it
Never been a fan but it is an awesome card!
turn 5 or 6 i would rather draw read the bones than esper sentinel
While I do quite like read the bones, I pretty much never play it, I prefer both sign in blood and nights whisper. There is also the 3 mana one that draws a card for each color of mana spent to cast it, the name eludes me right now, which is also better, it just feels like there isn't any room in most decks for it.
@@dakodastevens8972 I believe you’re thinking of painful truths
@@dakodastevens8972 painful truths
Elemental bound and garruks uprising are best when you make big token imo, which is why I play both in my dragon token deck
The one aspect of elemental bond that you missed is that it triggers off of token creatures entering battlefield. So in the right deck, it can be better than both Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project. Not sure how much that would change the overall evaluation, but worth noting.
I love this point! It can be so much better!!!
Yeah, they missed the mark on many of these cards. /facepalm
You make a good point but not many tokens are over 3/3 but I would love it in a Jinnie Fay deck.
@@NitpickingNerds or in angry jellybean or Titania which both happen to be elementals. Now that I think about it, ELEMENTAL bond. What a time to be alive.
I have it in my sekkuar and prismatic bridge deck ^//^
Great list as always, the only things I disagree on are Rhystic Study (definitely better than Jeska's Will and Bolas's Citadel), Archmage Emeritus (should be a tier higher, feels like a double standard to rate it down when you have stuff like Reconnaissance Mission which has the same issue of being a nonX type in your X type deck), and Toski (why are you rating this lower than Reconnaissance Mission when it's a creature in your creature deck, it's at least a net neutral at worst).
I actually agree as a spellslinger player, i know Archmage emeritus could go in any blue deck 🤣 hes so good
Toski is also an indestructible blocker for one turn which is neat
Rhystic study will always be tier I draw.
@@EnemyToad any time i see toski, i make them sacrifice him. He’s annoying as hell
@@mibbzx1493 I know I love archmage emeritus
I discovered your guys' channel recently and have been binge watching episodes. I used to think think I didn't really like Commander, but I've learned a lot about how to evaluate cards and more effectively construct decks for the format, to the point I actually love it now. Just wanted to let y'all know! ☺
They have great content
I don't play a lot of commander because I live in a small town and our playgroup is narrow, but I could listen to you guys talk about cards for days and days
Putting Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project as the same card is a bit problematic.
The cast vs enter the battlefield matters a lot, I’ve found myself choosing between the two depending on what the deck is trying to do. Besides playing creatures how they get to the battlefield matters, which in my assessment makes guardian project an A while Whisperer remains a B.
Beat me to it. ETB is leagues better than On Cast
Project is better, but I always end up with both anyway
100% agree, they arent in same league and Project is much better.
I absolutely love Harmonize. Lower ceiling than Beast Whisperer and such, but Harmonize is never dead. Unconditional draw, underrated.
So too with Read the Bones. They're both examples of cards that tie the deck together (like The Dude's rug). Both are C tier for me, but they end up in a lot of my decks. At the works, they're place-holders in decks that need more on-theme draw options. Harmonize is in Trelassara, for example.
Yeah this is a massive underrating of Harmonize right here. In a green deck without access to blue or black, harmonize always goes in (ok maybe not sythis buy you get the drift). The reason being that the rest of green card draw is reliant on you having cards in hand. If I spend early game on removal and wipes and end up empty handed on turn 6, this is the card I want, even over Great Henge (which of course is a better card but just run both).
Unconditional draw is true, but I feel like it’s one of those situations where 99% of the time there are better options. Like in Trelasarra, if you can gain 2 life then Rishkar’s Expertise and Return of the Wildspeaker both will draw you more cards because of her power. I’ll take the high upside every time
@@BobbyBev95 Honestly, I run those as well, in a few decks. It's not either/or for me.
@@BobbyBev95 Yeah i definitely still run those first, but I also think its worth throwing this into a list as a safety valve
The only other good, usually unconditional piece I can think of in green is sylvan library but its $50 so...
I play read the bones on my lathril elf tribal. Mana cost isn't too big a deal with typical green ramp and elves fairly low mana cost. If the mana is going to be spent to draw, it's a waste if you get 2 cards you don't need in the situation. So being able to scry and improve my odds of getting my gaming winning tutor, mana dork (priest/archdruid etc), or artifact (umbral Mantle/ staff of Dom) is worth it. Low b tier for me.
I think that people underestimate Vilis. He's insane on his own if you get him out normally, but if you can cast a reanimate on him, it's 1 mana, draw 8, and get a huge flyer that's gonna draw more cards than you can use.
Huh, weird. I wast adjusting my deck to include more card draw just now and was about to look for a video on the topic. The nerds never fail to amaze me with their timing as I see this droped minutes ago. This is like the 3rd time that something like this has happend to me with their videos.
They can also see that blue shirt you're wearing right now. They live in your phone.
DEFINITELY want part 2! I'd love to see more Tier lists or other video formats revisiting with what you both suggest rather than top of EDHREC.
Love the new format of leaving the card up while you're talking about it. Solid work, gentlemen. 😉
Elemental Bond is CRAZY in Ghired style decks; you draw too many cards but it's specific. I would rate Esper Sentinel and Sea Gate restoration in A.
Esper sentinel is easy to remove, hard to pump for many decks so you can afford a pay 1 because it only affects the 1st casted non-creature spell each turn.
I do like Sea Gate restoration, but that's so far behind the fish I don't see why it is rated this high. It's not a good card at top deck either.
Esper Sentinel > Mystic Remora. It has no cumulative upkeep & Blue has tons of card draw options. Plus as both an artifact & creature it an easy target for search & reanimation.
I play read the bones not due to budget but mostly for power level reasons. My play group had a high level competitive phase and now we're kinda over it so read the bones is just kinda fun and decent
26:20 “There’s too much S tier. Speaking of which, here’s skull clamp” actually made me laugh
These tier lists are always my favorites. However I’m ready for next shuffle/scuffle.
So are we 😂
I'm surprised you didn't include Phyrexian Arena and Black Market Connections to rate on this list. I think I'd have Phyrexian Arena as D tier and Black Market Connections as B tier.
Wizards definitely did not play test with delve. Ancestral recall as a common is hilarious
I'd just like to recommend "Recurring Insight", as a potential card advantage option for blue.
LITERALLY last night I was asking myself how to upgrade draw spells in my Veyran deck... and here you guys are right on time!! Wonderful vids as always
What cards do you have to draw on veyran?
Imperial Recruiter getting Azami. Easy life
I believe the idea behind Biden of thassa was because mono blue was a very aggressive deck in that standard format, so forcing your opponent to attack you and then bashing on the crack back with a bunch of elemental tokens from a master of waves was probably the thought process.
Does Biden of Thassa tap to creepily touch people?
Love your videos ❤! Stinging Study with 5+ converted mana cost commanders could be B+ to A+. Personally I use it in my Karador Ghost Chieftain deck to draw 8 card for 5 mana/-8 life at instant speed.
We love stinging study!
I use it in my instants matter non blue 4c deck. Dune brood? (Cmd is 4mv)
Loved this video and would really want to see a part 2! Card Draw and which ones you include in your deck are one of the more interesting parts of deck building for me
One of the things about cards like Read the Bones and Harmonize is they don't draw hate or counters because of their power level. Its nice to be able to let something resolve early, before your bomb spells, or after your bomb spell gets countered. Also, they aren't bad cards, but if you compare them to the best cards of course they're gonna suck. Comparison is the thief of joy.
Elemental Bond is crazy because it doesn’t have the nontoken restriction that guardian project has and obviously beast whisperer being a cast trigger means elemental bond can be nasty in specific decks. Particularly its been INSANE in Miirym but that commander is nutty in general
The thing I think being missed about how good Esper Sentinel is comes from the fact that it is playable in mono white. It was the only white card listed for a reason. Esper Sentinel is an amazing card for it's color set even if it is not even 1/3rd as good as Rhystic Study.
I love your content so much! Your rankings are always *chef's kiss*. I would love to see a video in the future where you rank the most fun new commanders that have come out this year!
Harmonize isn't the best, but when you're playing 10-12 draw spells in Green/Gruul, it's nice to have a spell that isn't dependent on the size of your biggest creature, or playing creature spells, or how many creatures you have, or paying life. At least one unconditional draw spell is always nice.
Elemental Bond puts in the work in token/ETB decks like Miirym or Ghired. The ETB can have a high ceiling in the right deck
I run it in my Omnath, Locus of Rage deck
@@jacobharris7414 yesss such a good deck for it
I would love to see a list of your top card draws, because decks on sites typically go for the mid level pricing choice of less than $20 for anything that isn’t just famously busted S-Tier. Especially on utility spells where there is always a cheaper alternative
List is missing (from what I own at least): Yawgmoth, mono green Selvala, Twilight Prophet, Grim Haruspex/Midnight Reaper, Erebos, Plumb the Forbidden, Fecundity, Glimpse of Nature, Primordial Sage/Soul of the Harvest, Greater Good, Secrets of the Dead, Monastery Siege, Verity Circle, Greed, all of the Monarch/Parley Mechanics and everything in white besides Esper Sentinel. I hope they (or you 2 if you see this) cover a few newer draw spells like Lethal Scheme, Seize the Spotlight, and a bunch of new white card draw too (like Aerial Extortionist/Smugglers Share).
I feel like throwing guardian project and beast whisperer together kinda overlooks the clear advantage/risk of Guardian Project caring about etb instead of cast. Guardian project becomes insane once you care about flicker or doubling ETB with panharmonicon effects. However it’s riskier because counters blow you out and you never get the cards
Rishkar and Wildspeaker are S-tier in my buddy's Omnath, Locus of Mana deck. He doesn't draw 6 or 7 off them. He usually draws anywhere between 20 and 50 XD
also runs greater good/life's legacy/momentous fall/soul's majesty/garruk, primal hunter for more of the same type of draw. it's gross
deck ramps out of control and gets a huge body in the process so they're basically auto-include.
Yeah, Esper Sentinel is insanely good... unless your opponents literally have (almost) no noncreature spells, which is what happened to me last night. I ended up just chump blocking with it. 🤦♀
Good. Serves you right for spamming a garbage overhyped staple
That can happen!
I had something similar but I used it in Black White party time and got it to a chunky 9/9 😅 nobody paid the 9
@@famousstranger8468 Haha I'm not *that* mean
would love to have part two of this. for example, what is Damnable pact, ancient craving, notion thief or deep analysis for you? there are so much card draws...
11:45 yes, it's a green Concentrate. I've used this in an Elf tribal until Beast Whisperer came out
I really like Read the Bones because it can get you 4 cards deep which can be good in a pinch. Tons of cEDH decks are running Night's Whisper and Sign in Blood which are both two mana draw 2, and I think bones fills a similar space. You tend to get much higher draw quality which is often times better than an extra card.
Throw regal force into B tier with shamanic revelation. Caveat mono green decks
I run garruk's uprising in my Omnath, Locus of Rage deck and it basically translates to drawing a card whenever I play a land as long as I have omnath out, also helps a ton to give all those elementals trample
Read the Bones is godly, it's basically 3 mana draw 3 with the scry and unlike cards like Study (which don't get me wrong, is still better) is immediate, you don't have to wait to get the value out of it. No nonsense draw=to the mana you paid is amazing.
Hot take: elemental bond vs beast whisperer. Bond may be better!
Bond is one less mana
Bond is harder to remove as enchantment and not hit with board wipes
Bond draws on etb not cast- I think that’s huge- all the below are draws for bond and not for beast
Tap your godsire
Get a generous gift or a beast within
Crack your ancient idol for the big creature
Yeah, this was a big swing-anda-miss for them
The reason we have so many S Tier cards is because cars draw is so powerful in a multiplayer 100 card singleton format. How nice is it when you have a full grip constantly?
If you are including bolas' citadel, I would have included mystic forge
Harmonize is good in wort. Gruul spellslinger. Tho, if they keep printing the "discard card, draw some cards make some treasures" cards, itll probably get power crept in that deck as well. They've already made 5 and like 3 of those were printed in the last few standard sets.
Edit: You guys brought up wort right after the part where I paused the video to write this comment lol. I still think it's good in wort, it's a way to generate card advantage without needing wort in play. a lot of the discard to draw effects go even in card advantage.
Read the bones is really great in a combo deck. It's awesome when you are digging for something specific.
Bolas's citadel is so good. I think I've won twice by using its tap ability. If you have sensei's divining top you can draw a card for one life, add an aetherflux reservoir and you can gain massive life.
Lol loved the intro “Card draw!!! 🥳 For commander!😆”
Played a game yesterday and a rhystic study drew like three cards through an entire game. Never been so proud of my table
Elemental Bond would be Amazing in my upgraded Draconic Rage deck I’m building. With the commanders ability it would make for a lot of card draw. Will definitely have to add this card.
It’s cool with Dragon Broodmother
@@Malverde888 I picked up that card while I was at a LGS, I was new to magic at the time but I thought it looked cool and would be good in my Draconic Rage deck 😂
@@dreamtoast1553 yeah i had Vrondiss dragons/combo built and with the Devour tokens she would draw a lot with Bond.
I think that skullclamp should be A their and not s because it is extremely powerful, but when you look at S tier all of the card up there (besides great henge imo) are staples that can be thrown into almost any deck they’re allowed to be in whereas skull clamp require a little bit of set up
Skullclamp I still think you could throw into most decks simply bc it’s a bit of boardwipe protection in that you still draw, and you usually have 1 toughness guys that you could sac if needed. The cheapness for its effect is really strong. I do think it’s like somewhere in between A and S so I’d give it A+/S-
"Theft of Dreams" and "Necrologia" are my personal commander staples that always perform super well. Necropotence sucks ass in reanimation decks and Necrologia just reads "Set up your best possible hand and fill up your yard" for 5 mana.
Yes necrologia is a hidden gem.
For sure! I love Necrologia! You nailed it with the graveyard point. I've been saying the same thing to my friends for years. It's like the Ad Nauseum for casual decks. If I'm casting it, I'm usually going to go off with a huge play using my graveyard the next turn.
Honorable mention to Moonlight Bargain as well IMO. The lack of timing restrictions is way less all-in and you get to pick and choose very freely, throw your graveyard stuff in the bin and draw everything else that you need.
@@theroxenes That's not bad. Didn't see that one, nice.
I think the read the bones and nights whisper effects are way better than given credit for. They aren't board dependant which is super important. Rishkars expertise and similar cards have a very very high ceiling but can be blown out by removal and are dead cards early game. Having consistant resources to me is better than having a few big dumb draw spells
I agree with most of this list, but Great Henge being a tier above Sylvan Library is super sus 🤔
I actually think Bident of Thassa is better than Beast Whisperer. Draw spells that can be cast AFTER the creatures have been deployed tend to be stronger. Beast whisperer forecasts to your opponent that your about to start dropping creatures. Same problem applied to Guardian Project.
I don’t typically comment, but I almost fell out of my seat when you poop teir’d read the bones. That card is awesome on any budget!
Elemental bond triggers off of tokens. It’s great in Koma or Omnath, Locus of rage.
I play Rishkar's expertise in my mono green omnath deck where it is so good I often forget I can cast a 5 cmc for free and still win. Huge on it in the right deck.
Elemental bond is a creature entering the battlefield, not being played or cast. Makes it way better then a D. Also it survives board wipes and will rarely be the target of enchantment removal. I am a green player and the bond does so much work in a green deck. If you go into 3 colors it starts to fall off since other colors don't hit the 3 power often enough.
Rystic Study goes in enchantment decks and Zur the Enchanter, but otherwise is just busted.
Midnight Reaper and Grim Haruspex are good in creature heavy decks and/ or aristocrats decks, I think we can agree on that. I don't think they are as good as Read the Bones in decks that are not creature heavy. I play Read the Bones in my Orzhov Punisher deck (highly optimized, 8/10) with Liesa as my commander and it never feels bad when I draw it or cast it and man, in this deck, the card hurts even more than it usually would, but the scry 2 and the fact that the card is usable at any moment of the game and doesn't depend on me sacrificing or opponents boardwiping is the reason why I'm running it and why other people love it so much. I really encourage you guys to try it out more.
Just want to chime in like others, seems a bit too hard on Harmonize and Read the Bones. I always feel underwhelmed when I slot them in a deck, but then when I play with them I tend to be pretty happy they're there. Even if I am running much more powerful draw.
Why didn't get Windfall a mentioning? It's 3 mana for often 5cards or more.I want to put it in my 5c Deck, because often i ramp out and are left with max. 3 cards in hand. Additionally i have a Smothering Tithe in my deck which is bonkers with Windfall
I've consistently gotten incredible value out of rhystic study. Either I'm creating advantage by adding cost, or I'm creating advantage with cards. It pays off better than esper sentinel from my experience.
In my Opinion, Jeskas Will, would put it in A-Tier because it makes only red mana and is less viable in multicolor Decks (4 and 5c/ 3c is debatable) because of that restriction. it is an insanely good staple, but compared to Bolas Citadel, Esper Sentinel and Rhystic Study a tiny bit less consistent.
This couldn’t come at a better time. Thanks nerds.
18:18 I used to play Read the Bones in my non-buget Ghave deck, before watching this channel
I actually do play elemental bond. Not for budget reasons, but cards like guardian project dont draw of tokens. Titania makes a lot of 5/3 elementals which all draw cards with the elemental bond.
I'm not saying it isn't awesome but i don't agree skullclamp is BROKEN.
Your first draw is 2 mana plus sac a 1 mana minion. So 3 mana draw a card. You're even or down on card depending on how you created the minion.
Second one is 2 mana on average from there on out. So until you cross into high procs it isn't that much better.
5 mana draw two sac two isn't wild.
No tymna the weaver?
The best draw engine in the command zone?
We don't talk about Bruno
Loved the video!! Would definitely appreciate a part 2
The only time i would play read the bones is if I already have both night's whisper and sign in blood and I still feel as though my card draw is lacking. Also can be fun in the new Sheoldred.
Some odd evaluations for sure. Drawing cards in general is a strong play. Building around cards like skullclamp or beast whisperer are obviously incredibly powerful, but comparing them to more broad unconditional cards like Harmonize isn't fair. My token deck wants skullclamp, my mono green stompy doesn't. Harmonize fits into both. For this tier list to even go below C tier I think you'd have to fill it out with some really bad draw spells. I mean you're comparing staples, so it only makes sense that even the "worst" cards would be C or above.
You forgot amber is card draw. When she walks all over the table, and spills drinks and cards, you'll have cards on the field you didn't have before, boom, card draw :D
She wiped my board the other day when she laid down on everything I controlled!
What do yall think of Phyrexian Arena? I run it in all of my black decks, and drawing 2 cards every turn is great, and who cares about losing 1 life.
C for cuttable IMO. Arena scales with Turns as opposed to creatures, opponent spells, lands, etc. If your games have a lot of Turns, fire it up. But you may want to include some looting to ditch it when it's dead and not include too many more Upkeep draw things. Balance in all things. Cheers.
Garruks uprising is a staple in dragon decks. It is awesome in my ur dragon deck. Same with temur ascendancy. When you have big dumb dragons, those cards work really well.
Elemental Bond also triggers when someone uses Generous Gift/Beast Within on one of your things
interesting takes on pure card draw (harmonize, read the bones). i feel sometimes you just need card draw at decent rate. these two are like veggies - id put them in low C or D…poop tier seems harsh
I’m confused how you guys graded Return of the Wilderspeaker and Rishkar’s Expertise off of “In the decks you put them in they are so powerful” yet you failed to see the same analysis with Elemental Bond. As someone who plays all of them in different decks, Elemental Bond draw a lot more cards in the decks that want it than the other 2.
I wasn't paying attention the whole time, but I saw no Consecrated Sphinx up there. Show me a play group that doesn't immediately start sweating when that thing comes down.
We just used the most played ones
@@NitpickingNerds Ah, didn't realize. That makes sense. 👌
You're missing some of the best card draw in the format:
A tier: Tenuous Truce, Painful Truths, Reality Chip, Ingenious Mastery/Secret Rendezvous (Land Tax and Tithe if you consider them draw)
B/C tier: Smuggler's Share, Archivist of Oghma, Bob, Keen Duelist, Syphon Mind, Mask of Memory
Remora, Rhystic, and Necropot should be on a tier of their own.
Reality Chip is Future Sight that's easier to kill (being a creature before it's equipped) and requires another piece to function. It is one blue cheaper and easier on the manabase (you can do this over a couple turns), but the setup is harder. And I don't think anyone thinks Future Sight is an A tier card.
@@JD-gk7eh Fair, I'm probably ranking it too high. The chip does have advantages over Future Sight though: You're not giving info to your opponents, you can pay it in two payments, and it's not UUU, meaning it's more playable in 3c decks. In decks running smaller creatures in U, I think it's auto-include.
@@CrimsonQueso BTW, I *love* Future Sight as a card. It never seems to find a home in my decks, though. :( The comp with the Jellyfish is interesting because there's good and bad to both of them. Being able to be your commander makes the Jellyfish pretty cool and as you say, the hidden info is very relevant. Future Sight was a big deal when it came out, people figuring it was going to be super duper busted, and the reveal has always felt like an attempt to balance it (not needed, but in 2003, they felt it was.)
I think you could have bern a bit tougher on the S tier, sentinel is good but probably only A.
But at this point i'm nitpicking the nitpicking, list was solid but top heavy. 👍
Elemental bond is good cuz it draws off tokens. If your commander makes tokens with 3 power or greater (koma in my case) its good.. But beyond that you are right
Hey Guys, great list as always. But I have to say it reminded me that this kind of evaluation does not fit for every playgroup. In my usual playgroup for example Rhystic Study and esper sentinel are not considered card draw at all :D In 95% of cases you can count them as a stax piece which says: "your opponents spells cost one more". Which ist not a bad effect in general but it is definetely not a reliant piece of card draw in my playgroup...
Omg Read the Bones is awesome
While it doesn't beat Night's Whisper for rate, when you put both of those scries to the bottom, it feels insanely good.
The new 4 mana instant one is a bit overkill, but you do see up to 4 cards for 3 mana with Read the Bones :)
It feels like S tier should be "consider banning in casual play." From that perspective not sure if sea gate is up their. Most of the others I would be happy to not play against.
Honorable mentions runic arm… shapers sanctuary and viridian revel as well as compost
Beezy and Joe always deliver great content. Love you nerds
Very nice list ...
As a request... maybe a tutorial video 9n how to use the Ss of S tier... Moxfield... would be a good idea 👍🏻
Love the videos! Don’t agree with most of your opinions but I enjoy seeing what casual players use these days. Guardian project is draw on etb beast whisperer is on cast. Project is better. Some of these choices are kinda goofy to me jeskas will is good but under preforms the better your deck gets. Rhystic study is arguably the best card draw in the format. sea gate restoration is just a land that lightning bolts you. Mdfc cards have their places and it isn’t in higher tier decks. Also dig through time and treasure cruise are kinda bad in commander. XD
Surprised not to see Kindred Discovery ranked here. Although I guess that's a basic "Good in tribal decks that can afford it, otherwise unplayable."
Haven't watched you guys for a while now, (been out of magic since like March) but your hair and beard look great Joe!
I like read the bones. You get to look at possible 4 cards for 3mana. 🤔 Yes it's sorcery, but that's usually fine with me since I don't play cedh
As always I agree with most of it but putting Beast Whisperer and Guardian Project together feels weird to me. In my Volo, Guide to Monsters Deck is Beast Whisperer one of the best spells and Guardian Project does not work at all if Volo is out.
I feel Read the Bones should be D. It isn't 3 mana draw 2. It let's you ditch the trash on top of your library before drawing.
Maybe this is a bit of a hot take, but I would almost never take an instant/sorcery that draws over a permanent that draws (whether on damage, ETB, upkeep, etc). I don't like one-off effects, and massively value having a permanent come along with the draw. I would be hard pressed to think of a situation I would even want Treasure Cruise (cast for 1 mana) in a deck.
Certainly depends on the deck and strategy. Permanents that draw cards are fragile, and easier to deal with. Pretty much every deck runs a way to answer Permanents that draw. Only certain types of decks run answers for draw spells, so you are almost always getting great value up front. Add to that, pretty much nobody counters draw spells unless it's like a big Finale of Revelation, Stroke of Genius, etc. They'd rather counter what you drew. A lot of players would absolutely counter a Great Henge, Beast Whisperer, Rhystic Study, Sylvan Library, etc.
This is definitely a hot take because if ancestral recall was legal it would be in every deck with blue.
@@mantism.d.8363 Those are fair points (particularly about counters). One thing is that my playgroup doesn't really run many counterspells so it's not as much of a big deal, but the other thing is that if you have a critical mass of things that draw, it's not like they can counter everything. And I don't see many players countering something like Mulldrifter, which is a great source of reusable card draw (in a lot of decks). Overall, I would much rather have things on board that let me draw 3+ cards a turn than something that draws like 10 cards all at once, then that's it. My Rigo deck is a pretty good example of this, it can easily draw 6+ cards a turn with Rigo and Coastal Piracy/etc., and it has a very low average MV (27 1-drops) so it can usually play everything it wants each turn.
If you're in a spellslinger deck, then instants/sorceries that draw are obviously the way to go, but I don't like playing spellslinger decks for the same reason as before. I think Rishkar's Expertise (and the handful of similar spells) are pretty good though, and could see myself playing them at some point. I could also see some combo decks opting for instants/sorceries that draw in very specific ways that the deck wants, or draw a massive amount of cards at once to storm off or whatever with Ad Nauseam and the like.
@@SWAT6809 I'm sure it would be an autoinclude from a power level perspective (it would absolutely be in every cEDH deck), but I don't think it would be that advantageous to break the synergy of your deck to include it (assuming you aren't already a spellslinger deck) in non-cEDH. It's a very powerful card, but it's a single card in a 99-card deck. I've heard people suggest it would warp the game around itself, with people even tutoring it up, but like, if you Demonic Tutor for Ancestral Recall, you drew 3 cards for 3 mana? It's above rate, but not significantly better than a lot of other cards.
It would be busted with Archaeomancer loops, though. Generally, I'm all in on it if you can reuse the spell, my Yorion deck has a good bit of instants/sorceries (mainly flicker spells and boardwipes), but it has Archaeomancer/etc., so it's built to keep reusing the spells.