Pointed Discussion

i like the card, i mean it isn't power 9 but it could be considered poor man's power 9 i suppose.

continous draw extra cards are the best!

I use this dude to great effect with scryb ranger and carven caryatid in a slow but amazingly fun deck.

Library of Alexandria with legs.

He even taps for mana, how cute.

@mdakw576:

That's because Bazaar is more blue.

Great card. Why the hell is it green? Magus of the LIBRARY? Sounds more like a blue thing to me.

Well, libraries are all about communal knowledge in some case, I guess this somewhat fits the green persona of community.

kinda strange how he's green and not blue, since blue is usually the color associated with card drawing.

Why is everyone discussing how wierd his color is? He's from the Planar Chaos Expansion... All the colors are effed up.

Meh. I prefer Sylvan Library.

This is not bad, it's just that a free Brainstorm every turn for the same CMC is just better.

read every part of this card, then overthink its color

yeah, planar chaos... love it

@DragonWhelp - Sylvan Library doesn't offer card advantage without life loss, and a pretty significant portion at that (4 life per card). It's not exactly a "free" brain storm, as if you're considering it a brain storm then you're giving up your normal drawn card for it.

Magus of the Library though, as anyone who has used the actual Library of Alexandria would know, is straight up card advantage. Having 7 cards in hand is not tough - especially when you're replenishing one of those cards each turn thanks to the Magus. If you have multiples of them out, you can even activate them in response to each other. The CA this guy offers for doing nothing more than tapping him each turn is just insane. And he can even produce mana in a pinch.

He's also easier to copy than the Library. Any copy effects like Rite of Replication or Clone can fetch you another one. And the more, the better! =)

I've unfortunately been kept away from Library of Alexandria as we use the Legacy banned list in my casual playgroup (and rightly so), but now that I know about this guy, I'm definitely going to be making some decks to abuse his awesome power.

I was talking with the lead host of the Commander Cast podcast about a segment they did "I wish this was legendary". Basically, how awesome would this have been as a legendary creature?

I wish this guy was Magus of the Sylvan Library instead.

I actually came here independently with the mission to say "I wish this guy was Magus of the Sylvan Library" instead and the last comment was --

For some reason I see Libraries as more Green and White than Blue. I think of Blue as hoarding the knowledge to himself in his own personal musty Tome. Maybe this is just because I can't help but think of Rivendell as a famous Elvish Library, which must be White-Green.
This combos rather nicely with Magus of the Jar, if I do say so myself.

He is probably green because the 'wisdom' mechanic of keeping a large hand is actually green's thing. (See: Maro, Inner Calm, Outer Strength) So he kind of makes perfect sense.

Probably the hardest hit in the transition to magus (But not the worst magus) because by the time you can play It'll be a little bit harder to get his ability off, but lets look at some pluses here!

First, he is a 1/1 body and taps for mana in a pinch, not bad. Obviously, he also doesn't take the land drop for the turn like his big brother Library of Alexandria. There are still ways to get to seven cards, like a Wheel of Fortune, his best bud Magus of the Jar (and Memory jar) or a Diminishing Returns.Also green cards that can search for multiple lands or anything with the splice or forecast mechanics can help here.

The deal with the colour probably came down to the fact that they printed 3 Magus per colour.

They could've printed it in blue (in fact, they should've flavourfully), but look at the other Magus: would've Magus of the Coffers been useful in Green? Is Magus of the Scroll's really Green? Wouldn't it have been rigged to finally have a green boardwipe with Magus of the Disk?

I think it was a smart idea to make this Green. However, like ElMikkino said, I would've rather this be a Sylvan Library.

This cards suits green just fine. Here are a couple more points to support his greenness. He is a magus of a land. If any color has lands as part of its flavor it is green. Ya, there is Magus of the Coffers, but Cabal Coffers produces black mana so it's pretty safe to align it with a black creature. Also, this magus taps for mana, what's the primary color for mana dorks? Ah yes, green. Yeah, I know a two drop mana dork isn't the greatest, but I have a feeling this guy would have become a little too good as a one drop. Well that's my two cents on this card.

This has some nice synergy with Mentor of the Meek. As far as how good he is compared to the rest of the cycle, I have to say he's one of the weaker magi, but even then this is a really good card from a cycle of really good cards.

Everybody is saying how this should be blue because it draws cards, but green is actually second only to blue in card draw.

Though people always discuss whether the transition to creature helps or not, there's one important thing here - this guy is a WIZARD.

What do wizards do best? Draw Cards. You can build a Wizard Tribal deck based around card draw and this little guy fits in perfectly. Plus, mana ramp when you can't do the card draw. That's a deal in my book. And Simic just made Blue/Green Wizards even more viable.

@FirstPrime: I don't think you noticed that there's five Magi based on lands - one in each colour. Just like there's one Magus for each colour based on an artifact, and one for an enchantment.

@Everyone else: Sylvan Library is not a land. It doesn't fit. End of discussion. Go complain about it on Magus of the Vineyard instead.

Funny. Of the cycle, the Library of Alexandria is actually the only land with a costless mana ability.

Nearly every card in Time Spiral block was a throwback to at least one previously printed card.

This card references Library of Alexandria and is part of the "Magus" super cycle of rare creatures. The cards in Planar Chaos all reference one of the most powerful lands ever; the others are Magus of the Bazaar, Magus of the Coffers, Magus of the Tabernacle, and Magus of the Arena.

The Time Spiral part of the cycle focuses on powerful artifacts: Magus of the Candelabra, Magus of the Disk, Magus of the Mirror, Magus of the Jar, and Magus of the Scroll. The Future Sight part of the cycle focuses on powerful enchantments: Magus of the Moat, Magus of the Future, Magus of the Abyss, Magus of the Moon, and Magus of the Vineyard.

If this cost 1 it would be almost as strong as the original library.

Wow. I don't know how much of an impact this had on the standard of time spiral block, but it looks like an amazing card. Sure, it dies to everything but it draws cards without any mana investment. Then again, I suppose the reason the library was so good is that it worked immediately if you were on the draw.