Pointed Discussion

Yeah! Green card draw enchantment, yeah!

Plenty of ways to abuse this card, one of my favorite green enchantments.

Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar.

Brainstorm?
Each turn?
Yes please.

Amazing card.
Can I rate this higher than 5?

The way the oracle text is worded it seems to leave a lot of room for cheating.

The oracle text kind of diminishes the playability of this card, as the Niv-mizzet combo wouldn't go infinite

yucky, paying life is never in my decks

Great card draw/library manipulation for green. I put it in any green deck that has some shuffling effects (like fetch lands) and Dredge effects. If you the top two cards are no use, you can dredge a card for one draw and then draw the other two. This gives you 2 new cards to choose from.

@Zosk you my friend have the right idea... That will allow you to draw 3 cards of your choosing AND since it never uses the word draw (in oracle or actual) in the text you will be able to do this without having any disadvantage it might as well let you win the game lol

This is cooler than Necropotence. Unless you're stupid enough to actually go around paying 8 life a turn for 2 extra cards. The whole point is just to Brainstorm haha. In green, which is funny.

just curious, i shuffle my hand around as i draw cards, usually putting them in some kind of order. if i did this, and wanted to use this card, how could my opponent know i wasn't cheating. if i ever did use this card, i'd make sure to set all cards i drew aside, but for conversation's sake, i am curious how this would be ruled.

sylvan library+platinum empyrion

dissimilar to brainstorm in many ways, but most importantly because brainstorm allows you to take cards that were already in your hand and place them on top of your library, so you can actually use 3 new cards while only netting 1. sylvan only lets you get one new card a turn on its own because it specifically states that you have to put back two of the cards that you just drew.

i think the aspect of this card that i like the most isn't that you can pick one of three cards, but that you can stack the top 2 cards of your library every turn to hide cards from duress or use cards like call of the wild that put cards directly into play from the top.

Agreed, manudosde, and the original wording was no better than the oracle. This card needs to be fixed; there is nothing stipulating that the player controlling Sylvan Library has to keep the cards drawn that turn separated from the rest of his hand. Hence, there is no way for that player's opponent(s) to know that he/she is actually putting back cards drawn this turn. While a courteous player may separate the cards for their opponent, it does not seem that he/she technically has to do so. Furthermore, there are situations in which the Library could be cast during the players upkeep after they have drawn cards with an instant, so they would not have been keeping their drawn cards separate because they would not have even known that they would have the library in play by the time the draw step rolled around. For example, a player casts Brainstorm during their upkeep and then Bituminous Blast, which cascades into Sylvan Library. It's unlikely perhaps, but still possible.

The Library seems to hover in some illegal space between a repetitive Brainstorm and a repetitive Ponder (minus the shuffle option); you (hopefully) will never see a blue spell that says draw three cards then put two of those cards back on top of your library, because the cards either have to be kept separate from your hand, as with Ponder, or the player has to be allowed to put any cards back, as with Brainstorm.

Since Brainstorming every turn would be too powerful, Sylvan Library should probably just say something like, "At the beginning of your draw step, look at the top three cards of your library then put them back in any order. You may choose to draw up to two additional cards this turn if you pay 4 life for each additional card drawn this way."

Archmage Ascension
You'll definitely get a counter each of your turns due to the Library's draw effect.
The Ascension will let you search for three cards a turn, and due to not having actually drawn any cards, you won't have to put them back or pay any life.
And the ascension is much cheaper than Tomorrow.

Intet, the Dreamer + Sylvan Library = ♥

Excellent effect for Green! I'd certainly play it in Dredge. Also, Teferi's Puzzle Box seems fun.

Question: would Thought Reflection cancel the payment of life via rule 614.11b?

> sylvan library+platinum empyrion
As Life totals can't change, you can't pay for the 4 life, so they don't really have a nice interaction.

> Question: would Thought Reflection cancel the payment of life via rule 614.11b?
Not really, as explained on the ruling of the card:
If you choose to draw two cards, then replace one or more of those draws with some other effect, the rest of Sylvan Library's ability still happens. If you've actually drawn only one card that turn, you must choose that card and either pay 4 life or put it on top of your library. If you haven't actually drawn any cards that turn, the rest of the ability has no effect.
But you can return any 2 of the 6 cards you will have drawn that turn, which is still pretty cool.
If you don't want to pay, you need to find a replacement which won't net you cards (Words of Wilding, for example). You will need to replace ALL cards drawn this turn. Or find a card

As soon as I saw Sylvan library it reminded me of that Sylvan learning center thing that "unlocks your child's potential."

This is a pretty flavorful card. Blue's Drawing and Scrying and Black's life as a resource, but in Green.

What I want to know is how did Bertrand Lestree play this card in the 1994 World Championship Final when it wasn't listed in his main deck or his side board? Either the deck list is wrong, or he was cheating.

What a mean librarian! Four life?! The Overdue Fees are pretty hefty.

Tomorrow, Azami's Familiar plus Sylvan Library is my EDH Bant deck.

This is getting reprinted in the next Commander set. It looks AMAZING, and even more epic for the fact that it'll be foil.

Why is this green? It feels completely ...

I know that I'm commenting on quite old comments, but concerning the question about cheating via shuffling cards in hand: Technically you are allowed to shuffle cards in your hand, but then again, this card specifically says that you have to put cards drawn this turn back on you library or pay 4 life per card. So if you are not able to prove your opponent that the card you are putting back on your library is not one drawn the same turn, you are not allowed to put it on your library and you have to pay the life.

I imagine that library has homeless people sleeping in it like the one near me.