5 mana to shuffle your library? Really? That's disgusting.
pensaint
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
love this card, so blue!
Omenchild
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
hey lege just use Goblin Forager then hahaha
mdakw576
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
the first ability is terrible, but the second ability is a good place to sink your mana in.
Mr_Hendry
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
An interesting card.
The first ability is very silly but it is the only instance of an activated ability in Magic that allows you to shuffle your library without a tap cost. This is in contrast to Madblind Mountain and Myr Mindservant. I guess you really might want to shuffle your library if your opponent cast something unfortunate like Cruel Fate or Sealed Fate (although the second ability would work equally well to do this unless Sealed Fate had been cast for more than five). What I really want to see is a card that grants benefits for each time you shuffle your library so you can combine this ability in some sort of big awkward combo.
The second ability is clearly the better. It the vast majority of situations this card will be more useful and versatile than the similar Ancestral Knowledge. Likewise, there are few situations when you would rather be playing with a Descendant of Soramaro rather than this card.
metalevolence
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
good in type 4.
Dr.Pingas
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
People really complain about this card? It would be a great card if it was just the second ability, so how anyone can even bother to asume the first one is bad is clearly ungrateful that it's not a drawback. Honestly, the first ability isn't even that bad. It's a fail-safe, just incase you stack 4-6 or more cards down and just cant seem to pull anything/what you need. So, even if it's a high-cost, you can shuffle up, with the SAME CARD. that's insane, and anyone who sees it as a fault is clearly a Spike who take's this game too seriously.
Salohkin
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have actually used the 1st ability, but only once to fish for a removal card when none are coming up in an EDH deck.
Kirbster
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
This card makes for brilliant library manipulation and can really allow a well-set up blue player to run the game. Five mana for a shuffle is a little awkward, but it has its uses and is just a nice option on top of the second ability.
Still, I can't help but notice the Saprazzan vizier is... skin coloured....
Lyoncet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pales a bit next to Sensei's Divining Top (little doesn't, in reality), but this is one of the best non-deck-specific permanent 1-drops blue has to offer, and its price tag is around 1% of the Top's. Yeah, the first ability is quite overpriced, but I'm going to go ahead and guess that most of the naysayers would love this card if it only had the second. Plus, it gets better as the game goes on and your mana base comes online, and it gives you an instant-speed return-on-investment for any mana you didn't use to counter or play your own spells. While it doesn't give you straight card advantage, it dose give you the kind of advantage that blue really craves - not number of cards, but getting the right cards at the right moment. I want to find a reason not to give it quite 5/5, but I just can't.
DarthParallax
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
4: Cosi's Trickster, Soothsayer, Donate, Mindslaver. Ludicrous I know, but it works. Donate the Soothsayer, Mindslaver them to force them to shuffle, get infinite +1/+1 counters on Cosi's Trickster.
wow. I wonder if there's any practical applications for this?
ddong
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
First ability saves you from Tunnel Vision in EDH or singleton i guess
but seriously 1 drop, awesome deck manipulation, it doesnt matter if the first ability is useless, at least it isnt a drawback. Nobody complains that half of Bittlerblossom's ability kills you slowly.
dberry02
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
My friend calls this card "Legalized Cheating". Honestly, this card can be better than top mid game since you can search farther and shuffle. The thing that makes this card great is that you can activate both abilities at instant speed! I don't care how much the shuffle ability costs, that's a deal.
Sironos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A poor man's sensei top for EDH, that can also shuffle your library, very good mana sink.
jfre81
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
If I need to dig deep to topdeck a solution to a problem, I think I'd actually rather have this than Sensei's Divining Top. Actually, rather than comparing the Top against this, they can actually work together quite well.
And yes, I've actually used Soothsaying's first ability, if very rarely. Always on someone's end step before the start of my turn if I have the mana free.
tcollins
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Magnificent in EDH.
SleetFox
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The first ability sucks, but I can guarantee you that if you play with this card enough you will use it. A bad ability added to an otherwise good card makes an even better card.
tavaritz
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
THe first ability does not suck. It may be costed too high, but there's nothing wrong being able to suffle your library at instant speed.
Mattmedia
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The first ability may be terrible in 60 card formats, but in EDH, its pretty boss, look at top couple cards, don't like them, shuffle them away (although i guess you could just dig 5 deeper...). awesome mana sink.
Salient
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wait, , I've seen that before... I shuffle my library by Force of Will!
PastProphet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
with infinite mana (Power Artifact on Basalt Monolith, etc) = :Search your library for any card and put it on top
JaxsonBateman
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'd like to put it in my Maelstrom Wanderer EDH deck... but the thing is, between Sensei's Divining Top, Scroll Rack and Jace, the Mind Sculptor, it's hard to find a reason to include this (which is certainly inferior to the other 3).
And yes folks, while the shuffle is far inferior to the X: ability, it's certainly not useless. To paraphrase another comment, a meh ability added to a decent card still makes it better.
SarcasmElemental
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Pretty good rating on this one
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
to dig as far as I want, any time I want, with for the rest of the game? Usually when someone has the means to deal with it, its already done its damage. Plus even if they spend to deal with your card, you should be coming out ahead.
Plus you can tap out at the end of their turn, when there is nothing to counter. Oh yeah and this finds more counter spells too. But when you tap out all your mana base, and find nothing useful, then you use the shuffle ability + dig before your next draw.
Or dig for the 1 thing that was useful, draw it, hold mana for a counter, and shuffle + dig at the end of their turn.
5/5
endersblade
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Absolutely love this card in EDH. I have a Enchantment EDH deck, and this card is so amazing. Being able to essentially stack your deck with whatever extra mana you have at the end of a turn is simply amazing. Sure, Top can do the top three for , but this can let you do it much deeper, dredging up something potentially more useful than what's on the top 3.
Pay X and then use a fetch land to shuffle instead if you don't like what you are seeing :)
SirLibraryEater
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just add an infinite mana combo for ABSOLUTE SILLINESS.
Pinto331
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Here I am a fan of deck manipulation and EDH, and I somehow had no idea this card even existed.
At 1 mana this is a steal, and while it's not as efficient as Crystal Ball, it can be more powerful. I love having something to dump excess mana into that was being held out for an instant that didn't get cast.
The option to shuffle your deck is pricey, but it's really just a bonus on an already good card.
Comments (33)
The first ability is very silly but it is the only instance of an activated ability in Magic that allows you to shuffle your library without a tap cost. This is in contrast to Madblind Mountain and Myr Mindservant. I guess you really might want to shuffle your library if your opponent cast something unfortunate like Cruel Fate or Sealed Fate (although the second ability would work equally well to do this unless Sealed Fate had been cast for more than five). What I really want to see is a card that grants benefits for each time you shuffle your library so you can combine this ability in some sort of big awkward combo.
The second ability is clearly the better. It the vast majority of situations this card will be more useful and versatile than the similar Ancestral Knowledge. Likewise, there are few situations when you would rather be playing with a Descendant of Soramaro rather than this card.
Honestly, the first ability isn't even that bad. It's a fail-safe, just incase you stack 4-6 or more cards down and just cant seem to pull anything/what you need. So, even if it's a high-cost, you can shuffle up, with the SAME CARD. that's insane, and anyone who sees it as a fault is clearly a Spike who take's this game too seriously.
Still, I can't help but notice the Saprazzan vizier is... skin coloured....
wow. I wonder if there's any practical applications for this?
but seriously 1 drop, awesome deck manipulation, it doesnt matter if the first ability is useless, at least it isnt a drawback. Nobody complains that half of Bittlerblossom's ability kills you slowly.
And yes, I've actually used Soothsaying's first ability, if very rarely. Always on someone's end step before the start of my turn if I have the mana free.
:Search your library for any card and put it on top
And yes folks, while the shuffle is far inferior to the X: ability, it's certainly not useless. To paraphrase another comment, a meh ability added to a decent card still makes it better.
Plus you can tap out at the end of their turn, when there is nothing to counter. Oh yeah and this finds more counter spells too. But when you tap out all your mana base, and find nothing useful, then you use the shuffle ability + dig before your next draw.
Or dig for the 1 thing that was useful, draw it, hold mana for a counter, and shuffle + dig at the end of their turn.
5/5
My Niv-Mizzet EDH needs this badly.
5/5
At 1 mana this is a steal, and while it's not as efficient as Crystal Ball, it can be more powerful. I love having something to dump excess mana into that was being held out for an instant that didn't get cast.
The option to shuffle your deck is pricey, but it's really just a bonus on an already good card.
5/5