Pointed Discussion

So when this effect is attached to an Augur of Bolas it gets a 4 star rating, but when this card here lets you do more and get more....

It gets a 1 star rating? Do we even read cards that aren't Thragtusk anymore?

Because you don't get a body and thus can't Restoration Angel it. I'd much rather take the Augur.

Also, when the other player's turn two play is a free 2/2 in the form of Burning-Tree Emissary, a 1/3 body is a really good way to slow down that aggression. Or if you're playing Delver, it makes Liliana less devastating. Plus, even in a instant/sorcery heavy deck, Augur doesn't always get you a card. This card has a chance of turning your card advantage into disadvantage, really fast.

I'd actually venture that it is likely to be worse than Divination.

I'd rather have Peer Through Depths, honestly, though there's no shame in coming second place behind a fine card like that. There is shame in coming several places behind it, however.

@Nucleon: Not to mention impulse that pulls the same amount of cards that, for the possibility of pulling out one less card, at least guaranteed a card at instant speed and 1 less mana. If you're banking on getting two card, divination/counsel of the soratami might even be better because it at least guarantees the cards at the same cost and speed and there's plenty of things for library manipulation lie sensei's divining top.

In an generic deck Divination is almost always better. In a deck with a high concentration of instants and sorceries this has some potential, because the card value will increase and you could even have your choice of instants and sorceries if you have enough of them. 2.8/5.

"Alright gang, let's split up and search for Counterspells!"

Divination is an underwhelming card to begin with, and this is crappier in most cases. What realls breaks this card is that it is no instant itself. Since it's a sorcery, its type alone increases the risk of drawing no instants.

@ThisisSakon: Augur of Bolas is 1/3 creature for 1U. That's pretty good. It works in Merfolk and Wizard tribal decks. You could theoretically run it on just those principles alone, but it also has a scry-type ability stapled onto it. This is nothing like that. Perhaps if this was instant it would receive a better rating. As it stands though, it does something, but it doesn't do it well enough.

It's no Impulse.

This is not better or worse thatn divination, save for context. I have a deck that has 37 instants and sorceries. This card is far better than divination and has never "failed" in playtesting so far. In decks with few instants or sorceries you would obviously not run this.

Comparing it to Augur of Bolas is only semi-valid. There are trad-offs. With Augur, you can never get more than one card and only search the top 3. Plus, multiple Augurs can get in each others way so to speak, as seeing a second one when playing the first is a dead choice. Uncovered clues can net you up to two cards (and should never net you less than one... if you are, you are not running it in the correct deck...) and seeing a second copy in its pull is actually an option that can be taken. The Augur might be better in a lot of cases versus aggro simply for the body as a chump blocker, but that is a narrow application.

In summary, this is a good card. Trying to fit it in every deck and saying it doesn't work is absurd. Like each card it can be compared to, it has benefits and drawbacks depending on the context. In the right deck, this card is A-list as far as commons go.

Little did the guilds know, the Implicit Maze's only weakness was a small (but very windy) thermal exhaust port leading to the central chamber.

Not being instant really ruined this card's potential for greatness. But I guess control probably didn't need this right now.

Mechanical has the idea here. This isn't like Augur in that you can run it with a 20-20-20 deck. To make the most of this card, you really need to have at least half your deck be instants or sorceries.

Note I'm not saying a 20-20-20 deck is ideal, but in general, if you don't really have that many instants/sorceries, Augur is better because you only need to hit one in three, instead of trying to hit two in four.

Currently playtesting it in a deck that's nearly standard-legal (and could certainly be made better, but it's not for competition, so I don't entirely care) and I play 20 lands, 11 creatures, and 29 instants and sorceries. I'm usually seeing 2 targets, sometimes 1, sometimes 3, but I've never "whiffed" on it. It's certainly possible, but when you run about half instants/sorceries, it won't happen often.

In short, if you're unimpressed, play it in a deck with more instants/sorceries and less creatures. If you're playing at least 30 instants/sorceries and still not finding this worth 3 mana, even at sorcery speed, then it may just not be the card for you. But give it a shot in a deck that's able to actually run it effectively.

I definitely give the card 4.5 because it will lower the card number of the deck to 59 (affecting all probabilities) and give you a crucial boost in case you're running out of cards or if you're in trouble. This card is most powerful used once. If there would be an option to put cards on top, it would be a five. Some might give it a 4 but the avg is definitely not there where I believe it will be after a certain playing routine.

We just figured out Blue's clues, we just figured out Blue's clues. We Just figured out Blue's clues, cause we're really smart.

I run a control build with 24 lands, 2 Jace, Memory Adept, 4 Elixir Of Immortality, and 30 instants/sorceries.

This card is such an engine in a deck like that; it'll hit a drawable card 50% of the time, and every time you use an elixir, you put all those instants and sorceries back into the deck with the lands weeded out.

Not being an instant is a bit of a pain in a control build, but c'mon people, it's a common after all.

Pauper players appreciate slightly-underpowered stuff like this.

"Jinkies!"