Pointed Discussion

As I read this, I thought:
hmm...why would you keep paying the upkeep cost?
Then I saw the last line...INTERESTING!!!

I'm about to run 4 in my {U}{W} combo-control deck, I think it will turn my deck into a well-oiled machine.
This comment will be updated as events warrant.

Update: Didn't suck, but I proxied four of them and kept winding up with redundant multiples in hand.
I was trying to use it as a tutor, but it didn't work nearly fast enough to keep tempo with my opponent's myriad of spells, even when I bounced it with Vedalken Mastermind. Then tried Whirlpool Rider, now going to try Vedalken Aethermage.
Overall verdict: good card to have if you have a lot of non-redundant multiples in your deck and a especially if you can reuse it, but its a 2-of tops. Sideboard material.

You won't have to shuffle your library with Mindlock Orb.

Demage, of course you will have to shuffle your library. Mindlock Orb only prevents players from searching their librarys.

Could you Stifle the triggered ability? 10 card deep for {U}{U}

Between Vedalken Mastermind and Venser, the Sojourner, this card is just crazy. Mastermind turn 2, Ancestral Knowledge turn 3, exile whatever you don't need and draw the best few, or just bounce, shuffle, and do it again next turn. Once Venser gets out, you don't even need to repay the casting cost to get the re-shuffle/re-exile.


@Kruggles
"Could you Stifle the triggered ability? 10 card deep for 1{U}{U}"

Sure could! Anything that starts with if/when/whenever etc. can be stifled, since that denotes a triggered ability. Although it seems like most of the time, you'd be better off letting the reshuffle resolve, since in the decks that Ancestral Knowledge would work best with (combo decks), you'll want to get those one or two cards you need right this moment and shuffle the rest away. Think of it as 3.3 Ponders, except they let put off the shuffle until after you've drawn however many cards you want. That's the best draw fixing you can find outside Archmage Ascension.

@Lyoncet: No, you can't Stifle abilities that start with "If". Those are replacement abilities, which are static, not triggered.

I think this has been hinted at, but nobody has mentioned that you can bounce or sac it with the "comes into play" trigger on the stack, thus causing you to shuffle your library before you arrange the top 10 cards.

Extremely nice library stacking. Stack what you need on top, then once you're going to draw the first card you don't need, just don't pay the cumulative upkeep and you get to shuffle it away. Requires a little memorization or recording of what you stacked, but its worth it.

This should make an amazing topdecking control in Phyrexian Dreadnought combo decks that use Stiftle and Trickbind.

Or as Gabbalis said, sacrifice, bounce, simply destroy or even flicker it while the cip-trigger is on the stack.
The easiest way for this is something along the lines of Claws of Gix, Auratog, or Elvish Hex Hunter or Ronom Unicorn. (With all of these in your deck you might want to throw in Hatching Plans, too)

It might also work without countering the shuffle trigger if you have a way to get the best cards out of your library before, e.g. via Tolarian Winds, Sylvan Library or by milling some of the top cards with something like Mental Note or Predict (a simple Glimpse the Unthinkable will often be the better idea in that case, though.)
If you have a creature heavy deck, Song of Blood might come in handy for a +4/+0 boost.
Clear the Land can become an amazing mana ramp. If you have an Amulet of Vigor, that's five mana for you (or even more if you have multiple Amulets, or if there's a City of Traitors or a Simic Growth Chamber among them)

Also since you get to exile any of those cards, Pull from Eternity can be used to get them in your graveyard if needed. (cards like Wonder, Anger, Bloodghast or Bridge from Below come to mind)

Now with Miracle cards, this 10-card-deep-digging enchantment can get pretty ridiculous!
-Temporal Mastery allows you a Time Walk
-Terminus makes a one-mana board sweeper (that keeps the graveyard and even exile clean)
-Banishing Stroke to get rid of a single threat in the same fashion (except for Planeswalkers and lands)
-Entreat the Angels gives you a ridiculously cheap army of 4/4 flying Angel tokens.
-Devastation Tide to bounce everything that's not a land.
-Reforge the Soul to refill everyone's hand - yours likely with the more preferable cards you put on top. On top of that, this also allows excessive use of your opening hand.

Digs deep for those necessary combo pieces. Use with Eon Hub so you skip the cumulative upkeep, or you can use it with any instant speed drawing cards to allow yourself to draw what you really need before you shuffle the rest away.

This card is currently rated less than a 4, and I'm just not seeing why. This card is absolutely amazing. You look at the top ten cards of your library. And you don't just re-order them, you get to permanently remove the ones you don't like.

For 1U.

1U.

It single-handedly sets up your combos, prevents any dead draws, and can help to fix your manabase. This is aside from the specific interaction it could have with mechanics like Miracle, and the through-the-rough insanity that comes up when you start bouncing or flickering it.

For fun, combine with Arcanis the Omnipotent and grab 3 handpicked cards for 1U, even if you never pay the upkeep cost.

Interesting and pretty decent library manipulation. Weatherlight is an easy set to malign but I think it holds some design sleepers.

This looks really awesome, especially sense with bounce it becomes a form of deck thinning.
3.5/5 Stars

Oddly, the upkeep combined with the shuffle when it leaves play is actually an advantage for this card -- usually in a deck that's using it, what you do is search for one card in your top ten, draw it, then stop paying the upkeep so you can shuffle away the other cards you want less.

If you're running a combo deck that needs one specific card to win, casting this card on turn two will mean you've had a chance to check around twenty cards by turn three (counting the cards you drew and the ten cards this searched, of course.) Anything you have four copies of is overwhelmingly likely to come up somewhere in that.

The ability to exile cards you won't need for the rest of the game is even better -- get rid of cheaper cards that won't help you in the end-game, or duplicates you're not going to want, or lands once you have enough land, etc, and you'll still benefit even after shuffling.

Filter all the cards you don't want to draw. Seems pretty tech to me! Paying one on your next turn isn't terrible if you are drawing what you need.

At worst, it's a cantrip that lets you pick the best card from the top 10 of your deck. At best, it's a combo that'll likely decide every card you'll draw for the remainder of the game.

Did I mention it was only 2 mana? Because that seems like it'd be important.