Pointed Discussion

And with Augury Owl and Coiling Oracle, he's even better.

If only he was a wizard.

I think he deserves a 4...

1/2 for B? Good.
+2 hand size. Whatever.
Bounce/turn... hello "when this is cast/comes into the field" effects. :D
4/5. Solid card.

Equilibrium. Dang didn't draw my augury owl yet. Now if only I had a nice cheap 1 mana blue card for trusted advisor to bounce instead... ah wait there he is.

Dang now my equilibrium got nuked. How will I get rid of this pesky trusted advisor until I need him? Oh yeah, that's how.

Sweet card.

This card is rated down, but all the comments are praising it? Hmmmm... Oh well, I'll jump on the bandwagon. 5/5.

@ Tiggurix And I would want to spend that mana on a Sage Owl instead of a Disrupt, Counterspell, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Standstill, or Brainstorm because?

A one-drop that enables bounce effects for free each turn can't be half bad.
There really are some cards that are great to combine with him.
As opposed to Umbilicus or Blood Clock, you can now start your bouncing shenanigans with just one blue mana next turn. (Even though that restricts you to blue creatures and that your opponent won't have to bounce as well :P)

Mistbind Clique is a good target for him to create a soft lock.
Especially since Cloud of Faeries and Spellstutter Sprite are both very great bounce targets for two mana and come in handy for the advisor as well. Untapping a City of Traitors or recasting a hard counter for a ton of cheap spells is both awesome.

Once the lands are tapped, Rishadan Cutpurse can be used to force them into sacrificing their permanents.
(Damping Engine can also work if your opponent tends to bring a lot of permanents onto the field.)

Sky Hussar is amazing in this deck for mana-free card advantage (Synergizes with -creatures like Crackleburr and Order of Whiteclay.)
Also try Magus of the Library and the obvious choice, Azorius Æthermage.

Æether Vial, Semblance Anvil or Animar, Soul of Elements can save lots of mana.

Nevermaker also works as soft lock (similar to gramps' black counterpart Skull Collector and Chittering Rats)

Creatures with echo often have great cip/etb triggers too. Unfortunately we only have Raven Familiar in blue - but that's a pretty good one at least ;)
(For other (echo) creatures you could use Painter's Servant, but i wouldn't recommend that.)

Court Hussar can do the same if you spash white, Sea Gate Oracle can it do a lesser version, Merfolk Wayfinder can get you Islands.

Coiling Oracle might be one of the best early choices by spashing green. Either card advantage or even mana ramp!
Gets crazy with Momir Vig, Simic Visionary.
Thalakos Seer can be your surrogate in a monoblue deck, or Kami of the Creskent Moon as a one-sided Howling Mine when used with the vial on your opponent's turn (and is advantageous in team play).

Trinket Mage (and Treasure Mage) allow repeated tutoring.

Erayo, Soratami Ascendant and Vengevine might be interesting as well, but would require some more building around it.

Whirlpool Rider can be used as Mind Moil-like effect.

Yet another card i'd like to mention since it's interesting: Phantasmal Sphere can be used to give your opponent 0/0s (or even 1/1s for ) each turn. Very interesting to trigger abilities. With Suture Priest, Sunstrike Legionnaire, Twilight Drover, Glissa, the Traitor, Toshiro Umezawa or Burning Sands for example.

Ertai's Familiar can mill you for three. Even if you don't bounce him he'll still mill you, which might be useful with Eternal Witness if you support her otherwise.

Riku of Two Reflections is a nice addition for the later game.

Ninja of Deep Hours (Mistblade Shinobi as Man-o'-War surrogate) is a nice bounce target as well, given that you have another evasive creature that allows using Ninjutsu.

Plaxmanta can be reused as response to creature removal (given that you paid )

Halcyon Glaze makes a cheap 4/4 flyer, given that you re-cast something each turn.
Good against aggro are Oona's Gatewarden (also synergizes with the Hussar and other faeries) and Flood Gate as increasingly strong Tremor against non-blue creatures.
Jolting Merfolk can repeatedly tap four creatures.

Merieke Ri Berit (easier brought in play with the vial) can be used to take control and immediately destroy a creature each turn.

Phantasmal Image is a flexible choice with low (re)casting cost that can even copy an opponent's creature - but consider you might not be able to bounce it then anymore.

Equilibrium suits in this deck and synergizes with gramps for repeated Unsummons.

Wow, you people seriously don't know what you're missing. This is an awesome card! One useful ability, one "drawback" that can easily be turned into an advantage with cards such as Sage Owl, in addition to an above average Power/Toughness/CMC ratio?! You guys are insane for not recognising it for what it truly is: A good card.

@Gormaol: You would if you weren't a tourney***.

When a maximum hand size of 7 just isn't enough. As others have mentioned he is excellent at causing multiple enters the battlefield effects for your own creatures.

This guy advises his clients Venser, Shaper Savant, Court Hussar, and Venerated Teacher to either to be busy teaching, teleporting, or having court appointments. All in one pretty controlling 1 Up (level up/exalted) deck.

I think the reason people miss how good he is is because of the +2 hand size thing. People see that, think "oh, that's his ability", then read the return-to-hand thing as a drawback to balance it out. Since +2 hand size isn't really worth much, they say "well, that's not worth a drawback" and vote him down.

In truth, of course, the +2 hand size is mostly irrelevant, and you're probably running him for the bouncing ability. A one-mana reusable way to bounce your own creatures is pretty powerful, even limited to your upkeep.

Also, his 1/2 body isn't terrible for one mana. He won't accomplish much in that respect, but he can save you a bit of damage.

Bounce my Venser, Shaper Savant and Mystic Snake each turn? Sure, why not?

So many ways to abuse this - just be careful to not overload your deck with creatures like this, or you won't ever get to have a creature on the field.

"Okay, I know the facial hair didn't work like I said it would, but two beauty marks on your left cheek is gonna get all the ladies.

"Oh yeah, and put Sea Gate Oracle, Mulldrifter, and lots of Maros in your deck."