Oversoul
The Tentacled One
This site is focused on casual play. One of the things I think is great about this is that there's a wide variety of approaches to most aspects of the game, with different players focused on their own environments and interests. Sure, there aren't that many of us, but when these topics do come up, it's not hard to spot that this isn't a tournament-focused place. And I don't mean that in the sense of "we're all scrubs" or anything so outmoded as that. I mean that in it shows because in tournament-driven communities, standardization inevitably sets in. People are playing in the same environment or in similar environments, so it's just a natural progression.
It takes over in other aspects as well, but it's readily apparent in blue card-drawing stuff, a classic standby of gameplay. In Legacy, it's always Brainstorm with fetchlands. the setup gets some support from other cards, notably Ponder and Gitaxian Probe, but the particular interaction between Brainstorm and Onslaught/Zendikar fetchlands has so many different minor advantages that they accumulate into a kind of monolith. When that engine is available, if you're going down the road of using blue card-drawing spells for the purposes of digging through your deck to find the cards you want to use to win, well, Brainstorm and fetchlands will be your choice. It's not that everything else is completely outclassed, it's just that the engine has so many little advantages that add up to something definitive.
This isn't a rant about Brainstorm! To be clear, I am of the opinion that the Brainstorm + fetchland interaction is too format-warping in Legacy tournament play and should be dealt with, but that's not my point in this thread. I've played with Brainstorm a lot. A whole lot. A whole helluva lot. I like the card. It's a classic. But it's perhaps the longest-running example of how card-drawing in tournament play has become standardized. More generally, this has taken the form of one-drop card-filtering "cantrips" that in some way feed into other strategies. In Vintage, it take the form of a cabal of restricted blue spells alongside Preordain and Dack Fayden. In Legacy, it's Brainstorm, Ponder, Gitaxian Probe, and fetchlands, and also sometimes Preordain. In Modern, those spells are all banned, but when blue card-drawing is successful, it's generally powered by Serum Visions.
It's been this way for a while. It's become the new normal. But once upon a time, there was something else that was king, completely different from these one-mana "cantrips." Magic's premier card-drawing engine was...
Intuition and Accumulated Knowledge!
I used this engine so much. Sadly, Intuition is now a $40 card. It was originally pretty cheap. Sure, there are more options now, but I think it was a good card from the start. Accumulated Knowledge gave blue decks a means to consistently squeeze value out of Intuition. I don't want to overstate the power of this combo: after all it really has fallen by the wayside. Tough to compete with Brainstorm and friends when they're faster, have more bonus utility, and ultimately dig deeper. But I'd still say that Intuition + Accumulated Knowledge is stronger than it looks. A blue control and/or combo deck can generally use either spell once it draws them. They're good on their own. Both are instants and can be held until the end of the opponent's turn, keeping countermagic and other utility ready to fire. Accumulated Knowledge on its own is just card-drawing, so you're not unhappy to see it, and it gets better in multiples. Intuition on its own can be used to set up combos or just as a scorched-earth tutor. And both cards play nicely with anything that lets you cast spells from your graveyard or retrieve them from your graveyard.
I forget how many decks I built with that engine. I was leaning on it pretty heavily for a while. They're good cards. Going further back in time, there was another card I used for this purpose. Lat-Nam's Legacy isn't the most obscure draw spell, but it's mostly forgotten...
It takes over in other aspects as well, but it's readily apparent in blue card-drawing stuff, a classic standby of gameplay. In Legacy, it's always Brainstorm with fetchlands. the setup gets some support from other cards, notably Ponder and Gitaxian Probe, but the particular interaction between Brainstorm and Onslaught/Zendikar fetchlands has so many different minor advantages that they accumulate into a kind of monolith. When that engine is available, if you're going down the road of using blue card-drawing spells for the purposes of digging through your deck to find the cards you want to use to win, well, Brainstorm and fetchlands will be your choice. It's not that everything else is completely outclassed, it's just that the engine has so many little advantages that add up to something definitive.
This isn't a rant about Brainstorm! To be clear, I am of the opinion that the Brainstorm + fetchland interaction is too format-warping in Legacy tournament play and should be dealt with, but that's not my point in this thread. I've played with Brainstorm a lot. A whole lot. A whole helluva lot. I like the card. It's a classic. But it's perhaps the longest-running example of how card-drawing in tournament play has become standardized. More generally, this has taken the form of one-drop card-filtering "cantrips" that in some way feed into other strategies. In Vintage, it take the form of a cabal of restricted blue spells alongside Preordain and Dack Fayden. In Legacy, it's Brainstorm, Ponder, Gitaxian Probe, and fetchlands, and also sometimes Preordain. In Modern, those spells are all banned, but when blue card-drawing is successful, it's generally powered by Serum Visions.
It's been this way for a while. It's become the new normal. But once upon a time, there was something else that was king, completely different from these one-mana "cantrips." Magic's premier card-drawing engine was...
Intuition and Accumulated Knowledge!
I used this engine so much. Sadly, Intuition is now a $40 card. It was originally pretty cheap. Sure, there are more options now, but I think it was a good card from the start. Accumulated Knowledge gave blue decks a means to consistently squeeze value out of Intuition. I don't want to overstate the power of this combo: after all it really has fallen by the wayside. Tough to compete with Brainstorm and friends when they're faster, have more bonus utility, and ultimately dig deeper. But I'd still say that Intuition + Accumulated Knowledge is stronger than it looks. A blue control and/or combo deck can generally use either spell once it draws them. They're good on their own. Both are instants and can be held until the end of the opponent's turn, keeping countermagic and other utility ready to fire. Accumulated Knowledge on its own is just card-drawing, so you're not unhappy to see it, and it gets better in multiples. Intuition on its own can be used to set up combos or just as a scorched-earth tutor. And both cards play nicely with anything that lets you cast spells from your graveyard or retrieve them from your graveyard.
I forget how many decks I built with that engine. I was leaning on it pretty heavily for a while. They're good cards. Going further back in time, there was another card I used for this purpose. Lat-Nam's Legacy isn't the most obscure draw spell, but it's mostly forgotten...