New MTG Powerhouse Is Already Included in A number of Codecs — And It’s Almost Offered Out

Magic: The Gathering is coming into a brand new period, as its Avatar: The Final Airbender set formally got here out only a few days in the past, and a number of other codecs at the moment are altering, each because of the new playing cards and the bans on November 10. The November 10 bans for Magic: The Gathering hit Commonplace essentially the most, fully killing the notorious Izzet Cauldron deck that was dominating all tournaments. Now that the Avatar set is out, the meta for every format is inevitably being reshaped, and a few playing cards are already proving to be extraordinarily highly effective — possibly even a tad an excessive amount of. Probably the most notable instance is Badgermole Cub proper now, however one other will be made for a special Mythic uncommon, resembling Wan Shi Tong, Librarian.

It does make sense for Magic: The Gathering Mythic rares to be a number of the finest playing cards in a given set. Whereas rarity would not all the time equal worth or energy, Wan Shin Tong, Librarian, has numerous each. This creature is a superb instance of card design accomplished proper, as it may be utilized in most codecs to nice success, it dramatically adjustments the course of a recreation when performed, and it is a centerpiece of many combos already. Nevertheless, it is offered out nearly all over the place, and you will have a tough time getting it.

It is Time to Welcome One in every of MTG’s Most Damaged Blue Playing cards Ever

There are a couple of explanation why Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is such a robust card throughout a number of codecs. These are;

Aside from Commonplace, which does not characteristic many tutor-like skills, Wan Shi Tong will be performed with success in most codecs and at any time in response to a tutor set off to right away get a +1/+1 counter and assist you to draw a card.
- Wan Shi Tong is OP in Commander and cEDH, as a flip cycle options 4 gamers, so a number of tutors will probably be used earlier than your subsequent flip, powering the creature up quite a bit. As such, it may simply change or be added to Archivist of Oghma decks, and it is yet one more powerhouse for cEDH’s strongest and most constant deck: Blue Farm.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, will be extraordinarily highly effective as a draw engine in management decks and combo decks, like Dimir Mill in Trendy or Dimir Tempo in Timeless.
- It may be utilized in mixture with the notoriously OP Tamiyo, Inquisitive Pupil // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar to assist proc it with its card draw skills. Likewise, it may be a mana sink in longer video games or landfall decks.
It permits some unimaginable combos with in any other case not-so-competitive playing cards, like Scheming Symmetry and Archive Entice.
It may be performed in response to MTG‘s fetch lands, too, that means that it grows greater and acts as a draw engine even for extra primary tutor skills which can be featured in most decks within the recreation.
- Highly effective staples like Crop Rotation additionally feed into Wan Shi Tong’s skill, making opponents suppose twice about whether or not they need to play a sure card or pursue a given technique.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, can turn into a stax piece of types alongside extraordinarily highly effective playing cards like MTG‘s Rhystic Study, Smothering Tithes, Orcish Bowmasters, and extra.
- Playing cards like Path to Exile are generally used as removals, however they double down as power-ups for Wan Shi Tong in the event that they power the opponent(s) to look their library.
Since it is a Blue card, it is easy to interact and counterspells within the deck, like Pressure of Negation, Fierce Guardianship if Wan Shi Tong is your commander, and Flare of Denial. It additionally pairs completely with the current Edge of Eternities Quantum Riddler card.

MTG’s Decks Utilizing Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

As it’s possible you’ll think about, Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, feels completely at dwelling in Commander due to its power-up and drawing on tutor skills. This may increasingly appear to be the right place to make use of Wan Shi Tong as a commander, however it could be even higher within the 99. For instance, it may be tutored by Sisay, Weatherlight Captain, to energy itself up and all the time be available. It could possibly additionally synergize with Tymna the Weaver for Blue Farm decks, shortly ramping up the variety of playing cards one can draw.

On high of that, the favored Play to Win MTG podcast gave Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, a 4.9/5 and 5/5 from Dillan and Cam, respectively.

In accordance with mtgtop8.com‘s final 2 weeks of knowledge for competing decks, Wan Shi Tong is seeing the next numbers:

Round 2.5% utilization in Trendy decks
Round 0.5% inclusion in Classic decks
Round 22.6% utilization in cEDH decks

That is all of the extra spectacular when contemplating that Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, got here out three days in the past, on November 21.

Why Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is Unlikely to Be Banned in Trendy

Moreover, whereas it is too early, and it appears unlikely as a consequence of what number of OP playing cards populate the format, some are speculating that Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, could also be banned in Trendy in the long term. Contemplating that playing cards like Psychic Frog, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Deadly Push, Pressure of Negation, Lightning Bolt, Urza’s Saga, and Phlage, Titan of Hearth’s Fury are all nonetheless playable within the format with no restrictions, a Wan Shi Tong ban dialogue could also be too early, if in any respect warranted.

MTG’s Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is Just about Not possible to Get

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is already one of the vital costly playing cards within the Avatar set, sitting at $50-60 on common.

There are a couple of copies being offered for $70 on TCGPlayer in the mean time, nevertheless it’s very onerous to search out elsewhere.
There are additionally six copies obtainable on Card Kingdom on the time of writing, going for $60. Copies of the borderless model of Wan Shi Tong are largely offered out all over the place, and that additionally goes for the foil variant.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is out of inventory on CoolStuffInc.
9 copies of Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, can be found on Star Metropolis Video games at $65 every.

What follows is that the cardboard is usually unobtainable proper now, except gamers are prepared to fork out a couple of additional bucks for every copy. This can be much less of an issue for Commander decks in MTG, as they solely want one copy of the cardboard, however followers of different codecs could also be out of luck already.