The new MTG powerhouse has already been included in several formats – and it's almost sold out

Magic: The Gathering Entering a new era, as it were Avatar: The Last Airbender The set officially came out a few days ago, and many formats are changing now due to new cards and the ban on November 10th. Ban for November 10. Magic: The Gathering Hit Standard the most by completely killing the infamous Izzet Cauldron deck that dominates all tournaments. Now that the Avatar set is out, the meta for every format is essentially being reshaped, and some cards are already proving to be extremely powerful – maybe even more so. The most notable example right now is the Badgermole Cub, but another can be made for a different legendary rare, such as Wan Shi Tong, Librarian.

It makes sense for it Magic: The Gathering Legendary rare to have some of the best cards in a given set. While rarity doesn't always equate to value or power, Wan Shin Tong, the librarian, has plenty of both. This creature is a great example of card design done right, as it can be used to great success in many formats, it dramatically changes the course of the game, and it is already the centerpiece of many combos. However, it is sold almost everywhere, and you may have a hard time getting it.

It's time to welcome back one of MTG's most broken blue cards

There are a few reasons why Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian, is such a powerful card in many formats. These are;

• Aside from Standard, which doesn't have many Tutor-like abilities, Wan Shi Tong can be played with success in many formats and allows you to instantly get a +1/+1 counter and draw a card in response to a Tutor trigger at any time.

  • Wan Shi Tong is the Commander and OP in cEDH, since the turn cycle involves four players, many tutors will be used before your next turn, giving the creature a lot of power. As such, it can easily be replaced or added to the Archivist of Ogma deck, and it's another powerhouse for cEDH's strongest and most consistent deck: Blue Farm.

• Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian, can be extremely powerful as a draw engine in control decks and combo decks, such as Dimir Mil in Modern or Dimir Tempo in Timeless.

  • It can be used in conjunction with the infamous OP Tamiyo, Curious Student // Tamiyo, Experienced Scholar to help proc with its card draw abilities. Likewise, it can be a mana sink in long game or Landfall decks.

• This enables some incredible combos with otherwise-so-competitive cards, such as Skimming Symmetry and Archive Trap.

• It can be played in response MTG's fetch lands, too, means it gets bigger and also acts as a draw engine for the more basic Tutor abilities featured in most decks in the game.

  • Powerful staples like Crop Rotation also feed Wan Shi Tong's ability, forcing opponents to think twice about playing certain cards or pursuing a given strategy.

• Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian, can become a stack piece with extremely powerful cards. MTGRhystic Studies of, Smothering Tithes, Orcish Bowmasters, and more.

  • Cards like Path to Exile are usually used as removal, but they double as power-ups for Wan Shi Tong if they force the opponent(s) to search their library.

• Since it's a blue card, it's easy to interact and counterspells in the deck, such as Force of Negation, Fierce Guardianship if Wan Shi Tong is your commander, and Flare of Denial. It also pairs well with the recent Edge of Eternities Quantum Riddler card.

A deck of MTG using Wan Shi Tong, the librarian

As you can imagine, Wan Shi Tong, the librarian, feels completely at home in Commander thanks to its depiction in power-ups and tutor abilities. This might seem like the best place to use Wan Shi Tong as a commander, but it might be better at 99. For example, it can be tutored by Sissy, the Weatherlight Captain, to strengthen itself and be readily available at all times. It can synergize with Tymna the Weaver for Blue Farm decks, quickly increasing the number of cards.

According to mtgtop8.com's last 2 weeks of data for competitive decks, Wan Shi Tong is seeing the following numbers:

• About 2.5% use in modern decks

• Vintage decks contain about 0.5%

• About 22.6% usage in cEDH decks

Qin Wan Shi Tong, the librarian, is unlikely to be banned in modern

Furthermore, even though it's too early, and it seems unlikely due to how many OP cards fill the format, some are speculating that Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian, may be banned in Modern in the long run. Considering that cards like Psychic Frog, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Deadly Blow, Force of Negation, Lightning Bolt, Saga of Energy, and Flaze, Titan of Fire's Fury are playable in the format without any restrictions, the Wan Shi Tong ban discussion may be too early, if at all in battle.

MTG's Wan Shi Tong, the librarian, is almost impossible to get

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is already one of the most expensive cards in the Avatar set, sitting at $50-60 on average.

• There are a few copies selling for $70 on TCGPlayer at the moment, but it's very hard to find elsewhere.

• Card Kingdom also has six copies available at the time of writing, going for $60. Copies of the borderless edition of Wan Shi Tong are sold almost everywhere, and the same goes for the foil edition.

• Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is out of stock at CoolStuffInc.

• 9 copies of Wan Shi Tong, The Librarian are available at Star City Games for $65 each.

What follows is that the card is now mostly unobtainable, unless players are willing to shell out a few extra bucks for each copy. This may be less of a problem for Commander decks MTGBecause they only need one copy of the card, but fans of other formats are already out of luck.

systems

issued

September 27, 2018

ESRB

T For Tin // Blood and gore, mild fantasy violence

developer(s)

Wizards of the Coast, Wizards Digital Game Studio

publisher(s)

Wizards of the Coast