Card Draw Tier List | Commander Clash Podcast 61 

Here is our full list of card draw spells ranked: i.imgur.com/EmGIMtq.jpeg

Seth knew he was gonna set the conversation on fire by bringing up hedron archive

If Richard was here we'd be talking about the actual only S tier card draw, Secret Rendezvous

No Secret Rendezvous Richard: Am I a joke to you?

Card draw like Read the Bones is often underrated in Commander. Phil's point about wanting to ramp hard and then have his card draw refill his hand is understandable, but I think it is a good idea to have your card draw work on it's own Mana Curve of sorts. If all your draw effects are 5+ mana, it means if you don't get your ramp going, or miss a land drop or two, you can get stranded accruing value for some turns. What is important is that you are getting a good "rate" on your card draw. Depending on the colors you are in, you want to be paying no more than 2 mana a card and ideally something like 1.25 mana a card. Read the Bones, Painful Truths, Night's Whisper, Light up the Stage, etc are essentially efficient "curve fillers" that make sure you continue to hit your land drops in the early game, and allow you double spell on later turns where you want to develop your board, but still want to gain cards. Also they can dig you into the larger X-draw spells so that when you are done ramping and setting up your aren't just hoping that the top of your deck is going to have the payoff.

"How is it not thematic? Its got a book!" -Crim justifying the flavor of stinging study in Ur Dragon

Seth and Tomer are being spiteful back and forth, Crim is egging it on, and Phil is just admiring the chaos.

Crim doesn't understand why discarding a card matters because he's a blue player, so he always has a full grip

"So are we just not gonna run Ancestral Recall? Is drawing 3 cards bad? Is that where we're at?" ~Seth This had me dying

"How does Richard always get away with it?" He plays the low cost draw 2-3s they're not flashy but they get the job done.

Stinging study is worth it if your 4 mana commander is named Sheoldred

This episode desperately needs a second part. Even in a Black-heavy list you guys once again missed Necropotence, and Greed!

I think it’s telling that the main argument against Consecrated Sphinx (the other being that it’s 6 mana) is that it’s so good, your opponents will recognize how good it is and try to kill you or it. If a card basically requires an answer then I don’t really think it can be anything but an S, even more so if the required answer is player removal

Idea for a commander clash theme: Underrated - everyone plays the cards they rated C or lower when someone else rated them A or higher.

blackmarket connections is also in the precombat main phase so it has the benefit of you having knowledge of your first card for turn so it can really inform how well you use the modes.

I run stinging study in my Vilis, Broker of Blood deck, 5 mana draw 16

This episode reminded me to add Esper Sentinel to all my white decks. I didn't see your stats episode, but calling it white Ancestral Recall is eye-opening. And here's one other benefit your stats don't capture: Sentinel often dies to a removal spell, so it's often worth one more (good) card than it draws.

Black Market Connections is basically a mana rock that also draws cards.

Playing sign in blood, night's whisper and read the bones are good because of the consistency they can provide. Most of the mindset y'all are operating under is best case scenario. These "eat your vegetables" cards are helpful to smooth out rough hands, bad draws, etc. It's also very useful to have those cards when you're not playing Blue (or green in some cases). Mono-black, orzhov and rakdos thrive off these cards. Given most of the people on this pod 1. Always play blue, or 2. Only play multicolor rampy value piles, the evaluations make sense. But there's a lot you're not considering.

Enchantments are literally the hardest type to remove 😂 crimm tripping

I look forward to these every Tuesday!

*Stinging Study* -- I do think that this is worth playing to draw 4. I've gotten to the point in some of my decks where I'm genuinely putting Tidings back in as a 5 mana draw 4. Having a 5 mana draw 4 at instant speed is very strong to me. *Painful Truths* -- Honestly, I'm torn on this card. I've noticed in my decks that certain archetypes and mana curves really want different kinds of draw spells. If I'm playing a low-curve deck like Edgar Markov, I actually want to be playing things like Stinging Study or wheels to get that big refill after dumping my hand. In a deck like Runo Sea Monster Tribal, having stuff like Night's Whisper and Chart a Course to draw a couple cards for 2 mana is really good when you want to follow it up with whatever giant spell you draw. Painful Truths sits right in the middle. I actually think it's very strong in goodstuff decks, or any deck that sits around there on the AggroControl spectrum. *Read the Bones* -- I still like Read the Bones in certain decks for the reason Crim brought up. It just sees an extra card. I actually really value the card selection in some decks over just having more cards. I will even put Brainstorm/Ponder in decks that aren't spellslinger or top-deck matters since they're an efficient way to dig for certain effects. If your deck has fewer tutors in it and is built around having a lot of redundancy, the card selection baked into Read the Bones is really valuable. *Black Market Connections* -- In recent years, I've really become more of an aggro player in commander. Commanders like Saskia and Grixis Marchesa have become some of my favorite decks ever. Taking lessons from other formats, how does aggro usually beat control in standard or modern? They drop a card advantage engine like Dark Confidant or Experimental Frenzy and get extra cards every turn to keep up with the control player. If I'm playing an aggro deck in commander, Sylvan Library and Black Market Connections, and even Phyrexian Arena are all the first cards I'll throw in. I think Phyrexian Arena is SIGNIFICANTLY worse the BMC, but it's still a redundant version of an effect I'm looking for. *Decree of Pain* -- I think I've finally figured this card out. When I first started playing commander in 2014, this was in EVERY black deck I would ever build. Then there was a 5 year gap where I cut it from all my decks and never played it at all. Hearing Tomer's thoughts on many decks getting more efficient asymmetrical sweepers like Slaughter the Strong and Kindred Dominance was like the light bulb turning on in my head, because I think he's exactly correct. With that realization, I actually think now that Decree is hideously underplayed in decks that can get a lot of use out of the Cycling mode. Using a more extreme example like Doran the Siege Tower, if most of the creatures in your deck survive the cycling trigger, it should 100% be in the deck. At that point, the modal aspect of the card really shines through and greatly overshadows most of the other options. I'm going to be putting it in some of my decks now strictly for the cycling trigger, and treat it like a giant Charm. *Syphon Mind* -- Strictly speaking, Syphon Mind is a 6-for-1. Socially speaking, making people discard cards makes them want to target you almost immediately. I used to play this card in basically every deck. I basically need to be playing discard tribal to want this anymore, unless I'm on a super tight budget and need a draw spell. *Esper Sentinel* -- This card definitely isn't drawing as many cards as I thought it would when it got spoiled. It's not a white Rhystic Study. It's still very powerful though. Easily one of the best white commander cards ever printed. 1 mana, easy to tutor for, easy to recur, an artifact permanent for things like metalcraft and affinity, holds equipment, etc. I've never seen this not replace itself almost immediately. As somebody who's started putting Gitaxian Probe and Street Wraith because they draw a single card for 0 mana, a 1-drop that almost always draws more than 2 is amazing. When people play around it correctly, it's a bad stax piece that doesn't draw any cards(which is the whole reason you're playing it outside of cEDH) and it gets you targeted.

I feel like painful truths is generally better than read the bones, but there are some situations in deckbuilding where read the bones is preferable. One thing i really noticed when playing the c2020 mardu humans precon, (which includes painful truths), is that it can really drain your colors. Cheap card draw is kind of diminished if you don't have the right colors left to cast the cards you draw. This is mostly a problem if you don't have a good manabase, but that is a legitimate concern during deckbuilding for a lot of people There's also a few other minor things. While read the bones draws 1 less card, it also digs 1 card deeper into your library, which might be relevant if you're looking for a specific card or a tutor. Painful truths is also worse with cost reduction in spellslinger.

Lilliana is an A for me. Played with it so many times in so many different decks and she always proves her worth.

I love the discussion and arguing. It’s so real and thought provoking!

The Consecrated Sphinx discussion is something super important that I dont think a lot of people dont talk about regarding making yourself a threat with card draw specifically. Once you get to that amount of card draw, the table will often label you with a REALLY high threat. But if your deck doesnt really have enough cheap spells and/or ramp to take advantage of that many cards at once (or just combo out), then the actual ability for you to threaten the board is much lower than what the other players are predicting. Thats a really bad place to put yourself because not only does it make you get killed, it lets other people who are actually the threat stay under the radar.

Jeska's Will is strong because Seething Song is strong, but Seething Song has a situational downside. If you top deck Seething Song last in the game, or have it as your only card in hand, it does nothing for you. Additionally, rituals like Seething Song trade card advantage for mana advantage. Jeska's Will is not bad to top deck in the late game, since it can draw more cards, and it can be a ritual that gives you card advantage, instead of losing it. Additionally, Jeska's Will can sometimes just be Seething Song if you want it to be. It is kind of like a charm or command, where it has additional flexibility and use cases.

I could literally listen to you guys get spicy with each other for 4 hours at a time. It's a lot of fun to see what hills you all are willing to die on and how the others react to them. I just wish the podcast episode wasn't dominated by black cards

.... I wanted to fight pretty much every person on this episode at least once. Which is why I love it!

Esper sentinel is just great in every deck that can play it, it does so much for such a cheap investment. Your opponents can never answer it without losing some sort of tempo, they will always need to pay the extra 1 or you draw a card, and judging from my own experience, people rarely point their removal spells at it.

Crim rates rates Painful Truths a C because of that time he hit it with Chaos Wand.

Syphon mind: 4 CMC, up 2 cards, opponents down 3 cards White draw: 3 CMC, you up 2 cards, opponents up 3 cards.

Since you mentioned it earlier, stinging study is absolutely godlike in an ur-dragon deck

Crim might be land screwed because he doesn't play enough draw

I run Stinging Study in two 7 cost commander decks and I've never regretted casting it. As a wise poet likes putting it: Stinging Study is the truth.

Regarding instant speed, you also have to consider the psychological impact on your opponents when you leave 5 mana open, now they're thinking that you might have an inkshield or removal or whatever so it can make your opponents play sub optimally which is another upside of instant speed

I love sign in blood and read the bones it’s nice to have draw that isn’t dependent on having big creatures or triggers

You guys should do a part 2 on this talking about the other cards! Is there a reason you don’t like to go past the 1.5 hr mark? I’d listen to you guys talk for 4 hrs if you have enough cards to talk about 😂

we need a part two

Read the Bones isn't threatening, but it still digs 4 deep for a combo. It's like the opposite of Sphinx

I swear, half the time it sounds like Crim is playing a whole different format... the other half its Tomer doing it.

The only phyrexian arena I had, came in one precon on 2015 and it went straight into a binder short afterwards. I'm with Tomer on this

I love Ancient Craving/Ambition's Cost. They're great workhorse/filler draw spells. 4 mana for 3 cards and it's like 25 cents. Harmonize does good work and these cards do too imo.

Wots Liliana should be AT LEAST a B: when you play it in any aristocrats deck you basically win the game

As a blue player, Crim ought to understand how powerful a combo discard/draw effect should be. Put yourself ahead 3 card draws, deny your opponents a option in their hand, regardless of whether its good or not. Making arguments about graveyard reanimation is redundant cause it's under the assumption that every deck you play against is able to reanimate. Also if you were even mildly looking to synegise this, this would be a staple in decks where you want opponents to discard/fill their graveyards (Tergrid jumps to mind. Plus any commander/deck that utilises graveyard theft.)

Black has more “target player sacrifices and enchantment” than it has “destroy starter enchantment”

On stinging study at 4, basically no instant speed draw in black gets 4 cards for 5 mana. It’s pretty strong/efficient.

Phyrexian Arena is a cycle card with delayed trigger. You maybe get one draw off it then it gets blown up or the game ends.

21:00 I think stinging study is an auto-include on blue-black, where you can sit on 5 open mana until the end phase before your turn, and influence the board just through the fear you might be holding some blue things.

I think the scry of Read the Bones is really underestimated. Feels terrible to Sign in Blood or Painful Truths and you only draw lands or nonlands when you needed the other.

Just got my new play at from you guys and the first card I placed on it just so happened to be Secret Rendezvous! Hahah

Jeska's will is really meta dependant. In our casual budge pods, I barely break even with its first mod and I dont think its worth it for the second mod alone. I kept it in my Faldor deck even though it usually under performs (given you can only cast them this turn compared to most impulse draw that give you a whole turn circle to cast them). Definitely power in stronger meta that always have more cards in hands.

Jeska's Will is definitely a draw spell. That's one reason it's great. It counts for both ramp and draw, both during deck building and in-game.

I consider certain criteria when choosing if a card draw is worth it. 1) It's repeatable/more than once per turn 2) If it's one shot effect, it has to be at least 3 cards, otherwise not worth spending a slot, so Read the Bones is a huge nono 3) It has options, like modal spells, or activated abilities 4) It has synergies with the rest if the deck/ it's commander

The AO flash was HILARIOUS 😂😂😂

I do love stinging study( i run it marchesa control combat deck). But in mono black my favorite commander is actually a two drop.

When I look at Dreadhorde General I don't just see her static ability and token potential. At a 4 player table, assuming nobody got alpha struck, if she can land and stick to generate token value or synergize with existing board state then she's decent, but if you assume an average game her -4 is what helps her jump up to pretty solid. You stop looking at her like a token generator and look at her as a 6-mana potential double innocent blood that on average draws you 4 cards the turn you play it, up to a max initial potential of 8 cards, and she if manages to stick you'll draw more. She doesn't fit a lot of decks but she fits some decks great.

I have to agree with crim on instant speed, when you are not draw go you still have a plan to spend all your mana each turn cycle, your strategy is just more robust the less time it's effects are in play and can be interacted with.

3cmc in blue, Keep watch. Draw off your attackers or an opponents attackers. I love this .25 instant

No mention of moonlight bargain? Instant speed draw5 with huge upside if filling the graveyard is a part of the deck. Allure of the unknown is another amazing draw-5 that almost always helps politic threat assessment to whomever takes your free card. Also the liliana mentioned in this video is forced card draw (not "may") and can easily make a graveyard loop deck fail before assembling a wincon. She's good but not every aristocrat deck will run it.

Crim will pay 5 mana and 4 life to draw 4, but not 4 mana and 0 life to draw 3. He REALLY values a completely full hand. No incremental advantage, he was EVERYTHING or nothing.

Fun episode! But did you guys forget the full rankings or the link to the article?

An argument for Read the Bones... I play it in Lathril. When the deck wins, it generates a ton of mana, then plays a bunch of cheap cards, draws more cards, then plays those. When it fails, it's because it generates a ton of mana but has no cards left to spend it on. The deck wants to keep drawing and keep playing. I think of more explosive draw spells like Genesis Wave and Slate of Ancestry as wincons, but I have to find those cards using cheaper spells (I personally don't love tutors). Guardian Project and Beast Whisperer are great, but they do nothing on their own. Cards like Phyrexian Arena don't make the cut because they're more about advantage over time and not an explosive chain of cascading triggers. Yes, Read the Bones is weaker than Night's Whisper or even Harmonize, but I run them all and then some. The only exception is Sign in Blood, as the deck is better at making too much green than too much black, so the double black is too expensive.

Skeletal Scrying is pretty similar to Stinging Study, and I usually end up choosing it over Stinging Study for the increased flexibility (unless I have a 6cmc+ commander)

I just think of Phyrexian Arena as foretell spend the initial cost first benefit the gains later to allow for more explosive turns sequences later if for some reason someone pops it then they aren't popping my better enchantments like Grave Pact, Black Market etc. Phyrexian Arena also adds devotion to my mono black deck which is good, I think it's a solid B card, not sure if i'd run it decks that are 3 colours or more but in mono black it's good.

Totally agree with Phil on Liliana and Consecrated sphinx. I wish Richard was there to back him up on those calls !

@1:16:15, Syphon Mind completely sums up EDH lol That how the Seths vs the Crims feel, it encapsulates how players look at Magic, especially how they evaluate EDH whilst reading cards. Should there be a singular answer or are there many correct answers. Only if there wasn’t a way to see the performance of cards, at the scale of >10k games.

I'll add some engagement! Shamanic Revelation is budget and still a powerhouse. Bad top deck but the returns are return and can gain some much needed life back

For the first time, I'm with Crim (I generally hate control playstyle) but for sorcery speed draw spells I prefer 2 mana value over 3/4 mana value because I value turns when I can play the draw spell and then play another spell. For the 3 mana value spells, it is more like an investissment, I prefer cards like Phyrexian Arena & Black Market Connections will grants more cards in a long term than cards like Painful Truths.

Arena just gets better the longer the game goes, so it is highly dependent on your playgroup. If games normally go around 7 turns and your deck is more aggressive, there are certainly better alternatives. If games are on average rather slow and take 10+ turns, arena can really pay off. I play it in my mono black deck and have never been disappointed. And occasionally you get two more devotion for gary.

where's the link to the full list they mentioned at the beggining?

having played with Decree, i feel that the real power is in the cycling. It hoses tokens and for the most part is an uncounterable wrath since cycling is an ability. It even gets around indestructible!

Crim and Phil are life haha. Best two MTG creators out there!!

Everyone is missing the real synergy for Esper Sentinel… it’s a white, power based card draw tax. It’s BUILT for +1/+1 counter decks. You play it, buff it, and make it harder to kill and the tax astronomical. “Oh, you’re gonna play anything? Pay 8?”

Draw 3 for 4 is great on the curve… as long as you’re not constantly forcing control

In any deck I have her in Lilliana is almost always 6 mana draw 4 (low end) with the absolute promise of more if she makes it back around the table. Drawing aggro from removal and damage through combat is a benefit not a disadvantage.

Crim saying that Rhystic Studies is better than Consecrated Sphinx because it's easier to remove is such a weird take imo. no clue how that holds up.

How people are still rating Liliana so low is quite interesting. My Liliana in my Teysa deck is one of the best cards to draw and keep on the field. The fact it's a permanent changes everything.

Phil needs to show the table the truth with Liliana. I agree with his grade

Ancestral Recall over Esper Sentinel any time, but compared to other carddraw in it's colour its pretty close. I also prefer theese midrangy carddrawspells like Siphon Mind, Painfull Truth and Read the Bones over some splashy draw 10 but discard 7 of them because you didn't find your Reliquary Tower ;-)

I love Return of the Wildspeaker and Treasure Cruise. Both are cheap money-wise, Cruise Can be cheap mana-wise, plenty of draw

tomer may have actually influenced me on this one... 3 mana for 3 cards right now vs 3 mana for 3 cards over 4 turns as good as it feels to be like "i get to draw twice, how about that!" logistically it makes more sense to frontload still think read the bones is good too, it still lets you dig as much as 4 deep and getting cards that are good in the moment is more important than just raw quantity more often than not

Rishkar's expertise should be here. Great commander card.

I can understand what Crim is saying. Especially if rhystic study is the peek of card drawing

hm, you talked about liliana and dark prophecy, but not moldervine reclamation? any thoughts?

No link to the article in the description?

Wish we could’ve heard y’all’s thoughts on non-black cards

This video showed me the light on Read the Bones versus Phyrexian Arena. I’d rather draw RtB off PA than PA off RtB. PA is basically suited to non-blue 2-color or fewer where devotion can matter. I concur with Crim on Syphon Mind. I put it in a mono-black deck and swapped it out within a couple games of using it. I wouldn’t keep it except in the most desperate of starting hands, and since it gets used later on, it’s downright likely for missing or hellbent opponents to hinder it. If it would get full effect, it baits a Counterspell for four mana or draws my entire table’s ire if it resolves. I’d prefer a Howling Mine or Well of Knowledge just because they’d accelerate the game over Syphon Mind, which is about less than worthless.

You cant fetch esper sentinel with urzas saga. Love the list tho, ive been binging yalls videos for a couple weeks now lol. Wish i found the channel sooner

Stinging Study is a double edged sword in a deck like Reaper King, where it's 10 life to cast. Sure, you get 10 cards, but losing 10 life can be a big enough drawback that it can be unplayable at times. I still run it without question, but it's not the best card in the deck, despite being shockingly good. Also, I just looked at my Reaper King deck, and Stinging Study has a price (according to the site) of 1 tix, so it should be there somewhere, but it's not listed as Online on Scryfall. I'm with Seth on this, I don't think I want to draw only 4 off of this, it should be at least 5 or don't bother IMHO, Black has good enough draw, though again, as Seth notes, if you've got instant speed interaction, it's probably a good thing to have it, whereas most decks don't care about instant speed in truth. The best thing about it is that you probably can hold it up to the 'ideal' moment, probably the endstep before the mono-Blue player's turn, especially if he's countered some stuff and isn't a Baral deck (which can just keep going). I run Liliana, Dreadhorde General in my Meren deck, where she's a pretty good card usually, mostly for the forced sac effect, everything else is kinda gravy, and she can hinder me sometimes by forcing card draw on death and not being a readily sacrificial creature, so the deck hopes to draw a way to sac a planeswalker (or Vampire Hexmage) while I'm drawing cards, but this is rarely an infinite mana combo, it tends to be mana neutral. Draw spells like Night's Whisper aren't bad spells, but they aren't auto-includes IMHO. You aren't so much running them as serious card draw but as Black hand-smoothing effects. Read the Bones is very good IMHO if you care about card quality in your deck, IE if you've got a lot of situational cards, Scry is really good. You don't run them in a lot of decks, but I put Night's Whisper in a deck that I didn't think would ever care about such a small effect, but it feels great when you draw it early, and it feels fine when you draw it late, making it a really, really decent card in practice. I actually wonder if more decks shouldn't just run Liliana's Contract, it's a nice fat draw effect I run in my Reaper King deck as a win con, but that much draw is pretty helpful usually. That deck also has access to several 'draw 10' effects, and ways to find them if necessary, so I also have decks that play like Phil's, with very few small effects and a great willingness to play big effects that draw attention, though my Reaper King deck is also pretty wipe heavy. FFS, Phyrexian Arena is DEFINITELY NOT A 'D', Tomer is out of line here lol. While it's nowhere near as good as Black Market Connections, it's a very good effect for 3 mana *IF* you can get it out early. It becomes a dead card by later game, when it doesn't even draw a card when you topdeck it (which is why I'd probably rate it a C, and might actually run Night's Whisper over it if I had copies of both not in use). I use Arena in my Legacy Pox deck, where the sheer draw means I usually keep hitting land drops and can keep playing edits almost every turn if necessary, it's the way my deck tends to beat it's tougher matches, if it gets an early Phyrexian Arena. Now that Tomer is saying, Read the Bones MIGHT be better than Phyrexian Arena. Now, I do feel that I have cards that I'm like Tomer about, I struggle to recognize the true value of Aether Vial, to me it's just a way to run out of creatures vs Pox, since if you actually draw 2 Vials, the odds of you winning plummet quite brutally, so I always was like 'because this doesn't work well vs me personally, it must be a bad card'. There is stuff you can do with a Flickerwisp, but even without Lilianas in my deck, I didn't think D&T should run x4 Vial, it felt like a x2 card, maybe x3 in Yorion, you just don't have enough card draw in most D&T to justify it, maybe now with Sentinel and other new busted stuff? I dunno, I think you should usually have a creature to side in if you're up against a deck that will punish you for going down a body, but that's not a lot of decks at this point. Decree of Pain is a 'big effect', even if it's a ton of mana, the type of effect that can just swing a game, but it's also possible for it to be unplayable (too many tokens for example), so I think I'd run Necromantic Selection over it now. I still run both in Rakdos I think, but I am very 'all in' on 'big effect' Rakdos, where this is exactly the kind of card I want to cast turn 5 or 6 to just draw a bunch of cards and clear the field, I don't need to hold it up for 'the ideal' moment. I definitely don't feel like all tribes have a wipe, tons don't have a playable one, that is probably why Kindred Dominance is so many $$$. Siphon Mind is a solid card, it's not the best card draw effect out there, but it's among them, it's a solid card early, but it's bad later game. The discard effect almost never matters (you need something like Bottomless Pit to clear people's hands and keep them clear, discarding 1 means nothing). Draw 3 for 3B however isn't bad, so getting the small asset of the discard can amount to a solid card. I like it in Black decks without Blue or Green, where you can't draw tons of cards and 4 mana to draw 3 is reasonable. I think it's probably better than Phyrexian Arena, it's so much better later game when hands are smaller and drawing 3 right away for 4 is just ducky, and early game drawing 3 right away is also probably better than getting 1 more card next upkeep (and 1 more for each remaining one until people blow it up), I agree Arena is playable, but Siphon has enough value that it's fine. IMHO, people RARELY are able to completely run out of cards, but it does feel terrible if you don't draw at least 2. I can never decide how I feel about Esper Sentinel... at W, it's fine in a meta that's responsible, and if you draw more than 2 cards off of it it's usually a good card. The issue though is that it only hits one spell, and the opponent can play around it fairly easily, it's not a tax on each spell. It's hilariously worse than Rhystic Study late game, when Study can still draw you a mess of cards if people play greedy (it can even draw you more cards late than early sometimes, Sentinel I think will never do that). It's not like Remora either since you can easily play around it, Remora is a heavy tax on cards that most decks find important early game, and while it's got the upkeep, it's also either going to slow play to a crawl or just feed you tons of cards, there isn't really a middle ground for this card other than the next two players are responsible and the 3rd opponent just goes hog-wild and feeds you 2 or 3 cards, that feels pretty good for you and him, having pulled a fast one over the other two suckers, so it's a good 'feels bad' type card if your group is fairly Machiavellian, or if the skill level is quite high (people will have good heuristics about when it makes sense to pay and when to just give them the card, such as if multiple opponents have put themselves back a turn or two and you just play greedy, as noted).

Just gonna say that if you thrown in syphon mind randomly at the wrong table, you gonna catch a lot of heat

Jeskas will is an auto include for me. jes the floor is 3 mana exile three or make a lot of mana (which is still pretty decent and actually pretty rare), but the celing is draw three that goes mana positive. Like what? I think its already insane if you only use 2 of the mana you gained from it making it a 1 mana exile three

Stinging Study is fantastic for Oloro decks :p

Wheel of Fortune. Draw 21 cards for 3 mana in EDH. Red = best card draw

1:31:36 was Tomer throwing some shade at the play2win boys here. I mean was on one of there videos not long ago though.

On the topic of drawing 3, what do you think about ancestral vision and stand still?

I realy like phyrexian arena😅 i mean its not great, but it just feels good to draw 2 cards every upkeep.

Skeletal Scrying is so bad 😂 Stinging study is really good, but for some reason, it was printed in a precon with a commander that costs 3

My favorite is playing Syphon mind when a game is down to a 1v1 to cycle

I think you guys are underestimating Lilly. It is removal on turn 5 for 6 creatures on the board with the upside of drawing you cards. With tokens, Liliana can be an 8-for-1: opps sac 2 creatures each and you draw two cards. The ultimate, if you're playing a PW deck, is GGs. Seth!!! How can you give Syphon Mind an S when Liliana is a better X-for-1? Think about it my friend.