I mentioned Brainstorm yesterday, but well
before Brainstorm was printed, Sylvan Library
was doing much the same thing - and Brainstorm
is sort of a nerf of the effect in the context
of 1995, especially when you consider that when
Legends was new, pretty much the only cards that
could get a Sylvan Library off the table were
Disenchant, Tranquility, and Chaos Orb. At least
the Library only does it once each turn cycle
and so doesn't have the time-wasting issue, but
the card selection power can still put its
controller well ahead of their opponents. This
was crucial in helping the early Zoo decks fight
against Weissman control in the 1990s, and the
Library still adds value to almost any deck that
has space for it even now.
I'm glad that its new art portrays the same
place that the original Harold McNeill piece
from Legends did, too. It's good to know that no
matter where Magic may roam, some things don't
change.
Sylvan Library is one of those cards that hails
from an era when the color pie was more
experimental and less rigid. Green does get card
draw today, but not anything like what this card
provides.
The effect of the Library, basically, is to give
you the best card out of the top three of your
library. If you're desperate, you can take more
cards at a steep payment of four life a pop...in
60 card constructed formats, a heavy price, but
a drop in the bucket in a format like Commander.
It's a splashable card, thanks to its mana cost,
but it also has the issue in
Legacy and other formats of being an unnecessary
effect; the major green decks in Legacy, Infect
and Elves, would rather be vomiting their hands
onto the board instead of spending their mana on
a card that doesn't impact the board in any way.
It's a powerful card, but being in green is
ironically a major hindrance to it outside of
Commander and more casual formats, where it's a
unique card in a color that rarely gets effects
like it.
