[SCD : Theros] Read The Bones

[d8dk32]

Read the Bones   2b
Sorcery    
Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life.

We can draw obvious parallels between this card and Night's Whisper. What makes Read The Bones worse/better/different from Whisper?

For 1 more mana, it can dig deeper. How important is the 1 mana compared to possibly digging up to 4 cards? I think the extra mana pushes this into "not really worthwhile" territory. I wouldn't say completely unplayable, but I think Whisper would just be better in many cases. The one place this may be decent would be as a draw engine in a Maniac Oath deck where you could have a solid chance of scrying the Lab Man to the bottom of your deck and winning off one Oath trigger. But that deck wasn't that great to begin with.

[Random Noob]

I think this card is not bad. It has the same converted casting cost as Thirst for Knowledge, and could dig one card deeper. It has no synergies with Goblin Welder though, it's not an instant and its not pitching into a Force of Will. But its still an interesting card.

[Saya]

This would be the best card in Theros at the moment.With some drain,it is playable in Vintage.

[evouga]

I would probably play this if it were an instant. As it is, I'd be paying an awful lot for the extra card relative to current diggers like Impulse.

[d8dk32]

If it were an instant it would be insane.

After further thought, I've revised my opinion on it a bit. It's probably worth testing in lists that run Night's Whisper. I suppose I wouldn't be surprised if this became a commonly seen card. In decks with a lot of artifact mana that are looking to quickly put together a time vault or tinker kill this could be pretty strong. I can also see a number of other decks running 2 or so as a supplement to existing draw engines.

[MaximumCDawg]

This card is fine.  Cost is tolerable, power level is appropriate for Vintage.  Grab the best 2 cards out of your top 4?  Not too shabby! 

Sadly, Impulse is just better, I think.  Can't see why you'd ever use this instead.

[AmbivalentDuck]

Sadly, Impulse is just better, I think.  Can't see why you'd ever use this instead.

Because you lack access to blue. That said, I'm not convinced it's better than Sylvan Library.

[StanleyAugust]

This card is fine.  Cost is tolerable, power level is appropriate for Vintage.  Grab the best 2 cards out of your top 4?  Not too shabby! 

Sadly, Impulse is just better, I think.  Can't see why you'd ever use this instead.

But you aren't really grabbing the best 2 cards out of the top 4. Unless you get lucky.

[Saya]

I feel impulse is a different matter

[Random Noob]

This one makes card advantage, Impulse doesn't. Sylvan Libraray also makes you wait a turn, and i likely would splash more black into Drains than green.

[d8dk32]

The main advantage of this over Impulse is that this is actual card advantage. The main advantage of this over Sylvan Library is that it happens right now, and doesn't cost as much life per card.