New Fact or fiction/Intuition! Kamigawa hot off the press!

[The Grim Reaper]

2 words:

Holy crap!

This has potential use in almost any deck. It is very very very powerful and discussion and testing must begin immediately! I'm going to try to work this into draw7 and others.

Discuss!

Edit: Just saw post in community forum, but here Basic Members can discuss this card.

[Xman]

I was a little excited earlier, but I think it could work in combo, dragon, maybe Hulk with some kind of crazy DA/AK engine.

Has possibilities.

[Gabethebabe]

NOT impressed.

I don´t like the clausula that the cards have to be different. Your opponent tells you what cards to keep. This means you just lost your two best cards.

I don´t think this will be very playable. It is certainly inferior to Intuition and IMHO also to FoF.

[goober]

i dont think this is very good.  you cant get 3 aks, 3 das or anything abusive like intuition.  not only that you need to get 4 different cards, and you get the worst 2.  while this might seem nice for a deck with a lot of 1 ofs, it cant get you anything great. if you try to get will or a bomb with it, the bomb is in the yard.  if you need an swer to something, you better run at least 3 different answers.  no fof and take the answer you need, no intuition for drain or fow x3, just badness.  using it as a set up card for will is retarded, will is broken enough already.

[Phele]

This WILL get some use in combo decks. Imagine TPS: EoT get Bargain/Desire/Will/Something. Your turn: win.

[rvs]

This WILL get some use in combo decks. Imagine TPS: EoT get Bargain/Desire/Will/Something. Your turn: win.

Intuition doesn't get used either, so I doubt this will, as it is a whopping 4 mana. If I wanted to play bombs in a combo deck that cost 4 mana, I would play something else :p

[FrenchBob]

Good, but stricly inferior to Intuition or Fact or Fiction IMHO.

I don't like the fact to choose four different cards, it is sooo restrictive.

[Nastaboi]

One way to get maximum card advantage/tutoring power out of this is to fetch Regrowth/Eternal Wittness/2 wanted cards. And still it is SO slow compared to Intuition/Demonic Tutor.

[rozetta]

Getting AK x 4 (or AK x 3 + Regrowth if you're already holding one AK) is one use for this (in which case it's like a double Intuition) which strikes me as half decent for the extra colorless mana.

It functions like Intuition in the way that if you want to fetch a 3-of, you still get one of those cards, plus something else. However, you can use this to your advantage in situations where that 4th card can be as useful in the graveyard. Examples of this include setting up Ironworks (3 x Myr Retrievers, 1 x Skullclamp), Crucible (3 x Crucible, 1 x Strip Mine), Rector (3 x Rector, 1 x Therapy) or Salvagers (3 x Salvagers, 1 x Lotus).

Cabal Therapy is not a bad target for other decks either - you'll get to cast at least 2 Therapies which is brutal, plus one more for each creature you control (think Therapy/Skullclamp combined with this in the right deck, for instance). You can, for instance, intersperse this with Duresses if you already used a Therapy.

Basically it comes down to whether your deck is suited to being able to cast something like this early and reliably enough. Perhaps it could see application in something U/B with Dark Rituals as a setup card (such as a TPS variant).

I think the card has more potential than it initially seems. Compare it to something like Deep Analysis which draws you 2 cards for the same price but at sorcery speed. Gifts Ungiven does always net you a card, at instant speed and is a skill-tester which is always good for playing mind games and off-balancing the opponent (by just fetching 4 random cards).

[Thug]

It does have some uses, but it's pretty costy.
Getting 2 AK is pretty decent, as is tutoring for 3 rectors and a therapy.

Outside of Rector combo it's probably too expensive for the threats it produces in combo deck, and aggro(control) doesnt want 4cc cards, so this basicly has to fit into Rector or some kind of weird control if ever used.

But feel free to prove me wrong  

Koen

[Jeikki]

Rozetta: Those examples you gave don't work because the card requires 4 different cards to be searched...

[TheDeadMan]

Rozetta plz read the card next time, you HAVE to get four DIFFRENT cards. The only use I am seeing for this card might be some weird madness build, but even in that bazaar/carefull study is alot better.

[Willforce]

mmm different names....

so u can lose 2 good card i think it's not a very simply choose.

[Nastaboi]

Search your library for four cards with different names and reveal them. Target opponent chooses two of those cards. Put the chosen cards into your graveyard and the rest into your hand. Then shuffle your library.

Andy, it seems like you've been reading the card a bit too hasty. You can fetch only one of each card.

EDIT: Oh I really wasn't first to notice your mistake.

[Thug]

Damn, that decreases the power level a lot.

Reading = tech  

[Arvid]

Perhaps a deck with 4 or more cards that work in the graveyard could make use of this card as Intuition #5. Something like Ashen Ghoul / Squee, Goblin Nabob / Deep Analysis / Accumulated Knowledge. But do you ever want more than 4 Intuitions in the same deck?

[AIcOPed]

I think this will work where you need a certain card and you have at least two ways to pull stuff from the grave. for example you might need balance, so you cast this and get yawg will, regrowth, balance, and ancestral recall. you will cast balance next turn w/ an ancestral to boot.

This card will be better thatn most people think imo. i think using it for a intuition is the wrong way to think of it.

imagine the shear brokenness of just getting a gorilla shaman, balance, mana drain, FoW. You are either getting a counter or two, or destroying their board. I think 4cc will best exploit this.

[Covetous]

I think that for the 4cc, this card is a little weak.  However, it could be useful in welder-based decks where putting cards in the yard is a good thing, or to set up for a big Yawgwin.  But again, I think that the 3cc intuition is strictly superior.  I mean, find a single time when this card is better than intuition.  Most of the time, decks choose to run 2-4 of the best answer/threat (unless it is restricted), rather than 1 each of both good and mediocre answers.  Sure, if you run diabolic edict, chainer's edict, STP and fire/ice this card might be okay because you can get two answers for the price of one card, but if you're going to play these cards, wouldn't intuition for 3 chainer's edicts be better anyway (and yet still weak)?  So, I defy those proponents of this card to come up with a single situation where this card is better than Intuition in Vintage.  Maybe this card could be playable in type 2 or extended, but that's not what we care about here, is it?

[theorigamist]

I think this card lends itself to a budget, Bazaarless Dragon.  With Bazaar, there's no reason to use this overcosted tutor in addition to your already powerful draw engine to find the cards.  But the four cards would be Dance of the Dead, Animate Dead, Necromancy, and a Dragon.  And they'll give you Dragon and an animate effect and you just need to discard the Dragon to win.

EDIT:  Oh yeah, and this will be abused in mono blue.  You can EOT get four different counters and you'll always keep two of them.  It'll serve basically the same function Fact or Fiction did when you could run 4 of them, and you can run four of these.

[SliverKing]

This card lends itself to losing.

Think really hard and try to come up with a situation where you want this over intuition.    .    .

Every situation you can think of where this card would be ok, intuition does the same thing, and cheaper.

[thorme]

This card lends itself to losing.

Think really hard and try to come up with a situation where you want this over intuition.    .    .

I agree that this card is nothing to get excited about in Type 1.   However, I think there are situations that this is preferrable to Intuition.

When you compare to Intuition, you are looking at the card as a tutor.  In this respect, it is far inferior to Intuition, I'll give you that.  

However, if you chose to view the card as card-drawing, with a touch of control over what 2 cards you get...it performs this function better than Intuition.   In a  deck like 4CC, I would rather play this than Intution if I had one open spot that I was playing around with.  You can simply use it for 4 strong cards and think of the card as 3U:  Draw 2 really good cards.

<Note:  this is a hypothetical example...I would not personally even bother to test this in 4CC, as there seem to be much better options.  Instead I'm just trying to add to the discussion by giving some food for thought>

[Hi-Val]

This looks abusable in decks that run Will and Regrowth. Which is nothing now, but that doesn't speak for the future.

This looks really hot in T4. REALLY hot.

Also, Restock is bomby with this.

[TheRock]

Fact or Fiction doesn't thin your deck though.  This new card literally reverses the effect of running fetchlands by making you thin good answers out of your deck instead of near-useless lands.  

This card should never be played in any control deck that isn't 4CC.  4CC has enough restricted cards to merit the inclusion of this new card.  Landstill, Fish, and Mono-U don't need, or want, a card that costs 3U and thins out good late-game answers when there draws are so meaningful.

[Limbo]

This looks abusable in decks that run Will and Regrowth. Which is nothing now, but that doesn't speak for the future.

Hi-Val beat me to it. This card may not be as good as intuition in decks that run intuition atm, but this card certainly has potential to work around with in new deck(s), or change some card choices in existing decks to abuse this card.

[MisterShark]

This card differs from Intuition in it's objective; Intuition is single-mindedly focused on one goal, whereas this card can accomplish multiple goals simultaneously in the right deck.
For example, let's take this deck posted by JP.  With Crucible and Survival in play I'd grab on opponent's EOT: Squee, Wasteland, Strip Mine, and Genesis (or DA, or something along those lines).
I would be looking to multi-task my land destructive capabilities (facilitated by Crucible) and draw ability (facilitated by Survival).

In 4cC I'd likely fetch Strip, Wasteland, and perhaps 2 fetchies, provided I already managed to get Crucible into play.  I'm not saying that I'm running right out and buying my foil copy of this card to immediately throw into my already way-too-tight 4cC, but I think that it might be wrong to dismiss this card so quickly.

[BreathWeapon]

This card completely circumvents Chains of Mephistopheles. You could build a Control deck designed to play Chains and then circumvent the symmetry with Gifts Ungiven.

Being able to Gifts Ungiven for 1 Gifts Ungiven, 1 Force of Will, 1 Mana Drain and 1 Mana Leak seems fairly strong to me.

Screw the Grave Yard synergy, it looks like a total waste of time. Although, you can dump Strip Mine in the yard if your playing with Crucibles. Hmm ...

Yeah, this card definately has a lot of potential. People should stop thinking about what decks Gifts Ungiven should go in, and start thinking about what kind of a deck should be built around Gifts Ungiven.

[Hi-Val]

People don't seem to realize that this can put two cards OF YOUR CHOICE IN YOUR HAND at INSTANT SPEED. Do you think monoblue is gonna care about what counterspells you're giving them? No, they just tutored for two of them.

Animate/Necromancy/Dance of the Dead/Bazaar or Ancestral is tight as well.

[serialjester]

I like the artwork as well, it has a great aura, very alluring. 2nd the vote for Drew Tucker and Harold Mcneill.

With a large number of decks utilizing the graveyard as a resource, the drawback really doesn't matter. The presence of Yawgmoth's Will is also contrary to the drawback, as you go get 4 different broken things, your opponent gives you 2 of them, you play them, Will, and then play all 4 of them. Granted this is an extreme situation, but this obviously can happen. Goblin Welder also likes this card, as does Crucible. Casting this and going to get all your sideboard/maindeck hate would be fun as well. I'll try it out, as it's the kind of card I like. I bet the foil is amazing.

[Mixing Mike]

See, this card has a lot of good stuff going for it.  Deck thinning is some good I hear, and I can see this setting up some awesome welding targets.  It seems sick in Dragon (Squee, Dragon, Win condition, __card__), and this thing will set up some nasty Yawg. Wills (tutor x2, Lotus, some broken card they can't let you have).

I think it will be seen mostly in Dragon and welder.dec.  I just wouldn't give it to much hype right now....

[wonkey_donkey]

This has a lot going for it. It's a super-intuition in the right deck, and you will get 2 cards from your deck in your hand at instant speed. Slightly prohibitive cmc, but otherwise it's quite handy. A card with potential, but no more than that - it's not obviously fantastic.

Deck thinning is some good I hear

Can people stop saying this? The whole point about deck thinning is to get rid of cards that you don't want to draw (see:Fetchlands). If you are genuinely thinning your deck, then you're just spending 4 mana to get nothing very exciting. Alternatively you get 4 cards out of your deck, only 2 of which can be used. It thins your deck in a very non-beneficial way.

Sorry to be irritable.

Tom