Tamiyo's Journal - Shadows Over Innistrad Rare Card Review

by Richard Rowell, Gaming Successfully Staff

Tamiyo’s Journal is an interesting twist on the Investigate mechanic from Shadows Over Innistrad. Investigate allows you to put a Clue artifact into play. Its purpose: you can sacrifice it for 2 generic mana to draw a card. This Legendary Artifact lets you investigate at the beginning of each of your upkeep steps. Then, you can tap it to sacrifice three Clues and tutor up any card from your deck to your hand. This seems pretty helpful. But on a 5 mana artifact, it seems like it’s not going to be much of a deal in Constructed, unless you can build a deck around Investigate to the point where you can tutor up something as soon as you cast it.

The real power of Tamiyo’s Journal will likely be unleashed in Commander. Decks that care about artifacts, in particular, should really enjoy the free Clue every turn. Red artifact decks, such as Daretti, Scrap Savant and Kurkesh, Onakke Ancient, can especially use the free source of card draw. They’re also cheap artifacts that can be sacrificed for gain. One ability that comes to mind immediately is that of Goblin Welder. He can sacrifice the Clue token and bring back any artifact from your graveyard.

Clues are definitely a curious new addition to Magic. But Tamiyo’s Journal appears to have finally made them relevant enough to be splash-able in a ton of Commander decks. It’s also solid in Limited, where any card advantage is welcome. To have a tutor for the best card in your draft deck also can’t be underestimated. This is a really solid card. Will it be part of a greater strategy in Standard? That’s hard to say. But this could become a staple in a number of Commander decks.

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