Bauble You?

When people ask you if you have a favorite card, does one immediately spring to mind?

I’ll admit that, no, for me there are too many “good” cards to choose from for one to immediately stand out when someone asks about a favorite. After the shock of the initial question wears off, though, it’s always Urza’s Bauble.

You’re thinking it’s lackluster, right? Yeah, doesn’t really have an effect on the game, you have to wait to draw a card, gets killed by Karn, it’s just kinda bad. About the best it could do would be the things that people do with jank artifacts, right? Power up their Tolarian Academy, sacrifice en masse to Atog or Arcbound Ravager with Disciple of the Vault in play, drop on an opponent’s head with Shrapnel Blast, feed to Yawgmoth’s Demon, you know, the usual stuff.

I say, no.

Dude, it’s like playing 56 cards in your deck!

Where I come from, we call that cheating, but with Urza’s Bauble it’s totally legal! The effect it gives is negligible, but it requires no actual resources, so who cares? If it was an actual cantrip instead of a “slowtrip” it would be played in every format it’s legal in because there would be no reason not to.

So there were a lot of decks that I built back in the day using colors that aren’t really known for drawing cards (i.e. white, black, red and green) that included, or rather started with, 4x Urza’s Bauble. One of my favorite decks was this (since I haven’t posted any sort of list in a while):

4x Urza’s Bauble
2x Grafted Skullcap

4x Cabal Coffers
18x Swamps
4x Lion’s Eye Diamond
4x Blood Pet
4x Dark Ritual

3x Pestilence
4x Nakaya Shade
4x Looming Shade
4x Dungeon Shade
3x Drain Life
2x Diabolic Edict

Oh, it was broken. This was before people (namely those in my playgroup) had decided that Lion’s Eye Diamond had some sort of untapped potential for destruction. I showed that shades were the most broken creature type in the game, especially in decks that made pantloads of black mana. Also, Nakaya Shade is just as good as Nantuko Shade because it retails for $16 less.

Urza’s Bauble was used to let me see more cards during my turn, which I then looked forward to discarding to Grafted Skullcap. Better yet, it didn’t tie up my mana, ever. I got to draw cards for free! Even though it was delayed until the beginning of my next turn. Plus, there’s nothing quite like threatening to tap your Bauble (heh heh) in response to some huge threat your opponent plays.

Seeing extra cards is such a good thing. When you’re drawing four cards to your opponent’s one, you just get that warm feeling of winning (or incontinence).

I’m sure you’re wondering where I’m going with all of this. Well, I’ve got news for you:

Mishra’s Bauble
Artifact 0
T, Sacrifice Mishra’s Bauble: Look at the top card of target player’s library. Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep.

They’re baaaa-aaabck!

Is it as good as Urza’s Bauble? My guess is, it’s better in certain decks. I have a feeling it breaks dredge wide open, so all you Friggorid players pay attention.

Friggorid is an undeniably fast and dangerous deck, but it’s also very fragile. In many games, the only protection or hate it sees come in the top ten cards of its library. After that, everything gets dredged and goes away (except for Cabal Therapy, which is what makes that card so good).

I’ve been advocating that to be a better deck, Friggorid needs to see and be able to play more of its cards. It has an expensive and powerful package of black and artifact control that so often goes to waste because 90% of the deck ends up as filler around dredgers, threats, and Cabal Therapies. Plus, seeing more cards usually means drawing more cards, which means more dredge power.

Jeff agrees with me and, as such, has tried Skullclamp and Mystic Remora in the deck to varying but disappointing results.

Think about Mishra’s Bauble, though.

First and most importantly, it gives you a draw and a possible dredge. Better than that, though, it lets you look at the top card of your library before you decide whether to dredge or draw.

Peep this:

“At the end of your turn, Bauble myself.”

[Looks at top card, sees Pithing Needle or Brainstorm or Time Walk]

“During my upkeep, I put Ichorid abilities on the stack, put Bauble draw on the stack. I’ll draw for the Bauble. Ichorid abilities still on the stack, I’ll play Brainstorm.”

Alternately:

“At the end of your turn, Bauble myself.”

[Looks at top card, sees Ashen Ghoul or Golgari Stinkpalm or Leyline of the Void]

“During my upkeep, I put Ichorid abilities on the stack, put Bauble draw on the stack. I’ll dredge Stinkweed Imp for the Bauble draw.”

Did you see how that worked? If you didn’t want the card you saw with the Bauble, you could dredge it away. If you wanted the card, you could draw it. The best part is that it fits perfectly into Friggorid’s mana curve of “I’m not paying mana for anything I don’t have to, especially not a win condition.”

So, potentially, Mishra’s Bauble is at least something worth testing in Friggorid.

Otherwise, I don’t know. I mean, like I said, draw effects are always nice, especially when they’re free. Mishra’s Bauble will probably meet the same detraction that Urza’s Bauble did, namely that there’s usually something better to play than a card draw that doesn’t happen immediately, even if it is free.

For me personally, I don’t think I’ll ever leave the warm and supple safety of Urza’s Baubles.