Sagas have undoubtedly been one of the best additions to MTG in recent years. As a new card type, they provide opportunities for interesting design and layered gameplay. As a storytelling device, they bring sections of the lore to life in a way regular cards can’t. Several have been truly playable cards, too. Just look at Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Urza’s Saga. Looking to join this venerable lineup in Duskmourn we have The Tale of Tamiyo, the first-ever Legendary Saga in MTG. Based on its powerful effects, it may well prove worthy of that status in Standard and beyond.
The Tale Of Tamiyo MTG
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Text: (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after 4.) 1-3: Mill two cards. If two cards that share a card type were milled this way, draw a card and repeat this process. 4: Exile any number of target instant, sorcery, and/or Tamiyo planeswalker cards from your graveyard. Copy them. You may cast any number of the copies.
Though The Tale of Tamiyo has four chapters, it only has two effects. The first three chapters do a good impression of a self-targeting Grindstone effect, albeit one that cares about card type and not color. Coming into a Standard format where Delirium is present, this effect makes a lot of sense. Hitting Delirium is easier if you run cards with multiple types, like artifact creatures or enchantment lands. Cards like this will also improve the consistency of this card’s first few chapters. The fact this card self-mills you will also help to turn on Delirium as well, so it’s a win-win.
Unlike Grindstone, The Tale of Tamiyo doesn’t just give you more mill if you line up two matching cards. It lets you draw an extra card, too. That’s a big difference and one that elevates this above a simple enabler for Delirium decks. An enterprising player going by Adross12345 on Reddit dove into the precise math behind the card, and worked out how well it would perform on average. Their findings suggest that, in a deck built with Tale in mind, you’ll draw two and mill 10. This is a great deal in my book.
Of course, that’s saying nothing of the final chapter, which is arguably the best part of the card. When it hits chapter four, The Tale of Tamiyo lets you recast instants, sorceries, and Tamiyo planeswalkers from your graveyard. Quite specific, but very powerful. Obviously, this synergizes with the self-mill of the earlier chapters since you can load up your yard with spells to recast. The fact that you have full control over the cards exiled is also nice. This allows you to keep Delirium online, and only exile the cards you have the mana to pay for.
Hundreds Of Stories
There’s a lot of nuance to this card, and a lot of power also, to the point where I could easily see The Tale of Tamiyo being run in multiple MTG formats. Looking at Standard first of all, it seems like a very easy addition to the likes of Domain Ramp. Recasting Sunfall or Herd Migration from the graveyard is a lot of value in the late game, whether you use Migration’s ‘Channel’ effect or just mill it in with Tale. The staggered card draw is great for Control, too.
If Domain Ramp doesn’t work out, there’s always Dimir Midrange. This deck is quite neatly split between creatures and instants for the most part. This means Tale’s extra draw will be very consistent. Dimir Midrange also plays nicely from the graveyard, so the mill will come in handy for binning those Push//Pull targets. As with Domain Ramp, this deck also plays plenty of cheap instants and sorceries, so the final chapter can deliver some nice bonus value. You can even throw in Encroaching Mycosynth as a hilarious combo piece if you want to mill most of your deck.
Of course, even if these Standard dreams don’t come to fruition, The Tale of Tamiyo will almost certainly see play in Commander. The fact that the card references Tamiyo planeswalkers makes it a shoo-in for any kind of Tamiyo theme deck. That said, the ability to cast instants and sorceries from your graveyard is what will really give this card its shot. There are undoubtedly some wild combos that this card enables, by chaining ritual effects and draw spells into a big Storm finish. In that sense, it feels a bit like a new take on Past in Flames, albeit one that can enable itself with the self-mill.
To Be Continued?
So The Tales of Tamiyo will probably be a playable MTG card, that isn’t much of a mystery. On a lore level, this card raises a lot of questions, however. For those who follow the story, you’ll know that Tamiyo has really been through the multiversal wringer lately. She was compleated during the Phyrexian Invasion, and killed multiple times, eventually returning as an embodiment of her long-running Journal. This version was then destroyed by Nashi in the Duskmourn story, to prevent Valgavoth from learning the secrets of the multiverse.
Tamiyo should be pretty much written out of the story at this point, then. This Saga suggests otherwise though. The fact that it interacts with Tamiyo planeswalker cards, but we don’t have any in Standard right now, to me implies that the character will be making a triumphant return soon. It’s very unlikely that WotC would print a card into Standard with an ability that could never be used in Standard, after all. The fact that the ability brings a Tamiyo back from the dead supports this theory further.
That said, this could well be nothing but a tribute to Tamiyo rather than a hint at future plot development. Unlike past Standard cards that referenced specific other cards, like Renowned Weaponsmith, The Tale of Tamiyo could actually function in older formats if no other Tamiyo cards were printed into Standard. If that were the case it would rankle the anti ‘for Commander’ design crowd for sure, but it’s not outwith the realm of possibility. It’s not like recasting Tamiyo planeswalkers would even be the main reason to run this card, anyway, unless a cheap new Tamiyo made its debut.
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