The WORST Tutors EVER PRINTED in Magic: the Gathering

[@ianunderwood1678]

Trapmaker's Snare is actually seeing top modern play in Mill decks, to grab the milling trap and acting as a 2 mana mill card. There's a reasonable chance it gets points using your normal point system soon.

[@vanblod9338]

If/when that does happen, I wonder what will be the new number 10

[@alp627]

So basically it's just a way to more consistently hit Archive Trap whenever an opponent cracks a fetch?

[@ich3730]

Trapmakers snare is powercrept demonic tutor, yet its "worse" then so many dogshit cards on the list because its archetype happened to turn out bad, thats kinda sad honestly. Replace "trap" on the card with any semi-popular type and its instantly a broken staple.

[@ianunderwood1678]

@@alp627 Yep, or hold up interaction on the opponent's turn, if they do nothing then tutor end of turn, and setup for a forced search with Field of Ruin later.

[@irou95]

Yeah those cards are vintage staples as well, I immediately thought that that card seems playable as an instant

[@mikotagayuna8494]

Assembly Hall is so bad that the art itself is glaring accusingly at its own text box.

[@ElPanadero18]

Thank you for tutoring us on this subject.

[@Crunchatize_Me_Senpai]

Top 10 Best Tutors Number 1: Nizzahon

[@chaoticklutz3633]

One big thing you forgot to mention with Mangara's Tome is that whenever you lose control of the tome, you also lose those cards in exile. So your opponents can just let you go get your cards, and the second you got your pile under the tome, they can just kill or exile or even take control of the tome and there goes your plans.

[@therealHLY]

isn't trapmakers snare seeing play in modern mill decks? sure theyre not the most widely played or powerful deck but they're definatly there, since the mill trap is one of their wincons

[@MagicNumberArg]

Remember, every changeling is a merchenary (or rebel) 😉

[@nickfifteen]

Legit question: are there any 1 CMC Changeling?

[@Hornet-bz4xg]

yeah there is@@nickfifteen

[@MagicNumberArg]

@@nickfifteen 2 or 3. Black unblockable, blue flyer.

[@thesamuraiman]

​@@MagicNumberArg 1 blue, 1 black, 1 colorless. (1 white tribal instant that can't be tutored)

[@ich3730]

*its actually never a mercenary *or* rebel, its always both

[@BCWasbrough]

The most common use for Mangara's Tome was to thin unwanted land from your library in the mid to late game. As an actual tutor, it wasn't great, but for this, it was okay. Certainly made having the Tome bounced or destroyed less painful.

[@andrewsparkes6275]

Mana Severance only costs 2 and can get rid of all unwanted lands once you have enough, though. So even compared to another card that does the same thing for that usage, it's still terrible!

[@BCWasbrough]

@@andrewsparkes6275Depends on the format, and if Mana Severance was legal or available. Though I completely agree, the Tome isn't great.

[@michaelsparks1571]

I'd argue that Distant Memories is actually worse than Library of Lat-Nam. It has a similar "opponent chooses" effect between a Tutor or Draw 3, but actually makes you search for, and exile (face-up) the card first. At least with Library, your opponent might not know what card you wanna tutor for, but Memories the information is right there. And since the card is now out of your deck, there's no way to still hit that copy on the "Draw 3" side, meaning there's fewer left in the deck to possible draw a copy as well. The planeswalker precon tutors could have potentially been more useful and seen some amount of play if they tutored ANY planeswalker of that type, instead of only the specific face card version by name.

[@martonlerant5672]

Trapmaker's snare does actually see play in a modern deck that semi viable - mill. There it acting as copies 5,6,7 & 8 of archive trap for 1U is more than decent.

[@ich3730]

its an insanely broken card, literally just better demonic tutor :D Its only fault is that its archetype is bad, the moment a new trap deck gets printed this thing will become a staple.

[@scottmorrison3929]

Uh oh, a list of the worst tutors in the game? Wonder which one is in my decks. > Demonic Collusion. There it is.

[@biobroly9324]

Number 6 looks like Tom Green from Freddy Got Fingered

[@guilhermeribeiromichelino3852]

I saw a lot of Demonic Collusion back when I started playing EDH (2011). It was pretty good with Damia

[@Paulthored]

8:02 The Honorable Mention type tutor, actually had a Pre-constructed Deck built around that ability. It was a Green Deck... _or at least the 3 creature's featuring that ability were._ I wanna say that it was a Nemesis or Mercadian Masques Deck? A (2)(G) elf... something Wolf... and a 4/3 Wurm, which was the Deckbox Image. I remember being able to really go off, Drawing upwards of 9 extra Creature's by turns 10-11. Literally going through about half of the deck.

[@hiimemily]

How bad is Assembly Hall? Even Rat Colony and Persistent Petitioners decks dare not play it for being too slow.

[@MainTopmastStaysail]

I don't know about calling Avatar a tutor. There's a lot of badly overpriced artifact fixing I'd put over that if we're counting searching basic lands as tutoring. This has a use case as a group hug rap card. Braidwood Sextant is bad even if you want a 1-drop artifact that tutors up basics. And why Avatar over Rootweaver Druid? In Commander they're nearly the same card but Avatar has a better body and lets you choose what basics you get. Persuader can also get changelings. Still bad but it's worth mentioning because that more than doubles its card pool.

[@kennethmurray9003]

I love tutors. I have all but 2 on here. Avatar of growth, but that's really a ramp spell, and the trap tutor. The trap tutor might work in a mill deck as it gets archive trap which mills 13. Archive trap and is used in cEDH to mess up vamp tutor.

[@yawg691]

Snare sees actual play but yeah I agree with a lot of this

[@krisdaschwab912]

1:30 Just wreck your opponents with Opposition Agent.

[@neco-arc]

Before watching I’m expecting rhystic tutor :3

[@andyspendlove1019]

In Modern Horizons 6, they’ll print a Changeling Ragavan and then Cateran Persuader will get the last laugh 😂

[@nihar2009]

Woah...hhah trapmaker snare works perfectly fine in modern . Too Harsh hahahaha

[@Vearru]

I used to run a legion conquistador + battalion foot soldier + induced amnesia deck to essentially turn the creatures into 3 mana draw 3 good cards while thinning my deck.

[@kingginger3335]

I like using the Rebels with Maskwood Nexus to search my library for any creature. The same could work with the Mercenaries, just not as good.

[@ClexYoshi]

to be perfectly fair to Cateran Persuader, I think that there is a non-zero chance that a universes beyond product incorperates a mercenary that happens to be a 1-drop that could potentially give him a shot at maybe seeing play, but I also recognize it's on a 2 mana body that's summoning sick and that at that point you might as well play any of the other amazing tutors available in legacy.

[@nathanl8622]

That also relies on a 1-drop mercenary so good you'd want to run tutors specifically to power it out.

[@ich3730]

if we ever get star wars UB, Han solo is a good candidate for that. Making him shoot first on turn 1 would be kinda sick

[@Kasigi03]

I feel like Mangar's Tome could be sick in an Urza Tron, colorless deck. Sol Ring to help out that mana and such.

[@brianmartodam1114]

Years ago I built a casual Aurochs deck that ran Assembly Hall as a "reusable Aurochs Herd"...even with mega mana it still sucked. There's just no redemption for that card.

[@ianh1504]

The avatar is a pretty good combo with things that punish people searching their libraries

[@thomasmcmahan2631]

Except it doesn't because its not a mandatory tutor. There's very few cards in the game that force your opponents to tutor.

[@TheSquareOnes]

@@thomasmcmahan2631 Sure, but it breaks the symmetry if they choose to avoid the punishment. No strong opinion on the card since I haven't played MTG in a decade but with enough players I'm not sure the symmetry is even that bad though, is powercreep so extreme that a 2-3 mana 4/4 is unplayable?

[@thomasmcmahan2631]

@@TheSquareOnes yes. Very low impact. And giving your opponents lands it huge downside. Look up a card called assasin's trophy. That card isn't even good enough

[@yawg691]

@TheSquareOnes in commander? Yeah a creature with those stats and gives people lands is downright terrible comparatively.

[@ich3730]

@@yawg691 Its really not, its a great card for casual tables. Big beaters are fun to play and fixing everyones mana makes you the homie of the table.

[@kingginger3335]

Avatar of Growth is a great card in commander! Even if it helps your opponents, by the time you play, you're gonna have some sweet landfall triggers. It's no Primeval Titan. But I've had games where I have Omnath Locus of Creation and Roil Elemental on the battlefield. It's better than you might think.

[@Y2KNW]

Mercenaries need to make a comeback. The idea's sound, we just need more cost-effective mercenaries.

[@thedragonslibrary]

Actually, the mercenary can grab changeling outcast. Getting an unblockable creatures should've bumped him off this list.

[@BCWasbrough]

Changeling wasn't a creature type back when the mercenary was printed. It took over ten years to get marginally better.

[@nathanl8622]

@@BCWasbrough This list isn't covering how good they were when they were printed, it's looking at what they can do now. The Persuader is still very bad, but later cards that make it slightly better do count in its favor.

[@nicholas8739]

It finds a 1/1 unblockable changeling and that's the only relevant thing it can do. Still worth being on this list.

[@woodysmith2681]

Bifurcate could work in an Oath of Druids deck, since those creatures tend to be big and costly. That said, getting Oath out, keeping it out, and having Bifurcate in your hand to play at curve is narrow.

[@ich3730]

ah but if an oath of druids deck has a creature out, it has won already. Plus the finishers are all legendary ( Big G, emrakul, atraxa etc )

[@RocketVamp]

Oof. I actually used to run Mangara's Tome, until Parallel Thoughts came along. Though I've since stopped using either for more efficient tutors. Assembly Hall is another I used to have in one of my binders, but i dont think i ever considered using despite my love of jank.

[@devononair]

Amazingly, some decks on EDHRec actually include Assembly Hall.

[@TheLuckySpades]

Surprised Noble Benefactor isn't in this list I ddcided against running it in my River Song deck because giving all my opponents the option for unconditional turoring scares me

[@twitchster77]

I let my friend borrow a Demonic Tutor for his Commander deck. Worst tutor ever! He spent like 20 freaking minutes going through is freaking deck having no idea what to freaking get. Freaking hell >:(

[@matthewollar9842]

It was bound to happen…lay it on us Nizzahon!

[@Vuohenmor]

Surprised diabolic tutor didn’t make the list since surely a 4 mana tutor is as bad as a 5 mana one.

[@dustfinger_until_dawn]

Do skyship weatherlight and ring of three wishes count because both are very cost inefficient

[@NizzahonMagic]

They do count, and neither are great. But they ARE repeatable and don't do something like force you to replace a regular draw (Mangara's Tome), so they are better than the cards on this list.

[@NonEntityDan]

Ehhhhhhh I really wouldn't lump mercenary/rebel or specific Planeswalker search as full-on tutors. Its gotta search for a whole card type (or maybe cards of a set mana value), not just a type of creature/ land/spell.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Most players have a much broader definition of tutor than you do. As does WotC.

[@matthewollar9842]

Bifurcate might be playable in a Temur EDH deck. You could copy it to get Petitioners or Slimes. or Sultai to get Apostles 🤷‍♂️. VERY niche but not unplayable, IMO

[@MrABK108]

Avatar of growth is amazing in Phelddagriff group hug!

[@CunningLingu1st]

Bifurcate’s artwork is my sleep paralysis demon

[@itsmeagain250]

Very surprised to not see Demonic Bargain. I don't imagine exiling the top 13 could ever be worth a single card, especially with the very real chance to exile multiple copies of it or the card in edh.

[@YourAdHere4]

eh, it’s a terrible card but in edh, given you have a degree of combo redundancy, it’s basically a 3 mana demonic tutor

[@Crockist]

Wow, I was so prepared for the planeswalker deck tutors to place high here but they only placed 8th? It's not like I disagree, I'm just sort of surprised how worse the other 7 are.

[@destructimus]

Hot take here, but I dont hate rhystic tutor. In a reasonably competitive 1vs1 game you are usually tapping all your mana, so that 'pay 2' drawback doesnt come up often as youd think.

[@stigmaoftherose]

Whenever i play rystic tutor in edh no one ever pays becuase everyone has 2 mana open and they all bicker over who should pay so no one does.

[@SomeGuy712x]

Since this is Top 10 #712, I guess I feel obligated to comment on this one. Part of me wants to consider using Bifurcate for a Biovisionary deck, but I'm sure there are way better options, like the myriad of cloning cards that exist. Also, since Changeling Outcast exists now, that's something potentially worthwhile for Cateran Persuader to tutor for.

[@dustfinger_until_dawn]

Bifurcate could work in commander with spy kit but it still seems bad because green has better ways to do this

[@TheGloriousLobsterEmperor]

Ahhh bad cards, there are few things I love more than absolutely shit pieces of cardboard. I look forward to these worst of lists almost as much as I look forward to "Top 10 Vintage Cards (Minus Power 9)"!

[@johngleeman8347]

I always wonder how much less mana each of the cards in these lists would have to cost to become enticing for people to play. XD

[@catoticneutral]

Isn't Bifurcate kinda just a clone effect? That doesn't seem that bad, there are cheaper clone effects though.

[@NizzahonMagic]

It's a really, really bad clone effect, since you need other copies of the card and your opponent can 2-for-1 you with ease.

[@catoticneutral]

@@NizzahonMagic Getting 2-for-1'd with it does sound pretty bad, although on the other hand it does have some advantages over normal clone effects since you're putting an actual second copy of that creature onto the field rather than a clone of it. If that creature has a strong etb you can freely flicker it even when the original is gone, or if it has some sort of effect that activates in the graveyard it'll work normally. Obviously you'd want to use a better clone card instead if you can't fully take advantage of those differences.

[@GellyVelly]

I actually dont think Demonic Collusion is thaaat bad. I mean obvsy its not great and there's a bunch of WAY better tutors but I run it in a few commander decks where the entire deck is based around getting a specific combo so Im running just about every tutor I can fit in the deck. At very worse its an overcosted tutor that can still tutor for a game winning card and at best i've had times where I had enough cards in hand that I was able to actually pay the buyback and have it tutor for BOTH combo pieces. So for sure, its def not great but I wouldn't say its "top ten worst" at all.

[@MihaelGeng]

Exactly! 👍

[@ceulgai2817]

Imo, cards that search for basic lands and put them on the battlefield (such as Rampant Growth) shouldn't count as tutors. They're essentially "make a basic land token" without the hassle.

[@NizzahonMagic]

You say that as if "Make a basic land token" is a common thing.

[@ich3730]

@@NizzahonMagic pretty certain it would be if the game didnt start in paper. Cards like cultivate have so many words on them, meanwhile the exact same effect in hearthstone is exactly 3 words and one number.

[@ceulgai2817]

@@NizzahonMagic Exactly, so much hassle

[@peterklein3354]

Not that it is a good card, but rhystic tutor works well in land-destruction decks

[@lunar1157]

Holy shit that Basri planeswalker is so awful, why would you ever even want to tutor for it

[@stigmaoftherose]

All planeswalker deck planswalkers are awful.

[@ich3730]

i mean, the format its expected to see play in is planeswalker deck precon games. Its really not that bad for that.

[@kvetchenfinks7044]

Yes Bifurcate is very bad. HOWEVER, it is the best card in my Spy Kit commander deck since, with spy kit out and equipped, it's just 4 mana tutor a non legendary creature to play.

[@mightyfp]

Mangaras tome is a terrible tutor but a much improved jayemdae tome

[@NizzahonMagic]

Jayemdae Tome is still beter. Mangara's tome makes you replace a draw with a draw from the 5 cards you tutored. Jayemdae Tome actually lets you draw actual cards.

[@mightyfp]

​@@NizzahonMagic if ive got 3 swords and 2 control magics under a tome and need removal, a curated draw is better than a random one, and ive thinned my deck by 5 cards. like a lot of cards, its situational.

[@ich3730]

@@mightyfp Your deck is filled with good cards, drawing 2 of those vs 1 curated pick is better.

[@docseamonster3491]

Almost half of this list is from masques block.

[@spookyhogan]

I'm glad my beloved Ring of Three Wishes didn't make the list

[@NizzahonMagic]

Being repeatable saved it.

[@spookyhogan]

@NizzahonMagic I guess that makes sense, if you have a lot of mana at your disposal it is basically an instant combo-off tool

[@PKFat]

Why didn't Molting Harpy make your Worst Art list?????

[@antoniobush4560]

March of burgeoning life def belongs here, it’s about as bad as bifurcate if not a little worse

[@ryanholguin1432]

Burgeoning life at least can be basically free, as some poison decks in standard would use it to combo immediately with venerated rotpriest. The huge cost reduction makes it better

[@villageflippinidiot]

bro did you call 2007 27?

[@TheTrueFool]

Avatar of Growth seemed pretty good until you pointed out it was symmetrical. Yikes!

[@The79yeti]

Mercadian Masque had some bad cards

[@SmugLookingBarrel]

Another thing that I think makes Trapmaker's Snare a lot worse is that non-generic tutors all inherently reveal the card you tutored up, and since the traps are cards that activate when an opponent does a specific thing, they now know not to do that thing.

[@hitthegoat]

I think the idea would be to use the snare in response to your opponent doing something that would trigger the trap. So let's say your opponent searches their library, in response you can cast the snare then tutor up Archive Trap then cast it. I could see it being good in a dedicated mill deck, it would increase your odds of being able to cast archive trap.

[@xXSamir44Xx]

​@@hitthegoatIt is actually seeing play in those decks and saw some success just last weekend.

[@happyslapsgiving5421]

I don't think #6 works the way you said. Your opponent still has to choose now. Even if one of the two possible effects resolves later. But the other one resolves now.

[@NizzahonMagic]

Huh? I didn't say they don't choose now. But you don't get to draw three until the next turn, if they choose that option.

[@scorpiosystem8082]

AVARAX MENTION

[@PKSandles]

How was scheming symetry not listed?!?! I mean sure if you have an Op Agent out, it hecomes a powerful card.....IF

[@nicholas8739]

1 mana tutor to the top. Oppo Agent obviously was good with it, but it can get you your best card right away if you have a way to draw it. Plus, it's a great political tool. The main thing: it's a 1 mana tutor.

[@thevaultwalrus]

Mercenary did nothing to you

[@DAsrada]

Demonic Collusion isn't that bad. Extus, Oriq Overlord as your Commander lets you grab whatever you like, bring back one of the buyback cards, and set up your graveyard for more reanimation.

[@gakk8658]

There are lots of ways to discard cards that don't cost 5 mana is the thing. Tutoring for a card is nice but really overrated outside of specific decks, and those decks run lots of tutors and there's a good list of ones that do at least as much costing less than 5. It's definitely a card you can make work in Commander, but that doesn't mean it's even remotely good.

[@woodysmith2681]

Bifurcate could work in an Oath of Druids deck, since those creatures tend to be big and costly. That said, getting Oath out, keeping it out, and having Bifurcate in your hand to play at curve is narrow.