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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!

Treasure Hunt
Image from Wizards.com

Treasure Hunt
Worldwake

Reviewed February 17, 2010

Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 3.95
Limited: 3.95
Multiplayer: 3.65

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Treasure Hunt
This one requires a good bit of math to properly evaluate. Stick with me on this one.

If you flip a coin until you get tails (i.e. stopping after the first tails), you will on average get one heads. I don't have the exact math to back up this claim, but it works out because the odds of getting tails on your very first flip (zero heads) are 50%, and the odds of getting two or more heads (2 heads + 3 heads + 4 heads + 5 heads...) will approach 50% as the potential number of heads approaches infinity.

Why is this relevant? Because when you cast Treasure Hunt, you're basically flipping a coin until you get tails. Except your "coin" is the top card of your library, "heads" is a land, and "tails" is a nonland card. You're drawing cards until you get a nonland card. Except your odds of getting a land on any given flip are determined by your land count when you build your deck. For the average 60-card deck, running 20-24 land, the odds are 33%-40%, less than the odds of getting heads on a coin flip, so on average you'll get less than one heads. That translates to a nonland card on top of your library, and thus Treasure Hunt giving you one card, making it effectively no better than Explore, which I didn't like (and received E-mails criticizing me over). In a Limited deck, with 40 cards and probably 18 lands, your chances of a land on any given flip are still below 50%, so on average you'll get less than two cards out of the deal. However, in Extended there are archetypes that run 43-or-so land to abuse Seismic Assault, and in those decks, this card would be very profitable.
But there's more to it. Treasure Hunt doesn't just draw you a card with the potential of additional cards. It also guarantees that exactly one of the cards you draw will be a spell. Since topdecking lands is almost never what you want outside of a landfall deck, this is a very useful draw spell because it will always replace itself with another spell, and potentially draw you through any upcoming land patches. For me, the prospect of drawing lots of lands isn't as exciting as the certainty that I'll draw a spell.

Constructed- 3.5
Casual- 3.75
Limited- 3.75
Multiplayer- 3.25


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Treasure Hunt

There was once a famous player named Michelle Bush, who was reputedly the first person to say "End of turn, Fact or Fiction, you lose." I wonder what she'd have to say about Treasure Hunt? It can draw twice as many cards as Fact or Fiction - maybe more, in the right fun deck - although you'll usually need another card or two to win. (Conflagrate, anyone?) I'm sure she'd be a fan, and I'm sure you'll come to be a fan too.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Paul

Magic The Gathering Card of the Day: Treasure Hunt

Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is not only flavorfully tied to the set it appears in but is a powerful card for blue mages, Treasure Hunt from Worldwake. The ability to draw multiple cards is indeed a tempting thing for blue mages and Treasure hunt has already been hailed as the next great card draw spell the reality is somewhere between the hype. In standard being able to draw more than one card for such a low mana cost is a godsend to decks that can manipulate their draws and successfully reap the advantage of being able to reveal cards from the top of your library until you reveal a nonland card. With the right deck construction or library manipulation this card can net killer advantage. Combine with cards like Halimar Depths from Worldwake and you can gain advantage instantly. In standard this card will see play in a variety of decks and could have decks built around its abusive potential. In extended and eternal formats this card will see play, combine this with Seismic Assault and watch the fun begin. It will benefit existing archetypes and even help fuel others. In casual and multiplayer this card is great, its card drawing so it puts you ahead of your opponents if your deck can utilize it perhaps with Sensei’s Diving top and Counterbalance could help you rack up the advantage. In limited card draw is important and if you’re in blue you can’t go wrong with this card, make sure to grab some Halimar Depths if able. Overall Treasure Hunt is one of the more powerful blue cards to see print in a while and expect for players to take advantage of this fact.

Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 4.0

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Treasure Hunt which is easy to overlook, but quite powerful as a draw engine. It is at worst two mana to draw a card, but fairly often this will get at least one land with it especially if played after one of Blue's many options for stacking the top of their library which include Sage Owl, Ponder, and the new Jace.
In the best case scenario this will plow through an entire mana pocket turning what would have been a likely loss into a fair fight. Well worth playing and combines well with cards like yesterday's Selective Memory.

For Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this is a solid addition to any Blue deck, but not really powerful by itself. Without support expect it to work like a cantrip and draw one card, but sometimes get a few lands. With the right deck this can be a subtle yet critical part of a bigger combination. The only real drawback is the Sorcery speed which prevents it from being played at the end of your opponent's turn if your mana went unused for negation or bounce.

In Limited the presence of Landfall and higher concentrations of lands in decks makes this even more useful as the odds of getting more than one card is improved. Not a first choice in Booster, but if you plan on running Blue try to pick up a few copies during the draft. In Sealed if Blue is in the deck there is no reason not to play this in the hopes of getting some triggers for Landfall and a useful spell.

Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 3.5
Limited: 4.0
Multiplayer: 3.5


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