When I decided to write about Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, I was excited. I read the card and imagined that I'd be able to cobble together 8-10 interesting cards that would do the thing that the commander wanted me to do. I've been going back through Avatar recently and just saw the episode where Wan Shi Tong appears (season 2, episode 10, The Library) so this character was fresh in my mind. I also like decks built around Blue flyers and I've been playing a handful of those over the past few months.

It was only when I started doing my scryfall searches to try to find good fits for this card that my high hopes came crashing down. Before I go any further we should really look at what this creature brings to a game.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is a 1/1 legendary Bird Spirit with flash, flying, and vigilance. When Wan Shi Tong enters, I'll put X +1/+1 counters on him, and I'll draw half X cards, rounded down. Whenever an opponent searches their library, I'll put a +1/+1 counter on Wan Shi Tong, and I'll draw a card.

Draw a card. Those might be the three most important words in Magic, as they will help you hit your land drops, pull into answers to problems, and dig to your wincons. The fact that Wan Shi Tong lets you turn infinite mana into playing your commander and drawing exactly as many cards out of your library as you want is very, very powerful. A degenerate list for this commander would probably play to a mana combo and a Laboratory Maniac / Jace, Wielder of Mysteries / Thassa's Oracle wincon.

Today's list isn't that deck, but if you play in high powered pods it's something you should consider building. You will absolutely win high powered games that way, though I'm not sure Wan Shi Tong has the chops to play at the cEDH level.

The last part of Wan Shi Tong's text box is where things get really interesting. Do you play at tables where players are constantly searching their libraries? Do your tablemates swear by fetch lands or run a ridiculous amount of land ramp in their Green decks? This card could be a real problem for anyone without reach and/or flying blockers if you're able to get enough +1/+1 counters on him.

Finding My Way

My first thought was that I'd load up on ways to force players to search their libraries. Magic the Gathering has an incredible number of cards and I assumed I'd be able to find plenty that would synergize with Wan Shi Tong's last ability.

As it turns out, I was very, very wrong.

I found three cards that did what I wanted for my commander. Noble Benefactor is an old creature card with fantastic art and a very sketchy ability. If it's put into any graveyard from play, each player may search their library for a card, put it into their hand, and then shuffle. I decided to include this in my build, as I'll be at lower powered tables, but I'm not about to suggest it's a good idea to let your tablemates tutor for any card. You might catch players with their mana untapped, but you might also just hand someone the game if they are able to remove this Cleric at just the right time. The good news is that everyone can search for an answer but they might just search for a better, faster wincon.

The other two cards I was able to find that would have your tablemates search their libraries are both lands. Ghost Quarter will tap to sacrifice itself, destroy target land, and allow that land's controller to search for a basic land. Tutoring up a land is optional, so they can choose to not search. Field of Ruin can tap and sacrifice itself for a cost of two mana to destroy target nonbasic land and each player will search for a basic land and put it onto the battlefield tapped.

I could imagine playing Crucible of Worlds and Field of Ruin as some janky way to get repeated value out of that land, but that's about the most degenerate thing I could think of. Wan Shi Tong simply isn't in the right colors to be easily abused in this way. If this commander were in Green or Black there might be more options, but in mono-Blue there aren't many options to force players to search their libraries.

The Strix Pivot

If I wasn't going to be able to build around that last line of text, and I didn't want to be all sweaty and build an infinite mana deck, what on earth was I going to do with this card?

The answer ended up being simple. I like Owls.

I haven't seen many in my life, and the only time I ever came close to one was one night many years ago when one flew past my wife and I as we were going from my car to the front door of our house. It was somewhat in my peripheral vision but my wife got a better look at it. The bird was utterly silent as it flew, so the sensation was like what you would imagine it would feel like if a ghost flew past you. I'd say it whooshed past us, but it didn't really make any sound. It was spooky and it was amazing.

I knew I wouldn't be able to run my favorite Strix, as those are in Dimir colors. I found a handful, threw in an owl, and then decided to also run as many decent flyers with flash as I could find.

Blizzard Strix is a 3/2 flying Bird with flash and when it enters the battlefield, if I control another snow permanent I'll exile another target permanent and return it to play at the beginning of the next end step. Notably, it's a snow creature. I'm also running Dream Strix, Harrier Strix, Parasitic Strix, and Sky Theater Strix, but not because they're fantastic cards. I even threw in Strix Serenade, though I usually don't include that card even in mono Blue decks. When I really lean into a theme, it's both fun and can be a way to lower a deck's power level for bracket 2 tables.

Running Blizzard Strix led me to run Snow-Covered Islands, which in turn led me to throw in Coldsteel Heart, Avalanche Caller, and Rimefeather Owl. This bird is also a snow creature, and it has a power and toughness equal to the number of snow permanents in play. For two mana, one of which must come from a snow permanent, I can put an ice counter on target permanent to make it a snow permanent. Rimefeather Owl might seem overcosted, but lower powered games can go long, and this could easily be a 10/10 or better in the late game if I've been hitting my land drops.

There were a bunch of flyers with flash that got thrown into the list. Dream Eater, Faerie Mastermind, Pestermite, Research Thief, Rattlechains, Transcendent Dragon, and Plumecreed Escort all fit that description, and each brings something to the game. Plumecreed Escort fits my goal to run a lot of birds, but I didn't view that as a strict theme, just a direction to try to steer the build in. A card like Plumecreed Escort can be held back and played as a way to give target creature hexproof until end of turn in response to a removal spell, but it can also just be played on the end step of the turn before my turn starts.

Any Blue deck built around flash and keeping mana up to respond to problems on the stack or threats on other players' turns is going to have some success. I ended up running a bunch of other flyers as a main theme of the deck. A deck that is fully committed to the air is going to have games where your opponents can't really stop your attacks even if you aren't punching for a ton of damage.

Any deck in Blue that's running a ton of flyers ought to be running Warden of Evos Isle. This Bird Wizard will give my flyers a 1 mana discount. I'm also running Sapphire Medallion, The Water Crystal, and Kefnet's Monument. Those first two discount my Blue spells by one mana, and the latter discounts my Blue creatures spells by a mana.

I've been dabbling with a Siani, Eye of the Storm / Eligeth, Crossroads Augur partners deck recently, so it was a no-brainer to throw Siani into this list. This 3/2 Djinn Monk will let me scry X when it attacks where is the number of attacking creatures with flying. I could see building this deck around Planetarium of Wan Shi Tong, which can give me free castings when I scry or surveil, but I didn't do that. A focus on a card in the 99 would mean running tutors, which I lean away from when building for bracket 2.

Windreader Sphinx is another auto-include in any Blue deck focused around flying threats. This seven-mana Sphinx is a 3/7 flyer that will have me draw a card whenever a creature with flying attacks. It doesn't even have to be my creature to trigger the card draw.

I ended up throwing in a bunch of other creatures that are birds, spirits, flyers, have the snow supertype, or are just themed around libraries in some way. That included cards like Ledger Shredder, Tome Raider, Tome Anima, Library Larcenist, Voracious Bibliophile, and Archive Dragon. I recently brewed up a bracket 1 deck built heavily around a "library" theme, so I was able to crib a few cards from that list to lean into this theme.

Donde Esta La Biblioteca?

Yeah boi... I may not be able to rap like Troy and Abed from Community, but I am down with La Biblioteca. Libraries are amazing places, and I was happy to lean into that as a theme to round out my somewhat scattered Commander deck. To give the deck the ability to close out games, I ended up running Blackblade Reforged and Strata Scythe. Some of my creatures might also be able to push out a decent amount of damage, but I've seen those two artifacts put in real work in mono-Blue flying decks.

My focus on flash was meant to allow me to keep mana open for interaction. I mentioned earlier that I'm running Strix Serenade, and I'm also running Swan Song, Arcane Denial, and Counterspell, along with a few creatures that can flash in and counter a spell. I don't love leaning too heavily on counter Magic, as that can be oppressive to play against. I'd rather have a handful of counterspells and be very judicious as to when I actually use them.

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian | Commander | Stephen Johnson

• Commander (1)
• 1 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

• Creatures (31)
• 1 Archive Dragon
• 1 Archivist
• 1 Avalanche Caller
• 1 Biblioplex Kraken
• 1 Blizzard Strix
• 1 Chillerpillar
• 1 Dream Eater
• 1 Dream Strix
• 1 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Geist of the Archives
• 1 Harrier Strix
• 1 Horizon Scholar
• 1 Ledger Shredder
• 1 Library Larcenist
• 1 Mulldrifter
• 1 Noble Benefactor
• 1 Parasitic Strix
• 1 Pestermite
• 1 Plumecreed Escort
• 1 Rattlechains
• 1 Research Thief
• 1 Rimefeather Owl
• 1 Scholar of Stars
• 1 Siani, Eye of the Storm
• 1 Sky Theater Strix
• 1 Tome Anima
• 1 Tome Raider
• 1 Transcendent Dragon
• 1 Voracious Bibliophile
• 1 Warden of Evos Isle
• 1 Windreader Sphinx

• Instants (11)
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Aetherspouts
• 1 Arcane Denial
• 1 Bury in Books
• 1 Commandeer
• 1 Contact Other Plane
• 1 Counterspell
• 1 Pongify
• 1 Rapid Hybridization
• 1 Strix Serenade
• 1 Swan Song

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Preordain

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Frogify

• Artifacts (16)
• 1 Arcane Signet
• 1 Blackblade Reforged
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Coldsteel Heart
• 1 Coveted Jewel
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Kefnet's Monument
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Sapphire Medallion
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Strata Scythe
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1 Sword of Hearth and Home
• 1 The Water Crystal
• 1 Thought Vessel

• Lands (39)
• 33 Snow-Covered Island
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Buried Ruin
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 1 Reliquary Tower
• 1 Rogue's Passage

Buy This Deck Export text

This list is already pretty tame, built to play at bracket 2 tables. It's got no game changers, though it's possible that it's strong enough to play at bracket 3. If you wanted to drop it down further, I think you'd go all in on the library theme. Run your Jayemdae Tome and Venser's Journal. You can really load up on those old artifacts with Tome in the name, and throw in every Archivist and Scholar you can get your hands on. Being in mono-Blue will limit your options, but I'm confident there is a bracket 1 deck to be built if that's your jam.

A higher powered build would lean on infinite combos to win the game outright. You just make a ton of mana, draw 70 or 80 cards, and assuming you built your deck right you'll have the mana to both attempt and protect the win. Cards that bounce Wan Shi Tong to your hand, extra counterspells, and a Thassa's Oracle wincon should do the job nicely. Laboratory Maniac and Jace, Wielder of Mysteries will give you some flexibility in case Thassa's Oracle is not an option for some reason.

Early Results

I was able to get this list into a game in our Thursday night Tabletop Simulator group, which has had trouble getting games in lately. I was happy for us to have a full pod, and even happier that I had this list ready to go. I was up against Fire Lord Azula, Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer, and Hama, the Bloodbender.

At the start I admitted that I felt like I was on a pretty weak deck, but my buddy Mike (on Hama) kept saying that I was underestimating Wan Shi Tong. It ended up being a long game, and I took it in the end. Mike was absolutely right - Wan Shi Tong can draw you a lot of cards, though it's possible that I also got very lucky in that game.

In the early game I focused my attacks on the Hama player, as they were an early threat, making a bunch of zombies and playing out both a Starfield Vocalist and a Conjurer's Closet. Starfield Vocalist is a Panharmonicon on a creature, so we were all very nervous that they were going to be getting way too much value over the coming few turns. They ended up getting up to 12 commander damage from Wan Shi Tong before they were able to show me they had drawn into a Rapid Hybridization to get me to swing elsewhere.

The Azula player was also building their own token army and used Braid of Fire mana to play out a pretty big Fated Firepower, setting themselves up for a decent attack of their own. At one point they had messed with my Extraplanar Lens, redirecting its enter-the-battlefield trigger to target my Bonders' Enclave instead of my Snow-Covered Island. I chose not to exile the land, but my Extraplanar Lens was now nothing more than a paperweight. As payback I countered their commander on their next turn with Strix Serenade.

It took a while for the Kadena player to catch up, and I helped them hit their colors with my Ghost Quarter, destroying one of their Swamps so they could get an Island. I also got a +1/+1 counter on my commander and drew a card, so it wasn't a selfless act.

When I wrote earlier that I was very lucky, it was because the Kadena player played out the enchantment Threats Around Every Corner, forcing them to search their library for a basic land whenever a face-down permanent entered under their control. They ran out of basic lands, but every turn cycle I was reliably putting extra +1/+1 counters on my commander and drawing extra turns. It couldn't have gone better for me, and is probably why I ended up winning.

I had kept from attacking the Hama player for a few turns but I drew into a counterspell and decided to go for it. I sent a bunch of attackers at Azula and my now lethal commander at Hama, expecting that Rapid Hybridization. I responded with a counterspell and they slapped down a counterspell in return, foiling my plan. Wan Shi Tong was back in the command zone, but the Azula player was down to four life.

On their turn the Azula player overloaded a Cyclonic Rift, and I had left up enough mana to cast both an Aetherize and an Aetherspouts, each of which I had drawn into. I tried to dissuade them from attacking me by showing that I could get rid of their tokens but my gambit failed and they swung 40 power worth of attackers at me. I ended up using the Aetherize to dodge the alpha strike.

On their turn the Hama player used the Azula player's Lightning Bolt twice through graveyard shenanigans to kill them off, but on my turn I was able to finish off the Hama player. With just me and Kadena left, it became clear that I had enough attackers to get the job done and they conceded. It was late and we both wanted to wrap things up.

The weirdest thing about the game might be that I never came down off of my starting 40 life total. I didn't point it out during the game, but having a few vigilant attackers, a reliable array of blockers, open mana, and cards in hand, all seemed to work together to keep folks from swinging my way. I do generally play defensively, preferring to keep up blockers than make unnecessary attacks. Having vigilant flyers meant I was able to keep pushing damage out while still having the ability to block.

While I drew a ton of extra cards from my tablemates searching their libraries, I'm not completely convinced that Wan Shi Tong is busted. I think he's situational, and you'll have games where you get a lot of value and games where you don't get that much out of him. My win probably came on the back of both Threats Around Every Corner and a Strata Scythe that I was able to draw into that helped to amplify my damage output.

Final Thoughts

I didn't expect to end up building this deck, I didn't expect to find so few search cards that would help with his card draw ability, and I didn't expect that it would end up playing so strong in its first game out. I can usually gauge the power of a new card, but in this case I may have underestimated Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian.

I don't run fetch lands in all of my decks, and I've been leaning away from running tutors. The reality is that they are common in higher powered EDH games, and aren't all that rare to come across in brackets 2 and 3. The fact that my two bounce spells, Aetherize and Aetherspouts, helped me overcome an overloaded Cyclonic Rift, is an apt reminder that you don't have to run game changers to compete against bracket 3 decks.

I feel like I may have found a diamond in the rough in Wan Shi Tong, the Librarian. Maybe you saw its potential for what it is - a reliable way to draw cards and get value out of opponents' searches - but I was pretty surprised by how well it played. A one game sample size isn't worth much, but I like to leap to conclusions anyways. I think Mike was right - it's a very good card!

I'll be continuing to explore legendary creatures from Avatar: the Last Airbender next week. That's all I've got for today. Thanks for reading!