Tablet of Discovery doesn't look like much at first glance, does it?

It's kind of an awkward mana rock. Which isn't to say there haven't been tournament-quality mana rocks at three in the past... But with Standard getting so fast from so So SO many legal sets, it's hard to wrap your head around a three-mana mana rock being fast enough (and therefore good enough) to play.

And what's with the milling trigger? Awkward, too, right? What if it mills something I want? I guess that's good, if you can run it out this turn! But yes, Tablet of Discovery will, a la cards like Millikin or Mulch in ages past, sometimes put things in the graveyard that you would rather have had in your hand.

Just a couple of weeks ago I myself did a rundown of the best performing Secrets of Strixhaven cards from the Pro Tour Top 8... And the Tablet was nowhere to be found, unlike Erode, which was all over the Top 8 and especially the Finals match.

But still, there is a case for Tablet of Discovery being the best card in Secrets of Strixhaven, and I'm going to try to make that now.

How to Play Tablet of Discovery

Tablet of Discovery is kind of a weirdo mana rock because not only does it cost more mana than you might like, but you don't usually play it on turn three.

I mean sometimes you will play it on turn three, especially if you're both under a lot of pressure and going second. This card tends to want to come down on turn four. Your first one, at least.

Most Tablet of Discovery decks are play four copies of Tablet of Discovery, so your subsequent Artifacts can come down later and later in the game, when they will get better and better.

A Tablet of Discovery on, say, turn ten is not dependent on what it mills in the same way that one on turn four is. If you mill a Land, great. Play it. But if you mill almost any spell in your deck, even one that costs seven mana, you can probably just play it that turn.

On the other hand, you don't want to play Tablet on turn three, because barring a very particularly Constructed deck, that is when you will have the least flexibility. I have been surrounded by Elves and Cubs and desperately milled a Pyroclasm on turn three (which I could immediately cast, natch)... But that's not something you can plan on so much as pray for.

As we will see later, players are constructing their decks to take advantage of Tablet of Discovery's particular (and narrow) mana advantages, but you often have to be pretty lucky to get paid on turn three. The exception is if you already have a Sear or Pyroclasm or whatever in hand, and you are just using your turn three mana. You make the play knowing you're very likely to lose access to the milled card, at least for now.

You might want to do that for speed considerations, and again, usually when you are under pressure. For example, you might have an Ill-Timed Explosion in hand and no fourth Land. You're being swarmed. You can cast your Tablet of Discovery turn three, forget about whatever it mills, but have mana to defend yourself the next turn, even without a Land drop.

Therefore you're typically going to play Tablet of Discovery on turn four, and this is important, before you've played your Land for the turn. You might mill a Land, at which point you can play it for +1 card advantage.

Most Tablet decks only have three kinds of cards, Instants and Sorceries, Lands, and other Tablets. So, if you've made your deck with Tablet in mind, you will often get a sizable bonus waiting just one turn.

The "dream" (unless you're under pressure) is to play your Tablet, play your probably free and hopefully Blue-producing Land, and then immediately cast Stock Up.

The from the Tablet's second third ability is perfect for casting Stock Up here, especially if you got a free Nlue-producing Land.

The secret combo to this card is that if you play it on turn four, hitting your fifth Land the next turn will put you directly to Jeskai Revelation mana (five Lands plus the from the Tablet). This is a big game that has encouraged most players to go up from 2-3 Jeskai Revelations to all four, now that they are so particularly supported.

The Tablet of Discovery "Fail State"

The "fail state" on this card isn't actually that bad. You just don't get the bonus card. Sometimes you flip over a No More Lies and you basically just don't get a No More Lies (unless your opponent plays into it on your end step).

Whether played on turn three with very little prospect of a bonus, or played later but revealing an un-cast-able interactive spell, the "bad" version of this card is still a mana rock. In fact, it's a mana rock that can make .

Even if you're not scraping the ceiling with the top end of your deck, this can help you in a lot of ways. It ensures you get to your sweeper mana or gives you the resources you need to double-spell next turn.

My Favorite Tablet of Discovery Deck

There are a couple of different styles of Tablet of Discovery decks so far, but my favorite by far is Four-Color Jeskai. This deck is even weirder and less intuitive than the Tablet itself, but has many powerful features, and is quite rewarding to play.

Here is the version I've been running in Standard.

Four-Color Control | SOS Standard | Keiichiro Matsumoto, 1st Place Champions Cup Final

• Instants (21)
• 1 Erode
• 1 Traumatic Critique
• 2 Consult the Star Charts
• 2 Flashback
• 2 Lightning Helix
• 2 No More Lies
• 2 Sear
• 2 Swallowed by Leviathan
• 3 Inevitable Defeat
• 4 Jeskai Revelation

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 1 Ill-Timed Explosion
• 1 Pyroclasm
• 4 Stock Up

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Tablet of Discovery

• Lands (27)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Cori Mountain Monastery
• 1 Godless Shrine
• 1 Meticulous Archive
• 1 Multiversal Passage
• 1 Stormcarved Coast
• 1 Sunbillow Verge
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 2 Gloomlake Verge
• 2 Mistrise Village
• 2 Sacred Foundry
• 2 Shattered Sanctum
• 3 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Great Hall of the Biblioplex
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Annul
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Erode
• 1 Ultima
• 1 Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
• 2 Emeritus of Ideation
• 2 Flashfreeze
• 2 High Noon
• 2 Pyroclasm
• 2 Rest in Peace

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Paige Smith wrote about Keiichiro Matsumoto's winning version a week or two back and I loved it.

Strengths

This deck has two major strengths, and they are both good reasons to choose a deck.

First of all, based on its wacky mana base that includes four copies of the uber-fixing Great Hall of the Biblioplex, this Four-color Jeskai can play turn two Lightning Helix, or more importantly, No More Lies.

I've long said that if I can cast No More Lies on the play, I already feel like I'm going to win.

But secondly, that mana base supports an incredible ceiling. No one is beating this deck on ceiling. Jeskai decks were already doing the most powerful thing in Jeskai Revelation, but with Tablet of Discovery, they've hit a new gear.

Four Tablets supporting four Revelations (faster than ever)... And on top of that two Flashbacks for even more Revelation action. Remember that time you accidentally milled something you didn't want to? Flashback has got your back.

The four-color version adds Black for Inevitable Defeat, which probably seems a little odd. A whole extra color for only three total cards? I've ultimately found Inevitable Defeat one of the best cards in this deck, though. It's great with Flashback, and more than earns its spot through sheer flexibility.

It can kill Monument to Endurance, High Noon, Kaito, Simulacrum Synthesizer, or perhaps most saliently... Other people's Tablets in mirrors and quasi-mirrors. It exiles hard-to-finish-off Creatures like Enduring Curiosity, and erases Artifacts.

Previously, Azorius-centered decks were good at killing Enchantments due to Get Lost, but were often desperately behind against Artifacts. That's why I once said Ultima was Non-Negotiable. Five mana might have been an expensive way to get rid of Simulacrum Synthesizer, but barring keeping every one off the battlefield... Even one Synthesizer would eventually overwhelm you.

Now pure Jeskai decks play Abrade (which goes with their Tablets), flipping the ability to deal with Artifacts by adding a color... But if you're in the Inevitable Defeat camp, you don't have to choose.

Four-color Jeskai is a deck exceptional at turning the corner. It's a burn deck. It goes from 20-to-zero really abruptly.

Weaknesses

That wacky mana base? It can bite you in the butt sometimes. Great Hall of the Biblioplex holds everything together... But can't give you the you need to cast your first Tablet of Discovery.

The deck can do lots of things and stave off all kinds of enemies, but it's not fast. Opponents with great one-drops can get ahead of you, and when they have cards like Secret Identity, Spell Pierce, or Origin of Metalbending, they can often hold the lead they've gotten for just long enough.

Opportunities

One of the best things about this deck is that it's Creature-poor but not Creature-less.

You do often finish the game by attacking, so your opponent will have to put some amount of value in Creature removal. This leads to all kinds of awkward situations where you can get an advantage. For example the opponent might just burn a Requiting Hex to gain a little life, but you use the one Erode to make it miss plus dig up your solo Plains. Tricky.

On a relative basis, once this deck is going, it out-classes every other strategy in the metagame. Even Cavern of Souls can be defeated by sufficient application of Jeskai Revelation (and, again, you have four plus two Flashbacks).

Two Creatures can become four Creatures; and when they all have prowess, one Lightning Helix can suddenly represent a two-turn clock.

Threats

The biggest problem, other than going second (which I would not recommend if you can help it) is that this deck is largely trying to answer cards one-for-one until a point that it has so many resources it is completely over the top.

It can therefore be both out-mana'd early, and out-planned by someone who understands where to apply pressure.

I've lost two matches to Kona combo decks this week. They just have the right cards early, can cast them before I've set up, and all of a sudden I can't interact at all. Station Land into Lost in the Maze into Cavern of Souls... You get it.

Similar deal on Dinosaur Reanimator. They have a lot of two-mana cards like Melded Moxite or Saheeli's Lattice that you wouldn't actually want to interact with, but at some point that means they've used more mana than you have.

Most awkwardly, there are games where Swallowed by Leviathan threatens to be your first play. That card has very little text if it's your first play.

While Four-color Jeskai is generally good at "catching up" if it's behind, that doesn't always work out when someone is actively trying to use their best cards to end the game quickly. If you're playing against Superior Spider-Man there are essentially two kinds of games: Ones where Terror of the Peaks is already in the graveyard and ones where it isn't.

Because if it isn't, you can kind of just blow up all their guys and keep playing. If it is, your only recourse is to try to end the game proactively. Usually this means crossing your fingers, hoping they don't just demolish you on-curve. You need to get to a mana position where you can chain Jeskai Revelations through Cavern of Souls, and kill them before they actually resolve Superior Spider-Man.

Easier said, am I right?

LOVE

MIKE