Here we have an artifact which enables an essential function: Draw. The first thing that you'll notice is that the cost is heavy, and the card only allows a single draw per turn (without untap abilities). Why would you use it? Well, another set of cards featured in this set was the Urza's land-types. These non-basic lands, when combined in a set of 3 unique types (Mine, Tower, and Factory), yield abundant generic mana. Therefore, you might play a heavy artifact deck, and use your superfluous mana to draw extra cards. It's an old strategy, and by today's standards, probably wouldn't compete - But, given a proper set of restrictions, playing with that sort of deck could be a lot of fun. I'll reiterate the necessity of restrictions, over and over, that would certainly enhance the quality of play in professional tournaments. With the current lack of rules for formats like vintage or legacy, those tournaments don't bear any real relevance to the mind of a thinking man - Why bother? Everyone just looks to take advantage of the natural flaws in the game design, anyway. The practice of this "art", is really just con-artistry, and neglecting to acknowledge that fact is irresponsible. |
