Merchant Scroll (Original Art)

Merchant Scroll is a two-mana blue sorcery from Eighth Edition (2003), that lets you search your library for a blue instant card. It’s one of the earliest “spell tutors” in Magic – powerful, restrictive, and iconic. Merchant Scroll has its biggest competitive impact in Legacy, because it can reliably find powerful blue instants. High Tide Combo is the deck that made this card famous. Merchant Scroll can tutor High Tide, the deck’s namesake card – and also finds other cards like Turnabout, Brainstorm, Cunning Wish, Meditate or Force of Will depending on what you need. It creates consistency for a very delicate combo turn. It was also played in older Doomsday lists to find protection or combo pieces (e.g. Opt, Cunning Wish, Force of Will). Merchant Scroll is restricted in Vintage, but mostly finds Ancestral Recall or a protection card like Flusterstorm or Mindbreak Trap. This card fits neatly into blue xerox / control decks, and adds consistency to any blue-based combo deck. It’s mainly seen in Paradoxical Outcome decks, Gifts Control, Oath of Druids, and Jeskai / Grixis Control. In Modern it has seen play in Lotus Field / Twiddle storm and UR Storm decks, but it’s not played anymore today. Merchant Scroll also appears in the Premodern format, especially in Ill-Gotten Gains decks killing with Brain Freeze, or Cunning Wish for Hunting Pack. This card is also played in Mono Blue Storm decks with Cloud of Faeries, Frantic Search, Meditate, Snap and Sapphire Medallion – killing the opponent with a lethal Brain Freeze. Merchant Scroll is a very strong tutor in cEDH, getting cards like Dramatic Reversal (Isochron Scepter combos), Cyclonic Rift, and Force of Will. It’s a staple with commanders such as Stella Lee, Wild Card and Ral, Monsoon Mage. Merchant Scroll is not on the Reserved List.