Dear Sensei’s Divining Top, 

<3

I know you are a card not loved by all. People think you should be excluded because you take up so much time. All I see is that you create a whole lot of gameplay. Gameplay that I have been enjoying as a player, opponent and audience of this game. 

You were part of the Heartbeat Combo deck I qualified for the 2006 Dutch National Championship with. I also played that deck at the 2006 Dutch National Championships. You are pure nostalgia for me. 

I remember watching Ruben Snijdewind play you, Sensei’s Divining Top, together with Future Sight every chance he got. Such an insane combo, drawing a card for every colourless mana one has at his disposal. Ruben showcased your power together with Future Sight at Pro Tour Los Angeles in 2005, piloting it to a strong 52nd place finish. 

And yesterday I remembered why I fell in love with you as your opponent. Playing my friend Martijn in my 2019 Cube Invitational. He had a unique strategy in the Rotisserie draft we did with my Peasant Cube, aiming to abuse the freshly printed uncommon Planeswalkers printed in War of the Spark. He saw Saheeli, Sublime Artificer and asked himself: how can I generate a lot of spells? And then he looked at you, a spell he could 100% play every single turn, after every single draw. And a little interaction was born. Not drawing a card for each colorless mana one has at his disposal. But a way to generate a whole lot of little tokens, because every cantrip he played didn’t just make one token, because of you it made 2. 

And it is that type of gameplay that you offer that makes me love you. Not the endless activating you, then cracking a fetchland, activating you again. No, none of that. It’s mostly that second ability, of you putting yourself on the top of the deck to draw a card, opening up a world of synergies that can be abused, that makes me love you. That and a whole lot of nostalgia, thinking back to my 16 year old self enjoying Magic. 

With love, 

Hanjo