Five Hundred Year Diary MTG Card


The Diary’s card draw for casting historic spells can substantially bolster a player’s hand over time. Its mana cost and color specificity could pose deckbuilding challenges, limiting broad utility. Versatile and meta-relevant, this artifact can pivot games by enhancing strategic depth.
Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost4
RarityRare
TypeLegendary Artifact — Clue

Text of card

Five Hundred Year Diary enters the battlefield tapped. : Add for each Clue you control. , Sacrifice Five Hundred Year Diary: Draw a card.


Cards like Five Hundred Year Diary

The Five Hundred Year Diary card brings unique dynamics to the MTG library manipulation strategies. A card that matches its ability to peruse the top few cards of a library is the well-known Sensei’s Divining Top. Both cards allow players to rearrange and prepare their draws, but the Five Hundred Year Diary provides a continuous effect, making it highly valuable for setting up the perfect sequence of plays over multiple turns.

Another card to consider in relation to the Five Hundred Year Diary is Crystal Ball. While it also grants insight into future draws and permits arrangement of cards, the Five Hundred Year Diary does not require the mana investment that Crystal Ball demands for its scrying ability. This key difference can be a game-changer, giving players more leeway to use their mana for spells and creatures each turn without losing the strategic advantage of library manipulation.

Impactful in enhancing deck consistency, the Five Hundred Year Diary stands out in MTG with its passive yet powerful ability, outshining similar cards by providing uninterrupted insight into the player’s library and ensuring superior card quality each turn.

Sensei's Divining Top - MTG Card versions
Crystal Ball - MTG Card versions
Sensei's Divining Top - MTG Card versions
Crystal Ball - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Five Hundred Year Diary by color, type and mana cost

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Phyrexian Metamorph - MTG Card versions
Machine God's Effigy - MTG Card versions
Cobalt Golem - MTG Card versions
Filigree Sages - MTG Card versions
Mindlock Orb - MTG Card versions
Faerie Mechanist - MTG Card versions
Cumber Stone - MTG Card versions
Master Transmuter - MTG Card versions
Dukhara Peafowl - MTG Card versions
Chipper Chopper - MTG Card versions
Tezzeret's Gatebreaker - MTG Card versions
Filigree Attendant - MTG Card versions
Futurist Sentinel - MTG Card versions
Encroaching Mycosynth - MTG Card versions
Transplant Theorist - MTG Card versions
Mindsplice Apparatus - MTG Card versions
Tamiyo's Immobilizer - MTG Card versions
Synthesis Pod - MTG Card versions
Surgical Metamorph - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Five Hundred Year Diary card provides a continuous source of card advantage. Each turn, if you’ve cast a historic spell, you get to draw an extra card, keeping your hand replenished and your strategies evolving.

Resource Acceleration: This artifact synergizes exceptionally well with decks that utilize historic spells, potentially ramping up your resources. By allowing a fresh draw off historic spells, it can help bring you to your powerful plays much faster.

Instant Speed: While the Diary itself is not an instant, it complements an instant-speed strategy by offering card draws off instant historic spells. This means you can react to your opponent’s moves and still gain the card advantage when it’s most advantageous for you.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Five Hundred Year Diary mandates that you relinquish a card from your hand upon activation. In the throes of a critical junction, such a sacrifice might deplete your strategic reserves and curb your battlefield influence, potentially swaying the game’s outcome unfavorably.

Specific Mana Cost: Wielding the Five Hundred Year Diary requires a precise concoction of mana, which includes at least one blue. This specificity may curtail its integration across a variety of deck archetypes, especially those that are not aligned with blue’s mana pool.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Investing five mana to summon this artifact may slow your tempo, especially when measured against other options that could cast a more immediate and pronounced impact on the game’s state with lesser expenditure of mana resources.


Reasons to Include Five Hundred Year Diary in Your Collection

Versatility: The Five Hundred Year Diary card offers a unique flexibility in gameplay, allowing players to delve into a deeper strategic layer regardless of their deck’s archetype. Its ability to manipulate turns and phases can be a game-changer.

Combo Potential: This card has significant combo potential, synergizing with strategies that leverage extra turns or actions within a single turn. Pairing it with cards that untap permanents or offer bonus effects could unlock powerful sequences.

Meta-Relevance: Given its capacity to disrupt opponent’s strategies and provide you with additional time to execute your game plan, Five Hundred Year Diary can be a critical asset in a meta that rewards players who control the tempo of the game.


How to Beat

Five Hundred Year Diary is a unique piece within the world of Magic: The Gathering. This card requires strategic play if you want to overcome its advantages. Primarily, this artifact slows down the game for the opponent and can pose an incremental threat as it dictates the pace with its time counter gameplay.

Dealing with Five Hundred Year Diary revolves around management of artifacts and counters. Utilizing removal spells that specifically target artifacts can prove vital. Cards like Shatter or Disenchant allow players to remove the Diary before it accumulates too much value over time. Moreover, counteracting it with your own swifter tempo can outpace the advantage it is meant to provide. It’s also worthwhile to maintain pressure on the battlefield, forcing the owner of the Diary to deal with immediate threats rather than gaining long-term advantage.

Ultimately, understanding the intricate mechanics of Five Hundred Year Diary and staying a step ahead is critical to mastering control against it. Swift action and strategic planning can help players mitigate the Diary’s effects and maintain dominance in the duel.


Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Five Hundred Year Diary MTG card by a specific set like Doctor Who and Doctor Who, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Five Hundred Year Diary and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Five Hundred Year Diary Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2023-10-13 and 2023-10-13. Illustrated by Kieran Yanner.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 422015NormalBlackKieran Yanner
22023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 9482015NormalBlackKieran Yanner
32023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 3572015NormalBlackKieran Yanner
42023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 6472015NormalBlackKieran Yanner

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Five Hundred Year Diary has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Five Hundred Year Diary card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2023-10-13 Five Hundred Year Diary counts itself for its second ability.