Mishra's Research Desk MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 1 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Artifact |
| Abilities | Unearth |
| Released | 2022-11-18 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | The Brothers' War |
| Set code | BRO |
| Number | 162 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | Matt Stewart |
Key Takeaways
- Card filtering with Mishra’s Research Desk offers strategic control over draws, improving deck performance.
- Instant speed action allows for flexible responses and strategy tailoring mid-duel.
- The required discard and specific mana cost may limit its use in some decks.
Text of card
, , Sacrifice Mishra's Research Desk: Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. Until the end of your next turn, you may play that card. Unearth (: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: With Mishra’s Research Desk you gain the upper hand by filtering through unwanted cards. It also empowers your subsequent card draws, ensuring that you’re more likely to get the cards you need when you need them, multiplying your options and strategies each turn.
Resource Acceleration: This card also serves as a resource accelerator. It can significantly shorten the timeline for deploying your high-impact spells, enabling you to outpace your competitor, potentially changing the tide of the duel in your favor.
Instant Speed: Its ability to operate at instant speed provides flexibility in gameplay, allowing you to optimize your turns by making decisions with the most information possible. You can adjust your strategy in response to your opponent’s actions, leading to more efficient and effective plays.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Mishra’s Research Desk demands that you discard a card to activate its effect. This discard can be a tough call when your hand is already waning or you’re holding onto key pieces for your game strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: The activation of this artifact’s ability requires not just any mana, but a specific combination including blue. This restrictive cost may deter its inclusion in multi-colored or colorless decks that don’t prioritize blue mana sources.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The initial cost to get Mishra’s Research Desk into play is substantial, utilizing four mana. Within the same mana range, there are alternative cards that could provide immediate impact or more versatile advantages in a game of MTG.
Reasons to Include Mishra’s Research Desk in Your Collection
Versatility: Mishra’s Research Desk is a card that seamlessly integrates into numerous deck archetypes. Whether you’re looking to streamline your deck’s mechanics or enhance its responses, its ability to filter through your deck lends itself to a variety of strategies.
Combo Potential: This artifact has inherent combo potential, allowing players to capitalize on card interactions. It pairs well with strategies that benefit from knowledge of the upcoming draws or require specific pieces to execute a win-condition.
Meta-Relevance: Considering the constantly evolving MTG meta, a card that adjusts to the top-tier decks remains crucial. Mishra’s Research Desk can be a cog in aligning your deck with the competitive scene, making it a significant contender for space in your collection.
How to beat
Mishra’s Research Desk introduces a strategic layer to gameplay that rewards careful deck construction and predictable play patterns in MTG. To successfully navigate this artifact’s influence, consider integrating instant-speed interaction. This could mean counter spells that nullify the desk’s activation or direct removal options to ensure it doesn’t provide ongoing value. Moreover, aggressive strategies can pressure the opponent, making the cost of investing mana into the desk’s ability more substantial relative to maintaining board presence.
Players should also scout for cards that efficiently deal with artifacts without losing tempo. Caustic caterpillar and nature’s claim exemplify low-cost solutions that can dismantle an opponent’s strategy that leans on artifacts like Mishra’s Research Desk. Additionally, adapting your playstyle to be less dependent on the stack and more on in-hand options will diminish the tactical advantage the Research Desk provides.
Furthermore, when facing this artifact, emphasize resource denial to limit its effectiveness. Contesting their mana base or employing hand disruption disrupts the setup that Mishra’s Research Desk predicates upon. By integrating these elements into your strategy, you enhance resilience against such artifacts, maintaining a competitive edge in your MTG matchups.
Cards like Mishra's Research Desk
Mishra’s Research Desk is a fascinating new addition to the landscape of utility artifacts in MTG. Its comparison to cards like Sensei’s Divining Top reveals a shared lineage of deck manipulation, as both provide a way to look at the top cards of your library. However, Mishra’s Research Desk offers a unique blend of resourceful anticipation and potential card advantage — after delving into your top cards, you may exile one point of interest for later retrieval.
Crystal Ball is another similar artifact that scrys instead of outright exiling. While it has the ability to rearrange your upcoming draws repeatedly, it lacks Mishra’s Research Desk’s capacity to stash away a surprise for the perfect moment. Conversely, Scroll Rack exchanges card rearrangement with hand replacement, which can be a more immediate but less future-focused strategy compared to the Desk’s preparatory approach.
At the heart of it, Mishra’s Research Desk holds its place within the scope of MTG artifacts that specialize in library manipulation. It carves a niche by combining the prescience of scrying artifacts with the delayed gratification of exile, putting it squarely on the map for players who like to plot moves ahead in the game.
Cards similar to Mishra's Research Desk by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Mishra's Research Desk MTG card by a specific set like The Brothers' War, 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 Mishra's Research Desk and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Mishra's Research Desk has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Mishra's Research Desk card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-14 | Activating a card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting that card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Defabricate's second mode) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Scatter Ray) will not. |
| 2022-10-14 | At the beginning of the next end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Defabricate that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed triggered ability won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the permanent if it eventually leaves the battlefield. |
| 2022-10-14 | If a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing the permanent to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If that spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield (as Static Net might, for example), the permanent card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effects will no longer apply to it. |
| 2022-10-14 | If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will do nothing as it resolves. |
| 2022-10-14 | Unearth grants haste to the permanent that's returned to the battlefield (even if it's not a creature card). However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that permanent. If that permanent loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead. |
| 2022-10-14 | You must pay all costs and follow all normal timing rules for spells cast using the first ability of Mishra's Research Desk. |