MagicTheGathering.fyi

Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Creature — Human Wizard // Instant

Flying, ward {2}
This creature enters prepared.
Whenever this creature attacks, you may exile eight cards from your graveyard. If you do, this creature becomes prepared.

CMC
5
Mana cost
{3}{U}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
mythic
Set
Secrets of Strixhaven
Price
$20.10
EDHREC rank
#10379
Buy on TCGplayer
Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall card art
Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall is a three-card draw for one blue mana stapled to a Wizard body that loops perfectly with Displacer Kitten and Y'shtola Rhul — the back half alone would be broken, and the front half makes it a combo piece. Run it in any blue deck that casts spells repeatedly; there is no comparable substitute at this rate.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Y'shtola Rhul

Y'shtola Rhul

25.6% of decks · synergy 0.22

Y'shtola Rhul's ability to recur spells directly rewards casting Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall repeatedly, letting you chain the Ancestral Recall back for multiple draws in a single turn cycle.

02
Muddle, the Ever-Changing

Muddle, the Ever-Changing

24.8% of decks · synergy 0.20

Muddle, the Ever-Changing thrives on copying and reusing instants, so Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall becomes a repeatable engine rather than a one-shot — Muddle's copy effects mean you're routinely drawing six or nine cards off a single creature.

03
Kykar, Zephyr Awakener

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener

20.9% of decks · synergy 0.18

Kykar, Zephyr Awakener generates value off every noncreature spell, and Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall's back half is exactly the kind of cheap instant that snowballs Kykar's token production into a card-advantage engine.

04
Kellan, the Kid

Kellan, the Kid

14.8% of decks · synergy 0.14

Kellan, the Kid's adventure synergies mean Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall's split nature — creature front, instant back — fits cleanly into the adventure payoff loop, making it a natural two-for-one in that shell.

05
Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist

14.1% of decks · synergy 0.12

Inalla, Archmage Ritualist copies Wizards on entry, so Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall entering as a Wizard means Inalla immediately threatens a second trigger — six cards drawn the turn it lands is a realistic opening.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard legal
vintage legal
pauper not legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall is a staple: a one-mana draw-three attached to a body slots into any blue deck and becomes a repeat-use engine in spell-slinger and blink builds. Legacy, Vintage, and Modern all have access to it, and while those formats offer faster redundancy, the floor is still a one-mana Ancestral Recall that replaces itself with interest. Pioneer and Standard inclusion is narrower — the lack of broken enablers in those formats means you cast it once and move on, which is still good but not the absurd loop card it is elsewhere. Oathbreaker, like Commander, rewards the repeatable cast angle heavily given how freely you can abuse a cheap instant in that format.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

36 decks
Displacer KittenIntruder AlarmEmeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Displacer KittenIntruder AlarmEmeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Infinite card draw; Infinite draw triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite mana creatures you control can produce; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite untap of creatures you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗
14 decks
Displacer KittenMind Over MatterEmeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Displacer KittenMind Over MatterEmeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall

Infinite draw triggers; Infinite self-discard triggers; Near-infinite ETB; Near-infinite LTB; Near-infinite card draw for any number of players; Near-infinite draw triggers for any number of players; Near-infinite looting; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite mana permanents you control can produce; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite untap of permanents you control

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Budget Alternatives

Cheaper options that do most of the same work

Nothing in print does exactly what Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall does at this mana cost — the Ancestral Recall half is historically the most powerful draw spell ever printed, and budget replacements like Frantic Search or Brainstorm get you card selection rather than raw card advantage. If the goal is pure draw density without the combo ceiling, Archmage's Charm and Fact or Fiction come closest, but both cost more mana and lack the Wizard body that makes Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall a loop piece.

Price Context

Current price

$20.10 premium tier

At $20.10, Emeritus of Ideation // Ancestral Recall sits at the premium tier — expensive for a single card but not unreasonable given that the back half is a functional Ancestral Recall, one of the most powerful draw effects ever printed. That price reflects real demand across Commander and eternal formats, and it is unlikely to soften as long as blue spell-slinger decks exist.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.