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In the world of MTG, every card carries a little math and a lot of mood. Salvager of Secrets steps onto the board with a curious bargain: pay the mana, grow your blue-tinged control plan, and then pull a spell back from the graveyard. It’s not just about reusing a trick once; it’s about turning your graveyard into a second library, a hidden shelf where your best instants and sorceries wait for another go. If you’re chasing win odds through inclusion rate, this Merfolk Wizard becomes a surprisingly practical anchor in certain blue archetypes 🧙♂️🔥.
Salvager of Secrets: a quick read on value
Mana cost: 3UU for a 2/2 creature that deals with the graveyard in a single, elegant line. When Salvager of Secrets enters the battlefield, you may return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. That means you aren’t just grabbing a cantrip or two; you’re reclaiming a pivotal spell at the moment you’re most likely to need it again. The card’s rarity is common in the Game Night 2019 set (Gn2), but its power lies in the reliability of its effect rather than sheer rarity. It’s a value engine, not a high-variance haymaker, and that distinction matters when you’re calculating inclusion rate and win odds 🧠💎.
“The greatest treasure of the deep is an echo from above.” — flavor text on Salvager of Secrets reminds us that the deck’s memory is a powerful asset; what you recur becomes a part of your strategy, not just a one-off play.
Why inclusion rate matters in blue decks
In blue-dominant shells, Salvager of Secrets serves as a bridge between card advantage and graveyard interaction. Its stats are modest, but the effect is sticky: every time it enters, you are guaranteed to rebound a spell you’ve already cast or one that found its way there through other means. This makes it a natural fit for decks that lean on lots of instants and sorceries—think tempo-control lines, spell-slinging archetypes, or blue-heavy combo enablers. The more you lean into a graveyard-reuse plan, the higher the payoff from Salvager’s ETB ability becomes 🧙♂️⚔️.
- Graveyard as a resource: If your list already tosses important spells into the graveyard—whether via cantrips, wheel effects, or deliberate discards—Salvager increases the odds that your graveyard will replenish your hand at the moment you need it most. The inclusion rate should reflect how frequently your deck can present a usable instant or sorcery from the graveyard to reuse.
- Cost vs. payoff balance: At five mana total (including two blue), Salvager is not a tempo play. It asks you to weather the early turns and deliver value on sustain rather than explosive tempo. In decks that want to maximize late-game stability, that cost is often worth it if you’ve built around a robust suite of counterspells or card draw.
- Target quality: Your graveyard’s composition matters. If your graveyard is full of high-impact spells like Cancel, Mystical Teachings, or selective removal, your recurring value compounds. If your deck mills or cycles low-power cantrips, Salvager’s returns become routine rather than game-changing.
Inclusion rate in practice: format-by-format guidance
Formats like Modern or Pioneer tend to reward Salvager's engine more than Standard, where card pools and pace shift quickly. In a blue-control shell with enough cantrips, counterspells, and a couple of finishers, adding Salvager at 1–2 copies often yields a better-win-rate bump than you’d expect from its surface value. In Commander (EDH), where the deck is 100 cards and the graveyard is a perpetual resource, a single copy can sit as a reliable recurring spell tutor—especially in builds that lean into graveyard synergy or spell-slinger themes. If you’re calculating inclusion rate, aim for:
- 1 copy in most 60-card builds as a value engine—enough to recur a critical spell once while not overcommitting mana or space.
- 2 copies in mid-range or combo-oriented blue lists that consistently refill the graveyard with impactful instants or sorceries.
- 1 copy in EDH with a more graveyard-conscious strategy to avoid clunking the deck with too many subtleties and to keep the engine lean.
Estimating win odds: a practical, gamer-friendly approach
Think of win odds as a blend of availability and reliability. Salvager’s true strength is not a single dramatic play but a steady stream of recurring value. Here are a few practical heuristics you can apply when tuning your list:
- Graveyard depth reinforces value: If your deck routinely fills the graveyard with 6–10 viable instants or sorceries by midgame, Salvager becomes a reliable way to fetch a needed spell exactly when you’re about to run dry. Your win odds rise as the probability of having a high-impact spell in reach on the second or third cycle improves.
- Mana and tempo balance: With a five-mana cost, you want a steady board presence in the early turns or a strong pack of cantrips to hit your early land drops. The payoff linearly scales with mana stability; once you’re past the midgame, Salvager is a quiet but potent engine piece 🧙♂️🔥.
- Target selection matters: The better the spells you can recur, the better Salvager pays off. Reclaiming a hard counter, a removal spell, or an over-the-top draw can swing a close game in your favor, even if you’ve spent multiple turns investing in the engine.
Flavor, art, and the broader MTG tapestry
Beyond raw math, Salvager of Secrets carries a lore-scented charm with its merfolk flair and underwater echoes—that “echo from above” line tucked in the flavor text signals a theme of hidden knowledge and treasure found in the deep. The artwork by Lars Grant-West offers a dynamic, colorful rendering that can inspire a deck’s color identity and storytelling. In the modern collector world, it’s the kind of card that sits comfortably in casual decks and casual conversations alike, a nod to “the old ways” of value—where your graveyard becomes a second hand and your second hand becomes your victory 🧩🎨.
Putting it into practice: a quick deck-building thought
If you’re drafting a blue control shell for a weekend weekend tournament or a weekly local game, consider adding Salvager of Secrets as a value anchor. Pair it with a handful of efficient counters, card draw, and a few hard-to-deal-with threats to ensure you’re not just delaying the game but actively shaping it in your favor. The card’s presence tends to lift not only your immediate options but also your late-game resilience—the kind of subtle shift that wins games you might otherwise lose on a misstep 🧭💎.
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Prices and availability reflect current listings on Scryfall/partner sources. Card values are approximate and format-dependent.