Unraveling Color Interactions with Information Dealer in MTG

In TCG ·

Information Dealer card art from Onslaught set

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Color Interplay and the Quiet Power of Information

In Magic: The Gathering, color identity is more than just a palette of spells—it’s a conversation about how a deck obtains, processes, and deploys information. Blue is the archetype of control and curiosity, the color that prefers careful planning to reckless bravado. The 2002 creature Information Dealer from Onslaught embodies that ethos in a compact, 1/1 package: {1}{U}, tap to peek at the top X cards where X is the number of Wizards on the battlefield, then rearrange them as you see fit. It’s a reminder that in MTG, knowledge can be a weapon, and the scope of that weapon grows with every Wizard you field. 🧙‍♂️🔥

When you pair Information Dealer with other colors, you’re not changing the rules—you're extending the map. Blue’s strength often lies in manipulating what your opponent will draw next, while white stabilizes the board, black sips away threats, green accelerates your setup, and red compresses time with speed and aggression. Information Dealer is a perfect case study in how blue can leverage allies—both friends and foes—to tailor draws, pressure the pace of the game, and—importantly—keep the mental tempo in your favor. The card’s flavor text, “One wizard is a suspect. Two wizards are a conspiracy,” hints at the social dynamics of a tabletop: a chorus of mages can coordinate or collide, and you want to be the one quietly stacking the narrative in your favor. 💎 🧙‍♂️

Card snapshot: Information Dealer

  • Name: Information Dealer
  • Set: Onslaught (ONS)
  • Rarity: Common
  • Mana cost: {1}{U}
  • Type: Creature — Human Wizard
  • Power/Toughness: 1/1
  • Text: {T}: Look at the top X cards of your library, where X is the number of Wizards on the battlefield, then put them back in any order.
  • Flavor: "One wizard is a suspect. Two wizards are a conspiracy." —Elvish refugee
  • Art: Jerry Tiritilli
“One wizard is a suspect. Two wizards are a conspiracy.”

From a design perspective, Information Dealer leverages the classic blue blueprint: cheap play, scalable effect, and a subtle degree of choice. The ability to reorder top-of-library reveals becomes particularly potent in a world where you’re counting Wizards on the battlefield. Each additional Wizard increases your X, turning a modest tap into a real information engine. Especially in formats where Wizards are a common tribal or theme—think EDH/Commander circles with blue-heavy builds—the Dealer can be an underrated piece that nudges card selection toward the exact flips you want to set up your next sequence. 💎

Practical strategies: turning information into advantage

To maximize Information Dealer’s potential, lean into blue’s natural toolkit for library manipulation and tempo. Here are actionable angles you can experiment with in casual to semi-competitive play:

  • Stack the Wizards: In decks with multiple Wizards, Information Dealer’s X scales quickly. If you can snowball several Wizard creatures onto the battlefield, you’ll gain outsized control over what you draw next. Pair with other Wizard-generating effects or tribal synergies to push X higher early.
  • Pair with true blue library tech: Combine Dealer with shuffle-and-reorder options (Brainstorm-style effects, Ponder, Sensei’s Divining Top, etc.) to turn each tap into a precise setup. The goal isn’t just to draw well; it’s to draw the exact card you need at the exact moment.
  • Tempo and pressure: Information Dealer slows down the opponent’s clock by refining your own draws while you threaten timely countermagic, bounce, or counterplay. A calculated top-deck manipulation can blunt an opposing plan before it even begins, keeping you one step ahead in a back-and-forth game of chess. ⚔️
  • Commander considerations: In multiplayer formats, Information Dealer can shine as a control piece in blue-centric pods. The usefulness of the top-of-library manipulation scales with board state, time, and the number of Wizards already in play—so it’s a fit for longer, brainier games where every decision compounds into a win.
  • Value beyond the top: Even though Information Dealer’s body is delicate, its effect is about information dominance. In the right shell, you bend the game toward your preferred outcome by dictating what remains on top of the library, setting up your next two or three turns with surgical precision. ✨

For collectors and lore enthusiasts, the Onslaught era captured a curious moment in MTG’s color development. Blue’s library manipulation ethos was already well-formed, and a common such as Information Dealer offered a reminder that even modest cards can have a meaningful echo in a deck’s strategy. The card’s price point reflects its place in history: affordable for casual play, with foil editions carrying a small premium for dedicated collectors who relish the nostalgia of old-school blue tempo. 💰

Design, lore, and the tactile joy of play

Beyond the numbers, Information Dealer carries the tactile joy of MTG’s early 2000s design era. The Onslaught set, with its classic frame and bold flavor text, evokes a period when tribal subthemes and blue’s information-centric play were being refined in real-time. The flavor line about conspiracies among wizards nudges players toward imagining the social texture of a spell-slinging council—where each Wizard adds a thread to a broader tapestry of magical machinations. The art by Jerry Tiritilli, with its crisp line work and period-appropriate vibe, invites players to imagine the subtle nods and secret whispers that come with a lab full of clever spellcasters. 🎨

If you’re someone who treats MTG as much a social experience as a solitary puzzle, Information Dealer offers a playful reminder: sometimes the most influential choices are the ones you make with your eyes—deciding not only what to play, but what to look for and in what order to arrange your own destiny. And in a world where color interactions drive deckbuilding decisions, blue’s quiet insistence on information over impulse remains as relevant as ever. 🧙‍♂️

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