We have been trying to figure out why people run Deep Analysis for a long time now. It looks like a bad card. Why would you pay 6 mana and 3 life at Sorcery speed for 4 cards even if you can split it up over multiple turns. Opportunity never saw play and it is an Instant and doesn’t cost you life. I’ve tried to use it and it always seemed pretty crappy.

As such I decided to do some research on the decks that use it and how it is done. A Deep Analysis of the card if you will. Well here it is:

Decks that run Deep Analysis:

This deck can also generate a lot of mana and thus can pay 4 for it and still not tap out.

Conclusion:

Every deck I found that ran Deep Analysis also had multiple ways of getting it into the graveyard without paying the four mana. This means you can’t look at it like a crappy Inspiration then flashing it back. Instead you need to look at it as Night’s Whisper for one more life. The fact that blue is a much better control color than black makes this worth one more life.

This is the point I had previously missed when trying to use it myself. I’ve always just cast it then flashed it back later. I knew the U/G Madness players could discard it but I didn’t expect every deck that ran it to do so. Maybe I’ll have to give it another shot using it correctly. The only deck with less than 10 ways to get it into the graveyard also happens to be the deck with a huge mana engine that can tap 2 lands to cast it in the first place.

Another important point I should make is that Deep Analysis is great against discard. Normally resolving something like Mind Sludge or Persecute against a control deck is game over but if that discard spell also dumps 1-2 Deep Analysis in the graveyard that hand just magically comes back if not even grows. Since Deep Analysis is in Torment, the set of MBC, this is quite significant.

The last point that is kinda neat about Deep Analysis is that since many magic players are lazy and shorten practically every card name they tend to call it Deep Anal which will always make me and my 7-year-old sense of humor giggle. How could you not enjoy saying “Flash my Deep Anal?”