[Spoiler] [LCI] The Ancient One

The Ancient One {U}{B} 8/8 Legendary Creature - Spirit God (M)

Descend 8 - The Ancient One can't attack or block unless there are eight or more permanent cards in your graveyard.

2{U}{B}: Draw a card, then discard a card. When you discard a card this way, target player mills cards equal to its mana value.

Link: https://www.magicspoiler.com/mtg-spoiler/the-ancient-one/

Tried searching but couldn't find a post on this one. It's an interesting card that I think it's more potent in older formats considering the self-mill is a lot better there ([[Stitcher's Supplier]], [[Grisly Salvage]], etc.). I think though that given a big theme of this set appears to be filling your own yard with permanents, it might see some play if we get enough self-mill. It feels like such low opportunity cost to potentially be able to untap and swing with an 8/8. The effect can really help it to activate the Descend threshold, and in a Sultai shell with some of the other new cards, you could be getting back what you discard pretty easily. It also is a good top deck in the late game, as you'll likely have Descend 8 turned on and it's then just a 2 mana 8/8 which has to be dealt with quickly.

This also synergizes well with Explore, given that can be used to fill the yard if desired. Some other new cards that are interesting to me in conjunction with this are:

• [[Wail of the Forgotten]]: You can use that to either fuel the graveyard filling more or to buy time for it to come online (assuming you haven't already hit the 8 threshold for both cards to be fully online, in which case Wail is obviously insanely good).

• [[Squirming Emergence]] This links back to what I was saying about being able to reuse cards discarded to [[The Ancient One]]'s effect. Given you want to fill the yard with permanents anyway, this cheap reanimation spell could be an absolute house potentially.

• [[Aven Heartstabber]] A potential home for this since it's not really had a good one since it was printed. A 3/3 flyer with deathtouch is a good rate, and this she'll should help make that a reality. I'm less high on this than some of the others here.

• [[The Everflowing Well]] This could be an excellent engine for Descend. Draw 2 Mill 2 that sacs itself to the legend rule is perfect for descent.

• [[Blossoming Tortoise]] Should be self-explanatory, and it also buffs:

• [[Restless Reef]] 4/4 man land with deathtouch that mills a player for four when it attacks. Great in this deck.

• [[Cruel Somnophage]] Adventure side mills you for four, and the creature side gets bigger the more creatures you mill.

• [[Fallaji Archaeologist]] Cheap and easy way to mill yourself more.

• [[Invasion of Amonkhet]] Potential here as it mills you for three, and can also be used to copy cards discarded with The Ancient One's effect.

There are probably a lot more cards I've missed, but I think there's potentially a shell there. I'm interested to see what people think, and by no means do I think this is going to be an immediate meta breaking card given how prevalent graveyard hate is at the moment. Not to mention [[Ossification]] and [[Sunfall]]. Just interested to hear others' thoughts.