New MTG Powerhouse is already included in several formats - and it's almost sold out

Magic: The Gathering enters a new era, because its Avatar: The Last Airbender set officially came out just a few days ago, and several formats are changing now, both due to the new cards and the November 10th bans. Magic: The Gathering hit Standard the most and killed the infamous Izzet Cauldron deck that dominated all tournaments. Now that the Avatar set is out, the meta is inevitably reshaping for every format, and some cards have already proven to be extremely powerful – maybe even a little too much. The most notable example is the Badgermole Cub right now, but another can be made for another mythic rare, such as Wan Shi Tong, Librarian.

It makes sense too Magic: The Gathering Mythic rares are some of the best cards in any given set. While rarity doesn't always equal value or power, Librarian Wan Shin Tong has plenty of both. This creature is a great example of card design done right, as it can be used in most formats to great success, it dramatically changes the game when played, and it's already a core part of many combos. However, it is sold out almost everywhere, and you may have a hard time getting your hands on it.

It's time to welcome one of MTG's most broken blue cards ever

There are a few reasons why Wan Shi Tong, Librarian is such a powerful card in multiple formats. These are;

Other than Standard, which doesn't have many Tutor-like abilities, Wan Shi Tong can be played successfully in most formats and at any time in response to a Tutor trigger to instantly get a +1/+1 counter and let you draw a card.
- Wan Shi Tong is OP in Commander and cEDH, because a turn cycle has four players, so multiple tutors will be used before your next turn, giving the creature a lot of power. As such, it can easily replace or add to Archivist of Oghma decks, and is yet another powerhouse for cEDH's strongest and most consistent deck: Blue Farm.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, can be extremely powerful as a draw engine in control decks and combo decks, such as Dimir Mill in Modern or Dimir Tempo in Timeless.
- It can be used in combination with the infamous OP Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student // Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar to help proc it with its card draw ability. Likewise, it can be a mana sink in longer games or landfall decks.
It allows for some incredible combos with otherwise not-so-competitive cards, like Scheming Symmetry and Archive Trap.
It can be played in response to MTGs fetch lands as well, meaning it grows larger and acts as a draw engine even for more basic tutor abilities found in most decks in the game.
- Powerful staples like Crop Rotation also add to Wan Shi Tong's ability, making opponents think twice about playing a certain card or following a given strategy.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, can become a stax of sorts along with extremely powerful cards like MTG's Rhystic Study, Smoking Tithes, Orcish Bowmasters and more.
- Cards like Path to Exile are often used as removals, but they double as power-ups for Wan Shi Tong if they force the opponent(s) to search their library.
Being a blue card, it is easy to have interaction and counterplay in the deck, such as Force of Negation, Fierce Guardianship if Wan Shi Tong is your commander, and Flare of Denial. It also pairs perfectly with the latest Edge of Eternities Quantum Riddler card.

MTG decks use Wan Shi Tong, Librarian

As you might imagine, Librarian Wan Shi Tong is perfectly at home in Commander thanks to its power-up and draws on the Tutor's abilities. This might seem like the perfect place to use Wan Shi Tong as a commander, but it might be even better in 99. For example, it can be taught by Sisay, the Weatherlight Captain, to speed himself up and always be readily available. It can also synergize with Tymna the Weaver for Blue Farm decks, quickly increasing the number of cards you can draw.

On top of that, the popular Play to Win MTG podcast gave Wan Shi Tong, Librarian 4.9/5 and 5/5 from Dillan and Cam respectively.

According to mtgtop8.com's last 2 weeks of competitive deck data, Wan Shi Tong sees the following numbers:

About 2.5% usage in modern tires
About 0.5% inclusion in Vintage tires
About 22.6% usage in cEDH tires

This is all the more impressive considering that Librarian Wan Shi Tong came out three days ago, on November 21st.

Why Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is unlikely to be banned in modern times

Also, while it's too early, and it seems unlikely due to how many OP cards populate the format, some are speculating that Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, may be banned in Modern long term. Given that cards like Psychic Frog, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, Fatal Push, Force of Negation, Lightning Bolt, Urza's Saga, and Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury are all still playable in the format without restrictions, a Wan Shi Tong ban discussion may be premature, if warranted at all.

MTG's Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is practically impossible to get

Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is already one of the most expensive cards in the Avatar set, averaging $50-60.

There are a few copies selling for $70 on TCGPlayer at the moment, but it's very hard to find anywhere else.
There are also six copies available at Card Kingdom at the time of writing, for $60. Copies of the borderless version of Wan Shi Tong are mostly sold out everywhere, and that goes for the foil version as well.
Wan Shi Tong, Librarian, is out of stock at CoolStuffInc.
9 copies of Wan Shi Tong, Librarian are available at Star City Games for $65 each.

What follows is that the card is mostly unobtainable right now, unless players are willing to shell out a few extra bucks for each copy. This may be less of a problem for Commander decks MTGas they only need a copy of the card, but fans of other formats may already be in luck.