Courtesy of Wizards of the Coast (WotC) and Tolarian Community College, check out Core Set 2021’s new take on a legendary creature from Magic’s past — Barrin, Tolarian Archmage.
While Tolarian Community College analyzed Barrin from a Commander perspective, the uses for this three-mana creature reach multiple formats, including Standard, Pioneer, and beyond.
When Barrin, Tolarian Archmage enters the battlefield, return up to one other target creature or planeswalker to its owner’s hand.
In constructed formats, this ability will most commonly be returning either an opponent’s creature or your own planeswalker, but there are scenarios where you can use this to either replay your own creature, or reset your opponent’s planeswalker. We’ve already seen the impact a Turn 3 bounce effect can have on creature decks in Teferi, Time Raveler, so it’s not a stretch to assume Barrin could make quite an impact.
At the beginning of your end step, if a permanent was put into your hand from the battlefield this turn, draw a card.
If this looks familiar, it should. While not quite as strong, Barrin takes a page from Teferi and allows the player to draw a card after returning a permanent to hand. The only difference being you are forced to return your own permanents for the draw ability to activate.
It should also be noted that Barrin’s draw ability counts for other bounce effects as well, meaning if you return one of your permanents on a follow-up turn using another card, you’ll get to draw a card from that as well.