The graveyard, in Magic: The Gathering, and especially for more seasoned players, can often be considered an extension of your hand and library, a stockpile of almost out of reach cards, but not so out of reach you can't use and abuse those resources if your intention to do so led you to building your deck accordingly.
False Memories is often seen as a bulk rare, not good in 60 card formats, never was, to be honest. Always a word away from being great, always an interaction missing to lead to it's success.
I am not here to convince you otherwise, only a fool would sleeve 4 copies of False Memories and enter their next Premodern tournament with the card proudly in their decks, am I right? Maybe yes, maybe not, I will let you decide if these are nothing more than the ramblings of a fool, or perhaps there can be work to be done, after all, the search for innovation is never ending.
So, at instant speed, you get 7 fresh cards in your graveyard, which, at first glace means instant threshold, and access to flashback cards deep in your library. The drawback of losing it all at the NEXT endstep makes it not appealing enough, right?
If that is what you were looking for, of course, but the truth is the card can be exploited thanks to some old critters like Krovikan Horror and Ashen Ghoul that can return to the battlefield for close to no cost at all.
Usually, creatures that have abilites that trigger on the upkeep do so at the beggining of the upkeep and not during or at the end of it, at least it is so in contemporary Magic. But those were different times and we are working on a semi-time capsule of one of the most experimental MtG eras, so experimental we are gonna be.
Undead Gladiator can also be a very grindy card, letting you filter through your deck and putting other creatures in the graveyard for recursion, which can also be used and abused by False Memories and, of course, keep in mind that Blue and Black are also the two colors of a fan favorite toothy boi called Psychatog to which False Memories provides up to +4/+4, while also letting you use the 'Tog to eat the remaining cards in your library before False Memories' trigger happens, and letting you eat enough cards in your graveyard that your Krovikan Horror can come back.
Another use, and a more traditional one at that that this blue instant can have is in more traditional Reanimator lists serving as a quasi-tutor for the fatty you find better suitable for the situation, being it a Verdant Force, an Akroma, Angel of Wrath or if you want to keep the spice rack open, a trio of buddies in Bladewing, the Risen, Bladewing's Thrall and a Rorix Bladewing providing a swift board presence, and an intimidating one at that.
Goblin Welder was also once a semi-bulk rare, and, ironically, also can use False Memories to gain a very flashy advantage over the board, letting you find a big haymaker artifact really early, like a Mishra's Helix or a Phyrexian Colossus or simply fixing a very early kill with the Phyrexian Devourer
plus the cheap Altar of Dementia.
Overall, I am not saying this is the next big thing in the format, but I am making a case that it is an almost forgotten card that can breed innovation.
I hope you enjoyed this first "real" post, leave your comments and thoughts below if you feel like it, discussion is always important to create innovation.
Best regards,
Urza
Gas!!
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