This simply does too many nice little things to be overlooked. It can slash echo costs, let you cycle cards for free without fluctuator, net you a free card each turn with Well of Knowledge, play activated abilities, rack up a Gemstone Array.... It's really just another cheap artifact from Urza's block that can spit out a ton of mana repeatedly, just in a less blatant manner than Grim Monolith and Thran Turbine.
Mercenaries aren't a particularly strong race, but I find a set of Turbines can help them out a lot. It makes Molting Harpy fearsome and even Pit Raptor manageable. And if you have neither out, it can help pay for recruit costs (during your upkeep, which is a sub-optimal time to do so, but free mana is free mana.)
Posted By:
Kirbster
(12/10/2011 11:21:25 PM)
Great card in Control and Artifact decks.
Posted By:
ThadeGelna
(8/1/2009 8:10:14 AM)
You can use this card to pay suspend costs, as you don't "play the card from your hand" when you suspend it :-) Suspend rather, is a static ability of the card. The card is actually "played" when the last suspend counter is removed.
To quote the comprehensive rules:
"502.59a Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with suspend is in a player's hand. The second and third are triggered abilities that function in the removed-from-the-game zone. "Suspend N--" means "If you could play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with N time counters on it. This action doesn't use the stack," and "At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is suspended, remove a time counter from it," and "When the last time counter is removed from this card, if it's removed from the game, play it without paying its mana cost if able. If you can't, it remains removed from the game. If you play i... (see all)
Posted By:
iaiji
(1/7/2011 5:25:27 PM)
Pays for upkeep shenanigans and fun repeatable activated abilities. Get a free Sliver with the Queen or chip in 
of your own and get a couple ants from another Queen.
Posted By:
ClockworkSwordfish
(4/27/2011 9:09:05 AM)
Methinks this card is a little bit crazy under the new rules. Oh, exploitable.
Posted By:
swordoath
(7/27/2009 2:08:05 AM)
Note that, if you let this card add mana to your mana pool, you have to use up the mana before you reach your first main phase, else you suffer mana burn and lose the generated mana. Which means about the same as: "you can use mana generated by this card only to play instants or costs of abilities" (save some exceptions).
Posted By:
majinara
(3/10/2009 10:25:43 AM)
you need something with a manacost ability to even think of playing this, otherwise you will kill yourself
Posted By:
darkfury
(10/11/2009 2:34:41 PM)
@iaiji
You can suspend a card only if you could play it, so in the upkeep you can't suspend permanents...
Posted By:
Paolino
(6/29/2012 6:45:53 AM)
Combos with paradox haze.
Posted By:
Zoroaster85
(3/2/2013 9:16:36 AM)