MTG Birthday & Retrospective: Time Spiral

Hey fellow Otaku & Metalheads, and welcome back to my 2nd-year anniversary celebration!

Every once in a while, it’s nice to get away from the anime & metal music, and talk about other things in my sphere of geeky influence. Perhaps one of the longest-standing nerdy hobbies I’m into, is Magic the Gathering! I’ve been playing this iconic card game since the late spring of 2004, and while I’m not the greatest player there is, I’m none the less a big fan. Around the time that my uncle passed away in 2006, I had been playing for a little over 2 years at that point. Even then I was still taking it all in, but it was an experience I thoroughly enjoyed.

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with my grieving process, and that’s a fair question. I had gone through 3 sets at that point: the infamous Kamigawa (Might talk about that one day next year), the original incarnation of Ravnica, and the momentary but frosty Coldsnap. The set I’ll talk about today was an interesting one to be sure, and definitely changed the landscape of Magic for quite some time. So sit back, strap yourself in, and enjoy my take on the dimension-warping Time Spiral. Enjoy!

Time Spiral (2006)

Okay, let me paint a picture: it’s 2006, and Magic has gone through a whirlwind. 2004 & 2005 saw the reign of Kamigawa, and while that set was loved by some, many others hated it. The set introduced some powerful cards to the game, but many of them almost broke the game, while others practically dominated over so many decks. 2005 & 2006 saw the arrival of Ravnica, and that was loved by many players, despite the powershifts with each set. 4 guilds in the beginning, 3 others in the middle, and the 3 remaining guilds at the end. In the summer of 2006, we saw the return of the ice age with Coldsnap. It was fine, but it really didn’t mesh well with either set.

Then, rumbles in the space time continuum were being felt. MTG players were seeing flashes of the past. The rumbling continued, until September of 2006, when we finally saw what was going on, as Wizards of the Coast revealed the source of this distortion....Time Spiral! Released on October 6, 2006, Time Spiral was a return to the MTG blocks of old, bringing back the past to empower the present, and inspire for the future. It was truly an interesting time!

Best Aspect? For starters, the throwback to the past was awesome! Like I said above, I had only been playing a little over two years, and didn’t know about many sets prior. With the look back into the past, it was almost like a history lesson for me. It was this set that got me interested in collecting older cards, and in Christmas of 2006 I managed to get 3 older pre-built decks (1 Onslaught, 2 Apocalypse) because of this!

Secondly, Time Spiral reintroduced old mechanics, & introduced new ones. Classic mechanics like buyback & morph returned to strut their stuff once more, and new mechanics like suspend, flash & split second adding to the time flavor of the set. Suspend let you play a card cheaper, but you had to exile it, and over the course of a few turns remove time counters to get it onto the battlefield. Flash was simply an official word for cards that could be played like instants, but it’s great to see more time flavoring. Split Second allowed you play a card & it can’t be countered, which represented the warping of time that couldn’t be altered.

Third, creature types that haven’t been seen for years have returned. The classic & terrifying Slivers, the wild Spellshapers, and the anarchistic Rebels all come back to show the young-ins some stuff, but there were new creatures that were representatives of classic cards. Chief among them was the Magus cycle of wizards, with Time Spiral’s set of magus cards taking on the powers of old artifacts. My personal favorite being Magus of the Disk, a wizard wielding the power of one of the strongest artifacts ever seen in the history of MTG.

Lastly, Time Spiral had a subsection of cards known as Timeshifted. Essentially a subset within a set (More on this in a bit), these cards were older cards brought back, but with modern wording & border changes. A new color variant was used as well, in the form of a purple hourglass (The hourglass was the symbol of Time Spiral). Some timeshifted cards were good (Akroma), others were bad (Giant Oyster), but for older players they were all fond memories. As for newer players, it showed them why the older fans loved the game so much. Also, these timeshifted cards changed the amount of card rarities within a Time Spiral booster: originally it was 11 common, 3 uncommon, and 1 rare. With a Time Spiral booster, it was 10 common, 3 uncommon, 1 rare, and 1 timeshifted. Foils were also changed in Time Spiral (As well as future sets), with them now replacing a common.

Worst Aspect? Two things that really gave me issues. The first is just how big this set is! Excluding the timeshifted cards, there were 301 cards, which isn’t bad (It was normal at the time for beginning sets to be this big). With the inclusion of the timeshifted cards, and additional 121 cards were added onto, making the total a whopping 422! The amount makes this beginning set rather overwhelming, as collecting 1 of every card is a monumental task.

The second issue is more on my end. I was up in Watertown for my Uncle’s funeral, and the first week of previews for Time Spiral was during that. Yeah, I was up there for the whole week! In the ensuing process, these previews kinda left a bitter taste in my mouth, and it took a month or two before I was warmed up to the opening of this strange block. In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have connected this time to the preview of Time Spiral, as it has become one of my favorite MTG sets ever.

And while it’s not necessarily a “worst” aspect, I should state that Time Spiral wasn’t well received by newer MTG fans. They felt that the nostalgia throwback to older sets were rather alienating, and while it brought back some older gamers, the set wasn’t as successful as Mark Rosewater had hoped. In fact, in his State of Design 2007, Mr. Rosewater said that the throwbacks left the newer players out of the loop.

Time Spiral. A blast from the past, and a glimpse of what was to come. Old & new magic fans will find something to enjoy. Next set!

Planar Chaos (2007)

Time Spiral, while a fun beginning set, left a tiny bit of a bad taste in newer player’s mouths. Like I said above, the usage of nostalgia alienated some people, and it seemed like it may have done more harm than good. Their, the present of these players was shifting ever so slightly. Suddenly, it seemed as if things they once knew were changed in some way. Nope, it was just Planar Chaos. Released on February 2, 2007, Planar Chaos was another trip through Magic’s history. Whereas Time Spiral was all about the past, Planar Chaos was more about the present. Actually, it was more about alternate timelines. Iconic characters from magic’s past have returned, but due to the changing of the past, they’re different somehow.

Best Aspect? A fun aspect of Planar Chaos is it’s theme of alternate timelines. It’s interesting to see cards from one time like, only to see them in another. A red Akroma, a blue redeemed version of Braids, and a dark revision of the iconic character Mirri are just a couple of the alternate cards in the set. There was also a group of cards within the set (No timeshifted cards for this set & no alternate color symbol) that were classic cards from older set, but given a facelift. What if Serra Angel was a sphinx? What if Ball lightning was green? What if Wrath of God was evil? It’s fun see the old become new & different in this set.

Magus cards came back in Planar Chaos, only this time they weren’t wielding artifacts from a bygone age. This time around, these incredible wizards harnessed the power of ancient lands. Magus of the Coffers is an example: manipulating the energy once used by Cabal Coffers, it was another way for the past to return to the present, and another piece of nostalgia to be remembered.

Secondly, card distribution is different as well. In this set, 3 of the 10 commons are timeshifted, and one of the 3 uncommon would be timeshifted. Foils replace a common card, instead of replacing it’s respective rarity. Because of this change, it was entirely possible for someone to open 3 rares in a boosters. I never had this happen to me, but I know of people that had this experience happen to them. This comes across as more ridiculous than Time Spiral boosters if you ask me!

Finally, you’ve got 2 new mechanics introduced in Planar Chaos: dual cards & vanishing. Dual Cards technically aren’t from this set, as they were originally introduced in the 3rd part of the Invasion block & the original Ravnica block (Dissension), but PC marked the first time that they were used outside of their introduction. They were basically two cards printed on one side, and you could only play 1 of them. They each had a theme & 2 different methods of harming your opponent, so there was plenty of variety to be has. Vanishing was a fun way of representing the erosion of time upon someone. Like suspend, a permanent with vanishing had time counters , but instead of coming into play when all the counters are gone, the permanent is destroyed unless you somehow have a means of rescuing it, or at the very least prolong the card’s existence.

Worst Aspect? If anything, I always though that Planar Chaos was a rather lazy middle set. I definitely like the idea of alternate presents, as there’s certainly plenty of story idea. On cards, however, it’s really just rehashing old cards in different colors. Like I said above, there was some fun rule changes & alternate cards, so I truly can’t complain.

Planar Chaos. Maybe not the strongest or my favorite part of the Time Spiral block, but one that has some interesting cards, and has some fun if you like alternate timeline stories. Next set!

Future Sight (2007)

Finally, now we’re getting to my favorite part!

Considering that this set dealt with the past & present, it seemed only natural that the future would be dealt with at the end......and that’s exactly what we got! Released on May 4, 2007, Future Sight was the culmination of everything that was happening in Time Spiral & Planar Chaos. In the book, it was the climax of all the time distortion, old characters have returned, and a ancient evil returns to start machinations that would affect the entire multiverse. Card wise, Future Sight offered the most unique, varied, and downright out-there cards that the Time Spiral block has to offer.

Best Aspect? For starters, worlds collide in this set.  All of the mechanics from Time Spiral & Planar Chaos return, but the then current mechanics from newer sets of the time are here as well. Hellbent & Forecast from Dissension make appearances, sometimes interacting with other mechanics, sometimes on their own. The comedy set Unhinged provides inspiration for a number of cards in this set as well, only these inspired cards are actually usable & practical. Case in point: Barren Glory is a direct copy of The Cheese Stands Alone.

Secondly, the idea of vision of the future is really used to surprisingly good effect. Like Time Spiral with it’s vision of the past, and Planar Chaos’s take on alternate timelines, Future Sight gives predictions of, what else, the future! Over the top mechanics, creatures & spells no-one has ever seen before, and glimpses into possible worlds! Even the long rumored Planeswalker card type was to make it’s appearance in this set, but the design wasn’t done in time, and was instead placed in the Lorwyn block a few months later. Lastly, there were 5 legendary creatures that came from the future, and they were all the offspring of famous iconic figures from the past. Baru, Fist of Krosa comes to mind: the son of Kamahl, the barbarian turned druid, Baru wields the power of his father to tame the wild around him, and if you have multiple copies of him, you can take advantage of his Grandeur mechanic, and discard those copies to create wurms for your army.

These futuristic timeshifted cards also had a new design for them. As you see above, the mana was shifted to the left side, color in the background was altered, and there were symbols used to represent what the card was (Claw marks for creatures, etc). It’s a shame that this new design wasn’t implemented, as it would make for a refreshing change to the faces of the cards.

Finally, the Magus cycle returns for one final hurrah. Instead of manipulating artifacts or harnessing lands, these wizards handle the power of iconic enchantments, giving them a mystic aura stronger than their artifact & land counterparts.. It wouldn’t be right to talking about enchantment-manipulating wizards in a set about the future, without talking about Magus of the Future: cool artwork, relatively low mana cost, and an ability that any blue player would love!

Worst Aspect? About the only bad thing I can say about Future Sight is that it was the most gimmicky out of the parts of the Time Spiral block. While many of the new mechanics were implemented in future blocks & sets, far more were really just created to be one-off gimmicks to attract people to the set. The grandeur mechanic that was used on the 5 legendary creatures immediately comes to mind for me, but there were others as well that were just designed to stay in tone with the “future” theme. Like I said above, it actually works well, and as I said in the Planar Chaos portion, I really can’t complain.

Future Sight. The oddest & weirdest part of a equally odd & weird set. If there was any part of Time Spiral that you should collect & get into, it would be this one.

So this was a look at something else that helped my grieving process. Time Spiral was an odd, funky, strange set, but one that appealed to the nostalgia of the old players, while enticing new players with a glimpse into the past. See you all next week, when you’ll see a “top 10” list that’s larger than normal. Until then, I hope this trip to the past brought some fond memories back for all of you.




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If you’d like a history lesson about the history & impact of Time Spiral, check out the link below:

The Mana Source (Time Spiral)