DC-10 is not considered an important Magic format, to say the least. The few people that have ever played, or even heard of, DC-10 regard it simply as a way to kill a little time and an excuse to rip a few packs. In this article, I have detailed the play of sixteen Time Spiral booster packs against each other in a randomly seeded single elimination bracket. Preparing and playing this sixteen pack DC-10 “tournament” I think I actually did gain some insight about Time Spiral cards. DC-10 is good in that it makes you look at Magic cards differently, and the more different ways you can strategically consider the cards in Magic, the more you can learn about them. DC-10 is a format where certain kinds of cards become much better than they would be in any other format. Namely, cards that need a lot of mana to be useful. After testing these sixteen booster packs against each other in this DC-10 showdown, I learned, for instance, that Ghitu Firebreathing COULD actually be very useful. I had not even remotely considered playing Ghitu Firebreathing before I took part in this DC-10 exercise. Now I have included this card in a Time Spiral booster draft deck and learned that, although its usefulness is pretty narrow, there is a time and a place in limited play for Ghitu Firebreathing. You can always learn new things when you try new things.

HOW TO PLAY DC-10

DC-10 works like this: each player opens a single booster pack and shuffles the cards in that pack as much as possible, without looking at the cards in their pack. The players determine, in some way, who will play first. Players begin the game with no cards in their hand. Players draw one card per turn, as normal, but each player is assumed to have a certain amount of mana producing lands already in play for them to use.

In my own particular house rules for DC-10, each player is said to have 100 of each basic land type in play on their side at the beginning of the game. These lands are real Swamps, Islands, etcetera for all game purposes, such as land walk or other specific abilities. These lands can be sacrificed, destroyed or even returned to a player’s hand just as though they were actual lands. In other words, if your opponent played Flashfires, all Plains would be destroyed and neither player would have any more Plains with which to play white cards for the remainder of the game. The game ends when one player wins the game according to normal Magic rules. Very often, a player wins a game of DC-10 because his opponent draws his entire fifteen card library and then loses because he has no more cards to draw. Some players contend that so-called “blank” cards in your pack can be discarded to draw another card. These cards are called blanks because they have virtually no possible effect on the game, like the foil basic lands that can appear in Time Spiral packs. Under my own house rules, however, there is no such provision for handling undesirable cards in your pack. If you draw a card that is not particularly useful in DC-10, like a land or mana producing artifact, that’s just a bit of bad luck that is completely balanced by the cards whose power level is significantly higher in DC-10 compared to other formats.

For DC-10 using Time Spiral, I have not found a degenerative enough combo that needs to be banned or restricted in any way. DC-10 is a highly unpredictable format, with some games over on game one when someone draws a Disintegrate to games in which both players draw all fifteen of the cards in their pack.

The purpose of this so-called Time Spiral DC-10 Showdown is simply to enjoy watching these new cards interact with each other under somewhat realistic game conditions. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating this mammoth article.

HISTORY OF DC-10

To the best of my recollection, it was about four years ago that a group of Magic pros were on their way to some distant tournament when one of them had the bright idea to pop open a couple of booster packs and try to play a game using the extremely limited space available in the coach section of a jam-packed DC-10 commercial jetliner.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TIME SPIRAL CARD REVIEW

EVERYONE and their mother is reviewing Time Spiral cards these days, but I am proud to present my review of some of the new cards in a totally different context than other reviewers. The cards reviewed below were all a part of my Time Spiral DC-10 Showdown. They are not necessarily the most important cards in Time Spiral for either limited or constructed play, just cards that I found interesting during this exercise. Later in this article you can see the actual play-by-play of the DC-10 battles between the sixteen booster packs that I opened. You will see how some cards that don’t seem that great can be simply dominant in DC-10. I would have reviewed more cards in this article, but as you can see, the article is WAY TOO LONG already.

In the following card reviews, I have included a numeric review based on the familiar Pojo 1-5 scale where a ‘1’ is the worst, ‘3’ is average and ‘5’ is a top-notch must-play. Each card below is measured in three play formats: limited, constructed and, of course, DC-10.

REVIEWS OF SOME COMMONS USED IN THIS TOURNAMENT

Fathom Seer is a 1/3 Illusion for 1U that morphs for the cost of returning two islands back to your hand. When Fathom Seer is turned face up, you draw two cards. I wasn’t thrilled, at first, about returning lands to my hand, but drawing cards is so important in limited play that I am regularly including up to two of these guys in my draft decks. Not likely to make much of a splash in constructed, not because of his morph cost but because of the cost of putting him into play tapped. These days, blue mages have better ways to get cards in constructed decks than Fathom Seer. In DC-10, Fathom Seer is a great bargain because you only have fifteen cards in your deck and the Seer gives you easy access to TWO MORE of them.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.5

Gaze of Justice is a one white mana cost sorcery that removes a target creature from the game. Sounds pretty phenomenal… but wait, there’s more, as an additional cost to play Gaze of Justice you must tap three untapped white creatures. Gaze of Justice also has flashback with a cost of 5W. So is this a terrible spell or a great one? It’s both. In constructed, it might not be too bad from the sideboard, giving a white weenie deck serious targeted creature removal. In limited play, Gaze of Justice and also be good, as long as you understand what you need in order to play it effectively. What you need, quite simply, is lots of white creatures. As a matter of fact, you probably need MOST of the creatures in your sealed or draft deck to be white in order to make Gaze of Justice effective. Once you manage to have enough white creatures in your deck, Gaze of Justice is a great card. In Time Spiral draft, you should be able to get at least two of these cards and you will certainly want to play up to three copies IF you can manage to have at least eight or nine white creatures in a deck with LOTS of creatures in it.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 1.0

Ghitu Firebreathing is a creature enchantment (aura) for 1R that can be played as an instant (flash) and which gives the enchanted creature two abilities. For one red mana, you can either give enchanted creature +1/+0 until end of turn or you can return Ghitu Firebreathing to its owner’s hand. Cards like this have been around in Magic for a very long time, starting with the original Firebreathing from the original base set. Enchantments like this have basically been ignored by serious players for most of their history for two reasons, first that Firebreathing (or its ilk) is the waste of a card in their deck and two, that a card like this is wasted when it is played on a creature only to have that creature destroyed, bounced or otherwise removed from play before the creature enchantment even has a chance to resolve. Ghitu Firebreathing can’t do much to convince players against the FIRST argument, but has two things working for it that make it much less risky to play. Ghitu Firebreathing can be played as an instant, making it easy to play it at a time when your opponent is unlikely to be able to respond by removing the creature you wish to enchant. Secondly, this aura can be returned to your hand at any time for just one red mana. Until running across the card playing DC-10 for this article, I had not seriously considered EVER playing Ghitu Firebreathing. In DC-10, of course, this card was THE BOMB, allowing you to just play it as an instant and WIN anytime one of my creatures went unblocked by the opponent. Learning how good this card was in the wacky DC-10 format helped me realize what Ghitu Firebreathing REALLY is, it’s a reusable instant speed spell that essentially allows you to give a creature +X/+0 where X is the amount of red mana you feel like spending. The original give-a-creature-plus-X-plus-O instant was Howl from Beyond. More recently, this type of instant has become a red card, like Balduvian Rage from Coldsnap. While probably never destined for success in constructed, Ghitu Firebreathing has a place in red limited decks that have LOTS of mountains.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 1.5

DC-10: 4.5

Grapeshot is a sorcery for 1R that deals one point to target creature or player and which has Storm. In constructed play, this card has already been discussed as a win condition card for combo decks that use a loop of replayed cards to create mana, or, in the case of Grapeshot, a lot of spells cast during the turn allowing Grapeshot to put a huge number of Storm copies on the stack, each of which can be targeted separately. Outside of mad combos, I don’t think Grapeshot will be very interesting in constructed. In Time Spiral limited, Grapeshot is good enough even without the Storm ability since there are so many one toughness creatures that are played in the format. With a little care, it is easily possible to get one or two spells played during your turn before you play Grapeshot to deal two or three (or even more) points of damage divided among any number of targets.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.0

Looter il-Kor is a 1/1 Kor Rogue with Shadow for 1U. When Looter il-Kor deals damage to an opponent, you draw a card and then discard a card. In limited, Looter il-Kor is one hard-working little guy! You might want two of these in your draft deck if blue is in your plans. There aren’t really that many creatures with shadow in Time Spiral, so Looter gets in there turn after turn, improving your hand every time. Is there any call for a constructed shadow deck? If there is, Looter il-Kor might be able to make the cut, but chances are this greedy little nibbler is destined to be much more valuable in limited than in constructed. In DC-10, this guy is amazing if your pack has a game-winning bomb in it somewhere.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5

DC-10: 4.0

Mindstab is a sorcery for 5B that makes a target player discard three cards. Mindstab has Suspend 4 and a Suspend cost of one black mana. In limited (and possibly constructed) there is nothing wrong with suspending Mindstab on turn one. In limited, even though your opponent can see the handwriting on the wall (that he is about to lose his hand in a few turns), he will have some difficulty using up his entire hand in the short number of turns before Mindstab runs out of time counters and is played for no cost. Later in games, drawing Mindstab might not be too bad, when you can afford to pay six mana, it should be worth basically trading your own turn (what else would you be able to do on your turn if you are spending six mana playing Mindstab?) to peel three cards from your opponent’s hand. The problem I have with this card is what to do with it when you draw it on turns two through five or six? It feels awkward to suspend this spell when your opponent only has one or two cards in hand, and it feels equally unpleasant to have Mindstab stuck in your hand without being able to cast it. Good players are telling me to play one in booster drafts, but I have to say that I think the jury is definitely still out on this card.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.0

Momentary Blink is an instant for 1W that removes a target creature from the game and then returns that creature to play. Momentary Blink can also has Flashback with a cost of 3U. Remember Otherworldly Journey from Champions of Kamigawa? Momentary Blink has most of the same functionality. If Momentary Blink is as good as Otherworldly Journey it should see plenty of play in constructed. In Time Spiral limited, Momentary Blink is great in all kinds of situations, particularly when you use it on a creature with a beneficial coming to play ability. Momentary Blink allows your creature to sidestep virtually all kinds of removal effects from your opponent. If your opponent targets your creature with a Rift Bolt, for example, you simply respond with Momentary Blink and your creature is removed from play and then returned to play where it is NO LONGER THE SAME CREATURE that was targeted by the Rift Bolt, causing the Rift Bolt to be countered with no legal target. Momentary Blink can be used similarly against just about any targeted removal effect, although the old Otherworldly Journey WOULD be preferable when your opponent is playing a global kill spell like Wrath of God.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 3.5

Scarwood Treefolk is a 3/5 Treefolk for 3G that comes into play tapped. This uncomplicated creature is entirely decent for limited play. The downside of coming into play tapped is easily overshadowed by this creature’s 3/5 body for just four mana. I like this card more than if it were the same size for five mana and didn’t come into play tapped. The four casting spot is a jam-packed part of a lot of sealed and booster draft decks in Time Spiral limited formats, but Scarwood Treefolk should easily fit in most cases. Not much chance for this guy in constructed, I fear, a format where even the return of Ernham Djinn several years ago was met with yawns.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 1.5

DC-10: 3.0

Tendrils of Corruption is an instant for 3B that deals X to a target creature and gains for you X life where X is the number of Swamps you have in play. If this card was capable of targeting players, it would certainly have a place in constructed play. As it is, Tendrils of Corruption is probably destined only for limited play. Having played with this card in booster drafts for two weeks now, I am still seeing good players surprised to see Tendrils blowing up their creatures and gaining lots of life for me, all at instant speed. To make this card really good in your booster draft decks, try to make black your primary color, it will obviously make this card better if you have eight, nine or even ten Swamps in your deck. In the version of DC-10 that I used for this Time Spiral DC-10 Showdown, each player has 100 of each basic land type in play on their side starting at the beginning of each game. In this version of DC-10, resolving Tendrils of Corruption virtually makes it impossible for your opponent to defeat you with damage.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5

DC-10: 4.0

Trespasser il-Vec is a 3/1 Human Rogue for 2B. You can discard a card to give the Trespasser shadow until end of turn. In limited, three mana for a 3/1 creature is reasonable enough. When you add the ability to block a shadow creature or, better yet, to avoid your opponent’s blockers by gaining shadow, Trespasser il-Vec becomes a common creature with lots of potential in limited games.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.0

REVIEWS OF SOME UNCOMMONS USED IN THIS TOURNAMENT

Celestial Crusader is a 2/2 Spirit for 2WW. This card has the Flash ability, so it can be played anytime you could play an instant and Split Second, meaning that when you play it, this spell cannot be responded to with spells or non-mana activated abilities or anything else that uses the stack. Furthermore, this creature has flying and gives all OTHER white creatures +1/+1. That’s a lot of text on one Magic card, but don’t let it stop you from making the most of this hot little number. Actually, the only number that isn’t HOT on the Celestial Crusader is four, the amount of mana it takes to play it. With a casting cost of 1WW this might have been a powerful card for constructed. As it is, it’s a very good card for white booster draft decks. When you draft white in Time Spiral booster drafts, you pretty much want to suck up all the white cards that you can because the white Time Spiral draft decks seem to get much better the closer to mono white that they become. This card reinforces that strategy in a couple of ways. First, this card’s double white mana cost more or less means that your deck must be primarily white for this card to be easy to cast on turn four or five. Secondly, the more white creatures that you suck up for your deck, the fewer white creatures than will be in anyone else’s deck, helping to ensure that Celestial Crusader’s +1/+1 “Crusade” functionality will be useful only to you and not your opponent. Flash and Split Second combine to make Celestial Crusader a powerful combat trick.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 3.0

Clockwork Hydra is a 0/0 Hydra artifact creature for five colorless mana that comes into play with four +1/+1 counters on it. You can tap this creature to add a +1/+1 counter to it. Whenever Clockwork Hydra attacks or blocks, you must remove a +1/+1 counter from the Hydra. When you do, you get to do a point of damage to a creature or player. On the surface, the Clockwork Hydra looks like a lot of his clockwork family tree from the past, and possibly a little more trouble than its worth. Actually, in limited, Clockwork Hydra is quite useful. The ability to deal a point of damage to any target at the very moment that it is declared an attacker or blocker is very useful in Time Spiral limited formats. There are a number of one toughness creatures in the format that simply won’t be in play very long once the Hydra is in play. Better yet, your Clockwork Hydra in play can even force your opponent from being able to play his one toughness creatures, and may slow his game strategy down in other ways since he may not want to attack with a ground creature. If your opponent doesn’t attack right away and you are not needing to attack with the Hydra, you can tap him at the end of your opponent’s turn to give the Hydra another counter, making him more dangerous and more difficult to handle with each passing turn.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5

DC-10: 4.0

Conflagrate is a sorcery for XXR that deals X damage divided any way you want among any number of creatures and players. Conflagrate also has Flashback for a cost of RR and the discard of X cards from your hand. This card has taken me on a bit of a roller coaster ride as I have tried to use it in Time Spiral sealed deck and booster draft formats. First, I wanted to think of it as a flat-out bonafide fireball. It isn’t. The casting requirements for Conflagrate make it difficult to use for anything but expensive removal for a one toughness creature or possibly REALLY EXPENSIVE removal for a two toughness creature. Then, just as I was about to give up on Conflagrate, I figured out that it was ALMOST as useful as a typical red X spell in many cases. In the early game, you just have to suck it up and give up your Conflagrate to get rid of a troublesome 1/1 sometimes, or else to deal a final point of damage to a larger creature after it has taken some damage in combat perhaps. Late in the game, with nine mana in play, Conflagrate is the four point direct damage spell that you may very well need to finish off your opponent. After Conflagrate is in your graveyard, don’t forget about it, you can now hold onto lands and possibly other cards that you draw that are not important to your game anymore, now you can flash back Conflagrate from the graveyard to finish off your opponent or to destroy an annoying creature. Once you consider the various ways you can make this card useful to your draft or sealed deck, you will probably want to include one Conflagrate in your limited decks even though it doesn’t quite hit as hard as quick as a Fireball or a Disintegrate. Of course, this card almost single handedly breaks the DC-10 format, the same as other X spells have done in the past.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 5.0

Evil Eye of Urborg is a 6/3 Eye for 4B. Like its older brother Evil Eye of Orms-by-Gore, Evil Eye of Urborg has the limitation that when it is in play, only creatures with the creature type “Eye” can attack. Evil Eye of Urborg trumps its old brother, however, because it hits for six a turn and is nearly impossible to block effectively, because THIS Evil Eye destroys any creature that tries to block it. Of course, your opponent can poke YOU in the eye if he manages to neutralize your Evil Eye without killing it. He might do this by playing an enchantment like Temporal Isolation or by having some sort of mechanism in place creating an endless supply of chump blockers for your Eye. These threats aside, Evil Eye of Urborg is more often a very problematic card for your opponent in Time Spiral limited games, where he has very little time to find answers for this tricky little creature. If I were you, I’d keep an eye on it.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 4.0

Firemaw Kavu is a 4/2 Kavu for 5R that deals two damage to a target creature when it comes into play and deals four damage to a target creature when it leaves play. This creature also has Echo. Echo is actually one of the better things about this creature in limited play situations. There are many times in sealed deck and booster draft games when all you want to do is play this Kavu, hopefully killing a troublesome creature on the other side of the board, a creature you may have NO INTENTION at all of paying the echo costs for. Just as importantly, this is a 4/2 creature that deals an extra four points of damage to a creature when it goes to the graveyard. Very possibly, a creature that attacked you and was blocked by the Kavu. Firemaw Kavu is like a number of new cards in Time Spiral that are newer versions of very powerful old cards, this one recalls Flametongue Kavu, of course. The Time Spiral versions, however, have been carefully crafted to give ALMOST as much playability to limited games as the original creature without creating a problem for constructed play for years to come. In other words, Firemaw Kavu is ALMOST as good as Flametongue Kavu in limited games, but is NOWHERE NEAR as good as old “FTK” in constructed. Flametongue Kavu, as the computer gaming kids say, has been effectively “nerfed”.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.5

Fledgling Mawcor is a 2/2 flying Beast for 3U that taps to deal one point of damage to a target creature or player. This creature also has a Morph cost of two blue mana. For a cost just one colorless more than the old Prodigal Sorcerer, you get a perfectly good pinger that is 2/2 instead of a 1/1 that ALSO flies. Morph is an interesting ability for this card, giving it the advantage of surprise that is pretty rare for pinging creatures.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 3.5

Knight of the Holy Nimbus is a 2/2 Human Rebel Knight with Flanking for two white mana. This creature also regenerates automatically for no cost if it is destroyed, although an opponent can activate a two colorless mana ability of this card to not allow it to be regenerated until end of turn. This card moves right into constructed white weenie decks. The free regeneration comes into play more often than you would think. You would think it would be easy for your opponent to have two mana available to stop the Knight’s regeneration ability, he very often does not. Of course, the regeneration ability is just a small part of this card’s appeal. This card is also a Rebel, searchable with all your old Rebel searchers in your Magic collection as well as the two casting cost Amrou Scout from this set! Try to remember that underneath all these other features is a highly efficient 2/2 flanker.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 3.0

Phyrexian Totem is an artifact for three colorless mana that taps to produce one black mana. In addition, the Totem can be turned into a 5/5 black Horror artifact creature with trample until end of turn for the cost of 2B. Whenever Phyrexian Totem is dealt damage, if it’s a creature, you must sacrifice that number of permanents. First of all, in limited, you will be thrilled to have this card in your deck just for the ability to improve your deck’s mana production. If your opponent is a little slow getting their game going against you, they may find that you play the Phyrexian Totem on turn three and then activate and send him right in on turn four to deal five damage to them (if they don’t have any blockers). Usually, the Totem does not attack until you are reasonably sure it won’t be blocked or take any damage. The later the game gets, however, the more willing you will be to send in your 5/5 artifact creature to trample over the last points of damage on your way to victory. At earlier points in the game, don’t be afraid to get the Phyrexian Totem in there even if it might cost you one or two permanents. It may often be worth it in the long run to be slightly aggressive with Phyrexian Totem. This card is great in limited and may even have a future in black control decks. In DC-10, you have plenty of mana always available to activate this monster and lots of spare lands to sacrifice as well, making the Totem the perfect smashing machine.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 4.5

Saltcrusted Steppe is one of the five new allied colored uncommon storage lands found in Time Spiral. These lands are greatly improved from storage lands of the past. For one, you can tap Saltcrusted Steppe (and its four other Time Spiral siblings) for colorless mana. If you spend a mana and tap this storage land, you can put a storage counter on the land. For one colorless mana, you can remove any number of storage counters from Saltcrusted Steppe adding that number, in any combination, of white and/or green mana. You can actually remove storage counters from these lands while they are tapped, and you can also draw your stored mana out of these lands without the use of any other land because you can tap Saltcrusted Steppe for colorless mana to activate its ability to remove storage counters from Saltcrusted Steppe. That’s a mouthful, but suffice it to say that these new storage lands are very playable for limited, though not quite as delicious perhaps as the Karoo lands from the Ravnica block. For this reason, Ravnica’s Karoo lands will probably keep these new lands on the bench where constructed Magic is concerned. I would have to say that unless your deck can really take advantage of a large amount of stored mana, I would only be interested in using Saltcrusted Steppe or its brethren only when my deck had a use for both colors that the land creates.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 0.0

Skittering Monstrosity is a 5/5 Horror for 3BB that you must sacrifice when you play a creature spell. Okay… and I would really need to play another creature with this guy in play because…? In limited, Skittering Monstrosity will probably not be the first creature you cast. Once this fattie is in play, I see no reason to WANT to play another creature until your opponent finds a way to deal with THIS one. In constructed, Skittering Monstrosity might fill the bill for a big monster in a mono black control deck that wants to play just a couple of creatures for a win condition. In the big picture, there is no doubt that this card’s play restriction DOES matter, but most of the time, you will be more than happy with this creature in play on your side of the board.

LIMTED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 4.0

REVIEWS OF THE TIME SPIRAL RARES USED IN THIS TOURNAMENT

Candles of Leng is a two casting cost artifact. When you tap the Candles of Leng and pay four colorless mana, reveal the top card of your library, if it has the same name as a card in your graveyard, put it into your graveyard. Otherwise, draw a card. This card is basically a Jayemdae Tome that you can cast on turn two or three. In limited, this card will provide roughly the same card advantage that Jayemdae Tome would, although you will be pretty unhappy on those occasions when you would LIKE to draw the card that happens to have the same name as a card in your graveyard. This is another example of a card in Time Spiral being FIXED to make it just as good as an old card (Jayemdae Tome) in limited but not nearly as good as the original card in constructed. In constructed, where you are very likely playing four copies of each important card in your deck, Candles of Leng would be much less useful. Seeing as how Jayemdae Tome is not exactly popular among the ranks of serious constructed players, there was really no reason for Candles of Leng to be made WORSE than Jayemdae Tome. I suppose there is the chance that you can put some of your land into your graveyard (by discarding to something, maybe) and then you can use Candles to help you navigate past the other land cards in your library to help you find more useful cards.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5

DC-10: 4.5

Curse of the Cabal is a sorcery for 9B that causes a target player to sacrifice half the permanents he or she controls, rounded down. This card also has Suspend 2 and a Suspend cost of 2BB. My first impression was that this card was by no means worth the effort. First of all, it seems impossible to play unless you plan on suspending it. After watching someone else wreck their opponent with it, I have to say that in limited at least, this card is worth playing. Starting its time in suspense with only two time counters, and costing only four mana to suspend, Curse of the Cabal is a dangerous card for your opponent that will cause him plenty of harm. It is important to note that this card is not like Pox, where a player sacrifices a portion of his land, then a portion of his creatures and so on. When Curse of the Cabal resolves, a target player will be forced to add up the total number of permanents that he controls, including lands, artifacts, creatures and enchantments, and then select half of them (rounded down) to be sacrificed. The permanents are sacrificed all at once, and not until the player has made his final decision on which permanents to keep and which to lose.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 3.5

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder is a 2/2 legendary Human Wizard for 4B. Whenever you play a creature spell while Endrek is in play, put X 1/1 black Thrull creature tokens into play, where X is that spell’s converted mana cost. Whenever you control seven or more Thrulls, sacrifice Endrek Sahr. This is a very powerful card in limited, where you are certain to play creature spells very soon after you have played Endrek Sahr. This card will be good in certain types of constructed decks as well, particularly mono or nearly mono black creature decks as well as the Time Spiral block constructed decks of the future. One key when playing with Endrek Sahr is not to be afraid to end up with seven or more Thrull tokens. Don’t go out of your way to NOT play a big creature just because playing it will cause you to end up with seven or more Thrulls and therefore lose Endrek Sahr. The best way to use your Thrull tokens is to attack with them each turn before you cast any more creatures. This is just about the best token generating black card ever!

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 3.5

Evangelize is a sorcery for 4W, with Buyback and a Buyback cost of 2WW, that allows you to gain control of target creature of an opponent’s choice that he or she controls. In other words, when you play this spell, you will gain control of one of your opponent’s creatures, your opponent gets to decide which one. This sizable drawback makes it kind of hard for me to fall in love with Evangelize, especially in limited where room in your deck is tight to begin with. I have to admit that I have not played this card yet, but I suspect I might like to sideboard it in if my opponent has a single creature that gives my deck a lot of trouble. Buyback certainly does make this card better, but seriously, you won’t be using Buyback with Evangelize until turn fifteen or so. This card could be very useful in constructed sideboards against decks that never have more than a single creature in play, like the control decks that are becoming much more popular with the release of Time Spiral.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 4.0

Gemstone Caverns is a legendary land that taps for colorless mana. However, if Gemstone Caverns is in your opening hand and you are not playing first, you may remove a card in your hand from the game to put Gemstone Caverns into play with a luck counter on it. If Gemstone Caverns has a luck counter on it, it can be tapped for any color mana. A lot of people were very excited to learn about this land, right until they saw that it was legendary. The idea was that this card would immediately become a four-of in constructed decks. What this card does is certainly exciting and kind of refreshing. This card allows you to have two land in play on your first turn (assuming you are able to play a land on your first turn) for the slight cost of not playing first and the larger requirement of having Gemstone Caverns in your opening hand. The legendary rule will make it harder to include four copies of this rare land in your constructed decks, but it makes a single copy of the card fit just fine in limited decks. Very often, especially in sealed deck but sometimes in booster drafts as well, you would rather go second anyway and go for card advantage.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 0.5

Ixidron is a */* Illusion creature or 3UU that turns all nontoken creatures in play face down when it comes into play (they are turned into 2/2 colorless creatures just like face down morph creatures), where Ixidron’s power and toughness are equal to the number of face down creatures in play. This creature has possibilities. Suppose you and your opponent have roughly the same number of creatures in play, but his creature quality is a little better than yours and you want to turn the tables? Play Ixidron and watch your opponent become sadder. Ixidron works the best when some of your own creatures have the morph ability so that they can flip themselves back face up at some point. Of course, since Ixidron’s power and toughness are based on the number of face down creatures, his usefulness will be situational. Ixidron could be useful, but he is far from a must-play. In constructed Magic, Ixidron seems even worse.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 1.5

DC-10: 2.0

Magus of the Disk is a 2/4 Human Wizard for 2WW that comes into play tapped. This creature can be tapped, along with the cost of one colorless mana, to destroy all artifacts, creatures and enchantments. Yes, that’s right, this creature is the living incarnation of the long lost Nevinyrral’s Disk. This card, like other powerful old cards that are sort-of reprinted as new cards in Time Spiral, has a number of drawbacks compared to the original card. Unlike the Disk, Magus has a power and a toughness, so he can be destroyed by a giant number of cards that would not be able to destroy a Nev’s Disk. More importantly, Nevinyrral’s Disk is an artifact costing four colorless mana. Magus of the Disk also costs four mana to play, but two of them have to be white. Complaints aside, Magus of the Disk is an amazing card, certainly the closest thing to Nev’s Disk to be produced in many years. Control decks are coming back in a big way to constructed, and cards like Magus of the Disk are leading the way.

LIMITED: 4.5

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 4.0

Mangara of Corondor is a 1/1 legendary Human Wizard for 1WW that taps to remove itself and a target permanent from the game. This card is basically a somewhat “nerfed” version of Vindicate, but that’s okay, you get a three casting cost spell that can actually destroy any type of permanent. Very useful. What is MORE useful is the ways in which Mangara’s capability can be improved. Mangara’s ability only has one target, the target permanent you wish to destroy. You can tap Mangara targeting the permanent you wish to destroy, then respond with a bounce spell or a card like Momentary Blink to remove Mangara from play temporarily. When Mangara’s ability resolves, it doesn’t matter if Mangara is still around to be removed, the target named when the ability was played WILL be removed from the game. Even better, since Mangara’s ability only names one target, if that target is destroyed or removed from play before the ability resolves, the ability will be countered with no legal target, leaving Mangara in play for you! This card should see constructed use.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 4.0

Moonlace is an instant for one blue mana that makes a target spell or permanent become colorless. This might be the ultimate Lace spell, twelve years after the five colored Lace spells were last printed in Magic’s Revised edition. This card can be used to mess with cards with protection from certain colors or other such whimsical endeavors. Not really my cup of tea.

LIMITED: 2.5

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 1.5

Nether Traitor is a 1/1 Spirit with haste and shadow for two black mana. Whenever another creature is put into your graveyard, you may pay one black mana to return Nether Traitor to play from your graveyard. This card has more of a chance of affecting constructed Magic than it does limited. In limited, you would be very unlikely to have more than one of these guys, and one Nether Traitor might not be useful enough in helping you win games in most limited matchups.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 3.0

Sengir Nosferatu is a 4/4 flying Vampire for 3BB that can be removed from the game whenever you play his activated ability for 1B putting a 1/2 black Bat creature token with flying into play. The bat token created by Nosferatu has the ability, for 1B, to be removed from play returning Sengir Nosferatu from the removed-from-play zone back into play. Basically, for 1B, Sengir Nosferatu can jump out of the way of practically any danger and then jump back into play for another 1B when the coast is clear. Great in limited, not necessarily good enough for constructed.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 4.0

Stonewood Invocation is an instant for 3G with Split Second that gives a target creature +5/+5 until end of turn and makes that creature unable to be targeted by spells or abilities until end of turn. Good limited players that I have talked to think this card is very good at the four mana cost, but I’m not completely convinced, seems to me this card might be at least one mana too high for a rare instant that doesn’t give your target creature the game-ending ability of trample. Split Second certainly does make this card a lot better than the run of the mill creature pump spell, since it makes Stonewood Invocation uncounterable and makes it much harder for your opponent to respond by removing the creature that you are targeting with Invocation.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 3.5

Stuffy Doll is an 0/1 Construct artifact creature for five colorless mana. When this creature comes into play, you choose a player. Stuffy Doll is indestructible. Whenever damage is dealt to Stuffy Doll, Stuffy Doll deals that amount of damage to the chosen player. You can tap Stuffy Doll to deal one damage to itself. This card is very elegantly designed and is almost irresistible for anyone who has not yet played him. However, while Stuffy Doll makes an interesting ground staller that can combo with some other cards in Time Spiral, he really is not a big enough difference maker in limited play to take too seriously.

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.0

DC-10: 3.0

Thelonite Hermit is a 1/1 Elf Shaman for 3G that gives all Saprolings +1/+1. This card has a morph cost of 3GG, and when Thelonite Hermit is turned face up, it puts four 1/1 green Saproling tokens into play. The only downside of this card, if you want to call it that, is the fact that you need to play it face down and then pay kind of a lot to morph it face up. Okay, there IS another downside, you have to go to all this trouble and then have a difficult-to-protect 1/1 Elf Shaman on your hands. In constructed formats, this creature may be surrounded by other Elves or other Saproling-powered effects that can help protect it. In limited, the name of the game will simply be to get this guy morphed as quickly as possible to provide yourself with some board advantage or perhaps the ability to block a larger number of creatures with a higher than anticipated number of creatures.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 4.0

Vesuvan Shapeshifter is a 0/0 Shapeshifter for 3UU with a morph cost of 1U. When Vesuvan Shapeshifter comes into play or is morphed from a face down position, you may choose another creature in play turning Vesuvan Shapeshifter into a copy of that creature until you choose to turn Vesuvan Shapeshifter face down, which you may choose to do at the beginning of your upkeep. This card comes very close to being BETTER than the Vesuvan Doppleganger it updates. This card is very powerful in limited and may have a chance in constructed as well. The ability of this Shapeshifter to become a different creature every turn is very interesting and useful.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 3.5

Wheel of Fate is a sorcery with no casting cost but with Suspend 4 and a Suspend cost of 1R. Wheel of Fate is the new, nerfed up version of Wheel of Fortune. Unlike most other cards with the Suspend ability, Wheel of Fate does NOT have a normal casting cost, making it only playable by means of suspending it. When Wheel of Fate does eventually shed its last time counter, it causes each player to discard their hand and then draw seven cards. This card is probably better in constructed, where mono red burn decks can put it on the back burner with suspend on turn two and then empty their hands in the next three turns before the fourth time counter comes off of the Wheel, reloading the red mage’s hand, hopefully in a way that is more immediately beneficial than to the opponent. The biggest problem with Wheel of Fate in constructed is that many control players will find and hold onto a counter spell of some kind so that they can counter the Wheel when it is finally played without cost during your upkeep. (You have to remember that suspend does not mean that the card is played, suspended cards are played when their last time counter has been removed)

LIMITED: 3.0

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 3.0

REVIEWS OF SOME TIME SHIFTED CARDS USED IN THIS TOURNAMENT

(for those of you who need a refresher course on the old cards)

Gemstone Mine is a land that comes into play with three mining counters on it. When you tap Gemstone Mine, you remove a mining counter and you add one mana of any color to your mana pool. When there are no more mining counters on Gemstone Mine, you must sacrifice it. At the PTQ last weekend, I noticed that lots of people were leaving Gemstone Mine out of their decks. I think that is a mistake. In any Time Spiral limited format, but much more so in sealed deck where you are more likely playing a third color, Gemstone Mine gives you a reliable way to reach a second or third color when you need to. Yes, it’s a bummer that you only get to use the Mine three times before it is lost forever. That’s okay, it’s STILL very good. I think younger players have simply not tried this card before and I think some of the older players (who should know better) have forgotten how useful Gemstone Mine can be.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 4.0

DC-10: 0.0

Grinning Totem is a four colorless mana cost artifact that activates for two mana and tapping and sacrificing the Totem. When you activate the Grinning Totem, you search your opponent’s library for any one card and remove that card from the game. Until the beginning of your next upkeep, you may play that card. This card is hardly ever a wasted card, so it’s okay to play it in your limited decks. Grinning Totem is very adaptable, since you can use it to steal a powerful card from your opponent’s deck that you might be able to actually cast and use yourself, but you can also use the Totem to simply take a powerful card away from your opponent. The big downside, of course, is that you are using a card to get rid of something your opponent might never even draw. Once a very popular sideboard card in constructed, Grinning Totem may not be any better than a limited format sideboard card to use when your opponent has a powerful bomb card in his forty card limited deck that you have no other way to stop.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 5.0

Merieke Ri Berit is a 1/1 legendary Human for a casting cost of one black, one white and one blue mana. Merieke does not untap during your untap step. You can tap Merieke to gain control of a target creature as long as you control Merieke. When Merieke leaves play or becomes untapped, destroy the creature you gained control of, it cannot be regenerated. While too much water has passed under the Magic bridge for this card to matter in constructed (maybe it’s just the mana cost), Merieke Ri Berit will be a powerful card players will splash for in their limited decks, whether it is a white splash in a blue/black deck or a black splash in a blue/white deck. In limited, Merieke is pretty close to a bomb, giving you the ability to steal any creature on the board and to destroy that creature in the event that your Merieke becomes destroyed (or even simply bounced or untapped!).

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5

DC-10: 3.5

Sol’kanar the Swamp King is a 5/5 legendary Demon with Swampwalk for 2UBR that gains a life for you whenever anyone plays a black spell. Long time no see, my old friend! This is one of the cards that literally gave me chills when I discovered him reprinted in Time Spiral. A few things have changed since Sol’kanar was last legal for Standard constructed (we gray haired wizards still prefer ‘Type II’), so this mighty legend may not be headed for constructed success. No problem, he is quite a powerful card in limited, provided you can figure out a way to cast him. If your deck’s mana base can handle him, Sol’kanar has the ability to come into play on turn five and make life very difficult for your opponent right away.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 4.5

Soul Collector is a 3/4 flying Vampire for 3BB that morphs for three black mana. Whenever a creature dealt damage by Soul Collector is put into a graveyard from play, it is returned to play under your control. Whether you play this card face up or face down, Soul Collector is a great creature in any limited format. Time will tell if mono black creature decks become popular enough to make Soul Collector a big deal in the coming year in constructed play.

LIMITED: 4.0

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 3.5

Teferi’s Moat is an enchantment that costs 3WU to cast. When Teferi’s Moat comes into play, choose a color. Creatures of the chosen color can’t attack you unless they have flying. I don’t believe that this card was historically popular in constructed (and it won’t be now, either) but limited is another story entirely. Time Spiral booster draft is a format where players are able to build decks that are tightly in just two colors, generally speaking, making Teferi’s Moat more powerful in limited now than when it was first printed.

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 3.0

Wall of Roots is an 0/5 Plant Wall that costs 1G to play and has Defender. You can put an -0/-1 counter on Wall of Roots to put one green mana into your mana pool. You can only use this ability once per turn. This classic card from Mirage was a very popular card in limited as well as constructed when it first appeared ten years ago. If aggressive creature decks can maintain a position of prominence among the crowded field of new control decks, then Wall of Roots will again be popular in constructed decks where it can block early threats while provided much needed mana acceleration. In limited, Wall of Roots will be good again in limited as well, and probably even a little better in sealed deck. Pretty darned good for a wall!

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.5

DC-10: 2.5

Witch Hunter is a 1/1 Human Cleric for 2WW, originally printed in The Dark. Witch Hunter taps to deal a point of damage to a target player, or taps with the additional cost of 1WW to return a target creature an opponent controls to their hand. Color wheel Schmolor wheel! This white card pings your opponent like a red card and bounces their creatures like a blue card. As Halloween approaches, put aside your prejudices and take this full figured lady for a trip around the dance floor!

LIMITED: 3.5

CONSTRUCTED: 3.0

DC-10: 3.0

CARD LISTS FROM THE PACKS USED IN THIS TOURNAMENT

The card lists below are named by the first word in the name of the Time Spiral rare in each pack. For purposes of the DC-10 Showdown, these names are also used as if they were the name of the player using that particular pack’s fifteen cards as their “deck”.

CANDLES

Candles of Leng

Fallen Ideal

Molten Slagheap

Vampiric Sliver

Amrou Seekers

Temporal Eddy

Drudge Reavers

Molder

Ground Rift

Viscid Lemures

Shadow Sliver

Children of Korlis

Mogg War Marshal

Terramorphic Expanse

Shadowmage Infiltrator

CURSE

Curse of the Cabal

Ignite Memories

Durkwood Tracker

Opaline Sliver

Thallid Shell-Dweller

Mindstab

C