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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day


Image from Wizards.com

Prismatic Lens
Time Spiral


Reviewed October 20, 2006

Constructed: 1.78
Casual: 2.42
Limited: 3.5

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst.  3 ... average.  
5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all our 
Card of the Day Reviews 


Jeff Zandi

 5 Time Pro Tour
 Veteran

Prismatic Lens

Three years ago, it was Myrs, the cute little two casting cost artifacts
that tapped for colored mana. Two years ago, it was something else, last
year it was the Signets from Ravnica block. As Magic players, we have grown
very familiar in recent years to the two casting cost artifact mana source.
Instead of giving us a cycle of five different ones, Time Spiral gives us
one, the Prismatic Lens, and gives it the ability to tap for any color of
mana (with the additional cost of one colorless mana). This card is very
useful in limited and considered a reasonable pick anywhere from the fourth
pick on in Time Spiral booster draft. Unfortunately, since there is NOT a
cycle of five of these in the set, the common Pristmatic Lens may become a
card drafted more highly than previous cards of this type. I can imagine
Prismatic Lens making the leap to constructed, but I think more focused,
color specific mana fixers and accelerators will continue to play a bigger
part in constructed than this one.

CONSTRUCTED: 2.5
CASUAL: 3.0
LIMITED: 3.5
 

BMoor

Prismatic Lens

Coming out of Ravnica block, Wizards has decided not to cut us off cold turkey from good artifact mana. Gratefully so, as the possibility of snagging one or two of these makes it quite easy to splash cards. And it's versatility means it can be color fixing, or pure acceleration. A boring card, but a neccesary one.

Constructed- 3
Casual- 2.5
Limited- 3.4
 

Nick Tan

Prismatic Lens

It’s mana acceleration, but although it can splash for another colour, I’d rather stick to the Ravnica signets, which provide two colours and are strictly superior to the Lens most of the time. Nevertheless, in limited, these can come useful in keeping you ahead in the mana race.

Constructed: 2.3
Casual: 2
Limited: 3
 

Aethereal

Prismatic Lens

A slightly pricier Mana Cylix with the added bonus of being able to produce colorless. Right now, in constructed, there's no reason for this to see play, as the guild signets are the artifact mana of choice right now and they are much better than this. In casual, there's better choices. In limited, it can help you splash, but that's about it. I wouldn't pick this over a totem.

Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 2.5
 

Matt Cortez

Prismatic Lens

Constructed - Not a bad mana source but for 2 mana you can get the even better Ravnica signet's. I don't expect this to see any play. Just not strong enough.

Casual - Again, there are better things out there that can add the mana you

need. Not worth it

Limited - This is where it get's slightly better. Not many mana fixer's in Timespiral so pick it up since it can provide you with the mana you need. And since it's a common you'll see a lot of these pick it up. If you need it of course.

Constructed - 1.5
Casual - 1.0
Limited - 3.0
 


Gackley Ferguson

TGIF eh? I'm a little downtrodden from, and I'm writing this review after having come back from Game 7 of the NLCS, and my Mets lost...so I'm not in the best spirits right now, but the review must go on.

Prismatic Lens: Essentially a mana fixer. The only real place that this would fit into is in a deck with a lot of colors, and you would need a certain type of mana in a pinch. Other than that, your mana base should be balanced enough that you wouldn't really need this. If your base is all out of whack and you can't figure it out...put a couple of these in and you might get lucky.


All three formats are getting the same review today because it's essentailly the same thing.

Constructed: 2.5/5

Casual: 2.5/5, it might be more suited here if you need to fix your mana.

Limited: 2.5/5, probably the best place for it, if you need fixing your mana, but other than that...pass.
 

Cyrus Huang

Constructed: This is a pure limited card. Our standard is so chock full of mana fixing it's ridiculous (karoos, duals, signets, birds, gemstone mine, etc...). There's no need to ever put this card in your deck.
1/5

Limited: An amazing sealed card because guess what, there are like 0 mana fixers in Time Spiral. All we got in artifacts is this guy, paradise plume, and chromatic star, so learn to play all of those guys without our precious signets. This guy might be the best of the three because it gives you any color you want, accelerates, and can be used multiple times. The only reason you wouldn't play this is if you're going two colors (unlikely) and don't really need the mana fixing.
4/5

Unfortunately that pretty much covers all of the points.... meh I'll write longer reviews in the future I guess.
 
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