I don't like this card. It's four black mana to
play. This is already is going to be mildly
difficult to cast. On top of that you aren't
even sure it's going to go off when you use it.
And if it's late game, there are a ton of times
when your opponent is going to simply lose the
life. If there were some way to sneak this into
a combo deck, or a deck full of cheap spells, it
might be useful. It definitely will have trouble
fitting into the traditional builds of control
that the other "extra turn" cards did for blue.
Taking an extra turn is very good- it can help
you capitalize on a favorable board position or
give you an extra draw and untap phase to try
and turn a bad one around. Making your opponent
lose half their life is also good, for obvious
reasons. Letting your opponent choose one of
those options can be tricky, but it does give
you a shot at finding out how much he or she
values his or her life points. The cost of BBBB
can be tricky in Limited, or in a Constructed
format built on million-dollar multicolor mana
bases, but in MBC you're golden.
Temporal
Extortion - Punisher cards are often examined by
the unknowing who see a huge effect for a small
mana cost and think it's great. Sometimes
they're right, sometimes very wrong. Temporal
Extortion - and to a certain degree, all time
walk effects - have a very splashy effect which
is hard to gauge. Time Walking is only as good
as your board position. Sometimes it might as
well be an Obsessive Search. When you don't
really need an extra turn, this will get you
one. And when that's all that will save you,
prepare to have an opponent lose some life. This
is worse than Browbeat by a mile.
I like the concept of this card quite a bit. It
has a couple of problems. Early in the game, say
turn 2-5 (assuming a format with dark ritual)
you paid 4 mana for an extra land drop, or
perhaps something slightly better. But nothing
really flashy, at any rate. If it found its way
into a really scary deck, then your opponent
pays the 9 or 10 life to stop you. In the late
game, when your opponent is at 8-10 life and a
second turn would likely win the game for you,
they are just going to pay the 4 or 5 life.
Wouldn't you rather have a Drain Life effect? I
think I would. But, the card is still a well
designed card, in my opinion.
Constructed - 2 (with the potential for
brokenness, particularly in old formats)
Casual - 3 (someone's going to pay that life in
a group game, but it will be worth it to see
everyone else's reaction)
Limited - 2
Aethereal
Temporal
Extortion
We close out the week with an actually decent
constructed card. I'm waiting for a MBA deck to
pop up using this (might have to wait until
Ravnica rotates, though), because unless they
hit it with a counterspell, either effect is
good for you. Half their life means they die
quicker, and an extra turn means they die
quicker. MBA has a lot of potential with this
and the reprinting of Bad Moon. I'd hang onto
these if you get any.
In casual, if you're playing a black deck, this
might be a worthwhile include. Time Walking is
never bad.
In limited, it's tough to justify this. It costs
BBBB, which you'll never get by turn 4 unless
you're almost mono-black, and later on they
might be so low on life that paying half won't
hurt them. Of course, almost mono-black can be
done in TS/TS/PC, so if you're on that road you
might as well take it.
