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Pojo's Magic The Gathering Card of the Day
Daily Since November 2001!

Time Reversal
Image from Wizards.com

Time Reversal
M11

Reviewed October 5, 2010

Constructed: 2.67
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 2.50
Multiplayer: 3.40

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 of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Time Reversal

This card is a fairly roundabout way to undo the progress of mill decks, a cumbersome means of refilling your hand back up to seven, and a very subtle yet highly abrupt way of disrupting the plans of any opponents who rely on graveyards, or still have combo pieces in their hand by the time you cast this. Other than that, the symmetry of it makes it hard to use. Sure, you get a fresh hand of seven, but so does your opponent. Unless you'd been exiling cards out of their library, which is a more black means of milling than blue, you haven't given yourself much of an advantage, you've only counteracted whatever disadvantage you may have already been at due to them having more cards in hand than you.

Looking at it another way, if you could somehow bounce several of their most bothersome permanents to their hand immediately before casting this, you'd have gotten rid of them completely by casting Time Reversal. Or, if you can get an Underworld Dreams effect into play, then Time Reversal also hits each opponent for seven. But of course the Reversal does nothing about cards already in play, which leads one to wonder what you gain by casting it. It's definitely a combo piece in search of a partner, and thus its strength is highly dependent on the strength of its partner, and of the deck it goes into.

Constructed- 2.5
Casual- 3
Limited- 2
Multiplayer- 3.15

David Fanany

Player since 1995

Time Reversal
 
Time Reversal is one of a fortunate few cards in Magic that shares game text with one of the Power Nine, in this case Timetwister. That card is one of the Power Nine for a reason, and restricted for a very good reason. Timetwister's game text is always Timetwister's game text - it's no longer broken at five mana, obviously, but it's always good and always a crazy ride. Try it with Spelweaver Helix.
 
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 2/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

Today's card of the day is Time Reversal which is a five mana version of the old power nine card Timetwister.  The higher cost often allows it to benefit the opponent almost as much as yourself even with a deck built with the effect in mind, but it can still be very powerful.  Timed for your own advantage you should gain more than your opponent, especially in the standard Blue/White control scheme of deck design or in a Blue/Black.
 
For Limited giving your opponent as many cards as you get isn't often the best strategy, but if you have the edge this is still viable and shouldn't be ignored just on that condition.  If your Sealed pool includes a somewhat control theme this should fit in well, but it can be a difficult first pick in Booster.  It may depend on your own style of play, but supported with White or Black you can reduce the impact of the cards they draw and play out the game.  An alternative might be Red/Blue and try to refresh your hand with burn spells for a faster kill, but this depends on what is passed to you or is in your pool.
 
In Multiplayer arranging the deck to work on everyone at once may be a bit more difficult and giving all opponents the advantage of extra cards is quite dangerous.  Aside from a build that will deal damage for cards drawn this is a very risky card to play.
 
Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 3.5
Multiplayer: 3.0


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