Depart the Realm

Foretell is what turns a plain bounce spell into a tempo lie. Cast at face value, this is the workhorse blue bounce that has existed since the game's earliest sets: a two-mana instant that returns any nonland permanent to hand. What foretell changes is the accounting. Bank the exile cost on a turn where your mana would otherwise go unspent, and the spell sits face down as a threat you can see and your opponent cannot, one that costs a single blue to unleash later. The result is a bounce that dodges the sorcery-speed lull: you pay the setup on your own turn, then hold up one mana across an opponent's combat step or a resolution window, punishing an attack, resetting an enters-the-battlefield trigger, or unwinding a combo assembly at the exact moment it matters. The trade is real, not free. You spend three mana total across two turns instead of two in one, and you telegraph that something is coming even if not what. It stays a one-for-one exchange throughout: foretell manufactures no card advantage, it smooths your curve and hides the information, and that pairing of cost paid early and intent concealed is the restraint that keeps a cheap answer from being a pure blowout. The bounce is unchanged; the timing wrapped around it is the entire design.