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Moxonomy

Time Spiral

Sorcery4 generic manaBlue manaBlue mana

The card that broke the Tolarian Academy decks wide open, and one of the most notorious pieces of the combo era that gave Urza's block its reputation. The land-untapping clause is the engine: refilling to seven cards while exiling itself costs nothing in tempo if you can untap six lands to do it again, and in a deck built around free mana from artifacts and Academy itself, the self-exile rider was never the brake it looked like. That exile is the only real restriction, and it was not enough; the card became a centerpiece of one of the most degenerate Standard formats the game has produced, the kind of turn-three-or-die environment that pushed Wizards toward the modern philosophy of testing combo density before printing.

Worth noting what the symmetry hides: every opponent also shuffles hand and graveyard back and draws seven, so on paper this is a fair reset. In practice the player casting it untaps lands and acts on the fresh grip first, and the gap between "drew seven" and "drew seven and have six untapped lands to spend" is the whole point. The name was later reused for an entire expansion set built around time-themed mechanics, but never for a second card; this remains the only Time Spiral, the wheel-with-a-mana-rebate that defined what "too efficient" meant for a generation of design.

Time Spiral (prm)
PRM · #62221rare
Pricing
Normal: $98.08
Foil:
Oracle Text

Rules text

Exile Time Spiral. Each player shuffles their hand and graveyard into their library, then draws seven cards. You untap up to six lands.
Legalities

Format Status

Standard
N/A
Pioneer
N/A
Modern
N/A
Legacy
Legal
Vintage
Legal
Commander
Legal
Pauper
N/A
Brawl
N/A
Historic
N/A
Alchemy
N/A
Timeless
N/A
Standard Brawl
N/A
More formats
Old School
N/A
Premodern
Banned
PreDH
Legal
Pauper Commander
N/A
Oathbreaker
Legal
Gladiator
N/A
Penny Dreadful
N/A
Duel Commander
Legal
Future Standard
N/A
COMPETITIVEBRAWL
N/A
TLR
N/A
Printings elsewhere

Other printings

1 set
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