Let’s Do The Time Spiral Again

If you ask any long-time Magic the Gathering player what their favourite sets of all time are, there’s a good chance they’ll say the Time Spiral block. Between Time Spiral, Planar Chaos and Future Sight, Wizards gave us a collection of weird and wonderful cards all based on time travel and alternate realities, while also making one of the game’s most popular drafting environments to date.

If, like me, you weren’t around for Time Spiral, or look longingly back on those days, then you should be getting ridiculously excited about Magic’s latest set, Time Spiral Remastered.

Following from the digital-only Tempest, Amonkhet and Kaladesh Remastered, Time Spiral Remastered is the first paper-exclusive remastered set ever released. In it, hundreds of the most popular cards from 2006 and 2007’s Time Spiral, Planar Chaos and Future Sight sets will be re-released with the current card frame, while some of the more problematic cards will be left out to give a refined drafting experience.

Time Spiral was a block defined by its format-defining and powerful cards, and Remastered is set to make loads of them way more accessible than they ever have been. The Black board wipe Damnation is getting only its third ever reprint (which is perfect for my Tergrid deck I’m working on!), and other rarely printed cards like Smallpox, Simian Spirit Guide, Life and Limb, Saffi Eriksdotter are also being included. Whether you’re someone who likes to crack packs or just buy singles, Time Spiral Remastered is going to be making a lot of cards a lot more attainable, which is great for everybody!

Updating the classic Time Spiral cards to the current card frame isn’t the only thing wibbly-wobbly-timey-wimey about Remastered. Every single booster pack will contain one ‘timeshifted’ card from across the game’s history, printed on the original frame! As this set’s take on the showcase frames, timeshifted cards will be a really stylish addition to any of your decks. Best of all, it includes staples from outside of the Time Spiral block, like Path to Exile, Ponder, Thoughtseize, Kiki-Jiki, Primeval Titan, Dovin’s Veto, Panharmonicon and Mystic Sanctuary. If you were wanting to bling up a bit, maybe throw in a foil Timeshifted card and really light up the table.

Fancy cards are all well and good, but Time Spiral Remastered also has lots of great ways to play with it that fit the time travel theme well. Most noteworthy are the Suspend mechanic, which lets you play cards for free if you’re willing to wait a few turns for them, Vanishing, which gives you powerful spells for a limited amount of time, and Split Second, which locks your opponents out of responding to your play. Some cards control when you and your opponents can play spells (Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir is going to be a really interesting Commander to build around), others can give you extra turns (Walk the Aeons) and plenty bounce permanents back to their owners’ hand (a whole load of White cards).

If you’d rather play a much more straight forward game with fewer temporal shenanigans, there are a fair few tribes in Time Spiral Remastered you could build around as well. In White and Black there are the Rebels, which is a whole tribe of low-cost creatures driven by Amrou Scout’s ability to pull them out of your deck and quickly swamp the board. There are also by far one of Magic’s most popular tribes, Slivers, who get a lot of support in this set across all colours. Slivers can be shaped into practically whatever you want – aggressive attackers? Fury Sliver and Reflex Sliver. Mana dorks? Gemhide Sliver. Anti-flyers? Spinneret Sliver. Slivers are an incredibly malleable tribe that can be taken in any way you want, and Time Spiral Remastered is going to bring them back into popularity in a massive way.

Out of all the cards in Time Spiral Remastered, there is probably one more well-known and well-loved than any other, and it’s none other than Tarmogoyf. First appearing in Future Sight, and since being a staple of the Modern Masters series, Tarmogoyf is an absolute powerhouse. Its power and toughness are equal to the number of different card types in every graveyard, making it perfect for green or black and green graveyard-loving decks! Time Spiral Remaster’s reprint of Tarmogoyf sees the return of that brutal original Future Sight art for the first time too, giving those who faced off against it back in the day a whack of much-deserved nostalgia.

If you want to get your hands on Time Spiral Remastered, there are a few different products you can pick from. A Booster Box comes with 36 packs ready for you to crack or draft. You can buy individual booster packs, which come with 15 cards, including one that is guaranteed timeshifted! If packs aren’t your style, why not just pick up the cards you need directly from Magic Madhouse’s extensive singles market?

Time Spiral Remastered is a set for both the veterans and those who missed out the first time around. Bringing back cards that have become all too rare these days and a limited format many adored, this is a set brimming with value. Grab some format staples, make your deck glitter with timeshifted cards, and lose track of how long you’ve been playing when Time Spiral Remastered launches on March 19^th. You don’t even have to wait, as pre-orders for the entire set, booster boxes and booster packs are up on Magic Madhouse right now!