Time Spiral Spoilers and Set Information

Angel's Grace | Illustration by Zoltan Boros

2006's Time Spiral (TSP), the first MTG set from the Time Spiral block, debuted as an ambitious and revolutionary set. For many MTG players, it’s one of the best and most innovative sets ever designed.

The set had a difficult test following the huge success from Ravnica block. The block had time as the main theme, juggling with past, present, and future through alternative timelines. It touched on what MTG had previous been, currently was, or possibly could be in the future. The final result is a set that was convoluted within itself, and it made a lot of sense for veteran players who get the nostalgia and the references. But as WotC would later realize, it alienated casual and beginner fans, reflecting in poor-to-average sales.

But here we’re not talking money, we’re talking MTG cards. This is the beginning of Time Spiral block, its foundation, and many things that contributed to how this set became one of MTG’s most beloved.

Time Spiral Basic Information

Ancestral Vision | Illustration by Mark Poole

Set Details

Set Symbol
Set Code	TSP
Number of Cards	301 + 121 timeshifted cards
Rarities	126 commons, 80 uncommons, 80 rares, 20 basic lands, 121 timeshifted.
Mechanics	Buyback, Echo, Flanking, Flash, Flashback, Madness, Morph, Shadow, Split Second, Storm, Suspend

Important Dates

About the Set: The Story

At the time, WotC designed MTG in three-set blocks, the first typically being a large set while the second and third were small sets. In Time Spiral block, the theme is clearly time: The first set is a reference to MTG’s past, the second is an alternate/possible present, and the third hints at where MTG would go in the future.

TSP is the first set of the block and deals with MTG’s past in a lot of ways. TSP takes players back to Dominaria after the events of the Phyrexian Invasion, Apocalypse, and Onslaught. Being back on Dominaria allows us to have slivers, kavus, Benalish people, among others. We also have many mechanics from MTG’s past like flashback, flanking, storm, and madness. Time Spiral mechanics also hint at time, with suspend being a nod to the future since you’ll get a spell later in the game, while split second is the present and other mechanics like buyback and echo reference the past.

As an ultimate reference to time and the past itself, each TSP booster has one of 121 timeshifted cards, which are cards from MTG’s past in Magic's old frame added to the booster pack. While today we’re accustomed with cards from the List or special artifact/enchantment reprints, it was a hot innovation for 2006 MTG.

References to Old Cards

It’s impossible to talk about Time Spiral without highlighting a few references. The list is very long and spans almost every card in the set, but here’s what WotC’s designers were thinking when making these cards.

• Plague Sliver was at the same time a reference to Juzám Djinn and a way to fight back Sliver decks by giving them a downside.
• Fathom Seer has the same alternative morph cost as Gush.
• Fledgling Mawcor references the fact that blue was the original pinger color, with cards like Prodigal Sorcerer.
• Cyclopean Giant is like Cyclopean Mummy and Cyclopean Tomb fused together.
• Phyrexian Totem becomes a creature that’s equivalent to Phyrexian Negator.
• Deep-Sea Kraken is a Tidal Kraken with suspend.
• Firewake Sliver gives Slivers the Fires of Yavimaya ability.

Time Spiral Mechanics

Buyback

Buyback is a returning mechanic from Tempest. It allows you to put an instant or sorcery back into your hand after it resolves by paying the buyback cost. It’s a kicker variant for spells. If you cast it by paying its normal cost, the spell goes to the graveyard after it resolves, as usual.

Wurmcalling is a spell that can produce lots of X/X Wurms, as long as you have the mana to keep buying it back and recasting it.

Echo

Echo is a returning mechanic from Urza’s Saga. Spells with echo are undercosted on the front side, but after a turn, you need to pay the echo cost or else sacrifice the card. In TSP, echo only appears on red cards like Mogg War Marshal.

Flanking

Flanking is a returning mechanic from Mirage. It’s mainly on white cards, almost all knights. When a creature with flanking is blocked, each non-flanking creature blocking it gets -1/-1 as a penalty until the end of turn.

Flanking punishes heavy double-blocks because each creature blocking gets the penalty. Flanking stacks, like how Cavalry Master gives a second instance of flanking to creatures that already have it.

Flash

Time Spiral block has everything to do with time. Here they finally coded flash as a mechanic, which allows you to cast a permanent as an instant. Creatures with flash can be cast at instant speed, in response to your opponent’s action or even as a surprise blocker. Of all the flash cards in TSP, Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir has probably seen the most play. 

Flashback

Most of us relate flashback to Innistrad sets, but it actually debuted in Odyssey. Flashback returns in Time Spiral as one of MTG’s most beloved mechanics, allowing you to cast an instant or sorcery again from your graveyard. Mystical Teachings is a good example of how TSP brought flashback back, using different colors of mana for the spell and the flashback cost.

Madness

Another returning mechanic from Odyssey block is madness, which allows you to cast a spell for its madness cost if it were to be discarded. You can discard a card via your own actions, like looting, or when your opponent forces you to. Either way, when you’re discarding a spell, you pay the madness cost and cast it. If you have ways to discard reliably, Dark Withering from TSP can be a good and cheap removal spell, but unplayable if you don’t.

Morph

Following the trend, morph is the mechanic from Onslaught block. Creatures with morph can be played as a 2/2 face down by paying 3 mana, and you can flip the card up for its morph cost. Although morph wasn’t new to TSP, the set introduced the first card that morphs without paying any mana in Fathom Seer, which instead turned up by returning lands to your hand.

Shadow

The second mechanic to come from Tempest block is shadow. It creates two layers on the battlefield, dividing creatures that have shadow and those that don’t. Creatures with shadow can only block or be blocked by those who also have shadow, and the same rule applies for creatures that don’t have shadow. Looter il-Kor is a shadow card from this set that saw plenty of play.

Split Second

Split second is a new Time Spiral mechanic. Spells with split second go to the stack as usual, but while they’re on the stack, plays can't cast spells or activate abilities. So, these spells surely will resolve. You can’t respond to a split second effect with another split second effect. They’re good tools to use against blue players since they can’t counter your split second spells. They can also be proactive like Stonewood Invocation, which buffs your creature and protects it from spot removal that turn.

Storm

Storm is a returning mechanic from a very obscure set: Scourge. When you cast a spell with storm, you create a copy of it on the stack for every other spell cast before it in a given turn, including your opponents’ spells. Cards like Grapeshot and Empty the Warrens saw plenty of Modern play, as they were the best storm win conditions allowed in the format.

Suspend

Suspend is one of the few new Time Spiral mechanics. You can cast a spell that has suspend for its regular cost, or you can suspend it for way less mana with X time counters. The catch with suspend is that you have to wait for a number of turns equal to the number of time counters you’ve suspended the card with. For example, Durkwood Baloth costs , or you can suspend it for and wait five turns until all time counters are removed.

Time Spiral Card Gallery

White

Blue

Black

Red

Green

Multicolor

Colorless

Lands

Timeshifted

Notable Cards

Free Suspend Cycle

• Ancestral Vision
• Restore Balance
• Hypergenesis
• Living End
• Wheel of Fate
• Lotus Bloom

These are among the nastiest cards in Constructed MTG thanks to the cascade ability and effects like As Foretold. They’re rarely cast for their suspend cost (except Ancestral Vision in control decks). Living End is still a Modern staple.

Each of these was a direct reference to a historically powerful Magic card, those being: Ancestral Recall, Balance, Eureka, Living Death, Wheel of Fortune, and Black Lotus.

The Cycle of Magus

• Magus of the Disk
• Magus of the Jar
• Magus of the Mirror
• Magus of the Scroll
• Magus of the Candelabra

All these magus cards reference old artifacts like Nevinyrral's Disk or Candelabra of Tawnos. These are more flavorful than good, although the Disk and Candelabra ones see some play in EDH.

Money Cards

• Angel's Grace is one of the best cards available to avoid losing a game of MTG or to break combos.
• Paradox Haze doubles your upkeep, which is very useful in a bunch of scenarios. It speeds up suspend spells and doubles the benefits you’d get in this phase, like from Phyrexian Arena.
• Trickbind is a weird card. It was developed to frustrate the storm mechanic at a time when Flusterstorm didn’t exist. It’s also a Stifle that can’t be countered.
• Dread Return is banned in Modern, as it would make dredge decks too good and consistent. It currently sees play in Pauper, and it’s one of the best reanimate spells ever made, as you can cast it for no mana investment if it's in your graveyard.
• Norin the Wary is constantly entering and leaving the battlefield. As such, you can combine this with many cards that punish players when a creature ETBs or when a creature is exiled. In a 4-player EDH game, Norin leaves and enters the battlefield almost every turn, and it’s impervious to sweepers or removal spells. Suddenly, dealing 3-4 damage to your opponents each turn seems plausible.
• Grapeshot sees play in Modern as storm decks' primary win condition.
• Scion of the Ur-Dragon is a popular 5-color dragon commander, used not only to Entomb your big dragons into your graveyard but also becoming a copy of them. It’s good with reanimation, I’ll tell you that.
• Gauntlet of Power is a great incentive for mono-color decks, buffing your creatures and your mana production. Just take into consideration that this applies to everybody else playing the same color.
• Stuffy Doll is a roadblock from attacks, since your opponent won’t want to attack you and take damage. Also, the Doll is indestructible. This card is used in EDH to damage players with cards like Blasphemous Act or Pariah.
• Vesuva is a land that sees play together with Dark Depths in game-winning combos, or just to copy other lands like Cloudpost or Lotus Field.
• Gemstone Caverns offers you the best mana fixing ever – for three charges only. Still, there’s a bunch of ways to reuse these charges.
• Swarmyard is a good land if you’re playing a spider, rat, insect, or squirrel typal EDH deck. Also good with changelings.
• Academy Ruins is a land that enables you to recover your best artifact every turn. It’s particularly good with Mindslaver.

Available Products

Time Spiral Booster Pack

Your usual booster pack here comes with a novelty in TSP. Each 15-card pack comes with 10 commons, three uncommons, a rare, and a timeshifted card, the special rarity from the set.

Time Spiral Tournament Pack

A Time Spiral Tournament Pack had 75 cards in it. The rarities were divided into three rares, three timeshifted cards, 20 uncommons, and 28 commons.

Time Spiral Fat Pack

A Time Spiral Fat Pack contains 6 TSP booster packs, together with a player’s guide, a spindown life counter, and more. The fat pack also comes with 40 basic lands.

Time Spiral Booster Box

As with all sets, you can get a Time Spiral Booster box, containing 36 booster packs – 36 chances of getting that chase rare or a nice timeshifted card.

Hope's Crusaders Theme Deck

Time Spiral has four 60-card theme decks aimed at beginner players, the first of which is Hope's Crusaders. This is a mono-white deck that’s present in almost every set. You have a bunch of small creatures, usually white knights, and flying creatures. A suspended Ivory Giant can be your win condition the turn it comes into play.

Reality Fracture Theme Deck

Reality Fracture is a blue-red deck that explores the mechanics suspend and storm. The curious aspect of these two mechanics is that you can suspend a bunch of spells, cast them all the same turn if you align them well and follow this sequence with a back-breaking storm spell.

Fun with Fungus Theme Deck

Fun with Fungus is a black-green deck based on fungi, thallids, and saprolings. There are lots of cards that accumulate spore counters and when you have three counters you can make a new 1/1 Saproling creature. Thelon of Havenwood boosts this strategy by making your fungi stronger.

Sliver Evolution Theme Deck

Sliver Evolution is a Naya deck based on Slivers. Slivers are creatures that give abilities to every other Sliver on the battlefield, so the more, the merrier. You can set an explosive turn by casting Pulmonic Sliver and give everyone flying or buff your team using Might Sliver.

Wrap Up

Grapeshot | Illustration by Pete Venters

That’s all the information I have on Time Spiral today, folks. The set was clearly revolutionary for the time, and a big step up in how WotC designs MTG sets and how they handle complexity. Cards in TSP are really complicated with many mechanics mashed into them. Also, nostalgia is great when you get the source material, but here maybe WotC designers went too deep on references just for reference’s sake. We can thank the existence of this set for being the predecessor to many of the Masters sets, including Modern Masters and Modern Horizons. In fact, the first Modern Masters is heavily inspired by Time Spiral. If you want to experience the full block, there’s also Time Spiral Remasted.

As usual, thanks for having me, and I’d like to hear your opinions on this set. Best ever? Or just an overrated piece? Please leave us a comment below or reach us at Draftsim Discord.

Thanks for reading, and stay safe!

Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you use these links to make a purchase, you’ll help Draftsim continue to provide awesome free articles and apps.