In my opinion better than stifle because of the split second you can lock them out for the turn unless im reading it wrong.
Reins
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
"When it's good, it's great, otherwise, it's dead weight!" That being said, we need more cards like this. Activated and Triggered abilities get away with far too much mischief. Acts as a counter spell against cards resolving from suspend BTW.
Mode
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
You'll simply want to play both if you're not running Control but a Stifle-centered deck instead. Eight possibilities to get your Phyrexian Dreadnought into play at a ridiculous low cost, one of them resistant to any response - way to go!
ultratog1028
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(3 votes)
if it had cycling and splitsecond i'd play it.
@mode: turning a morph face up can respond to split second.
@ D3structo: split second basically just means there are few things your opponent can do about it. once the spell resolves they can play spells and abilities again.
otherwise every blue deck would have for of these. psuedo time walk and stifle? who wouldn't want four of? HOWEVER THIS IS NOT THE CASE.
Hokeymon
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Love the split second abilities. But they're only limited to the time spiral edition. What a waste.
TDL
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Can someone please explain to me why this card costs so much less than Stifle? I consider Trickbind to be the better card, even though it costs one more.
Tommy9898
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(8 votes)
For some reason this reminds me of Earthbind although they have nothing in common at all.
Guest57443454
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
A nice update on Interdict, a great card, although Stifle is 1 mana cheaper, and gets all of the attention because of it...
EvilCleavage
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I like this because it is a poor mans stifle. Both of these cards are used in tons of combos (but mainly stifle) and you can have a fun time thinking of combos and the such.
Dubbios
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Nice card, dont know if is better than stifle, but still a great card. 4/5.
Artscrafter
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
@TDL: Off the top of my head, I'd say there are two reasons why Stifle is more expensive than this: 1. Scourge is 3 years older than Time Spiral so there are probably fewer of them in circulation. 2. There are lots of combo applications for this effect, and combo decks want to pull off their combo and thus win as quickly as possible. Stifle being one mana cheaper than Trickbind means the player can pull off the combo one turn earlier, and that can make a big difference. The one-turn-earlier part is the same reason why the Standard dual-type fetchlands are ~$12 each while Terramorphic Expanse is 50 cents despite the former's "drawback" of making you pay life.
Strictly viewed as a defensive response card, I'd agree that they're pretty similar, but Trickbind's effect isn't all THAT much better. The only thing Stifle doesn't stop that Trickbind does is extra activations of an ability that doesn't require tapping. (This is probably a big reason for split second, too - so the opponent can't just stack 3-4 more of the ability on top of this as a response.)
This is not as good as Stifle. This is a lot cheaper than Stifle. This is legal in Modern. Ergo...
dingophone
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
"That Havengul Lich combo is cool. Well, could have been."
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's not stifle, but I love the art and I love this card just the same!
GrimjawxRULES
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I always liked this card. It's like Stifle on crack.
Discoduck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have to keep this in my EDH decks because of my friend's bloated/ monstrous Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter deck. It is one of the only ways to shuffle the jerk into his owner's library without him sacrificing himself to himself first. At the very least it gives me a turn free of his infuriating silliness.
j_mindfingerpainter
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm confused why I haven't seen any copies of this in any permission decks.
I don't know if this card is perfectly balanced, but it looks pretty good.
Missile_Penguin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
Each Time Spiral card was an homage to at least one previously printed card.
The card references both Stifle and Interdict, a card from Tempest which was originally an Interrupt, a now-defunct card type that functioned much like Instants could only be responded to by other Interupts, making the 'activated abilities of that permanent can't be played again this turn' clause a lot stronger (under modern rules, a player could just respond and activate the ability again if they could.) With the use of Split Second, the essence of Interdict is kept in tact.
psychichobo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
'So, you paid a lot for that Jace, The Mind Sculptor huh?' 'Yep, sucks that I countered all your Oblivion Rings! Too late for you, I'm using his bottom ability!'
The big deal is Stifle is not less; it is half the price. Stifle is also a core tempo card, where the mana curve often tops out at two, with the potential to hardcast Force of Will, though not the necessity. Also, if you expect to beat the first turn fetchland (on the play) that would dodge Trickbind (if somehow it became a metagame menace), you'd need to have a one mana card to do the job. Unless you want to use 8x SpiritGuides and 2-for-1 yourself to death...
Phyrexian_Niv_Mizzet
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Sorry Magister Sphinx, I'm not going to 10 today. Guess you'll have to try to kill me legitimately.
raptorman333
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
11/22/2011 11:45:15 AM if stifle has 5 stars, how does this not have 4 1/2?
Comments (27)
Eight possibilities to get your Phyrexian Dreadnought into play at a ridiculous low cost, one of them resistant to any response - way to go!
@mode: turning a morph face up can respond to split second.
@ D3structo: split second basically just means there are few things your opponent can do about it. once the spell resolves they can play spells and abilities again.
otherwise every blue deck would have for of these. psuedo time walk and stifle? who wouldn't want four of? HOWEVER THIS IS NOT THE CASE.
1. Scourge is 3 years older than Time Spiral so there are probably fewer of them in circulation.
2. There are lots of combo applications for this effect, and combo decks want to pull off their combo and thus win as quickly as possible. Stifle being one mana cheaper than Trickbind means the player can pull off the combo one turn earlier, and that can make a big difference. The one-turn-earlier part is the same reason why the Standard dual-type fetchlands are ~$12 each while Terramorphic Expanse is 50 cents despite the former's "drawback" of making you pay life.
Strictly viewed as a defensive response card, I'd agree that they're pretty similar, but Trickbind's effect isn't all THAT much better. The only thing Stifle doesn't stop that Trickbind does is extra activations of an ability that doesn't require tapping. (This is probably a big reason for split second, too - so the opponent can't just stack 3-4 more of the ability on top of this as a response.)
This is a lot cheaper than Stifle.
This is legal in Modern.
Ergo...
I don't know if this card is perfectly balanced, but it looks pretty good.
The card references both Stifle and Interdict, a card from Tempest which was originally an Interrupt, a now-defunct card type that functioned much like Instants could only be responded to by other Interupts, making the 'activated abilities of that permanent can't be played again this turn' clause a lot stronger (under modern rules, a player could just respond and activate the ability again if they could.) With the use of Split Second, the essence of Interdict is kept in tact.
'Yep, sucks that I countered all your Oblivion Rings! Too late for you, I'm using his bottom ability!'
I dream of this moment.
Fetchlands
'Nuff said.
if stifle has 5 stars, how does this not have 4 1/2?
edit:
shuts down most machine-gun decks because of the lock for the rest of the turn and with split second, they can't respond to it.
horseshoe crab + hermetic study
prodigal sorcerer + freed from the real/pemmin's aura
goblin bombardment + kitchen finks + Melira sylvok outcast
also saves your but from annihilator, continually with isochron scepter.