Pointed Discussion

And then there was Temporal Adept...

Why does this thing have a high rating? Honestly, I'd draft Temporal Eddy over this any day.

Er... I'd say this is better than Temporal Adept. This has a toughness of 2 so it is harder to ping. It can also be cheated into play really quickly using Chrome Mox and Ancient Tomb or City Of Traitors. For the extra toughness, and the 2 colorless in the casting cost, I'd play this over Temporal Adept easily. Consider the rejectedness of this on your first turn using the above cards, then simply playing another island and starting to bounce the only land they have played by then all game. yeah... this has it's uses. Try with Amnesia for more br00tality.

Inexplicable in most every way. I don't think of time personified as a dragonfly with clocks for eyes, and I wouldn't think of bouncing as a temporal ability. Maybe if it phased stuff out instead? Still,very cool art. And, @ Weretarrasque, it is so good because it can lock your opponent down to just two or three lands beginning on the third or fourth turn (depending on your mana acceleration):
Turn 1: Forest, Llanowar Elves/Birds of Paradise (You play first)
Opponent's turn: Plays land, 1 land out
Turn 2: Island, Time Elemental
Opponent's Turn: Plays land, 2 lands out
Turn 3: Island, activate Time Elemental
Opponent's turn: Plays land, 2 lands out

This combo is insanely brutal and not even too tricky to pull off. Run Force of Wills to support it (Turn Aside if you're willing to wait a turn/on a budget) and Wastelands for complete lockdown.

Repeatable bounce is not to be underestimated; this guy is actually pretty good in EDH since you can bounce their general which, I'm assuming costs a lot. You can also bounce one big threat each turn. Since EDH is a mana-intensive format, it'll probably take a good chunk of whichever schmuck's mana you choose to keep replacing their Wild Pair or whatever.

@ClockworkSwordfish:

I would introduce a Training Grounds on turn 3 ;p

Best combo: Time elemental, mirrorweave, and a Gideon Jura +2. best results occur when your opponent has 4 or more creatures. The result is your opponent takes 5 damage per creature. The best is that these cards are all blue or white, and useful on their own. I suppose a lure equivalent would work as well, but that isn't as much fun.

He's in my EDH deck along with fellow trouble makers Preacher, Royal Assassin, Merieke Ri Merit and Coffin Queen. Gotta love those annoying 3 drops.

I would say this is better then temporal adept simply because of the 2 colorless cost. Meaning you can run green to get a crazy acceleration to lock your opponent early, reliably, without being bogged down with a triple blue ability cost.

So the Oracle text says "When Time Elemental attacks or blocks, at end of combat, sacrifice it and it deals 5 damage to you". Can I take this to mean that if the Time Elemental were to block something and then bounce itself before the end of combat, it would neither be sacrificed nor would it deal 5 damage to you because "at end of combat", it would already be safely back in your hand?

Wow, they really wanted to discourage people from using it in combat.

The Time Elemental is superior simply because he's so bizarre. Really, what's up with that ability? If he attacks or blocks, you have created a time paradox as attacking with a 0/2 was not in the foreseeable future. You are then given a harsh punishment for destroying the time stream. Admittedly it's pretty minor considering you were warping reality, but still, a deterrent.

That's how these things work.

Man, that 5 damage clause is really pointless...

This (or Temporal Adept) + Stasis = I win

Very unique for its time - I think it was the first reusable bounce effect that was worth considering. I have no idea why it has the limitation regarding attack or blocking or bouncing enchanted permanents; lots of cards back then had flavor-based limitations, but this is still strange. New cards are superior, but it is still capable of being extremely annoying.

How does this combo with stasis exactly? It won't untap to bounce again because of it.

Edit: Oh, I see now. It's about using it before stasis so they don't have the lands to do anything about it.