i love this new, balanced Ancestral Recall reprint. delayed, but very cheap card advantage.
DaaNz
☆☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(15 votes)
strictly better than healing salve
Darkersun
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(8 votes)
Could one cascade into this card?
2pcsofcandy
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(7 votes)
@Darkersun: The rulings thing says that it can be played with Mind's Desire, and as far as I can tell from how Mind's Desire is worded and how cascade is worded, it looks like you could to me.
Zarcron
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(4 votes)
One wouldn't design a deck specifically to cascade into this card, as that only makes it slightly cheaper than Concentrate (the cheapest cascade card costs 3 mana), and there are better cards for this sort of deck like Hypergenesis, Living End or Restore Balance. However, it would work well in a regular cascade deck featuring cascade cards of differing converted mana costs.
ArKive
★☆☆☆☆ (1.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Yes Concentrate costs 4, and the cheapest cascade card is 3, but you forget you also get the effect of whatever u cast with cascade and the draw power, hopefully to start another cascade
TheAlucinaut
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Dig this card, & Suspend altogether.
It's balanced, cheap, & low pressure.
As previously said though, it can be kind of a drag to get late in the game in most cases.
Still. Solid card advantage at an affordable price is always nice. 4/5
leomistico
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@applecorn: wrong! This card has no mana cost, but has CMC=0; the trick is that you can't pay non-existent mana cost, but the clause "without paying it's mana cost" (present in cascade and suspend ability) allows to bypas-s the problem. If it weren't true, you couldn't even cast it suspending it...
A great card, balanced version of Ancestral Recall. I used to play it with Izzet guildmage in my Izzet or Grixis decks: for 6 cards!
Bad if you draw it in the late-game...
4.5/5
Olliemancer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I know they did this on purpose, but suspend 4 is way too long a delay...
According to me, suspend 2 MAXIMUM to be played, otherwise it might be a dead draw, and it's a sorcery.. doesn't help either.
Useless when you need cards right away, and okay (not more) if you don't need them right away... I suppose it was played, but I still think there are better things to do with these slots. :)
YoshiOfADown
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Olliemancer, are you high? This was a 4-of in the best deck of its time: Faeries.
nibelheim_valesti
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Just to check - you CAN put this on an Isochron, yes?
202.3a The converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0.
Because of this rule and the fact that Ancestral Vision can be cast via alternate means such as Mind's Desire, you can in fact Cascade into this and draw 3 cards.
@Talon06: Well, it fits the requirements. Anything else?
@nibelheim_valesti: Besides missing the fact that it isn't an instant but a sorcery.
Roxl36
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Could you Imprint this on Panoptic Mirror??? Draw 3 each turn looks nice to me.
DacenOctavio
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
@ infernox10:
You can't remove counters from this using Vampire Hexmage because it isn't a legal target. For it to be targetable, it has to be a permanent. A permanent is a land, creature, enchantment, artifact, or planeswalker.
tantallum99
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(6 votes)
I love a first turn ancestral vision. Those 3 cards show up at the perfect time.
Kurhan
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
@Roxl36 Panoptic mirror requires you pay X mana where X is the card's mana cost. This card has no mana cost, which does not mean 0, but means that it cannot be paid through normal means. So you cannot use this with panoptic mirror.
djflo
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
You can't use Vampire Hexmage to take the counters off because suspended cards are exiled and thus illegal targets.
Kitty_the_Kat
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
The cool thing about this card is that you can drop it on turn 1 and feel basically no sweat about it. Drop a couple Erasures if you wanna focus on mill, or start dropping some low cost fliers to keep pressure on them. Also, the fact that you can Cascade into this makes it very friendly to a little color splashing.
ZiaCombs
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
When can this card be countered? As it comes from your opponents hand, or when the last counter comes off?
BloodJunkie
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Serious card advantage at little to no cost. If you're playing it in the right deck then it won't hurt you to draw it late game. 5/5 in my book.
@Ziacombs : When your opponent suspends a card, they are not yet playing it. The card is removed from the game. Therefore this (as with any other suspended card) cannot be countered until the last time counter is removed and the spell goes onto the stack.
- You will now face my wrath
For your persistant insolence
Artscrafter
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(4 votes)
@blink182zombies: Not strictly worse than Ancestral Recall. Dispel can't counter this. You can play this turn one and keep all the cards you eventually get without having to also drop a Spellbook or enough zero cost stuff to empty your hand enough. You can spend all your turn five mana and still get your cards.
Okay yeah, Ancestral Recall is considerably better than this. But not strictly. :p
BlackAlbino
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(7 votes)
is it ancestral vision? no is it retarded OP you'll lose all your magic buds if you play it? no
Gabriel422
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
This is one of the most powerful of the 6-tuplets, and it saw a lot of play in both Standrad (as is) and Extended (with Cascade). It guarantees you +2 card advantage, and leaves your mana open just as well as the much-played Preordain (which does far less).
Of the other five, Lotus Bloom is key to any combo deck that plans to win on turn four, not unlike how Black Lotus would have been key to any combo deck that plans to win on turn one. Hypergenesis found home in a cascade deck whose only plan was to cascade into Hypergenesis (cmc 0) with stuff like Ardent Plea, due to its ability to win the game shortly after being cast.
This was actually in the first pack of cards I ever bought. I traded it without really understanding it. I did get a whole deck of decent stuff that I had wanted to have anyway, so it was a good deal for me then. Now though, after I have 3, I really wish I would have kept the original so I had a playset.
AluminumAngel
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
They've removed the "~ is blue" from the Oracle wording, but they haven't updated the Gatherer site to display color indicators yet. So, this now looks colorless on Gatherer!
Edit: Fixed! They've added color indicators to Gatherer.
Luke_BPC
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Any of the 0 cost suspend looks good on Panoptic. And note none of them are instants - Just so you can't imprint them on your Scepter
bfugitive
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Kurhan As has already been stated, the converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0. Panoptic Mirror cares only about converted mana cost. Please don't speak on rulings you're not sure of.
Enelysios
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is the perfect powering down of Ancestral Recall. I love the suspended power cards, and cascade was really the problem, not these guys. They are great fun to play with and feel just as powerful when they hit the board, just not so devastating to the early game.
applecorn
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@Darkersun, 2pcsofcandy: This has no CMC, cascade would fail.
Edit: Wow what i didn't know then, i do apologize for my previous statement.
steinburger1109
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I LOVE the art reference to everyone's favorite broken draw spell. :D
GrimjawxRULES
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Most of the time this card is amazing, but there are times where I'd much rather have a Concentrate or Ponder than this. When you're in a tight spot and need those cards right away, having to wait four turns before this card has an effect can be excruciatingly painful.
The_Cheat420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@atemu1234 You can't put this on a Secpter, it's a sorcery.
Dang, I hope cascade is not what pushed this to be banned. It sucks when awesome cards get banned because of an overpowered interaction.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I think this card alone is why Jace vs. Chandra is worth about $60 or so lately...
Iam_IronMan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Oh look, it's Standstill for stupid people.
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Obscene with cascade. Shardless Agent decks can't go without multiple copies of this.
Technetium
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is great early in the game, but later on it can be pretty awful when you're depending on a critical draw and you end up with a card that can't do anything for 4 turns (which you may not even last long enough to use).
JaxsonBateman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Fantastic for playing when you want to play it - turn 1. You get to cast it on the turn where you likely aren't keep mana up for control instants (after all, how many decks run Force Spite/Flutterstorm/Spell Pierce pre-board?), then sit back on the next few turns, playing your control instants, then getting a sudden +2 card advantage out of nowhere.
Not necessarily an auto-include in any blue/x deck, but one to consider often.
seahen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Any good reason NOT to include this in a storm deck?
Ataraxiom
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Is anybody else reminded of that spot in the Temple of the Ancients where you chase that little spirit dude around in Final Fantasy VII?
I don't see why they let cascade cast these cards. It says repeatedly in the rulings that this has no mana cost, not a converted mana cost of 0. So it would seem that when cascade asks "does this card have a converted mana cost lower than the cascade card's cost?" the answer would be no, since the card has no converted mana cost at all.
Comments (47)
delayed, but very cheap card advantage.
The rulings thing says that it can be played with Mind's Desire, and as far as I can tell from how Mind's Desire is worded and how cascade is worded, it looks like you could to me.
It's balanced, cheap, & low pressure.
As previously said though, it can be kind of a drag to get late in the game in most cases.
Still. Solid card advantage at an affordable price is always nice. 4/5
A great card, balanced version of Ancestral Recall. I used to play it with Izzet guildmage in my Izzet or Grixis decks:
Bad if you draw it in the late-game...
4.5/5
According to me, suspend 2 MAXIMUM to be played, otherwise it might be a dead draw, and it's a sorcery.. doesn't help either.
Useless when you need cards right away, and okay (not more) if you don't need them right away...
I suppose it was played, but I still think there are better things to do with these slots. :)
Because of this rule and the fact that Ancestral Vision can be cast via alternate means such as Mind's Desire, you can in fact Cascade into this and draw 3 cards.
Turn 2: Vampire Hexmage.
???
Profit.
@nibelheim_valesti: Besides missing the fact that it isn't an instant but a sorcery.
You can't remove counters from this using Vampire Hexmage because it isn't a legal target. For it to be targetable, it has to be a permanent. A permanent is a land, creature, enchantment, artifact, or planeswalker.
Panoptic mirror requires you pay X mana where X is the card's mana cost. This card has no mana cost, which does not mean 0, but means that it cannot be paid through normal means. So you cannot use this with panoptic mirror.
@Ziacombs : When your opponent suspends a card, they are not yet playing it. The card is removed from the game. Therefore this (as with any other suspended card) cannot be countered until the last time counter is removed and the spell goes onto the stack.
- You will now face my wrath
For your persistant insolence
Dispel can't counter this.
You can play this turn one and keep all the cards you eventually get without having to also drop a Spellbook or enough zero cost stuff to empty your hand enough.
You can spend all your turn five mana and still get your cards.
Okay yeah, Ancestral Recall is considerably better than this. But not strictly. :p
is it retarded OP you'll lose all your magic buds if you play it? no
Of the other five, Lotus Bloom is key to any combo deck that plans to win on turn four, not unlike how Black Lotus would have been key to any combo deck that plans to win on turn one. Hypergenesis found home in a cascade deck whose only plan was to cascade into Hypergenesis (cmc 0) with stuff like Ardent Plea, due to its ability to win the game shortly after being cast.
The other three were less fortunate. Restore Balance saw marginal play in some cascade decks, and IIRC Living End and Wheel of Fate never did. Their ancestors - Balance, Living Death and Wheel of Fortune - were so powerful only with exactly right timing, unlike Black Lotus or Ancestral Recall, and so the Suspend really killed them.
Edit: Fixed! They've added color indicators to Gatherer.
Edit: Wow what i didn't know then, i do apologize for my previous statement.
Not necessarily an auto-include in any blue/x deck, but one to consider often.
No really, take a look and see for yourself.
http://oyster.ignimgs.com/mediawiki/apis.ign.com/final-fantasy-vii/7/74/Tota3.jpg
Whatevah.