I like it! Instant speed card draw that can net a total of two cards. Much better than Mysteries of the Deep.
Lyoncet
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(6 votes)
Favorite reprint of the set! It's always nice to have a card that's this strong and this unassuming at the same time, since it keeps people who don't know what they're doing from playing it. And then you can laugh at them. ;)
2pcsofcandy
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(7 votes)
This card is so good. One of my favourites from Time Spiral block, so glad to see it reprinted with new art. Especially fun now that you can eek some advantage out of Liliana of the Veil's +1 with it.
Gaffy00
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.9/5.0)(10 votes)
Slightly overcosted, sorry.
ThisisSakon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
She herp'd
DarthParallax
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(10 votes)
Does anybody else think that looks like Katara doing waterbending from Avatar: the Last Airbender?
I love this art much more than the Time Spiral one. :)
Arachobia
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
@DarthParallax True but the old flavor text was awesome
You're not supposed to play this card from your hand. You're supposed to mill yourself, say "oh hey look what landed in the graveyard, isn't that dandy?" and flashback it. Cards that mill you + this card = card advantage
starfox444
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I'm really enjoying this in my casual mono-blue permission based deck. Oh? Too scared to cast anything? I guess I'll just cast think twice and then flashback it during your end step.
leomistico
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Better art than the Time Spiral one, but the flavour text is worse...
I report exactly what I said in the Time Spiral version because, as a player that cares almost only about Modern, it's valide the same: I've played it a lot in those days in some Izzet deck. Casting the same spell twice is a huge advantage when you control cards like Gelectrode or Wee Dragonauts, and drawing cards made my Niv-Mizzet a serious threat, as if it need a help... The fact that it's an instant that costs 2CMC make it so playable at the end of your opponent's turn, while you kept two lands untapped to counter something with Remand, in case!
This card is so much win... Simple and powerful! 5/5
use643
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Im thinking of putting in my control
Shard_Fenix
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
I've been using this in my blue decks since it came out in TS. Fantastic card.
Discoduck
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have exactly one of these in my Laboratory Maniac self-mill deck. Once the cards in my library are gone, playing the Laboratory Maniac and then this from the graveyard immediately is a great little win condition.
muggtonp
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(6 votes)
Hadouken!
Lavrant
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(9 votes)
The real purpose of this card is just to be able to leave two mana up for a counter but not have to have wasted that mana if they don't cast anything worth countering.
EternalPhi
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(3 votes)
This card is mint. As the previous poster said, its all about being able to make use of counterspell mana. Came first yesterday at a local tournament riding this thing and forbidden alchemy to card advantage victory in my UB control. You dont even need a counter in your hand, people just dont do anything if you leave 2 or 3 mana open, and this fills in the gaps for you, I must have casted it 35+ times in 8 games.
5/5 for value!
Arachibutyrophobia
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(5 votes)
the card that IS a cantrip
Minus_Prime
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(4 votes)
Leomistico's winning this thread so far. The point of Think Twice isn't to draw more cards, it's to cast more spells. So your Gelectrodes machine-gun down the enemy line, you've got a 7/2 Kiln Fiend ready to charge in, or 12/4 Charmbreaker Devils or whatever, and you get two more spells in your hand so they can go again next turn. Bonus points if they also have Flashback or Rebound.
That's Think Twice's real explosive power. The subtle synergies like end-of-turn draw in control and self-mill are the gravy that push this card over into "great" territory.
Mittoo
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
It confuses me why an auto-include in one of the most powerful tournament decks around at the moment is rated so low. Instant-speed card draw is immense, especially when you can split the mana cost. "Oh, you didn't cast the spell I was going to stop that turn? Oh. I guess I'll turn this mana I was going to use to Mana Leak into card advantage. Man, that sucks."
Folesauce
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
People who underrate this are not considering how important instant speed is.
Salient
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Cantrip? Twicetrip. OH YEAHHHH.
I like Minus_Prime's comment a lot. On the other side, this card is an unusual but powerful choice for Counterbalance decks in Legacy. Any Counterbalance control deck has a tough time spending mana efficiently during turns, as you need to hold your Brainstorms to use with Counterbalance. I've spent several opponents' end phases burning to spin Sensei's Divining Top, wondering what to do with my three or four remaining untapped Islands.
Think Twice has solved that problem for me, and it ramps perfectly; I can Think and spin my top on opponent turn 3, flashback Think and spin my top on opponent turn 4. It gives me a solid CMC 2 slot for Brainstorm+Counterbalance counterspell purposes. I've never been said to see it show up; sometimes I even playtest with two Think Twice in the deck, though 1 seems just right for the CMC curve.
Nobody bothers to counter Think Twice either time, whereas they do tend to counter Deep Analysis. For this reason, I think of Think Twice as , over two turns, for an "uncounterable" draw two cards effect.
Strictly better than Inspiration and Storm Crow, marginally Legacy playable, sweet art; 5/5.
bfellow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love how almost no one plays this anymore. Once they splash red, people saw Desperate Ravings as better card advantage for digging into the library more.
In fact, almost no one plays control with all the Delver tempo and R/G aggro decks.
NoobOfLore
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A good time for a reprint if ever I've seen one. Really brilliant putting it in a set where self-milling is an encouraged strategy.
I just realized why this card is so highly rated. It's like Inspiration, except you can pay in installments, and it can be played from your graveyard.
JimT70
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(5 votes)
What a useless card. For my draw, pull a card so I can spend mana to draw a card. If this card wasn't there, I would have that card, and still have two more mana to spend on it.
Wisdomseyes
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
It hurts to see how many comments are "this card sucks, because your spending 2 mana to draw 1 card"
This card is AMAZING, like 5 star draw card material (note that preordain is 6 out of 5 stars)
Why is it good? Simple, for one and only reason. It is an instant. When you have 2 mana open and are holding this card and a mana leak, you wait for the opponent to make a move. if their is nothing leak worthy, you draw an extra card, and if there is something leak worthy, you leak it. Pretty simple.
Most draw cards are sorcery to MAKE you spend extra mana you normally wouldnt have spent to get more options. Instant draw cards more or less avoid the mana tax because you can do it at any time. Thus the extra mana you normally pay for the card becomes somewhat of a moot point. Think twice is one of the few instant speed draw cards they printed that actually has balance AND usability.
If you dont think instant speed is important or valuable, do us all a favor and dont rate on any site, we dont need good cards to get low ratings.
the only other good instant draw cards out there I can find at a glace are brainstorm and ancestral recall. Jace's ingenuity beets this card in total cards drawn, but can't effect an early game environment and have a much hight mana tax if you really need an answer.
Perilous research maybe?
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Yo, dawg, I heard you like cantrips, so I put a cantrip in your cantrip, so you can cantrip while you cantrip.
tcollins
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Will work wonders with the new miracle mechanic from Avacyn Restored
JaFaR_Ironclad
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Play on opponent's upkeep, then follow up with Second Guess on their turn's spell.
Ligerman30
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(5 votes)
does a 2U effect (Divination anyone?) for 3UU, seems legit ... also the flashback can be stopped by Cards like Grafdigger's Cage which people will have out anyways just because. I guess it's good for scaring the living s**t out of people when they cast a spell by tapping 1U(the cost of mana leak) to play a card that does nothing and replaces itself. I guess people should play this in limited but for constructed I don't see a logical home, even though it is going to be auto-included. Divination would have to get banned/not get reprinted for me to consider this in standard no less any constructed format.
Wizards really? Make it do something, please, like 1 damage to target un-flipped creature, i mean delver .. wait what? Worst card draw legal in standard.
4/5 for trolling your friends 3/5 in limited 2/5 in constructed
@Wisdomseyes How dare you talk about this card and Ancestral Recall in the same sentence. It does 50% more at the fifth of the cmc. This is barely even card advantage, it does LITERALLY nothing but replace itself and flashback. The fact that instant speed doesn't change the fact that it did nothing but replace itself. We are entering a time of where standard is too fast to spend 5 mana on instant speed Divination, ADAPT OR DIE.
MacBizzle
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@Lavrant: Well that's the purpose of any instant speed draw, such as Jace's Ingenuity.
WiNGSPANTT
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The more I use this card, the more I like it. Perfect for a draw-go style deck. Will probably be better when Gatecrash and Sinker hit.
Kurraga
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This card is better than it seems to a lot of people at first, especially as a tool in limited to keep werewolves from transforming (or even single handedly turn them back). In decks with Forbidden Alchemy and the like, the flashback is really handy, so it's really great in self mill decks designed to get out cards like Skaab Goliath and Stitched Drake (mostly a limited thing), a stratergy I like in Innistrand draft.
Even without these synergies, it's still a solid card, the versitiliy of being able to keep mana up if you need it for something (really good now with all the charms you might want to cast) then cast this when there's nothing else to do. Later on in the game, when you've gone to top deck mode. Any of these sitting in your graveyard could be a life saver. Of course cards like Dryad Militant make this pretty bad. If you're playing against something like that though you can just side this out.
TheWrathofShane
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(8 votes)
How does an x4 standard staple have a 3.5 rating??????????????????? On MTGO every deck is running x4, so maybe you nubs DONT know what your talking about?
Guys, this is miles ahead of divination for being instant speed. You can pay turn 2 if you don't need to Syncopate, and pay the turn 3 if you don't need to Dissipate.
With divination, you have to tap out and get destroyed. Learn to play please.
Lifegainwithbite
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I'd rather Serum Visions for Modern. Sure it's not instant but it's 1 mana and digs deep into your deck. I'll still have enough to counter my opponent's spells in most cases. Visions of Beyond is nice instant draw too.
And @thewrathofshane: Learn to give an opinion without sounding like an arrogant prick.
Splizer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
When this is cast the first time from the hand, it really needs to be called "Think Once". I'm going to start doing that in games just to *** someone off
I'm a little confused as to how this card has been around as long as it has and people don't see the power.
1. It costs 1U which is the same CMC as a lot of counterspells. So you see when you're casting this card you're usually doing this on your opponents turn, because you leave the two mana open for the counterspell threat. They hesitate to play whatever they have in your hand and potentially just passing turn. At the end of their turn you get to draw a card. You just came close to time walking in standard.
2. point 1 is this card at its best. This card at its worst is 1x card advantage after the flashback cost. you're thinning you're deck for the more powerful cards you're looking for. most decks running this card would also be running counters, so you'll be leaving the mana open anyway. Anyway you look at this card its good.
Just because other cards let you draw more for less, the power of an instant card draw is too good. You divination and draw two. You're opponent drops a 3 mana bomb next turn (Boros Reckoner, Geist of Saint Traft.) I guarantee you would rather have two mana open than one extra card in your hand.
Magic is as much a mental game with the opponent separate from whats on the field. If you have mana open you're a threat, this card lets you recycle that mana while still completely playable as a card in a deck it will have no real synergy in.
Burgertog
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Absolutely love playing this card in conjunction with Talrand, Sky Summoner on the field. It not only gives you a card(and a drake) but it lets you get a card(and a drake) later on if you have some extra mana to sink into it.
People who think this card is lame just because it replaces itself aren't thinking outside the box. Remember, the card(Think Twice) is being cast. Try to use it with other cards that care about when cards are cast.
natorai_shido
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
It dawned on me at 5 am that this magnificent piece of blue sexiness was cycling out. I seriously started crying.
NickDay
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
one hundred and one votes
Tamerlein
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
One of my most favorite card draw cards of all time. Being able to hold onto your counters until their endstep puts it a step up above many other card draws in Standard right now, such as Divination.
5/5
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Really good for counterspells and such, but especially with Temporal Mastery. Game went to T4? Well you get T5 and T6 unmolested :D
When using it like that, Remand can be your counterspell of choice, as you're really just trying to trigger miracle.
Swag_Crow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Infringes upon Green's part of the Color Pie.
-Swag_Crow
deworde2510
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A valuable lesson in context. If you don't play control, this card seems like a waste of mana you'd have been better spending on your turn to do something. If you do, it fills a need that you're aware of: "What do I do if my opponent doesn't play anything worth countering?"
JojoTheSummonner
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The reason it's called Think Twice is because with an ash zealot on the board, you'll think twice about flashing it back.
Comments (45)
I love this art much more than the Time Spiral one. :)
I report exactly what I said in the Time Spiral version because, as a player that cares almost only about Modern, it's valide the same:
I've played it a lot in those days in some Izzet deck. Casting the same spell twice is a huge advantage when you control cards like Gelectrode or Wee Dragonauts, and drawing cards made my Niv-Mizzet a serious threat, as if it need a help... The fact that it's an instant that costs 2CMC make it so playable at the end of your opponent's turn, while you kept two lands untapped to counter something with Remand, in case!
This card is so much win... Simple and powerful!
5/5
5/5 for value!
That's Think Twice's real explosive power. The subtle synergies like end-of-turn draw in control and self-mill are the gravy that push this card over into "great" territory.
I like Minus_Prime's comment a lot. On the other side, this card is an unusual but powerful choice for Counterbalance decks in Legacy. Any Counterbalance control deck has a tough time spending mana efficiently during turns, as you need to hold your Brainstorms to use with Counterbalance. I've spent several opponents' end phases burning
Think Twice has solved that problem for me, and it ramps perfectly; I can Think and spin my top on opponent turn 3, flashback Think and spin my top on opponent turn 4. It gives me a solid CMC 2 slot for Brainstorm+Counterbalance counterspell purposes. I've never been said to see it show up; sometimes I even playtest with two Think Twice in the deck, though 1 seems just right for the CMC curve.
Nobody bothers to counter Think Twice either time, whereas they do tend to counter Deep Analysis. For this reason, I think of Think Twice as
Strictly better than Inspiration and Storm Crow, marginally Legacy playable, sweet art; 5/5.
In fact, almost no one plays control with all the Delver tempo and R/G aggro decks.
Really brilliant putting it in a set where self-milling is an encouraged strategy.
I just realized why this card is so highly rated. It's like Inspiration, except you can pay in installments, and it can be played from your graveyard.
This card is AMAZING, like 5 star draw card material (note that preordain is 6 out of 5 stars)
Why is it good? Simple, for one and only reason. It is an instant. When you have 2 mana open and are holding this card and a mana leak, you wait for the opponent to make a move. if their is nothing leak worthy, you draw an extra card, and if there is something leak worthy, you leak it. Pretty simple.
Most draw cards are sorcery to MAKE you spend extra mana you normally wouldnt have spent to get more options. Instant draw cards more or less avoid the mana tax because you can do it at any time. Thus the extra mana you normally pay for the card becomes somewhat of a moot point. Think twice is one of the few instant speed draw cards they printed that actually has balance AND usability.
If you dont think instant speed is important or valuable, do us all a favor and dont rate on any site, we dont need good cards to get low ratings.
the only other good instant draw cards out there I can find at a glace are brainstorm and ancestral recall. Jace's ingenuity beets this card in total cards drawn, but can't effect an early game environment and have a much hight mana tax if you really need an answer.
Perilous research maybe?
Wizards really? Make it do something, please, like 1 damage to target un-flipped creature, i mean delver .. wait what? Worst card draw legal in standard.
4/5 for trolling your friends
3/5 in limited
2/5 in constructed
@Wisdomseyes How dare you talk about this card and Ancestral Recall in the same sentence. It does 50% more at the fifth of the cmc. This is barely even card advantage, it does LITERALLY nothing but replace itself and flashback. The fact that instant speed doesn't change the fact that it did nothing but replace itself. We are entering a time of where standard is too fast to spend 5 mana on instant speed Divination, ADAPT OR DIE.
Even without these synergies, it's still a solid card, the versitiliy of being able to keep mana up if you need it for something (really good now with all the charms you might want to cast) then cast this when there's nothing else to do. Later on in the game, when you've gone to top deck mode. Any of these sitting in your graveyard could be a life saver. Of course cards like Dryad Militant make this pretty bad. If you're playing against something like that though you can just side this out.
On MTGO every
Guys, this is miles ahead of divination for being instant speed. You can pay
With divination, you have to tap out and get destroyed. Learn to play please.
And @thewrathofshane: Learn to give an opinion without sounding like an arrogant prick.
EDIT: Done it.
1. It costs 1U which is the same CMC as a lot of counterspells. So you see when you're casting this card you're usually doing this on your opponents turn, because you leave the two mana open for the counterspell threat. They hesitate to play whatever they have in your hand and potentially just passing turn. At the end of their turn you get to draw a card. You just came close to time walking in standard.
2. point 1 is this card at its best. This card at its worst is 1x card advantage after the flashback cost. you're thinning you're deck for the more powerful cards you're looking for. most decks running this card would also be running counters, so you'll be leaving the mana open anyway. Anyway you look at this card its good.
Just because other cards let you draw more for less, the power of an instant card draw is too good. You divination and draw two. You're opponent drops a 3 mana bomb next turn (Boros Reckoner, Geist of Saint Traft.) I guarantee you would rather have two mana open than one extra card in your hand.
Magic is as much a mental game with the opponent separate from whats on the field. If you have mana open you're a threat, this card lets you recycle that mana while still completely playable as a card in a deck it will have no real synergy in.
People who think this card is lame just because it replaces itself aren't thinking outside the box. Remember, the card(Think Twice) is being cast. Try to use it with other cards that care about when cards are cast.
5/5
When using it like that, Remand can be your counterspell of choice, as you're really just trying to trigger miracle.
-Swag_Crow