Pointed Discussion

Awesome new art! Bolas is such an awesome planeswalker. Of course, what else could we expect from an elder dragon?
As for the card, it may be a little costly (4 mana and 3 life), but you can't ignore what is practically a "Draw 4 cards" effect.

4 mana and 3 life is worth it. Life is overrated.

On a side note. I never noticed bolas has only 3 fingers.

Good point, minus_prime. I was going to right your comment off but Flashback seems to be a big thing in IND so far. Plus Wizards like to 'leak' reprints and new cards in these promo sets. So you might be on to something.

What is everyone else talking about, 4 mana, 4 cards? It is 6, is it not? to play then and 3 life for the second time. Nightscape Familar lowers both costs in this deck, sure. But no one mentioned him.

EDIT: ok, so actually it's 6 mana to get 4 cards-- except you divide it over 2 casts, and since this one has a smaller flashback cost than hard cast cost, that extra two mana will be much less costly than if it were just '4UU: draw 4 cards'. You can flash this back by turn 5 using just '1 basic per turn' mana, a full turn earlier than a '4UU: draw 4' would do. AND drawing 2 cards twice is probably better than drawing 4 all at once. I can't entirely explain well why I think that, but reading a bunch of different blue cards and thinking about it, it sounds right.


When you're evaluating how much your really paying and getting, I would say this is comparable to a 3UU Instant card that draws 3. It's a little bit slow, but you do get good value for your mana.


One final note. Bolas is a jerk. He probably casts this on turn 2 off a Sol Ring all day long ;)

I'd love to see an Innistrad-block reprint just because it would be great to see both Deep Analysis and Think Twice in standard together. Deciding which (and how many) you run would be a real skill-tester, pushing a deck's mechanics and play style very firmly in one direction or another.

If no fact escapes him, how does he not know you you think you can? It's a fact!

Who needs casting costs? Wild Mongrel says to go ahead and pay 2 mana for a Divination!

I don't know about an Innistrad reprint.
They used Nicol Bolas in this art, and he doesn't seem to have a stake in Innistrad at all. If they planned on reprinting it they probably would have used the art from the new set, to save money.
Still, that hardly means anything. Just my gut.

On the card itself, its really solid. Playing it from your hand is a little pricey, but the flashback means you can discard it (like, to Psychatog, for instance) and get some extra value with your blue Sign in Blood. If it were reprinted in standard right now, you could put it in a deck along with Mulch and Forbidden Alchemy and get tons of value. A Burning Vengeance deck would profit from it too.

Few draw spells are this versatile.

Innistrad out, DKA out, and Flashback will not be featured in Avacyn Restored. So no reprint ;)

Looks like Mr. Bolas just drew an Icy Manipulator.

You cannot escape his deep a n a l...ysis.

I know it's been mentioned already, but I thought I'd just reemphasise that you can get around the initial 4-mana cost with a looting effect.

This card effectively says: tap a merfolk looter creature, pay 3 life and 2 mana (ONLY 2 mana): draw THREE (!) cards

And that's not too shabby.

Used to be common, upped to uncommon, implication of reprint in Innistrad?

**Well, I got that wrong. Which raises the question of why this card jumped up a rarity, since(aside from actual reprints) I've only ever seen that happen for promos and flagship mythics.

This would be bomb in a self mill, maybe partnered with increasing ambition. Otherwise, tidings is stronger.

It's sorta like Think Twice's big brother, and very solid in self-mill since milling it is worth instant and substantial card advantage.

Possibly the most blue card in the game. See Urabrask for the most red card in the game.

The art is pretty much entirely made up of shades of blue, the card is blue, and the set symbol (uncommon) is silver - which sort of blends in with the blue border. I want one to put beside my Urabrask :P Then I just need the rest of the colours.

Just look at Think Twice. From a certain viewpoint (and with a little help from stuff like Wild Mongrel), for two mana, this card does what Think Twice does for five mana. It might not be the best card against aggro (but certainly still good), but against control this beats every single card draw spell we have today, including Jace, Architect of Thought and Sphinx's Revelation.

Spirit Flare, Deep Analysis, Crippling Fatigue, Flash of Defiance, and Acorn Harvest were a cycle of commons from Torment with flashback costs of 1C and 3 life. This one is the only one people ever know about.

"Because I'm not a fact; I'm Ajani!"