Pointed Discussion

That is some awesome flavor text.

Christopher Lloyd: The original Izzet.

Wow, this looks just like Doctor Brown's initial experiment in mind reading. Has Izzy been watching Back to the Future a lot recently?

Doctor Who's new companion.

Dooo-weeee-doooo!

Izzet really like to screw things into their heads it seems.

Read: Instant. Pretty good card for being one of those :)

brilliant flavor

I like that this card is an instant. Pros like me will be mostly using this at the end of our opponents turn if the mana is available. It also fits into mill decks because you can use it on your opponent if need be.

This goes well with the Electromancer, like every other Izzet card printed in this set :p. That does make a nice turn 3 plan, though: answer whatever they do if it's dangerous, or draw some cards if not.

I like the instant speed, but I just can't see this getting used over Think Twice due to the flashback.

1.21 gigawatts! 1.21 gigawatts. Great Scott!

@ Ferlord, and anyone else wondering why this is generally better than Divination:

Don't have to tap out to cast this until the end of your opponents turn. That mean you keep mana open to counter any threats your opponent plays on her main phase, or to keep you instant-speed removal or combat tricks active. Keeping that mana open might scare her from playing into a counter and just pass the turn, in which case you just cast this, draw your two cards, and then untap and start your own turn.

Another thing about this....
For one more mana, you have Divination at instant speed that can also target ANY player.
For one more mana, I say that makes that so much better.
Especially in multiplayer formats.
And in Izzet, well, Electromancer will simply make this a better Divination.

I love the instant speed... but four is a lot of mana.

It's not bad. I don't know if the one less mana for one less card(Jace's Ingenuity) is worth it. But it is cheaper than Think Twice when Flashbacked. I think I'll be playing a couple in my deck.

Great Scott! It's a Back to the Future reference on an instant speed divination!

That flavour text is fantastic. Squeezes a lovely story out of such a small space of cardboard.

I see this being in a 1-2 split with Think Twice in a control deck.

I prefer think twice, But this isn't bad. Unless your not running counterspells or other instants/flash creatures. If that's the case go with Divination. Only run instant speed draw if you have other instants, unless you like bluffing.

Dat flavor text :3

The art can't be a coincidence. The flavortext specifically talks about a time traveling experiment gone wrong!

Doc Brown is the Prime Izmagus!

Great Scott!

But seriously, with Nivix Guildmage, and 8 mana, this is some "heavy" card advantage.

Probably best in Limited, though. If you want instant speed card draw in Constructed, there are better options in Sphinx's Revelation, Think Twice, or even that blue/red card from RTR (I forget its name).

Because Divination wasn't good at all, only targeting you at sorcery speed.

Is the extra mana worth it? I don't think so, but I could be wrong.

EDIT: Since the time of my comment, I've learned the magnificence of instants.
Yes, it is worth the extra mana.

Not bad. I would rather play Forbidden Alchemy, but hey that is just me.

3/5. Instant speed card advantage. It gives you 2 cards for 4 mana. Solid limited pick.

Blue used to be the most powerful stuff in magic. Reduced to this...the only good blue now is Snapcaster Mage and mabey Delver of Secrets?

You bring meaning in my life
You're the inspiration
You bring feeling to my life
You're the inspiration
-
PS : It's a song. You're the Inspiration (by Chicago)

I like it more than divination.

a) instant speed :)
b) you can cast it on team mates in team games
c) you can (theoretically) use it, to kill an opponent whos library you milled away (or nearly milled away)
d) you can use fancy Visions edition versions :)

Um, when MaRo said that Doc Brown was an Izzet back in '04, I do not think he meant that literally.

Instant speed and can target any player so you can help a team-mate out if they are land-floo. ded or scrood. Could have done with this in the last multiplayer game I played! Edit: although I see I've been beaten to it, so I'll add that with such awesome flavour text I wish the effect incorporated some time reversal in it, ie. target player draws cards and untaps 2 lands or returns a permanent to their hand. Probably be broken if it did that. Also izmagNus vs. izmagus. Typo?

Divination: 3 mana sorcery, 2 cards.
Concentrate: 4 mana sorcery, 3 cards.
Tidings: 5 mana sorcery, 4 cards.

Inspiration: 4 mana instant, 2 cards.
Jace's Ingenuity: 5 mana instant, 3 cards.
Opportunity: 6 mana instant, 4 cards.

Credit to azure_drake for pointing this out. It's really neat how they designed all these cards. It's also funny to compare to Ancestral Recall, and how poorly thought out that card was in retrospect.

Inspiration is not a good card. Fact or Fiction has exactly the same cost and casting speed but lets you see five cards before drawing two (it's more complicated than that, but bottom line is FoF is massively better). Four mana to draw two, even at instant speed, really isn't very exciting. For four mana and instant speed, I would expect more like draw 4 discard 2, or Scry 2 Draw 2. Forsee is Scry 4 Draw 2 at sorcery speed and isn't a very competitive card. Knocking down the scry power by half and upgrading to instant seems reasonable.

Esper Charm can draw two at instant speed for 3 mana, plus it has two other useful modes to choose from, but it is three colors as a drawback. I'd like to see instant speed draw two printed at {U}{U}{U} casting cost, dropping the flexibility of the other two modes but still having a heavy color commitment. Basically, changing from {2}{U} to {U}{U}{U} in order to get instant speed seems reasonable, especially considering no one plays Divination except in Limited.

Draw 2 is in an awkward spot between cantrips and "real" draw spells. Cantrips are costed at {U} and are often at instant speed plus having more than just Draw 1 (see Brainstorm and Opt). Given that, one might expect vanilla Draw 2 at {U}{U}, but that would be too strong. {2}{U} sorcery speed for Draw 2 is too weak. {2}{U} instant speed Draw 2 would be too strong. Let's have instant speed Draw 2 at {U}{U}{U}!

No. There's just no way that being an instant makes this card worth 50% more mana than divination.

The only exception would be when playing with teammates. And even then, the odds of it being more beneficial/you wanting to help your teammate more than you is VERY SLIM.

No.