this is definitely one of my favorite cards ever printed.
Smoked_Peasant
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(7 votes)
This thing is a monster. This thing eats babies. It RUNS on babies. Orphan babies... Whoever thought of this card is an evil, evil man.
A3Kitsune
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great especially with cards that do things in addition to drawing a card when cycled, enchantments that trigger off of cycling, and cards with landcycling or creaturetypecycling abilitys.
OpenSeasonNoobs
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Does that count for landcycling..?
ultratog1028
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(9 votes)
@ jeff: it wasn't banned.
@openseasonnoobs: yes. Tribal cycling, land cycling and regular cycling work off of this.
Lateralis0ne
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
This would be rather amazing when paired with the Onslaught block. Astral Slide, Lightning Rift, the landcycling cards as OpenSeasonNoobs offered, and others. {R}{W} seems to be the way to go with this, or throw some blue in for control if desired.
jeff-heikkinen
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(8 votes)
Preemptively banned before it could even do any damage, this would have been an incredible, if excessively obvious, enabler in Urza Block, where every cycling cost was 2 generic; even with the wider variety of such costs that has since been introduced, this thing is a freakin' house.
ultratog1028, please fact-check your claims. This card was, uniquely in the history of Magic, banned in Standard before it was even released, specifically in April 1999. It's a very famous story that anyone who was playing at the time remembers. Don't go posting incorrect "corrections" without verifying your facts first.
EvilestTim
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
@Jeff
You're thinking of Memory Jar, that's the only one ever emergency banned.
well, this isnt banned now, so debate as to weather or not it was is rather moot. Very few cards are banned in legacy and ventage sense there are so many was to respond to them.
Hoonster
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Wizards banned it before even releasing this card? Why did they even print it if they thought this is too powerful in Standard? Also, this was not the only card banned before its release (I'm talking about you Time Spiral) I swear, Wizards must have smoked something before designing Urza's Saga and Mirrodin. Oh, these blocks clearly won't destroy the balance of this game.
TDL
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
Ummm... Didn't every card with cycling in the Urza block cycle for ? Edit @ blurrymadness: That was more of a rhetorical question to express my disbelief that they printed a card allowing for totally free cycling at the time, especially considering the fact that cycling can be done at instant speed.
Psuedonaut
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This thing costs 2 colorless mana.
Turn 1: Plains. Turn 2: Plains, Stoic Champion Turn 3: Wheel of Sun and Moon Turn 4: This, swing for infinininininininininity damage. And have whatever cards you want in your hand.
Eved
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
So um, Archmage Ascension and this guy in a cycling deck seem to work out.
scumbling1
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(4 votes)
"ultratog1028, please fact-check your claims. This card was, uniquely in the history of Magic, banned in Standard before it was even released, specifically in April 1999. It's a very famous story that anyone who was playing at the time remembers. Don't go posting incorrect "corrections" without verifying your facts first"
I checked the facts. Here's what Randy Buehler has to say on the matter:
oh the good times we had back in the day. someone would say "i dont know why they ban this card?" and then out comes the dirtiest white deck ever.
fluctuator, 28 runes (rune of protection: white, green, red, black, blue, artifact, and land) replenish, and opalescence will give you 28 2/2 turn 5ish. i know it doesnt seem all that crazy these days but back then it was nuts, seeing as you could pull it off in a format as limited as block.
adrian.malacoda
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Fiko, Summoner of Atogs : Put a 1/2 red Atog creature token with "Sacrifice an artifact: This creature gets +2/+2 until end of turn." onto the battlefield. 1/2
Titanus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
first turn, play land, swamp, cast dark ritual, cast fluctuator, cycle creature cards, cast 2 more dark ritual to cast Living Death, play Lotus 2 petal to play Goblin Bombardment, sacrifice all creatures, kill :) now use your imagination.
ConManXVII
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Haunting Misery with this in a deck of all (2) cycling cards. Cycle your entire deck and then cast Misery. Works best with 2x Dark Ritual. First gets Fluctuator in play with 1 B remaining. Cycle deck to get a lethal number of creatures into your graveyard, then spend the B to cast a second ritual, and then Misery for the win.
wrathofdave430
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
play this with Drifting Meadow or any of the rest of the 2 cost cycles... then boom! Life From The Loam draw six for two every turn? I'm thinking yes!
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I figured I'd mention the neat interaction this has with Eternal Dragon and how good complicate becomes. Drop this T3 with a blue open, suddenly you have a 1 CMC cantrip force spike
@TDL I figured it had to do with rules wording. My point was that this wording works going forward for costs like {1} and {1}{U}.
Comments (24)
@openseasonnoobs: yes. Tribal cycling, land cycling and regular cycling work off of this.
ultratog1028, please fact-check your claims. This card was, uniquely in the history of Magic, banned in Standard before it was even released, specifically in April 1999. It's a very famous story that anyone who was playing at the time remembers. Don't go posting incorrect "corrections" without verifying your facts first.
You're thinking of Memory Jar, that's the only one ever emergency banned.
It _was_ banned in Standard at one time.
Why did they even print it if they thought this is too powerful in Standard?
Also, this was not the only card banned before its release (I'm talking about you Time Spiral)
I swear, Wizards must have smoked something before designing Urza's Saga and Mirrodin.
Oh, these blocks clearly won't destroy the balance of this game.
Edit @ blurrymadness:
That was more of a rhetorical question to express my disbelief that they printed a card allowing for totally free cycling at the time, especially considering the fact that cycling can be done at instant speed.
Turn 1: Plains.
Turn 2: Plains, Stoic Champion
Turn 3: Wheel of Sun and Moon
Turn 4: This, swing for infinininininininininity damage. And have whatever cards you want in your hand.
I checked the facts. Here's what Randy Buehler has to say on the matter:
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/rb97
"The one card that was ever subject to an emergency ban was Memory Jar, which has the unfortunate text "draw seven cards" on it."
fluctuator, 28 runes (rune of protection: white, green, red, black, blue, artifact, and land) replenish, and opalescence will give you 28 2/2 turn 5ish.
i know it doesnt seem all that crazy these days but back then it was nuts, seeing as you could pull it off in a format as limited as block.
1/2
then boom! Life From The Loam draw six for two every turn? I'm thinking yes!
@TDL
I figured it had to do with rules wording. My point was that this wording works going forward for costs like {1} and {1}{U}.