Pointed Discussion

I have always loved the art for this card. It is too bad that it won't be reprinted. Maybe a promo? Sadly, no chance.

133-1-1-312 -1-(-)/-\1\1 131_/-\(1< 1_()-1-\_/5 -- Better than black lotus

This card better be banned. Because all you need is a steady way to untap an artifact, such as Tezzeret the Seeker, and you have infinity turns!

But with no ways to untap this card, I don't see the point of it. You skip a turn to get an extra turn. It's like making your glass half-empty to half-full.

OK that first post was.... Odd to say the least...

The reason this card was great was because before 6th edition when WOTC ***ed all over us, and before the sissy restricted list, you could use Time Walk, fork it like 8 times, and use this to help you store turns. It was easier than forking a bunch of Time Walk, because then you had to actually use dice to show how many turns you had. (I've had to do this before because it was hard to keep track when there is no restricted shit.)

See though, the way the wording goes, things that untap it won't work. It says on the card that you must skip a turn to untap it. Maybe that's being a bit *** on the wording, but as far as I'm concerned, trying to use an artifact or spell or something along those lines does not work. Argue it all you want, the card says must. That means that is the only thing that'll do it. The only card I've personally seen with this card that works is rings of brighthearth

This is right up there with the Power Nine. Actually, for a deck built around Time Vault, it's even better than any of them. Oh, I can just imagine creating THE deck like this:

4 Time Vault
8-16 card-fetch or card-draw (Timetwister)
8-12 untap spells and repeat untap creatures/artifacts (ie. Twiddle, Voltaic Key)
12-16 lands that produce blue and/or colorless mana
12-16 mana generating artifacts or creatures (Black Lotus)
6-8 counterspells or recalling spells (Unsummon, Cancel)
2 Solarion

Then, on your average hand you may (1) play Black Lotus and a land, play Time Vault and Twiddle and then tap for another turn; or if you're not so lucky (2) play a land and mana-generating artifacts, use the mana to play a card-fetch or card-draw spell so that you get cards like Time Vault and Black Lotus, then play the Black Lotus to put Time Vault into play, then tap the land to play Twiddle; or if you're really unlucky, (3) rinse and repeat.

I've never actually assembled such a deck but it's conceivable to get 50-80% chance of getting an extra turn, on turn one, and after that your chance of getting to go again (and again) only rises from there on. Which translates into a 40-80% chance of winning before the opponent gets to go, and a 80-90% chance of winning before the opponent's second turn. Play with Solarion, then bide your (infinite) time as the Solarion from five turns ago goes from a 1/1 to a 32/32 (or even faster if you have more untapper creatures/artifacts to spare).

So yeah... The most overpowered card in the game.

@PolskiSuzeren
Yeah, the card says you must skip a turn to untap it. That is the only way you can untap Time Vault on its own, without any other cards helping it. On its own, Time Vault is awful. That is why you need stuff like Twiddle or the monstrous Voltaic Key to untap it, because they certainly can. Whatever the card text might mean to you, the Vault can always be untapped by an ability that says "untap target artifact." Given that that one meager untap will give you a whole extra turn, yeah, this card is pretty broken.

The original text and the oracle text of this card make it into 2 totally different cards. The original says that you MUST skip a turn to untap it, whereas the oracle text says that skipping a turn is only a way to untap it. So, needless to say, the oracle card is stupendously broken, whereas the original is a worthless artifact that does nothing to help you win.

For extra turns, use Stitch in Time + Cloven Casting.

Use this with Fatestitcher and you win. Period. End of Story. Godd day, sir.

gotta love the old over powered cards :)

This is basically the most powerful card ever printed. Makes Ancestral Recall and Black Lotus look like garbage.

I play with this card in my deck. And it is so strong with Voltaic Key, Tezz and other little mates like tutoring effects that I consistently win in around 1-6 turns... It even becomes boring for myself and I remove it from my deck in casual games because it is so broken and takes away all the fun. Very strong, fun a few times but becomes redundant quickly. Don't play this in a casual game, unless you want your friends to be your ennemies.

This card needs to me included in what should have been the power 10

this is a card involved in so many infinite turn combos its ridicules but if you have to resort to a infinite mana or infinite turn combo for a deck your really just not trying

How about a turn 1 Amulet of Vigor then this on turn 2.

The original text of this card makes it clear that they intended you to skip a turn every time you untap it. I'm not sure why they reworded the Oracle text to make it immensely stronger. Here's how I think the Oracle text should read:

"Time Vault enters the battlefield tapped.
Time Vault doesn't untap during your untap step.
If Time Vault becomes untapped, you skip your next turn.
If you would begin your turn while Time Vault is tapped, you may skip that turn instead. If you do, untap Time Vault.
Tap: Take an extra turn after this one."

With that extra third line in there, I think it would maintain its original functionality as intended. Of course, that would also drop the value of the card to less than $10 since it would become near-useless.

Bought the beta version of this card for like forty bucks right before Wizards decided to change the oracle text and all hell broke loose. Wish I bought ten, heh.

Obviously, time vault plus voltaic key is the greatest combo in the game, instant win, woohoo, however if your playing a deck that utilizes such combo you will be playing the same game over and over again. You might as well stay at home and play against yourself, because you will receive the same experience and joy as you would playing this deck against someone else.

just off the top of my head..

Turn 1: play ornithopter and island, black lotus into tinker, sacrificing ornithopter for time vault
Turn 2: Play island, tap it to play voltaic key, tap previous island to activate said key untapping vime vault, go infinite.
Turn 3: Your opponent falls asleep as you take turn after turn
Turn 4: said opponent finds someone else to play who understands the words "Fun, interesting game play."
Turn 5: win tournament, lose every friend you have.
Turn 6: Die alone and afraid

Fatesticher? Try voltaic key... Good day to YOU sir...
And why is this not banned across the board in every possible legality?
Restricted doesn't sadisfy me in the slightest.

Not power 9 worthy because its no good outside of combos, but certainly is a fun card. One time i played my steel city vault deck against a fish deck.. earlier that game i FoW'd something pitching my inkwell leviathan. I ended up winning with the vault-key and attacking with goblin welders! Note- consider your win condition if you run the combo!

Assuming I'm right, Rings of Brighthearth should give an infinite turn combo too.

With a more restrictive wording, this card would still be problematically good, since Rings of Brighthearth and Mizzium Transreliquat both work with the proposed wording, and both cards cost a measly 3 mana. So, it's probably just fine to let this behemoth of a combo engine exist in its current, very broken form, since it's not all too hard to make a less broken form work anyway :P

What was wrong with the errata wording in the game Shandalar? It said, Skip a turn and put a counter on to untap, tap and remove a counter to take an extra turn. hardly anything wrong with that. comparatively.

Considering at the time the only card that could untap target artifact was Twiddle this card was not too overpowered. But once you have cards that can untap artifacts indefinitely this card becomes ultrapowerful and way overpowered.

Edit: It seems that I was mistaken, it can go infinite when it way print, but it is a three card combo. Still broken but not as broken. (with Animate Artifact and Instill Energy)

Why wait until turn 2 to play it with Amulet of Vigor? If you're playing Time Vault, just throw in the Workshop and get both out on your first turn.

What a broken card... Turn 1, land + either mox and dark ritual or black lotus. Time vault and voltaic key. Game over. Still, Force of Will ensures it won't always be that easy... So include one yourself! :)

@raptorman333, Voltaic key works much faster.

This is obviously an amazing card. One interesting thing though... in the Vintage champs over the summer, someone was talking about his game with the commentators and he said he had the opportunity to tutor for Time Vault and get infinite turns, but if his opponent didn't concede when Time Vault came out, he wasn't sure he could actually win. He was low on life with a Dark Confidant on the board and was afraid that if he was actually made to take the turns, the Confidant would kill him before he found his win condition. I wish I could find the original conversation, but the footage of that event is many hours long, so forgive me for not showing my work. The point is that while it wins you games 99% of the time, sometimes it won't.

i can't take the brokenness.

The original wording of Time Vault is:

Tap to gain an additional turn after the current one. Time Vault doesn't untap normally during untap phase; to untap it, you must skip a turn. Time Vault begins tapped.

It clearly states that you must skip a turn to untap Time Vault.

Why not word it so that no other untapping won't work. This is my take of the Oracle wording:

Time Vault enters the battlefield tapped.
Time Vault doesn't untap unless you skip your turn. (You can only skip your turn when your turn is about to begin.) If you would begin your turn while Time Vault is tapped, you may skip that turn instead. If you do, untap Time Vault.
Tap: Take an extra turn after this one.

It's an excellent card. It's not broken on its own, and wasn't smashed to pieces in that regard until Urza's block. I could see it making honorable mention as the Power 10th. A lot of people say this can't be true, as on its own, Time Vault is considerably horrid. But, what about the Moxen? Black Lotus? Oh, they're good, but they require other cards to be put to full effect, just like the Vault.

That said, I think people are blowing this out of proportion. There are certainly answers to this card once played, and while you might have to be prepared and in the end somewhat lucky, things like a single green could very well ruin the Combo player's day once he has an active Vault. That's the beauty of Magic: there is no single perfect card. Black lotus goes away after tapped. The Moxen can be shut down by a turn 0 Chalice of the Void for 0 mana down payment. Lightning Bolt and Ancestral Recall can be countered. Force of Will needs another card and life point to really be broken.

These are all simple examples, and a very small sample of the vast, vast game that we (hopefully) have come to love. In the end, I love this card to death, but I know that if I come prepared, I don't have to scoop the moment it hits the field on the other guy or gal's side.

So yeah. Good, powerful, still needs other cards, and has answers against it. A fair card for then, for now, and for the future.

It was such a simple concept, really... skip a turn now to get an extra one later. What could possibly go wrong? D'oh.

Voltaic Key with this, or for that matter, anything that untaps time vault, and it's game over.

Master Of Etherium You Are So Awesome!!!

Everyone laughed at me when I bought one of these for $15. Then the Votaic Key came out and their laughter turned to tears. I played with the combo for a few months untill I got sick of winning every game. I originally got the card for the artwork. Now I wish I had picked up the other two at the shop that day. :D

P.S. To those who quote erratas using counters on Time Vault: There are many cards in the game that don't untap during the untap phase. If I can't use Voltaic Key to untap Time Vault then you can't use Instill Energy to untap your Birds of Paradise in a Stasis lock. Point is figure out how to fight a combo instead of whining about it.

Use unbender tine for unlimited free turns.