I feel like Time Spiral was the last supper of sorts for all the old school players like me who'd been around since the very beginning. It had the return of some of artists from the beginning, had references to the old stuff, was set on dominaria, had a wide variety of artistic styles and had balanced play that was loads of fun. It was awesome.
Then came planeswalkers, and mythic rarity, and ridiculous levels of power creep (especially the creatures), and the ever increasing homogenization of the art, and the constant stream of "premium" sets to get us to buy more crap...and so on...
I feel like Time Spiral was the last supper of sorts for all the old school players like me who'd been around since the very beginning. It had the return of some of artists from the beginning, had references to the old stuff, was set on dominaria, had a wide variety of artistic styles and had balanced play that was loads of fun. It was awesome.
Then came planeswalkers, and mythic rarity, and ridiculous levels of power creep (especially the creatures), and the ever increasing homogenization of the art, and the constant stream of "premium" sets to get us to buy more crap...and so on...
Very well stated! That summed up my current MtG enthusiasm.
Sure I've purchased a few handfuls of product from every set, but Time Spiral (set & block) was the last one I really invested a lot of money and interest in.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from "Mysticake" »
(about the English language) It's kinda like a raft that was cobbled together from parts of three different boats and since then has been kept barely afloat with crude repairs every time a leak appeared.
All is said. TS was a very flavorful and creative set, on top of being a delicious madeleine de Proust. The way they created some cards which were purely based on flavor from old cards (Sarpadian Empires, Vol. VII for instance) and all those easter eggs appealed a lot to players who knew the game at the beginning. Of course, players who didn't care about flavor at all were rebuked by the mechanical soup it gave in terms of gameplay.
I hated it.
Now, I understand why so many people like it. It had tons of mechanics, combos and had great nostalgia factor. And that's pretty much the reason why I disliked it. To me it never felt like a set, more like a bunch of random cards mixed together, like some sort of "best of" set. Like a compilation that someone threw together in one day.
I'm one of those people who like to build decks around certain theme or keyword, but Time Spiral had so many keywords and mechanics that it was impossible to build a decent deck. You want to build a Shadow deck? Sorry, not enough cards. Morph? See Shadow. And so on.
I also hate Slivers and this was the set that brought it back. The next two expansions just increased my dislike for the block with all the card frame changes, butchering of the color pie and the Future Sight mess, but we are not talking about those sets so I will stop here.
All in all, I didn't like it. Too much stuff going on, nothing cohesive. I pity any new player who started playing with that set. It must have been a nightmare.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Time Spiral the set was wonderful. I only started playing in Invasion but I've always been interested in Magic lore (both the in-game story and the real life lore). It's the only set that I enjoy looking through completely on gatherer because every card has at least some level of throwback/nostalgia to it.
Time Spiral the block was fantastic and one of my favourite block structures of all time. I loved the whole "Past, Present, and Future" theme with Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight. I loved the sheer variety of cards and the huge amount of design space explored by all three sets (especially Future Sight). I love how much this block contributed to Eternal formats.
I can definitely see why we'll never see a block like this again (too esoteric for new players) but I'm glad that Time Spiral exists.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy:UR Sneak and Show IUBG Team America IX Metalworker MUD Modern:UBR Blue Jund IWBX Eldrazi Processors IX Affinity IWRG Nacatl Burn IGR Tron IUBR Grishoalbrand
I didn't like Time Spiral when it first came out, but I like it more in hindsight. I think part of what made me dislike it back then was it followed the much more structured and orderly Ravnica block, and I was taken aback by how many different mechanics and ideas there were.
I've started around Zendikar and love Time Spiral. Finding those cards which were referenced was fun, as well as exploring where certain mechanics came out.
I love the large amount of mechanics that are present in time spiral cards; it's like playing with all sets at once
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
712.5b The controller of another player can't make choices or decisions for that player that aren't called for by the rules or by any objects. The controller also can't make any choices or decisions for the player that would be called for by the tournament rules.
Example: The player who's being controlled still chooses whether he or she leaves to visit the restroom, trades a card to someone else, agrees to an intentional draw, or calls a judge about an error or infraction.
It still is my favorite. I don't think I'd have loved magic as much if I hadn't looked back so much at it. I looked up lots of cards due to the references.
never played in it but the cards are all so cool and unique even if some of them are references. Its just so awesome to play some of those cards and I also like how chaotic the set it is. I think they could have another set like it in the future.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently Playing:
Modern: RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy: UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander: UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
I hated it. I had just started playing Magic with Ravnica block, and as Wizards ended up understanding, "You need to have been playing for 15 years in order to understand this block" is an awful way to attract new players. Many years after that, I can finally "get" it and I love it, but I also get why Wizards shouldn't make more blocks like that.
Mainly, I think it went too far on the nostalgia theme. There were elements of that that were excellent and elements that were overdone.
A lot of the cards in the set would make no sense at all if you didn't know a fair bit of Magic history. Chronatog Totem, for example, or Cyclopean Giant. And those cards were totally forgettable even if you did get the nostalgia side of them.
On the flip side it did some things very well too. The presence of cards for some of Magic's best known characters, including younger, pre-spark versions of multiple Planeswalkers, was an example of nostalgia done very well, even if Mishra and Jaya Ballard's cards were underwhelming to play with.
I think it would have been a huge success if, instead of dialing the nostalgia theme up to 11, they'd kept it at 7.
Time spiral the set was cool. the block was hurt by the horror that was planar chaos. I feel like they could get away with doing a similar thing as a supplement, but modern legal or something. Hell Future Sight was basically a "pastprinted" modern masters.
Time Spiral serves as the end of the old style of magic pre-planeswalkers, as the introduction of them has warped constructed play around them in such a way that the style of play is completely different. What a lot of people forget is that Time Spiral was when the last price increase was initiated for packs of Magic. They raised the price to 3.99, and offset the price raise by introducing Time Spiral, where you could open three rare packs (one foil rare, one regular rare, and one purple timeshifted rare). Planar Chaos also continued the three rare packs as well. I miss magic without Planeswalkers. Time Spiral was the last block printed without one, even if they printed a card (Tarmogoyf) which referenced Planeswalker in its reminder text. Within two years, a planeswalker in every set is the norm. Alara Reborn remains the last set to be printed without a Planeswalker, and honestly the design has suffered because of Wizards forcing their use in every set.
I started playing during time spiral, and have always loved it. Curse of the Cabal, phtisis, slivers, fungus, absolutely loved future sights border change. Even loved the nostalgia aspect even though I was pretty well a new player.
I started with M12, but I love Time Spiral. The block had a huge impact on Vintage, Legacy, Extended, and now Modern. It tried many new things and had one of the best Standard formats of all time with Ravnica. Also, the Planar Chaos colorshifted borders are awesome.
My favorite set & block, not even close to being close. The block was the best limited format of all time as far as I'm concerned (triple Time Spiral was fine), and it was also fantastic for constructed - I have never enjoyed constructed more than I did back then. Even the block format was very good. I also loved the atmosphere and the art (post-apocalyptic?), and I'm not normally one to pay attention to such things.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)
Then came planeswalkers, and mythic rarity, and ridiculous levels of power creep (especially the creatures), and the ever increasing homogenization of the art, and the constant stream of "premium" sets to get us to buy more crap...and so on...
Very well stated! That summed up my current MtG enthusiasm.
Sure I've purchased a few handfuls of product from every set, but Time Spiral (set & block) was the last one I really invested a lot of money and interest in.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Now, I understand why so many people like it. It had tons of mechanics, combos and had great nostalgia factor. And that's pretty much the reason why I disliked it. To me it never felt like a set, more like a bunch of random cards mixed together, like some sort of "best of" set. Like a compilation that someone threw together in one day.
I'm one of those people who like to build decks around certain theme or keyword, but Time Spiral had so many keywords and mechanics that it was impossible to build a decent deck. You want to build a Shadow deck? Sorry, not enough cards. Morph? See Shadow. And so on.
I also hate Slivers and this was the set that brought it back. The next two expansions just increased my dislike for the block with all the card frame changes, butchering of the color pie and the Future Sight mess, but we are not talking about those sets so I will stop here.
All in all, I didn't like it. Too much stuff going on, nothing cohesive. I pity any new player who started playing with that set. It must have been a nightmare.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.
Time Spiral the block was fantastic and one of my favourite block structures of all time. I loved the whole "Past, Present, and Future" theme with Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight. I loved the sheer variety of cards and the huge amount of design space explored by all three sets (especially Future Sight). I love how much this block contributed to Eternal formats.
I can definitely see why we'll never see a block like this again (too esoteric for new players) but I'm glad that Time Spiral exists.
Special thanks to Hakai Studios and SushiOtter for the sig!
Legacy: UR Sneak and Show I UBG Team America I X Metalworker MUD
Modern: UBR Blue Jund I WBX Eldrazi Processors I X Affinity I WRG Nacatl Burn I GR Tron I UBR Grishoalbrand
Example: The player who's being controlled still chooses whether he or she leaves to visit the restroom, trades a card to someone else, agrees to an intentional draw, or calls a judge about an error or infraction.
How about this?
It still is my favorite. I don't think I'd have loved magic as much if I hadn't looked back so much at it. I looked up lots of cards due to the references.
It was amazing imho.
Modern:
RUGScapeshift[RUG...Occasionally with goyfs
RUGTarmotwinRUG(RIP)
Legacy:
UWxuwr miracles and stonebladeUWx
Commander:
UWRShu Yun/Ruhan SmashUWR
Mainly, I think it went too far on the nostalgia theme. There were elements of that that were excellent and elements that were overdone.
A lot of the cards in the set would make no sense at all if you didn't know a fair bit of Magic history. Chronatog Totem, for example, or Cyclopean Giant. And those cards were totally forgettable even if you did get the nostalgia side of them.
On the flip side it did some things very well too. The presence of cards for some of Magic's best known characters, including younger, pre-spark versions of multiple Planeswalkers, was an example of nostalgia done very well, even if Mishra and Jaya Ballard's cards were underwhelming to play with.
I think it would have been a huge success if, instead of dialing the nostalgia theme up to 11, they'd kept it at 7.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Big Thanks to Xeno for sig art <3.
10/10.