Time's Arrow | Time's Arrow

[johannhowitzer]

Yes, that's one possibility.  It will still destroy the two most recent cards you drew, unless they were permanents or immortals.  Can also be used in a / deck to spam Immortals or Phase Dragons, or in conjunction with Anubis.

The OP has been updated, it's now a permanent.  This means summoning sickness, but it also means you can camp one on the field and only need 3 to burn it.  Camp multiples on the field and you only need to have had three towers or novas in your hand to pop two in one turn.  Am considering just stipulating that a second in the same turn on the same player will have no effect... but I'm open to suggestions, as always!

This is probably the most complicated card I've ever made, both mechanic- and balance-wise.  I'm usually in favor of much simpler card ideas, so I hesitated to post it, but an idea can't hurt anything.

[Vipy5]

you coulkd just add to the description something along the lines of, "You can only activate one Times arrow per turn."...

[TuckingFypo]

What I originally thought when you gave us those 4 options were:
1. to make it a permanent and not an instantaneous spell, so it could be countered,
2. to make it consume all quanta, so it couldn't be spammed more than once in one turn,
but also
3. to make the card self-destruct after using it.  Wouldn't it be a bit OP if you could use this every turn?  Especially with the low minimal quanta cost.  The problem I see though now is that there isn't enough space.  After seeing the new version, there isn't enough space to fit both a high ability cost, "Consume all quanta," AND "Sacrifice this card."

[jmizzle7]

Not exactly sure if this has been mentioned or brought up... What happens when you use Reverse Time on a creature, then use the arrow on that same player?

[burne]

The effect doesn't sounds right to me. And it will need a lot of developing works to put this effect in the game.

I may not understand the mechanism, when you draw one, you can play it every two turn, freezing the game in its current state ?

I'm also afraid about ... time paradox.

[johannhowitzer]

Not exactly sure if this has been mentioned or brought up... What happens when you use Reverse Time on a creature, then use the arrow on that same player?

If the creature had been in play for more than two turns, you'll have created a copy of it on top of the player's deck.

[johannhowitzer]

I had an epiphany regarding the balance of this card...

Sure, it takes your hand and creatures back two turns, but YOU stand in the present and continue to advance into the future.  So a second Time's Arrow card wouldn't set you back two turns from two turns ago, it would set you back from the present.  This means that A) using two on yourself would only be helpful to spam things other than mortal creatures, B) two on your opponent in the same turn will be wasted, and C) using them on back-to-back turns won't set the target back 2+2-1=3 turns... instead, imagine turns 1, 2, 3, and 4.  Time's Arrow played on turn 3 will give the target the creatures/hand it had on turn 1, and even if that already happened, using another Time's Arrow on the same target on turn 4 will replicate the situation on turn 2, ignoring everything else that's happened.

I think that's actually what I had in mind when I was at work pondering this card concept.  It nukes all the balance issues in one go, and it can even go back to being a spell if I want.  How's this sound?

[johannhowitzer]

MAJOR change once again!

I have gone with the change in the above post, and this is nearly ready for the Crucible.  The Notes section has been made much more readable.

Gl1tch: yes, you could get a little extra mileage out of Sundials, but that's actually pretty limited, and these cards are expensive (maybe too expensive?).  It is much more useful for duplicating permanents that remain on the field longer.

[Vipy5]

so you might use this card if you think of a different strategy and want a do over? i cant really hink of many good uses for this :\

[johannhowitzer]

Think of the things it doesn't affect.  Player health, player poison, permanents, quanta, deck.

- If your opponent just got his field set up, you could use this to get in a little more damage before his creatures start ticking away.
- Bring back that Silurian Dragon your opponent killed with Lightning.  (he doesn't get the Lightning card back, since you targeted yourself!)
- Thorn Carapace getting in your way?  Let your creatures live a couple turns longer.
- In a Time-Aether deck, use it as a pseudo-Fractal for Immortals.
- Duplicate your Hourglasses.
- Return a used spell to your hand - especially effective with Quintessence.
- Use in combo with Precognition or Golden Nymph to time this spell to destroy one of your opponent's important cards the turn after they draw it.
- Get back a card you discarded recently.
- Make a GotP-Nightmare combo even more deadly by casting this two turns after you see your opponent discard a GotP.

This card's principle is very simple - it's a "let's see that play again" card, with certain limitations.  I started out with the concept of reverting one side of the field, then realized I had to add the hand-reversion factor in, or it would be capable of massive creature destruction against, say, a Fractal deck or PSNbow rush.  I considered adding other things in, but this seems to have the most flexibility strategy-wise, of the options I considered.