Time Walk

Time Walk is one of Magic’s most powerful spells ever printed, and a core piece of the iconic Power Nine. For just two mana, it gives you an entire extra turn. There is no drawback, no exile clause, no setup cost, just the most valuable resource in Magic – another turn. Time Walk acts as a cantrip that effectively says, “draw a card, untap your permanents, and attack again”. It’s a way to cheat tempo, snowball advantage, or assemble combos before the opponent can react. Time Walk is particularly strong when you are already ahead, or have some kind of board presence, to finish the game. Time Walk is restricted in Vintage, its primary competitive format, and is played in nearly every blue deck. It turns early tempo plays into overwhelming leads e.g. Monastery Mentor decks get another turn to attack with tokens, Tinker into Blightsteel Colossus becomes lethal with Time Walk, and some Doomsday lines build around it as a win condition. If a Vintage deck plays Ancestral Recall, it plays Time Walk as well. Time Walk is commonly played in decks like Esper Lurrus, Paradoxical Outcome, Gifts Control, Doomsday, Jewel Shops, BUG Midrange, and Oath of Druids. In Old School (93/94), it’s the strongest tempo card in an already slower format. Time Walk gives aggro-control decks like UW Skies, and UR Counterburn back-breaking extra attacks. Control decks like The Deck, use it as a “free Explore” plus an extra attack step with Serra Angel or Mishra’s Factory – and to take advantage of cards like Jayemdae Tome to get even further ahead. Time Walk is on the Reserved List, it will never be reprinted in a tournament-legal form.