Glimpse of the Future

[Ephraim]

Glimpse of the Future

Instant

Look at the top four cards of your library, then you may shuffle your library. If you do, untap up to two lands. If you don't, put those cards back in any order.

***

I'm not positive about the wording here, but the goal is to make a card that either does nothing but shuffle your library, but does it for free, or lets you rearrange the top four cards of your library for a price.

[Ephraim]

Current Wording:

Glimpse of the Future
{1}{U}
Instant

Look at the top four cards of your library. You may shuffle your library. If you do, untap up to two lands. Otherwise, put those cards on top of your library in any order.

[Marco]

I like it. I'm a huge fan of Impulse and the Urza's Saga untap mechanic. I'm not sure of the power level yet, but here's my take on the wording (based on Petals of Insight):

Look at the top four cards of your library. You may shuffle your library. If you do, untap up to two lands. Otherwise, put those cards on top of your library in any order.

[Jacob Orlove]

This is pretty cool, and it compares very reasonably with petals.

[Matt]

Is this another Frantic Search?

[Ephraim]

Sort of, but this doesn't even dig for you. Frantic Search dug two cards deep, even though you had to discard two cards -- plus, it untapped your lands no matter what. This only untaps your lands if you shuffle your library, so you have no idea what's coming up. If you want this spell to actually do anything besides untap your lands (or shuffle -- I suppose that could be your desired outcome, if you've just brainstormed), it doesn't untap for you. I'd say this is decidedly weaker than Frantic Search.

[Ephraim]

24 Hour Clock

[combo_dude]

Could you make this Entwine, or do you not want to have the option of both?

[Ephraim]

I'm actually not sure how this would be made into an entwine spell. Both options involve looking at the top four cards of your library. One option involves untapping up to two lands and shuffling your library. The other option involves rearranging those four cards. Is it possible to have a spell that has both modal and non-modal components? Furthermore, how could you perform both of these actions in a sequential manner? If you rearrange first, then shuffle, you lose the effect of rearranging. If you shuffle, then rearrange, I have to include the "look at the top four cards..." text in both modes, eg.

Choose one -- Look at the top four cards of your library, then shuffle your library and untap up to two lands; or look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any orcder.
Entwine

You're supposed to see the cards before you decide whether you want to shuffle or not. However, if you choose to do both, then you presumably want a new set of four cards to look at and rearrange, so you have to look, shuffle, then look again and rearrange -- and it's at a discount, since the shuffle effect also lets you untap. If this is going to be an entwine spell, I'm going to remove the bit about getting to untap, but if I do that, then I think the shuffle half of the spell is absolutely unplayable on its own.

So I think I'm not going to give it entwine. Sorry for rambling, like that.

[Godder]

The problem with this card, as I see it, is that it's card disadvantage, no matter what you do with it. Somewhere in there, draw a card needs to be added to the text, so that at least you get something for your efforts.

Borrowing from Sage Owl... For example:
Glimpse of the Future
1U
Instant

Look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order. You may shuffle your library. If you do, untap up to two lands. Otherwise, draw a card.

[Ephraim]

Yes, it is card disadvantage. It can, however, increase the quality of the cards you're drawing. Furthermore, unlike Index, it also has a "free" option, which may or may not be abusable, but which is definitely not to be ignored in determining the value of this card. I think that this card is good enough that it would be a skill-testing card, rather than simply a bad one. Also, even if it is bad, I'm not adverse to creating the occasional stinker.

[Nazdakka]

The problem with this card, as I see it, is that it's card disadvantage, no matter what you do with it. Somewhere in there, draw a card needs to be added to the text, so that at least you get something for your efforts.

Borrowing from Sage Owl... For example:
Glimpse of the Future
1U
Instant

Look at the top four cards of your library, then put them back in any order. You may shuffle your library. If you do, untap up to two lands. Otherwise, draw a card.

Frantic Search is card disadvantage, and that's a very unfair card. I'm not overly comfortable with the land-untap mechanic even at this low a power level - that mechanic had a lot to do with the Urza's block fiasco and so should be treated with extreme caution. I'm not saying this card is broken, indeed it's almost certainly fine, but we are in dangerous waters here.

For reference here are previous cards with that mechanic on...

Great Whale
Rewind
Time Spiral
Cloud of Faeries
Frantic Search
Palinchron
Snap
Treachery

That's 6 out of 8 which have been abused in combo decks... not a good record.

[Ephraim]

Of those, I'm not 100% sure that I know which six were abused in combo decks, but I would guess Rewind, Time Spiral, Cloud of Faeries, Frantic Search, Palinchron, and Snap.

Time Spiral has an effect that is potentially broken at any cost. The fact that it was essentially free is ridiculous. Cloud of Faeries and Snap had the advantage of low cost and extraordinary synergy with one another in a High Tide deck, since one copy of each resulted in the generation of six additional mana. Palinchron had the advantage of yielding infinite mana all by itself, if enough Islands were down when High Tide was cast. Frantic Search yielded both increased card quality and land-untapping, which my card does not do. Rewind, probably the weakest of the lot, is a pseudo-free counterspell. If nothing else, it drastically increases the quality of other instants in one's deck, which one would like to cast during/at the end of an opponent's turn.

What made many of those cards broken, I think, is that they combined an effect that ranged from mediocre for its cost to aggressively costed with an effect that made them essentially free (or, in the case of the high-tide based decks, made them into mana generators.) Mine can be used as a combo piece in such a deck, but it's only useful to the combo if it isn't being used for its severely overcosted effect.

[Jacob Orlove]

Actually, Great Whale was the last combo card from that list, as it made for a pre-errata infinite combo with Recurring Nightmare and Priest of Gix.

[Godder]

My version only draws a card if you look at the top 4 and put them back – if you untap and shuffle, you don't get the card. I agree that drawing a card would overpower the free version, which is why I didn't include it there. I may have worded it poorly, in which case it needs rewording, but I feel that drawing a card if you don't shuffle is fair.

[Ephraim]

Godder, your suggestion is still noticably more powerful than mine. Instead of offering an overcosted Index to go with the shuffle/untap effect, you're offering an effect that's comparable to Impulse to go with the shuffle/untap effect. Given that there are people asking about my variant whether or not it is as dangerous as Frantic Search, I'm definitely not inclined to make it more powerful.

That said, are those people who are concerned about this card convinced that it is fair, or is the "free" mechanic still too scary? Would people be more comfortable with this if I made it a sorcery?

[Matt]

Actually I retract my hesitations.

[Nazdakka]

As I said, I think this is probably OK. I wouldn't want to see this at a higher power level, but at the moment this does so little that it would be very challenging to abuse. Frantic Search at least lets you see 2 more cards, while this does nothing whatsoever for a combo deck unless you follow up with a draw spell. It's got synergy with High Tide too, but that deck has better things to do than use this sort of thing.

So: Let this one through, but don't forget that Land-untap often = trouble.

[Godder]

I originally had misgivings because of Impulse, but Impulse also clears the other cards away, thus digging you deeper. This card doesn't do that, so it's not really comparable to Impulse without a shuffle effect. You also can't hide cards or get rid of crap in your hand as you can with Brainstorm and a shuffle effect, so it's not really comparable to that either.

I just think that the index effect is rubbish as it is, and the addition of a clause that allows you to shuffle and perhaps gain a mana at the cost of a card doesn't really do much. Frantic Search has some synergy with Madness, anything that wants cards in the Graveyard and anything that likes untapping 3 lands. This is much more narrow.

At the end of the day, though, it's Ephraim's card, so it's really up to him.

[Ephraim]

Sorry, Godder, but I think your assessment that this is too weak is off-base. I agree with Nazdakka on this one.

24 Hour Clock.

[Matt]

Closed and added.[/color]