Over the course of History in Magic: the Gathering, there’s certain kinds of cards that Wizards of the Coast prints that really annoy the community. You have Chaos spells like Scrambleverse, Mill cards like Glimpse the Unthinkable, or spells that let you cast cards for free like Emergent Ultimatum. But these cards pale in comparison to one of the most annoying spell types of all time, Extra Turn Spells. WotC needs to stop printing these cards.
Polarizing
Extra Turn spells are some of the most polarizing spells in the game. There’s very little in terms of middle ground. The spells are either VERY good, like Nexus of Fate or Alrund’s Epiphany or they’re mediocre, like Stitch in Time. It’s very difficult to have a balanced downside to taking an entire extra turn. Skipping a turn or losing the game is often not good enough because the player using the spell can minimize that downside.
Recently Banned Extra Turns
In recent times, there have been 2 extra turn spells that have been banned on Magic Arena. These have been utilized in combo control decks in Historic and had really taken over the format during their time. Nexus of Fate was the first to go as it as abused in Wilderness Reclamation decks to effectively take every turn for the rest of the game.
Time Warp was utilized in the Velomachus Lorehold deck that played Magma Opus and Mizzix’s Mastery to take a couple of turns in a row and amass an insurmountable board state.
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This One is Next
I think that there’s an extra turn card that might end up being on the chopping block, or at least closely watched in the coming weeks, and that is Alrund’s Epiphany. It was a staple in the old Standard environment in Sultai Ultimatum, powerful in Izzet Dragons in Standard 2022, and it’s becoming a problem in New Standard.
Alrund’s and ultimately any good Extra Turns spell, creates unfun environments and terrible play patterns that are often out of line with what the rest of the format is doing. Wizards has shown that they are willing to take more than win rate into account when they’re looking at bans, so hopefully they are paying attention to the ladder and tournaments.
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What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that Alrund’s Epiphany needs a Standard ban? Should WotC stop printing extra turn spells? Let us know in the comments.
