#timesifter

Timesifter

Timesifter

I've been playing Magic since 1996, and I've been playing the Commander format for over a decade, but tonight was the first time I have ever experienced this card.

This card is ridiculous. It is an agent of chaos and tyranny at the same time. It both locks a game down and breaks it up simultaneously. It whispers of promised turns never to be realized. While it exists, there are no real turns anymore, only extra turns. In a multiplayer game turn order becomes completely irrelevant.

First of all, if this happens, you’re going to need some paper and a pen to keep track of all the triggers and extra turns.

At the beginning of the next player’s turn, there are three Timesifter triggers. As each one resolves, an extra turn is created. Extra turns that are created are taken in a last in, first out order. If we call the first extra turn created A1, with the second being B1, and the third being C1, then extra turn C1 will be taken immediately after the current turn. Turns A1 and B1 are still waiting to be taken, though, and would happen after turn C1 if it weren’t for the Timesifters.

When turn C1 begins, the Timesifters trigger again, creating extra turns A2, B2, and C2. C2 is the most recently created extra turn, so it will happen after the current turn, with B2, A2, B1, and A1 still waiting in the queue to happen. This process will continue with extra turns accumulating until there are no Timesifters left on the battlefield. Once all the Timesifters are gone, the extra turns will be taken one by one and eventually, the game will return to the normal turn order.