Every card in Time Spiral was a throwback to at least one previously printed card.
This card references Magic's most iconic card, Black Lotus and is part of a cycle of rares featuring the Suspend mechanic and having no mana cost, forcing you to suspend them as the primary way to cast them. The cards all callback to one of the color's most powerful spells ever; the others are Ancestral Vision, Wheel of Fate, Hypergenesis, Living End, and Restore Balance.
As these cards have no mana cost, they must be suspended to be played from your hand, but abilities such as Cascade treat these cards as if their converted mana cost is 0, allowing you to skirt around suspend and play them immediately!
Stanislav Cifka won the Pro Tour Return to Ravnica on the back of this particular card as part of the combo deck called "Second Breakfast." Through Suspen... (see all)
Posted By:
Missile_Penguin
(12/2/2012 12:35:35 AM)
Getting the reprint it deserves in Modern Masters. Welcome back, old friend.
Posted By:
Continue
(5/30/2013 1:37:37 PM)
Imprint this to Prototype Portal and you might as well have imprinted a Black Lotus.
Posted By:
Artscrafter
(3/3/2011 10:58:01 AM)
Can't Tezzeret the Seeker put this card out from your deck for free?
Posted By:
Biems
(8/28/2010 6:01:16 PM)
I like this toned down version of Black Lotus, as much as I like Ancestral Vision.
Posted By:
LeoKula
(11/16/2009 1:48:45 PM)
From the comprehensive rules:
"202.3a The converted mana cost of an object with no mana cost is 0."
Cascade states you need (702.82a) "a nonland card whose converted mana cost is less than this spell’s converted mana cost. You may cast that card without paying its mana cost."
Lotus Bloom has an unpayable cost, and according to 116.6a, "If an alternative cost is applied to an unpayable cost, including an effect that allows a player to cast a spell without paying its mana cost, the alternative cost may be paid."
So you can cast Lotus Bloom with the alternative cost provided by Cascade, exactly as you do with that provided by Suspend:
"When you remove the last , cast it without paying its mana cost."
Posted By:
iTog
(2/20/2010 6:28:06 PM)
(Originally posted by Ahlyis in the Wizards Rules Q&A Forum)
Cascade does two things. First, it let's you find a card with a CMC less than that of the spell with Cascade. The CMC of Lotus Bloom is 0, so as long as the spell with cascade has a CMC greater than 0, the Lotus Bloom qualifies.
Second, it lets you play the found non-land card without paying it's mana cost. This lets you bypass the unpayable {} mana cost of the Lotus Bloom.
You can play a Lotus Bloom off of a Cascade just fine.
Posted By:
erozion
(7/28/2009 5:34:32 PM)
@Tezz
You have to suspend it. You cannot play a spell without a casting cost from your hand, it may not say this on the card text, but it says so in the rule book..
Posted By:
klaff
(10/30/2009 2:10:26 PM)
This is an amazing card with a Second Sunrise combo. It's gotta be one of the coolest lotus reprints, since its balanced but exploitable, which is how all good mtg cards should be.
Posted By:
Ritius
(11/9/2009 11:19:40 AM)
Let me get this straight. Word for word, it's a Black Lotus in any and all uses, and all I have to do is wait until turn 3 to use it? An Alpha Black Lotus goes for about $3,700 and this thing's $6.50. I think 3 turns of lag is worth saving $3,693.50 to me.
Posted By:
WarioMan
(1/27/2012 10:59:32 PM)