Arc Blade MTG Card

Arc Blade affords card advantage by recurring from suspension, applying ongoing battlefield pressure. Its suspend ability allows for a leveled spread of mana costs, enhancing other game plays. Instant speed capabilities provide a considerable tactical edge by disrupting opponent turns.

Future Sight (FUT)
2007-05-04 - Number 94

Arc Blade - Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)

Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)
2021-03-19 - Number 152

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Suspend

Text of card

Arc Blade deals 2 damage to target creature or player. Remove Arc Blade from the game with three time counters on it. Suspend 3— (Rather than play this card from your hand, you may pay and remove it from the game with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, play it without paying its mana cost.)

Cards like Arc Blade

The intriguing Arc Blade offers a distinct twist on recurring sorcery spells in the realm of Magic: The Gathering. It has a resemblance to cards like Rift Bolt, which shares the suspend mechanic, allowing players to cast it for a reduced cost at a later turn. While Rift Bolt suspends for only one turn and deals damage immediately upon its release, Arc Blade takes a longer route, suspending for three with the upside of returning to the owner’s hand.

Comparably, Volcanic Vision restores an instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand and deals damage to each creature your opponents control. Although it doesn’t have the suspend feature, it offers a one-time decisive board impact. Another parallel can be drawn with Recoup, granting your sorceries flashback until the end of turn. This gives them a second chance, but unlike Arc Blade, they are exiled afterwards, not returning to your hand.

To summarize, Arc Blade carves out a niche for itself with its ability to recur, providing a steady stream of threat every few turns. While other cards provide similar utility or immediate impact, the persistent threat of Arc Blade can apply consistent pressure in a game, a characteristic that’s both rare and valuable in strategic play situations.

Cards similar to Arc Blade by color, type and mana cost

Explosive Revelation - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When you case the Arc Blade card, it enables a unique form of card advantage. As it is suspended and not immediately placed in the graveyard, you effectively get to cast it multiple times, providing ongoing pressure and value over successive turns.

Resource Acceleration: Arc Blade taps into a different kind of resource acceleration. By stretching its casting cost over several turns due to the suspend mechanic, it lightens your immediate mana load, allowing you to deploy other resources more smoothly throughout the game.

Instant Speed: The inherent power of Arc Blade comes from its ability to operate at instant speed once it’s unsuspended. This feature gives you a strategic edge, letting you respond with a damaging spell during an opponent’s turn, potentially disrupting their plans.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Playing Arc Blade comes with a discard prerequisite that may hinder your hand advantage. Should your hand be scant on cards, opting to use Arc Blade could place you in a precarious position by forcing you to forfeit another potentially valuable card.

Specific Mana Cost: Arc Blade’s casting demands are quite particular, requiring not just any mana, but a mix that includes three red mana. This specificity can pose a challenge, especially in decks that are not mono-red, possibly restricting its inclusion to decks that can readily produce large amounts of red mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its combined mana value of six, Arc Blade is on the higher end of the spectrum, which implies that it might not synergize with strategies aiming for expedient or low-cost plays. When evaluating cost-effectiveness, players might find other spells that provide more immediate impact or versatility for a similar or reduced mana investment.

Reasons to Include Arc Blade in Your Collection

Versatility: Arc Blade offers a repeatable damage source that can be brought back turn after turn. It’s well-suited for spell-based decks or those that leverage direct damage as a win condition.

Combo Potential: With every cast, this card provides opportunities to trigger prowess, magecraft, or storm counters, setting the stage for powerful combinations that can turn the game in your favor.

Meta-Relevance: Given that creature-heavy decks are common in many metas, Arc Blade retains significance by providing a dependable way to clear out smaller threats consistently over multiple turns.

How to beat

Arc Blade in MTG presents a notable challenge with its rebound ability, allowing it to be cast again from exile without paying its mana cost. Dealing with this card effectively requires strategic approaches. As a caster of non-instant spells, Arc Blade leaves a window of opportunity for opponents to respond. Counterspells are particularly effective; by countering the original spell or its rebound copy, you prevent the damage and potential card advantage your opponent is aiming for.

Another tactic is to employ instant-speed removal or damage prevention during the turn Arc Blade is cast from exile. This can safeguard your creatures or life total and mitigate Arc Blade’s impact. Additionally, graveyard interaction tools that can exile it from the graveyard before it rebounds or effects that replace the destination from exile to graveyard disrupt the card’s mechanic.

It’s also useful to be proactive; applying pressure on your opponent can force them to expend resources elsewhere, leaving less room for Arc Blade’s mana-intensive investment. When faced with Arc Blade, stay on your toes and keep your counters ready, manage your graveyard interactions wisely, and maintain offensive pressure to outpace the delayed yet persistent threat it poses.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Arc Blade MTG card by a specific set like Future Sight and Time Spiral Remastered, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Arc Blade and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Arc Blade Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2007-05-04 and 2021-03-19. Illustrated by Shishizaru.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2007-05-04	Future Sight	FUT		94	2003	Normal	Black	Shishizaru
2	2021-03-19	Time Spiral Remastered	TSR		152	2015	Normal	Black	Shishizaru

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Arc Blade has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Arc Blade card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2021-03-19	Each time you cast Arc Blade, it will suspend itself again when it resolves so you can cast it again three turns later.
2021-03-19	If the chosen target is an illegal target by the time Arc Blade tries to resolve, the spell doesn’t resolve. You don’t exile it with time counters on it.
2021-06-18	As the second triggered ability resolves, you must cast the card if able. You must do so even if it requires targets and the only legal targets are ones that you really don’t want to target. Timing permissions based on the card’s type are ignored.
2021-06-18	Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
2021-06-18	Exiling a card with suspend isn’t casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2021-06-18	If an effect refers to a “suspended card,” that means a card that (1) has suspend, (2) is in exile, and (3) has one or more time counters on it.
2021-06-18	If the card has in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
2021-06-18	If the first triggered ability of suspend (the one that removes time counters) is countered, no time counter is removed. The ability will trigger again at the beginning of the card’s owner’s next upkeep.
2021-06-18	If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can’t be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If the spell requires any targets, those targets are chosen when the spell is finally cast, not when it’s exiled.
2021-06-18	If you can’t cast the card, perhaps because there are no legal targets available, it remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it’s no longer suspended.
2021-06-18	If you cast a card “without paying its mana cost,” such as with suspend, you can’t choose to cast it for any alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, you must pay those if you want to cast the card.
2021-06-18	Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
2021-06-18	The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn’t paid.
2021-06-18	When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn’t matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
2021-06-18	You are never forced to activate mana abilities to pay costs, so if there is a mandatory additional mana cost (such as from Thalia, Guardian of Thraben), you can decline to activate mana abilities to pay for it and hence fail to cast the suspended card, leaving it in exile.
2021-06-18	You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage’s ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.