Borrowed Time MTG Card
2021-09-24 - Number 6
2022-01-28 - Number 6
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 3 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Enchantment |
Key Takeaways
- Borrowed Time disrupts opponents by removing threats and offers significant tempo control in the game.
- Demands a nonland discard and specific mana, potentially restricting its playtime and deck compatibility.
- Excels in adaptable deck builds, capable of answering dominant threats within an evolving meta.
Text of card
When Borrowed Time enters the battlefield, exile target nonland permanent an opponent controls until Borrowed Time leaves the battlefield.
Teferi stepped calmly into the fray. Suddenly the sun paused in the sky and the werewolves' snarls froze on their faces.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Borrowed Time can remove a problematic permanent from the game, potentially disrupting your opponent’s strategy and providing a significant tempo swing in your favor.
Resource Acceleration: While Borrowed Time itself doesn’t directly generate additional resources, it allows you to potentially bypass costly removal spells by temporarily dealing with a threat and therefore preserving your mana and card resources for developing your board or countering other key plays.
Instant Speed: Though Borrowed Time operates at sorcery speed, its utility in preemptively handling threats before they can harm your game plan makes it a crucial addition to any deck looking to maintain control over the board state. Playing it at the right moment can maximize its effectiveness, especially if it causes your opponent to overcommit to a now-threatened permanent.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: To play Borrowed Time, you need to have a nonland card to discard. This can be a steep price, especially when your hand is nearly empty, limiting the timing of when you can effectively use this card without sacrificing valuable resources.
Specific Mana Cost: Borrowed Time demands a precise mana composition—two white and one of any color. This can be restrictive if your deck isn’t tuned to generate white mana consistently or if it’s stretched across too many colors, potentially leaving you unable to cast it when needed.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of three mana, Borrowed Time can be a tad expensive for its temporary effect. In MTG, tempo is key, and at three mana, you might find other spells that permanently deal with threats or advance your board state more effectively.
Reasons to Include Borrowed Time in Your Collection
Versatility: Borrowed Time is a flexible enchantment capable of suspending any problematic nonland permanent. This adaptability allows it to find a home in an array of deck builds, ranging from control to midrange, where neutralizing diverse threats is crucial.
Combo Potential: Its ability to temporarily remove any nonland permanent from the game can be synergistically combined with other pieces to create disruptions or clear the path for your strategy to unfold. This could involve reactivating enter-the-battlefield effects or circumventing indestructibility.
Meta-Relevance: With a constantly evolving MTG landscape, Borrowed Time’s utility rises as it can address key cards that dominate the play environment. It’s especially pertinent in a meta dominated by powerful creatures, planeswalkers, or utility artifacts and enchantments that require immediate answers.
How to beat Borrowed Time
Borrowed Time in Magic: The Gathering represents a unique challenge due to its ability to temporarily remove a threat from the battlefield. This white enchantment can be a real headache as it puts a creature or planeswalker out of commission without sending it to the graveyard. What sets it apart is its delayed reactivation condition, which can be a clever way to disrupt your opponent’s plans.
To effectively counter Borrowed Time, flexibility and patience are key. One approach is to focus on removal spells that can destroy enchantments, such as Disenchant or Naturalize. These spells are direct and efficient, offering a simple solution to reclaim your threat. Alternatively, cards like Negate can be employed proactively to prevent Borrowed Time from resolving in the first place. Moreover, playing around Borrowed Time by diversifying threats rather than relying on a single powerful creature or planeswalker can diminish its impact on your game strategy.
Understanding the various ways through which a card like Borrowed Time shapes gameplay dynamics is essential. Crafting a deck that’s resilient to exile and delays, or including cards that thrive under such conditions can also be a strategic consideration that turns the tables on your opponent’s borrowed time.
Similar Cards to Borrowed Time
Borrowed Time from Magic: The Gathering directly enters the arena of exile spells, inviting comparisons with Oust and Suspension Field. Oust is close in effect, shuffling a creature into its owner’s deck and causing life gain, yet it lacks the permanency that Borrowed Time offers with its exile ability. Suspension Field, another related card, also exiles but it’s limited to creatures with power 3 or greater, constricting its range.
Whereas Banishing Light provides a comparable effect by exiling any nonland permanent until it leaves the battlefield, what sets Borrowed Time apart is its ability to impact a player’s strategy with the thorough removal of a target regardless of its power or value. However, Banishing Light demands more exact timing due to its broader target base, especially in versatile decks.
Analyzing these alternatives, Borrowed Time carves out its niche by executing an unconditional exile, placing it as a compelling choice for players who covet certainty and control, eliminating threats that simply bouncing or temporary solutions can’t quite secure, hence solidifying its spot in a strategist’s arsenal within the grand tapestry of MTG.
Cards similar to Borrowed Time by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Borrowed Time MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Borrowed Time and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Borrowed Time Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Andreas Zafiratos.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-09-24 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | MID | 6 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Andreas Zafiratos | |
| 2 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 6 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Andreas Zafiratos |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Borrowed Time has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Borrowed Time card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-09-24 | Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners' graveyards. Equipment attached to an exiled creature will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist. |
| 2021-09-24 | Borrowed Time's ability is a single ability that creates two one-shot effects: one that exiles the permanent when the ability resolves, and another that returns the exiled card to the battlefield immediately after Borrowed Time leaves the battlefield. |
| 2021-09-24 | If Borrowed Time leaves the battlefield before its enters-the-battlefield ability resolves, the target permanent won't be exiled. |
| 2021-09-24 | If a token is exiled, it ceases to exist. It won't be returned to the battlefield. |
| 2021-09-24 | In a multiplayer game, if Borrowed Time's owner leaves the game, the exiled card will return to the battlefield. Because the one-shot effect that returns the card isn't an ability that goes on the stack, it won't cease to exist along with the leaving player's spells and abilities on the stack. |