Clockspinning MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityCommon
TypeInstant
Abilities Buyback

Key Takeaways

  1. Offers strategic flexibility by manipulating counters instantly, shifting game dynamics at critical moments.
  2. Can be cost-prohibitive but provides recurring advantages with its buyback feature.
  3. Critical for decks focused on counter manipulation, enhancing both offensive and defensive capabilities.

Text of card

Buyback (You may pay an additional as you play this spell. If you do, put this card into your hand as it resolves.) Choose a counter on target permanent or suspended card. Remove that counter from that permanent or card or put another of those counters on it.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Clockspinning offers a unique advantage by allowing repeated manipulation of counters, potentially drawing out more utility from permanents with counters on them and outpacing opponents in the long run.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources, this card enables the player to add or remove time counters, hastening the activation of suspend cards or delaying the opponents’ plans, effectively acting as a resource disruptor.

Instant Speed: Clockspinning’s true strength lies in its flexibility provided by its instant speed, allowing players to adjust their strategies in real time, react during critical phases of opponents’ turns, or capitalize on last moment plays that could change the tide of the game.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: In the case of Clockspinning, while there is no direct discard requirement, managing your hand to effectively leverage its buyback feature can lead to a tighter grip on your resources. This can inadvertently pressure players into decisions that might ultimately thin out their hand more than desired.

Specific Mana Cost: Clockspinning requires a single blue mana for the initial cost, potentially restricting its immediate playability in multicolored decks or those that have a mana base not heavily invested in blue resources.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When taking into account the buyback cost, Clockspinning demands a total of five mana to utilize its effect repetitively within the same turn. This makes the cost quite steep when considering other cards in MTG that can manipulate counters for a lower investment, possibly yielding a more immediate impact on the game state.


Reasons to Include Clockspinning in Your Collection

Versatility: Clockspinning offers flexibility in multiple scenarios, whether it’s ticking up a planeswalker, managing counters on creatures, or even delaying inevitable triggers on your opponent’s permanents. It can be a swiss army knife in blue-based decks.

Combo Potential: With its ability to manipulate counters, Clockspinning can be essential in executing combos centered around charge, +1/+1, or loyalty counters. Combine it with proliferate mechanics or doubling effects for enhanced impact.

Meta-Relevance: Given its capacity for fine-tuning game states, Clockspinning proves its worth in metas where counter manipulation can disrupt key strategies or strengthen your own. It’s a potent tool against entrenched board presences or in sustaining your key permanents.


How to beat

Clockspinning is a unique card in the world of Magic: The Gathering, offering a versatile way to manipulate counters of any kind. Whether it’s adding or removing loyalty counters on planeswalkers, or tweaking the numbers on creatures, artifacts, and enchantments, Clockspinning gives players a powerful tool to tilt the balance of the game. Yet, how can one overcome the manipulative prowess of this card?

One effective strategy is to limit the availability of blue mana, which is the card’s lifeblood. Counteract Clockspinning by attacking your opponent’s mana base, making it harder for them to cast and leverage the card to its full potential. Moreover, ensure you have a solid strategy to handle the targets of Clockspinning—keep their counters low and their impact minimal. Swift removal spells and prioritizing threats can prevent your opponent from utilizing Clockspinning’s full value.

Ultimately, strategize to maintain board control. Utilize instants that can interfere with your opponent’s plays during their turn. This can often disrupt the timing and effectiveness of Clockspinning, preserving your battlefield state and moving you closer to victory.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering the ebb and flow of MTG gameplay requires both a sharp mind and strategic finesse. Clockspinning is a card that offers a unique set of abilities to manipulate this flow by adjusting counters with pinpoint accuracy. Leveraging such tools can elevate your game from good to formidable, giving you the edge in tight matchups. For players who thrive on strategy and adaptability, Clockspinning is a worthy addition to your collection. Harness its potential to navigate complex board states and turn the tide in your favor. Dive deeper with us to unlock new dimensions of gameplay and secure your path to victory.


Cards like Clockspinning

Clockspinning is a unique instant within Magic: The Gathering that offers versatile time manipulation by adding or removing counters on a permanent or suspended card. Looking at comparable cards, Vorel of the Hull Clade instantly comes to mind as it doubles counters on any artifact, creature, or land. While Vorel is limited to the types of permanents it can target, its ability to double counters can have a more dramatic immediate impact compared to the incremental change offered by Clockspinning.

In addition, we observe another parallel to Clockspinning in the form of Gilder Bairn. Although Gilder Bairn also doubles the number of counters on a permanent, it demands both a tap and mana payment, making Clockspinning more flexible in terms of timing and resource management. Moreover, Clockspinning has a repeatability factor with its buyback option, allowing it to be a consistent presence in games, whereas Gilder Bairn requires a more significant setup to be reused.

Upon deeper analysis, Clockspinning shows its distinct edge within Magic: The Gathering’s counter manipulation cards. It may not provide the multiplying effects of some alternatives but offers unparalleled control and adaptability, vital for players seeking precision and the ability to respond dynamically during the game’s crucial moments.

Vorel of the Hull Clade - MTG Card versions
Gilder Bairn - MTG Card versions
Vorel of the Hull Clade - MTG Card versions
Gilder Bairn - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Clockspinning MTG card by a specific set like Time Spiral and Doctor Who, 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 Clockspinning and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Clockspinning Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2006-10-06 and 2023-10-13. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12006-10-06Time SpiralTSP 532003NormalBlackZoltan Boros & Gabor Szikszai
22023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 2152015NormalBlackThanh Tuấn
32023-10-13Doctor WhoWHO 8062015NormalBlackThanh Tuấn

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Clockspinning has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

Date Text
2006-09-25 Clockspinning can affect any kind of counter, not just a time counter. The type of counter isn't chosen until resolution. Whether to add or remove a counter isn't chosen until resolution.
2006-09-25 If the target is a permanent and it has no counter on it when Clockspinning resolves, nothing happens.
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.

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