Time to Reflect MTG Card

Offers card advantage by exiling attacking creatures without depleting your hand resources. Enables strategic flexibility with instant speed, enhancing your defensive gameplay. Demanding specific mana and conditions can limit deck integration and use.

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Instant
Released	2017-04-28
Set symbol
Set name	Amonkhet
Set code	AKH
Number	33
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Daarken

Text of card

Exile target creature that blocked or was blocked by a Zombie this turn.

"Occasionally, there are those who refuse to appreciate all that the God-Pharaoh provides for us." —Temmet, vizier of Naktamun

Cards like Time to Reflect

Time to Reflect stands out in the realm of removal spells for Magic: The Gathering, offering a unique exile effect for a single white mana. It bears resemblance to other efficient exile spells like Swords to Plowshares, which also serves to remove a creature from the game. Unlike Time to Reflect, Swords to Plowshares gives the creature’s controller life points, which can be a downside in some strategies. Path to Exile is another comparison point, similar in its exile capability, but different in that it provides the opponent with a basic land as compensation. This drawback is not present with Time to Reflect, which requires a zombie to be in play for its effect.

Condemn is an alternative that targets attacking creatures, sending them to the bottom of the opponent’s library instead of exiling them, and also delivering a life gain to the opponent proportional to the creature’s power. This option lacks the tribal synergy of Time to Reflect. Lastly, Unmake offers a straight three-mana exile without conditions, but it lacks the low mana cost efficiency that makes Time to Reflect attractive for decks that can meet its zombie requirement.

Given Time to Reflect’s synergistic design with zombie decks and its cost-effectiveness, it is a formidable choice among white removal spells in several MTG formats, provided the deck’s structure supports it.

Swords to Plowshares - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Time to Reflect by color, type and mana cost

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Time to Reflect doesn’t directly draw cards, it plays an integral role in maintaining your board presence. By exiling an attacking creature, you effectively neutralize a threat without spending additional resources, keeping the cards in your hand for future pivotal moments.

Resource Acceleration: Time to Reflect may not accelerate resources in the conventional sense of providing additional mana, but it offers a substantial cost reduction under the right circumstances. With its low casting cost and the condition that it requires a zombie to be in play, it allows you to optimize your mana use for the turn, potentially leading to more significant plays ahead.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Time to Reflect at instant speed gives you strategic flexibility. This nimbleness allows you to react to your opponent’s maneuvers, catching them off-guard and ensuring that your zombies stay on the board to press the advantage on your own terms.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: To play Time to Reflect, you need to have a creature card you can exile from your graveyard. This restriction requires careful graveyard management and can be a setback when your graveyard lacks suitable cards.

Specific Mana Cost: Time to Reflect demands one white mana, which necessitates a deck built with access to white mana sources. This makes it unsuitable for decks that are not designed around white mana or multicolor decks that may have difficulty generating the necessary mana color consistently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Time to Reflect’s ability to exile a creature that dealt damage this turn without a mana cost may seem efficient, it is conditional. Some players may find the upfront cost of a white mana and the condition to have been dealt damage by a creature a bit restrictive when other lower cost or less conditional removal options are available.

Reasons to Include Time to Reflect in Your Collection

Versatility: Time to Reflect is a unique spell that finds a home in decks that focus on zombie tribal themes or that can reliably exile creatures through combat. It’s a low-cost defensive option that can be a surprise play against opponent’s threats.

Combo Potential: In combination with cards that force opponents to block or with creatures that have deathtouch, Time to Reflect can become a consistent removal tool. It’s also synergistic with effects that care about cards being exiled, for a deeper strategic layer.

Meta-Relevance: With aggressive strategies often populating the meta, having a cost-effective answer like Time to Reflect can shift the balance in your favor. Its ability to exile key creatures is a counterpoint to graveyard-based strategies that are common in various formats.

How to Beat

Time to Reflect is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering, showcasing a distinct mechanism to handle opponent’s threats. Unlike other removal spells, Time to Reflect requires a certain condition to be met – it can exile a creature that has dealt combat damage this turn. It’s a potent answer to creatures that have just participated in combat, effectively neutralizing an immediate threat.

To outplay a card like Time to Reflect, strategic timing is key. Engaging in combat with creatures you can afford to lose or using abilities to prevent combat damage are sound tactics. Alternatively, cards that offer hexproof or indestructibility can shield your valuable creatures from such targeted removal. Also, playing around your opponent’s mana availability and baiting out the spell before developing your prime threats can control the impact of Time to Reflect on the game’s outcome.

Considering its conditional nature and the fact that Time to Reflect is tied to specific combat events, players can navigate around it. While it stands as a cost-effective removal tool, its limitation provides a window for players to maneuver and protect their central strategies from disruption.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Time to Reflect MTG card by a specific set like Amonkhet, 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 Time to Reflect and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Time to Reflect has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2017-04-18	Time to Reflect can target a creature that’s currently blocking or being blocked by a Zombie, or one that blocked or was blocked by a Zombie earlier in the turn.
2017-04-18	Time to Reflect only cares that the second creature was a Zombie at the moment it blocked or became blocked by the target creature. If that Zombie has become a non-Zombie creature or left the battlefield, Time to Reflect can still target the first creature.