Wheel of Fate MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
RarityRare
TypeSorcery
Abilities Suspend

Key Takeaways

  1. Wheel of Fate can dramatically change the game by offering a full hand reset after a suspense period.
  2. It requires careful planning due to its discard effect and specific mana investment for casting.
  3. The card’s unique mechanics make it a valuable addition for decks that benefit from mass draw effects.

Text of card

Wheel of Fate is red. Suspend 4— (Rather than play this card from your hand, pay and remove it from the game with four time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When you remove the last, play it without paying its mana cost.) Each player discards his or her hand, then draws seven cards.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Wheel of Fate grants the potential to draw seven new cards once its suspended turns are done. This refill can significantly refresh your hand, especially when resources are low, keeping you in the game with new options.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources on its own, the new cards could provide additional lands or ramp spells. This can indirectly increase your mana availability, giving you a better chance to cast more impactful spells sooner.

Instant Speed: Though Wheel of Fate lacks instant speed, it compensates with its unique suspense mechanic. The ability to set it up turns in advance can catch opponents off-guard, allowing for strategic planning and threatening a game-changing hand reset at a moment’s notice.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Wheel of Fate offers a future opportunity for a fresh hand of cards, it also necessitates that each player discards their current hand, regardless of its quality. This can be a significant setback if you’ve carefully sculpted your hand for strategic plays, as you’re forced to relinquish control over valuable resources.

Specific Mana Cost: Wheel of Fate requires a very specific mana investment to cast. With its suspend cost necessitating red mana, this may restrict the card’s integration into decks that are not heavily red or have a mana base tailored to accommodate such casting costs, potentially limiting its versatility across various deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Wheel of Fate costs zero mana to cast normally, its true cost comes in the form of its suspend ability, which is not only a delayed effect but ties up your mana and game plan for four turns. During this period, opponents have the chance to prepare for the impending hand disruption or take advantage of the time you’ve invested into setting up the spell. This can be disadvantageous compared to other cards in MTG that offer immediate impact and require less strategic commitment.


Reasons to Include Wheel of Fate in Your Collection

Versatility: Wheel of Fate offers a unique approach to card draw in red decks, fitting seamlessly into strategies that crave a fresh hand of cards without relying on traditional instant or sorcery speed draw.

Combo Potential: Known for setting up explosive turns, this card works wonders with strategies that manipulate suspend counters or those that benefit from mass discard and draw effects, paving the way for ingenious combos and game-winning plays.

Meta-Relevance: In a game-state where controlling the flow of resources is vital, Wheel of Fate can act as a powerful equalizer against decks that rely on carefully curated hands, making it a force to be reckoned with in certain metagames.


How to Beat

Wheel of Fate is a unique card in the landscape of Magic: The Gathering, offering players a powerful delayed draw effect. When facing an opponent with Wheel of Fate in their arsenal, the key is to anticipate its resolution and prepare accordingly. This red sorcery does not immediately alter the state of the game, giving players a window to strategize.

To effectively counter this spell, consider holding onto instant-speed disruption or hand disruption spells. With no cards in hand when Wheel of Fate resolves, its impact diminishes greatly. Additionally, graveyard manipulation can be crucial, as some decks strategize to capitalize on a full graveyard post-Wheel. Deny them that strategy, and the balance tips in your favor.

Lastly, assess the state of your own hand before Wheel of Fate resolves. Optimize your plays to utilize your current resources, realizing that you will soon be drawing into a new hand. A well-timed response, resource management, and a solid understanding of your deck’s mechanics can turn the tide against Wheel of Fate.


BurnMana Recommendations

Understanding the intricacies of Wheel of Fate is crucial for any MTG player looking to refresh their gameplay strategy. With its ability to completely alter the cards at your disposal, it serves as a wildcard, both literally and figuratively, in the red magic repertoire. As you delve into MTG’s complex mechanics, remember that the art of the game lies in balancing risk with reward, foresight with spontaneity. For players eager to master this dynamic and embrace the suspense that Wheel of Fate offers, our platform provides deeper insights and strategies. Dive into our comprehensive guides and transform your next match into a well-played victory.


Cards like Wheel of Fate

Wheel of Fate is a unique card in Magic: The Gathering that promises a massive shift in the game’s dynamics, comparable to the likes of the iconic Time Spiral and Windfall. Like Time Spiral, it can drastically refill players’ hands, albeit without the untapping of lands. However, where Wheel of Fate truly diverges is in its suspend mechanic — a wait that builds anticipation and strategy unlike the immediate impacts of Time Spiral.

Windfall also serves a similar function, refreshing players’ hands based on the largest hand size, yet it acts immediately. Meanwhile, the suspend aspect of Wheel of Fate offers opponents a glimpse into future plays, allowing for potentially game-altering preparation. It is through the strategic delay inherent to Wheel of Fate that sets it apart from its peers and can lead to more nuanced gameplay and pivotal moments.

Each of these cards impacts the game in substantial ways, but Wheel of Fate asks for forethought and planning, marking its unique position within MTG’s array of powerful hand-resetting options.

Time Spiral - MTG Card versions
Windfall - MTG Card versions
Time Spiral - Urza's Saga (USG)
Windfall - Urza's Saga (USG)

Cards similar to Wheel of Fate by color, type and mana cost

Glimpse of Tomorrow - MTG Card versions
Glimpse of Tomorrow - Modern Horizons 2 Promos (PMH2)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Wheel of Fate MTG card by a specific set like Time Spiral and Commander 2016, 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 Wheel of Fate and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Wheel of Fate Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2006-10-06 and 2021-03-19. Illustrated by Kev Walker.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12006-10-06Time SpiralTSP 1872003normalblackKev Walker
22016-11-11Commander 2016C16 1382015normalblackKev Walker
32019-11-07Mystery BoosterMB1 11022015normalblackKev Walker
42020-09-26The ListPLST C16-1382015normalblackKev Walker
52021-03-19Time Spiral RemasteredTSR 1982015normalblackKev Walker

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Wheel of Fate has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2013-06-07 Although originally printed with a characteristic-defining ability that defined its color, this card now has a color indicator. This color indicator can’t be affected by text-changing effects (such as the one created by Crystal Spray), although color-changing effects can still overwrite it.
2021-06-18 A card with no mana cost can’t be cast normally; you’ll need a way to cast it for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost, such as by suspending 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 a card with no mana cost is given an alternative cost equal to its mana cost (by Snapcaster Mage, for example), that cost cannot be paid and the card cannot be cast this way.
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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