Magic’s next in-universe set is Reality Fracture. It’s about an alternate reality constructed by Jace Beleren. In it, he has rewritten time so that the Phyrexians were never a problem. In a lot of ways, he has rewritten the past. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a set about the entire Magic timeline changing. In 2006, we got Time Spiral, the first of three consecutive sets about the instability of time and reality on Dominaria. In Time Spiral, the past was bleeding into the present.
It’s a set that is relatively well-known to Commander players. In it, you can find the popular Commander Norin the Wary, powerful lands like Gemstone Caverns and Academy Ruins, and one of the best reanimation spells of all time – Dread Return. And that’s just scratching the surface when it comes to popular Commander cards in the set.
However, while the set is undoubtedly filled with well-known gems, there are also a few diamonds in the rough. In this article I’m going to look at 5 underrated Commander cards from Time Spiral.
UNDERRATED COMMANDER: JAYA BALLARD, TASK MAGE
One of the things they did in Time Spiral was give us cards from older characters who had thus far only been mentioned in the flavor text or story – Jaya Ballard was one of those. She’s also a Spellshaper, a creature type that always has activated abilities that effectively let you turn cards into your hand into spells from Magic’s past. Jaya’s abilities all reference powerful old school red cards. The first one is Blue Elemental Blast, the second is Incinerate, and the third is Inferno.
While her flexibility and access to powerful color-hosing, a burn spell, and a sweeper is great, she gets especially interesting in a deck that can turn those discarded cards into even more value. Using her abilities with Monument to Endurance or Currency Converter in play can really help you go wild.
She also works great with mechanics like Madness and Flashback, as those ensure you still get to use the cards you discard in one way or another.
DREAM STALKER
This card admittedly doesn’t look like much. I mean it’s a random Common in some old set, right? And it doesn’t really do enough to be worth playing. And its “enters” trigger doesn’t even say “may,” so you have to bounce a permanent even when you don’t want to!
However, this card is sneaky powerful, and a very good combo enabler. This is because it lets you bounce a permanent of any type when it enters. And it can even bounce itself.
If you combine the Stalker with Aluren or Primal Prayers, you can just keep casting it and bouncing itself over and over again. This is easier with Aluren. With Primal Prayers you’ll also need some energy production somewhere on the board, but that’s not a huge ask.
If you combine this with payoffs for casting spells or having creatures enter the game, you can win pretty quickly. This works best if you’re using a Commander who can go off with this, since you’ll have easy access to it. Chulane, Teller of Tales is probably the best Commander for Dream Stalker combos since he can simultaneously draw your whole deck and give you a ton of mana.
PENDELHAVEN ELDER
This card was intentionally designed as a creature that does the same thing as the iconic land Pendelhaven – but it does it to your entire board. That’s no small thing, and makes her pretty appealing in token decks.
The one thing that holds her back is the fact that if you have static buffs in play for your tokens, she won’t be able to buff them because they are no longer 1/1s. However, there are certainly enough token decks out there that have boards flooded with 1/1s for Pendelhaven Elder’s mass buff effect to be very powerful.
She’s definitely worth a try in any token deck – especially if you have a Commander who can pump out creatures of the right size. For example, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Lathril can both have a field day with Pendelhaven Elder.
MAGUS OF THE JAR
In addition to creatures like Pendelhaven that have the abilities of old lands, Time Spiral also featured creatures that have the abilities of old artifacts – and Magus of the Jar can do the same thing as one of the most powerful artifacts ever printed – Memory Jar. It is one of the cards that got banned the fastest in the history of the game. It was only legal for 14 days. If you want a deep dive on that deck, I have a video over on YouTube about it.
But suffice it to say, this activated ability is incredibly strong. After all it says “draw seven cards” on it, and those are some of the sweetest words in Magic. Your opponents get to draw cards too, but you’re the one who is most likely to take advantage of your new cards, since players have to get rid of their newly drawn cards at the end of the turn.
So, Magus of the Jar already has a built-in way that it can break the symmetry of the effect, but if you combine it with effects that punish your opponents for discarding cards or drawing them, things can get really out of hand.
The Magus is a good fit with commanders like Nekusar or Xyris. The former will dish out a ton of damage, while Xyris will make you a ton of snake tokens.
That’s not the only way to get a lot out of the Magus’s ability. Using the Magus in a deck that gets extra effects for drawing works too. For example, Niv-Mizzet, Parun and The Astonishing Ant-Man can also make it well worth it to let everyone draw 7 cards.
CONFLAGRATE
Conflagrate is admittedly more niche than the other cards on the list, which all work in a pretty wide swath of decks. If you cast Conflagrate the normal way, it’s a super inefficient burn spell. And if you cast it from the graveyard, it’s hard to consistently do a lot of damage with it. And giving up cards in hand is a big cost!
However, Conflagrate has one really unique thing going for it. It’s the only card in the game that can help you discard your entire hand from the graveyard. Admittedly, that’s not something you always want to do. But if you’re in a graveyard deck of some kind and you need to put cards from your hand into the graveyard, there’s not really a better way to do it.
If you’re using a commander who loves instants and sorceries, discarding cards and/or the graveyard, Conflagrate can do some serious work. Rielle is perhaps the best home for Conflagrate.
END STEP
I hope I introduced you to some cards you hadn’t considered before for your Commander decks. What cards do you think are overlooked in Time Spiral? Let me know over on X or Bluesky.
Jacob has been playing Magic for the better part of 24 years, and he especially loves playing Magic’s Limited formats. He also holds a PhD in history from the University of Oklahoma. In 2015, he started his YouTube channel, “Nizzahon Magic,” where he combines his interests with many videos covering Magic’s competitive history. When he’s not playing Magic or making Magic content, he can be found teaching college-level history courses or caring for a menagerie of pets with his wife.