Future Sight

Future Sight

 

Futureshifted

 

Theme decks

 

Trivia

 

Future Sight
[[File:{{#setmainimage:FUT logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Eye
Design	Mark Rosewater (lead) Matt Cavotta Devin Low Mark Gottlieb Ryan Miller Zvi Mowshowitz
Development	Mike Turian (lead) Matt Cavotta Matt Place Brian Schneider
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	May 4, 2007
Plane	Dominaria Multiversal
Themes and mechanics	Indestructible, Slivers, Spellshapers, Thallids, Typal
Keywords/​ability words	Absorb, Assemble, Aura swap, Bloodthirst, Convoke, Cycling and Typecycling, Deathtouch, Delve, Dredge, Double strike, Echo, Fateseal, Flanking, Flash, Flashback, Fortify, Frenzy, Graft, Grandeur, Gravestorm, Hellbent, Kicker, Lifelink, Madness, Morph, Poisonous, Reach, Scry, Shadow, Shroud, Split second, Storm, Suspend, Transfigure, Transmute, Vanishing
Set size	180 cards (60 commons, 60 uncommons, 60 rares)
Expansion code	FUT
Development codename	Pop
Time Spiral block
Time Spiral Planar Chaos Future Sight
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Planar Chaos Future Sight Tenth Edition

For other uses, see Future Sight (disambiguation).

Future Sight is the third expansion in the Time Spiral block and forty-second Magic: The Gathering expansion. It was released on May 4, 2007, and contains 180 cards, as was customary at the time of its release for small sets, of which 81 cards are "futureshifted". The prerelease events for this set were held on April 21–22, 2007.

Set details

Future Sight contains one hundred and eighty (180) all new black-bordered cards (sixty (60) rare, sixty (60) uncommon, and sixty (60) commons), including eighty-one (81) futureshifted cards (twenty-seven (27) of each rarity - not including mythic rare, which didn't exist at the time). The theme of this expansion is "the future"; to fit the theme of the block ("time"). Future Sight introduced a new card type: Tribal. The set also was to include one or more Planeswalker cards, but the design was not ready on time, so they were put off until the Lorwyn expansion. The expansion symbol of the set is an eye, maybe looking through a rift.

Timeshifted

See also Future Sight/Futureshifted.

The set features eighty-one (81) timeshifted “pre-prints”, i.e. cards that have not been printed before but may appear in a future set, also known as futureshifted. Each of the cards features some quality that has never appeared in the game before, such as a new keyword ability (Fleshwrither), the application of a new keyword for an old ability (Thornweald Archer), or even referencing cards and card types that do not exist yet (Goldmeadow Lookout, Steamflogger Boss). Each of these unique aspects appear on only a small number of cards, indicating that they may be more properly explored in later sets.

Additionally, most of the cards in some way reference unexplored planes, hinting at potential themes and locations for upcoming sets. The cards also feature a new “futuristic” card frame to hint at potential changes to the layout of Magic cards and to denote which cards are actually timeshifted. However, it was confirmed that the Future Sight frame would not become the norm for subsequent sets. The new card frame sported specific type icons for different card types (which were later included in Magic Online as card-filtering buttons, although they have not reappeared in the actual game, except for the land symbol, which has been reused in Ixalan). If the card has a single card type, this icon indicates what it is: claw marks for creature, a flame for sorcery, a lightning bolt for instant, a sunrise for enchantment, a chalice for artifact, and a pair of mountain peaks for land. If the card has multiple card types, that's indicated by a black and white cross. This icon has no effect on game play. As with Planar Chaos, the cards have the standard colored rarity symbols.

Marketing

Future Sight was sold in fifteen (15)-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The decks and the fat pack contained a Pro Tour Players Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Tarox Bladewing and Akroma's Memorial. The prerelease card was the foil alternate art Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. The release card was Storm Entity. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Scott McGough.

The boosters contain regular numbers for rarities — that is, one rare, three uncommons, and eleven commons — but varying numbers of futureshifted cards, "somewhere between five to ten, literally".

Flavor and Storyline

The quest to mend Dominaria’s temporal and planar damage continues. A temporal rift connected to an alternate Dominaria has enabled Phyrexian horrors to cross over into the present day. Freyalise is gone, having given her planeswalker's spark and her life to close that rift, thereby protecting her sanctum of Skyshroud one last time.

But time fractures still plague Dominaria. The damage to the planar fabric at Tolaria was so severe that it couldn't be healed — not in the present day. The heroes seek out the planeswalker Karn, the only being ever to travel through time. To heal Tolaria's rift, Karn uses the full extent of his planeswalking power to enter the rift and return to the past, to the moment before the archwizard Barrin cast a spell that obliterated countless Phyrexians and himself. Karn succeeds and seals the planar rift before Barrin's actions can rip it open. In the next moment, Karn is lost.

Even as Venser begins to realize his full potential, the planeswalker Jeska returns to Dominaria for the first time since Karona fell. Her friend and ally Karn is gone, and someone will pay. An ancient, evil intelligence drives Jeska's wrath and threatens to undermine Teferi and Jhoira’s efforts to complete Dominaria’s healing: Leshrac has returned.

Savor the Flavor

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Time Twists and Destinies Interchange	Matt Cavotta	January 25, 2007	Dominaria, Rath	Shikka, Talack, Mirri, Selenia, Crovax, Jedit Ojanen
Destiny	Rei Nakazawa	February 27, 2007	Rath	Gerrard, Crovax, Selenia, Sisay, Mirri, Starke, Tahngarth, Karn, Orim, Volrath

Mechanics

Bloodthirst, convoke, cycling, dredge, graft, hellbent, scry, and transmute are all reused mechanics from previous sets.

Lifelink, reach, and shroud were newly-keyworded abilities. They had previously been in the game but fully spelled out on cards.

Future Sight introduced the following new mechanics:

• Absorb n (If a source would deal damage to this creature, prevent n of that damage.)
  • This ability has a number parameter and appears only on creatures; a creature with absorb prevents the listed number of damage if it would be dealt damage. In Future Sight, absorb appears on only one card; this card is Lymph Sliver. It has not yet returned as of Modern Horizons 3.
• Deathtouch (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
  • Variations of this ability had long been present (the earliest being Stronghold's Lowland Basilisk), but only now did it receive a keyword, as well as slightly different rules mechanics which (via the keyword) became the standard thereafter (however, its rules changed in Magic 2010). In Future Sight, deathtouch appears on only one card: Thornweald Archer. The ability has since become an evergreen keyword, replacing other variations of the "basilisk/medusa" ability which did not rely on actual damage-dealing.
• Delve (You may remove any number of cards in your graveyard from the game as you play this spell. It costs 1 less to play for each card removed this way.)
  • This ability reduces the playing cost of a card with this ability by one generic mana for each card exiled as one plays it. In Future Sight, delve appears on only three cards; these cards are Logic Knot, Death Rattle, and Tombstalker. Delve returned in Khans of Tarkir, as the clan mechanic of the Sultai Brood.
• Fateseal n (Look at the top n cards of an opponent's library, then put any number of them on the bottom of that player’s library and the rest on top in any order.)
  • This is an extrapolation of Scry. It used to be called "evil scry." In Future Sight, fateseal appears on only two cards; these card are Mesmeric Sliver, Spin into Myth. Fateseal was later used, without the keyword, as the +2 ability on Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
• Fortify [cost] ([cost]: Attach to target land you control. Fortify only as a sorcery. This card comes into play unattached and stays in play if the land leaves play.)
  • This ability appears on Fortifications. It works the same as equip but affects a land instead of a creature. In Future Sight, fortify appears on only one card: Darksteel Garrison. Fortify returned in Universes Beyond: Fallout on the Fortification card C.A.M.P..
• Frenzy n (Whenever this creature attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +n/+0 until end of turn.)
  • In Future Sight, frenzy appears on only one card: Frenzy Sliver. It has not yet returned as of Modern Horizons 3. (The much older card Murk Dwellers has an ability that is functionally identical to frenzy 2, but has never been ruled as actually using the keyword.)
• Grandeur (Discard another card named [Cardname]: [Effect].)
  • Thus far, this ability word only appears on legendary creatures. When the creature with grandeur is in play, it allows its controller to discard a card that has the same name for special effects. Tactically, this allows for a player to dispose of extra copies of a card that would otherwise be useless, due to the "legend rule". In Future Sight, grandeur appears on five cards, a cycle of rare, legendary creatures, who are the descendants or successors of famed legends of Magic: The Gathering history; these cards are Oriss, Samite Guardian (Orim, Samite Healer), Linessa, Zephyr Mage (Alexi, Zephyr Mage), Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (Dakkon Blackblade), Tarox Bladewing (Rorix Bladewing), and Baru, Fist of Krosa (Kamahl, Fist of Krosa).
• Gravestorm (When you play this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard from play this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
  • This ability, similar to the storm ability, copies a spell with the ability for each permanent put into a graveyard from play, rather than for each spell played. In Future Sight, gravestorm appears on only one card: Bitter Ordeal. Gravestorm has returned in Murders at Karlov Manor/Commander decks on the card Follow the Bodies.
• Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, its controller gains that much life.)
  • Like deathtouch, this ability has long been in the game, albeit more frequently used, but only now a keyword. In Future Sight, lifelink appears on only two cards: Daybreak Coronet and Mistmeadow Skulk. The ability has since become evergreen and is no longer a triggered ability, but rather a static ability that adds life gain as a secondary effect of damage, along with loss of life and marking damage on creatures.
• Poisonous n (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gets n poison counter(s). A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
  • Like deathtouch and lifelink, the ability has long been in the game, albeit used in the earlier sets and expansions, but only now a keyword. In Future Sight, poisonous appears on only two cards: Snake Cult Initiation and Virulent Sliver. Poisonous has not yet returned as of Modern Horizons 3; instead, poison counters returned in the form of the Infect mechanic in Scars of Mirrodin block and the card Fynn the Fangbearer has an ability that grants effectively Poisonous 2 to creatures with deathtouch but is not keyworded.
• Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
  • The keyword reach clears up many of the confusions posed by "This creature may block as though it had flying" and "This creature can block as though it had flying", abilities that frequently appear on Spiders, and interactions with cards like Silhana Ledgewalker and Treetop Scout, a creature without flying that can only be blocked by creatures with flying. The ability has long been in the game but is only now a keyword. In Future Sight, reach appears on only one card: Thornweald Archer. It has been an evergreen ability ever since, just as the original non-keyworded ability was.
• Shroud (This permanent can't be the target of spells and abilities.)
  • The ability has long been in the game but was not a keyword before Future Sight. Shroud remained evergreen in Magic until Scars of Mirrodin, after which it was effectively replaced by hexproof. In Future Sight, shroud appears on only one card: Quagnoth.
• Aura swap [cost] ([cost]: Exchange this permanent with an Aura card in your hand.)
  • In Future Sight, aura swap appears on only one card: Arcanum Wings. It has not returned as of Modern Horizons 3.
• Transfigure [cost] ([cost], Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a creature card with the same converted mana cost as this creature and put that into play. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
  • This ability is "a mechanical evolution of transmute from Ravnica: City of Guilds, except this mechanic turns a creature in play into another creature from your library rather than turning a card in hand into another card from your library." In Future Sight, transfigure appears on only one card: Fleshwrither. It has not yet returned as of Modern Horizons 3.
• Tribal — a card type, which must always appear with another card type (e.g. Bound in Silence)
  • Tribal cards have a set of subtypes that are shared with creature types; Tribal cards give creature types to non-creature cards. Tribal was used in Lorwyn block, which had a major tribal theme, and it returned in Rise of the Eldrazi. It has now fallen out of favor with R&D and is unlikely to be used again.
  • In 2023, Tribal was renamed to Kindred for cultural reasons.
• [Type]cycling [cost] ([cost], Discard this card: Search your library for a [type] card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)
  • This ability is not new, as such, as it is effectively the same ability seen in the Scourge expansion; it is, however, new in the sense that the ability can now search out cards other than lands with a basic land type. In Future Sight, [type]cycling, in the form of Wizardcycling and Slivercycling, appears on only two cards, respectively Vedalken Aethermage and Homing Sliver. The latter as is usual for Sliver abilities grants all Sliver cards (in players' hands) Slivercycling. Wizardcycling returned in Modern Horizons 2 on the card Step Through.

Cycles

Future Sight has 12 cycles and a vertical cycle:

Cycle name
Augurs	Augur il-Vec	Aven Augur	Augur of Skulls	Emberwilde Augur	Llanowar Augur
	Common creatures with activated abilities that require the creatures to be sacrificed (during your upkeep only).
Common cyclers	Marshaling Cry	Vedalken Aethermage	Ichor Slick	Homing Sliver	Edge of Autumn
	Each of these common spells has cycling
Futureshifted Slivers	Lymph Sliver (absorb)	Mesmeric Sliver (fateseal)	Frenzy Sliver (frenzy)	Homing Sliver (typecycling)	Virulent Sliver (poisonous)
	Common Slivers with previously unknown abilities.
Grandeur legends	Oriss, Samite Guardian (Orim, Samite Healer, Cho-Manno, Revolutionary)	Linessa, Zephyr Mage (Alexi, Zephyr Mage)	Korlash, Heir to Blackblade (Dakkon Blackblade)	Tarox Bladewing (Rorix Bladewing)	Baru, Fist of Krosa (Kamahl, Fist of Krosa)
	Rare legendary creatures which depict the descendant of prominent legendary creatures in Magic history. Each card also has the new mechanic "grandeur", which, when such a card is in play, allows a player to discard a card with the same name to generate a powerful effect.
Magi	Magus of the Moat (Moat)	Magus of the Future (Future Sight)	Magus of the Abyss (The Abyss)	Magus of the Moon (Blood Moon)	Magus of the Vineyard (Eladamri's Vineyard)
	Wizard creatures with the abilities of an enchantment from previous sets.
Monocolored ability lands	New Benalia (scry)	Tolaria West (transmute)	Dakmor Salvage (dredge)	Keldon Megaliths (hellbent)	Llanowar Reborn (graft)
	Uncommon lands that come into play tapped, each have an ability that had previously not been printed on lands, and they also tap for one mana of the respective color.
Pacts	Intervention Pact	Pact of Negation	Slaughter Pact	Pact of the Titan	Summoner's Pact
	Rare instant spells each with a mana cost of but with a cost that is to be paid during the caster's next upkeep lest that player lose the game. This cycle, according to Mark Rosewater, is inspired by Unhinged's Rocket-Powered Turbo Slug.
Recurring suspend spells	Chronomantic Escape	Reality Strobe	Festering March	Arc Blade	Cyclical Evolution
	Uncommon sorcery spells each with "Suspend 3—2C" and an ability that allows them to be suspended once played (Remove [this card] from the game with three time counters on it.)
Scrying spells	Judge Unworthy	Foresee	Putrid Cyclops	Riddle of Lightning	Llanowar Empath
	Each of these common spells has scry N when played.
Textless, vanilla creatures	Blade of the Sixth Pride	Blind Phantasm	Mass of Ghouls	Fomori Nomad	Nessian Courser
	Futureshifted creatures which have no abilities and are the only cards (other than promotional cards and full art basic lands from various sets) to have textless frames.
Spellshapers	Goldmeadow Lookout (Goldmeadow Harrier)	Cloudseeder (Cloud Sprite)	Skirk Ridge Exhumer (Festering Goblin)	Sparkspitter (Spark Elemental)	Llanowar Mentor (Llanowar Elves)
	Uncommon Spellshapers with an activated ability that creates a creature token that, in all but one case, duplicates a common creature card with converted mana cost 1 from Magic's past, including name (but not mana cost). Sliversmith is the 6th card in this cycle, producing a Metallic Sliver.
Cycle name
Futureshifted dual lands	Nimbus Maze	River of Tears	Graven Cairns	Grove of the Burnwillows	Horizon Canopy
	Rare lands that are able to add two colors of mana.

Vertical cycle

Cycle name
Morph	Lumithread Field	Zoetic Cavern	Whetwheel
	Morph being used on each of the other permanent types, besides a creature.

Functional reprints

Future Sight has one functional reprint and one card that is nearly so:

• Fomori Nomad is a functional reprint of Obsidian Giant from Portal Second Age.
• Barren Glory is a near functional reprint, and black-bordered version, of The Cheese Stands Alone from Unglued.

Notable cards

The unique mix-and-match cards of Future Sight are covered in Trivia - the following are for impactful cards in Constructed magic.

• Dryad Arbor, a green creature that is also a Forest land, carrying the properties of both. As a creature, it can attack and block as usual, but suffers from summoning sickness, leaving it unable to attack and unable to tap for mana the turn it's played. As a land, it isn't a spell and therefore uncounterable, can tap for one green mana (the following turn), and has no mana cost, but normal rules for playing lands still apply. It is also the only land that is actually colored. It has seen and continues to see a lot of play in conjunction with Green Sun's Zenith allowing that card to ramp your mana on turn one and as an incidental Flash threat with fetchlands.
• Grove of the Burnwillows, a nonbasic land that is a powerful damage engine when combined with Punishing Fire, which has been used in multiple formats until Punishing Fire was banned in Modern.
• Imperial Mask was the first black bordered card to reference teammates.
• Magus of the Moon, a reference to Blood Moon, used to punish decks that heavily rely on non-basic lands. With two playsets, decks relying on this strategy can reliably find a lock piece.
• Narcomoeba, which sees play in decks that dump their library into the graveyard, especially in conjunction with Dread Return and Cabal Therapy.
• Tarmogoyf is a Lhurgoyf-type creature whose power and toughness is variable, dependent on the number of different card types in players' graveyards. Due to the remarkable speed at which this creature can grow and its performance in top-tier decks, it has become one of the most sought-after cards in this set. This card's reminder text foretold of the card type Planeswalker.

Banned and restricted cards

• Riftsweeper, alongside Pull from Eternity, are the only cards that can retrieve cards of any player's back from exile. It was at one point banned from Commander due to Commanders beginning the game in the exile zone, and unlike Pull from Eternity shuffling Commanders into the library was not replacable. Riftsweeper was later unbanned when the Command zone was introduced.
• Bridge from Below is one of the most unusual cards in Magic in that it has no abilities on the battlefield but two in the graveyard. It was an immediate Dredge payoff and powers those decks in nonrotating formats. Despite its banning in July 2019 doing little to stop Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis decks, its incentives and manaless payoff were deemed unwanted in Modern.
• Grinning Ignus forms an loop of infinite casts, enter and leave triggers with Birgi, God of Storytelling from Kaldheim. In Standard this combo appeared infrequently for lack of available payoffs, while non-rotating formats with access to storm had similarly powerful combos and sufficient means to interact with them. Alchemy had the first and lacked the second, leading to a deck that "fell outside [Wizards'] format goals." Despite the power to rebalance cards in Alchemy, Wizards found that every rebalancing option would eliminate the combo as if it were banned, and so it was simpler to ban Grinning Ignus on July 5, 2022 — the first ever ban in Alchemy.
• Sword of the Meek was an Equipment with a quaint reanimation ability when a 1/1 enters the battlefield, which is odd for a permanent that is not known for being destroyed. It later ended up on the Extended and Modern banned lists due to Thopter Foundry, an engine that sacrifices artifacts to make 1/1s. It was later unbanned in April 2016 as the format accelerated enough that a mana-gated engine was not significant.

Theme decks

The preconstructed theme decks are:

Theme deck name	Colors Included
Suspended Sentence		U	B
Future Shock				R	G
Rebels Unite	W		B
Fate Blaster		U		R

External links

• Mark Rosewater (May 17, 2021). "Future Sight Design Handoff Document". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
• Mark Rosewater (March 21, 2023). "Lesson Learned, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.