Three years ago, it was Myrs, the cute little
two casting cost artifacts
that tapped for colored mana. Two years ago, it
was something else, last
year it was the Signets from Ravnica block. As
Magic players, we have grown
very familiar in recent years to the two casting
cost artifact mana source.
Instead of giving us a cycle of five different
ones, Time Spiral gives us
one, the Prismatic Lens, and gives it the
ability to tap for any color of
mana (with the additional cost of one colorless
mana). This card is very
useful in limited and considered a reasonable
pick anywhere from the fourth
pick on in Time Spiral booster draft.
Unfortunately, since there is NOT a
cycle of five of these in the set, the common
Pristmatic Lens may become a
card drafted more highly than previous cards of
this type. I can imagine
Prismatic Lens making the leap to constructed,
but I think more focused,
color specific mana fixers and accelerators will
continue to play a bigger
part in constructed than this one.
Coming out of Ravnica block, Wizards has decided
not to cut us off cold turkey from good artifact
mana. Gratefully so, as the possibility of
snagging one or two of these makes it quite easy
to splash cards. And it's versatility means it
can be color fixing, or pure acceleration. A
boring card, but a neccesary one.
Constructed- 3
Casual- 2.5
Limited- 3.4
Nick Tan
Prismatic Lens
It’s mana acceleration, but although it can
splash for another colour, I’d rather stick to
the Ravnica signets, which provide two colours
and are strictly superior to the Lens most of
the time. Nevertheless, in limited, these can
come useful in keeping you ahead in the mana
race.
Constructed: 2.3
Casual: 2
Limited: 3
Aethereal
Prismatic Lens
A slightly pricier Mana Cylix with the added
bonus of being able to produce colorless. Right
now, in constructed, there's no reason for this
to see play, as the guild signets are the
artifact mana of choice right now and they are
much better than this. In casual, there's better
choices. In limited, it can help you splash, but
that's about it. I wouldn't pick this over a
totem.
Constructed - 2
Casual - 2
Limited - 2.5
Matt Cortez
Prismatic Lens
Constructed - Not a bad mana source but for 2
mana you can get the even better Ravnica
signet's. I don't expect this to see any play.
Just not strong enough.
Casual - Again, there are better things out
there that can add the mana you
need. Not worth it
Limited -
This is where it get's slightly better. Not many
mana fixer's in Timespiral so pick it up since
it can provide you with the mana you need. And
since it's a common you'll see a lot of these
pick it up. If you need it of course.
Constructed - 1.5
Casual - 1.0
Limited - 3.0
Gackley Ferguson
TGIF eh? I'm a
little downtrodden from, and I'm writing this
review after having come back from Game 7 of the
NLCS, and my Mets lost...so I'm not in the best
spirits right now, but the review must go on.
Prismatic Lens: Essentially a mana fixer. The
only real place that this would fit into is in a
deck with a lot of colors, and you would need a
certain type of mana in a pinch. Other than
that, your mana base should be balanced enough
that you wouldn't really need this. If your base
is all out of whack and you can't figure it
out...put a couple of these in and you might get
lucky.
All three formats are getting the same review
today because it's essentailly the same thing.
Constructed: 2.5/5
Casual: 2.5/5, it might be more suited here if
you need to fix your mana.
Limited: 2.5/5, probably the best place for it,
if you need fixing your mana, but other than
that...pass.
Cyrus Huang
Constructed:
This is a pure limited card. Our standard is so
chock full of mana fixing it's ridiculous (karoos,
duals, signets, birds, gemstone mine, etc...).
There's no need to ever put this card in your
deck.
1/5
Limited: An amazing sealed card because guess
what, there are like 0 mana fixers in Time
Spiral. All we got in artifacts is this guy,
paradise plume, and chromatic star, so learn to
play all of those guys without our precious
signets. This guy might be the best of the three
because it gives you any color you want,
accelerates, and can be used multiple times. The
only reason you wouldn't play this is if you're
going two colors (unlikely) and don't really
need the mana fixing.
4/5
Unfortunately that pretty much covers all of the
points.... meh I'll write longer reviews in the
future I guess.
