Timeless Lotus – Dominaria United
Date Reviewed: September 19, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.63
Casual: 5.00
Limited: 3.13
Multiplayer: 4.25
Commander [EDH]: 4.25
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
It’s always funny to me how the word “lotus” is surprisingly uncommon in everyday speech, yet any time Magic players see it, they immediately recognize the signal for a card that they should be testing. Timeless Lotus is a great example of that, and it suggests two obvious things to look into: can you get it into play early? Or can you untap it repeatedly? There are, in fact, ways to do either, though I’m not sure whether they’ll be well-positioned in high-level tournaments. You still need something big to finish with, after all. It’s also worth noting that a lot of the ways to generate multiple mana early produce either colorless mana or a bunch from one color like red’s rituals, which means that a mid-game artifact that gives you all five colors will let you throw some potential surprises onto the table.
Constructed: 2.5
Casual: 5
Limited: 3
Multiplayer: 4.5
Commander [EDH]: 4.5
Lotus is one of those words in Magic that carries lofty expectations and lots of intrigue, and Timeless Lotus certainly has plenty of heads turning. If for Commander more than anywhere else, but eh. It’s a fairly simple mana rock, but an efficient one; going from 5 mana to 10+ mana the turn after can be a massive jump in terms of what you can cast, and while such a jump is largely irrelevant for Constructed formats, it’s certainly worth a look if you’re playing somewhere that offers you the time to breathe!
I do think this is one of those cards that looks better than it plays, admittedly. There are certainly relevant jumps in mana thresholds, and while going from 5 mana to 10 mana is certainly a massive leap, it is less effective in practice than it seemingly is in theory, and this also presents Commander players with the need to go five-color to include this. It’s certainly not bad, don’t get me wrong…but it represents a bit of a spike that’s more flashy than functional, and while it will have plenty of homes, it would take one beast of an artifact deck to make Standard or Modern (or another constructed format) that home.
Constructed: 2.75
Casual: 5
Limited: 3.25 (might be good to help correct for colors)
Multiplayer: 4
Commander [EDH]: 4
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