Why on Earth is
Time Stop in 10th Edition? The card is a miserable wretch that should never have been created, let alone reprinted:
1. It was from the Kamigawa block. This alone should disqualify it from reprinting.
2. The card itself is d**k. Really d**k. Superdickery d**k.
"I'm going to untap, go through my upkeep, and draw..."
"OMFG NO! YOUR TURN ENDED! PWND!!!!1"
Or
"And while the last piece of your combo that you've been setting up the entire game is on the stack... PWND!!!!1 BWAHAHAHA! I just RFGed your combo, N00B!"
I can't see anyone ever playing it with a straight face or without following it up with "PWND!!!!1" Right now, I actually have a visual of good old M.C. Baldy smirking as he plays this card. Is it possible to give mental images a fat lip?
3. They balance out this instant speed Time Walk with a 4UU mana cost. Great, so now we have a 6 mana instant. Like I'm going to stare down a blue deck and think, "Gee, he only has 5 mana open. I'm safe!"
By the time a decent blue control deck has 6 mana open, it's waiting for its win condition. If it actually NEEDS Time Stop at this point, then it's a pretty poor deck. There's loads of better instants that blue can use for a cheaper price, and for 6 mana the deck could actually drop the damn
win condition.So basically, we have a Kamigawa card that, if used, spends 90% of its time sitting idly in its owner's hand. On the off chance it actually does get played, the defending player will most likely roll his eyes and exclaim, "LAME!"
The owner will undoubtedly agree, and burn the card on the spot.
In drafts it's ok as an expensive staller. In T2 it's too clunky to be worthy of even a sideboard spot. Why did R&D feel compelled to reprint this card? Why not fill the spot with one of the d**k Kamigawa cards that was
actually interesting?