When designing mechanics, Wizards of the Coast employees look everywhere for inspiration. For example, while working on Kaldheim (KHM) Mark Rosewater wanted to evoke Norse mythology with a top-down mechanic around predictions and prophecies.

Years prior, Rosewater had created a mechanic he nicknamed "Layaway" based on a mechanic he found from the Star Wars Trading Card Game. Putting this all together, the Foretell mechanic was born.

What is Foretell in Magic?

Foretell is a Keyword Ability primarily (though not exclusively) featured in Kaldheim. Since the ability involves placing cards aside, face down, WOTC created a handy token to help represent cards that have been Foretold.

The token's rules text tells you what happens after a card has been Foretold. You placed the Exiled card on or under this token, and you can cast the spell on a later turn for its Foretell cost.

This only explains a portion of the rules involved with this advanced mechanic. Additional rules are required to fully understand how the ability works in Magic. An example card with Foretell will help complete the picture.

Doomskar is a White Sorcery that costs and an extremely simple, yet powerful effect. "Destroy all Creatures." That's it. Three words needed to explain what happens when Doomskar resolves.

The card's rules text doesn't stop there, however. After those three words is a Foretell cost of and two sentences of reminder text:

"During your turn, you may pay 2 and Exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its Foretell cost."

Now the Foretell ability has been explained in its entirety. Putting the two pieces of the puzzle together, the gameplay of a card with Foretell is as follows:

• Pay 2 generic mana and Exile a card with Foretell from your hand face down.
• On a future turn, you may cast the Exiled card for its Foretell cost.

A Few Additional Foretell Rules

The vast majority of the time, Foretell will play out exactly as described in the reminder text. You can read up the precise details of Foretell in MTG's Comprehensive Rules, section 702.143.

Without getting bogged into too much rules jargon, there are a few key rulings associated with the ability that you should be aware of before sleeving up Foretell cards for competitive play.

First and foremost, you can't cast a Foretold card on the same turn you Exile it. From a timing perspective, Exiling a card with Foretell from your hand is considered a "special action."

Therefore, you can do it whenever you have priority during your turn, including in response to spells and abilities. Other players can't respond by trying to remove the card from your hand once you've paid the two mana to Foretell a card.

Note that Cosmos Charger is an example of a card that allows you to violate Foretell's timing restrictions. With this Creature in play, you can Foretell on any player's turn and that two-mana Foretell cost is reduced by one.

Additionally, since Cosmos Charger has Flash, you can Foretell it on your turn and then cast it on your opponent's very next turn. Foretold cards follow the timing rules of the card, so Foretold Sorceries and Creatures can only be cast from being Foretold at Sorcery speed.

Instants and cards with Flash, on the other hand, can be cast from being Foretold at Instant speed.

If you're casting a Foretold card from Exile for its Foretell cost, you can't choose to cast it for any other alternative cost. It is what it is. You can, however, pay additional costs, such as a Kicker cost.

Of course, any mandatory additional costs must also be paid to cast the spell. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben still taxes your noncreature spells.

Lastly, it's critically important to keep your Foretold cards clearly organized. With Foretell, you're working with another layer of concealed information, and it's easy to forget some of the important details associated with these facedown cards.

Similar to the Morph mechanic, your opponent must be allowed to track which card you Foretold first, second, etc. Also, like Morph, you need to reveal to all players the face-down Foretold cards in Exile at the end of a game, so that they know you were playing honestly.

What's the point of Foretell?

Why would you want to pay two mana to do nothing but declare you're Foretelling a card? At least with Plot from Outlaws of Thunder Junction (OTJ), after Plotting a spell, one could cast it for free on a following turn. Here, you end up paying mana twice. So, what's the point?

There are a few important reasons why you may choose to Foretell a card rather than simply cast it directly. The number one reason is that Foretell essentially splits the cost of your spell into two installment costs.

In the case of Dwarven Reinforcements, instead of paying four mana to cast on turn four, you can Foretell the spell on turn two and then cast it for the following turn. You're still paying the four mana, but doing so over two turns allows you to cast the spell a full turn cycle earlier.

Additionally, if you're stuck on three Lands you can still cast Dwarven Reinforcements rather than allowing it to rot in your hand. This is another small benefit that could come up, especially with more costly spells.

Foretelling also helps you protect cards from your hand from opponent's disruption. If you have a bomb in your opening hand, such as Starnheim Unleashed, you may be fearful of your opponent casting a discard spell before you reach four mana.

With Foretell, you can safely tuck that spell away until you're ready to cast it. While there, the card will be impervious to an opponents' Mind Twist, Thoughtseize, or Coercion.

With this Sorcery in particular, you can generate even greater value by creating multiple 4/4 Angel Warrior Creature tokens by using its alternative Foretell cost.

Building around Foretell as an ability can also generate additional synergies in addition to simply helping you utilize your available mana each turn. For examples, Alrund, God of the Cosmos gets +1/+1 for each Foretold card you own in Exile and Vega, the Watcher draws you a card each time you cast a Foretold spell from Exile.

Thus, there are numerous reasons why Foretell can be a useful ability to leverage throughout the game.

Top Five Foretell Cards

Are you convinced of the benefits of playing cards with Foretell? If so, then here is a list of the top five most powerful cards with Foretell. You may be not surprised to see that many of Magic's most popular Foretell cards show up in supplemental Commander products rather than Kaldheim, where the set debuted.

1. Ultimate Magic: Holy
2. Alrund's Epiphany
3. Mystic Reflection
4. Lifestream's Blessing
5. Delayed Blast Fireball

Let's take a look at these five powerhouses in a little more detail.

5. Ultimate Magic: Holy

Printed in Final Fantasy Commander (FIC), Ultimate Magic: Holy is another twist on the ultimate Protection spell for your permanents.

You can choose to cast Ultimate Magic: Holy from your hand for , but if you use its Foretell ability you get the added bonus of preventing all damage that would be dealt to you. Foretelling also keeps this spell protected from any hand disruption, protecting this "get out of jail free" card for when it matters most.

4. Mystic Reflection

Mystic Reflection is admittedly a bit of a build-around, but if you're not building around something in Commander, then what's the point? This card offers tremendous political clout because you can choose any nonlegendary Creature and you can play this spell on anyone's turn.

That means you can create more instances of the battlefield's best Creatures on your turn, or you could interfere with an opponent's Creatures on their turn. Using Mystic Reflection's Foretell ability makes the spell just one Blue mana for a potentially game-breaking effect.

3. Alrund's Epiphany

Alrund's Epiphany is the most powerful and noteworthy Foretell card from the ability's debut in Kaldheim. Seven mana is admittedly expensive for a Time Walk, but you get a couple Bird Creature tokens as a little throw-in.

This Sorcery really shines when its Foretell cost is used because it reduces the spell to six mana. It's still more expensive than a Time Warp, but in Commander where mana rocks are ubiquitous, this is a nice include in any deck looking to take extra turns.

2. Lifestream's Blessing

Another Final Fantasy Commander card, Lifestream's Blessing is a juiced-up version of Soul's Majesty. You could pay to cast this Instant to draw cards equal to the greatest power among Creatures you controlled as you cast this spell (i.e., your opponents can't kill your biggest Creature in response to interfere).

Leveraging Lifestream's Blessing's Foretell ability, though, is how to maximize the card's utility. In addition to costing one less Green mana, you also gain a bunch of life in addition to drawing all those cards. With card draw being a little more sparse in Green, this is a great way to take a turn off to refill your hand while simultaneously buffering your life total.

1. Delayed Blast Fireball

Delayed Blast Fireball is arguably the most powerful Foretell card yet to be printed. It also happens to be the most valuable -- this is not a coincidence. The spell is that good.

Delayed Blast Fireball is best evaluated as a Bimodal card, almost like a Split Card. On one side, you have an Instant for that does two damage to each opponent and each Creature they control. It's a more powerful, one-sided Pyroclasm for an additional Red mana, which is solid but not incredible.

The other half of the card is via its Foretell cost. Instead of having a cheaper Foretell cost, Delayed Blast Fireball actually costs a full more to cast from Exile. That's because casting it from Exile gives you a much more powerful effect: five damage to each opponent and each Creature they control instead.

Note that you and your Creatures are unaffected by this spell. This is bordering on Inferno for all of your opponents, leaving you and your Creatures completely unharmed. This is why this Rare from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate (CLB) is Magic's most powerful Foretell card to-date.

Wrapping Up

Are we likely to see Foretell cards reappear in future sets? With a Storm Scale score of four, it's likely. While Foretell hasn't appeared en masse since Kaldheim, Wizards of the Coast has featured the ability on a smattering of cards since. Most of those appearances have been in supplemental Commander sets, but not all of them.

Sozin's Comet, for example, was the singular Foretell card in Avatar: The Lat Airbender (TLA).

Being the only spell in the entire set with Foretell was a little awkward for Limited play because once an opponent Foretold the spell, you knew exactly what it was. Still, it's great to see that WOTC is looking to sprinkle the keyword in when it makes sense, and it offers a little additional flavor to cards.

It's most likely that this won't be Foretell's final appearance in Magic. This keyword introduces a few challenges from a rules standpoint, but the creative design space that the ability opens up is worth that baggage. Here's hoping we see even more interesting "Layaway" cards with Foretell for years to come.