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The Time Spiral (TSP) block has often been hailed as a triumph of Magic: The Gathering design work. Despite being a sales flop, players loved how it played with unique space, had serious mechanical depth, and toyed with interesting concepts.
Following Time Spiral's look back at Magic's past, Planar Chaos (PLC) looked at an "alternate present." This led to the game's first "What If?" release, showing alternate versions of how players had come to know Magic over the years.
PLC Essential Details
Planar Chaos was released on February 2, 2007. It was the second set of the Time Spiral block and was made under the design codename "Crackle," coming from "Snap, Crackle, Pop." Its name comes from the Judgment (JUD) card Planar Chaos.
The Design Team included the following people:
- Bill Rose (Lead)
- Matt Place
- Mark Rosewater
- Paul Sottosanti
The Development Team (what we now know as Set Design and Play Design) included:
- Devin Low (Lead)
- Zvi Mowshowitz
- Brian Schneider
- Henry Stern
- Mike Turian
Planar Chaos Products
Booster Packs
When this set was released, the only option was standard booster packs.These Booster Packs featured a unique assortment of cards for the time. Most packs would contain 11 Commons, three Uncommons, and one Rare. Foils would be inserted randomly, with Time Spiral starting to replace a Common with a foil of any rarity.
Thanks to the Timeshifted bonus sheet, things were a bit different this time around, too.
Rather than getting three Uncommons, you get two Uncommons and either an Uncommon or Rare Timeshifted card. This could mean that you'd get two Rares in one pack, or even three if you got lucky with a foil Rare in the same pack.
Additionally, every pack had three guaranteed Timeshifted Common cards in each pack.
Fat Pack & Novel
Planar Chaos also saw the return of the popular Fat Packs. These are basically the same as Bundles, which were rebranded in Kaladesh (KLD).
With Planar Chaos, players received:
- Six Booster Packs
- 40 Basic Lands
- Two Storage Boxes
- Six dividers featuring art from the set
- A Spindown Life Counter
- A Player's Guide
- A Planar Chaos novel
- A random Pro Tour player card
This novel was written by Scott McGough and Timothy Sanders. It follows many characters, including Jhoira, Venser, Lord Windgrace, Freyalise, Radha, and Karn.
Much like the rest of the block's story, this involved the characters attempting to mend the time rifts that were devastating Dominaria. This would lead to the initial desparking of Karn and his return to Mirrodin where his Phyrexian influence began to take hold of him.
Planar Chaos Mechanics
Suspend
Suspend returned in Planar Chaos. It was printed on 12 cards with another three cards caring about it. This mechanic allowed you to pay an alternate cost to cast the spell at a later time. Usually this cost is cheaper, though in some cases it can be more expensive.
A good example of why you'd want to pay more is for an added benefit. Planar Chaos included a cycle of Rare Suspend Creatures that allowed you to pay 
in their Suspend cost to put X Time Counters on them. Every time you removed a Time Counter, you'd get a small, beneficial effect.
Split Second
Split Second also returns from Time Spiral. Split Second prevents other players from taking actions while the spell is on the stack. Only special actions like flipping over a face-down Morph card or activating a mana ability are possible.
Just two new cards appeared in this set with the mechanic: Extirpate and Sulfur Elemental. They both went on to be tournament staples.
Flash
Flash -- a mechanic that allows you to cast spells at Instant speed -- was first made into a keyword in Time Spiral. Planar Chaos added six new cards with Flash into the mix.
Dust Elemental, Stonecloaker, and Whitemane Lion make up a vertical cycle. Each card requires you to return a certain number of Creatures to your hand. While this may seem like a drawback, pairing it with Flash allows you to save your Creature instead. In a time when damage went on the Stack, this was a huge deal for many players.
Vanishing
Technically, Vanishing is yet another returning mechanic but done a little differently. It's a simple reworking of Fading from Nemesis (NEM). Since elements of the mechanic were changed, so was the name.
The change was simple. Fading cards wouldn't leave the battlefield when the last Fading Counter was removed from them. Instead, you'd wait another turn when it would check to see if there was a counter. If there wasn't one, the card was sent to the graveyard.
Many players assumed that the card went away when the final Fading Counter was removed, making cards seem worse than they were. Because of this, Vanishing was made to act the way players assumed Fading worked. The mechanic also played well into the time theme of the block, leading to ten cards using it.
Returning Mechanics
Several older mechanics also made an appearance. Just like with Time Spiral, the following mechanics were included:
- Echo
- Flanking
- Kicker
- Madness
- Morph
Prior to this set, all cards with Echo simply had you repay the card's mana cost. Planar Chaos changed that, mismatching the Echo cost and allowing you to play things a bit differently.
Additionally, Split Cards returned for three cards. Each of these was fully mono-colored -- something not seen before -- with one card for each rarity.
Shifting Evergreen Mechanics
Several colors also saw a then-evergreen mechanic shifted over, giving them access for the first time. These include:
- White gaining a pre-keyword version of Shroud ("This Creature can't be the target of spells of abilities.")
- Blue gained Vigilance.
- Black gained First Strike.
- Red gained Reach.
- Green gained Flying.
Some of these have become much more common since this time. Blue has gained access to Vigilance and Red often has Reach. Black is also tertiary for First Strike, so while it doesn't happen often, it is allowed to do it (mostly on Knights). White would sometimes use Shroud -- and later Hexproof -- though mostly it would grant the ability to a different card.
The big standout is Green having Flying. This is famously something Green isn't able to do barring rare flavor exceptions like Green Dragon. In fact, Green often will hate on Flying with reaching archers, and cards like Plummet and Broken Wings instead.
The Timeshifted Bonus Sheet
Planar Chaos also brought back the Timeshifted bonus sheet from Time Spiral but gave it a fresh twist.
While Time Spiral cared all about looking to the past, Planar Chaos was all about an alternate present. To play into this, Wizards made all of the cards on this Timeshifted sheet alternate color-shifted versions of existing cards. Each came with a slightly different looking frame to highlight this, appearing darker with white text for the name and type lines.
Some of these changes were simple and understandable. Serra Angel became Serra Sphinx, since Blue could generally do these things as well as White. Prodigal Sorcerer was also shifted to Prodigal Pyromancer to put the Pinger ability in Red as opposed to Blue, which no longer did Pinging.
Some of these have been singled out as clear examples of color breaks. Cards like Harmonize and Sunlance represent things that their respective colors shouldn't do, or at least not in the way they're done here.
Major Planar Chaos Cards
Some of the most impactful cards from Planar Chaos either had a big impact on Constructed play or have since become popular in Commander and Cube. Let's look back at them.
Mana Tithe
Mana Tithe was included on the set's Timeshifted sheet as a White version of Force Spike.
Force Spike was often used as a trick to catch players as early as turn one. Mana Tithe allowed players to do the exact same in non-Blue decks, countering spells in an unusual way.
This is one of the only true White Counterspells in the entire game, leading to it becoming a favorite among Cube enthusiasts. Every so often it will show up in Constructed as well and creates memorable stories when it does.
Pongify
Pongify was something unusual at the time for Blue: destroying a Creature and turning it into a 3/3 Ape. While this is something the color can do, doing it in this manner felt odd to many players, especially at such an efficient rate.
This would lead to Pongify becoming a staple of Blue Commander decks that largely lack hard removal options. Sure, your opponent gets a 3/3 out of the deal, but that's a small price to pay for dealing with a game-ending threat.
Damnation
Damnation became the most famous card of the set as a color-shifted Wrath of God. This has made it extremely popular in Commander, Cube, and a fringe player in Constructed formats as well.
The art, done by Kev Walker, mirrored his previous art for Wrath of God. Here, the explosive orb of light at the center is sucking everything into it as opposed to Wrath's blowing everything away. This juxtaposition would be used to tease the set through Wizards' website with the art for Wrath of God slowly turning into Damnation.
Extirpate
Extirpate was a big deal thanks to its ability to remove cards from a graveyard. You then got to take all copies of that card out of that player's hand and library.
The big benefit of this was the addition of the Split Second mechanic as well as its cheap cost. Remember that Cranial Extraction was a major player of Standard just two years prior to this, and 
vs. 
is a huge difference.
Eventually, Extirpate would be overtaken in utility thanks to the printing of Surgical Extraction in New Phyrexia (NPH). Despite how often that card appears by being both "free" and playable in all colors, Extirpate continues to see occasional play. Turns out that not being able to respond to it is a pretty big deal.
Imp's Mischief
Imp's Mischief is a great example of a card doing something its color usually doesn't allow. In this case, it's Black offering a Redirection effect.
Both from PLC, this card and Muck Drubb are the only cards in Black that allow Redirection. Imp's Mischief is the most impactful of the two as it lets you change the target to whatever you want. The Drubb can only Redirect to itself, making it less useful against an ability targeting a spell or a player.
The uniqueness of this effect has made it popular in Commander, especially cEDH. Redirecting a critical spell can be huge, and Imp's Mischief provides the perfect way to do so.
Akroma, Angel of Fury
Akroma, Angel of Fury continued the block's emphasis on players' favorite Legendary Angel.
Here, we got to see an alternate take on Akroma with a variety of different keywords. Her Protection effects changed from "Black and Red" to "White and Blue." Additionally, she lost Vigilance, First Strike, and Haste. In exchange, she couldn't be Countered, gained Firebreathing, and had an optional Morph cost.
Akroma's morph ability is a story callout to her relationship with Ixidor. Ixidor was treated as the man behind Morph in Onslaught (ONS). Giving this version of Akroma these abilities ties her to Ixidor, Reality Sculptor, both in flavor and mechanics.
Simian Spirit Guide
Simian Spirit Guide was designed as a color-shifted version of Elvish Spirit Guide from Alliances (ALL). Both cards are regarded now as fundamental design mistakes for cheating on mana quickly.
Using this mana early leads to extremely explosive plays right out of the gate and has enabled many fast kills. As a result, it was eventually banned from Modern in 2021 alongside Tibalt's Trickery, which helped power out as early as the first turn.
Harmonize
Harmonize has become a staple of Green Commander decks and Cubes. This is due to the novelty of how it draws multiple cards at once for just 
. Despite its popularity, it's also somewhat controversial.
This card has frequently been cited by Wizards as a color pie break. Typically, Green only draws cards by Creatures' Enter-the-Battlefield Triggers or using a Green-related effect. This is none of those things but has led to many players trying to use it as an example of how Green can use this sort of effect.
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth became famous for its ability to turn all Lands into Swamps. This created synergies with Swampwalk effects, as well as cards like Cabal Coffers, Mutilate, and Corrupt. It's a great way to fix your mana, effectively turning Basic Lands into Dual Lands, though it can also benefit your opponents.
A Forest version would come in Modern Horizons 2 (MH2) with Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth. Wizards has stated multiple times that it's unlikely we'll see the remaining colors. This is because of the existence of cards like Flashfires, Boil, and Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle.
The Five Dragons
A cycle of five Wedge-color Legendary Dragons were included in this set:
This cycle provided an alternate take on the five Dragons of Invasion (INV), which were Shard-colored.
Each one had a Triggered Ability that would go off when you dealt combat damage to a player. By paying a set amount of mana involving the card's central color, you could gain an ability unique to that Legend.
These five cards were special at the time for being (mostly) the only wedge-colored Legends of the time. The only other one from this era was Doran, the Siege Tower, which would come out later in the year. As a result, these five cards were huge for the early days of Commander.
The cycle was further highlighted when Oros, the Avenger was made the Prerelease foil for the set.
Planar Chaos Precons
Planar Chaos brought with it four 60-card Preconstructed Decks. These decks were aimed at new players and emphasized the mechanics of the set and block.
Endless March
As you look through Endless March, you might think it's a Red-White Aggro deck. It's actually a Vanishing deck using Creatures with aggressive rates that burn out fast.
If you pair these with the likes of Whitemane Lion, Stonecloaker, and Dust Elemental, you can return them to your hand before the last time counter is removed. This saves your Creatures, letting you get even more beatdowns later in the game.
The deck's Rares were Dust Elemental and Fatal Frenzy. Timeshifted cards from Time Spiral included Avalanche Riders, Icatian Javelineers, and Soltari Priest.
Ixidor's Legacy
Ixidor's Legacy pays tribute to the Onslaught character Ixidor, Reality Sculptor. Ixidor was known for his synergy with Morph Creatures and this deck is all about this type of card.
The deck is constructed in such a way that once you turn your Morph Creatures face-up, you can return them to your hand. This will allow you to replay them once more and get even more value out of them.
The deck's Rares were Aeon Chronicler and Serendib Sorcerer. Timeshifted cards from Time Spiral included Desert, Ovinomancer, Unstable Mutation, and Willbender.
Rituals of Rebirth
Rituals of Rebirth is something a bit unusual at the Precon level: a full blown Reanimator deck.
This list uses a variety of discard outlets to put big Creatures into the graveyard. Cast copies of Dread Return and Resurrection and put these big threats straight onto the battlefield and dominate the game.
The deck's Rares were Jedit Ojanen of Efrava and Teneb, the Harvester. Timeshifted cards from Time Spiral included Resurrection, Sengir Autocrat, Spike Feeder, Twisted Abomination, and Wall of Roots.
Unraveling Mind
The last deck, Unraveling Mind, is also all about sending cards to your graveyard, but for a different purpose.
Using Spellshaper Creatures, you can discard cards with Madness. This will allow you to cast these cards for a much cheaper cost and tear your opponents apart.
The deck's Rares were Magus of the Arena and Mirri the Cursed. Timeshifted cards from Time Spiral included Browbeat, Dauthi Slayer, Disintegrate, Fiery Temper, and Undertaker.
Tournament Decks of the Era
Next, let's take a look at some decks from this time period. I could only find decklists for one Standard event between the release of Planar Chaos and Grand Prix Kyoto 2007.
Izzet Tron
Izzet Tron Control | PLC Standard | Yuuya Watanabe, 1st Place Grand Prix Kyoto 2007
- Creatures (7)
- 3 Bogardan Hellkite
- 4 Sulfur Elemental
- Instants (16)
- 3 Electrolyze
- 4 Mana Leak
- 4 Remand
- 3 Repeal
- 2 Spell Burst
- Sorceries (8)
- 4 Compulsive Research
- 2 Demonfire
- 2 Tidings
- Artifacts (6)
- 2 Dimir Signet
- 4 Izzet Signet
- Lands (23)
- 2 Island
- 4 Shivan Reef
- 4 Steam Vents
- 1 Urza's Factory
- 4 Urza's Mine
- 4 Urza's Power Plant
- 4 Urza's Tower
- Sideboard (15)
- 4 Annex
- 3 Bottle Gnomes
- 1 Commandeer
- 1 Mystical Teachings
- 2 Serrated Arrows
- 1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir
- 1 Vesuva
- 2 Vesuvan Shapeshifter
The winning deck of the event was an Izzet (
) take on Tron in the hands of Yuuya Watanabe.
This version of the deck used the high amounts of mana provided by the Urza Lands (aka Urzatron) to cast big spells. This would let you control the game until you could cast huge game-ending threats like Bogardan Hellkite and Demonfire.
The new Sulfur Elemental appeared here as a four-of to combat many decks using small White Creatures to win games with.
Project X
Project X | PLC Standard | Yuusuke Iwasaki, 2nd Place Grand Prix Kyoto 2007
- Creatures (32)
- 4 Birds of Paradise
- 3 Crypt Champion
- 4 Dark Confidant
- 2 Elves of Deep Shadow
- 3 Essence Warden
- 1 Ghost Council of Orzhova
- 4 Loxodon Hierarch
- 1 Orzhov Pontiff
- 4 Saffi Eriksdotter
- 2 Teysa, Orzhov Scion
- 4 Wall of Roots
- Instants (5)
- 3 Chord of Calling
- 2 Putrefy
- Sorceries (3)
- 3 Castigate
- Lands (20)
- 2 Forest
- 1 Plains
- 1 Brushland
- 1 Caves of Koilos
- 2 Gemstone Mine
- 1 Godless Shrine
- 2 Llanowar Wastes
- 1 Orzhov Basilica
- 3 Overgrown Tomb
- 1 Pendelhaven
- 1 Selesnya Sanctuary
- 4 Temple Garden
- Sideboard (15)
- 1 Castigate
- 3 Deathmark
- 1 Glare of Subdual
- 3 Jotun Grunt
- 1 Loxodon Warhammer
- 2 Mortify
- 1 Mystic Enforcer
- 1 Nekrataal
- 2 Persecute
The second-place deck, Project X, is probably the most unique among these lists. Piloted by Yuusuke Iwasaki, this combo deck takes advantage of the synergy between Crypt Champion and Saffi Eriksdotter.
If you cast the Crypt Champion without paying , it will die. You then Sacrifice Saffi to her own ability to bring Crypt Champion back. When it returns, its first Triggered Ability will bring back Saffi once again, creating a loop.
This allows you to do things like gain infinite life with Essence Warden and generate an infinite number of tokens with Teysa, Orzhov Scion. Once you have enough tokens, you can also Exile all of your opponents' Creatures to lock up the game.
Solar Flare
Solar Flare | PLC Standard | Tsubasa Tomil, 4th Place Grand Prix Kyoto 2007
- Creatures (11)
- 2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath
- 3 Angel of Despair
- 2 Body Double
- 4 Court Hussar
- Instants (4)
- 4 Remand
- Sorceries (15)
- 3 Castigate
- 4 Compulsive Research
- 2 Persecute
- 2 Tidings
- 4 Wrath of God
- Artifacts (7)
- 4 Azorius Signet
- 2 Dimir Signet
- 1 Phyrexian Totem
Solare Flare was another popular deck from this era, piloted here by Tsubasa Tomil.
It played very much like a Control deck but used several mana rocks to ramp into big threats like Angel of Despair and Akroma, Angel of Wrath. If you happened to discard one of these Creatures via Compulsive Research, you could even Reanimate them using the new Body Double from the set.
The inclusion of Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth also helped to smooth out the deck's mana, making it easier to cast your Black spells.
Weird Facts About Planar Chaos
The Story of Timbermare
Many cards throughout the Time Spiral block were references to other cards and lore tidbits from throughout the history of Magic.
It wouldn't be shocking if you saw Timbermare and thought it was little more than a nod to Thundermare. There's a clear correlation in how similar the two designs are and Thundermare being extremely popular in its time.
However, pro player Jamie Wakefield -- known for playing big Green Creatures -- was given the opportunity to reveal the card. His wife, named Mare (short for Marilyn), passed away from ovarian cancer nearly a year prior in 2006. The name, flavor text, and yellow-green visuals in the art were all a nod to her. It was also made into a strong Green Creature so that Jamie would "have to play it."
This story touched not only Jamie but captured the hearts of Magic fans everywhere when they heard about it. It's rare for Wizards to pay tribute like this, but in doing so, they created a legendary moment in the game's history.
The References Continue
Much like with Time Spiral, nearly every card in Planar Chaos references cards from the game's past. They're largely presented as alternate takes rather than references or outright throwbacks.
Here are some more examples:
- The "Magus of the..." cycle (ex. Magus of the Tabernacle) all take their names and abilities from a famous Land. The referenced Lands include Cabal Coffers, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale, Bazaar of Baghdad, Arena, and Library of Alexandria.
- In the original story, Crovax kills the angel Selenia and is cursed. He then kills the cat woman Mirri after she follows him, as depicted in the art used for Curiosity. In this set, the roles are reversed. Curiosity is color-shifted to Keen Sense and both characters get alternate versions in Crovax, Ascendant Hero and Mirri the Cursed.
- Ridged Kusite is the Creature depicted in the original art for the card Guided Strike. The card's name is an anagram of "Guided Strike" and its Spellshaper Ability casts that spell.
- Circle of Affliction is an alternate take on the various Circle of Protection cards (or, perhaps specifically, Story Circle).
- Stingscourger is a Goblin that bounces Creatures back to their owner's hand. The art depicts a Goblin wielding a Man-o'-War, which bounces Creatures when it enters.
- Torchling is a callback to Morphling and began a mega cycle that wouldn't be finished until 2019 with the printing of Endling in Modern Horizons (MH1).
Conclusion
Planar Chaos was a wild set in an especially wild block.
The color-shifting led to numerous Color Pie mistakes, but the set's appeal as a "What If?" set has made many players ask Wizards to revisit the concept. Reality Fracture is set to be just that, minus the Color Pie breaks and bleeding from Planar Chaos.
Paige Smith
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