Future Sight

Future Sight is the third expansion in the Time Spiral block and forty-second Magic: The Gathering expansion. It was released on May 4, 2007, and contains 180 cards, as was customary at the time of its release for small sets, of which 81 cards are "futureshifted". The prerelease events for this set were held on April 21–22, 2007.

Set details
Future Sight  contains 180 all new black-bordered cards (60 rare, 60 uncommon, and 60 commons), including 81 futureshifted cards (27 of each rarity - not including mythic rare, which didn't exist at the time). The theme of this expansion is "the future"; to fit the theme of the block ("time"). Future Sight introduced a new card type: Tribal. The set also was to include one or more Planeswalker cards, but the design was not ready on time, so they were put off until the Lorwyn expansion. The expansion symbol of the set is an eye, maybe looking through a rift.

Timeshifted
The set features 81 timeshifted “pre-prints”, i.e. cards that have not been printed before but may appear in a future set, also known as futureshifted. Each of the cards features some quality that has never appeared in the game before, such as a new keyword ability (Fleshwrither), the application of a new keyword for an old ability (Thornweald Archer), or even referencing cards and card types that do not exist yet (Goldmeadow Lookout, Steamflogger Boss ). Each of these unique aspects appear on only a small number of cards, indicating that they may be more properly explored in later sets.

Additionally, most of the cards in some way reference unexplored planes, hinting at potential themes and locations for upcoming sets. The cards also feature a new “futuristic” card frame to hint at potential changes to the layout of Magic cards and to denote which cards are actually timeshifted. However, it has been confirmed that the Future Sight frame will not become the norm for subsequent sets. The new card frame sports specific type icons for different card types (which were later included in Magic Online as card-filtering buttons, although they have not reappeared in the actual game, except for the land symbol, which has been reused in Ixalan). If the card has a single card type, this icon indicates what it is: claw marks for creature, a flame for sorcery, a lightning bolt for instant, a sunrise for enchantment, a chalice for artifact, and a pair of mountain peaks for land. If the card has multiple card types, that's indicated by a black and white cross. This icon has no effect on game play. As with Planar Chaos, the cards have the standard colored rarity symbols.

Marketing
Future Sight was sold in 15-card boosters, four preconstructed theme decks and a fat pack. The decks and the fat pack contained a Pro Tour Players Card. The booster packs featured artwork from Korlash, Heir to Blackblade, Tarox Bladewing and Akroma's Memorial. The prerelease card was the foil alternate art Korlash, Heir to Blackblade. The release card was Storm Entity</c>. The set was accompanied by the novel of the same name, written by Scott McGough.

The boosters contain regular numbers for rarities — that is, one rare, three uncommons, and eleven commons — but varying numbers of futureshifted cards, "somewhere between five to ten, literally".

Flavor and Storyline
The quest to mend Dominaria’s temporal and planar damage continues. A temporal rift connected to an alternate Dominaria has enabled Phyrexian horrors to cross over into the present day. Freyalise is gone, having given her planeswalker's spark and her life to close that rift, thereby protecting her sanctum of Skyshroud one last time.

But time fractures still plague Dominaria. The damage to the planar fabric at Tolaria was so severe that it couldn't be healed — not in the present day. The heroes seek out the planeswalker Karn, the only being ever to travel through time. To heal Tolaria's rift, Karn uses the full extent of his planeswalking power to enter the rift and return to the past, to the moment before the archwizard Barrin cast a spell that obliterated countless Phyrexians and himself. Karn succeeds and seals the planar rift before Barrin's actions can rip it open. In the next moment, Karn is lost.

Even as Venser begins to realize his full potential, the planeswalker Jeska returns to Dominaria for the first time since Karona fell. Her friend and ally Karn is gone, and someone will pay. An ancient, evil intelligence drives Jeska's wrath and threatens to undermine Teferi and Jhoira’s efforts to complete Dominaria’s healing: Leshrac has returned.

Mechanics
Bloodthirst, convoke, cycling, dredge, graft, hellbent, scry, and transmute are all reused mechanics from previous sets.

Lifelink, reach, and shroud were newly-keyworded abilities. They had previously been in the game but fully spelled out on cards.

Future Sight introduced the following new mechanics:
 * Absorb n (If a source would deal damage to this creature, prevent n of that damage.)
 * This ability has a number parameter and appears only on creatures; a creature with absorb prevents the listed number of damage if it would be dealt damage. In Future Sight, absorb appears on only one card; this card is Lymph Sliver</c>. It has not yet returned as of.
 * Deathtouch (Whenever this creature deals damage to a creature, destroy that creature.)
 * Variations of this ability had long been present (the earliest being Stronghold's Lowland Basilisk</c>), but only now did it receive a keyword, as well as slightly different rules mechanics which (via the keyword) became the standard thereafter (however, its rules changed in Magic 2010). In Future Sight, deathtouch appears on only one card: Thornweald Archer</c>. The ability has since become an evergreen keyword, replacing other variations of the "basilisk/medusa" ability which did not rely on actual damage-dealing.
 * Delve (You may remove any number of cards in your graveyard from the game as you play this spell. It costs 1 less to play for each card removed this way.)
 * This ability reduces the playing cost of a card with this ability by one generic mana for each card exiled as one plays it. In Future Sight, delve appears on only three cards; these cards are Logic Knot</c>, Death Rattle</c>, and Tombstalker</c>. Delve returned in Khans of Tarkir, as the clan mechanic of the Sultai Brood.
 * Fateseal n (Look at the top n cards of an opponent's library, then put any number of them on the bottom of that player’s library and the rest on top in any order.)
 * This is an extrapolation of scry. It used to be called "evil scry." In Future Sight, fateseal appears on only two cards; these card are Mesmeric Sliver</c>, Spin into Myth</c>. Fateseal was later used, without the keyword, as the +2 ability on Jace, the Mind Sculptor</c>.
 * Fortify [cost] ([cost]: Attach to target land you control. Fortify only as a sorcery. This card comes into play unattached and stays in play if the land leaves play.)
 * This ability appears on Fortifications. It works exactly the same as equip, but affects a land instead of a creature. In Future Sight, fortify appears on only one card: Darksteel Garrison</c>. Fortifications have not yet returned as of.
 * Frenzy n (Whenever this creature attacks and isn't blocked, it gets +n/+0 until end of turn.)
 * In Future Sight, frenzy appears on only one card: Frenzy Sliver</c>. It has not yet returned as of . (The much older card Murk Dwellers</c> has an ability that is functionally identical to frenzy 2, but has never been ruled as actually using the keyword.)
 * Grandeur (Discard another card named [Cardname]: [Effect]. )
 * Thus far, this ability word only appears on legendary creatures. When the creature with grandeur is in play, it allows its controller to discard a card that has the same name for special effects. Tactically, this allows for a player to dispose of extra copies of a card that would otherwise be useless, due to the "legend rule". In Future Sight, grandeur appears on five cards, a cycle of rare, legendary creatures, who are the descendants or successors of famed legends of Magic: The Gathering history; these cards are Oriss, Samite Guardian</c> (Orim, Samite Healer</c>), Linessa, Zephyr Mage</c> (<c>Alexi, Zephyr Mage</c>), <c>Korlash, Heir to Blackblade</c> (<c>Dakkon Blackblade</c>), <c>Tarox Bladewing</c> (<c>Rorix Bladewing</c>), and <c>Baru, Fist of Krosa</c> (<c>Kamahl, Fist of Krosa</c>).
 * Gravestorm (When you play this spell, copy it for each permanent put into a graveyard from play this turn. You may choose new targets for the copies.)
 * This ability, similar to the storm ability, copies a spell with the ability for each permanent put into a graveyard from play, rather than for each spell played. In Future Sight, gravestorm appears on only one card: <c>Bitter Ordeal</c>. It has not yet returned as of.
 * Lifelink (Whenever this creature deals damage, its controller gains that much life.)
 * Like deathtouch, this ability has long been in the game, albeit more frequently used, but only now a keyword. In Future Sight, lifelink appears on only two cards: <c>Daybreak Coronet</c> and <c>Mistmeadow Skulk</c>. The ability has since become evergreen and is no longer a triggered ability, but rather a static ability that adds life gain as a secondary effect of damage, along with loss of life and marking damage on creatures.
 * Poisonous n (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player gets n poison counter(s). A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
 * Like deathtouch and lifelink, the ability has long been in the game, albeit used in the earlier sets and expansions, but only now a keyword. In Future Sight, poisonous appears on only two cards: <c>Snake Cult Initiation</c> and <c>Virulent Sliver</c>. Poisonous has not yet returned as of ; instead, poison counters returned in the form of the Infect mechanic in Scars of Mirrodin block and the card <c>Fynn the Fangbearer</c> has an ability that grants effectively Poisonous 2 to creatures with deathtouch but is not keyworded.
 * Reach (This creature can block creatures with flying.)
 * The keyword reach clears up many of the confusions posed by "This creature may block as though it had flying" and "This creature can block as though it had flying", abilities that frequently appear on Spiders, and interactions with cards like <c>Silhana Ledgewalker</c> and <c>Treetop Scout</c>, a creature without flying that can only be blocked by creatures with flying. The ability has long been in the game but is only now a keyword. In Future Sight, reach appears on only one card: <c>Thornweald Archer</c>. It has been an evergreen ability ever since, just as the original non-keyworded ability was.
 * Shroud (This permanent can't be the target of spells and abilities.)
 * The ability has long been in the game but was not a keyword before Future Sight. Shroud remained evergreen in Magic until Scars of Mirrodin, after which it was effectively replaced by hexproof. In Future Sight, shroud appears on only one card: <c>Quagnoth</c>.
 * Aura swap [cost] ([cost]: Exchange this permanent with an Aura card in your hand.)
 * In Future Sight, aura swap appears on only one card: <c>Arcanum Wings</c>. It has not returned as of.
 * Transfigure [cost] ([cost], Sacrifice this creature: Search your library for a creature card with the same converted mana cost as this creature and put that into play. Then shuffle your library. Play only as a sorcery.)
 * This ability is "a mechanical evolution of transmute from Ravnica: City of Guilds, except this mechanic turns a creature in play into another creature from your library rather than turning a card in hand into another card from your library." In Future Sight, transfigure appears on only one card: <c>Fleshwrither</c>. It has not yet returned as of.
 * Tribal a card type, which must always appear with another card type (e.g. <c>Bound in Silence</c>)
 * Tribal cards have a set of subtypes that are shared with creature types; Tribal cards give creature types to non-creature cards. Tribal was used in Lorwyn block, which had a major tribal theme, and it returned in Rise of the Eldrazi. It has now fallen out of favor with R&D and is unlikely to be used again.
 * [Type]cycling [cost] ([cost], Discard this card: Search your library for a [type] card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then shuffle your library.)
 * This ability is not new, as such, as it is effectively the same ability seen in the Scourge expansion; it is, however, new in the sense that the ability can now search out cards other than lands with a basic land type. In Future Sight, [type]cycling, in the form of Wizardcycling and Slivercycling, appears on only two cards, respectively <c>Vedalken Aethermage</c> and <c>Homing Sliver</c>. The latter as is usual for Sliver abilities grants all Sliver cards (in players' hands) Slivercycling. While cycling has returned thrice in Alara block, Amonkhet block and Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, this cycling variant has not.

Cycles
Future Sight has 12 cycles and a vertical cycle:

Functional reprints
Future Sight has one functional reprint and one card that is nearly so:
 * <c>Fomori Nomad</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Obsidian Giant</c> from Portal Second Age.
 * <c>Barren Glory</c> is a near functional reprint, and black-bordered version, of <c>The Cheese Stands Alone</c> from Unglued.

Notable cards

 * <c>Grove of the Burnwillows</c>, a nonbasic land that is a powerful damage engine when combined with <c>Punishing Fire</c>, which has been used in multiple formats.
 * <c>Bridge from Below</c>, a strong card which would give an extra boost to the already strong Extended Friggorid deck.
 * <c>Magus of the Moon</c>, a remake of <c>Blood Moon</c> with a body, used to punish control decks that heavily rely on non-basic lands.
 * <c>Narcomoeba</c>, which sees play in decks that dump their library into the graveyard, especially in conjunction with <c>Dread Return</c>.
 * <c>Riftsweeper</c>, beside <c>Pull from Eternity</c> the only card at the time that could access the exiled zone and manipulate cards there.
 * <c>Sarcomite Myr</c> was the first artifact card to require colored mana for its casting cost. It previewed the widespread use of colored artifacts that require colored mana for their casting costs in the Alara block. It also somewhat previewed <c>Reaper King</c> from Shadowmoor, although Reaper King, while all colors, has colored mana in its casting cost as an option.  It is not, however, the first artifact card to have had a color, as <c>Transguild Courier</c> from Dissension, which has a casting cost of, is all colors.
 * <c>Sword of the Meek</c>, which was completely ignored when it first came out, but eventually found itself on the Extended and Modern banned lists due to the abuse of the card with <c>Thopter Foundry</c>. It was later unbanned in April 2016 and was not particularly impacting on the format.
 * <c>Tarmogoyf</c> — a <c>Lhurgoyf</c>-type creature whose power and toughness is variable, dependent on the number of different card types in players' graveyards. Due to the remarkable speed at which this creature can grow and its performance in top-tier decks, it has become one of the most sought-after cards in this set. This card's reminder text foretold of the card type Planeswalker.
 * <c>Tombstalker</c> a rare, evasive 5/5 creature with potential to be cast for just  if you exile 6 cards from your graveyard.
 * <c>Dryad Arbor</c>, a green creature that is also a forest land, carrying the properties of both. As a creature, it can attack and block as usual, but suffers from summoning sickness, leaving it unable to attack and unable to tap for mana the turn it's played. As a land, it isn't a spell and therefore uncounterable, can tap for one green mana (the following turn) and has no mana cost, but normal rules for playing lands still applies. It is also the only land that is actually colored. It sees a lot of play in conjunction with <c>Green Sun's Zenith</c> allowing that card to ramp your mana on turn one.

Theme decks
The preconstructed theme decks are: