Suspend
Suspend is a keyword ability that debuted in Time Spiral.
From the Comprehensive Rules (November 8, 2024—Edge of Eternities)
- 702.62. Suspend
- 702.62a Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. The first is a static ability that functions while the card with suspend is in a player’s hand. The second and third are triggered abilities that function in the exile zone. “Suspend N—[cost]” means “If you could begin to cast this card by putting it onto the stack from your hand, you may pay [cost] and exile it with N time counters on it. This action doesn’t use the stack,” and “At the beginning of your upkeep, if this card is suspended, remove a time counter from it,” and “When the last time counter is removed from this card, if it’s exiled, you may play it without paying its mana cost if able. If you don’t, it remains exiled. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of the spell or the permanent it becomes.”
- 702.62b A card is “suspended” if it’s in the exile zone, has suspend, and has a time counter on it.
- 702.62c While determining if you could begin to cast a card with suspend, take into consideration any effects that would prohibit that card from being cast.
- 702.62d Casting a spell as an effect of its suspend ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.
- The phrase “if you could cast this card from your hand” checks only for timing restrictions and permissions. This includes both what’s inherent in the card’s type (for example, if the card with suspend is a creature, it must be your main phase and the stack must be empty) and what’s imposed by other abilities, such as flash or Meddling Mage‘s ability. Whether you could follow all steps in playing the card is irrelevant. If the card is impossible to cast due to a lack of legal targets or an unpayable mana cost, for example, it may still be exiled with suspend.
- Exiling a card with its suspend ability is not casting that card. This action doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
History
Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities.[8] The first is a static ability that allows you to exile the card from your hand with the specified number of time counters (the number before the dash) on it by paying its suspend cost (listed after the dash). The second is a triggered ability that removes a time counter from the suspended card at the beginning of each of your upkeeps. The third is a triggered ability that causes you to cast the card when the last time counter is removed. If you cast a creature spell this way, it gains haste until you lose control of that creature (or, in rare cases, you lose control of the creature spell while it’s on the stack).
Suspend lets a player save mana on casting spells by committing to surviving many turns in advance. If one is uncertain on making all their land drops, Suspend helps the player use their mana otherwise. However, many suspend cards are designed to be underwhelming or risky when the opponent has prior warning, and the later one suspends them the higher chance they won’t be cast before the game ends. Suspend also has its visual cue – it involves creatures, enchantments, artifacts, sorceries, or instants coming out of a time wall. Suspended creatures are depicted in their art as emerging through a time rift.
Suspend in practice
Suspend is telegraphing cheaper spell that will come out in later turns and watch your opponent trying to evade it, and in that moment play against their strategy for higher disruption.
