The Moment is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a time counter on The Moment.,
: Untap target creature you control. It phases out until The Moment leaves the battlefield.
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Complete guide
The Moment is a versatile legendary artifact that rewards patience with a powerful board wipe and offers unique protection for your creatures. By accumulating time counters, you can choose the exact second to reset the battlefield or safeguard a key threat. This card is a masterclass in timing and resource management for any artifact-focused strategy.
Accumulating Time
The Moment uses a triggered ability at the start of your upkeep to add a time counter to itself. These counters serve as a gauge for its final activated ability, determining the mana value threshold of permanents it can destroy. Because it grows stronger every turn, your opponents are forced to decide whether to remove it early or risk losing their entire nonland board.
Phasing Out for Safety
For two mana and tapping, you can untap a creature you control and phase it out until The Moment leaves the battlefield. While a creature is phased out, it is treated as though it doesn't exist; it cannot be targeted, damaged, or destroyed. Unlike flickering, phasing out does not cause 'enters the battlefield' or 'leaves the battlefield' abilities to trigger, and any Auras or Equipment attached to the creature stay attached while it is gone.
The Final Countdown
The third ability is a powerful board wipe that scales with time counters. When you activate it as a sorcery, it destroys all nonland permanents with a mana value less than or equal to the counters on it, then you sacrifice The Moment. Note that if The Moment has two or more counters, it will actually destroy itself during the resolution of the ability before the sacrifice instruction occurs. This means 'on sacrifice' triggers will not fire if it is destroyed first.
When to Activate
Use the phasing ability defensively to save your best creature from a removal spell or a board wipe. Since the creature only phases back in once The Moment leaves the battlefield, you can actually use the third ability to destroy the board and then have your protected creature phase back in immediately after The Moment is destroyed/sacrificed, leaving you with the only threat on the table.
Interaction examples
Sol Ring
Arcane SignetIf you have two time counters on The Moment, you can activate its third ability to destroy all nonland permanents with mana value 2 or less. This would destroy both Sol Ring (mana value 1) and Arcane Signet (mana value 2). However, if you first use the second ability to phase out a creature, that creature will not be on the battlefield when the destruction happens. After The Moment is sacrificed as part of its third ability, the creature immediately phases back in.
Imagine you have Sol Ring to provide the mana needed for The Moment's abilities. During your opponent's turn, they cast a spell to destroy your favorite creature. You tap The Moment and pay two mana (using Sol Ring). Your creature untaps and phases out. It now 'doesn't exist' for the game's purposes and the opponent's spell fails. Your creature will remain phased out until The Moment is later destroyed, exiled, or sacrificed.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : The Moment
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If The Moment leaves the battlefield before its first activated ability resolves, the target creature will be untapped, but won't phase out.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
The Moment's last ability will destroy itself before you can sacrifice it if there are two or more time counters on it as its last ability resolves. Effects that trigger when you sacrifice a permanent will not trigger when it is destroyed this way.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
While a permanent is phased out, it's treated as though it doesn't exist. It can't be the target of spells or abilities, its static abilities have no effect on the game, its triggered abilities can't trigger, it can't attack or block, and so on.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
An attacking or blocking creature that phases out is removed from combat.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Phasing out doesn't cause any "leaves the battlefield" abilities to trigger. Similarly, phasing in won't cause any "enters the battlefield" abilities to trigger.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
Any one-shot effects that are waiting "until [this] leaves the battlefield," won't happen when a permanent phases out.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
Any continuous effects with a "for as long as" duration ignore phased-out objects. Any such effects will expire if their conditions are no longer met after ignoring the phased-out objects.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
Each Aura and Equipment attached to a permanent that's phasing out also phases out. They will phase in with that permanent and still be attached to it. Similarly, permanents that phase out with counters phase in with those counters.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
Choices made for permanents as they entered the battlefield are remembered when they phase in.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
A creature phased out by The Moment doesn't phase in during its controller's untap step as normal. Rather, it phases in immediately after The Moment leaves the battlefield.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
Abilities that trigger when a creature becomes tapped won't trigger when the creature phases in tapped.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Popular combos
Real combos played by the community, sorted by popularity.
Volcano Hellion + Lich's Mirror + Rhox Faithmender + The Moment
- 1Cast Volcano Hellion by paying
. - 2When Volcano Hellion enters the battlefield, it triggers, dealing an arbitrarily large amount of damage to you and Volcano Hellion.
- 3Instead of you losing the game as a state-based action, Lich's Mirror causes you to shuffle your hand, graveyard and all permanents you own into your library, causing Rhox Faithmender to phase in as The Moment leaves the battlefield, and causing you to gain life equal to twice the amount of damage dealt to you plus 40.
Volcano Hellion + Lich's Mirror + Defiant Bloodlord + The Moment
- 1Cast Volcano Hellion by paying .
- 2When Volcano Hellion enters the battlefield, it triggers, dealing an arbitrarily large amount of damage to you and Volcano Hellion.
- 3Instead of you losing the game as a state-based action, Lich's Mirror causes you to shuffle your hand, graveyard and all permanents you own into your library, causing Defiant Bloodlord to phase in as The Moment leaves the battlefield, and setting your life total to 20.
- 4Defiant Bloodlord triggers, causing an opponent to lose life equal to the life you gained.
Volcano Hellion + Lich's Mirror + Gollum, Obsessed Stalker + The Moment
- 1Deal combat damage to an opponent using Gollum.
- 2Activate The Moment's first ability by paying and tapping it, phasing out Gollum until The Moment leaves the battlefield.
- 3Cast Volcano Hellion by paying .
- 4When Volcano Hellion enters the battlefield, it triggers, dealing an arbitrarily large amount of damage to you and Volcano Hellion.
- 5Instead of you losing the game as a state-based action, Lich's Mirror causes you to shuffle your hand, graveyard and all permanents you own into your library, causing Gollum to phase in as The Moment leaves the battlefield, and setting your life total to 20.
- 6At the beginning of your end step, Gollum triggers, causing an opponent to lose life equal to the life you gained this turn.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with The Moment
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.