Three Wishes 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
Exile the top three cards of your library face down. You may look at those cards for as long as they remain exiled. Until your next turn, you may play those cards. At the beginning of your next upkeep, put any of those cards you didn't play into your graveyard.
Complete guide
Three Wishes is a classic blue utility spell that allows you to dig deep into your library for temporary resources. By exiling the top three cards of your deck face down, you gain private access to tools that can help you navigate the upcoming turn cycles. It provides a burst of card advantage, provided you have the mana to utilize what you find.
How Three Wishes Works
When Three Wishes resolves, you exile the top three cards of your library face down. You are allowed to look at these cards at any time, but your opponents cannot. These cards become available for you to 'play,' which means you can cast them if they are spells or put them onto the battlefield if they are lands, following all normal timing rules and costs. This window of opportunity lasts until the beginning of your next upkeep.
The Upkeep Deadline
The resolution of Three Wishes creates a delayed triggered ability that triggers at the start of your next upkeep. Once this upkeep begins, any cards that remain in exile from this effect are moved to your graveyard. It is important to note that you cannot play the cards during your upkeep before they are discarded; the window to play them strictly ends as the upkeep phase starts and the trigger is placed on the stack.
Strategic Timing
Because Three Wishes is an instant, the best time to cast it is often on an opponent's end step. This gives you the entirety of your own following turn to use the mana you untapped to play the exiled cards. If you cast it during your own turn, you might find yourself with powerful cards in exile but no mana left to cast them before they expire.
Interaction examples
CounterspellYou cast Three Wishes on your opponent's turn and exile a Counterspell. Because you can play these cards until your next turn, you can cast that Counterspell from exile to stop an opponent's threat during their same turn or your own turn, just as if it were in your hand.
Arcane DenialYou have an exiled Arcane Denial from Three Wishes. As soon as your next upkeep begins, the delayed trigger to move unplayed cards to the graveyard goes on the stack. You cannot respond to this trigger by casting the Arcane Denial, as the ability to 'play those cards' has already expired at the start of the upkeep.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Three Wishes
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
You can only play them before the start of your upkeep. Between the start of your upkeep and putting the extra cards into the graveyard, you can’t play them.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
To “play a card” is to either cast a spell or to put a land onto the battlefield using the main phase special action.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
You can look at the three exiled cards at any time.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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Meta decks with Three Wishes
No archived Top 8 deck with this card yet.