Reality Strobe
Reality Strobe: Sorcery, Future Sight. Return target permanent to its owner's hand. Exile Reality Strobe with three time counters on it. On Mana Grove.
- Mana cost
- {4}{U}{U}
- Mana value
- 6
- Type
- Sorcery
- Colour identity
- Blue (U)
- Rarity
- Uncommon
- Set
- Future Sight (FUT)
- Released
- 2007-05-04
- Collector number
- 43
- Artist
- Dan Murayama Scott
- Commander rank
- 10,363 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
- Keywords
- Suspend
Build around this card with Grover
About Reality Strobe
Reality Strobe is a Magic: The Gathering card, an uncommon blue sorcery from Future Sight (FUT), an expansion set released in May 2007. It is collector number 43 in that set, with art by Dan Murayama Scott. It costs {4}{U}{U} (four generic and two blue mana) to cast, for a mana value of 6. Its colour identity is blue. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker and PreDH. Future Sight is its only printing so far. The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.76 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-01).
Card text
Return target permanent to its owner's hand. Exile Reality Strobe with three time counters on it.
Suspend 3-{2}{U} (Rather than cast this card from your hand, you may pay {2}{U} and exile it with three time counters on it. At the beginning of your upkeep, remove a time counter. When the last is removed, you may cast it without paying its mana cost.)
Market price
Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.76 (as of 2026-11-01).
The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.
Format legality
Legality of Reality Strobe by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.
| Modern | Legal |
|---|---|
| Legacy | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Duel Commander | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| PreDH | Legal |
Official rulings
The 8 most recent official rulings for Reality Strobe, newest first.
- If the second triggered ability is countered, the card can't be cast. It remains exiled with no time counters on it, and it's no longer suspended.
- If the card has {X} in its mana cost, you must choose 0 as the value of X when casting it without paying its mana cost.
- The mana value of a spell cast without paying its mana cost is determined by its mana cost, even though that cost wasn't paid.
- You can exile a card in your hand using suspend any time you could cast that card. Consider its card type, any effects that modify when you could cast it (such as flash) and any other effects that stop you from casting it (such as from Meddling Mage's ability) to determine if and when you can do this. Whether you could actually complete all steps in casting the card is irrelevant. For example, you can exile a card with suspend that has no mana cost or that requires a target even if no legal targets are available at that time.
- When the last time counter is removed, the second triggered ability of suspend (the one that lets you cast the card) triggers. It doesn't matter why the last time counter was removed or what effect removed it.
- Cards exiled with suspend are exiled face up.
- Exiling a card with suspend isn't casting that card. This action doesn't use the stack and can't be responded to.
- Suspend is a keyword that represents three abilities. 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 gives you the option to cast the card when the last time counter is removed.
Similar cards
Other sorcery cards with a blue colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.
In these card lists
These card lists include Reality Strobe.