Flashback is one of my absolute favorite mechanics. Flashback is an ability on certain cards that allows the player to cast that card from the graveyard for their specific flashback cost. Sometimes this may include requirements other than paying mana, such as discarding a card or sacrificing a creature.

Flashback first debuted in Odyssey and you could find it throughout the entire block, including the following Torment and Judgment sets. There's a kind of comical perception in Magic that every mechanic is just kicker or a variation of kicker, and that idea isn't wrong. It's something I've thought for a long time, and I've even pitched some designs in games based on the premise of kicker.

Basically, what we're talking about is a card or game object that is good at two different points in the game. In the case of cards with kicker, you have a base cost that you can utilize when you have few resources, then a kicker cost that you can add to the base cost when you have more resources.

Flashback is very similar to this, but with some great nuance. Typically cards with flashback have their primary cost, then they have a flashback cost that is higher. Call of the Herd is one of the most famous examples and one of the most popular Magic cards of all time. It has an initial cost of three mana to make a 3/3 elephant. Then, once in the graveyard, it can be cast again for four mana for another 3/3 elephant.

But there are variations on flashback, which make the mechanic much more interesting!

Sometimes a card's flashback cost is cheaper than its mana cost. Roar of the Wurm was a great example of this. No one wanted to cast Roar of the Wurm for the full seven mana, so they would discard it to cards like Wild Mongrel or Merfolk Looter to cast it for its cheaper flashback cost of four mana.

Another thing flashback cards might have is a different colored flashback cost. The popular Lingering Souls has both of these qualities. The mana cost is two and a White mana, while the flashback cost is one and a black mana. This encourages the player to find ways to get the card into the graveyard to cast it sooner, for less mana. In fact, sometimes decks that didn't even have White mana and couldn't even cast the card normally would play Lingering Souls with the full intent to get it into the graveyard and cast it that way.

Other cards would have alternate flashback costs, such as the powerful Cabal Therapy. Players would often spend a single Black mana to cast Cabal Therapy, look at the opponent's hand, then sacrifice a creature to cast it again once they had full knowledge of the opponent's hand.

Flashback is an incredibly versatile mechanic and, unlike a card's normal mana cost, it allows a nearly endless amount of possibilities for how to price a card's flashback cost. The card often gives you value by being good in the early game, then again in the late game, or it gives players specific tasks to fulfill in order to get a discounted rate, such as on oft-played cards like Echo of Eons or Deep Analysis.

There are even cards that give other cards flashback, like Snapcaster Mage, or more recently, Archmage's Newt!

Flashback is a phenomenal mechanic, and I'm always excited to see it, because there are so many innovative ways to tweak the card. Additionally, mechanics that give your cards both additional value and versatility are often the best in the game. Is it similar to kicker? Yeah, but, in the best way. And besides, kicker is great and every time we see a mechanic like it, it makes the game a little better.

Frank Lepore

Twitch | Twitter | YouTube