Return to Dust (CMM)

Return to Dust
Casting Cost: {2}{W}{W}
Card Type: Instant

Card Text:
Exile target artifact or enchantment. If you cast this spell during your main phase, you may exile up to one other target artifact or enchantment.

Flavour Text:
Some timelines forever fray, branch, and intermingle. Others end abruptly.

Artist: Wayne Reynolds

Return to Dust epitomizes the cleansing and purifying essence of white mana in Magic: The Gathering. This color is frequently associated with order, law, and the removal of threats or corruptions, often through means that feel absolute and final.

The functionality of the card is twofold:

1. The basic effect of exiling an artifact or enchantment represents white's ability to deal with non-creature threats. Rather than simply destroying the target, this spell exiles it, a more potent form of removal in the game because it prevents any form of recurrence or resurrection.

2. The additional effect — allowing the caster to target a second artifact or enchantment if the spell is cast during their main phase — encourages strategic play. It incentivizes players to use the spell during their turn, rather than in response to an opponent's actions, which is how instants are often used. This captures the essence of white's proactiveness in maintaining order, rather than just reacting to chaos.

The flavour text is particularly poignant. The metaphor of timelines and their unpredictable natures reflects the unpredictability of the game itself. Some plans (or timelines) in the game develop and unfold over time, with strategies intertwining and evolving. Others are suddenly halted, often due to a well-timed intervention like Return to Dust. The abrupt ending of such timelines, or strategies, can be game-changing, and this spell is a testament to that power.

The artist, Wayne Reynolds, would likely portray this moment of disruption and cleansing with a visual flourish. One could envision a radiant light illuminating the artifact or enchantment as it disintegrates or is unmade, its form scattering into the ether, with the background possibly showing the branching, fractal-like paths of multiple timelines, some of which suddenly terminate.

All in all, Return to Dust is more than just a removal spell. It's a testament to white mana's capacity to uphold order, even if it means abruptly ending potential threats before they fully manifest.