Card Spotlight
Cyclonic Rift
A two-mana blue instant that returns a nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. Overloaded for {6}{U}, it returns every nonland permanent you don't control.
Commander Spotlight
Cyclonic Rift ↗
A two-mana blue instant that returns a nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. Overloaded for {6}{U}, it returns every nonland permanent you don't control.
See Cyclonic Rift's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- One-sided reset. The overload clears every opponent's nonland permanents and leaves yours, which can turn an even board into a winning attack.
- Flexible early removal. For {1}{U} it bounces a single threat at instant speed, so it's useful in the early turns as well as the late game.
- Spell recursion. Creatures that return an instant to hand, such as Mnemonic Wall, let you overload it more than once.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
It's an instant, never a commander. It goes in the 99 of a blue deck.
In the 99
One of blue's strongest late-game cards in any deck that can reach seven mana. The thing to weigh is the bracket: as a Game Changer it uses one of a Bracket 3 deck's three slots, and it can't go in a Bracket 1 or 2 deck at all.
Formats it's strong in
- Blue ramp and control decks. Decks that reach seven mana reliably can hold up the overload at the end of an opponent's turn.
- Bracket 4 and cEDH-adjacent pods. With no Game Changer limit, it's a standard finisher and a reset button against stax and wide boards.
Formats it's weak in
- Bracket 1 and 2 tables. Game Changers aren't allowed in those brackets, so it doesn't belong in a deck built for them.
- Decks short on mana. Without seven mana it is a two-mana bounce spell, which is fine but not the card people play it for.
Synergistic cards
Spellseeker ↗
Searches your library for an instant or sorcery with mana value 2 or less, and Cyclonic Rift's mana value is 2.
Mnemonic Wall ↗
Returns an instant or sorcery from your graveyard to your hand when it enters, so a cast Rift can be overloaded again.
Archaeomancer ↗
The same return effect as Mnemonic Wall on a cheaper body, for a second copy of the rebuy.
Gilded Lotus ↗
Adds three mana of one color, which covers almost half of the overload cost.
Is it worth the price?
Cyclonic Rift is mid-priced to expensive. It has been reprinted in Modern Masters 2017, Double Masters, Commander Masters and Ravnica Remastered, and the price has held up across all of them. Worth buying for a blue deck in Bracket 3 or higher; skip it for a deck meant for Brackets 1 and 2, where it isn't allowed.
Frequently asked questions
How does Cyclonic Rift's overload work?
If you cast it for {6}{U}, the word "target" becomes "each," so it returns every nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. Your own permanents stay where they are, and tokens returned to hand cease to exist. Because it doesn't target, hexproof and shroud don't stop it.
Is Cyclonic Rift a Game Changer?
Yes. It's on the Game Changers list, so it isn't allowed in Brackets 1 and 2, counts as one of the three Game Changers allowed in Bracket 3, and has no limit in Brackets 4 and 5.
When should you cast an overloaded Cyclonic Rift?
Most often at the end of the opponent's turn right before yours. Their boards are cleared, you untap with yours intact, and they have to replay everything while you attack or deploy. Cast on your own turn, it gives each opponent a full turn to rebuild before you can use the advantage.