create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.

Blue players:

I think Cyclonic Rift should be banned in EDH.

Now, EDH promotes flexible deckbuilding and cultivates a small banlist to provide tons of options on how people want to play. Cards aren’t really banned unless the multiplayer, 40 life rules of the format really warp the card beyond what its original purpose was.

If you look at Sway of the Stars, you’ll find the reset to 7 life is so much more powerful here. As is Worldfire’s everyone at 1. Cards really aren’t banned unless their power is severely boosted by the high mana, altered life totals/libraries of the format.

So some things about Cyc Rift. What stands out to me is it outclasses every single boardwipe in the game. There are hardly any downsides to it and it shows.

First of all, its a one sided boardwipe that only hits all of your opponents things. The comparison I have here is Plague Wind. Destroy all your opponents’ creatures but let yours live for a high mana cost. Plague Wind only hits in black’s colors, when you look at Cyc Rift it hits every permanent on your opponents’ field. That’s an incredible range of coverage.

On top of that, Mass Calcify, In Garruk’s Wake, Plague Wind, these are all at sorcery speed. Cyc Rift is not only substantially more powerful but it also can be cast during your opponents’ turn.

The card gets two times better when you have three opponents for it. Hitting every nonland permanent only your opponents control in blue at instant speed is absurdly powerful, especially in EDH where boardstates take time to assemble and reassemble. Its a much different impact.

Lastly, how is Cyc Rift used? Similar to how Worldfire can be used to instantly win. My problem with cyc rift in game (is opinionated) is that either the game ends or takes another hour that turn. Either you negate the entire game of magic the gathering by removing the combat element for an OHKO for a win in the least fun way or the game drags on for another hour.

I have no issue with cyclonic rift, using it myself or being used by someone else against me. It’s a card that doesn’t win the game alone, in the same way that a craterhoof only attacks for 6 if cast into an empty board. If I don’t have much going on on my side and I cast a rift, all I did was either protect myself or try to reset the table back to where I am at. If I have a game winning board state and use it to clear the way for a lethal attack, all that rift did was clear out defenses, which any card granting an evasive ability could do, such as a wonder or filth in the graveyard or similar effects, or even the Plague Winds style of cards you mentioned above, which doesn’t need to be at instant speed to get rid of blockers. A world fire setting everyone to 1 life is pretty much a game ender I agree, since 1 life is basically dead and it can easily take just 1 card to finish the table. While a very versatile and very very powerful card, a cyclonic rift doesn’t do that, you need far more to go along with that rift to get anything done, it isn’t a game ender by itself.

I do disagree with the notion that a cyclonic rift undos all the previous magic play before it. Did nothing happen before that rift other than people building board states? Did life totals not change? Graveyards filled? Cards Drawn? Things exiled or destroyed? If the table only sat there building up those battleships, without interacting with one another, before that rift came down, that table has bigger problems. If magic is happening before a rift, things should all ready be being destroyed or removed, damage done, if so then a rift is not like resetting a whole game, sure it is a reset, but if it makes everything that happened before it irrelevant, like I said before, the table has bigger problems to figure out.

I’m not saying a cyclonic rift can’t slow down a game, but so can numerous other Commander staples, stax/prison strats, board wipes in general, land destruction, planeswalkers, tutors, even sensei’s divining top. Even just playing the whole no rush 20 mins(old Starcraft reference for the old people out there) build your battleship up style of Commander is a slow way to play.

Cryptic Command, Mystic Confluence, and Summary Dismissal are all worth there CMC in my opinion. Although I think Supreme Will is underrated.

If you are in mono blue or just a heavy blue centered deck this card should be a consideration at the very least, but options don’t always trump efficiency.

Cryptic Command, Mystic Confluence, and Summary Dismissal are all worth there CMC in my opinion. Although I think Supreme Will is underrated.

Literally every fucking person in this show so far: *is wearing jackets, multiple layers, long sleeve shirts*

THIS IS A GOOD IDEA and I was actually considering something like this but I’ve been out most of the day and haven’t though much on it.