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Brainstorm

Instant

Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.

CMC
1
Mana cost
{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
common
Set
Double Masters
Price
$2.50
EDHREC rank
#69
Buy on TCGplayer
Brainstorm card art
Brainstorm draws three cards and sculpts your hand for a single blue mana — the catch is you put two cards back on top, which is a cost that ranges from irrelevant to actively good depending on your deck. Commanders like God-Eternal Kefnet and Aminatou, Veil Piercer don't just tolerate the two-card replacement; they exploit it, turning the 'downside' into a second layer of value.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern not legal
pioneer not legal
standard not legal
vintage restricted
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

Brainstorm is restricted in Vintage — one copy per deck, full stop — which tells you everything about its ceiling in a format where the graveyard and library are resources to be weaponized. Legacy and Pauper leave it unrestricted, and it's a format staple in both. Modern and Pioneer never inherited it. Commander gives it a clean pass because the 99-card singleton singleton structure and slower game pace mean the two-cards-back clause rarely locks you out; shuffle effects from fetchlands or tutors are common enough to clear the top whenever you need to, and the raw card selection at one mana is simply too efficient to leave in the binder.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Aminatou, Veil Piercer

Aminatou, Veil Piercer

83.8% of decks · synergy 0.67

Aminatou, Veil Piercer appears in over 83% of Brainstorm builds for good reason: her ability to manipulate the top of the library turns Brainstorm's two-cards-back into a feature, letting you park specific cards on top to be replayed or cascaded into on demand.

02

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student

79.4% of decks · synergy 0.65

Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student rewards casting instants and sorceries to flip and level up, and Brainstorm is one of the cheapest ways to tick that progress while simultaneously stacking the top of your library for Tamiyo's later activated abilities.

03
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa

Kenessos, Priest of Thassa

79.7% of decks · synergy 0.65

Kenessos, Priest of Thassa cheats Serpents and Krakens into play off the top of the library, so Brainstorm's ability to load a fatty onto the top of your deck on any opponent's end step is a direct tutor for Kenessos's trigger.

04
Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign

76.7% of decks · synergy 0.60

Yennett, Cryptic Sovereign casts the top card of your library for free when it connects — if that card has an odd mana value. Brainstorm lets you audit your top three and arrange exactly the card Yennett wants to find.

05
Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow

82.7% of decks · synergy 0.53

Yuriko, the Tiger's Shadow deals damage equal to the mana value of the top card revealed, so stacking a high-CMC bomb on top with Brainstorm before ninjutsu triggers translates directly into a life total swing.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$2.50 cheap tier

At $2.50, Brainstorm sits in the unambiguously cheap tier for a card that appears in roughly half of all blue Commander decks. That price reflects a long reprint history keeping supply healthy, so there's no budget pressure — just pick up whichever printing you prefer.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.