Cyclonic Rift
Instant
Return target nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand.
Overload 
(You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change "target" in its text to "each.")
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Commander Masters
- Price
- $31.86
- EDHREC rank
- #50
Cyclonic Rift is the single best catch-all reset in Commander — seven mana to bounce every nonland permanent your opponents control is a one-card swing that no other blue spell matches at any price point. The only real trade-off is that it does nothing in the early game, which means decks like Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero that want interaction before turn four sometimes wish they had a cheaper answer — but the overload ceiling is too high to cut it on those grounds. Brago, King Eternal shells run it as a combo piece on top of a panic button, which illustrates exactly why this card earns its slot in nearly every blue Commander deck.
Where It Shines
Where the extra mana on turn one matters most
Combos featuring Brago, King Eternal + Archaeomancer
In Brago, King Eternal lists, Cyclonic Rift is both a finisher and a combo enabler — once you've established the flicker loop with Archaeomancer, bouncing the overload back to hand and replaying it clears the board while Brago attacks into an empty field, closing the game the same turn you go off.
Big-mana shells like The Ur-Dragon
The Ur-Dragon decks run expensive spells across the board and need a reset that scales with the late game, and Cyclonic Rift's overload cost fits right into turns where you're already tapping seven or more mana — it buys back the tempo lead your five-drop dragons spent the first eight turns building.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Cyclonic Rift is legal in Commander, Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and Oathbreaker, but its real home has always been Commander and nowhere else. In sixty-card formats the overload cost is often unreachable before the game ends, and a two-mana bounce spell with no cantrip attached doesn't clear the bar in Legacy or Vintage where Pongify and Rapid Hybridization give blue more efficient spot answers. Commander is the only format where the overload mode is routinely cast, where bouncing four or five permanents at instant speed during an opponent's combat step is a realistic game-winning play rather than a late-game luxury.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Brago, King EternalArchaeomancerCyclonic Rift
Return all nonland permanents opponents control to their hand on each of your turns; Lock
View combo details →Price Context
Current price
$31.86 premium tier
At $31.86, Cyclonic Rift sits firmly in the premium tier — this is one of the most-included blue cards in Commander, and that demand keeps the price elevated despite multiple reprints. It holds value better than most staples at this price point because no direct functional replacement exists; you're paying for the overload clause specifically, and no other card in the format does that job.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Brago, King Eternal
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
- The Ur-Dragon
- Archaeomancer
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.