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Frantic Search

Instant

Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Untap up to three lands.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{2}{U}
Color identity
U
Rarity
common
Set
Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal
Price
$1.03
EDHREC rank
#110
Buy on TCGplayer
Frantic Search card art
Frantic Search draws two cards, discards two, then untaps two lands — netting you a cantrip that effectively costs nothing in a deck built to exploit untap triggers or the graveyard. Commanders like Zethi, Arcane Blademaster imprint it to recur the whole sequence, and Fire Lord Azula turns the discard into a direct engine; in those shells it's not a cantrip, it's a free spell with upside.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Frantic Search carries two restrictions that define where it's legal: it's banned in both Legacy and Pauper, in each case because the land-untap clause converts it into a free spell that enables broken storm and combo sequences faster than those formats can answer. Vintage lets it exist under the shadow of the restricted list's broader safety net. Commander gives it a pass because the singleton rule and 40-life politics dilute the explosive starts it enables elsewhere — you'll rarely untap into a turn-one storm kill when everyone starts with a full grip and interaction.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Zethi, Arcane Blademaster

Zethi, Arcane Blademaster

80.2% of decks · synergy 0.68

Zethi, Arcane Blademaster imprints Frantic Search onto an initiative counter, letting every attack recast it for free — the land untap means the card effectively has no mana cost once the engine is running.

02
Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer

Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer

81.7% of decks · synergy 0.63

Oskar, Rubbish Reclaimer triggers off every nonland card discarded, so the two discards from Frantic Search translate directly into two free casts off the top — it's card selection and a payoff trigger in one spell.

03

Norman Osborn

77.4% of decks · synergy 0.57

Norman Osborn wants cheap instants and sorceries to fill the graveyard and fuel his plan, and Frantic Search delivers card filtering plus two discard triggers while costing nothing after the land untap.

04
Storm, Force of Nature

Storm, Force of Nature

68.4% of decks · synergy 0.55

Storm, Force of Nature counts spells cast, and Frantic Search is as close to a free spell as blue gets — it pads the storm count while replacing itself and leaving mana open.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

11,486 decks
Fire Lord AzulaNarset's ReversalFrantic Search

Fire Lord AzulaNarset's ReversalFrantic Search

Infinite self-discard triggers; Infinite draw triggers; Infinite looting; Near-infinite storm count; Near-infinite mana lands you control can produce; Near-infinite magecraft triggers; Near-infinite untap of lands you control; Near-infinite blue mana

View on Commander Spellbook ↗

Price Context

Current price

$1.03 cheap tier

At $1.03, Frantic Search sits at the low end of staple pricing — cheap enough to slot into any blue Commander deck without a second thought. It's a Legacy-banned card available for bulk-rare money, and that price is unlikely to erode further given its consistent demand across combo and spellslinger builds.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

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