Meditate
Instant
Draw four cards. You skip your next turn.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Tempest
- Price
- $28.10
- EDHREC rank
- #24241
Meditate refills your hand by four for a single blue mana — one of the highest raw card-to-mana ratios in the game. The skip-next-turn clause is real, but decks that win on the spot or operate on your opponents' turns treat it as a non-cost.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | not legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Meditate is a role-player in blue combo and storm shells that intend to win the turn they cast it — skip a turn in a four-player game and you hand three opponents an open attack, so it belongs only in decks built to close the game immediately. Legacy sees it in some high-speed blue combo lists for the same reason: the four-card refill at one mana is unmatched, but the punishment for not winning is severe enough that slower blue decks prefer Ponder or Brainstorm instead. Vintage has access to faster threats and redundant broken draw, so Meditate rarely earns a slot there. It's not legal in Modern, Pioneer, or Standard, and Oathbreaker — with its faster, smaller-game structure — is the one format outside Legacy where the instant-win prerequisite is easiest to meet.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Budget Alternatives
Cheaper options that do most of the same work
Fact or Fiction is the most honest replacement — four or five cards spread across two piles for four mana, no drawback, and it plays well at instant speed even when you're not winning immediately. Windfall and Wheel of Fortune effects refill to seven rather than drawing four, which is often better in multiplayer but strips your existing hand rather than building on it; the key trade-off versus Meditate is that you're giving opponents cards too.
Price Context
Current price
$28.10 premium tier
At $28.10, Meditate sits firmly in the premium tier for a card that sees narrow Commander play and minimal Legacy demand — the price reflects casual collector appeal and a single printing rather than high tournament volume. It holds its value better than it probably should on raw power alone, so treat it as a deliberate purchase for a dedicated combo deck rather than a speculative pickup.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.