Preordain
Sorcery
Scry 2, then draw a card. (To scry 2, look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- common
- Set
- The List
- Price
- $1.46
- EDHREC rank
- #219
Preordain digs two cards deep and puts the best one in hand for a single blue mana — that's the deal, and it's a good one. In blue decks that care about scry triggers, like Galadriel of Lothlórien, it pulls double duty as both a cantrip and an engine piece.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Galadriel of Lothlórien
Galadriel of Lothlórien triggers off scry, so Preordain doesn't just cantrip — it advances the board state by ticking Galadriel's counters and drawing extra cards off the scry 2.
Elminster
Elminster's ability triggers whenever you scry, turning Preordain into a cantrip that also puts a loyalty counter on your commander — effectively two effects for one mana.
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
Kenessos, Priest of Thassa needs the top of the library managed precisely to cheat creatures into play, and Preordain's scry 2 is one of the cleanest ways to set that up for one mana.
Elrond, Master of Healing
Elrond, Master of Healing counts scry toward his ring-tempting triggers, so Preordain is a cheap way to advance his text while smoothing your draw.
Galadriel, Elven-Queen
Galadriel, Elven-Queen rewards scrying with card advantage and creature tokens, making Preordain a one-mana spell that generates tangible board presence beyond the cantrip.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Preordain is legal and actively played in Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, and Oathbreaker — a wide footprint that reflects how consistently strong one-mana cantrips with scry are. In Commander it's a staple in any blue deck that wants to hit land drops, find combo pieces, or trigger scry-matters commanders. Pauper is where Preordain really shines at the competitive level, functioning as a core consistency piece in spell-heavy and control shells. Legacy and Vintage treat it as a secondary option behind Brainstorm and Ponder, but it still sees play when redundancy matters. Pioneer and Standard have never had access to it.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.46 cheap tier
At $1.46, Preordain sits in the cheap tier — easy to acquire and easy to justify in any blue Commander build. It's been reprinted often enough that the price is stable and unlikely to spike outside of a reprint drought.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Galadriel of Lothlórien
- Elminster
- Kenessos, Priest of Thassa
- Elrond, Master of Healing
- Galadriel, Elven-Queen
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.