Updraft
Instant
Target creature gains flying until end of turn.
Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.
- CMC
- 2
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- U
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Ice Age
- Price
- $0.26
- EDHREC rank
- #23926
Updraft untaps a creature and draws a card for two mana at instant speed — a fine rate on paper, but the effect is too shallow to justify a slot in most blue decks. Treat it as a budget stand-in for Dive Down or Slip Out the Back, not a staple.
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 | legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Updraft competes against a deep pool of cantrips and protection spells, and it rarely beats either category outright — you're usually better served by a card that purely replaces itself or purely protects. Pauper is where Updraft has the most plausible home, since the cantrip pool is narrower and tempo-oriented blue decks can exploit the untap on a tapped blocker or tap-ability creature. Legacy and Vintage are both legal but offer no realistic reason to run it; the formats' cantrip density makes Updraft irrelevant. Oathbreaker follows the same logic as Commander — functional, but not competitive with the alternatives.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.26 bulk tier
At $0.26, Updraft sits firmly in bulk territory and is easy to acquire without a second thought. Don't expect the price to move — it's not scarce enough or powerful enough to climb.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.