Look at any board wipe in Commander, and you’ll find restrictions. Also, by recurring the spell turn after turn, the original caster can keep their opponents at bay until they find an answer, if the game doesn’t end before that. The caster can move closer to victory, while the other players spend the next turn or two rebuilding what they lost. Asymmetry gives the caster the agency to choose when they want to cast it, instead of having the card dictate their play pattern.Ĭyclonic Rift leaves the caster untouched, while substantially setting back the other three players. Instead of developing one’s own board to catch up, destroying all of the others can be just as, if not more effective.
Casting Vandalblast or Plague Wind will launch a player forward in the rankings, unlike Hour of Revelation. However, an asymmetric board wipe can be used to get ahead. These sweepers make sense when the loss of your stuff is outweighed by the value of cutting your opponents down to size. A player casting one of these spells won’t do it while they’re ahead on board, because it’ll be detrimental to the lead that they’ve built. This symmetry dictates where and when it can be cast, though. Asymmetryīoard wipes are usually symmetrical, as a way of balancing out the strength of the card, and to keep the casting cost at a playable level. While that can be done for the regular cost, Rift with Overload can break up some combos that need multiple permanents to go off. If a player casts Curiosity and targets Niv Mizzet, the Firemind, then Cyclonic Rift can interrupt that game-winning play. It can also be inserted on the stack, and used as a form of counterspell to interrupt a combo. The consequences of tapping out for a boardwipe get substantially lower when it’s on the end step of the player before you. They get as much information as possible, and can make a more calculated decision than one made on a sorcery-speed spell. That decision requires a certain level of commitment, since a lot can change when the other three players take their turns.Ĭyclonic Rift allows the caster to hold it up until when they absolutely need it. When you’re setting up for Wrath of God or Toxic Deluge, it requires dedicating your spot in the turn order for it. Instant Speedįor the most part, board wipes in Commander are cast at sorcery speed. A well-timed Rift can launch the caster into a game-winning turn, a feat in which every other boardwipe aspires to. However, if used correctly, that temporary solution can be good enough to win, based on the three aforementioned qualities. Rift doesn’t exile, destroy, or tuck anything away. Cyclonic Rift is a temporary solution, and not a permanent answer to those threats on board. This difference is what makes Cyclonic Rift so good, in that it offers a perfect cocktail of value and flexibility.īefore we go any further, it’s worth mentioning one critical piece of Rift’s design. When it comes to comparing Cyclonic Rift to other sweepers, the alternatives will always have one or two, but not all three of these qualities. By addressing where it stands in our format, it can be better understood as we discuss it amongst ourselves.Īt its core, the power of Cyclonic Rift be broken down into three key parts: We’ll summarize the arguments on both sides of the aisle, and work to find an understanding on what it means to have this card in the Commander card pool. Today, we’ll get into what makes Cyclonic Rift so powerful, and why it holds the weight that it does. With its power relative to the rest of the cards in its class, it’s the subject of many discussions on its place in the format. This designation has a certain level of responsibility, and “Rift” has its own spotted history in the format. Pound for pound, Cyclonic Rift is the most powerful boardwipe in Commander. Rarely is there a player that has no opinion on this format-defining spell. It has been a mainstay of the format for years, and is either loved or hated by players that encounter it. While this ranking is only for the past two years, Cyclonic Rift is as ubiquitous to Commander as cards like Sol Ring and Swords to Plowshares. According to, Cyclonic Rift is among the top ten most-played cards in the format.
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