Why Cyclonic Rift is Irreplaceable, Part 3: Contenders for the Throne
Now it’s time to talk about the more palatable Cyclonic Rift replacements, following my discussion of salt scores and not-so-great replacements. Let’s look at the better half of the 15 semi-arbitrary categories as well as 3 of my custom card designs. A lot more of these spells are either asymmetrical or instant-speed, and I’ll give my final verdict on the best potential replacements at the end.
7. Symmetrical
Coastal Breach (5), Curfew (4.5), and Words of Wind (4). Coastal Breach uses the underexplored mechanic Undaunted, making the spell cheaper based on the number of opponents you have. With 3 opponents (a typical commander pod), this is 4 mana, which is solid. It will cost 6 mana at most, which is also not a bad ceiling. Unfortunately it still suffers from being sorcery-speed. Curfew ended up in this category because I moved it around a bit since it isn’t technically “One per Opponent” and is a bit more interesting than “Creatures Only.” The fact that it is 1 mana is its main appeal, and that’s about all it has going for it. You don’t get to choose which creatures are returned by your opponents, though if you’re playing this spell you likely have a good reason to bounce your own creatures. Words of Wind is an odd one that also doesn’t allow you to choose what your opponents bounce. It can force your opponents to return lands to their hand (say in combination with one of the better bounce spells on this list), which can enable some brutal combos.
6. Noncreature only
Filter Out (6.5), Rebuild (5), and Reduce to Dreams (3). Since these spells don’t hit creatures, Wizards of the Coast justifies giving them a lower mana cost (aside from Reduce to Dreams). These can be very potent effects despite the fact that a majority of threats in commander are creatures. Filter Out can stop your opponents’ artifact and enchantment engines at instant-speed while Rebuild only hits artifacts, both at the low cost of 3 mana. Reduce to Dreams is not as good as a 5mv sorcery. Rebuild has the fail case of cycling for 2, which is nice if you don’t need its main mode. In a pinch these can be used as protection for your noncreature permanents. In creature-heavy decks these spells will likely affect your opponents disproportionately, but they won’t remove blockers or attackers. This makes them much less effective. Still, 3 mana isn’t a high cost.
5. Save one
Flood of Tears (5.5) and Consuming Tide (5). Flood of Tears virtually saves one of your permanents by allowing you to replay one for free, assuming you returned at least four. Consuming Tide saves one permanent for each of your opponents as well, which falls into that punisher effect category where your opponent likely saves their strongest permanent (the one you probably wanted to remove the most). Both are sorcery-speed (unfortunately), but still quite strong. Consuming Tide can also draw you some cards if you happen to have fewer cards in hand than your opponents (or you bounced a ton of permanents back). Consuming Tide gets better against engine-style decks, where leaving one thing behind doesn’t do much on its own.
4. Setup cost
Devastation Tide (5.5) and Crush of Tentacles (5). Both are symmetrical, but the biggest upside of Devastation Tide is casting it for its Miracle cost of just 2. You can set up the top of your library with Brainstorm, Surveil, or Scry among other effects. This is a subtheme in my Aminatou deck, whose main strategy is blink and ETB value. Even if it sets you back a bit, paying only 2 mana for Devastation Tide means you will likely have a reasonable amount of mana to reestablish your board that turn. It can also be cast at instant-speed if you draw it on your opponent’s turn, else you will likely only cast it for its Miracle cost during your upkeep.
Crush of Tentacles can leave behind an 8/8 body, which makes it a better Kederekt Leviathan in some cases (8/8 > 5/5). The setup cost here is that you need to cast another spell beforehand, so you aren’t casting this when you have just 5 mana available. You also really don’t want to cast it for 6, either. Sorcery-speed means that although you’d want to play this in a spellslinger deck with lots of cheap instants and sorceries, you’d have to use one such cheap spell during your own main phase to cast Crush of Tentacles for its Surge cost. In such a deck it is a pretty good Rift alternative, though.
3. Attackers only
Aetherize (5.5) and Aetherspouts (5.5). Very powerful spells that unfortunately only affect creatures and only one opponent. In this way they are comparable to River’s Rebuke (coming up next!) and they are strong enough to make the cut in some cases. Aetherize is cheaper by 1 mana, but Aetherspouts is more devastating. Both spells remove token creatures entirely, but Aetherspouts can force your opponent into awkward draw steps. If they really want to keep their good creatures, they’re missing out on drawing new cards. If they want to keep more than one creature then it will take them multiple draws to get back to full power. I’m willing to pay 1 extra mana for that. However, holding up 5 mana can be significantly more than 4, but remember for OG Rift you’re holding up 7 so 4 or 5 is a much lower ask.
The big downside to these spells is that they leave some large gaps in coverage. You can’t remove nonattacking creatures that are sitting on the field and getting value. For example, most sac outlets in an aristocrats deck don’t swing in, same with mana dorks that are ramping the elf deck to the moon. These also do nothing against artifact- and enchantment-based engines (enchantresses also don’t tend to involve themselves in combat).
2. One Opponent
River’s Rebuke (6.5) and Hurkyl’s Recall (6). These are solid replacements. River’s Rebuke is a 6 mana sorcery, but it’ll really set one opponent back. On the flip side, Hurkyl’s Recall mainly benefits from it’s low cost of just 2 mana and its instant-speed effect. Removing only artifacts is very narrow, and unlike Rebuild, Hurkyl’s Recall doesn’t have the fail case of cycling.
Would River’s Rebuke have been too powerful at instant-speed? Possibly, though that would definitely put it on-par with Cyclonic Rift. Sorcery-speed is the only downside, in my opinion. For 6 mana you can deal a devastating blow to an opponent or open up an avenue for players to get past their defenses. In that way it is even more dangerous than Cyclonic Rift, as your unaffected opponents can also attack the targeted player before that player rebuilds their defenses.
1. Asymmetrical
Ugin’s Binding (7) and Aether Gale (6.5). These are the best options as a category. The newest entry in the category, Ugin’s Binding, does a great job of imitating Cyc Rift, which seems pretty intentional from the design. However, both of these spells have some big potential downsides. Ugin’s Binding can be removed from your graveyard before you get to cast a 7mv colorless spell (Bojuka Bog is popular interaction). It is a “may” ability if you don’t want the effect on your first 7+ mana colorless spell, but that means you’re casting multiple 7+ cost spells and they may not be instant-speed. Ugin’s Binding can’t be reused since part of the cost is exiling it from your graveyard, but that is a minor downside.
Aether Gale hits six targets for 5 mana, which is a good rate for a 6-for-1 spell. However this strength is also its weakness as it requires six targets so if one target becomes invalid before the spell resolves then the whole effect fizzles. If this were instant-speed then it would be a great Cyc Rift replacement, and I don’t see a good reason why it couldn’t be instant-speed. That would put it at a good power level, not overly powerful like an instant-speed River’s Rebuke might be.
0. Custom designs
The Multikicker (7.5) and Strive (7.5) variants are almost mechanically identical, while the Escalate (6) variant is a symmetrical effect. Multikicker uses the ubiquitous Kicker mechanic, which has a lot of support such as Verazol or Roost of Drakes. Escalate requires different rules text to function properly, and I think this works as flexible modal spell. Strive is effectively a Kicker variant in this case, but I think the rules text is a little cleaner if I’m honest. Note that all three are instant-speed and within the 5-10 mana range.
I didn’t want these cards to be strictly better than River’s Rebuke, however I think a base cost of 5 mana for each of these spells would be the ideal range. That would make them competitive with Cyclonic Rift for sure.
Odds and Ends
I wanted to point out what may be obvious to some but is likely overlooked. The fact that the converted mana cost of Rift is actually 2 and not the 7 that we all cast it for has some marginal upsides. For example, you can tutor it up with Spellseeker and Dark Confidant will only cost you two life if you reveal it. However, there are anti-synergies that come along with the fact that the main mode of this spell is the Overload version. Cards like Torrential Gearhulk and Mizzix’s Mastery (also featuring Overload) only allow you to cast the baseline version of the spell.
Final Verdict
Based on the numbers, the top contenders for Cyc Rift’s crown are Ugin’s Binding (7), Aether Gale (6.5), River’s Rebuke (6.5), Filter Out (6.5), Hibernation (6.5), Hurkyl’s Recall (6), Flood of Tears (5.5), Devastation Tide (5.5), Aetherize (5.5), and Aetherspouts (5.5). Hibernation and Hurkyl’s Recall are extremely narrow, and I personally prefer Aetherspouts over Aetherize (though they are largely interchangeable). This leaves us with seven reasonable Cyclonic Rift replacements: Ugin’s Binding, Aether Gale, River’s Rebuke, Filter Out, Flood of Tears, Devastation Tide, and Aetherspouts/Aetherize. Of these seven, three are instant-speed, four are asymmetrical, and five hit all relevant permanent types. Only Ugin’s Binding could be considered part of all three of these categories, however the mass bounce effect actually depends on the speed of the 7+ mana colorless spell you cast.
Let’s start with the best options. Ugin’s Binding, as previously noted, is very intentionally similar to Cyclonic Rift. Aether Gale is a 6-for-1 and can hit any nonland permanent, though it doesn’t destroy targets like Hex or Decimate it requires all targets to be present, similar to those spells. River’s Rebuke has two major downsides: sorcery-speed and targeting only one opponent. However, it is a strong card in its own right that can leave one opponent open to multiple attack steps, something Cyclonic Rift doesn’t do since it sets all your opponents back. Filter Out doesn’t affect creatures and it is symmetrical, which are two big hits against it. But at only 3 mana and instant-speed, it still serves a useful purpose, especially against decks that rely on a lot of artifacts and enchantments.
I extended the range of scores to include Flood of Tears, Devastation Tide, Aetherize, and Aetherspouts because I think they each have strengths and should be considered when looking at Rift replacements. Flood of Tears is symmetrical but breaks parity by allowing you to play a permanent for free. Could I interest you in Omniscience? Devastation Tide occasionally costing only 2 is strong, though you’ll want it in decks that are built around topdeck manipulation. Brainstorm, Brainsurge, Sensei’s Divining Top, and similar effects are your friend here. Aetherize and Aetherspouts are decent defensive tools, but they have the downside of only affecting attacking creatures (obviously). Aetherspouts in particular forces your opponent to make the tough decision of whether they want to tank their draw steps to replay those creatures.
Ugin’s Binding and Devastation Tide require significant build-around, while the best use of Flood of Tears is to cheat out something huge, a small build-around. Filter Out and Aetherize/Aetherspouts are quite narrow, not dealing with every issue the same way Cyclonic Rift can. Aether Gale and River’s Rebuke are generically good and will be your best Rift substitutions on average.
The question is whether we need more spells comparable in power level to Rift? I say we do, since we can also appease the “ban Cyclonic Rift” crowd by banning the original, leaving the format with two to three good substitutes. It may surprise you, but I would be alright with that as a Rift apologist. However, this course of action would require Wizards of the Coast to print at least two more good replacements. The recently printed Ugin’s Binding is a step in the right direction, but it requires significant setup and build-around. We need generically good options. So, for now we are left with Cyclonic Rift.
