Live Play Data

Cyclonic Rift

· Instant · Ravnica Remastered (RVR)

19%

Live Inclusion

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Times Brought

3273

Decks Running

1578

Median Cast Turn

7.0

Drawn → Played

67%

Format

Multiplayer 1v1

Cyclonic Rift lands in 41% of games where it resolves, a +16.6 percentage-point lift over the baseline, across 541 tracked casts on Playgroup Live.

Cyclonic Rift sits in 19% of multiplayer Commander decks tracked on Playgroup Live. Across 2607 tracked games it has been cast 590 times, and the win rate in those games comes out at 41%, compared to 24% in games where it stayed in the library.

As an instant, it resolves and heads to the graveyard. The 67% draw-to-play rate reflects how often a drawn copy actually gets cast before the game ends. Players who do cast it hold it a median of 2 turns after drawing it, suggesting deliberate timing rather than slamming it on the first open window. Median first cast lands on turn 7.0, well into the mid-game, where the overload mode at {6}{U} becomes reachable.

The card's spread across 977 distinct players, with the heaviest contributor accounting for just 3% of instances, gives the dataset reasonable breadth for a format-legal card at this power level. Still, at 2607 tracked games the win-rate lift should be read as a directional signal, not a definitive verdict.

At a glance

19% of tracked Commander decks include Cyclonic Rift
67% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
T7.0 median first-cast turn, comfortably in overload range
41% win rate in games where Cyclonic Rift resolved
+16.6pp win-rate lift over the library baseline, a directional early signal
977 distinct players have brought Cyclonic Rift to a tracked game

First-cast turn

n=590

11%

60%

T6-9

20%

T10+

Median 7.0 P25 6 · P75 9 · max 23

Cast same turn as drawn 31%

The "good card" funnel

3274 brought · 977 players

Brought to game

3274

Ever drawn

878

Reached battlefield

590

Still on board at game end

67%

Of 3274 copies brought to tracked games, 878 were drawn, 590 of those were cast, confirming that drawn copies translate to casts at a 67% rate.

≥ +12.5pp

Players who cast this card win 41% of the time (n=541) , vs 24% when it never left the library (n=1942).

When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 34% (n=259) — about the same as leaving it in the library. Those players survived long enough to draw it, so the gap above is about the card resolving, not just about surviving.

Observed gap +16.6pp; 95% confidence interval +12.5pp to +20.7pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.

Final zone distribution

997 instances

4.9%

Library

5.8%

Battlefield

54.0%

Graveyard

9.1%

Exile

The graveyard dominates Cyclonic Rift's final zone chart, as expected for an instant that resolves and is done. The library share is minimal, meaning most copies in tracked games were actively seen or cast.

Commanders that played this card

in tracked games

1 The Ur-Dragon 34 decks
2 Y'shtola, Night's Blessed 29 decks
3 Vivi Ornitier 27 decks
4 Oloro, Ageless Ascetic 24 decks
5 Captain N'ghathrod 23 decks
6 Atraxa, Praetors' Voice 20 decks
7 Ms. Bumbleflower 20 decks
8 Jodah, the Unifier 19 decks
9 Nekusar, the Mindrazer 19 decks
10 Esika, God of the Tree // The Prismatic Bridge 18 decks

The commander list spans mono-blue, five-color, and everything in between. No single commander archetype monopolizes Cyclonic Rift, pointing to its role as a broad blue staple rather than a build-around piece.

Card text

Cyclonic Rift

Instant

Return target nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand. Overload {6}

(You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change "target" in its text to "each.")

Ravnica Remastered (RVR) · Mythic · Illustrated by Isis

Frequently Asked

How often is Cyclonic Rift drawn and cast in a Commander game?

In 2607 tracked multiplayer games where Cyclonic Rift was in the deck, it was drawn 27% of the time. Of those drawn copies, 67% reached the graveyard via a cast before the game concluded. Players held it a median of 2 turns after drawing before casting, consistent with waiting for the right moment to maximize impact.

What turn does Cyclonic Rift usually get cast?

Median first cast is turn 7.0, with the distribution clustering between turns 5 and 9. That aligns with when overload becomes accessible at {6}{U}. The early outliers, a handful of casts on turns 2-4, are almost certainly single-target uses for spot removal rather than full-table resets.

Does casting Cyclonic Rift actually improve your odds of winning?

In the 541 participations where Cyclonic Rift was cast, the normalized win rate is 41%. In the 1942 participations where it never left the library, the rate is 24%. That is a +16.6 percentage-point gap. With both buckets well above 15 observations this is a meaningful directional signal, but Playgroup Live's current dataset is small, so treat it as early evidence rather than a proven effect.

Is Cyclonic Rift banned in Commander?

No. Cyclonic Rift is legal in Commander, as well as Legacy, Modern, Pioneer, Vintage, and several other formats. It has been the subject of periodic ban discussions in Commander due to its one-sided, game-warping overload, but as of this writing it remains unrestricted in the format. It is not legal in Pauper or Pauper Commander due to its mythic rarity.

Which commanders most often pair with Cyclonic Rift in tracked games?

The Ur-Dragon leads with the highest raw deck count among tracked commanders, followed by a spread of blue-inclusive commanders across multiple archetypes. The distribution across 977 unique players, with no single player exceeding 3% of all instances, suggests the commander list reflects genuine format breadth rather than one heavily-played group skewing the results.