Frantic Search
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Instant
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Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal (TLE)
80% of drawn Frantic Search copies are cast before the game ends, and the card sits in 261 of 1878 tracked Commander decks at 14% inclusion.
Frantic Search resolves in blue Commander decks as a cheap looting instant that pays for itself: draw two, discard two, untap up to three lands. At 14% inclusion across 1878 tracked decks, it is a niche role-player rather than a universal staple, but the players who run it cast it at a high rate.
When a copy reaches a hand, 80% of those copies get cast before the game ends. Median first-cast turn is 6.0, landing squarely in the midgame. The land-untap clause means the real mana cost is often closer to zero, which explains why players rarely sit on it once they draw it.
Frantic Search is banned in Legacy and Pauper, where its free-spell potential has historically enabled broken loops. In Commander it is legal and unrestricted, and the data shows it spread across 224 distinct players, a sign of genuine broad adoption rather than one enthusiast skewing the numbers.
- 14% of tracked Commander decks include Frantic Search
- 80% of drawn copies are cast before the game ends
- T6.0 median first-cast turn
- 27% draw rate, consistent with a singleton in a 100-card deck
- 224 distinct players have brought this card to a tracked game
First-cast turn
n=106The "good card" funnel
490 brought · 224 playersOf 490 Frantic Searches brought to tracked games, 132 were drawn, 106 of those were cast, and nearly all resolved straight to the graveyard as the card's rules dictate.
Players who cast this card win 31% of the time (n=106) , vs 27% when it never left the library (n=320).
When players drew this card but left it in hand, they won 51% (n=26) — 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.
95% confidence interval -5.2pp to +13.0pp. Correlational, not causal: powerful payoffs also get cast more often in games you are already winning.
Final zone distribution
147 instancesThe vast majority of Frantic Search instances end in the graveyard, exactly as expected for an instant that resolves and is placed there immediately. The small battlefield count reflects copies that were somehow put onto the battlefield through unusual effects.
Commanders that played this card
in tracked games-
1
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed
18 decks
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2
Fire Lord Azula
13 decks
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3
Ms. Bumbleflower
8 decks
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4
Quandrix, the Proof
8 decks
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5
Vnwxt, Verbose Host
8 decks
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6
Norman Osborn // Green Goblin
7 decks
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7
Prismari, the Inspiration
7 decks
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8
Alela, Cunning Conqueror
6 decks
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9
Vivi Ornitier
5 decks
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10
Captain Howler, Sea Scourge
4 decks
The commander list spans Esper, Grixis, Izzet, and Dimir builds, showing Frantic Search is not locked to one archetype but appears wherever blue spellslinging and graveyard synergies overlap.
How often is Frantic Search drawn and cast in a Commander game? ▾
Across 430 tracked multiplayer Commander games where Frantic Search was in the deck, it was drawn 27% of the time. That is in line with what a singleton in a 100-card deck should expect. Of the 132 instances that reached a player's hand, 80% were cast before the game concluded. The median turn between drawing and casting is 1, meaning players typically fire it off the very next turn after drawing it.
What turn does Frantic Search usually get cast? ▾
Median first-cast turn is 6.0, with the distribution spread between turns 3 and 9. The on-curve rate is 16%, which is low, but that mostly reflects players drawing it well after the early turns rather than holding it deliberately. The same-turn cast rate of 35% confirms that when players do have it, they usually cast it quickly.
Is Frantic Search banned anywhere? ▾
Yes. Frantic Search is banned in Legacy and Pauper, where its ability to untap three lands effectively makes it a free spell and enables degenerate loops. It is also banned in Historic. In Commander it is legal and unrestricted, and in Vintage it is legal. The bans in other formats are part of why it carries a reputation as a powerful card despite its common rarity.
Does casting Frantic Search actually help you win? ▾
The win rate when cast is 31% across 106 observations, compared to 27% in participations where it stayed in the library across 320 observations. That is a +3.9 percentage-point gap. The lower bound of the confidence interval crosses zero, so treat this as an early directional signal rather than a settled conclusion. More tracked games will tighten the estimate.
Which commanders run Frantic Search most often? ▾
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed leads the raw deck count among tracked commanders, followed by Fire Lord Azula and a cluster of Izzet and Dimir strategies. The common thread is blue-heavy spellslinger or graveyard-matters builds that value cheap looting. The spread across 224 unique players suggests this is not a single-archetype card.
Why is Frantic Search good in Commander specifically? ▾
The land-untap clause is the key. A 3-mana instant that untaps three lands effectively costs nothing if you have the lands available, giving you free card filtering. That efficiency scales well in a singleton format where consistency matters. Its instant speed also lets you hold up interaction mana and convert it into looting at end of turn if no interaction was needed.