Better than Devastation Tide. The overload might be reachable once Standard slows down after Scars and M12 rotate.
Lyoncet
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
11 ratings so far. 5/5 stars. All is as it should be.
Seriously, I expect this card to be responsible for roughly half of the rage-scoops we'll see for the next 2 years of standard. This is the real deal, folks. A strong bounce card that turns into a total blowout that's pretty much resistent to changes in the meta-game. Things like threat density, deck speed, and creature toughness change, but pretty much everyone relies on nonland permanents, and bounce is always a strong tempo play. Expect to see a lot of this guy.
Also, fan-freakin'-tabulous art.
LordOfTheFlies87
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
lololololololollolollolo
infernox10
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This will see Standard. At worst, it's a Disperse, which is an effective card anyway. Otherwise, you basically win the game, or effectively stave off your demise for 2 - 3 turns.
lorendorky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Low cmc and a high overload seems to work just fine in the right deck. Copied without overload by Chandra, the Firebrand or Nivix Guildmage you could still get plenty of value out of it.
Cyberium
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Not only does this card allow blue to handle permanents (one of the color's weakness) it could pretty much win you the game with the one-sided mass bounce, force your opponent to invest. In group games, you would reign.
SirMalkin
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(4 votes)
This is probably my favorite card of the new set. It's just so cruel, and it's low CMC makes it easier to tutor out with stuff like Firemind's Foresight. Hope it doesn't get banned in EDH.
ThisisSakon
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
wtffivestarratingftw
Redgurr
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Perfect in almost every way. But I wish the Overload wasn't so splashable and more like Mizzium Mortars. As is, everyone and their moms, and their moms dogs will be using this in a splash blue deck that can get to 7 mana. Otherwise it's perfect.
Firesplitter.
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(2 votes)
7 mana, win the game at instant speed. Sounds fair to me.
Lotsofpoopy
★☆☆☆☆ (1.1/5.0)(8 votes)
A very powerful card that pros like me will dominate with. This card is so good that non-pros might possibly be able to win with this card as long as they are not playing a pro like me.
gman92
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
The key here is "nonland". This won't see a ban in EDH because it doesn't hit people's lands. In EDH a blow straight to the mana is what hurts. Increasing your mana crazily has been seen to help too much, with Primeval Titan going, so having another generic one sided sweeper (while nonetheless a good utility bounce at 2), even in blue, isn't going to warp the format enough to be banworthy.
General_Naga
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Instant win if you can resolve it.
ToAsTy42o
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
i like bounces already. adding an "everything" clause as an extra option (just in case!) is gravy. i want 4
RowanKeltizar
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is an awesome card no doubt. But is it awesome enough to usurp either Devestation Tide or All is Dust?
Yeah, this card just basically screams multiplayer. But the thing I really like about it is that it will never be a dead card. You're not going to be sad to see this in your opening hand, and late game it will often be a godsend. It's really well designed and very splashable. Fantastic card, and thank you Wizards for not making it mythic.
clan_iraq
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This will define the next standard season.
Earthdawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I can see aggro decks splashing blue for Mizzium Skin against Cyclonic Rift, or they will just run everything hexproof and call it a day. Really bad against a Detain deck.
Also, I can see this getting banned in EDH.
Arachibutyrophobia
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
how can anyone recover from the overload?
Eternal_Planeswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I'm so glad I just ordered a play set. My friends are going to be so pi$$ed! :D hahaha!
Awesome effect, cool art, fun and exciting trick up your sleeve, and versatile. Everything a perfect blue card needs.
RAV0004
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Disperse. The difference between Rare and common. This is probably the only rare card I've ever looked at and said "why ISNT this mythic?" rather than "Why isn't this uncommon" or "why isn't this common"
TraRobins
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Hey look, Into the Roil. Oh, look, One sided Evacuation.
majinara
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
A number of people seem to misread the card. It's not, at worst, a disperse. Disperse lets you bounce your own stuff, in response to removal or to get rid of an arrest or for whatever reason. Cyclonic Rift doesn't. That's a huge disadvantage. And the overload version is far too expensive imho.
One part of it is super-narrow, the other super-expensive. I'll pass, and stick to devastation tide.
Agent1103
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I just wanted to use this as a way to a apologize to the gentleman that I played in the pre-release at Dice Dojo. It was an honest mistake of RFTC when I bounced my Pursuit of Flight. I only now realized the mistake that neither of us caught. I'm not sure how it would have changed the game, but nevertheless I'm sorry. It was just one of several instances of me using Cyclonic Rift wrong all night. (How embarrassing it was to find out that the Overload cost was not in addition to the actual casting cost 3 games into the tournament...)
GruesomeGoo
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Wow, this is crazy. Well costed at base and the overload is basically "win target game". Gorgeous art too. I foresee this being a tournament staple for a long time.
mdakw576
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
A number of people seem to misread the card. It's not, at worst, a disperse. Disperse lets you bounce your own stuff, in response to removal or to get rid of an arrest or for whatever reason. Cyclonic Rift doesn't. That's a huge disadvantage. And the overload version is far too expensive imho.
One part of it is super-narrow, the other super-expensive. I'll pass, and stick to devastation tide.
Usually you bounce your opponent's stuff most of the time, so the fact that this doesn't hit your own stuff won't make it "super-narrow". There's a reason why delver ran vapor snag over unsummon; the 1 life loss will go towards your opponents more often than you.
Yes, 7 mana is a lot, but it'll be mostly control decks playing this, which can slowly get up to that 7 mana. The fact that its' an instant makes this much easier to play with as you can hold counters/restoration angel/etc. and then use this for a finisher.
nirvava
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
It's the instant speed that makes this thing overpowerd. This might quite possibly be the crutch to keep blue decks competitive; the fact that it's splashable perhaps makes other-color ramp decks downright broken.
AncientTimer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmmm, how exactly did this pass the testing? What is it with blue cards that drives WotC's r&d insane?
MojoVince
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I have just open one , instant speed lol !
Radagast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh, man this is going to be a blow-out win card in Commander!
MechaKraken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wonder how long it will take people to start abusing this with Tamiyo's ultimate?
Tezz
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(5 votes)
"I wonder how long it will take people to start abusing this with" its overload.
Weisse
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Because it is a relatively narrow card (compared to Unsummon in a creature-heavy format), this is a 2-of in my UR deck. Goblin Electromancer helps its cost out a lot. However I may end up going 4-of (instead of two Unsummon) because whenever I cast this, it makes a massive impact on the game and I end up winning. Overload is auto-win if cast at the end of opponents turn. Works very well in conjunction with counterspells (Ban Cavern, WotC! Can't stand another year of it!). 4.5/5
Gcrudaplaneswalker
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is gonna be one hell of a motha in Standard against those playing tokens...
Fictionarious
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
"Not only does this card allow blue to handle permanents (one of the color's weakness) . . ." -Cyberium
. . . Wait, what?
A.Minor
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I don't want to play this in EDH because of how cheap it feels in counterspell-light metagames. Not looking forward to playing against it either. Potentially Ban-worthy.
If your opponent has 7 mana and is in blue, you better have a way to deal with this before you do anything. This is just a monster of a card.
ZirilanoftheClaw
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
um, is it just me or is this actually better than boomerang? 1U instead of UU loss of being able to target your own things but thats much less important than opponents helps to get a lock earlygame (just as effective on a scepter as boomerang) and late game this pretty much wins
...oh wait "nonland" DAM!....
Xenozfan2
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Mehehehe. Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded's -4 says hi.
wholelottalove
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Why would this card be banned in Commander? There's a lot worse already being played in the game and if you think of it like any other spell, a seven mana spell can still be countered with a two mana counter.
Ferlord
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Many say this will auto-win games for you.
That is, if you have some permanents.
That being said, it is STILL very powerful. If you're in a tough rut, like if your opponent has a 11/10 Lotleth Troll with other things, it gives you some time to prepare for a defense/way to win, like a Time Warp or a Stasis.
As everyone as said, the cost is a little under-weighted. or would've been more realistic: this is just begging to be splashed by one or two shock lands.
I must give it an amazing rating like for Abrupt Decay.
themicronaut
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So it's a one-sided Disperse, but it is also incredibly useful late game (possible finisher, can you say that about Disperse?) and with a little green or artifact mana not that uncastable. 4.5/5
MANABURNWASGOOD
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
love this card, going right into my mono blue edh deck....or just about any EDH deck with blue...1 blue in the overload makes this 100% splashable in almost anything.
drpvfx
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
The art is very appropriate for the blowouts this little gem will cause.
Seven mana for that effect is a *bargain*- being able to use it as most of a Disperse is just extra gravy.
Use in large edh games with people you don't intend on being friends with.
Xycolian
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite use of this card is mass bouncing on their turn during the combat phase (hopefully they tapped out during first main phase) and then if I only have 7 mana, I wait until it's my turn again and then I tap Jace's Archivist to fill my hand back up with more bouncies and screw their strategy up big time.
If I have 8 mana I can do this all on the same turn. Fun times.
saucyninja007
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A great card! Without the overload, a solid bounce spell. But if you get to play the overload, that may very well decide the game! Absolutely destroys token decks!
surewhynot
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If it's overload doesn't win you the game, you didn't deserve to win anyway. Also, as someone said before, the "normal" version as well as the overloaded version are both easily splashable, which makes this card that little extra bit better =P
ZeoStar
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(3 votes)
I've seen this card cast for it's Overload cost 5 times since RTR release. Of those 5, 3 of them were against aggro decks and they immediately scooped. The other two were against control-ish decks and they were never able to recover. Do not underestimate this card.
FirstPrime
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
And here we have the latest example of why blue is by far the best color. 7 mana to win the game, if it resolves anyway. What color would counter this? Oh yeah blue lol. If you don't believe me go cast this thing yourself and see what it can do. One sided instant speed board wipe. One sided instant speed board wipe. Think about it.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So this is the power of the spiral... Not bad, not bad at all...
BastianQoU
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I have a feeling that this card alone will keep any Populate-based decks from being competitive. The merits of that Overload just can't be overstated.
This is my favorite card of the set, and yes, that's because I pulled a foil one at the prerelease. Talk about gorgeous art.
chrome_dome
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
3.5/5. Great bounce card in limited and constructed.
Lifegainwithbite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is almost a win condition in itself..
-Starchaser-
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's really a pity that Cyclonic Rift (or its overload mechanic) isn't the contrary, converted mana cost of 7 for all permanents and ALTERNATIVE cost for a single one, so it would be awesome with Epic Experiment
I've been looking for a sweeper with a cmc lower than 4 that I can run with Duskmantle Seer, so I'm not being smacked in the face for four on a regular basis. Looks like I've found what I was looking for...
GlintKawk42
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
massive, one sided board wipe in blue that doesn't target anything if overloaded. oh, and instant speed? 5/5
admiraldanish
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Absolutely absurd. My favourite party trick in EDH is casting this in response to a Timetwister effect.
"Nice board position you have there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it..."
I hope to see a Grixis control deck dominate standard. This at the opponent's EoT+ Rakdos's Return is brutal. Far//Away is cruel. Nicol Bolas is the master. The red rare overload in RtR. Toil//Trouble is great too. Perhaps splash white with the guildgates and play the rest of the guild gates and throw in Maze's End.
karek
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The worst part about this card is it's rarity, other than that it's a value added Boomerang which is itself amazingly useful.
This is good as a boomerang but throwing in a +1 mana Upheavel which can be avoided with protection from blue.
What all of this means is that early game you can muck up a land drop and stall an oppoenent on turn 1 or 2 for an extra turn, late game you can replay your bombs while your opponennt is discarding his field.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the best cards I've ever used; which includes many of the most powerful cards in the game. Resets the game for everyone but you. I run this into Tidespout Tyrant in a card-advantage based bounce/flicker deck. By the time it gets rolling (T3-4ish is when it starts to establish enough disruption to stabilize) it becomes difficult to dislodge. If it makes it to T7 it often hits you with this with a Warped Devotion out.
Even without that, The Tyrant starts bouncing lands and anything else you play around 2-3 times per turn and closes what's left of the game in a turn or two. If the opponent is also slow the game only goes to T5-6 anyway due to lots of bounce weenies beating you up. Wrath's don't matter due to Mulldrifters, Agent of Bolas, and Sea Gate Oracle
One of my favorite decks to play and one of my best. Can take on 2 aggro opponents and come on top at times; though the life-total almost always dips to low single digits while trying to stabilize, even against a single aggro deck you get dangerously close to death; but then your opponent gets locked down and watches dissappointedly as he loses the game permanent by permanent, 2-5 health at a time.
zipec
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Important note: Disperse (or Into the Roil) can target your own permanents, which is usefull more than it looks. Not that this card is bad, on the contrary, overload is brutal.
Athemeus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Every time I've seen this hit with the overloaded version, the other player is pretty much toast. The instant speed means you get the at-the-end-of-your-turn blast. The tempo is altered, and now blue has you in that control grip: they'll happily ping you, spend 0 mana on their own turn and penalize you as you try feverishly to get your stuff back out. And it *will* be "your stuff", since this hits everything except land you have no strategy impervious to this unless you're turning your lands into fireballs or creatures.
@go
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
In Edh this has been renamed Colonic Rip. It hurts and leaves a fowl taste in your mouth when you are on the receiving end.
Tamerlein
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I started playing this card because of the cool art, but the more I used it I realized that it is playable anyway, even one on main deck. It's absolute murder to token decks, although the new reprint of Ratchet Bomb might show it up a bit. Either way, being able to force your opponent to recast their entire board is an extremely powerful effect, especially at instant speed. It doe suffer a bit in a competitive environment though because there are so many powerful ETB effects in current standard.
Still, a 4/5 from me.
Continue
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
: All other players hate you.
Zylo-
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I play Modern Format only. So please judge my opinions on this card accordingly...
I'm really disappointed in this card.. I will compare to into the roil.. When I throw down a snapcaster mage... Cyclonic Rift does not help me... When my opponent targets one of my creatures... Cyclonic Rift fails me again... Generally in Modern, by the time turn 7 rolls around, the game has usually been decided... The fact that I can not target my own cards to utilize any "when enters the battlefield" abilities or to save any of my own cards from destruction is a huge disadvantage and it is why I run into the roil... Jeez.. Card advantage is another huge benefit into the roil has that this doesn't...
When I have run this card, more often than not, I am hard casting it for 2 and not the overload cost so into the roil wins all day long...
On the occasion when I have casted for Overload, yes, this thing ruins the game for your opponent... but I have found that this card is not flexible enough to replace into the roil and generally you are casting it for 2 or I need to save or re-use one of my own cards...
BryceCarmony
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great Card, 2 drop to kill a Advent of the wurm or 2 for 1 an Enchant, stop a Planeswalker from getting up to ultimate level, tons of early game utility and than late game blowing them out end of their turn. this is a great instant and in my Simic deck i Never struggle getting to 7 between Farseek and Ranger's Path
5/5 for me
MostlyLost
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like this card a lot. But I've always thought its a bit odd from a mechanical standpoint of returning things to hand. Do we, as planeswalkers, command the game from broomsticks or helicopters or something?
Enelysios
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@Mostly Lost - Planeswalkers pull creatures from wherever they are in the multiverse through the blind eternities and onto wherever they are fighting. Artifacts are much the same I imagine, enchantments are more like spells weaved wholesale. Blue is the color that understands how magic works, and return to hand effects are represented as unweaving the spells that brought summoned creatures, thus sending them back. Since the spells are essentially being undone instead of the creatures/artifacts/enchantments getting killed or broken, the mage still has the ability to call them back.
As for this card, it is stupidly good. In EDH and other casual formats it may be too good. Its the kind of powerful that makes multiplayer games unfun sadly. The normal spell is good and early game playable, the overload is a game ender. That kind of versatility is incredibly powerful. Not sure we will see legacy play, but standard, modern, extended and EDH will love it.
MortisAngelus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just simply the best card apart from three things:
1) CMC for overload could have been 5{B} instead of the current 6{7}. 2) Not the best in 2HG as it destroys your ally's battlefield as well. 3) By the time you can cast its overload cost, your opponent most often has so much mana that he/she can re-cast a fair amout of the returned cards...
Apart from those things, I cannot find any problems. Destroys any lock-down your opponent might throw at you.
4.5/5
Pipikako
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
: You win the game
Casimir_the_Great
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Man, just one of the many reasons to love the Izzet.
Not affected by Hexproof or Shroud? Everything except lands (including Planeswalkers!)? Try and leave a bit of mana for Counterflux and you're a beast! Not to mention so many other good ones from this block that benefit: Blistercoil Weird, Guttersnipe, Goblin Electromancer,...
Only problem is that cards like Melek, Izzet Paragon and Epic Experiment can't cast it for it's overload, but that's just a minor drawback to one of the best cards in the set.
Play this just before your your opponent attacks but after they've brought out their fatties, and you're golden
Tsuichoi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I hate how this has become such a staple in EDH/Commander now. The beauty of board-sweepers were that they are supposed to hit everything (of one or more types), equalizing what is often a chaotic and untenable board state. Now blue can pull this one sided crap, which goes against the spirit of the format.
As a life-long blue player, I confess, I feel ashamed of what this color has become, and after years of ardent denial, I have begun to see why sooo many hate it.
I doubt they'l ban it though, so pick your playgroup carefully.
hypa_dude
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
So now blue gets the best removal in the game: a one-sided sweeper. No wonder 19 out of 20 decks have blue in them. A color that is supposed to be bad at dealing with things already on the board now has the best way of dealing with things on the board. No wonder nobody can play green competitively and the meta game is so narrow. If cards that cost more than 4 mana are impossible to use (due to cards like this, supreme verdict, wrath of god, day of judgement, damnation and the 100+ varieties of counterspell), why are they even printed?
Breaks both standard and modern. I should just give up trying to be creative.
jlbyellin
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@hypa_dude It's good, but certainly not broken. The Overload cost is high enough that it can't easily be played early to mid game, which is when it matters the most in most circumstances.
That said, I've gotten this guy fired off on numerous occasions on turn 4 in my mono blue devotion thanks to Nykthos. It is mono black's worst nightmare.
LungDrago
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I'd like to join the other fellow blue mages before me and say that this card is broken. It's powerful...it wins you a game pretty much regardless of how far behind you are. In your typical kitchen table game: other players turned out to be crazy fast and you're limping behind? Now you're in control of the game. You're already in the lead and want it to stay that way? No problem. Someone brought their annoying nigh untouchable enchantment deck? Hahahahaha. Even at 6 this is cheap for what it does (not to mention you can lower the price quite easily nowadays) and the splashable mana requirement allows you to run this as a one sided wrath even in your aggro or midrange decks as a finisher.
What I would suggest is either have this cost even more OR have it wrath only a single player. That way, you can actually use it as a pretty good answer to broken stuff, yet it won't win you a game outright. Nah, who am I kidding. With Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx even competitive formats are in danger, now...
There are some slight drawbacks to this, though. You can't save your own stuff with this, which takes away half of a bounce effect's utility. Furthermore, you rarely really use this as a single target bounce for the overload is so powerful. The biggest drawback of them all is that you will lose all your friends. Seriously, play Devastation Tide instead.
BongRipper420
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I like this card a lot. Packs a lot of punch and versatile utility. This design is super bomb.
Dankirk
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is why you plan your non-blue decks to win by turn 6.
As a Johny and friendly casual player, I'd feel ashamed to use this. Temptingly powerful, but so unconditional. The fun factor is missing.
While the potential in a control deck is obvious, this could just as well be the crown jewel in a creature heavy deck. Something like {G}/{W} weenies / tokens perhaps?
SamuraiZerro
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Bought one at $.50 from my local card shop for my edh. Then I revisited later after pro tour and it was $6. Darn you, monoblue devotion decks in standard for showing everyone how good it really is!
Pongdok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Colonic Rift. I had to hate rate it, even though it is an extremely powerful card. Kind of typical blue nonsense. Also, samurai guy who posted before me, if you use this in edh, then you deserve the subsequent beating with a gym sock filled with whatever your play group uses for +1/+1 counters. (I use pennies.) This is not a casual card unless it's going in a punishment deck to use against a player who doesn't understand what fun is and needs to be chastised. 0.5/5
TheWrathofShane
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Instant speed one sided wrath bounce that hits everything but lands. Jesus. Only 7 mana for this effect AND I can single target stall/disrupt early game if I am desperate.
Yes I run x4 in my deck problem?
Drewskithelegend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Might as well say "target opponent loses the game" because there is so little that most decks can do to recover from this.
The day it cycles out will be interesting, I don't want to see it go, but it would be way too good if it stuck around.
Comments (97)
This card alone will be in everything form delver decks to Talrand decks. And especially Izzet decks.
Seriously, I expect this card to be responsible for roughly half of the rage-scoops we'll see for the next 2 years of standard. This is the real deal, folks. A strong bounce card that turns into a total blowout that's pretty much resistent to changes in the meta-game. Things like threat density, deck speed, and creature toughness change, but pretty much everyone relies on nonland permanents, and bounce is always a strong tempo play. Expect to see a lot of this guy.
Also, fan-freakin'-tabulous art.
At worst, it's a Disperse, which is an effective card anyway.
Otherwise, you basically win the game, or effectively stave off your demise for 2 - 3 turns.
Thank you. THANK YOU.
Also, I can see this getting banned in EDH.
Awesome effect, cool art, fun and exciting trick up your sleeve, and versatile.
Everything a perfect blue card needs.
One part of it is super-narrow, the other super-expensive. I'll pass, and stick to devastation tide.
One part of it is super-narrow, the other super-expensive. I'll pass, and stick to devastation tide.
Usually you bounce your opponent's stuff most of the time, so the fact that this doesn't hit your own stuff won't make it "super-narrow". There's a reason why delver ran vapor snag over unsummon; the 1 life loss will go towards your opponents more often than you.
Yes, 7 mana is a lot, but it'll be mostly control decks playing this, which can slowly get up to that 7 mana. The fact that its' an instant makes this much easier to play with as you can hold counters/restoration angel/etc. and then use this for a finisher.
What is it with blue cards that drives WotC's r&d insane?
-Cyberium
. . . Wait, what?
1U instead of UU
loss of being able to target your own things but thats much less important than opponents
helps to get a lock earlygame (just as effective on a scepter as boomerang)
and late game this pretty much wins
...oh wait "nonland" DAM!....
That is, if you have some permanents.
That being said, it is STILL very powerful. If you're in a tough rut, like if your opponent has a 11/10 Lotleth Troll with other things, it gives you some time to prepare for a defense/way to win, like a Time Warp or a Stasis.
As everyone as said, the
I must give it an amazing rating like for Abrupt Decay.
Seven mana for that effect is a *bargain*-
being able to use it as most of a Disperse is just extra gravy.
If I have 8 mana I can do this all on the same turn. Fun times.
The merits of that Overload just can't be overstated.
This is my favorite card of the set, and yes, that's because I pulled a foil one at the prerelease.
Talk about gorgeous art.
"Nice board position you have there. It would be a shame if something were to happen to it..."
Also, pretty useful in standard. Bonus!
This is good as a boomerang but throwing in a +1 mana Upheavel which can be avoided with protection from blue.
What all of this means is that early game you can muck up a land drop and stall an oppoenent on turn 1 or 2 for an extra turn, late game you can replay your bombs while your opponennt is discarding his field.
Even without that, The Tyrant starts bouncing lands and anything else you play around 2-3 times per turn and closes what's left of the game in a turn or two. If the opponent is also slow the game only goes to T5-6 anyway due to lots of bounce weenies beating you up. Wrath's don't matter due to Mulldrifters, Agent of Bolas, and Sea Gate Oracle
One of my favorite decks to play and one of my best. Can take on 2 aggro opponents and come on top at times; though the life-total almost always dips to low single digits while trying to stabilize, even against a single aggro deck you get dangerously close to death; but then your opponent gets locked down and watches dissappointedly as he loses the game permanent by permanent, 2-5 health at a time.
Still, a 4/5 from me.
I'm really disappointed in this card.. I will compare to into the roil.. When I throw down a snapcaster mage... Cyclonic Rift does not help me... When my opponent targets one of my creatures... Cyclonic Rift fails me again... Generally in Modern, by the time turn 7 rolls around, the game has usually been decided... The fact that I can not target my own cards to utilize any "when enters the battlefield" abilities or to save any of my own cards from destruction is a huge disadvantage and it is why I run into the roil... Jeez.. Card advantage is another huge benefit into the roil has that this doesn't...
When I have run this card, more often than not, I am hard casting it for 2 and not the overload cost so into the roil wins all day long...
On the occasion when I have casted for Overload, yes, this thing ruins the game for your opponent... but I have found that this card is not flexible enough to replace into the roil and generally you are casting it for 2 or I need to save or re-use one of my own cards...
5/5 for me
As for this card, it is stupidly good. In EDH and other casual formats it may be too good. Its the kind of powerful that makes multiplayer games unfun sadly. The normal spell is good and early game playable, the overload is a game ender. That kind of versatility is incredibly powerful. Not sure we will see legacy play, but standard, modern, extended and EDH will love it.
1) CMC for overload could have been 5{B} instead of the current 6{7}.
2) Not the best in 2HG as it destroys your ally's battlefield as well.
3) By the time you can cast its overload cost, your opponent most often has so much mana that he/she can re-cast a fair amout of the returned cards...
Apart from those things, I cannot find any problems. Destroys any lock-down your opponent might throw at you.
4.5/5
Not affected by Hexproof or Shroud? Everything except lands (including Planeswalkers!)? Try and leave a bit of mana for Counterflux and you're a beast! Not to mention so many other good ones from this block that benefit: Blistercoil Weird, Guttersnipe, Goblin Electromancer,...
Only problem is that cards like Melek, Izzet Paragon and Epic Experiment can't cast it for it's overload, but that's just a minor drawback to one of the best cards in the set.
Play this just before your your opponent attacks but after they've brought out their fatties, and you're golden
As a life-long blue player, I confess, I feel ashamed of what this color has become, and after years of ardent denial, I have begun to see why sooo many hate it.
I doubt they'l ban it though, so pick your playgroup carefully.
Breaks both standard and modern. I should just give up trying to be creative.
That said, I've gotten this guy fired off on numerous occasions on turn 4 in my mono blue devotion thanks to Nykthos. It is mono black's worst nightmare.
What I would suggest is either have this cost even more OR have it wrath only a single player. That way, you can actually use it as a pretty good answer to broken stuff, yet it won't win you a game outright. Nah, who am I kidding. With Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx even competitive formats are in danger, now...
There are some slight drawbacks to this, though. You can't save your own stuff with this, which takes away half of a bounce effect's utility. Furthermore, you rarely really use this as a single target bounce for the overload is so powerful. The biggest drawback of them all is that you will lose all your friends. Seriously, play Devastation Tide instead.
As a Johny and friendly casual player, I'd feel ashamed to use this. Temptingly powerful, but so unconditional. The fun factor is missing.
While the potential in a control deck is obvious, this could just as well be the crown jewel in a creature heavy deck. Something like {G}/{W} weenies / tokens perhaps?
Yes I run x4 in my deck problem?
The day it cycles out will be interesting, I don't want to see it go, but it would be way too good if it stuck around.