Lightning Rift

Enchantment

Whenever a player cycles a card, you may pay {1}. If you do, Lightning Rift deals 2 damage to any target

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (15)

SufferFromEDHD on Kenrith's Astral Slide

1 month ago

I too have a 5 color cycling deck but it is a gimmicky fragile combo. Yours can interact and react. I like it.

The cycle of Evoke elementals from Modern Horizons 2 are fantastic Astral targets.

Crystalline Resonance very powerful clone effect.

Words of Waste you will always have a full hand. Why not make your opponents have nothingness?

Drannith Stinger is an upgrade but the PB&J to Astral Slide was always Lightning Rift

jaymc1130 on How does Library of Leng …

2 years ago

Library of Leng is indeed a wonky card, but it's a pretty nifty combo piece within certain types of discard concept strategies.

When it comes to Madness, what you essentially have is two replacement effects modifying the same instance of the card being discarded, so you have a choice of which you want to apply. You can either discard the card into exile, or you may discard it to the top of your library. If you discard it into exile, then Library of Leng will no longer see an effect to replace and you then have the choice of casting the card for it's Madness cost or putting it into your graveyard. If you discard it to the top of your library then the Madness ability will no longer see an effect to replace, the card will not be in exile, and you will not be able to cast it for it's Madness cost. In practical terms, Madness and Library will not combo together to produce a cool line of play. In real world terms, Anje decks might not mind, they might be very happy to discard the card to the top of the library and repeatedly draw and discard it using Anje's ability. With a card like Glint-Horn Buccaneer in play, for example, this would kill opponents.

A mechanic with better synergy with Library of Leng is Cycling. Cycling cards discard themselves first, then draw a card. This can be used to cycle the same card over and over again, and a similar situation as to the aforementioned Buccaneer line of play can occur with a card like Drannith Stinger in play killing opponents as a result of this process. A combo such as Library of Leng + Tectonic Reformation + Surly Badgersaur + Drannith Stinger + any land would form a self sustaining loop to kill opponents, for example.

Additionally, some Cycling cards have triggered effects when they cycle, and Library of Leng can allow a pilot to loop those effects. Gilded Lotus + Library of Leng + Vizier of Tumbling Sands would produce infinite mana, for example. Add in something like a Lightning Rift and this could become lethal. Bone Miser + Library of Leng + Barren Moor is another infinite mana combo, though it only produces black mana. Add in a Gempalm Polluter, however, and this set up would also become lethal.

kpres on Cycle the deck, and destroy everyone

3 years ago

Fortunately, these two commanders trigger off of drawing and discarding, so you don't have to limit yourself to just cycling. This is great, because although cycling has been around since Urza's Saga, the number of cards available to you are fairly limited.

During Pro Tour in the Onslaught days, there was a fairly successful cycling deck that made use of Astral Slide to prevent opponents' creatures from being able to attack, and Lightning Rift to ping for damage. The big finisher was Decree of Justice.

See:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-online/throwback-standard-gauntlet-3-early-2000s

Recently, Ikoria has given us Zenith Flare.

Since you're going to be filling the graveyard with spells or permanents with cycling, I would recommend Mizzix's Mastery and cards like Open the Vaults.

Any cycling deck is going to be weak on the board state, because you'll be spending your mana on discarding cards rather than playing stuff, so you're going to want to run lots of board wipes. It won't be a fun time for the other players, but if you want it to be polished, that's what you're gonna have to do. Also cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda.

I'm really interested in this deck, and I want to see how it goes, so I'm going to upvote and follow it. Good luck!

kpres on Cycle Commander deck. Want to …

3 years ago

Fortunately, these two commanders trigger off of drawing and discarding, so you don't have to limit yourself to just cycling. This is great, because although cycling has been around since Urza's Saga, the number of cards available to you are fairly limited.

During Pro Tour in the Onslaught days, there was a fairly successful cycling deck that made use of Astral Slide to prevent opponents' creatures from being able to attack, and Lightning Rift to ping for damage. The big finisher was Decree of Justice.

See:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-online/throwback-standard-gauntlet-3-early-2000s

Recently, Ikoria has given us Zenith Flare.

Since you're going to be filling the graveyard with spells or permanents with cycling, I would recommend Mizzix's Mastery and cards like Open the Vaults.

Any cycling deck is going to be weak on the board state, because you'll be spending your mana on discarding cards rather than playing stuff, so you're going to want to run lots of board wipes. It won't be a fun time for the other players, but if you want it to be polished, that's what you're gonna have to do. Also cards like Ghostly Prison and Propaganda.

I'm really interested in this deck, and I want to see how it goes, so I'm going to upvote and follow it. Good luck!

ModernT1mes on Jeskai - Cycle Your Opponents to Death

3 years ago

Thank you for your time and reply Xenephrim!

Hopefully I'm not misunderstanding the text of the cards, but the game plan with Fires of Invention was to have Chromatic Orrery for the red mana to cycle my lands with Tectonic Reformation. As far as I know cycling isn't a "spell" but an ability. So I can cycle cards in my hand as many times as I have mana for, then look for two big cost spells and play those, all the while having my commander or Psychosis Crawler on the board to try and cycle 10+ cards in one turn. Then swing in with 10+ commander damage. This was the reason for the tutors. I understand this is a lot of cards to find for a win-con but I'm pretty new to this.

Also, I agree with your opinion on tax cards. I think I'll gladly pull the Lightning Rift and the Drake Haven, but I'm going to keep the Hoofprints of the Stag only because my group's meta runs an absurd amount of board wipes and I want the option to rebuild.

Xenephrim on Jeskai - Cycle Your Opponents to Death

3 years ago

Thanks ModernT1mes,

If it were me, I would take out Lightning Rift and Drake Haven for Drannith Stinger and Glint-Horn Buccaneer. I personally am not a fan of cards that only do something if you pay a tax on something else (if that makes sense). On their own, Lightning Rift and Drake Haven do nothing. You make an initial investment to get the enchantment into play and then have to pour more mana into it just to get anything. Hoofprints of the Stag falls into the group as well. I'd replace it with something else.

Chromatic Orrery feels out of place here. I'd recommend swapping it out for Alhammarret's Archive.

I'm not entirely sure what your game plan for Fires of Invention and Unpredictable Cyclone are, but I'd swap both of those out at some point in the future. Possibly for Shark Typhoon and Rielle, the Everwise.

Enral on ⟳ Deckcycle | Gavi Primer

3 years ago

tflceia: Hey, my first draft of the list actually involves Approach of the Second Sun. It's really not a shabby win condition and pairs really well with this deck due to how fast we churn through out deck. The only reason I've changed my win condition is because Approach can feel real clunky when drawn at the wrong time. A 7 cmc sorcery that gains you life isn't exactly what I want to be doing at any time of the game. Thassa's Oracle feels right because of the synergy with Astral Drift to scry deeply into the deck as well as doubling up as a win condition. It doesn't feel like a dead card at any time of the game and bonus points for being tutorable with Vedalken AEthermage. Lightning Rift is a hit or miss in my meta tbh, it deals with early mana dorks and problematic commanders like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy in a pinch but also requires significant amount of work to deal with other creatures. It might see a cut for Teferi's Ageless Insight. Hope that answers your questions!

tflceia on ⟳ Deckcycle | Gavi Primer

3 years ago

Hi!

Great job here. Best primer I've seen so far for Gavi cycling deck. I also love cycling and you state very interesting points here. I agree Astral Slide/Astral Drift/Escape Protocol is the best way to abuse both ETB effect and protection. Also really like the idea Wild Research card and the negative cost is easy to mitigate.I'll testing this for sure! In other hand I also found Abandoned Sarcophagus a really awkward card in some situation and you refer that might also happen with Bag of Holding (need to test this one a bit more and it might see the cut).

From my end, I am in a more budget version and also trying to avoid Thassa's Oracle win as it seems to be wincon to every body else who plays blue these days. As an alternative I play with Approach of the Second Sun. What's your opinion on this?

As I don't run mana infinite combo, I found Lightning Rift quite useless most of the times. I would rather pay 1 mana for the drake than shock any target. It only came up couple times to shoot some key creatures. Also it doesn't have cycle itself so it ends up having low utility card. Do you think it deserves a cut in my situation? My play pattern is trying to cycle 2 times each turn to get maximum value of Gavi with my Astral Slide/Astral Drift/Escape Protocol in the battlefield so sinking mana into Lightning Rift to shock doesn't seem too effective.

Cheers