Frantic Search

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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
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pauper Duel Commander Legal
Pauper EDH Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Frantic Search

Instant

Draw two cards, then discard two cards. Untap up to three lands.

legendofa on Why is Untapping Lands a …

1 month ago

In blue, the Urza's Block hugely skew land untapping, and that block is widely considered to be an overpowered mistake, especially for blue. Urza's Saga and Urza's Legacy alone have ten cards that allow land-specific untapping, more than half of all the blue cards that allow untapping lands without untapping all permanents. They'll be included for the sake of completion, but I wouldn't take them as any sort of precedent. Pioneer legality is just five cards, with one of them being Standard-legal. Blue is the undisputed king of untapping permanents in general, but doesn't have any special focus on lands.

Ye Olde Bordere, "untap" + "land": Twiddle, Reset, Infuse, Jolt, Twitch, Mind Over Matter, Great Whale, Peregrine Drake, Rewind, Time Spiral, Turnabout, Cloud of Faeries, Frantic Search, Palinchron, Snap, Treachery, Trickster Mage. total 16

Modern Border, "untap" + "land": Oboro Breezecaller. total 1

2015 Border, "untap" + "land": Pore Over the Pages, Unwind, Finale of Revelation, Kelpie Guide. total 3

Ye Olde Bordere, "untap" + "permanent": Telekinetic Bonds. total 1

Modern Border, "untap" + "permanent": Dream's Grip, Psychic Puppetry, Toils of Night and Day, Tidewater Minion, Rimewind Taskmage, Coral Trickster, Merrow Reejerey, Pestermite, Fatestitcher, Merfolk Skyscout, Reality Spasm, Deceiver Exarch, Captain of the Mists, Ghostly Touch, Hidden Strings, Curse of Inertia, Tidal Force. total 17

2015 Border, "untap" + "permanent": Teferi, Temporal Archmage, Vizier of Tumbling Sands, Clever Conjurer, Nimbleclaw Adept, Ioreth of the Healing House, Forensic Researcher. total 6

Ye Olde Bordere, "untap" + "Island": none.

Modern Border, "untap" + "Island": none.

2015 Border, "untap" + "Island": none.

There's 44 mono-blue cards that can untap lands in some capacity, with 20 of them being more specific than untapping permanents in general. If Urza's Block is taken out, then there are 34 blue cards that untap lands, with just nine of them having any sort of restriction.

So in final summary, I see green land untapping increasing in recent years, and blue permanent untapping actually falling off slightly. There were 18 blue untap cards in the 12 years of the modern border, and nine cards so far in the nine years of the 2015 border. Discounting Urza's Block, there are slightly more green cards that can untap lands than blue cards, and many more green cards that untap lands than blue cards printed in the last ten years.

If I missed anything in this breakdown, please let me know. But I think the cards are there to support my initial position. Both green and blue are primary in untapping lands, if lands are counted as permanents, and blue is secondary in untapping lands specifically. Mark Rosewater's answer is is at best incomplete and missing nuance, and at worst totally wrong.


Keeping the above because it took me a long time write and I don't want to undo the effort.

In response to wallisface, percentage of cards with a given effect doesn't matter to primacy of color.

  • Primary – This is the color (or colors) the ability is seen in most. That means it shows up in the highest volume and usually at the lowest rarity that the type of effects get used at. The primary color will almost always get this effect in a set if it's an ability we do every set. It also tends to be the color that most often pushes the power level, if it's an effect we push the power level on. There's a wide range on what primary means, because different types of effects exist at different levels. A card secondary in flying can show up way more than a card primary in taking extra turns, for instance, because we have so many more flying cards than extra-turn cards.

  • I want to stress one more time that primary, secondary, and tertiary are relative to how often an effect is used. Things that are secondary in a color, for example, may be far more prevalent in that color than things that are primary if the items in question occur at a higher frequency.

Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2021

For example, MaRoo has repeatedly stated that red is primary in extra combat cards, with white as a contender for secondary.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/mechanical-color-pie-2021

https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/760377485190938624/can-any-color-aside-from-red-get-extra-combat

There are only 36 cards that grant an additional comabt. If primacy was considered as a proportion of cards that grant additional combats was considered only as a proportion of total cards of that color, I don't think any color would be considered primary.

So while there might be fewer cards that untap lands in green as a proportion of total green cards in recent years, that's not a relevant measure to color primacy. The relevant measure is how often cards that untap lands show up in green compared to other colors, which I think is demonstrated by the above lists that green has more land untap effects than any other color, with blue being nearly equivalent. That, according to MaRo's definition, means that land untapping is primary in green.

Lup3rcal on Undead Monarch

5 months ago

Suggested cuts: Waste Not - enemy discard is a secondary strategy, and viable, but this is a card that is only a payoff for a secondary strategy. I think it may be dead enough that it doesn't warrant a slot.

Logic Knot - would be sweet if it was {U} less. As is, it's a strictly inferior counterspell that uses a valuable resource to be effective

Fervent Denial - 5 mana is a lot to hold up, 7 will almost never happen in a board-presence focused deck.

Dark Deal - wheels are decent here, but this Mind Rots yourself. Have 4 cards, cast this, end up with 2. The other wheels can benefit from enemy high card counts. This does disrupt opponents, but that's gonna draw some ire and you just binned half your resources. If you can withstand the ire you should be winning anyway. Something like Frantic Search would be better IMO.

Zombie Infestation - two cards plus one upfront is a steep price. I don't know that you have enough reanimation to need to dump your hand at instant speed when you already have Varina available.

Dismantling Blow - a glorified Disenchant 90% of the time. A 6 mana spell the rest of the time.

Suggestions not many at this stage. Gleaming Overseer is a consideration if you find yourself heavy into tokens. I'm a big fan of a few cards in your maybe list: Obsessive Search, and Kindred Discovery. Though the latter is slow.

Matzalantli is cute but I'd be wary of labelling it as ramp when assessing your manabase given it needs 7 mana to activate, and won't be online until at LEAST turn 5. It's defs more a Gilded Lotus than Arcane Signet

RiotRunner789 on

6 months ago

Library of Leng essentially gives you unlimited hand size since you never have to discard down to 7 (or whatever your handsize is). You simply don't discard since you don't have a discard phase, it does not technically effect your hand size.

It also works well when some one casts Windfall or even your own effects like cycling or cards like Frantic Search. You may also discard what you don't want to your graveyard but discard what you do want to the top of your library to draw again. It tends to be a strangely useful and underapreciated card.

plakjekaas on Would Seedborn Muse Be Blue …

1 year ago

In pioneer there's a deck making good use of Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages to storm off with Lotus Field mana.

The thing they used to do with Turnabout and Frantic Search, or maybe even Time Spiral or Treachery, anything to untap Tolarian Academy for insane amounts of mana.

And Twiddle of course, can't forget that one.

That's in addition to the extra turn argument I tried making in my last post.

Blue untaps a LOT of lands, more with spells than, permanents, although Fatestitcher and Vizier of Tumbling Sands aren't new cards either.

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

1 year ago

New Unesh Card Printed in Wilds of Eldraine

Virtue of Knowledge to replace Gauntlet of Power. Pros of virtue of knowledge:

  • 2nd copy of Panharmonicon
  • Same CMC as Gauntlet of power, but has a devotion to blue. It benefits from Defiler of Dreams & Sapphire Medallion.
  • The effects are 1-sided. They only benefit you, not your opponents.
  • Still Combos with Palinchron.
  • Adventure modality. Can be used to copy fetch ability early game. Can be used as a one time mana stimulus with Frantic Search, Snap, Palinchron. This is modality not even Panharmonicon has.
  • Triggers when ANY permanent enters the battlefield, not simply creatures and artifacts. This deck doesn't make great use of this text, but it could more so in the future maybe. Mystic Sanctuary is the only additional card that benefits in this deck right now.
  • Pitchable to cards like Force of Will.

Notable Cons:

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

1 year ago

GHoag I think it is wise to go with Gauntlet of Power over Reflections of Littjara. More so I think it is even better to choose newly printed Virtue of Knowledge in this slot.

Here is a bit of a rambling explanation of all the reasons: The key thing turning me off from Reflections is that you have to name a creature type when it ETB's. Mostly you want to pick Sphinxes, so most of the time you don't benefit by having infinite Palinchrons. Virtue of Knowledge doesn't have that requirement for the same CMC, and also it combos with Palinchron. Also, there is the adventure cost on the card. I think it is easy to call this cute but I actually think it could be awesome. The adventure can copy a fetchland ability in the early game (it is cheaper to use than Wayfarer's Bauble). Using adventure mode on the card is also a cheaper way to net mana with Palinchron or even Frantic Search; although it would be single use I can imagine a situation where that might be the kicker to win the game. This is versatility that Reflections and Guantlet do not have. Although Reflections does help with beat down, beat down is not the strongest strategy in the deck, especially since a few of our sphinxes are meek changelings. The two cards are also equal on blue devotion.

Debatably this card is even better than Panharmonicon itself. The text Virtue of Knowledge allows triggers for any permanent entering the battlefield while Panharmonicon is only artifacts and creatures. This deck doesn't make use of that right now, but it could become important later on. Also Panharmonicon doesn't have another mode.

TLDR; I think the pros for Virtue of Knowledge are better or equal to Reflections of Littjara in every way except for beat down, which isn't the most important strategy for Unesh. Furthermore if I was forced to choose between Virtue of Knowledge and Panharmonicon, I might even pick Virtue. Luckily I don't have to choose right now...

SufferFromEDHD on tameshi stax combo

1 year ago

Solid build! A lot of neat tech in this list like that Mind Harness. Focused and brutal polymorph targets. Nice to see both Parallax Tide and Parallax Wave too. Get that Pendrell Mists into the 99!

Although it is a well oiled machine I'm still going to spitball a playset of discard engines that might be worthy of a spot:

Frantic Search Intuition #2 not sure what to cut.

Forbid and/or Rites of Refusal for Arcane Denial and/or Delay.

Turbulent Dreams for Flood of Tears

Vengeful Dreams for either Path or Swords

Dust Bowl awesome in the late game

ASalesman on Unesh, Ultimate Guide (Tribal)

1 year ago

BIG REVISION HERE

Here is all the big changes I've made to this list, and an explanation for each. Guide edits will come in a little bit!

  • Replaced Burnished Hart with Mistwalker. Burnished Hart feels too slow, Mistwalker is a cheap sphinx that makes the deck go fast. Mistwalker is a nice addition because it benefits from the full 2 cmc reduction from Unesh. 1/3 and flying on Mistwalker makes it the best changeling when it comes to combat.
  • Replaced Guardian of Tazeem with Aetherflux Reservoir. Aetherflux Reservoir is a new win condition in this deck. With all of the added changelings and ability to bounce changelings to your hand, it is easier than ever to play a lot of spells on your turn. In addition to being a 50 lifepoint cannon at instant speed, it is the only lifegain in the deck. It can make up for all the health you lost from Mana Crypt and Ancient Tomb. Guardian of Tazeem's effect is underwhelming most of the time. Having the other cheaper sphinxes there is still 20% sphinx, and are easier to play.
  • Replaced Leyline of Anticipation with Narset's Reversal. Leyline's effect is honestly underwhelming at 4 CMC. It's great if it starts in your opening hand, but it is Force of Will fodder otherwise. Debatably it is worth for synergy with Sphinx of the Second Sun, but adding emergence zone (description below) gives you a cheaper Leyline effect at the cost of it only being one turn. One turn with the effect is all you need to win the game though, or to get very far ahead with Sphinx of the Second Sun. Narset's Reversal is a great card because it can be great in a counterspell war, but it can also be used to augment your other cards such as Frantic Search or High Tide or Ghostly Flicker. I love Narset's Reversal because it is great on it's own, but also sees some great synergy.
  • Replaced Myriad Landscape with Emergence Zone. Myriad landscape is noticably too slow, similar to burnished hart. The utility from Emergence Zone can be outstanding. Emergence Zone is a more easily accessible Leyline of Anticipation essentially. It is less mana to use at the price of using it for only a turn. Presumably the turn that you would use it you would also win the game, so you don't need it more than once anyway.
  • Replaced Treachery with Cloudstone Curio. Treachery is a clunky card that rarely resolves. If the mana doesn't untap after this card is played, it feels very bad. Cloudstone Curio is an engine in this deck. It really keeps the BFOF's coming. Playing this card with Universal Automaton on the field means you get to double all of your BFOF's that you play. Additionally, it works particualrly well with the newly added Aetherflux Reservoir.
  • Replaced Long-Term Plans with Chain of Vapor. If you are playing the deck right you are seeing enough of your deck to get your game winning cards without using long term plans. Long term plans also scuffs one of your BFOF's because your opponent knows which card it is. Chain of vapor has many uses. As well as being spot removal, it can be used to protect Unesh, and to return other cheap sphinxes to your hand to be played again which grants additional synergy with the Aetherflux Reservoir win condition.
  • Replaced Sphinx of Uthuun with Sakashima of a Thousand Faces. Sphinx of Uthuun is expensive for what it does. It will normally be chaper to play Sakashima, and it becomes a second Unesh which doubles all of your BFOFs rather than getting you an extra regular FOF. Having a second Unesh on the field also grants you protection from spot removal targetting only one Unesh.
  • Replaced Riddlemaster Sphinx with Bloodline Pretender. Riddlemaster Sphinx's ETB isn't as good as the others (Enigma Thief and Dream Eater). Bouncing one creature isn't super great because your sphinxes already have combat superiority most of the time. It feels expensive for what it does, which means it is too slow. Another cheap sphinx in this slot speeds up the deck, and provides extra synergy with the other added cards.
  • Replaced Island with Lotus Field. I want to try this out. I am skeptical that it is actually better than an Island, but we will see! Let me know what you think here.
  • Replaced Island with Sea Gate Restoration  Flip. Becasue why not really? Worst case scenario, you pay 3 life to have it enter as an untapped island. Having it your hand later game can get you a lot of cards in a pinch.
  • Replaced Imprisoned in the Moon with Gilded Drake. Gilded drake is 1 mana cheaper. It not only takes your opponents creature away from them, it also gives it to you, at the cost of them having a 3/3 flyer. In cEDH this trade is insanely good for you. Imprisoned in the moon can be removed to return the creature back to their side. Nothing happens when Gilded Drake dies. He can also be easily blocked by one of your sphinxes, which means it might be chip damage to a different opponent. To me Gilded Drake is a no brainer here.
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