Magic the Gathering: Standing “Cycling MTG” Decks

Magic’s Ikoria set included cards that had the cycling mechanic. These cards can be played for their base price or you can immediately discard them and pay their cycling fee (usually one to two mana).

Cycling MTG is useful for hand-manipulation. It’s also supported with several cards, resulting in dedicated decks with a specific theme. Which spells are crucial for the cause? These are the top ten cards for standard cycling decks in Magic: The Gathering (in the Ikoria/Zendikar Rising rotating).

Footfall Crater

Crater is cheap and simple. It also falls within the Cycling MTG theme core colors of red/white. You can enchant a land Boxing for Kids and give it tap power to grant a creature trample, haste and one mana. You can also cycle Crater using your hand and draw a new card.

Raugrin Triome

A decision must be made when incorporating a third color in your Cycling MTG theme. This is almost always blue. Raugrin Triomes are a good choice if you decide to do this (which I highly recommend). They can be tapped and give you either blue, red, or white mana. You can also cycle it for three dollars, which is a high Cycling MTG cost but still very nice.

Mill decks are very popular right now. Triomes have another advantage over basic lands, and they benefit your Ace card (“Zenith Flare”) just by being in the Graveyard.

Boon of the Wish-Giver

Boon, which is an expensive, but sometimes useful play, allows you to draw four cards. This can be a great way to replenish your hand if you are running blue. You can also cycle it for one. This is a quick and cheap way to activate your Cycling MTG shenanigans.

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Get blood

Blood can be used to either make a creature you control win against an opponent or cycle for one. This is one of the few removals you have in your deck. It’s useful when you need to deal with an opposing threat. But, often you will just want to cycle it because it’s so inexpensive.

Drannith Healer

You can either cycle Healer as a 1/1 or 2/2. This effect grants you one life for every card you cycle, which is useful for outlasting aggro. You should definitely have four cards in your deck. But, you will want Healer’s counterpart more.

Lurrus of Dream-Den

Lurrus can be used as your companion and you can add him to your hand outside of the game for three mana. He only allows permanents costing two or less to be in your deck (instants, sorceries and others are not restricted).

Only a handful of worthwhile permanents for cycling, such as “Shark Typhoon”, fall outside this range. This means you get a companion. Once you are out, Lurrus allows you to cast a permanent costing two or less from your graveyard once per turn. It won’t allow you to cycle from it but it’s a great way to get key cards like…