Top 10 Free Spells

August 2, 2024

(Force of Will | Art by Jaime Jones)

Big. Huge.

Welcome to Too-Specific Top 10, where if there isn’t a category to rank our pet card at the top of, we’ll just make one up! (Did you know that Submerge is the only "free" instant that can put a target creature on top of its owner's library?)

Bloomburrow brings us not one, but two commanders with something in common: they want you to cast big spells.

Honestly though, these aren't the first instances of this we've seen, even in the command zone. In fact, we've seen enough that you can make more than a top ten of them:

Top 10 Commanders That Care About Casting Big Spells

So, with that in mind, why not take another look at how you can make spells that cost a lot cost a little?

Top 10 Free Spells

Well, there's no less than zero, at least when it comes to Magic! So why don't we revisit our very first Too-Specific Top 10 and see what our options are for free spells? Apparently I've been doing this for five years now, so it's about time to take a look back, don't you think? Only this time, we have a bit of a different criteria. Our two new commanders both care about spells that cost four or more, so why don't we let blue back into the fold, and we'll take a look at those bigger spells.

Criteria: Four or more mana value cards with an alternative casting cost that does not include mana, or four or more mana value cards that untap lands equal to or greater than their mana value. As is tradition, all results are ordered by EDHREC score.

10. Solitude

(34,127 Inclusions, 2% of 1,926,336 Decks)

What's a single mana worth? Solitude asks that question of Swords to Plowshares, and the answer to a fair amount of brewers is "a whole dang card." Add in an option to pay full cost or do some blink or Reanimate shenanigans, and there's a fair amount of reasons to consider Solitude even before you get into commanders that will reward you for it.

9. Misdirection

(42,353 Inclusions, 2% of 2,065,626 Decks)

It's no Force of Will, but it's one of the many cards that does a reasonable impression. All in all, most decks with the option would rather be playing Deflecting Swat, but if you're in the camp of wanting more expensive stuff, not having access to red, or thinking "why not both?" then Misdirection will be right up your alley.

8. Zacama, Primal Calamity

(Helms 3,867 Decks, Rank #309; 45,822 Inclusions, 9% of 506,376 Decks)

If we're being honest, we're being more than a little gratuitous by calling Zacama a "free" spell. No matter what kind of deck you're playing, you're unlikely to just have nine mana laying around. With that said, if you do get to nine lands, Zacama is technically free, and we do care about big spells...

7. Snuff Out

(49,745 Inclusions, 2% of 2,154,803 Decks)

Snuff Out, on the other hand, has been a fan favorite since the days it was played in Standard back in 1999. Four life, it turns out, is a small price to pay to be able to remove an obstacle in the way of you winning the game, and that was true even in formats with 20 life. With 40 to play with, players are more than happy to spend a tenth of their life total to remove a game-winning threat, and that's unlikely to change any time soon.

6. Rewind

(65,446 Inclusions, 3% of 2,065,626 Decks)

What's better than removing a card in play for free, though? Removing a card on the stack, of course! Rewind's four-mana cost can be a bit unwieldy at times, but if you can find a deck that's comfortable with holding it up, it's hard to beat Rewind for brute force at a discount. Able to counter any spell, and letting you still have access to other mana at the end of it all for follow-up interaction, this one is worth consideration in anything that wants to play Draw-Go.

5. Mindbreak Trap

(67,006 Inclusions, 3% of 2,065,626 Decks)

At a high-powered table, it's difficult to do better than Mindbreak Trap. Sure, there are other free Counterspells, but most of them are "free" at the cost of a major downside, like exiling a card or losing the game unless you pay five mana. Tack onto that that Mindbreak Trap can take a whole stack of nonsense and make it go away, and there's at least an argument to be made that it's superior. Sure, it can also be dead if you're tapped out and your opponent finds a way to win the game without casting several spells and your other opponents don't have any interaction. That circumstance is fairly unlikely, however. Most win-cons at high-power have several components, or involve drawing your whole deck. Even when they don't, however, you're not the only player, and it's likely that other players will have interaction to try along the way (or can be convinced to throw a spell on the stack at your insistence, even if it doesn't really do anything direct).

The point is, at number five, Mindbreak Trap might actually be underrated... At a high-powered table. Unfortunately, if you are trying to play at lower power levels, it's rather likely that this "free" spell will just be four mana.

4. Force of Vigor

(67,009 Inclusions, 3% of 1,956,382 Decks)

The best thing about Force of Vigor is that it's already well-costed. We've played and loved Return to Dust and Crush Contraband for years. Four mana to destroy two artifacts and enchantments is a great rate! Still, "free" is better, no?

3. Peregrine Drake

(74,425 Inclusions, 4% of 2,065,626 Decks)

Put simply, Peregrine Drake is combo central.

With multiple two-card combos that result in infinite mana and infinite ETBs, Peregrine Drake can make a fair game of Magic unfair in a heartbeat. Even those trying to play it more legitimately often find themselves in a loop without realizing it. Which is not to say that the "big spells matter" commanders couldn't have a field day with this, with or without the combos. Glarb loves getting this thing off the top and having a free 2/3 flyer. Helga draws a card off of it and gets bigger, therefore tapping for more mana. She also loves any of the above three combos, as they let you draw your entire deck and most likely win the game. Imoti gets free cascades, Gandalf, Westward Voyager gets you copies of your spells, and Radagast, Wizard of Wilds gets you tokens. No matter your intent or power level, Peregrine Drake delivers for this genre of deck, period.

2. Deadly Rollick

(220,012 Inclusions, 10% of 2,154,803 Decks)

The free spells out of Commander 2020 have always been some of the premiere options of the format. For those commanders that do care about spells with MV three or greater, any of them can be an absolute beating. At four or greater, however, Deadly Rollick is your only option, and it's a good one. Exiling a creature without any additional stipulations is great, and while four mana would be a lot to do that normally, doing it for the low, low cost of having your commander in play feels pretty darn good.

1. Force of Will

(230,961 Inclusions, 11% of 2,065,626 Decks)

Force of Will is one of the first boogey-man cards you learn about when you start playing Magic. No longer are you safe when someone is tapped out. No longer can you rely on the blue player to just let your thing resolve. Force of Will is here, and therefore it might be there in every game that follows. Well, fast forward to Glarb times, and it might not just be in hand, it might also be on top of the library. And whether it's you or an opponent that ends up digging through the top five cards to find it in response to a game-ending spell, I for one hope I'm there to see it.

Honorable Mentions

While the new kids on the block Glarb and Helga both care about four-costs, several other commanders care about different numbers. With that in mind, here's a few more lists:

Top 10 "Free" Spells That Cost Three

With four of the five of the free-with-your-commander spells represented, the cheapest of our lists is probably easily the most powerful. There are now cEDH lists essentially dedicated to getting commanders down on turn one while also having the maximum colors allowed, simply so that the free spells can be accessed. Sure, those aren't playing Obscuring Haze, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they're going to be throwing down with Fierce Guardianship and Deflecting Swat, along with throwing in Force of Negation and Endurance.

Top 10 "Free" Spells That Cost Four

We've already talked about the top half of this list, but the bottom half has some truly great cards that all too often go ignored. While Foil is rather deservedly shunned, for instance, Flare of Fortitude is rapidly climbing the ranks as a bad-yet-free version of Teferi's Protection. Even better in my mind, however, is the forgotten free evoker, Subtlety. Sure, sure, there's always the argument that it only hits creatures, and I get that for 60-card formats. Here in Commander, however, "only hits creatures" means commanders. Not only that, but I also feel that the added bonus of putting a card on top is often ignored. It's easy enough in a lot of decks to mill the card away, but even if you don't, you've blocked a draw for your opponent, which is pretty huge!

Top 10 "Free" Spells That Cost Five

I'm not actually gonna come out here and stump for Treachery or Archive Trap, but I would like to get on my soapbox for just a moment about a few others. First off, Fury needs to see more play at all levels of Commander. Killing multiple utility creatures in a single go is more than worth exiling a card, even at sorcery speed. But what people all too often forget about the free evokers is that you can still hard cast them. Every red deck in Commander used to play Flametongue Kavu, and Fury is that for one more mana, except you can break up the damage and it has double strike.

As for the rest, Submerge is nearly always free, Gush is some great desperation card draw in spellslinger or other decks that care more about the explosive turn than the long game, and Contagion should be seeing more consideration in the current creature-heavy cEDH environment.

Top 10 "Free" Spells That Cost Six or More

Oof. The six or more lists starts bad, and doesn't get much better from there. Pyrokinesis is worth it, however, and should see a lot more play. Palinchron is the fun version of Peregrine Drake, and should see a resurgence at mid-level tables. Hand of Emrakul is probably already in the process of seeing a bump from the incoming Azlask, the Swelling Scourge decks.

There is one final huge spell that's "free" I feel we need to talk about, however.

Beledros Witherbloom will most likely pay for itself once you get it down, and the steady cavalcade of Pests is nothing to sneer at. While it didn't fit our criteria today, it absolutely warrants mention.

Nuts and Bolts

There always seems to be a bit of interest in how these lists are made (this seems like a good time to stress once again that they are based on EDHREC score, NOT my personal opinion), and people are often surprised that I’m not using any special data or .json from EDHREC, but rather just muddling my way through with some Scryfall knowledge! For your enjoyment/research, here is this week’s Scryfall search.

What Do You Think?

With all the options popping up in this space, it seems like expensive spells commanders are here to stay. The question is, are any of them catching your eye?

And finally, what is your favorite "free" spell that's technically expensive? Are there any we talked about today that you're going to throw in one of your expensive spells deck?

Let us know in the comments, and we'll see you at the folding camping table that can fit the whole family, but folds up to the size of a briefcase. Man, that thing's heavy.

DougY

Doug has been an avid Magic player since Fallen Empires, when his older brother traded him some epic blue Homarids for all of his Islands. As for Commander, he's been playing since 2010, when he started off by making a two-player oriented G/R Land Destruction deck. Nailed it. In his spare time when he's not playing Magic, writing about Magic or doing his day job, he runs a YouTube channel or two, keeps up a College Football Computer Poll, and is attempting to gif every scene of the Star Wars prequels.

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