Cycling
Keyword abilities
Pay a small cost, discard the card, draw a new one — from your hand, at instant speed.
How it works
Cycling is an activated ability you use from your hand: pay the cycling cost, discard the card, draw a card. Because it is an activated ability and not a spell, you can do it at instant speed, in response to something, even when the card itself is a sorcery you could never cast right then.
The variants change the back half. Landcycling and typecycling let you discard the card to SEARCH your library for a land or a creature of the named type, then shuffle — they do not draw you a card.
In a deck that cares, a cycling card is quietly two cards: a spell when you need it and a cantrip when you don't. That is why cycling shows up in more real decklists than almost any other keyword.
Common confusions
“Does cycling count as casting the card?”
No. You never cast it, so nothing that triggers on casting triggers, and "counter target spell" can't touch it. The cycling ability itself does use the stack and can be responded to.
“Does cycling count as discarding?”
Yes — and that is the whole point of madness and of the cards that punish discard. Anything that triggers when you discard a card sees a cycled card.
“I landcycled and didn't draw.”
Correct. Only plain cycling draws. Landcycling and typecycling replace the draw with a library search and a shuffle.
“Can I cycle a card out of my graveyard?”
No. Cycling works from your hand only, unless some other card explicitly grants you permission.
Cards with cycling
Ranked by how often Commander decks actually play them.
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