All 40 Flash-Granting Cards and Enablers in Magic Ranked

Last updated on August 27, 2025

High Fae Trickster | Illustration by Justyna Dura

I love casting spells on opponents’ turns more than casting them on my own. I love draw-go control decks where you do nothing on your turn and hold up interaction. I love tempo decks where you drop flash creatures on their end step. And I’m enjoying my final summer in Standard punishing people on the Arena ladder with my Academy Loremaster decks, which they always have to read and rarely know what to do with.

To play those kinds of games, we need instants, permanents with flash, and sometimes, cards that give other cards flash. The latter category is our subject today, and there are broken things to do when you allow cards to break the rules of timing!

What Are Flash Enablers in MTG?

Vedalken Orrery | Illustration by John Avon

Flash is a keyword ability that allows you to play cards without flash as instants; in other words, whenever you have priority. This keyword shows up on various permanents, including creatures like Brineborn Cutthroat, artifacts like Instant Ramen, and enchantments like Cast Out, and even planeswalkers with The Wandering Emperor. A flash enabler grants flash to, most broadly, all spells, but we often see this ability limited to something like creatures or sorceries.

Cards printed with flash are (theoretically!) balanced for having flash. The ability to drop some huge creature as a blocker after attacks are declared is powerful. Green stompy EDH decks do this all the time with cards like Ghalta, Primal Hunger. But dropping a key combo piece or even a critical mass of creatures for a lethal crack back on an opponent’s end step, when sorcery speed interactions are no longer possible, can be huge.

Let’s take a look at all flash enablers in Magic and see which ones fit your deck’s strategy!

#40. Cherished Hatchling

Cherished Hatchling has an adorable, yet heartbreaking… something (I want to say flavor here, but given how this baby dino must have died in the cosmology of this card, that seems a bit crass). That said, until we have a proper dino sac deck, and we never will, this stays in the bulk bins.

#39. Breath of the Sleepless

Giving your spirits flash is cool in a Rattlechains style deck, but a 4-mana enchantment that does only this doesn’t seem fast enough, even in Commander. I think it’s safe to sleep on Breath of the Sleepless.

#38. Najal, the Storm Runner

Five mana is a hard way to flash out sorceries, even for Limited. The clunky spell-doubling on Najal, the Storm Runner also doesn’t quite make it.

#37. Vernal Equinox

This card is better than its play rate, although the prevalence of enchantress decks in Commander means this tends to be more symmetrical than you might hope. Still, you can do a lot of stuff to break symmetry with Vernal Equinox. I just don’t think people remember this card!

#36. Whirlwing Stormbrood

Each part of this card is too expensive, but I can see slotting Whirlwing Stormbrood into a Temur deck that cares about dragons or +1/+1 counters.

#35. Rootwater Shaman

PSA that this card exists! Rootwater Shaman is pretty good in an auras deck that plays blue.

#34. Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope / Arlinn, the Moon’s Fury

A Gruul werewolf deck in Commander wants Arlinn, the Pack's Hope, obviously.

#33. Hypersonic Dragon

Would Hypersonic Dragon in Standard make Izzet () extra turns/big spells a thing again, or is the format just too fast right now? This card is too clunky for Pioneer and most of Commander, except a few dragon deck believers.

#32. Renari, Merchant of Marvels

Renari, Merchant of Marvels is more efficient than Hypersonic Dragon and thus appears in more dragon decks. Still not knocking anyone’s socks off, though.

#31. Kianne, Corrupted Memory

Too cute by far, but Kianne, Corrupted Memory keeps your opponents on their toes as you switch back and forth between the types of cards you can flash in.

#30. Gandalf, Friend of the Shire

I thought all we’re meant to decide is what to do with the time we’re given, not try to take your time and spew sorceries when we should be casting instants? A wizard is never truthful, I guess. Cool enough, but Gandalf, Friend of the Shire feels like a budget version of a Teferi card or two.

#29. Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

Locking down instants is mean stuff, and it started here. You can see how this basic design for Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir was going to get even more unpleasant to play against when he got his spark back! It’s on the list because it gives creatures flash, which is fine enough, although blue has enablers that are easier to cast than this.

#28. Quick Sliver

It’s required in sliver decks and a zero in other decks except changeling lists, which tend to not play this card, so maybe Quick Sliver is best at the pun game and that’s it?

#27. Final-Word Phantom

Okay, so time for me to air something out: If you’re the person on Arena who cracks a fetch or landcycles or cantrips or flashes out something pointless in response to me, say, casting a creature in my main phase, I don’t like you. It’s clearly better to do that in my end step strategically, so you're just doing that to be Obnoxious McTilt-Face. I see you. You make Arena a worse place to be.

Final-Word Phantom shows you how to do it like a ghostly good sport.

I also think this card is a bit underplayed. There are tons of synergies with it. Just think of Alela, Cunning Conqueror. Then think of even better commanders!

#26. Gandalf the White

Gandalf the White is an excellent card with excellent flavor. Artifacts and legendary creatures arrive precisely when he means them to, which proves excellent in legends focused decks like Ratadrabik of Urborg and historic-focused decks like Samwise Gamgee or Arbaaz Mir. It’s either not quite on rate or underplayed in artifacts decks.

#25. Raff Capashen, Ship’s Mage

Flash is good! Historic spells is a bit too limiting for Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage if you aren’t in a Jodah, the Unifier deck.

#24. Sally Sparrow

Raff in a cemetery is better because it’s not limited to legends. I don’t quite get the flavor on Sally Sparrow. The Weeping Angels flash out and then she investigates disappearances? Okay, but giving all of my creatures flash doesn’t really capture that.

#23. Vivien, Champion of the Wilds

A nice card for green stompy decks in EDH, the static flash ability helps protect Vivien, Champion of the Wilds from attacks. It’s especially scary to see this on the table in a Fynn, the Fangbearer deck with the commander out!

#22. Heliod, the Radiant Dawn

There are Azorius midrange piles helmed by Heliod, the Radiant Dawn that call themselves cEDH, which is cool for them, but this feels like a powerful regular Commander deck to me. Flipping Heliod fills the role of a planeswalker in 60-card Azorius control decks, and you get a ton of value out of sorcery speed card draw cast as instants, like Prosperity.

#21. High Fae Trickster

Standard is too fast right now for High Fae Trickster to work, but it’s exceptionally powerful in Commander, including some cEDH shells like Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and with Bloomburrow commanders like Glarb, Calamity's Augur and Helga, Skittish Seer.

#20. Shimmer Myr

Fast artifacts are better than slow artifacts. Shimmer Myr is the prototype for our next two cards, clearly.

#19. Skittering Cicada

First off, I live in Texas, and we get a ton of cicadas. If they all looked like Skittering Cicada, I’d move tomorrow. This is almost solely for the Eldrazi decks, although Kadena, Slinking Sorcerer decks can use this since the morphs are colorless.

#18. Liberator, Urza’s Battlethopter

Is Urza McBoatface good enough? Not if you ask Standard players. But in colorless EDH decks like Zhulodok, Void Gorger or certain artifacts decks, Liberator, Urza's Battlethopter really helps drop stuff in end steps.

#17. Leyline of Anticipation

It's difficult to hit a leyline in 100-card decks. It’s hard enough in 60-card decks that this is generally only a staple in Historic Azorius piles. Still, having Leyline of Anticipation helps things along, especially in cEDH.

Is this card worth the tutors and card draw, eventually? Well. That’s the central point of debate here, isn’t it? Is 4 mana with two blue pips as a topdeck worth it to enable flash? I don’t quite think the value is there clearly enough in most decks. So is flash worth 2 or 3 mana?

#16. Singer of Swift Rivers

Fast merfolk are better than slow merfolk! Like our next card, Singer of Swift Rivers enables a more controlling or tempo build in this typal space.

#15. Rattlechains

It’s hard to rank typal enablers, but Rattlechains is an absolutely key card in spirits decks, protecting and then enabling flash for 2 mana. When those decks are good in the meta, the spirits player can often win the next turn after a ‘chains. Such decks get worse as cards like Cori-Steel Cutter percolate into Pioneer from Standard, making tempo decks harder and harder to play.

#14. Yeva, Nature’s Herald

Mono-green can get away with all sorts of dodgy plans, and Yeva, Nature's Herald is a good way to spend a ton of mana. You can see the deck, right? Filled with things like Beast Whisperer and Glademuse.

#13. Vedalken Orrery

Simple. Direct. Easy to cast. Goes anywhere. You’ll find Vedalken Orrery in many different EDH decks. A 4-mana artifact doesn’t meet the cEDH threshold, but this is a good card that lets you do anything whenever you want.

#12. Tidal Barracuda

Someone always has to read this card when you play it. This is lovely design. You let everyone flash about on all turns but yours. That is some true violence committed to the game state by Tidal Barracuda!

#11. Wizards of Thay

Myriad makes Wizards of Thay pop. It’s useful in all sorts of locales besides Waverly Place, and the dream is to myriad out Cruel Ultimatum on an end step or in the middle of combat. That’s a good dream, if not great strategy.

#10. Complete the Circuit

Complete the Circuit is nice in convoke-style decks like Ovika, Enigma Goliath or Kasla, the Broken Halo. It feels like it should be able to pop off in 60-card formats, but it’s hard out there for creature decks!

#9. Winding Canyons

Winding Canyons is no Emergence Zone, but it’s repeatable and the limit to creatures matters less in something like a mono-green stompy deck.

#8. Aluren

Aluren was an alluring card packed into a precon that went on to live as a mainstay at the Pro Tour and Grand Prix scenes in the early 2000s, using cards like Raven Familiar and Cavern Harpy for the kind of extreme value you need on a card that looks like group hug symmetry.

It’s still used that way in Pre-Modern, Vintage, and Legacy, adding spice like Kalastria Healer or Spike Feeder of all things in some builds, and looking to infinitely bounce your creatures for Grapeshot in others. There’s even cEDH uses of this card in Kodama of the East Tree decks (which seems like it must be a meme but kinda isn’t!).

If you can build a deck to maximize it in regular Commander, as in cheese decks like Chulane, Teller of Tales or Clement, the Worrywort, that’s the ticket to enjoying that late 90s life.

#7. Alchemist’s Refuge

Alchemist's Refuge sees pretty heavy Commander play because of the repeatability, which tends to be easy enough to pay for as the game goes on in your average ramping Simic () deck. The downside of colorless mana is offset by the fact that it comes into play untapped. An easy card to like.

#6. Valley Floodcaller

Without Cori-Steel Cutter, Valley Floodcaller would be a Standard mainstay. Even now, it sees play in a number of decks that could get better as people figure out answers to Izzet (). It’s also a pretty solid player in Commander, including some cEDH builds with a variety of commanders.

#5. Emergence Zone

A key card for going off in cEDH, Emergence Zone is pretty standard fare across high level Commander decks, usually to combo off at the right time. It’s flexible and the cost of a colorless land is bearable given its power.

#4. Borne Upon a Wind

A powerhouse across formats, Borne Upon a Wind is a must-have cEDH card that allows you to combo off at any time. It’s a similar beating in Show and Tell decks in Legacy or Timeless. I like that the card represents the hero arriving unexpectedly in the nick of time, the way Aragorn does in Lord of the Rings, and every Deus Ex Machina hero in just about any fantasy text, and it executes that flavor annoyingly well.

#3. Prophet of Kruphix

Folks who remember when Wilderness Reclamation had to be banned out of Standard will understand that that half of this card is busted. And if you can always untap, flash is soooooo much better!

It’s likely to stay banned in Commander for those reasons, I’d say, even though I’ve argued it’s worth a shot at an unban given what’s happened and how much better players are at the game and Commander politics since Prophet of Kruphix’s printing.

#2. Sigarda’s Aid

My sense of rankings like this is that things that are good in 60-card formats rank higher than cEDH cards. And Sigarda's Aid is a key card in Hammertime decks across formats. Hammertime waxes and wanes as metas shift, but it’s always in the conversation. Boros () Colossus Hammer in Modern is an interesting space. Cards like Raubahn, Bull of Ala Mhigo are additive and don’t replace the Aid in the builds. And, of course, we gotta add Cori-Steel Cutter to the mix!

#1. Teferi, Time Raveler

I would argue this is the most impactful planeswalker in the history of Magic. I know, you have other candidates in mind. I see Liliana of the Veil stepping forward. And this is a hot take, so relax a sec.

When this is good in a meta it warps the game around itself. And it’s good in a lot of metas, including a number of Modern builds at the moment. Even in Commander, where it can’t live long (although always at least through it’s player’s turn!), it’s Eject for 1 less mana that drops a body with an oppressive static ability. Usually you don’t use the flash enabler part unless somehow this card survives, but it’s quite good when you do.

Best Flash Enabler Payoffs

Flexibility is always good! The trouble with these cards is that they take an investment to get on board, often 4 mana. Making that commitment pay off specifically is welcome.

Interactivity!

Being able to drop a blocker or use a Feed the Swarm at instant speed is a great thing!

Efficiency!

Think Ponder. There are a lot of cheap sorcery speed card draw spells to supplement the Considers of the world, and they are often cheaper and more powerful than instants. Being able to cast a greater mix of cards in your hand on an end step, draw-go style, is sweet.

C-c-combo!

Borne Upon a Wind wins games by allowing combos at opportune times, like when an opponent taps out. There are various examples, but think cEDH staple Thassa's Oracle.

Staxy Stuff!

High Noon sounds like a good answer to prowess decks, right? And it is. But in games where those kinds of spell restriction cards are in play, the person who can play a spell on the opponents’ turns and their own is at a distinct advantage. Usually decks like that are built with tons of instants, but sometimes you need to do other things on their turn.

Synergies!

There are lots of cards that reward you for casting on opponents’ turns, like Blightwing Bandit, Alela, Cunning Conqueror, Faerie Tauntings, and Gandalf of the Secret Fire.

Wrap Up

Leyline of Anticipation | Illustration by Charles Urbach

Few of these cards just bring casual value. They need to be built around to work. And that’s what I like about these cards. I’m enough of a Magic boomer to appreciate when you have to make sacrifices to get the deck to work. In this case that’s dropping what is often an otherwise useless 4-drop in order to make your other cards better. And when that kind of thing works, so much the better!

As interaction gets more and more important in Commander, I think cards like these are going to see the line go up in terms of play rate over the next few years. It just makes sense to give yourself the additional flexibility.

Speaking of, I’d love to hear from those of you who’ve built around these cards in EDH. Drop me a note below or on Discord.

Happy brewing!