Among all five colors in MTG, blue is the undisputed best for drawing cards. Unlike other colors, blue can draw multiple cards without any drawbacks – and, sometimes, it gets advantages doing it. So, then, what is the best MTG blue card draw?
The best MTG blue card draw is permanents and spells that either multiple cards for a low cost or allow you to choose which cards you want after seeing several. The first category includes cards like Ancestral Recall and Thoughtcast, while the latter has Fact or Fiction and Brainstorm.
But there’s more to the best blue card draw than just the basics. This article will list the best of the best when refilling your hand is the game, and blue is your color. Not only that, but we’ll give you some tips and tricks on how to deck-build for these cards too.
MTG Blue Draw Cards
1. Ancestral Recall
| Recommended Formats: | Vintage |
Pros
Cons
| Only 1 Mana | |
| Can Force Opponents to Draw |
Without a doubt, the best blue card draw in MTG is Ancestral Recall. For only one mana, this instant spell draws three cards.
And since its printing back in Alpha, no card has had a better ability for this low cost.
Ancestral Recall is so powerful that MTG banned it in Legacy and EDH, and it’s a restricted card in the only format where it’s legal – Vintage.
And even with those restrictions, almost every Tier 1 Vintage deck runs a copy of this great blue card draw spell.
2. Ponder
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper |
Pros
Cons
| Only 1 mana | Sorcery Speed |
| Can Reorder Your Deck | Not Card advantage |
Unlike many other spells on this list, Ponder only draws you a single card – however, its ability to search for the card you need is nearly unparalleled.
Ponder lets you look at the top three cards of your library and rearrange them. Afterward, you may shuffle. Then draw a card.
This ability to dig four cards deep into your library for only single blue mana has earned Ponder a ban in Modern.
Nevertheless, players have used this common sorcery in a remarkable thirteen Pro Tour Top 8 decks.
3. Dig Through Time
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Vintage, Pioneer |
Pros
Cons
| Can cost 2 mana | Requires graveyard to reduce cost |
Another card MTG considers too potent for Modern or Legacy, Dig Through Time, is a spell like no other.
This instant lets you look at the top seven cards of your deck. And then put two into your hand. This level of card filtering is unrivaled.
Not only that, but Dig Through Time also has the delve ability. So, instead of paying eight mana to cast it, you can cast it for as little as two with a full graveyard.
This card saw a total of twenty-one Pro Tour and World Championship Top 8s.
4. Archmage Emeritus
| Recommended Formats: | Commander |
Pros
Cons
| Repeatable Card Draw | Costs 4 Mana |
| Vulnerable to Removal |
Archmage Emeritus is one of the few blue card draw options that’s a creature – but it’s no less potent for it.
Instead, this wizard has a magecraft ability. So, you draw a card whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery.
This ability makes Archmage Emeritus a favorite among Commander players – it’s seeing play in 8% of registered EDHREC decks. It’s easy to see why also.
This card draw ability is beneficial to any spellslinger or storm strategy.
5. Fact or Fiction
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Modern |
Pros
Cons
| Typically Draws 2-3 Cards | Costs 4 Mana |
| Gives Oppent’s a Choice |
A Commander staple – seeing use in 12% of all EDHREC decks – many consider Fact or Fiction the ultimate test of a player’s skill. And for a good reason.
It lets your opponent split the top five cards of your library into two piles. You put one of them in your hand, the other in the graveyard.
Against a weaker opponent, this instant draws you the three cards you want for four mana. Even when used against a better player, Fact or Fiction is still a powerful tool, mainly if you can utilize the graveyard.
Pro players know this – they’ve gotten twenty-two Pro Tour and Worlds Top 8s with this card.
6. Mulldrifter
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Pauper, Modern |
Pros
Cons
| Evoke Can’t Be Countered | Only a 2/2 Creature |
| Repeatable Card Draw | 5 Mana to Cast |
A three-mana draw two is on the curve, even at sorcery speed.
That’s called Divination, and it’s nothing special. However, suppose you attach that ability to a creature. In that case, you get an excellent card with six Pro Tour and Worlds Top 8 finishes. You get Mulldrifter.
This unassuming common is not only a tremendous blue card draw, but it’s very versatile too. Depending on what you need, it’s either a decent draw spell or a 2/2 flying elemental that draws you two cards when it enters the battlefield. It’s popular on EDHREC for this reason, too, seeing play in 10% of all decks.
You can flicker it, too, for added value.
7. Brainstorm
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper |
Pros
Cons
| Only 1 mana | Deck Shuffling Required |
| Protects Against Hand Disruption | Not Card Advantage |
Brainstorm needs no introduction. It draws three cards at instant speed for a single blue mana. However, you must then put two cards from your back on top of your library.
Contrary to a first impression, this card draw is excellent. It is good card filtering, but it also gives you a chance to get dud cards out of your hand, especially if you have a way to shuffle.
No wonder then that pros have earned an awesome thirty-seven World Championship and Pro Tour Top 8s using this card!
8. Treasure Cruise
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Pioneer, Vintage |
Pros
Cons
| Can Cost 1 Mana | Sorcery Speed |
| Requires Graveyard |
A fixed version of Ancestral Recall, Treasure Cruise has nevertheless managed to pick up six Pro Tour and Worlds Top 8s since its initial printing in Khans of Tarkir.
Like the fix would suggest, it also draws you three cards.
However, unlike Ancestral Recall, this happens as a sorcery. It also costs eight mana. However, since Treasure Cruise has the delve ability, you can reduce that cost to only one with the correct strategy.
What a great deal.
9. Gush
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Vintage |
Pros
Cons
| Can Be Free to Cast | Costs 5 Mana |
| Instant Speed | Costs 2 Land resources |
Gush is one of the few spells in MTG that can draw you cards without paying any mana.
Instead, you can return two Islands you control to their owner’s hand to cast this spell. This fantastic cost reduction earned Gush a place in five Worlds and Pro Tour Top 8 decks.
Not only that, but Gush’s alternative cost also lets you ramp for a turn since you can play one of the Islands you bounced as your land drop.
Synergies like this have kept it competitive in Vintage even after its Pauper and Legacy bans.
10. Thoughtcast
| Recommended Formats: | Commander, Legacy, Modern, Vintage, Pauper |
Pros
Cons
| Can Cost 1 Mana | Requires Artifacts |
| Sorcery Speed |
One of the 8-Cast deck’s infamous staple cards, Thoughtcast, is a unique example of a blue card draw.
Specifically, it draws two cards for five mana. And while that might be underwhelming, its affinity ability is not. Thoughtcast costs one mana less to cast for each artifact you control.
In the right deck, this spell costs only single blue mana.
This affinity ability earned Thoughtcast play in sixteen Top 8 Pro Tour and Worlds decks.