NO!!! DAMN YOU FOR RUINING MY STANDARD ZOMBIE DECK!!!!!
I would rate it 0.5/5 for ruining my fun, but I think I'll rate it a 4/5 for being an incredibly powerful--but answerable--panic button for WOTC
Enchantment_Removal
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(6 votes)
Gods control the wheel of life and death. Radiant light shines from above. As creation descends onto this plane, new ideas are formed. Vicious deeds are done amongst one another. Eventually, judgment must be administered to those most deserving. Yea, though the perpetrators are gone, their ambition is not. Anything is better than eternal condemnation. Restlessness erupts from below. Danger seeks to inhabit the common dwelling. Has there been multiple paths to existence? Are there no laws, no rule, to maintain balance? Today, will there be order? Eat your heart out, Karmic Guide, Saffi, Reveillark, and the rest of y'all!
... and you too, Genesis Wave!
busdude
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(7 votes)
I'm rating this 0.5 out of spite.
It's obviously very powerful, but it's a bs card that ruins too many decks.
Wizards: "Here's a bunch of cool graveyard mechanics for you to explore, but oh wait your deck will never be competitive because any deck can easily shut it down for 1 mana trololol"
Chimaera2357
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Come on Wizards. You print all this fun graveyard stuff, then print this, which every competitive player will have 4 of in their sideboard. 1/5 for making the metagame less fun.
robits_for_the_win
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(3 votes)
best card in the set by far in my opinion, i mean flashback and all the other cards are so good, you know thats what everyone one will want to play. This card wrecks them for one mana of any color. Love it and unlike so many cards that are good in a set but suck everywhere else this will just get better and better. Bye bye grave born decks and heck just a lot of great classic decks. everyone run two in sideboard
your_such_a_killjoy
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Wonderful. Just when i was thinking about getting back into magic and saw that i could actually make a competitive zombie deck, they go and print this card. Way to go, WOC. -_-
igniteice
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(4 votes)
This is a godsend card that finally gives players an edge over decks that are otherwise bullet-proof. It's very difficult to stop an early reanimate or other means. Sure, you won't likely survive against some turn 1 or turn 2 strategies if you can't get this onto the board quickly. However, when this does hit the board, it's finally a way to say "I don't think so," just as people who cheat Iona into play have done. It's hard to stop birthing pod strategies some times, or green sun's zenith, or sun titan. Sure there are ways to combat that, but it's not always viable to have an answer for each of those individual scenarios. I'd rather just have one answer -- an awesome artifact. Four of these and some Trinket Mages to fetch them? Don't mind if I do.
Atogatogatog
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(5 votes)
I hate this card! It turns off too much stuff. It even makes Birthing Pod useless. It Also ruins Green Sun's Zenith. It even makes Sun Titan worse. Needless to say it negates all flashback effects. And just when I was getting excited about Havengul Lich!
mlanier131
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Represents a change in design philosophy. Wotc want you to attack with dudes and decks that do otherwise or in ways they don't like will have oppressive cheap ways to kill the whole deck.
Guest1741897132
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(7 votes)
This is such a big f-u to so many strategies. http://youtu.be/t6FUR_nhGX8
Tsuichoi
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(8 votes)
O' the hate. Quite whining- as much as i love reanimate, part of what makes Magic so intuitive is you must constantly account for new threats from every set, new and old, and every deck concept that questions your deck's very existence. You cant simply rely on your own inherent strategy to win you the game flat out, you must always prepare for an element of risk. This doesnt spell doom in and of itself, and there will always be ways to deal with it should the need arise (asuming you choose to leave a card slot or two, or three for such a purpose)
Afterall, thats why they printed cards like Ancient Grudge...
Lambi
★★★☆☆ (3.6/5.0)(6 votes)
Hate this card, it ruins my EDH tournament Meta. How the hell are my Black Generals supposed to get rid of this reliably?
Vividice
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
This hate card is really needed. But imho they should print such cards one block in advance (here: SoM/MBS/NP) and there just as uncommon so it't doesn't screws limited in it's "target block". If any Graveyard based decks runs rampant like Caw Blade the price for this card will become nuts.
NinaNinja
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Why hate on graveyard and fetch decks? I wish this read counter spells can't be cast from hands or graveyards. Snapecaster needs some balance not graveyard cards. What a shame. Still I'm getting 4 lol
linkfiend
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(9 votes)
Well this will certainly have an interesting effect on the meta of every format it's legal in. It shuts down quite a few powerful strategies if it goes unanswered.
I'm not going to complain but it seems that this was a bad idea(from a flavor perspective) to print this in Dark ascension. I think it's flavor really matches Avacyn Restored more since this set is all about darkness and evil running rampant. It seems odd that these undying critters would be such a large threat when you could just call a artificer and have him make a cage for a measly one mana.
Nucleon
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(12 votes)
Easily the most controversial card in the set. But you know what I'm most happy about? It's not a Mythic. It's a card that will be very important in all formats, and they restrained themselves from making it a Mythic.
SkaerKrow
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Easily the most important card in the set for Standard play.
Shadoflaam
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(6 votes)
Argh I hate this so much. I spent so much on those Snapcasters...
pedrodyl
★★☆☆☆ (2.1/5.0)(5 votes)
lol @ the hate rating on this card. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's a bad card. There were other answers to the graveyard decks before this, and there was a lot of it. Can someone please explain to me how there is that much of a difference between this and Nihil Spellbomb? (No like seriously, I don't get it)
drpvfx
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(12 votes)
Screw you, Wizards.
I understand the need for cards like this, but your timing is *horrible*, and the card is so easy to use it's not even close to balanced- play this on turn one, *any* deck based on GY or library effects dies unless they can remove it (which is difficult for U and B, the two colors most affected by this). And Nihil Spellbomb isn't constantly oppressive- this thing hoses decks until it's removed or the game is over.
You print AWESOME cards like Havengul Lich, and then you ruin them by printing this sh*t in THE SAME SET.
Bravo. Why don't you just hand the keys to Standard and Block to aggro decks, while hosing creative new deck ideas before they're even born (Heartless Lich)? Who needs variation in deck design?
Here's to hoping this card is banned in Block at the very least. It has NO BUSINESS in this block, period. It stifles the entire core of Innistrad. It would be like printing a one mana COLORLESS Enchantment in Mirrodin that turns all artifacts (including creatures) into useless coasters. It ruins the whole point of the set... one of the worst design calls they've ever made, if not the worst.
0.5 star this comment all you want- I'll still refuse to play you if you use this cheesy shit.
Totema
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(6 votes)
@drpvfx: Wow, butthurt much? This isn't purely a graveyard block, it fosters a host of strategies. This card allows for other strategies to compete. Besides, this is nowhere near invincible. The block has plenty of artifact destruction.
Valyant
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Totally negates blue and black Innastrad!
Shard_Fenix
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0)(7 votes)
The people whining about it ruining their decks don't realize that those decks take no skill to build or play. I have a reanimator deck that does just fine with this card in play. Maybe you should use your brain and do the same. There's nothing wrong with niche counter cards.
Negated
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(8 votes)
(Wizards) Oh gee, we made too many cards that interact from the Graveyard, and Snapcaster is OP. I know, let's hose the ENTIRE THEME OF THE SET and MANY MANY good decks.
Thanks wizards.
@Shard_Fenix: My Green/Blue self mill deck is based off a netdeck. It takes a LOT of skill to play. I have altered it significantly. This completely HOSES all the chance this deck had. People at my local FNM, most of whom have too much money to spare, will buy 4 of them just to put in the sideboard to hose "that little jerk with the self-mill deck who punked me last week."
I don't think this card is as much of a graveyard hoser as people like to think. Why? Because the second it's gone it might as well not have been in play. It can slow down a flashback deck for a while, but that's probably necessary right now. My friend tested out a Burning Vengeance/Secrets of the Dead deck recently and it's absolutely insane how much speed, damage, and card draw that thing can manage.
Most every graveyard deck should have an answer to this. Is it a super-fun card? Not especially, but then neither is Ratchet Bomb for Tokens and doulbe-sided decks. Like I said, once it's gone things just go back to normal. The inability to actually wipe the graveyard makes this much less of a threat than say, Nihil Spellbomb.
BluthBanana
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(8 votes)
For one mana, you shut down over half of the block. That's power.
Ouroborobelisk
★☆☆☆☆ (1.4/5.0)(5 votes)
It seems more and more people really just don't know how to play Magic anymore. This card is MEH at best in slowing down Graveyard decks, even less so than Nihil Spellbomb and yet so many "players" are whining about how terrible this card is. Really? I think you kids are getting too spoiled with just wanting to Netdeck your next FNM winning deck and not having to worry about how to deal with cards and/or strategies that can make you lose. Magic is a game where thinking is involved to look at a situation and then finding a way to overcome it. I understand that a lot of folks here on The Gatherer are new players to the Magic: The Gathering universe, but you really need to step up with learning how to play the game. Magic is more Chess than Monopoly, you can win with one piece on the board if you know what you are doing.
BegleOne
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(5 votes)
Why do you hate dredge so much, R&D? You're the guys that made it.
I have several decks that this would substantially hurt, especially since they banned Mental Misstep in legacy. I'm more afraid of this than Tormod's Crypt now.
Hal_41n
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(11 votes)
I don't really see how this card should affect libraries, considering its a cage around coffins, unless you keep all your spells there. Though its quite funny imagining all-poweful godly planeswalkers stumped by these cages.
Liliana: Now to reanimate all of the corpes here and build an undead army! Wait... not SPIKY METAL! FOILED AGAIN!
NoobOfLore
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Also known as: *** you, Graveborn.
dingophone
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(7 votes)
Honestly, way to powerful for {1} I feel like. As others have mentioned, this seems like an odd design call at best. I know WOTC likes to have "emergency switches", but this would have been MUCH less controversial if it were printed in either Scars block or the next block. At least we have Mental Misstep I guess. 2.5/5 (Its good no doubt, but I simply can't agree with the design)
shotoku64
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(6 votes)
I got one of these at the pre-release. I never played it that day, but it is still probably the best card I got. The day this was previewed, my friends asked if I had seen "the cage" and I said "oh yeah, that one's going to be expensive." This is going to be the for Dark Ascension what snapcaster mage was to Innistrad
chainsmoker
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
lemme out! gotta pee!
Reliquium
★★★☆☆ (3.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Sooooooo...what does everyone think of the art? Pretty snazzy, eh?
Every Now and then, Wizards will whip up a new card that single handedly destroys one type of deck or another; like how Oversoul of Dusk makes Grixis decks weep, Shattering Spree shat in the moths of artifact decks, and the only thing that hates Dovescape more than I do is my Izzet deck.
This cards single-handedly murders recursion decks. Read it and weep, Skaab Ruinator; sob, shrivel, tremble in fear! READ IT AND WEEP! I WANT YOU CRYING WHEN YOU'RE DIRTY AT THE FRONT OF ME!!!
Azazyel
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
I find it hilarious people are in a rage because this hoses some Standard deck possibilities.
Me? I'm happy as I could be. This absolutely hoses Dredge and Entomb/Reanimate. And seriously, *** Entomb/Reanimate, and *** Dredge. *** them. ***.
swords_to_exile
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(2 votes)
I like the line about not being able to cast cards from your library! There are what, 2 cards in existence that let you do that? (Future Sight and Magus of the Future) Was that line really necessary Wizards? Really? I understand the symmetry, but come on. When is that line ever going to be relevant?
Edit: @Mr Fluffy Thing. That isn't casting. That's searching. That's a different text line on the card.
ax_morph
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Would anyone have cared if Misstep hadn't been banned?
So probably one of the most unique and effective Library/Graveyard hate card's ever printed, and it is not even worthy of a 4?
I think there is a lot of hate out there.
blindthrall
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(7 votes)
If this is how people are going to react because their favorite strategy got hosed, then I agree with Wizards printing this card. How about building more than one kind of deck?
Grand_Superior
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(6 votes)
I play both Dredge and Reanimator in Legacy (among other decks) and I don't think this card will be the end of those decks. Both decks are very capable of fighting this card. Dredge decks with Lion's Eye Diamond and Faithless Looting can often dredge fast enough that the Cage won't do anything (Dredge can also just destroy it with Nature's Claim and whatnot) and Reanimator has countermagic to fight it and bounce/Show and Tell in the sideboard to circumvent it.
That being said, I am annoyed that this card got printed. I mean, really Wizards? Another graveyard hate card? It's not like we didn't already have:
to choose from to fight graveyards. Why print another anti-graveyard card? Sigh, it just bugs me that these hate cards continue to see print when we clearly have enough hate and no other strategy is hated nearly as much.
Jeez Wizards, did Dredge pee in your Cheerios or something?
Powerful card. Maybe too powerful. I was chatting with a friend a week or three back about how I thought WotC was overdue for printing another card that they really end up regretting in the long run. This one seriously has that potential.
Dr.Pingas
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Rather bothersome, but far from uninteresting; I kinda enjoy it, and I play a lot of flashback. I think this card is just fine after printing Mikeus the Uncombo'ed. Sure, it can mess your day up, and for just 1 mana, but seriously, it only REALLY hurts mono-black, which seems to be the intention of the card from a flavor perspective anyway - and even then, you can just run Gate to Phyrexia, or Phyrexian Tribute if you're real ballsy. I think it would have been better as the second black leyline, as Black has always been the color with the most love/hate for graveyards
Gcrudaplaneswalker
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(6 votes)
3.75? REALLY??!!! The only reason this would be rated this low is cause of hate. 1 drop for an amazing card… Then again, there are those flashback shenanigans with Snapcaster Mage that everyone uses…
jstorrie
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(5 votes)
This is powerful hate, although you can still fight it pretty easily. Unlike Relic of Progenitus or the like, it doesn't actually remove the yard, so if you can wipe multiple cages at once (e.g. Ratchet Bomb) you are totally fine.
ApotheosisCM
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(5 votes)
Pulled two of these at prerelease, and I instantly thought that I should buy two more and sideboard. But then I hopped on Gatherer and noticed how everyone was complaining that it killed half of the decks in standard. So I think I will just wait for the inevitable price hike, sell them, and laugh when everyone expects them to still be in my sideboard.
DarthParallax
★☆☆☆☆ (1.7/5.0)(5 votes)
3.7? hmmmm
I think this ACTUALLY might be a legit rating, not just a Haterator effect of Gatherer comments. It is a 1-mana artifact that is supposed to hose Dead Stuff Wins.dec (Reanimator, Dredge, or even just Flashback, Undying, Unearth, etc.)
But...it doesn't actually exile anything out of the graveyard. Because of that, the really dangerous Dead Stuff Wins decks really have plenty of answers for it. Maybe it should be closer to 4.1, but I don't think it is worth more than 4.3 at the most-
The one type of hate that simply just can't really quite be pushed far enough is Graveyard Hate. If this cost 0 mana and had Tormod's Crypt's effect on top of it, I still think that Dredge and Reanimator as decks would survive. The power of the Graveyard based on already-existing cards is just too much at this point for any real hate to actually stop it.
Good card, but it should have been printed in Avacyn Restored why all the hate though?
Salient
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This is not a graveyard hate card. I repeat: this is not (just) a graveyard hate card. People are only beginning to realize how powerful a sideboard hoser this is.
"I play Tinker tutoring up Sphinx of the Steel Wind or whatever" No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Green Sun's Zenith to speed out a Dryad Arbor" No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Oath of Druids which my entire Vintage deck is based around" -- Fine. You'll never get anything from it. Grafdigger's cage. Have fun just drawing all the uncastable creatures you were hoping to cheat into play.
I saw up to "graveyard" and thought, yeah, yeah, yet anothe----WAIT IT ALSO SAYS LIBRARY OH MY GOD
Should have cost 2 at least. It's ironic that from a budget player's perspective, the only people that can afford this are the people who are actually running the expensive flashback decks.
AvatarofBro
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(9 votes)
Most broken card in DA. If they banned Mental Misstep in Legacy, there's no reason that this should stay legal.
As for this, considering Solar Flare and Pod seem to be fizzling a little bit due to Tempo, this seems less relevant to the format and will probably be useless a good portion of the time (I do understand that Tempo uses but he's less relevant when they just get past it by bouncing and countering it). I plan on running 2 in my sideboard despite now running an undying-based deck. Thalia was printed to hose Tempo (ineffectively unfortunately, always eats Mana Leaks unless you're on play :( ), just as this was printed to hose graveyard/"from the deck" based decks; most of which run some kind of artifact removal.
I will admit that this does pose a short term problem for burning vengeance. Once again, however, it's a 1-2 turn setback in a deck that wins in roughly 5 turns.
And as for you folks whining about it making Sun Titan bad somehow, obviously you folks have never heard of Oblivion Ring and the fact that it's only creatures which are barred from coming into play from the graveyard.
4/5 for its sheer power, but seriously, it's not as relevant as people seem to think. It's just a stall card instead of a negator like the Nihil Spellbomb.
Dozell
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A friend of mine has a deck build around the idea of sending expensive cards to the grave from his hand and bringing them back from the grave to the field via revival cards; this deck has yet to be beaten by any of my other friends( even when they all teamed up on him in a 5 man game). I went against this guy with my vamp deck and got close to beating him through my spamming of vampiric fury and blocking his 15/15s with my vampire nighthawks... unfortunately his stacked annaiolator 2 effects mana screwed me after the 2nd wave against his endless army lol....this card is perfect.
turtleknite
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
@Salient You seem to be confusing "putting onto the battlefield" with "casting." i run a storm deck, so i know that there is QUITE a big difference. all those combos that you just said... they still work. i guess Panglacial Wurm gets shut down by this, but polymorph, natural order, tinker, green suns zenith... all of those still function with this on the field.
also, to my opinion on the card, I've always been of the belief that if you're running a deck without artifact/enchantment removal, one day, you WILL be hosed by one. this card just says, be prepared.
also, i love the flavor of it. it wouldn't have fit into any other set.
takenbyshadow
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@turtleknite You seem to be the one who needs to be corrected, not Salient. Wizards didn't design this card to combat Panglacial Wurm, but Birthing Pod. If it isn't entering the battlefield from your hand, chances are it is coming from the graveyard or library. Next time be QUITE sure before mocking a member who is. at least you are right about the flavor.
The card is undercosted. Said before, worth saying again. Dunno how much this will affect Standard, but I hate how it affects EDH, specifically for mono-black decks. The answers are just too few and far between. Maybe soon we'll get artifacts that hate the other colors as efficiently. I'll be looking for the 1 coster that can't be countered and says: Spells Can't be Countered.
@turtleknite No, Salient is correct here. This card has two effects: it stops creatures from entering the battlefield from the graveyard or library, and it stops players from casting spells from the graveyard or library. These two effects are completely distinct and independent of each other. Effects that care about creatures entering the battlefield don't care how that creature entered. Also note that this card does not prevent you from bringing a non-creature enchantment, artifact, planeswalker, or land onto the battlefield from the graveyard or library, so long as you are not casting it.
It does NOT kill Tooth and Nail though, because T&N puts creature cards from the library into your hand, or from your hand onto the battlefield, or both. Since the creatures are coming from the hand this spell is unaffected by the cage. It also doesn't affect Primeval Titan's ability, unless you try to use it to bring out Dryad Arbors.
Maybe since they printed this card they'll unban GSZ. One can hope.
LPFan55
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Is there anything that can be cast from a library? Nothing that I can think of, at least in standard. Graveyard, however... awesome card, slightly broken unless you count how easy it is to remove artifacts in today's metagame.
If I have learned anything over the past month, it is that this card is one of the best cards in every format it is legal in. If nothing else, it saved me from cascade, undying, doubling chant, loyal cathar, flashback, and graveborn.
Chmur
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@LPfan55 - you can't cast from library in current standard, but cage completely kills any creature tutoring with GSZ or Pod. The added benefit of killing any Snap flashback and Undying is just nice. Yes, plenty of artifact hate around already, but still very good card.
PeabodyET
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(3 votes)
@pedrodyl: The cage is better than Nihil Spellbomb because it can also stop Birthing Pod and Green Sun’s Zenith.
@Axelle: I have to agree with you. The best blue zombies don’t come into play from the graveyard, they just exile cards from the graveyard, and the cage does nothing to prevent that from happening.
@Swords_to_exile and @Snafinturtle: There are a lot of cards that allow you to cast spells from your library, I don’t know where you guys are getting two and four respectively. Besides the four that were mentioned, Spellshift can be used to cast a spell out of your library, Panglacial Wurm can be cast from the library, and all of the cards with “Ripple” (Surging Flame) can cast cards from your library.
@LPFan55 and @Chmur: In the current standard, there’s Galvanoth and Garruk’s Horde that can cast cards from the library.
@Nate_Prawdzik: The cage doesn’t turn Ghost Quarter into Strip Mine because basic lands aren’t creatures. Lands can still enter the battlefield from libraries or graveyards.
@itsmeyouidiot and @realitant: You’ll have to go back and read Cascade again. Cascade says “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost.” Therefore, the card is being cast from exile, not from the library.
This card is good, not great. If your deck relies on playing creatures from the graveyard or library, then plan to be able to beat this card post-sideboard.
Gaiden325
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Melira Pod hates this card
MrFluffyThing
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Best anti-pod deck ever:
4 Grafdigger's Cage 56 Land
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Bugs me that this can't shut down Crucible of Worlds, but its a solid hoser.
SquareWhale
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Wow... At first I thought it said "cards can't be cast from graveyards" instead of "creatures". Now that really would have shut down over half the block...
CuChulain01
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This+omen machine just makes me chuckle to myself. Though the chances of anyone letting those two cards stay on the field together for long is kind of slim to none...
Mike-C
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Peter Venkman needs his trap back. Who ya gonna call??
EmoJesus26
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I wouldnt mind this card if it wasnt ONE MANA. It should be at least four.
HowardTreesong
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great sideboard card as you can shut down those undying and flashback decks! So cheap at 1 mana and ruins several deck strategies.
I don't see it used much in standard in my area, perhaps because people are more keen to use the flashback and undying, rather than stuff up the opponent by shutting them down and building an alternative strategy.
Wizards: Let's hose most of what black does in Modern, after printing a card before that can stop it, but then ban it in Modern. And because any deck will be able to run it and black doesn't have artifact removal, let's make it an artifact.
Me: Must. Escape. Graveyard hate.
Wizards: *Evil laugh*
Wizards, if you're going to give ANY COLOR such an advantage over a specific set of abilities, please give us an answer to that next time.
humor_love
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This is a fun card, only rated below 4 by those people whose decks are shut down by it. That's unfortunate, and comparable to rating Iona (or similar cards) low simply because she (or the others) shut down your deck.
If this card shuts down your deck, re-design your deck. Mono-colored decks are less exciting than multi-colored decks, anyway.
Dabok
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
As a graveyard mechanic lover, I wouldn't want this used against me. - Although I should consider myself lucky, since in our playgroup we allow sideboard cards, but not total deck destruction like this card vs graveyard mechanic deck or Boil versus a mono-blue deck)
TastetheJace
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
The below 4 rating for this card is most definitely from hate. How petty.
Eddie_Antilles
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A good sideboard card. Yes, it does appear to hose certain strategies, but it also promotes tactical thinking when deck building and playing. If you know they are prevalent in your area, plan for them and build your sideboard appropriately.
3.5/5
UndercoverPanda
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Cheap artifacts and enchantments such as this and ground seal are what let people know that WOTC finally decided that they made a mistake when they invented the grave born. You can only imagine the look on my friend's face when I played this card against him while he was using his. It's not like I couldn't beat him before, but it was so much fun to see his face become enraged when I dropped this on turn 1.
TheManakinTransfer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
1 mana artifact that reads = Destroy one of the most powerful Legacy archetypes. Yeah, this is going to be an auto include in nearly all Legacy decks. Funnily enough, not as powerful against vintage dredge...
Sironos
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
This is why I don't play in tournaments, when you can shut down a whole deck strategy for 1 colourless mana, sideboards just make the game less fun. And it's so uneven, sideboard cards against other strategies costs a lot more mana, but for some reason, graveyard hate is mana cheap as f*ck, I mean this does way more than what you should get for 1 colourless mana. I like it a lot better when magic is about optimizing your deck to its fullest, instead of being "I sideboard this in so your deck doesn't work, you sideboard that in so my deck doesn't work, so now we have 2 crippled decks fighting each other, isn't it fun?" But this is not even the worst, that 2 mana enchantment is just ridiculous.
I feel like this card would have had more of an impact in eternal formats if Tormod's Crypt didn't exist. And then Rest in Peace gets printed a block later.
That being said though, this seems like a really good sideboard for graveyard hate and probably will be for a while. 4/5.
Anzu-chan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@adrian.malacoda : If you have a Naturalize in your hand, it slows you down a bit. But if you do not, it slows down for one, two, three... turns. In Standard, it may be acceptable to lose one turn (Even, I'm not sure), but in Modern, Legacy and especially Vintage, this can cause you to lose the game.
BigPimpin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
See, this card fits great into my Dimir mill deck. Rest In Peace and Tormod's Crypt remove all cards from the graveyards, which would reduce my Consuming Abberation to a 0/0. I like this because it keeps the cards safely in the graveyards while preventing any flashback or zombifying shenanegins.
This card is far from amazing in terms of graveyard hate. I'd rather just use graveyard removal like Bojuka Bog or Rest in Peace. But the thing is, it stops Reanimator and Ichorids from returning, it stops birthing pod and oath of druids or even just snapcaster mage shenanigans as long as this stays on the battlefield. So, this has more applications then just straight up graveyard removal but in the match-ups where you need graveyard hate cards to survive this isn't always going to be good enough. For example, this does literally nothing against living end because living end puts the creatures into play from exile, not the graveyard. Also, a lot of the time those types of decks are going to be side-boarding into artifact hate so, cards that immediately exile their graveyard and/or can't be responded to via cards like Krosan Grip or Ancient Grudge are generally going to be more powerful.
Xineombine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Tormods Crypt Beta
Zefyrus
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oracle should read: 'Destroy target reanimation deck. That deck's controller can't play flashback cards. Buy him/her a beer to re-enstate your friendship.'
Drewskithelegend
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I play casual tournaments at my local game store. 2 players have Oath of Druids/Angel decks. i get a few of these and suddenly they stopped playing them. Strange,huh?
As a Living End player, I'm 100% OK with my opponent boarding this in against me.
Kodanshi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ah, such a pity that Mental Misstep is banned in Modern (and Legacy), as it would stop this dead.
lorendorky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The fun part about this card is it really exists: http://www.hoax-slayer.com/images/zombie-grave-cage.jpg
TheKazu
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't understand why people are so mad about this but not Bojuka Bog. Sure this card is powerful but at least it has all the limitations all magic cards should have: They can be destroyed, or countered, or the like. And if you do manage to play around them some way, its a lost card advantage. But Bojuka Bog can't be countered, and they've decided that once a card is exiled its gone for good, so basically you're done once that card drops. And it doesn't even cost any card advantage. If graveyard decks become too good they should print more stuff like this not Bojuka bog.
Comments (104)
I would rate it 0.5/5 for ruining my fun, but I think I'll rate it a 4/5 for being an incredibly powerful--but answerable--panic button for WOTC
Radiant light shines from above.
As creation descends onto this plane, new ideas are formed.
Vicious deeds are done amongst one another.
Eventually, judgment must be administered to those most deserving.
Yea, though the perpetrators are gone, their ambition is not.
Anything is better than eternal condemnation.
Restlessness erupts from below.
Danger seeks to inhabit the common dwelling.
Has there been multiple paths to existence?
Are there no laws, no rule, to maintain balance?
Today, will there be order?
Eat your heart out, Karmic Guide, Saffi, Reveillark, and the rest of y'all!
... and you too, Genesis Wave!
It's obviously very powerful, but it's a bs card that ruins too many decks.
Wizards: "Here's a bunch of cool graveyard mechanics for you to explore, but oh wait your deck will never be competitive because any deck can easily shut it down for 1 mana trololol"
Afterall, thats why they printed cards like Ancient Grudge...
If any Graveyard based decks runs rampant like Caw Blade the price for this card will become nuts.
I'm not going to complain but it seems that this was a bad idea(from a flavor perspective) to print this in Dark ascension. I think it's flavor really matches Avacyn Restored more since this set is all about darkness and evil running rampant. It seems odd that these undying critters would be such a large threat when you could just call a artificer and have him make a cage for a measly one mana.
There were other answers to the graveyard decks before this, and there was a lot of it.
Can someone please explain to me how there is that much of a difference between this and Nihil Spellbomb? (No like seriously, I don't get it)
I understand the need for cards like this, but your timing is *horrible*,
and the card is so easy to use it's not even close to balanced-
play this on turn one, *any* deck based on GY or library effects dies unless they can remove it
(which is difficult for U and B, the two colors most affected by this).
And Nihil Spellbomb isn't constantly oppressive- this thing hoses decks until it's removed or the game is over.
You print AWESOME cards like Havengul Lich,
and then you ruin them by printing this sh*t in THE SAME SET.
Bravo.
Why don't you just hand the keys to Standard and Block to aggro decks,
while hosing creative new deck ideas before they're even born (Heartless Lich)?
Who needs variation in deck design?
Here's to hoping this card is banned in Block at the very least.
It has NO BUSINESS in this block, period.
It stifles the entire core of Innistrad.
It would be like printing a one mana COLORLESS Enchantment in Mirrodin that turns all artifacts (including creatures) into useless coasters.
It ruins the whole point of the set... one of the worst design calls they've ever made, if not the worst.
0.5 star this comment all you want- I'll still refuse to play you if you use this cheesy shit.
Thanks wizards.
@Shard_Fenix: My Green/Blue self mill deck is based off a netdeck. It takes a LOT of skill to play. I have altered it significantly. This completely HOSES all the chance this deck had. People at my local FNM, most of whom have too much money to spare, will buy 4 of them just to put in the sideboard to hose "that little jerk with the self-mill deck who punked me last week."
Most every graveyard deck should have an answer to this. Is it a super-fun card? Not especially, but then neither is Ratchet Bomb for Tokens and doulbe-sided decks. Like I said, once it's gone things just go back to normal. The inability to actually wipe the graveyard makes this much less of a threat than say, Nihil Spellbomb.
I have several decks that this would substantially hurt, especially since they banned Mental Misstep in legacy. I'm more afraid of this than Tormod's Crypt now.
Liliana: Now to reanimate all of the corpes here and build an undead army! Wait... not SPIKY METAL! FOILED AGAIN!
The day this was previewed, my friends asked if I had seen "the cage" and I said "oh yeah, that one's going to be expensive."
This is going to be the for Dark Ascension what snapcaster mage was to Innistrad
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/179
This cards single-handedly murders recursion decks. Read it and weep, Skaab Ruinator; sob, shrivel, tremble in fear! READ IT AND WEEP! I WANT YOU CRYING WHEN YOU'RE DIRTY AT THE FRONT OF ME!!!
Me? I'm happy as I could be. This absolutely hoses Dredge and Entomb/Reanimate. And seriously, *** Entomb/Reanimate, and *** Dredge. *** them. ***.
Edit: @Mr Fluffy Thing. That isn't casting. That's searching. That's a different text line on the card.
Johnny players be damned
I think there is a lot of hate out there.
That being said, I am annoyed that this card got printed. I mean, really Wizards? Another graveyard hate card? It's not like we didn't already have:
Tormod's Crypt
Planar Void
Withered Wretch
Coffin Purge
Leyline of the Void
Extirpate
Yixlid Jailer
Faerie Macabre
Wheel of Sun and Moon
Relic of Progenitus
Ravenous Trap
Bojuka Bog
Nihil Spellbomb
Surgical Extraction
Scavenging Ooze
Purify the Grave
to choose from to fight graveyards. Why print another anti-graveyard card? Sigh, it just bugs me that these hate cards continue to see print when we clearly have enough hate and no other strategy is hated nearly as much.
Powerful card. Maybe too powerful. I was chatting with a friend a week or three back about how I thought WotC was overdue for printing another card that they really end up regretting in the long run. This one seriously has that potential.
I think this ACTUALLY might be a legit rating, not just a Haterator effect of Gatherer comments. It is a 1-mana artifact that is supposed to hose Dead Stuff Wins.dec (Reanimator, Dredge, or even just Flashback, Undying, Unearth, etc.)
But...it doesn't actually exile anything out of the graveyard.
Because of that, the really dangerous Dead Stuff Wins decks really have plenty of answers for it. Maybe it should be closer to 4.1, but I don't think it is worth more than 4.3 at the most-
The one type of hate that simply just can't really quite be pushed far enough is Graveyard Hate. If this cost 0 mana and had Tormod's Crypt's effect on top of it, I still think that Dredge and Reanimator as decks would survive. The power of the Graveyard based on already-existing cards is just too much at this point for any real hate to actually stop it.
This is even counterable by Mental Misstep!
why all the hate though?
People are only beginning to realize how powerful a sideboard hoser this is.
"I play Natural Order to go get Progenitus" -- No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Polymorph on a manland for my Blightsteel Colossus" -- No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Tinker tutoring up Sphinx of the Steel Wind or whatever" No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Green Sun's Zenith to speed out a Dryad Arbor" No. You don't. Grafdigger's cage.
"I play Oath of Druids which my entire Vintage deck is based around" -- Fine. You'll never get anything from it. Grafdigger's cage. Have fun just drawing all the uncastable creatures you were hoping to cheat into play.
I saw up to "graveyard" and thought, yeah, yeah, yet anothe----WAIT IT ALSO SAYS LIBRARY OH MY GOD
To be more precise, there are four cards that allow you to cast cards from libraries directly, those would be Future Sight and Magus of the future, along with Sunforger and Knowledge Exploitation. :P
As for this, considering Solar Flare and Pod seem to be fizzling a little bit due to Tempo, this seems less relevant to the format and will probably be useless a good portion of the time (I do understand that Tempo uses but he's less relevant when they just get past it by bouncing and countering it). I plan on running 2 in my sideboard despite now running an undying-based deck. Thalia was printed to hose Tempo (ineffectively unfortunately, always eats Mana Leaks unless you're on play :( ), just as this was printed to hose graveyard/"from the deck" based decks; most of which run some kind of artifact removal.
I will admit that this does pose a short term problem for burning vengeance. Once again, however, it's a 1-2 turn setback in a deck that wins in roughly 5 turns.
And as for you folks whining about it making Sun Titan bad somehow, obviously you folks have never heard of Oblivion Ring and the fact that it's only creatures which are barred from coming into play from the graveyard.
4/5 for its sheer power, but seriously, it's not as relevant as people seem to think. It's just a stall card instead of a negator like the Nihil Spellbomb.
You seem to be confusing "putting onto the battlefield" with "casting." i run a storm deck, so i know that there is QUITE a big difference. all those combos that you just said... they still work. i guess Panglacial Wurm gets shut down by this, but polymorph, natural order, tinker, green suns zenith... all of those still function with this on the field.
also, to my opinion on the card, I've always been of the belief that if you're running a deck without artifact/enchantment removal, one day, you WILL be hosed by one. this card just says, be prepared.
also, i love the flavor of it. it wouldn't have fit into any other set.
You seem to be the one who needs to be corrected, not Salient. Wizards didn't design this card to combat Panglacial Wurm, but Birthing Pod. If it isn't entering the battlefield from your hand, chances are it is coming from the graveyard or library. Next time be QUITE sure before mocking a member who is. at least you are right about the flavor.
The card is undercosted. Said before, worth saying again. Dunno how much this will affect Standard, but I hate how it affects EDH, specifically for mono-black decks. The answers are just too few and far between. Maybe soon we'll get artifacts that hate the other colors as efficiently. I'll be looking for the 1 coster that can't be countered and says: Spells Can't be Countered.
"I play Naturalize" -- Oh ****.
@turtleknite
No, Salient is correct here. This card has two effects: it stops creatures from entering the battlefield from the graveyard or library, and it stops players from casting spells from the graveyard or library. These two effects are completely distinct and independent of each other. Effects that care about creatures entering the battlefield don't care how that creature entered. Also note that this card does not prevent you from bringing a non-creature enchantment, artifact, planeswalker, or land onto the battlefield from the graveyard or library, so long as you are not casting it.
The first effect hoses Natural Order, Green Sun's Zenith, Polymorph, Reanimate, Tinker (but only for artifact creatures), Vengevine, Birthing Pod etc. It will also prevent you from putting creatures onto the battlefield with Genesis Wave (non-creature permanents are unaffected here). The second effect hoses Yawgmoth's Will, Yawgmoth's Agenda, Panglacial Wurm, flashback, Havengul Lich, etc. Note that since lands are not spells, you can play lands from your graveyard with Yawgmoth's Will/Agenda even while this artifact is in play.
It does NOT kill Tooth and Nail though, because T&N puts creature cards from the library into your hand, or from your hand onto the battlefield, or both. Since the creatures are coming from the hand this spell is unaffected by the cage. It also doesn't affect Primeval Titan's ability, unless you try to use it to bring out Dryad Arbors.
Maybe since they printed this card they'll unban GSZ. One can hope.
@Axelle: I have to agree with you. The best blue zombies don’t come into play from the graveyard, they just exile cards from the graveyard, and the cage does nothing to prevent that from happening.
@Swords_to_exile and @Snafinturtle: There are a lot of cards that allow you to cast spells from your library, I don’t know where you guys are getting two and four respectively. Besides the four that were mentioned, Spellshift can be used to cast a spell out of your library, Panglacial Wurm can be cast from the library, and all of the cards with “Ripple” (Surging Flame) can cast cards from your library.
@LPFan55 and @Chmur: In the current standard, there’s Galvanoth and Garruk’s Horde that can cast cards from the library.
@Nate_Prawdzik: The cage doesn’t turn Ghost Quarter into Strip Mine because basic lands aren’t creatures. Lands can still enter the battlefield from libraries or graveyards.
@itsmeyouidiot and @realitant: You’ll have to go back and read Cascade again. Cascade says “When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost.” Therefore, the card is being cast from exile, not from the library.
This card is good, not great. If your deck relies on playing creatures from the graveyard or library, then plan to be able to beat this card post-sideboard.
4 Grafdigger's Cage
56 Land
I don't see it used much in standard in my area, perhaps because people are more keen to use the flashback and undying, rather than stuff up the opponent by shutting them down and building an alternative strategy.
Does this really kill Zombies? The only cards I can think of that this card hates against are Geralf's Messenger, Gravecrawler, and Moan of the Unhallowed. And even then, they aren't affected much.
Has anybody actually playtested this card yet?
This card prevents Miracle card costs!
Can anyone confirm/deny?
Me: Must. Escape. Graveyard hate.
Wizards: *Evil laugh*
Wizards, if you're going to give ANY COLOR such an advantage over a specific set of abilities, please give us an answer to that next time.
If this card shuts down your deck, re-design your deck. Mono-colored decks are less exciting than multi-colored decks, anyway.
-
Although I should consider myself lucky, since in our playgroup we allow sideboard cards, but not total deck destruction like this card vs graveyard mechanic deck or Boil versus a mono-blue deck)
3.5/5
I like it a lot better when magic is about optimizing your deck to its fullest, instead of being "I sideboard this in so your deck doesn't work, you sideboard that in so my deck doesn't work, so now we have 2 crippled decks fighting each other, isn't it fun?" But this is not even the worst, that 2 mana enchantment is just ridiculous.
Sorry, I JUST noticed the "-and libraries" part.
That being said though, this seems like a really good sideboard for graveyard hate and probably will be for a while. 4/5.
'Destroy target reanimation deck. That deck's controller can't play flashback cards. Buy him/her a beer to re-enstate your friendship.'