Corpse Connoisseur MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityUncommon
TypeCreature — Zombie Wizard
Abilities Unearth
Power 3
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Tutors key creatures into your graveyard, enabling strategic setup for grave-based gameplay and combos.
  2. Requires black mana and has a high mana cost, which may limit versatility in multicolored decks.
  3. Ideal for decks focused on graveyard synergies, offering both a recurrent ability and a 3/3 body.

Text of card

When Corpse Connoisseur comes into play, you may search your library for a creature card and put that card into your graveyard. If you do, shuffle your library. Unearth (: Return this card from your graveyard to play. It gains haste. Remove it from the game at end of turn or if it would leave play. Unearth only as a sorcery.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Corpse Connoisseur excels at card advantage by tutoring any creature card from your deck and placing it directly into your graveyard. This sets up grave-based strategies and provides you with access to key creatures when you need them.

Resource Acceleration: By placing creatures in the graveyard, Corpse Connoisseur accelerates your resource utilization, enabling reanimation tactics or powering up abilities that count graveyard contents, leading to a more formidable board presence.

Instant Speed: While the card itself does not operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with instant speed reanimation spells. This combination allows you to immediately bring the tutored creature onto the battlefield at a moment’s notice, catching opponents off guard and potentially swinging the game in your favor.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Corpse Connoisseur demands that you discard a card when unleashing its unearth ability. During a game where each card in hand is a valuable resource, activating this can sometimes backfire, leaving you at a disadvantage if your hand size is already depleted.

Specific Mana Cost: This creature requires a combination of black mana and generic mana to cast, limiting its seamless integration into multicolored decks. The specific need for black mana can be restrictive for decks that don’t focus heavily on black or lack sufficient mana fixing.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that totals five mana, Corpse Connoisseur comes at a significant investment. For such an investment, players might expect an immediate impact on the board state, which this card does not provide unless additional mana is spent to activate its unearth ability.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Corpse Connoisseur offers the ability to tutor any creature into your graveyard, which makes it a perfect fit for a myriad of decks built around graveyard synergies and reanimation strategies.

Combo Potential: Utilizing Corpse Connoisseur’s unearth ability allows for a recurrent way to set up potent graveyard combos, providing consistent access to key creatures that enable game-winning interactions.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where graveyard tactics are prominent, Corpse Connoisseur can be a real asset. It’s a card that adapts well to a shifting meta, efficiently bridging your tactical needs with its utility and flexibility.


How to beat

Corpse Connoisseur holds the key to graveyard strategies in the world of Magic: The Gathering. As a shaper of the battlefield from the shadows, it lets players search their library for any creature card and send it to the graveyard, setting the stage for powerful reanimation tactics. Building an effective strategy to neutralize this unearthly shuffler is crucial.

Tacticians advocating for grave order would be wise to keep their graveyards unchecked. Cards like Rest in Peace and Leyline of the Void provide a blanket of safety against such graveyard antics by exiling cards instead of allowing them to rest in peace. Similarly, Tormod’s Crypt offers a targeted and timely interference, disrupting the choreographed ballet of the dead with a single tap. Interaction remains pivotal; instant-speed removals such as Path to Exile or Fatal Push ensure Corpse Connoisseur never fulfills its morbid errands.

Focussing on graveyard control and timely interaction is the most effective way to weaken Corpse Connoisseur’s influence on the game. By anticipating its arrival and having countermeasures ready, one can ensure that the only connoisseurship displayed is in mastering the art of disruption.


BurnMana Recommendations

Delving into the depths of MTG is a rewarding experience, intensified by strategic cards like Corpse Connoisseur. This card is essential for grave-centric decks, but understanding its nuanced play can be challenging. Recognizing when to enhance your graveyard and when to hold back is crucial. Ready to unlock the full potential of your deck with Corpse Connoisseur’s abilities? We’re here to guide you through optimizing your strategy, ensuring every creature you tutor becomes an integral piece of your winning puzzle. Join our community, where expertise meets passion, and discover how to turn your deck into a formidable collection.


Cards like Corpse Connoisseur

Corpse Connoisseur is a unique creature within the MTG universe known for its graveyard tutoring ability. This card bears some resemblance to Buried Alive, a classic that also allows players to search their library for creature cards and put them into their graveyard. While Corpse Connoisseur costs more mana and leaves you with a 3/3 body on the battlefield, Buried Alive is more mana-efficient and gives you an opportunity to place three creatures into your graveyard rather than one.

Another card to consider when looking at the Corpse Connoisseur is Entomb, with a single black mana cost and the ability to search any one card, not just creatures, and put it into your graveyard. Entomb acts immediately at instant speed, compared to the slower, but repeatable, effect of Corpse Connoisseur. Finally, Fauna Shaman offers a repeatable search effect as well by discarding a creature card to search for another. While not directly putting cards into the graveyard, this can be a strategic advantage depending on the deck.

Each card contributes differently to a graveyard strategy, but Corpse Connoisseur stands out for offering both an impactful recurring ability and a significant body that can affect board presence in MTG.

Buried Alive - MTG Card versions
Entomb - MTG Card versions
Fauna Shaman - MTG Card versions
Buried Alive - Weatherlight (WTH)
Entomb - Odyssey (ODY)
Fauna Shaman - Magic 2011 (M11)

Cards similar to Corpse Connoisseur by color, type and mana cost

Skyshroud Vampire - MTG Card versions
Entropic Specter - MTG Card versions
Predatory Nightstalker - MTG Card versions
Fallen Angel - MTG Card versions
Stone Catapult - MTG Card versions
Sengir Vampire - MTG Card versions
Hollow Dogs - MTG Card versions
Grotesque Hybrid - MTG Card versions
Earwig Squad - MTG Card versions
Indulgent Tormentor - MTG Card versions
Sootfeather Flock - MTG Card versions
Zombie Cutthroat - MTG Card versions
Gluttonous Zombie - MTG Card versions
Vermiculos - MTG Card versions
Woebearer - MTG Card versions
Wei Elite Companions - MTG Card versions
Halo Hunter - MTG Card versions
Malakir Bloodwitch - MTG Card versions
Caustic Crawler - MTG Card versions
Shriekmaw - MTG Card versions
Skyshroud Vampire - Tempest (TMP)
Entropic Specter - Exodus (EXO)
Predatory Nightstalker - Vintage Masters (VMA)
Fallen Angel - Mystery Booster (MB1)
Stone Catapult - Portal Three Kingdoms (PTK)
Sengir Vampire - Arena Beginner Set (ANB)
Hollow Dogs - Beatdown Box Set (BTD)
Grotesque Hybrid - Torment (TOR)
Earwig Squad - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Indulgent Tormentor - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Sootfeather Flock - Legions (LGN)
Zombie Cutthroat - Scourge (SCG)
Gluttonous Zombie - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Vermiculos - Mirrodin (MRD)
Woebearer - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Wei Elite Companions - Masters Edition III (ME3)
Halo Hunter - Zendikar (ZEN)
Malakir Bloodwitch - Zendikar (ZEN)
Caustic Crawler - Worldwake (WWK)
Shriekmaw - Time Spiral Remastered (TSR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Corpse Connoisseur MTG card by a specific set like Shards of Alara and Archenemy, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Corpse Connoisseur and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Corpse Connoisseur Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 2008-10-03 and 2017-03-17. Illustrated by Mark Hyzer.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12008-10-03Shards of AlaraALA 682003normalblackMark Hyzer
22010-06-18ArchenemyARC 132003normalblackMark Hyzer
32013-03-15Duel Decks: Sorin vs. TibaltDDK 542003normalblackMark Hyzer
42017-03-17Modern Masters 2017MM3 612015normalblackMark Hyzer

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Corpse Connoisseur has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderRestricted
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Corpse Connoisseur card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

DateText
2008-10-01 Activating a creature card’s unearth ability isn’t the same as casting the creature card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the creature card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul) will not.
2008-10-01 At the beginning of the end step, a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Stifle or Voidslime that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the creature will stay on the battlefield and the delayed trigger won’t trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the creature when it eventually leaves the battlefield.
2008-10-01 If a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it’s exiled instead — unless the spell or ability that’s causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it.
2008-10-01 If you activate a card’s unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will resolve and do nothing.
2008-10-01 Unearth grants haste to the creature that’s returned to the battlefield. However, neither of the “exile” abilities is granted to that creature. If that creature loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead.

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