Ghastly Conscription MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 3 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost7
RarityMythic
TypeSorcery
Abilities Manifest

Key Takeaways

  1. Ghastly Conscription can massively swing the game by reviving numerous creatures simultaneously.
  2. Instant speed casting allows strategic play and surprising your opponent during their turn.
  3. However, its high mana cost and graveyard exile can limit its versatility in some decks.

Text of card

Exile all creature cards from target player's graveyard in a face-down pile, shuffle that pile, then manifest those cards. (To manifest a card, put it onto the battlefield face down as a 2/2 creature. Turn it face up any time for its mana cost if it's a creature card.)


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ghastly Conscription is adept at flipping the tides of a match by mass reanimating all creature cards from your graveyard in the form of face-down, 2/2 creatures. This can potentially flood the board and overwhelm your opponents, fortifying your position in the late game.

Resource Acceleration: Not only does this card serve as a powerful tool for reclaiming creatures lost earlier, but it also accelerates your resource utility by returning a battalion of creatures to the battlefield all at once. The mana investment into Ghastly Conscription can thus result in an expedited path to victory through an army of manifested creatures.

Instant Speed: Its capability to be cast at instant speed gives you the strategic advantage of ambushing an unprepared adversary during their turn. The element of surprise is crucial in MTG, and being able to hold up mana until the most opportune moment can catch an opponent off guard, significantly impacting the game state.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Ghastly Conscription mandates that you exile all creature cards from your graveyard as part of its effect. This can significantly deplete your graveyard resources, which might be crucial for other strategies or synergies within your deck.

Specific Mana Cost: This card demands a dedicated mana commitment, specifically seven mana including two from the black mana pool. This requirement can be restrictive and tough to meet, particularly in multicolor decks that may not always have the necessary black mana available.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a high cost of seven mana to cast, Ghastly Conscription competes with other high-impact cards in the same mana range. Deckbuilders might find it challenging to justify its inclusion over other late-game finishers or value engines with potentially less restrictive conditions or more immediate board presence.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Ghastly Conscription adds value to decks that are tailor-built around graveyard manipulation or those that can benefit from a late-game surge of creatures on the battlefield. It’s a magic card that can turn the tide by exploiting the full potential of your graveyard.

Combo Potential: With its ability to manifest creatures from your graveyard, it opens up various combo possibilities that can synergize with morph or manifest abilities, or simply use the manifested cards as a surprise element against opponents.

Meta-Relevance: Considering the diverse strategies in the current MTG landscape, Ghastly Conscription can be a game-changer in matches where attrition and managing resources from all zones are crucial to victory. Its impact on the board state can be substantial, making it a card worth owning as the meta evolves.


How to beat

Ghastly Conscription is a unique card that can be a game-changer in MTG, known for its ability to turn a graveyard into a formidable force of manifested creatures. This card’s strength lies in its potential for a massive board presence. However, one effective strategy against it is countering its graveyard dependency. Tools like Tormod’s Crypt or Relic of Progenitus can excel in removing cards from the graveyard, preventing the player from exploiting them with Ghastly Conscription.

Another tactic involves utilizing instant-speed removal spells or abilities that can disrupt the card before it fully resolves, such as Negate or Disdainful Stroke. By keeping up mana for such responses, you can significantly mitigate the impact of Ghastly Conscription. It’s also beneficial to pressure the opponent early in the game, reducing the chances for them to establish a graveyard substantial enough to make Ghastly Conscription effective. While manifest can create unpredictability, understanding and anticipating your opponent’s deck and potential graveyard can give you an upper hand.

Ultimately, while Ghastly Conscription can be a mighty card when it comes to late-game surprises, preemptive control strategies and grave disruption can be key to maintaining the upper hand against it in your matches.


BurnMana Recommendations

Wrapping up, Ghastly Conscription adds a thrilling twist to MTG gameplay, turning graveyards into armies. With its potential to swing games, it’s a card that demands respect and strategic planning. Mastering its use or defense requires understanding its strengths, weaknesses, and the subtle art of timing. For those who relish late-game theatrics and graveyard dance, this card could be your dark horse. Keep pushing the boundaries of your deck’s capabilities and learn to wield or counter this card effectively. Dive deeper with us and let’s unlock the full potential of your MTG card collection and strategies together.


Cards like Ghastly Conscription

Ghastly Conscription stands out in the realm of reanimation spells in Magic: The Gathering. It draws comparison to powerful cards like Living Death, which also resurrects creatures from the graveyard. While Living Death affects both players by exiling all creature cards from the battlefield into the graveyard first, Ghastly Conscription selectively targets a single player’s graveyard, manifesting each creature card exiled this way as 2/2 creatures that could turn back into their original forms later on.

Another similar card is Rise of the Dark Realms, which brings back all creatures from all graveyards directly onto the battlefield under your control. This lacks the surprise factor of Ghastly Conscription’s manifested creatures but can lead to an overwhelming board state. In contrast, Ghastly Conscription offers a more nuanced strategy, with the potential for a delayed but significant power surge.

In assessing these options, Ghastly Conscription finds its niche with its unique manifest mechanic. Though it might not provide the immediate board presence of Rise of the Dark Realms or the sweeping effect of Living Death, it gives players a strategic option that can yield unexpected advantage—assuming one can navigate the delayed gratification inherent in its design.

Living Death - MTG Card versions
Rise of the Dark Realms - MTG Card versions
Living Death - Tempest (TMP)
Rise of the Dark Realms - Magic 2014 (M14)

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Wit's End - Magic 2013 (M13)
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Plague of Vermin - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Absorb Vis - The List (PLST)
Repay in Kind - The List (PLST)
Ichor Explosion - New Phyrexia (NPH)
Covenant of Blood - Mystery Booster (MB1)
Necromantic Selection - Forgotten Realms Commander (AFC)
Behold the Beyond - Shadows over Innistrad Promos (PSOI)
Cruel Entertainment - Commander 2016 (C16)
Kindred Dominance - Wilds of Eldraine Commander (WOC)
Never // Return - Amonkhet Remastered (AKR)
Boneyard Parley - Commander 2019 (C19)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ghastly Conscription MTG card by a specific set like Fate Reforged and Commander 2016, 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 Ghastly Conscription and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Ghastly Conscription Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2015-01-23 and 2019-08-23. Illustrated by YW Tang.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12015-01-23Fate ReforgedFRF 702015normalblackYW Tang
22016-11-11Commander 2016C16 1112015normalblackYW Tang
32019-08-23Commander 2019C19 1152015normalblackYW Tang

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Ghastly Conscription has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PioneerLegal
PennyLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2014-11-24 A permanent that turns face up or face down changes characteristics but is otherwise the same permanent. Spells and abilities that were targeting that permanent, as well as Auras and Equipment that were attached to the permanent, aren’t affected.
2014-11-24 Any time you have priority, you may turn a manifested creature face up by revealing that it’s a creature card (ignoring any copy effects or type-changing effects that might be applying to it) and paying its mana cost. This is a special action. It doesn’t use the stack and can’t be responded to.
2014-11-24 At any time, you can look at a face-down permanent you control. You can’t look at face-down permanents you don’t control unless an effect allows you to or instructs you to.
2014-11-24 Because face-down creatures don’t have names, they can’t have the same name as any other creature, even another face-down creature.
2014-11-24 Because the permanent is on the battlefield both before and after it’s turned face up, turning a permanent face up doesn’t cause any enters-the-battlefield abilities to trigger.
2014-11-24 If a face-down permanent you control leaves the battlefield, you must reveal it. You must also reveal all face-down spells and permanents you control if you leave the game or if the game ends.
2014-11-24 If a manifested creature would have morph if it were face up, you may also turn it face up by paying its morph cost.
2014-11-24 If you manifest a card owned by an opponent and you leave the game, that card is exiled.
2014-11-24 Some older Magic sets feature double-faced cards, which have a Magic card face on each side rather than a Magic card face on one side and a Magic card back on the other. The rules for double-faced cards are changing slightly to account for the possibility that they are manifested. If a double-faced card is manifested, it will be put onto the battlefield face down. While face down, it can’t transform. If the front face of the card is a creature card, you can turn it face up by paying its mana cost. If you do, its front face will be up. A double-faced permanent on the battlefield still can’t be turned face down.
2014-11-24 The face-down permanent is a 2/2 creature with no name, mana cost, creature types, or abilities. It’s colorless and has a converted mana cost of 0. Other effects that apply to the permanent can still grant or change any of these characteristics.
2014-11-24 The pile is shuffled to disguise from your opponents which manifested creature is which. After you manifest the cards, you can look at them.
2014-11-24 There are no cards in the Fate Reforged set that would turn a face-down instant or sorcery card on the battlefield face up, but some older cards can try to do this. If something tries to turn a face-down instant or sorcery card on the battlefield face up, reveal that card to show all players it’s an instant or sorcery card. The permanent remains on the battlefield face down. Abilities that trigger when a permanent turns face up won’t trigger, because even though you revealed the card, it never turned face up.
2014-11-24 Turning a permanent face up or face down doesn’t change whether that permanent is tapped or untapped.
2014-11-24 Unlike a face-down creature that was cast using the morph ability, a manifested creature may still be turned face up after it loses its abilities if it’s a creature card.
2014-11-24 You must ensure that your face-down spells and permanents can easily be differentiated from each other. You’re not allowed to mix up the cards that represent them on the battlefield in order to confuse other players. The order they entered the battlefield should remain clear. Common methods for indicating this include using markers or dice, or simply placing them in order on the battlefield. You must also track how each became face down (manifested, cast face down using the morph ability, and so on).

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