Shriekgeist MTG Card

Dark Ascension (DKA)
2012-02-03 - Number 49

Iconic Masters (IMA)
2017-11-17 - Number 72

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Spirit
Abilities	Flying,Mill
Power	1
Toughness	1

Key Takeaways

As a flying creature with mill capabilities, Shriekgeist can be a strategic addition to blue-centric decks.
It can be countered by enhancing decks with graveyard synergy or instant removal spells.
Shriekgeist’s mill effect offers cumulative disruption, making it valuable in specific metagames.

Text of card

Flying Whenever Shriekgeist deals combat damage to a player, that player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

Wounds of the flesh are easy to heal. Wounds of the mind may never be undone.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Shriekgeist offers a distinct type of card advantage. By forcing a player to put the top two cards of their library into their graveyard, it disrupts their draw and can lead to a form of indirect card advantage, especially in formats where graveyard strategies are prevalent.

Resource Acceleration: While Shriekgeist itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, its milling ability can be a resource acceleration for decks focused on leveraging graveyard mechanics. By filling the graveyard, it enables abilities like Delve or powers up cards that count the number of creature cards in graveyards, accelerating the effectiveness of these strategies.

Instant Speed: Shriekgeist’s ability triggers at instant speed upon dealing combat damage. This allows strategic timing of when to send an opponent’s cards to the graveyard, perhaps in response to searches or shuffles, making it a flexible tool for disrupting an opponent’s game plan on the fly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: A pivotal part of utilizing Shriekgeist is its milling capability that forces a player to discard two cards from the top of their deck upon dealing combat damage. While this can disrupt your opponent’s strategies, it can also be a double-edged sword as some decks thrive on graveyard synergy, potentially giving your opponent unintended advantages.

Specific Mana Cost: One of the limitations of Shriekgeist is its blue mana cost. Requiring two blue mana means that it fits primarily into mono-blue or blue-centric decks, potentially limiting its versatility in decks that favor a wider variety of mana colors.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For its 1/1 stats, a casting cost of two mana might seem steep, especially when compared to other creatures in the same mana range. This cost can affect the pacing of your deck, as you might find other creatures or spells that offer more immediate value or impact on the game’s board state.

Reasons to Include Shriekgeist in Your Collection

Versatility: Shriekgeist offers a unique function as a flying creature with mill capabilities, making it a flexible addition to any blue-focused deck or those looking to exploit an opponent’s library.

Combo Potential: Its ability to mill cards from an opponent’s library upon dealing combat damage sets up potential synergies with other cards that capitalize on opponents having a stocked graveyard, enabling various combo interactions.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where graveyard-based strategies are prevalent, Shriekgeist serves as a useful tool to disrupt your opponents while also furthering your own game plan revolving around graveyard manipulation.

How to beat

Shriekgeist is a spectral entity that wields its power by milling the opponent’s deck, and understanding its mechanics can be invaluable in a match. This spirit creature, poised in blue’s domain, strategically thins opposing libraries two cards at a time with each attack. To counter this milling menace, players might consider increasing the density of their own decks with cards that benefit from graveyard interactions, making Shriekgeist’s effect less detrimental or even turning it to their advantage.

Enhancing your deck with cards that shuffle your graveyard back into your library, like Elixir of Immortality, can be an effective method to undermine Shriekgeist’s milling strategy. Furthermore, utilizing instant removal spells to dispatch Shriekgeist before it chips away at your deck is a wise choice. Efficient answers such as Fatal Push or Path to Exile can handle the ghostly threat without putting much strain on your mana resources.

Ready responses in your deck and strategic play are crucial when up against Shriekgeist. Disables, bountiful graveyard synergy, or graveyard-to-library shuffling effects can neutralize Shriekgeist’s influence on the game—providing a path to victory even as it attempts to whittle down your deck one card at a time.

Cards like Shriekgeist

Shriekgeist is an intriguing creature in Magic: The Gathering, offering a unique approach to controlling your opponent’s graveyard. This spirit is somewhat akin to other cards with milling abilities, like Hedron Crab, which mills cards whenever a land enters the battlefield. Shriekgeist, by contrast, requires a successful attack to trigger its milling effect, putting two cards from the top of the opponent’s library into their graveyard.

Merfolk Secretkeeper is another creature card that invites comparison. It allows you to mill four cards with its adventure ability, providing an immediate impact as opposed to Shriekgeist’s conditional trigger. Moreover, the Secretkeeper offers a defensive body post-milling. Conversely, Glimpse the Unthinkable, is a non-creature spell that delivers a massive one-time hit, milling ten cards at once, but unlike Shriekgeist, it doesn’t recur the effect.

Ultimately, Shriekgeist stands out for being a repeatable mill source, offering a strategic advantage through cumulative graveyard disruption, particularly in formats that enable creature attacks to occur more frequently. While slower than some other options, its utility in a focused mill deck can be crucial against decks reliant on specific graveyard strategies.

Glimpse the Unthinkable - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Shriekgeist by color, type and mana cost

Soratami Cloudskater - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Shriekgeist MTG card by a specific set like Dark Ascension and Iconic Masters, 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 Shriekgeist and other MTG cards: