Forbidden Crypt MTG Card

Forbidden Crypt transforms your graveyard into a strategic resource, acting similarly to a second hand. It provides a tactical advantage by enabling cards to be utilized at instant speed from the graveyard. Despite mana costs and discard drawbacks, its combo potential makes it a worthy deck addition.

Mirage (MIR)
1996-10-08 - Number 124

Forbidden Crypt - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)

Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
1999-04-21 - Number 132

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment

Text of card

For each card you would draw, instead choose target card in your graveyard and put it into your hand. If you cannot, you lose the game. Whenever a card is put into your graveyard, remove that card from the game.

Cards like Forbidden Crypt

Forbidden Crypt stands out in the world of Magic: The Gathering as a unique piece in deck building strategies. With its powerful ability to draw cards from the graveyard instead of the library, reminiscence comes to mind of the classic Yawgmoth’s Bargain. While both allow access to a wealth of cards, Yawgmoth’s Bargain permits card draw at the cost of life rather than the alternate library method of Forbidden Crypt.

Another relative is the iconic Elixir of Immortality. Although Elixir doesn’t provide direct card draw, it interacts with the graveyard by shuffling it back into the library, offering a different flavor of graveyard manipulation. This can be particularly beneficial after utilizing Forbidden Crypt’s effect to ensure you don’t run out of cards in your library.

In effect, each of these cards caters to unique strategies within Magic: The Gathering, encouraging creative deck construction. Forbidden Crypt, with its unusual graveyard dynamic, may not fit into every game plan, but shines in the right context and resembles a defiant challenge to the norms of drawing cards.

Elixir of Immortality - MTG Card versions

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Card Pros

Card Advantage: Forbidden Crypt can be a key card for maintaining card resources in the later stages of the game. It has the potential to provide continual access to your graveyard, essentially turning it into a second hand from which you can play cards.

Resource Acceleration: By allowing the use of your graveyard as a resource, Forbidden Crypt can effectively accelerate your game plan, giving you access to a wider array of options each turn without expending additional cards from your hand.

Instant Speed: Although Forbidden Crypt itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it enables the use of cards at instant speed from your graveyard, depending on what you have available there. This flexibility can create unexpected plays and give you an advantage over your opponent by maximizing the use of your resources at critical moments.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: When engaging with Forbidden Crypt, players must be prudent since operating the card necessitates a grave drawback. Each time you would draw a card, you’re compelled to exile one from your graveyard instead. This can be particularly detrimental when your graveyard resources are depleted, rendering the card ineffective and putting you at a strategic disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Forbidden Crypt calls for a specific blend of mana to get into play, requiring one black and two colorless. This can pose a substantial problem in multicolored decks that may struggle to generate the necessary black mana consistently, limiting the versatility of this card and potentially stranding it in your hand during crucial turns.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that comprises three mana, this card has a notable investment for its effect. When benchmarked against other cards in the same mana range, the resource commitment can be a tall order, especially in formats where efficiency and board presence are paramount. Players may find cards offering similar graveyard-utilization benefits without the high risk and restrictive conditions that accompany Forbidden Crypt.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Forbidden Crypt offers a unique angle in deck construction, allowing creative players to design around its ability to exchange the life-drawing relationship. It’s an asset in strategies built for resilience and endurance.

Combo Potential: With the right setup, this card can become the lynchpin of potent combos, particularly in tandem with effects that replace or circumvent the downside of not being able to draw cards, thus leveraging its unique mechanic.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where graveyard strategies are prevalent, Forbidden Crypt can be a game-changer, giving players access to their graveyard for resources and adding depth to your gameplay against decking-out strategies.

How to beat

Dealing with the power of Forbidden Crypt in Magic: The Gathering requires a calculated approach. This artifact transforms the risk of drawing from an empty library into the potential for an extended life span. However, its Achilles heel lies in the fact that it exchanges this benefit for the loss of life points equivalent to the card’s mana cost. To counteract this, running graveyard hate cards like Tormod’s Crypt can nullify the advantage by removing the graveyard as a resource entirely.

Besides graveyard removal, direct enchantment destruction is effective. Running cards like Disenchant or Naturalize allows a player to remove Forbidden Crypt from the battlefield before it can create a significant impact. Additionally, having countermeasures for artifact spells, such as Counterspell or Natural State, can prevent Forbidden Crypt from resolving in the first place, keeping its effect off the board.

Ultimately, the key to overcoming Forbidden Crypt lies in disrupting the graveyard mechanics it depends upon, and timely removal of the card or negation of its activation. Understanding and anticipating your opponent’s strategic moves can turn Forbidden Crypt from a formidable asset into a manageable challenge.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Forbidden Crypt MTG card by a specific set like Mirage and Classic Sixth Edition, 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 Forbidden Crypt and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Forbidden Crypt Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1996-10-08 and 1999-04-21. Illustrated by D. Alexander Gregory.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1996-10-08	Mirage	MIR		124	1997	Normal	Black	D. Alexander Gregory
2	1999-04-21	Classic Sixth Edition	6ED		132	1997	Normal	White	D. Alexander Gregory

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Forbidden Crypt has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2004-10-04	If more than one card is being drawn due to a single effect, apply the replacement as if the cards were being drawn one at a time.
2004-10-04	It will replace itself being sent to the graveyard, and exile itself.
2004-10-04	The second ability is a replacement effect, not a triggered ability. The card never gets to the graveyard.
2004-10-04	The “if you can’t” in the first ability refers to putting the card in your hand, as well as being unable to choose a card. Thus, if you can’t choose a card during resolution, you lose the game.