Ghost Ark MTG Card
2022-10-07 - Number 156★
2022-10-07 - Number 156
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Artifact — Vehicle |
| Abilities | Crew,Flying,Repair Barge |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Text of card
Flying Repair Barge — Whenever Ghost Ark becomes crewed, each artifact creature card in your graveyard gains unearth until end of turn. Crew 2 (Tap any number of creatures you control with total power 2 or more: This Vehicle becomes an artifact creature until end of turn.)
Cards like Ghost Ark
Ghost Ark is an intriguing artifact within the Magic: The Gathering universe, offering a unique mechanic to resurrect small creatures. A card that often comes to mind in comparison is Grimoire of the Dead. While Grimoire of the Dead demands significant setup, requiring three discards to fully activate, Ghost Ark provides a more immediate response for creature revival — albeit, with a limitation to creatures with power two or less.
Another card to consider is Phyrexian Reclamation. This enchantment gives players recurring creature retrieval from the graveyard but focuses on single targets and requires life payment. Ghost Ark’s potential for board presence is significant, as it revives multiple creatures at once, creating a wave of reanimation. However, unlike Ghost Ark, Phyrexian Reclamation is less restrictive on the creature’s power.
Cauldron of Souls further broadens the comparison by offering creatures another chance at life with its persist mechanic, though the returned creatures come back with a -1/-1 counter. Here, Ghost Ark holds the advantage as it does not weaken the creatures it brings back. Weighing these different aspects, Ghost Ark secures its place as a versatile and valuable artifact for decks that capitalize on numerous, low-powered creatures.
Cards similar to Ghost Ark by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The Ghost Ark shines as a beacon of card recovery, adept at pulling creatures from the graveyard back onto the battlefield. This enduring vessel not only navigates the treacherous waters of long games but also keeps your hand fortified by consistently replenishing your board presence.
Resource Acceleration: Ghost Ark’s unique ability to reanimate multiple creatures at once turns each of your turns into a potential comeback moment. By offering persistent creature recovery, it accelerates your resource curve and squeezes value out of every card.
Instant Speed: Though the Ghost Ark operates at sorcery speed, its effect is akin to instant speed value during your upkeep – a time when most are not ready to respond. Skilful pilots will leverage this timing to maximum advantage, fortifying their position right before drawing their card for the turn.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Ghost Ark’s activation hinges on you discarding a card which can put you at a deficit, especially when your hand is waning.
Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both colorless and white mana, Ghost Ark demands a tailored mana base, possibly restricting its inclusion to dedicated color decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its cost resting at a pivotal point on the mana curve, Ghost Ark competes with other impactful four-mana plays that may better align with your deck’s strategy.
Reasons to Include Ghost Ark in Your Collection
Versatility: Ghost Ark is not just a standard artifact; it provides a unique function by allowing you to return creature cards from the graveyard to the battlefield. This trait makes it a useful addition to decks that focus on creature recovery.
Combo Potential: As Ghost Ark can retrieve specific creature types, it can act as an engine in combo decks, especially those revolving around sacrifice and recursion strategies. This could lead to powerful plays and unexpected wins.
Meta-Relevance: In a metagame with a heavy focus on creature-based strategies or where graveyard interactions are pivotal, Ghost Ark becomes a critical asset. It can significantly shift the tide of a game by recurring key creatures turn after turn.
How to beat
The Ghost Ark card introduces a unique dimension to gameplay, offering a source of resurrection for creature types specific to its alignment. When using this artifact, players can anticipate recovering key pieces of their graveyard puzzle, turning the tide of matches. As with any powerful card, countering it effectively requires strategic planning. Knowing when to disrupt the Ghost Ark’s ability is crucial. Artifact removal spells are your best allies in this task, enabling you to remove Ghost Ark from the battlefield before it can unfold its full potential.
Consider holding onto your removal spells until the moment your opponent attempts to leverage the Ghost Ark’s ability. This timing is critical as it ensures that they don’t gain the advantage of returning creatures to the battlefield. Another approach is applying pressure to your opponent by maintaining a strong offensive front, forcing them to defend instead of utilizing their artifacts optimally. Lastly, graveyard hate cards are extremely effective in this context, as they can exile important targets early on, nullifying the need for the Ghost Ark entirely.
Ultimately, familiarity with your own deck’s capabilities and the awareness of when to strike against the Ghost Ark becomes the linchpin to overcoming its influence on the match. These approaches can ensure that the strength the Ghost Ark card represents is mitigated, maintaining the balance in your favor.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Ghost Ark MTG card by a specific set like Warhammer 40,000 Commander and Warhammer 40,000 Commander, 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 Ghost Ark and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
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Printings
The Ghost Ark Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2022-10-07 and 2022-10-07. Illustrated by Alexey Kruglov.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2022-10-07 | Warhammer 40,000 Commander | 40K | 156★ | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alexey Kruglov | |
| 2 | 2022-10-07 | Warhammer 40,000 Commander | 40K | 156 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Alexey Kruglov |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Ghost Ark has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Ghost Ark card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-07 | Activating a permanent card's unearth ability isn’t the same as casting it as a spell. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the 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 Cancel) will not. |
| 2022-10-07 | At the beginning of the end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed trigger won’t trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile it if it eventually leaves the battlefield. |
| 2022-10-07 | Ghost Ark’s triggered ability gives unearth to each artifact that is in your graveyard as it resolves. Artifact cards that enter your graveyard after it resolves won’t have unearth unless the ability triggers again later. |
| 2022-10-07 | If a permanent returned to the battlefield by an unearth ability would leave it for any reason, it’s exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing it to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it. In that case, the spell or ability succeeds at exiling the permanent. If the spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield, it will return as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it. |
| 2022-10-07 | 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. |
| 2022-10-07 | See also “Returning Keyword Ability: Unearth” in the General Notes section. |
| 2022-10-07 | Unearth grants haste to the permanent that’s returned to the battlefield. However, neither of the “exile” abilities is granted to that permanent. 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. |