Glissa's Retriever MTG Card

Recovers artifacts from the graveyard, leveraging hand advantage and contributing to card economy. Enhances resource tempo, crucial for rapid deployment and amplification of artifact strategies. Instant-speed interaction synergy can lead to surprising and game-changing plays.

Glissa's Retriever - Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander (ONC)

Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander (ONC)
2023-02-03 - Number 56

Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander (ONC)
2023-02-03 - Number 18

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Phyrexian Beast
Abilities	Corrupted,Haste,Toxic
Power	6
Toughness	6

Text of card

Haste, toxic 3 Glissa's Retriever can't be blocked by creatures with power 2 or less. Corrupted — When Glissa's Retriever dies, exile it. When you do, return up to X target cards from your graveyard to your hand, where X is the number of opponents who have three or more poison counters.

Cards like Glissa's Retriever

Glissa’s Retriever offers MTG players a unique set of abilities that liken it to some other intriguing cards in the artifact realm. A notable comparison is to Salvage Scout, which also provides a way to retrieve artifacts from the graveyard. However, Glissa’s Retriever stands out with its potential to recover larger artifacts thanks to its scalability with the mana cost of the artifact in your graveyard.

Similarly, there’s Myr Retriever, which upon its demise allows you to return another target artifact card from your graveyard to your hand. Although Myr Retriever doesn’t offer the conditional versatility based on mana value that Glissa’s Retriever does, its consistent retrieval effect regardless of the mana cost makes it a stable choice for artifact recovery. Another card, Scrap Trawler, provides a sequential retrieval mechanism that can trigger multiple returns, especially in decks filled with varied mana cost artifacts, highlighting an incremental advantage.

When evaluating these cards in terms of MTG strategy, Glissa’s Retriever has a niche, with its recovery tethered to the strategic use of graveyard resources. It provides a meaningful selection for decks that capitalize on artifact synergies and the manipulation of graveyard contents.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When Glissa’s Retriever enters the battlefield, you are potentially able to return an artifact card from your graveyard to your hand, effectively replenishing your hand and tilting the tide of card economy in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: The ability to recover an artifact from the graveyard with Glissa’s Retriever can be a significant boost in resource tempo. This can lead to quicker deployment of other artifact-based strategies, magnifying your board presence and increasing your development rate within the game.

Instant Speed: Though Glissa’s Retriever doesn’t act at instant speed, its synergy with artifacts that do can create unexpected and advantageous scenarios. This makes the card a key piece in strategies looking to capitalize on the flexibility and surprise factor of instant-speed interactions.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Glissa’s Retriever necessitates that you discard another card to take advantage of its ability. This extra cost can be particularly taxing when your hand size is running low, potentially forcing you to make tough decisions about resource allocation during crucial moments of the game.

Specific Mana Cost: The artifact creature’s cost includes a commitment to green mana. While this aligns well with its thematic origins, it does mean that it’s inherently less flexible, locking it into green-centric or multicolor strategies and making it potentially awkward in a mana base not heavily invested in the color.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a total of four mana required for its summoning, Glissa’s Retriever may come into play a bit too late compared to other options at lower mana values. Other creatures or artifacts in the same mana slot could potentially offer immediate impacts on the board state or more synergistic interactions, placing Glissa’s Retriever’s playability at a competitive disadvantage in faster paced games or tightly tuned decks.

Reasons to Include Glissa’s Retriever in Your Collection

Versatility: Glissa’s Retriever can seamlessly integrate into artifact-centric or recursion-based decks. Its ability to recover lower-cost artifacts from the graveyard offers substantial value in decks that rely on artifact synergy.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combinations, working well with self-sacrificing artifacts or those with cycling effects, ensuring you maintain hand advantage while controlling the tempo of the game.

Meta-Relevance: Given the artifact-heavy nature of many competitive formats, Glissa’s Retriever can be a tactical choice, especially if the game environment favours long-play strategies or decks with recurring elements.

How to beat

Glissa’s Retriever adds a strategic layer to artifact deck dynamics in Magic: The Gathering. With its ability to return an artifact from your graveyard to hand whenever you cast a historic spell, it poses a persistent threat to opponents by recycling valuable resources. To effectively deal with this mechanical menace, disruption is key.

Counterspells like Cancel or Mana Leak can nip the problem in the bud before it starts engine-building on the battlefield. Artifact removal spells such as Disenchant or Abrade offer another avenue, dismantling the Retriever before it can begin its recursion loop. Additionally, graveyard hate cards like Tormod’s Crypt prevent the Retriever from capitalizing on the graveyard, negating its rejuvenating prowess.

Understanding the cadence of your opponent’s play and maintaining removal resources or counters specifically for this threat can hinder a potentially unending artifact retrieval. Excelling in foresighted play and keeping the board free of perpetual value generators is essential in managing and ultimately overcoming the resilience that Glissa’s Retriever brings to the table.

BurnMana Recommendations

Understanding the multi-faceted nature of Glissa’s Retriever is key to enhancing your MTG experience. This dynamic artifact creature can be a game changer, deftly navigating graveyard resources to bolster your battlefield presence. As a reminder, integrating cards like Glissa’s Retriever into your arsenal requires awareness of both its strengths and its limitations. It’s a strategic investment that demands thoughtful deck construction and playstyle adaptation. We recommend diving deeper into the complex world of MTG strategy, where knowledge is power, and each card holds the potential to unlock new doors of opportunity. Explore further with us and refine your deck to unlock the full potential of your MTG collection.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Glissa's Retriever MTG card by a specific set like Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander and Phyrexia: All Will Be One 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 Glissa's Retriever and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Glissa's Retriever Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2023-02-03 and 2023-02-03. Illustrated by Josu Hernaiz.

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	2023-02-03	Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander	ONC		56	2015	Normal	Black	Josu Hernaiz
2	2023-02-03	Phyrexia: All Will Be One Commander	ONC		18	2015	Normal	Black	Josu Hernaiz

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Glissa's Retriever has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2023-02-04	A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game. This is a state-based action and doesn't use the stack. In other words, it happens immediately and players can't respond to it, just like a player losing the game due to having 0 or less life.
2023-02-04	After Glissa's Retriever has become blocked by a creature with power 3 or greater, reducing the blocking creature's power won't cause Glissa's Retriever to become unblocked.
2023-02-04	Any other effects of that damage, such as life gain from lifelink, still apply.
2023-02-04	Conversely, replacement effects that apply to the number of counters put on a player can modify the counters placed this way. For example, Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider's last two abilities can apply to counters placed this way.
2023-02-04	Damage dealt by a creature with toxic grants the same number of counters regardless of how much damage is dealt. Notably, if a replacement effect modifies the damage in some way (such as that of Gratuitous Violence), the number of counters given remains unchanged.
2023-02-04	If a creature with toxic deals combat damage to a creature or planeswalker, or if it deals noncombat damage, toxic has no effect and no player gets poison counters.
2023-02-04	Multiple instances of toxic are cumulative. For example, if a creature has toxic 2 and gains toxic 1 due to another effect, combat damage that creature deals to a player will cause that player to get 3 poison counters.
2023-02-04	Toxic doesn't change the amount of combat damage a creature deals. For example, if a 2/2 creature with toxic 1 deals combat damage to a player, that creature will deal 2 damage. The results of that damage are the player loses 2 life and gets a poison counter.
2023-02-04	You don't choose a target for Glissa's Retriever's last ability at the time it triggers. Instead, a second "reflexive" ability triggers when you exile it. You choose a target for that ability as it goes on the stack. Each player may respond to this triggered ability as normal.