Vraska's Stoneglare MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	2018-10-05
Set symbol
Set name	Guilds of Ravnica
Set code	GRN
Number	272
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Yongjae Choi

Key Takeaways

Vraska’s Stoneglare can remove threats and refill your hand, balancing board and card advantage.
Its ability to accelerate mana can help you play large spells earlier, increasing your lead.
Despite versatility, the Stoneglare’s mana requirements may limit its use across various decks.

Text of card

Destroy target creature. You gain life equal to its toughness. You may search your library and/or graveyard for a card named Vraska, Regal Gorgon, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Vraska’s Stoneglare offers the ability to potentially remove a key threat from the opponent’s board while simultaneously drawing a card, thus keeping your hand fueled with options.

Resource Acceleration: By allowing you to search your library for a basic land card and put it onto the battlefield tapped if a creature with power 4 or greater was targeted, Vraska’s Stoneglare can accelerate your mana resources and help you deploy bigger spells ahead of curve.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Vraska’s Stoneglare at instant speed provides a significant tactical advantage, enabling you to react to your opponent’s moves during their turn or end step, making it a versatile tool in any player’s arsenal.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Vraska’s Stoneglare demands a discard from your hand, which can backfire when your hand size is dwindling, forcing you to lose key pieces of your strategy or weakening your late-game potential. This requirement can be particularly painful when in a top-decking scenario, needing every drawn card to count.

Specific Mana Cost: This card necessitates a precise blend of mana colors to be cast. With its inclusion of black and green mana in its casting cost, it may not seamlessly integrate into multicolored decks or those that do not run these colors, hence restricting its versatility across different deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Given that Vraska’s Stoneglare has a higher mana cost compared to some alternative removal spells, it can be seen as less mana-efficient. This steep cost can make it cumbersome to include in decks that need to manage their mana curve carefully, especially in faster-paced games where lower-cost spells can offer more immediate solutions and flexibility.

Reasons to Include Vraska’s Stoneglare in Your Collection

Versatility: This card can seamlessly integrate into a variety of black or Golgari deck builds, adapting to strategies focused on creature control or as a key part of a planeswalker-themed deck.

Combo Potential: Vraska’s Stoneglare works well with cards that benefit from destroying creatures, like those with death triggers or graveyard synergy, adding depth to your tactic.

Meta-Relevance: Given the ever-present creature-based decks in the current meta, having a targeted removal option that can also draw you a card if you control a Vraska planeswalker, makes this card a smart choice for staying competitive.

How to beat

Vraska’s Stoneglare presents a unique challenge on the battlefield. This formidable card can dominate the game by allowing its controller to take control of the tempo and gain valuable card advantage. When facing Vraska’s Stoneglare, the key is to keep your board presence lean and versatile. Employing instant-speed removal spells can disrupt your opponent’s attempt to capitalize on Vraska’s Stoneglare’s effect. For example, casting Fatal Push or Path to Exile in response to the Stoneglare targeting can foil your adversary’s plans.

Additionally, maintaining a diverse array of threats in your deck increases your resilience against such control strategies. Deploy creatures with hexproof or those that can be sacrificed for an added benefit to prevent your opponent from leveraging Vraska’s Stoneglare to its full potential. Counter spells can also be crucial in these scenarios; a well-timed Negate or Dovin’s Veto can ensure that Vraska’s Stoneglare never resolves, keeping your creatures safe and keeping you in control of the game.

By staying one step ahead and having a strategy in place to counteract Vraska’s Stoneglare, players can mitigate its impact and stay on a path to victory, ensuring that control cards don’t throw a stone in their march towards winning the match.

Cards like Vraska's Stoneglare

Vraska’s Stoneglare is a dynamic selection in Magic: The Gathering when it comes to targeted removal. It aligns itself with other removal cards like Murder, which straightforwardly dispatches a creature, no questions asked. Vraska’s Stoneglare, however, offers a depth of utility with its ability to force an opponent to sacrifice a planeswalker in addition to a creature – a trait not seen in the more traditional Murder.

Assassin’s Trophy is another card that invites comparison. It allows the removal of almost any permanent at a low cost, but it does give the opponent a land in return, something Vraska’s Stoneglare does not. On the flip side, Bedevil offers versatility by targeting not only creatures but planeswalkers and artifacts too. Although Bedevil is more flexible, it lacks the forced sacrifice mechanic that makes Vraska’s Stoneglare so distinctive in disrupting opponent strategies.

As we evaluate the strengths of these cards within the spectrum of removal options in Magic: The Gathering, Vraska’s Stoneglare distinguishes itself with its uniquely specific and strategic sacrifice effect, positioning it as a valuable tactical choice in player decks.

Cards similar to Vraska's Stoneglare by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Vraska's Stoneglare MTG card by a specific set like Guilds of Ravnica, 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 Vraska's Stoneglare and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Vraska's Stoneglare has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2018-10-05	If the target creature becomes an illegal target for Vraska’s Stoneglare, the spell doesn’t resolve. You don’t gain life or search for Vraska, Regal Gorgon.
2018-10-05	The amount of life gained is equal to the destroyed creature’s toughness as it last existed on the battlefield. If it wasn’t destroyed (most likely because it has indestructible), you gain life equal to its toughness as it currently exists on the battlefield.