Headstone MTG Card


Headstone - Homelands
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeInstant
Released1995-10-01
Set symbol
Set nameHomelands
Set codeHML
Number52
Frame1993
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byDavid A. Cherry

Key Takeaways

  1. Headstone allows reclaiming essential cards, providing a significant tactical edge in matches.
  2. Instant speed enables surprise moves and momentum swings during critical turns.
  3. Strategic use of Headstone counters grave-dependent strategies effectively.

Text of card

Remove from the game target card in any graveyard. Draw a card at the beginning of the next turn's upkeep.

"Your headstone is the last page in the book of your life." —Murat, Death Speaker


Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Headstone card enables significant graveyard manipulation, offering the ability to return a vital card from the graveyard to your hand. This can effectively negate an opponent’s earlier removal efforts and provide a tactical advantage.

Resource Acceleration: By reclaiming key cards, Headstone can accelerate your gameplay, ensuring that your resources are effectively utilized. Recapturing high-impact spells for a second use can be game-changing and disrupt your opponent’s strategy.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of instant speed casting allows for strategic plays during either player’s turn. The element of surprise this card provides can shift the duel’s momentum in your favor, potentially reversing adverse situations or making opportunistic plays when least expected.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Utilizing Headstone can be tricky as it necessitates discarding a card as part of its activation. This cost can often be a double-edged sword, especially when your hand is already dwindling, and you’re in desperate need of maintaining card advantage in the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Headstone’s mana cost is locked into a specific color combination, which can be limiting for decks that either don’t run that particular color or have a mana base that can’t consistently produce it. This can make it less flexible and more challenging to include in a diverse array of deck strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its cost sitting at three mana, Headstone may not always be the most efficient card in terms of resource investment for the graveyard disruption it provides. In fast-paced games, spending that much mana might put you behind, particularly when other cards can achieve similar or better effects at a lower cost.


Reasons to Include Headstone in Your Collection

Versatility: Headstone offers a unique utility in various deck archetypes. Whether you’re running a graveyard-focused strategy or need to disrupt your opponent’s plans, this card ensures you have options whenever graveyard interaction becomes necessary.

Combo Potential: This card enables fascinating synergies, especially in decks designed to leverage the graveyard. It can help set up graveyard combos or be part of a chain reaction that leads to game-changing plays.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames where graveyard strategies are prolific, having Headstone can give you an edge. It serves as both a proactive and reactive tool, allowing you to keep pace with the current competitive scene or even outpace opponents relying heavily on their graveyards.


How to Beat

The Headstone card in MTG offers a unique playstyle that can pose challenges to the unprepared. To effectively counter this card, a strategic approach centered on graveyard depletion or hand disruption is key. Cards like Tormod’s Crypt act as excellent counters by purging the graveyard and rendering Headstone’s ability to recur spells ineffective. Thoughtseize is another powerful tool that directly disrupts your opponent’s hand, removing potential Headstone targets and diminishing its capability to influence the game.

Alternatively, focused aggression can also turn the tide against Headstone users. Implementing a rapid, creature-based strategy can apply pressure too intense for Headstone to mitigate, especially if your creatures offer robust abilities that require immediate answers. Additionally, employing enchantments that prevent card retrieval, such as Ground Seal, ensures that the advantages Headstone provides become nullified, allowing you to maintain control of the match.

In essence, facing Headstone necessitates a proactive game plan. Whether you’re dipping into denial tactics or steering your deck towards relentless offense, a measured response to this card can secure you the upper hand in your MTG battles.


Cards like Headstone

Headstone adds a unique twist to the pool of graveyard interaction cards in Magic: The Gathering. Within the same realm, we can look at cards like Tormod’s Crypt and Relic of Progenitus. What distinguishes Headstone is its ability to selectively target single cards in a graveyard, a nuanced strategy compared to Tormod’s Crypt’s broad sweep of graveyard exile. Despite this precision, Headstone does not offer the same immediate zero-cost utility as Tormod’s Crypt.

On another note, Relic of Progenitus offers a more flexible approach, providing incremental graveyard control and the potential for card draw, which Headstone does not. The actions are gradual with Relic of Progenitus, allowing for a more controlled and potentially less wasteful manipulation of opponents’ graveyards.

Ultimately, when examining the versatility and strategic implications, Headstone finds its place among Magic: The Gathering graveyard interaction cards. It offers targeted disruption, which, while lacking the instantaneous and zero-cost nature of some alternatives, can significantly disrupt opponents’ strategies when used judiciously.

Tormod's Crypt - MTG Card versions
Relic of Progenitus - MTG Card versions
Tormod's Crypt - The Dark (DRK)
Relic of Progenitus - Shards of Alara (ALA)

Cards similar to Headstone by color, type and mana cost

Word of Command - MTG Card versions
Terror - MTG Card versions
Simulacrum - MTG Card versions
Transmutation - MTG Card versions
Soul Rend - MTG Card versions
Wicked Reward - MTG Card versions
Urborg Justice - MTG Card versions
Imps' Taunt - MTG Card versions
Rapid Decay - MTG Card versions
Diabolic Edict - MTG Card versions
Tainted Pact - MTG Card versions
Toxic Stench - MTG Card versions
Doom Blade - MTG Card versions
Go for the Throat - MTG Card versions
Cast Down - MTG Card versions
Smother - MTG Card versions
Hero's Demise - MTG Card versions
Sickening Shoal - MTG Card versions
Chill Haunting - MTG Card versions
Grim Harvest - MTG Card versions
Word of Command - Collectors' Edition (CED)
Terror - Salvat 2011 (PS11)
Simulacrum - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Transmutation - Legends (LEG)
Soul Rend - Mirage (MIR)
Wicked Reward - Visions (VIS)
Urborg Justice - Weatherlight (WTH)
Imps' Taunt - Tempest (TMP)
Rapid Decay - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Diabolic Edict - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Tainted Pact - Odyssey (ODY)
Toxic Stench - Judgment (JUD)
Doom Blade - Magic 2012 (M12)
Go for the Throat - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Cast Down - Commander Legends (CMR)
Smother - Worldwake (WWK)
Hero's Demise - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Sickening Shoal - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Chill Haunting - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Grim Harvest - Coldsnap (CSP)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Headstone MTG card by a specific set like Homelands, 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 Headstone and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Headstone has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

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