Grizzly Ghoul MTG Card
2021-09-24 - Number 226
2022-01-28 - Number 226
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Zombie Bear |
| Abilities | Trample |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 3 |
Key Takeaways
- Increases in power with graveyard count, offering valuable card advantage and a more formidable board presence.
- Instant speed play allows strategic flexibility and can catch opponents off guard at the end of their turn.
- Demands specific mana colors and a card discard, which may limit deck inclusion and strategizing potential.
Text of card
Trample Grizzly Ghoul enters the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it for each creature that died this turn.
The hunters spent the evening celebrating their kill and the rest of the night running from it.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Grizzly Ghoul can be a valuable addition to your deck when it comes to card efficiency. Upon entering the battlefield, it offers the potential for immediate board presence with a +1/+1 counter for each creature card in your graveyard, which can lead to gaining significant card advantage over your opponent by leveraging your graveyard as a resource.
Resource Acceleration: While Grizzly Ghoul itself doesn’t directly provide mana, its synergy with self-milling strategies rapidly fills the graveyard, which can fuel other resource acceleration mechanics you may have. This enables a faster and more potent deployment of your deck’s threats, outpacing your opponents.
Instant Speed: The ability to play Grizzly Ghoul at instant speed due to flash means you can pass the turn with mana open, potentially bluffing countermagic or other instant-speed interaction. It gives you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s moves and then, if no action is needed, cast Grizzly Ghoul end of turn to maintain tempo and surprise your opponent with an immediate and sizeable threat.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Grizzly Ghoul comes with the stipulation that a player must discard a card to leverage some of its abilities. This can be a setback, particularly when your hand is already depleted or the discarded card is crucial for future strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: Deploying Grizzly Ghoul onto the battlefield requires a precise mana arrangement, including both green and black mana. This necessity can make it less flexible, restricting its inclusion to only certain types of decks that can accommodate this color pairing.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana cost that is on the higher end of the spectrum, Grizzly Ghoul might not be the most mana-efficient creature to play, especially when considering other options in the same mana range could offer immediate board presence or impact.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Grizzly Ghoul offers the ability to adapt to different gameplay strategies. Its presence enhances both aggressive and midrange decks, thanks to its scalable strength which grows with every creature card in your graveyard.
Combo Potential: This card thrives in decks built around self-milling or creature sacrifice, where it quickly becomes a formidable threat. It can combo with cards that fill your graveyard, increasing its power exponentially.
Meta-Relevance: With graveyard strategies commonly seen in various formats, Grizzly Ghoul can be a pivotal addition. Its relevance rises in metas with creature-based decks, making it a well-suited response to current trends.
How to Beat Grizzly Ghoul
In the realm of creature spells, Grizzly Ghoul presents itself as a formidable threat on the battlefield in the game. What sets this creature apart is its inherent resilience through the undying mechanic. When Grizzly Ghoul dies, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, it returns to the battlefield under its owner’s control with a +1/+1 counter. This ability ensures that taking it down once won’t be enough. To effectively counter Grizzly Ghoul, one must consider strategies that negate its undying prowess or remove it from the game in ways that prevent it from coming back.
Employing exile effects can be crucial. Cards like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares bypass the undying mechanic by removing Grizzly Ghoul from the game entirely. Alternatively, using -1/-1 counters, such as those from cards like Black Sun’s Zenith, offers a way to neutralize undying since the creature dies with a -1/-1 counter, making the +1/+1 counter from undying irrelevant. Spot removal spells that cause the creature to be sacrificed, like Diabolic Edict, circumvent the undying ability since it’s not the spell but the creature’s controller that does the action.
Successfully outmaneuvering Grizzly Ghoul means integrating removal that outlasts its undying trait or that dodges it entirely. By opting for exile or sacrifice-based strategies, MTG players can effectively mitigate the recurrent threat posed by this otherwise tenacious ghoul.
Cards like Grizzly Ghoul
Grizzly Ghoul stands out in the suite of graveyard-fueled creatures in Magic: The Gathering. When compared to other cards like Gurmag Angler, Grizzly Ghoul provides a different approach to utilizing cards in the graveyard. Gurmag Angler allows you to exile cards from your graveyard to cast it for a single black mana, presenting an aggressive one-shot reduction. Grizzly Ghoul, however, gets stronger as more creature cards are accumulated in your graveyard, potentially becoming a massive threat over time.
Another peer in this space is Splinterfright. Much like Grizzly Ghoul, Splinterfright’s power and toughness are determined by the number of creature cards in your graveyard. Yet, Splinterfright adds self-milling to the mix, increasing both its size and the graveyard count passively each turn. Conversely, Grizzly Ghoul requires no such setup, but it lacks the self-sustaining mechanism that Splinterfright brings to the table.
Conclusively, within the context of its build-around potential, Grizzly Ghoul presents a compelling option for players keen on graveyard strategies. While not expressly self-reliant, its potential for exponential growth marries well with decks designed to populate the graveyard, ensuring a solid place for Grizzly Ghoul in the realm of creature-centric strategies.
Cards similar to Grizzly Ghoul by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Grizzly Ghoul MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Grizzly Ghoul and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- 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
See MTG Products
Printings
The Grizzly Ghoul Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Vincent Proce.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-09-24 | Innistrad: Midnight Hunt | MID | 226 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce | |
| 2 | 2022-01-28 | Innistrad: Double Feature | DBL | 226 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Vincent Proce |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Grizzly Ghoul has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
