Graveyard Shovel MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact
Released	2011-09-30
Set symbol
Set name	Innistrad
Set code	ISD
Number	225
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Martina Pilcerova

Key Takeaways

Graveyard Shovel disrupts opponents by exiling key cards, providing indirect card advantage and strategic value.
Its specific mana cost and discard requirement can pose deck-building challenges, weighing against its utility.
Versatility and meta-relevance make Graveyard Shovel a potential game-changer in graveyard-focused metagames.

Text of card

, : Target player exiles a card from his or her graveyard. If it's a creature card, you gain 2 life.

Thanks to Havengul's thriving illegal market for corpses, the shovel that interred a body during the day is usually the same one digging it out at night.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: With Graveyard Shovel, players have the opportunity to disrupt opponents by potentially exiling key cards from their graveyards. This can result in indirect card advantage, as it denies the opponents the chance to utilize their graveyard as a resource.

Resource Acceleration: Each successful exile with Graveyard Shovel can put you ahead by essentially denying your opponent’s resources while still maintaining your own. Additionally, in formats that utilize graveyards extensively, this can slow down your opponent’s strategy, effectively accelerating your board position in comparison.

Instant Speed: The ability to activate Graveyard Shovel at instant speed gives the flexibility to use it in response to graveyard-triggered abilities or during the opponent’s end step. This strategic timing allows for more efficient use of mana and can be a surprise disruption to the opponent’s game plan.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Graveyard Shovel’s utility is mitigated by its requirement for you to discard a card. This can be particularly taxing when your hand is already stretched thin between maintaining board presence and keeping up with your opponent’s plays.

Specific Mana Cost: Graveyard Shovel requires a precise mana arrangement to cast, demanding both colorless and black mana. This specificity can be troublesome for multicolored decks that might struggle with mana consistency.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Graveyard Shovel provides interesting graveyard interaction capabilities, its mana cost is on the higher side when compared to other similar effects available in the game. Players often seek more cost-efficient graveyard manipulation options.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Graveyard Shovel offers a dynamic role in decks targeting graveyard manipulation. Its ability to remove creature cards from graveyards while providing potential life gain can be crucial in various playstyles, from control to midrange builds.

Combo Potential: This artifact shines when paired with strategies that capitalize on graveyard interactions. Imagine synergizing Graveyard Shovel with cards that benefit from or trigger upon graveyard exile, enhancing both offensive and defensive tactics within your deck.

Meta-Relevance: In metagames where recursion or graveyard-based strategies are prevalent, Graveyard Shovel becomes an essential tool. It disrupts opponents’ plans while simultaneously offering you an incremental advantage, making it a worthy inclusion for those looking to stay ahead in constantly evolving competitive environments.

How to beat

Graveyard Shovel can prove to be a tricky item when you’re facing it across the battlefield. This tool, with its potential to disrupt graveyard strategies, requires a considered approach to be effectively countered. It’s helpful to concentrate on shielding key cards in your graveyard or employing tactics that don’t hinge heavily on the graveyard. For example, cards with hexproof from spells or abilities that your opponents control can safeguard your important creatures after they hit the graveyard.

Additionally, running spells capable of shuffling your graveyard back into your library thwarts the Graveyard Shovel’s ability to pick apart your setup. Playing with instant-speed graveyard interaction provides you with the flexibility to react to your opponent’s attempts to use the shovel. Another strategy is to apply pressure with an aggressive gameplay, forcing your opponent to use mana to activate the Graveyard Shovel, which might reduce their ability to deal with your on-board threats.

Ultimately, understanding when to push forward with your own game plan and when to disrupt theirs is key in dismantling the strategy behind a Graveyard Shovel. Assess your deck’s vulnerabilities to graveyard exile effects, include countermeasures, and adapt your playstyle to outpace the restrictions this card imposes.

Cards like Graveyard Shovel

Graveyard Shovel offers a distinctive approach to affecting graveyards within MTG. Transcending mere removal, it lets players target specific cards, potentially disrupting opponents’ strategies that hinge on graveyard interaction. Similar to Relic of Progenitus, Graveyard Shovel can remove cards from graveyards. While Relic of Progenitus exiles all cards from a graveyard at once, Graveyard Shovel provides a more focused approach, inviting strategic selection and usage akin to surgical extraction.

Another analogous card is Scrabbling Claws, which, like Graveyard Shovel, removes individual cards from the graveyard, but it also draws a card when it is sacrificed. This adds a layer of potential card advantage absent in Graveyard Shovel’s design. Additionally, Nihil Spellbomb can be seen as a counterpart, but with an all-or-nothing mechanism for flushing entire graveyards, compared to the pinpoint precision offered by Graveyard Shovel.

In essence, Graveyard Shovel finds its niche in MTG’s vast library by offering a unique and measured approach to graveyard control. While there are multiple options for graveyard management, Graveyard Shovel stands out for its ability to tackle the challenge one card at a time.

Cards similar to Graveyard Shovel by color, type and mana cost

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Graveyard Shovel MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad, 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 Graveyard Shovel and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Graveyard Shovel has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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