Ethereal Grasp MTG Card

Ethereal Grasp - Jumpstart: Historic Horizons

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Released	2021-08-26
Set symbol
Set name	Jumpstart: Historic Horizons
Set code	J21
Number	9
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Miranda Meeks

Key Takeaways

Ethereal Grasp gives players a significant edge by facilitating card advantage and strategic board control.
The spell’s instant speed allows for surprise moves and enhances a player’s responsive capabilities.
However, its specific mana cost and discard requirement demand careful deck construction and play planning.

Text of card

Tap target creature. That creature perpetually gains "This creature doesn't untap during your untap step" and ": Untap this creature."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Ethereal Grasp facilitates card advantage by potentially removing two threats from the game. This can lead to gaining the upper hand as you hinder the opponent’s board state while maintaining your resources.

Resource Acceleration: While Ethereal Grasp itself may not directly accelerate resources, managing your threats efficiently can conserve your mana and cards for more pivotal moments, indirectly contributing to better resource management.

Instant Speed: The power of instant speed spells like Ethereal Grasp cannot be overstated. This flexibility allows players to act during their opponent’s turn, maintaining the element of surprise and making it harder for adversaries to predict and counter your strategy.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Ethereal Grasp demands players to discard a card as part of its casting cost. Such a prerequisite can set players back, particularly when their hand is short on cards, potentially hampering strategic flexibility and momentum within the game.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting of Ethereal Grasp includes a specific mana requirement that necessitates both blue and black mana. This can sometimes pose a challenge, restricting the card’s integration specifically to decks that can accommodate such a color combination.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: When evaluating its cost-to-effect ratio, Ethereal Grasp comes with a relatively hefty mana investment. Given that the game boasts a plethora of alternative cards offering similar or potentially more impactful effects for less mana, this could deter players from including it in their deck, favoring more cost-efficient options.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Ethereal Grasp offers flexibility for control-oriented strategies, enabling pinpoint removal of problematic creatures while also leaving room for counter-play with its foretell mechanic.

Combo Potential: Its ability to exile works seamlessly within graveyard interaction decks, denying opponents’ recursion tactics and synergizing with strategies that benefit from opponent’s cards being exiled.

Meta-Relevance: In an environment heavy with creature-based decks, Ethereal Grasp becomes a key card, providing a cost-effective response to early threats or late-game powerhouses alike.

How to beat

Ethereal Grasp is an intriguing spell in the Magic: The Gathering universe, offering players an unexpected riddle to solve on the battlefield. With its capacity to tap and potentially phase out a creature, it’s a genuine conundrum when you’re staring down the spectral tendrils. Yet, every puzzle has a solution. Disenchant effects directly counter this phasing menace, negating the card and restoring your creature to action.

Similarly, utilizing instant-speed removal spells can take the targeted creature off the board in response to Ethereal Grasp, making it fizzle for lack of targets. Playing around it involves keeping mana open for such spells or employing creatures with hexproof to proactively shield your key players from becoming entangled. Also, consider the pacing of your plays; swift aggression can often outrun control strategies that rely on cards like Ethereal Grasp to stem the tide.

In essence, while Ethereal Grasp poses a nebulous threat, it’s not insurmountable. A strategic blend of removals, protective abilities, and pacing can ensure this ghostly grip loses its hold, leaving your path to victory clear.

Cards like Ethereal Grasp

Ethereal Grasp emerges as a distinct choice among control cards in the realm of Magic the Gathering. It shares its essence with entrancing spells such as Arrest, which neutralizes creatures without destroying them. Ethereal Grasp, however, introduces a twist with its ability to force opponents to pay a tax for their creature’s abilities, enhancing its disruptive potency. Arrest lacks this economic hurdle, focusing solely on halting combat abilities.

Looking at Claustrophobia, we notice a parallel in terms of incapacitating creatures. This enchantment completely locks a creature down, which Ethereal Grasp does gently. However, Ethereal Grasp’s convertible mana cost offers players an efficient and flexible usage early in the game or later when mana is plentiful. Another noteworthy counterpart is Ice Cage, which also freezes a creature, but with the caveat that if the creature becomes the target of a spell or ability, Ice Cage is destroyed. This makes Ethereal Grasp a more reliable control tool with its consistent taxing effect.

To summarize, Ethereal Grasp stands out in its category, providing a balance of mitigation and strategy manipulation. Its unique tax feature and variable cost position it remarkably among MTG creature control options.

Cards similar to Ethereal Grasp by color, type and mana cost

Thirst for Knowledge - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Ethereal Grasp MTG card by a specific set like Jumpstart: Historic Horizons, 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 Ethereal Grasp and other MTG cards: