Yedora, Grave Gardener MTG Card
2021-04-23 - Number 70
2021-04-23 - Number 397
2023-04-21 - Number 30
2023-04-21 - Number 160
2023-04-21 - Number 95
2023-04-21 - Number 160z
2023-08-04 - Number 333
2024-02-09 - Number 197
2002-06-24 - Number 90142
| Card sets | Released in 9 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Legendary Creature — Treefolk Druid |
| Power | 5 |
| Toughness | 5 |
Key Takeaways
- Yedora transforms dying creatures into valuable Forest lands, bolstering both board presence and mana ramping capabilities.
- This MTG card thrives in creature-centric decks, providing a defensive edge against board wipes and enhancing landfall strategies.
- Yedora’s unique, instant-speed creature-to-land mechanic can subtly shift game tempo, ensuring continuous advantage over opponents.
Text of card
Whenever another nontoken creature you control dies, you may return it to the battlefield face down under its owner's control. It's a Forest land. (It has no other types or abilities.)
"Even in death, we never stop growing."
Card Pros
Card Advantage: When Yedora, Grave Gardener enters the battlefield, you’re afforded an exceptional ability to turn your creatures into potent land resources when they die. This transformative power offers a long-term card advantage as it can repeatedly convert creatures into usable mana during the course of the game, potentially outpacing opponents by leveraging both creatures and lands as utilities.
Resource Acceleration: Yedora’s ability to morph your fallen creatures into untapped Forest lands serves as a form of resource acceleration. This not only increases your mana base but also ensures you can keep summoning larger threats or casting more impactful spells each turn. The added benefit of growing your land count can be a tipping point in games, offering a steady path to activate powerful landfall abilities.
Instant Speed: While Yedora, Grave Gardener itself isn’t cast at instant speed, the transformation effect on your creatures applies at any time, meaning creatures that perish during your opponents’ turns will immediately be replaced with lands. This continuous cycle of creature-to-land conversion can subtly shift the tempo in your favor, providing fresh mana sources to utilize during your next turn and maintaining pressure on your opponent.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Yedora, Grave Gardener doesn’t impose a discard requirement itself but can encourage holding onto creature cards to exploit its ability, potentially leading to a constrained hand.
Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that includes green mana, Yedora is predominantly a fit for green or multicolored decks, potentially limiting its versatility in decks without sufficient mana support.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a five-mana value, Yedora, Grave Gardener requires a significant investment before impacting the board, which could be a steep price in faster-paced games.
Reasons to Include Yedora, Grave Gardener in Your Collection
Versatility: Yedora, Grave Gardener offers the unique advantage of turning creatures into Forest lands when they die. This ability grants resilience against board wipes and provides a steady stream of mana resources, making it a strong addition to any creature-focused deck.
Combo Potential: With Yedora, Grave Gardener, players can orchestrate powerful combos by strategically sacrificing creatures to ramp up mana or using graveyard retrieval mechanics to further exploit the land transformation ability.
Meta-Relevance: Within the current competitive scene, Yedora adds value in match-ups where keeping a strong board presence is crucial. Its ability to transform creatures helps maintain mana sources even through creature removal, making it a meta-savvy choice.
How to beat Yedora, Grave Gardener
Yedora, Grave Gardener presents a unique challenge on the battlefield, transforming creatures’ demise into an opportunity by turning them into land cards. Combatting this card’s ability requires strategic play and understanding its mechanics. To stay ahead, consider employing graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze, which can exile creatures and prevent them from being converted into lands. Artifact removal spells like Naturalize are effective as well, in case Yedora’s transformation ability is being enhanced with cards like Strionic Resonator.
Controlling the game’s tempo is also vital. Playing cards that can remove Yedora, such as Path to Exile, before the graveyard transformation trigger can occur is a sound tactic. Additionally, since Yedora relies on creatures dying, utilizing exile effects or bounce spells like Unsummon can effectively counteract the strategy, ensuring that the creatures don’t hit the graveyard in the first place. Timing your removal spells and controlling the pace of the game are key to maintaining the upper hand against Yedora, Grave Gardener.
Ultimately, while Yedora can be a powerful commander in MTG, adaptable strategies and careful planning can keep this Grave Gardener from cultivating an overwhelming board presence.
Cards like Yedora, Grave Gardener
Yedora, Grave Gardener cultivates a unique space within creature-based strategies in Magic the Gathering. Its closest relatives include cards like Titania, Protector of Argoth, which also hinges on land synergies to create creature tokens. While Titania emphasizes land sacrifice for elemental tokens, Yedora takes a creative turn by transforming non-token creatures into Forest lands upon their demise. The capacity to preserve your board’s value following a creature’s death plants Yedora in fertile ground for combo potentials and resilience against board wipes.
Exploring further into the field, we encounter Hermit Druid, another card that has a symbiotic relationship with the land in a player’s library. Unlike Yedora, the druid digs through the deck to find lands while stocking the graveyard with a variety of cards. Although they share the theme of land interaction, their roles in a deck drastically differ. Lastly, Journey to Eternity stands out as a card that transforms into a powerful land, similar to how Yedora metamorphoses creatures. However, the enchantment offers repeatable creature reanimation, providing a different angle of utility compared to Yedora’s single transformation effect.
When evaluating these cards, it’s evident that Yedora, Grave Gardener has a distinct strategic application that can seamlessly integrate into decks that value resilience and can convert losses into a different kind of advantage on the battlefield.
Cards similar to Yedora, Grave Gardener by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Yedora, Grave Gardener MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Commander 2021, 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 Yedora, Grave Gardener 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
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Printings
The Yedora, Grave Gardener Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2021-04-23 and 2024-02-09. Illustrated by 2 different artists.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 90142 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | ||
| 2 | 2021-04-23 | Commander 2021 | C21 | 70 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 3 | 2021-04-23 | Commander 2021 | C21 | 397 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 4 | 2023-04-21 | Multiverse Legends | MUL | 30 | 2015 | Normal | Borderless | Matthew G. Lewis | |
| 5 | 2023-04-21 | Multiverse Legends | MUL | 160 | 2015 | Normal | Borderless | Matthew G. Lewis | |
| 6 | 2023-04-21 | Multiverse Legends | MUL | 95 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 7 | 2023-04-21 | Multiverse Legends | MUL | 160z | 2015 | Normal | Borderless | Matthew G. Lewis | |
| 8 | 2023-08-04 | Commander Masters | CMM | 333 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov | |
| 9 | 2024-02-09 | Murders at Karlov Manor Commander | MKC | 197 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Svetlin Velinov |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Yedora, Grave Gardener has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Yedora, Grave Gardener card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-04-16 | If one of these Forests is turned face up, the effect making it a Forest land will expire. The face-up permanent will again have its printed name, type line, mana cost, abilities, and so on. |
| 2021-04-16 | If the face-down card has morph, you can pay its morph cost to turn it face up. |
| 2021-04-16 | The face-down card has no name or colors. Its only type is land, its only subtype is Forest, and its only ability is “: Add .” |
