Honor the Fallen MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Rare
Type	Instant
Released	1999-10-04
Set symbol
Set name	Mercadian Masques
Set code	MMQ
Number	21
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Terese Nielsen

Key Takeaways

Graveyard clearance of Honor the Fallen slows opponents, giving you a strategic edge and card advantage.
The card’s instant-speed casting bolsters reactive gameplay and creates powerful play opportunities.
By exiling all graveyards, Honor the Fallen offers a robust defense against reanimation strategies.

Text of card

Remove all creature cards in all graveyards from the game. You gain 1 life for each card removed this way.

"May the River claim Cho-Manno's body, wherever it lies." —Ta-Karnst, Cho-Arrim healer

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Honor the Fallen not only removes all creature cards from all graveyards, preventing opponents from reanimating their threats or benefiting from graveyard synergies, but it also provides you with significant card advantage by drawing you a card for each card removed this way.

Resource Acceleration: While Honor the Fallen itself does not directly produce mana or tokens, its graveyard clearance can indirectly contribute to resource acceleration strategies by disrupting your opponent’s plans. This may slow them down and give you the upper hand, allowing you to advance your board state while they recover.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Honor the Fallen at instant speed is substantial. It enables reactionary gameplay, allowing you to wait until the most opportune moment—such as in response to an opponent’s reanimation spell—to exile their targets and draw a vast number of cards at once.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Honor the Fallen necessitates the removal of your cards from the game, potentially depleting valuable graveyard strategies and synergies that are key in many decks.

Specific Mana Cost: Requiring both white mana and generic mana, this card can be difficult to cast in multi-color decks that might struggle with mana fixing or wish to commit to a different color identity.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a cost of two and one white, there are alternatives that allow for graveyard manipulation at a lower mana investment, providing similar effects that could be more efficient in certain gameplay situations.

Reasons to Include Honor the Fallen in Your Collection

Versatility: Honor the Fallen is a welcome addition to any collection due to its ability to manage graveyards in a variety of formats. Its capacity to exile all cards from each player’s graveyard means it can act as a strategic counter to decks that hinge on those resources.

Combo Potential: When paired with cards that benefit from graveyard exile, such as those that trigger upon a card leaving the graveyard, Honor the Fallen not only disrupts opponents but also furthers your own game plan.

Meta-Relevance: In metas where graveyard-based strategies are prevalent, including reanimator or delve decks, Honor the Fallen can serve as an essential sideboard card, giving you a significant edge by hindering key components of your opponents’ tactics.

How to beat

Honor the Fallen is a unique card that delivers a considerable advantage in Magic: The Gathering by exiling all cards from all graveyards and granting you life points for each creature exiled this way. To outplay a deck that utilizes this card effectively, you need to adapt your strategy to minimize your reliance on graveyard resources. A card like Tormod’s Crypt can wipe your graveyard before your opponent gets the chance, denying them the life gain.

Strategically, focusing on a strong board presence rather than graveyard synergy can render Honor the Fallen less impactful. Employing cards such as Leyline of the Void can also preemptively exile cards that would otherwise end up in a graveyard, thus bypassing the life gain trigger of Honor the Fallen. It’s crucial to adjust your deck to include instant-speed removal or graveyard hate, which can disrupt your opponent’s game plan before they can fully benefit from Honor the Fallen’s effect.

Importantly, understanding your meta and preparing sideboard options, like Rest in Peace or Scavenging Ooze, can significantly increase your resilience against such graveyard-based strategies, helping you maintain an edge over decks that might capitalize on Honor the Fallen.

Cards like Honor the Fallen

Honor the Fallen is a notable card in MTG with the unique ability to exile all cards from all graveyards, simultaneously offering a life gain twist. It shares similarities with cards like Agent of Erebos, which also has the power to exile graveyards but does so in a more targeted and repeatable fashion via its constellation ability. However, Honor the Fallen stands out by providing life gain based on the number of cards exiled, a feature not seen in Agent of Erebos.

Relic of Progenitus is another card that can be contrasted with Honor the Fallen. Both are effective at graveyard removal, with Relic of Progenitus being more flexible and usable over multiple turns. Conversely, Honor the Fallen removes all graveyards in a single sweep but lacks the reusability inherent to Relic of Progenitus. Then we have Tormod’s Crypt, a zero-cost artifact offering a one-time use to completely remove a player’s graveyard without the life gain bonus that makes Honor the Fallen so distinctive.

In evaluating these cards, Honor the Fallen might cater to a strategy focused on crippling graveyard-based tactics while bolstering one’s life total. Its life gain addition gives it a unique angle in the range of graveyard hate cards available within MTG.

Cards similar to Honor the Fallen by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Honor the Fallen MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques, 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 Honor the Fallen and other MTG cards: