Ominous Cemetery MTG Card
2023-10-13 - Number 794
2023-10-13 - Number 189
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Land |
Text of card
: Add . , , Exile Ominous Cemetery: Target creature's owner shuffles it into their library.
"They are fast. Faster than you can believe. Don't turn your back, don't look away, and don't blink." —The Tenth Doctor
Cards like Ominous Cemetery
Ominous Cemetery is a unique entry in the sphere of graveyard interaction in Magic: The Gathering. It’s apt to juxtapose it with cards like Grimoire of the Dead, which boasts the ability to resurrect multiple creatures from any graveyard. Ominous Cemetery, while confined to a single creature per turn, offers flexibility with fewer conditions for activation. Grimoire necessitates a longer setup, requiring three turns to fully utilize.
Moving the scope to a more common comparison, we might consider Morbid Curiosity. This card allows for card draw proportional to the sacrificed creature’s cost, giving immediate advantage. Ominous Cemetery, however, provides a slower but recurring value over several turns. Further, compared with the likes of Creeping Renaissance, Ominous Cemetery leans on selective recursion, while Renaissance can recover all cards of a particular type from the graveyard to hand, providing a significant one-time benefit.
To encapsulate, Ominous Cemetery offers MTG players a sustainable advantage, granting continuous resurrection of creatures. Its comparisons with other cards highlight a balance between immediate impact and enduring presence, making it a noteworthy piece within graveyard-based strategies.
Cards similar to Ominous Cemetery by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Ominous Cemetery enables you to pull ahead by recurring creatures from your graveyard, effectively increasing the number of threats your opponent must deal with. This equates to a sustained card advantage as you get to leverage your graveyard as an extension of your hand.
Resource Acceleration: This card allows you to exploit the graveyard by returning a creature to the battlefield at the beginning of your upkeep, potentially skipping mana costs. This acceleration can be crucial in mid to late-game scenarios, allowing for a more efficient deployment of resources.
Instant Speed: Its ability to bring back creatures at the beginning of your upkeep can set the stage for surprises and strategic plays. While not at instant speed itself, it synergizes well with cards that operate at instant speed, giving you the flexibility to respond to your opponent’s moves while continuously applying pressure with your resurrected creatures.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Ominous Cemetery imposes a discard condition to trigger its reanimation ability. This can be a double-edged sword, as it may force players to lose valuable cards from their hand, potentially hindering their game strategy if they’re not adequately prepared to optimize the discard.
Specific Mana Cost: With its requirement for black mana, the card demands a specific mana base. This can restrict deck-building options, limiting the card primarily to mono-black or black-inclusive multicolored decks and thereby reducing its flexibility in various MTG formats where a broader color array might be preferable.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The mana cost to activate Ominous Cemetery’s ability is significant, especially when contrasted with other graveyard recursion options available in the game. While providing a powerful effect, the cost efficiency of bringing creatures back from the graveyard could be contested by other cards offering similar or better value at a lower activation cost.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Ominous Cemetery is a powerful option for any deck that benefits from graveyard interactions. Its ability to potentially return a creature or land from your graveyard to your hand each turn makes it a valuable addition to a range of strategies, enhancing long-term play value and consistency.
Combo Potential: For decks that revolve around cycling creatures in and out of the graveyard, Ominous Cemetery provides an engine that can repeatedly trigger enter-the-graveyard effects. It can serve as a crucial piece in various combo decks, enabling intricate plays and synergies.
Meta-Relevance: Given its utility in recurring vital resources, Ominous Cemetery can be a robust response to control archetypes focusing on resource denial. It helps maintain card advantage against removal-heavy decks, keeping your important pieces in play longer.
How to beat
Ominous Cemetery is a card that can present a challenge in MTG by providing value over time as it recycles creatures from the graveyard. To counteract this, it’s crucial to focus on either graveyard disruption or aggressive gameplay strategies. Cards such as Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void can stop Ominous Cemetery from triggering by removing cards from the playing field altogether.
Another strategic avenue is to apply heavy pressure early on, reducing the time that Ominous Cemetery can impact the game significantly. Aggressive decks can overwhelm an opponent before they can stabilize with the creatures returned from their graveyard. Additionally, non-creature spells such as enchantment removal or direct player damage can bypass the need to interact with the creature recursion that Ominous Cemetery facilitates.
Employing instant-speed interaction to deal with problematic creatures as they are returned to the battlefield can also diminish the value Ominous Cemetery brings to the table. Avoiding the trap of long drawn-out games where Ominous Cemetery thrives will tilt the odds in your favor, ensuring that the advantage it provides is minimized and manageable.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Ominous Cemetery MTG card by a specific set like Doctor Who and Doctor Who, 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 Ominous Cemetery and other MTG cards:
BUY NOW BurnMana is an official partner of TCGPlayer
- eBay
- 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 Ominous Cemetery Magic the Gathering card was released in 1 different sets between 2023-10-13 and 2023-10-13. Illustrated by Anato Finnstark.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 794 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Anato Finnstark | |
| 2 | 2023-10-13 | Doctor Who | WHO | 189 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Anato Finnstark |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Ominous Cemetery has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |