Grixis MTG Card
2009-09-04 - Number 15
2018-12-25 - Number 33
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Plane — Alara |
Key Takeaways
- Grixis excels at card advantage, giving players a steady flow of strategic options and disrupting opponents.
- Resource acceleration in Grixis speeds up gameplay, allowing players to cast powerful spells sooner.
- Instant-speed spells grant Grixis players the flexibility to adapt and counter enemy moves effectively.
Text of card
Blue, black, and/or red creature cards in your graveyard have unearth. The unearth cost is equal to the card's mana cost. (Pay the card's mana cost: Return it to the battlefield. The creature gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.) Whenever you roll chaos, put target creature card in a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Grixis cards are renowned for their ability to manipulate the draw mechanics, often providing players with multiple cards per turn. This gives Grixis players the upper hand by ensuring a consistent flow of options and strategies, keeping opponents on edge and in a reactive mode.
Resource Acceleration: Many Grixis spells and abilities enable the rapid accumulation of resources. Whether it’s summoning creatures that tap for extra mana or providing ways to untap lands, these cards make it possible to cast high-impact spells earlier in the game, propelling you toward victory at an accelerated pace.
Instant Speed: The flexibility of instant speed spells in the Grixis arsenal cannot be overstated. This trait allows you to adapt to the unfolding game, disrupting enemy plans at critical moments or swinging the tide of battle in your favor without having to commit to a single course of action prematurely.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Many Grixis cards necessitate sacrificing precious hand assets, which could leave you at a disadvantage during later game stages or when seeking answers to opponent’s threats.
Specific Mana Cost: Grixis colors demand an exact blend of blue, black, and red mana, presenting a challenge in constructing a flexible mana base, especially for newcomers or those without access to an extensive collection of dual lands.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The power level of Grixis cards is often balanced with a greater mana investment, meaning you might find them too costly in a fast-paced meta, where lower-cost cards could give you a quicker advantage on the board.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Grixis cards are renowned for their flexible play styles, fitting seamlessly into various archetypes, from control to combo decks. Their adaptability makes them a strong choice for players looking to handle multiple in-game situations.
Combo Potential: Known for their synergy with other cards, Grixis can often be the cornerstone of game-winning combos. Their strong interactions can give players an edge by combining card effects to maximize impact on the game state.
Meta-Relevance: With the dynamic nature of the MTG competitive landscape, Grixis cards remain relevant due to their ability to compete with and counter prevalent decks in the meta. Their power and utility in current game formats ensure that they have a place in competitive play.
How to beat
Confronting a Grixis card in Magic: The Gathering often means tackling a blend of aggressive strategies and diabolical control elements. Deck builders who favor this color trio — blue, black, and red — typically construct a game plan that revolves around disruption, removal, and potent spell casting.
To successfully overcome a Grixis card, it’s essential to carefully manage your resources. Playing around their potential counterspells by baiting out their reactive plays can turn the tide in your favor. It’s also useful to stock your deck with versatile answers, as Grixis decks can switch from controlling the board to dealing direct damage swiftly. Ensuring that you have enough life gain, artifact enchantment removal, or cards that can’t be countered can give you a significant edge. Control the pace of the match and remain vigilant for opportunities to resolve your key spells when their resources are low.
Resilience is key when facing the challenge of a Grixis card. Patience and the ability to adapt your strategy on the fly will serve as your best assets in claiming victory against the formidable combination of intellect, ambition, and ruthlessness these cards embody.
Cards like Grixis
Grixis cards in MTG strike a balance between power and finesse, much like the celebrated Nicol Bolas, the Ravager, a game-changer with its transformation into a planeswalker. Grixis cards are known for their multicolored nature, blending blue’s cunning, black’s ruthlessness, and red’s passion. Comparable to Nicol Bolas in strategy is the likes of Crosis, the Purger. Both creatures force opponents to discard cards, disrupting plans and gaining an upper hand.
Another card worth mentioning is Sedris, the Traitor King, which shares the versatility of reanimation intrinsic to Grixis strategy. While Sedris excels at returning creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield, it does not offer the immediate board influence or the built-in win condition that Nicol Bolas does when flipping into a planeswalker. Finally, Thraximundar demands attention with its aggressive nature, compelling sacrifices upon attacking. Yet, unlike the transformative Nicol Bolas or the unearth ability of Sedris, Thraximundar focuses singularly on combat.
Grixis cards excel at offering multifaceted strategies for players, and when evaluating versatility, control, and impact, they stand out as stalwarts within the MTG multicolor arena. Their synergy in various aspects of the game crafts intricate plays that can pivot the direction of a match swiftly and decisively.
Cards similar to Grixis by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Grixis MTG card by a specific set like Planechase Planes and Planechase Anthology Planes, 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 Grixis 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
See MTG Products
Printings
The Grixis Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2009-09-04 and 2018-12-25. Illustrated by Nils Hamm.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2009-09-04 | Planechase Planes | OHOP | 15 | 2003 | Planar | Black | Nils Hamm | |
| 2 | 2018-12-25 | Planechase Anthology Planes | OPCA | 33 | 2015 | Planar | Black | Nils Hamm |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Grixis card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2009-10-01 | A card’s mana cost includes its color. |
| 2009-10-01 | A face-up plane card that’s turned face down becomes a new object with no relation to its previous existence. In particular, it loses all counters it may have had. |
| 2009-10-01 | A plane card is treated as if its text box included “When you roll {PW}, put this card on the bottom of its owner’s planar deck face down, then move the top card of your planar deck off that planar deck and turn it face up.” This is called the “planeswalking ability.” |
| 2009-10-01 | Activating a creature card’s unearth ability isn’t the same as casting the creature card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the creature card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Essence Scatter) will not. |
| 2009-10-01 | At the beginning of the end step, a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Stifle or Voidslime that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the creature will stay on the battlefield and the ability won’t trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the creature if it would eventually leave the battlefield. |
| 2009-10-01 | Despite the appearance of the reminder text, the unearth abilities that Grixis grants are activated abilities of each individual blue, black, and/or red creature card in a graveyard. They’re not activated abilities of Grixis. |
| 2009-10-01 | Grixis may cause a creature card in a graveyard to have multiple unearth abilities. Its owner may activate any one of those abilities. |
| 2009-10-01 | If a creature returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it’s exiled instead — unless the spell or ability that’s causing the creature to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If it later returns the creature card to the battlefield (as Oblivion Ring or Flickerwisp might, for example), the creature card will return to the battlefield as a new permanent with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effect will no longer apply to it. |
| 2009-10-01 | If an ability of a plane refers to “you,” it’s referring to whoever the plane’s controller is at the time, not to the player that started the game with that plane card in their deck. Many abilities of plane cards affect all players, while many others affect only the planar controller, so read each ability carefully. |
| 2009-10-01 | If you activate a creature card’s unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will resolve and do nothing. |
| 2009-10-01 | The controller of a face-up plane card is the player designated as the “planar controller.” Normally, the planar controller is whoever the active player is. However, if the current planar controller would leave the game, instead the next player in turn order that wouldn’t leave the game becomes the planar controller, then the old planar controller leaves the game. The new planar controller retains that designation until they leave the game or a different player becomes the active player, whichever comes first. |
| 2009-10-01 | Unearth grants haste to the creature that’s returned to the battlefield. However, neither of the exile abilities is granted to that creature. If that creature loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead. |
| 2009-10-01 | Unlike the unearth ability, the chaos ability returns a creature card from a graveyard to the battlefield indefinitely. |
