Heap Doll MTG Card

Shadowmoor (SHM)
2008-05-02 - Number 253

Ultimate Masters (UMA)
2018-12-07 - Number 228

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact Creature — Scarecrow
Power	1
Toughness	1

Key Takeaways

Utility in graveyard manipulation, especially when strategically paired with sacrifice-inducing cards.
Flexibility as a low-cost investment with the capacity for instant-speed tactical plays.
Can be less impactful when hand resources are low or in high mana-demand decks.

Text of card

Sacrifice Heap Doll: Remove target card in a graveyard from the game.

"I know one night it won't come back. Then I'll know it's truly done its job." —Braenna, cobblesmith

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Despite Heap Doll’s immediate board impact being minimal, the artifact creature offers utility as graveyard disruption. It fits well into strategies that appreciate self-contained graveyard interaction, especially when paired with cards that capitalize on sacrificing creatures or artifacts for value.

Resource Acceleration: Heap Doll isn’t directly a tool for resource acceleration, but it represents a low-cost investment that can manipulate the battlefield in subtle ways. It can contribute to synergies that exploit artifacts or creatures entering the graveyard, potentially accelerating your strategy indirectly.

Instant Speed: Heap Doll’s ability to sacrifice itself at instant speed gives it the versatility to be used in response to an opponent’s actions. This allows players to wait for the most advantageous moment to disrupt graveyard strategies or to interfere with an opponent’s attempt to reanimate a critical creature card.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Even though Heap Doll can be a useful tool in certain situations, it comes with the limitation of needing to have a card in hand to discard. This can be particularly troublesome when your hand is already depleted from earlier plays, making Heap Doll’s ability less impactful or sometimes even unusable.

Specific Mana Cost: Heap Doll requires one generic mana to cast, which isn’t overly restrictive, but when it’s played in a deck that is mana-intensive or relies on multiple colors, having to allocate resources specifically for this card could be less than ideal.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Given its one-off ability to exile a card from a graveyard, the cost of sacrificing Heap Doll itself may not always equate to a fair trade-off, especially when other cards may carry out graveyard disruption more efficiently or offer additional value beyond a single use.

Reasons to Include Heap Doll in Your Collection

Versatility: Heap Doll’s ability to sacrifice itself with no mana cost makes it a flexible utility card. It can be slipped into artifact-centric decks or any strategy looking to disrupt graveyard plays.

Combo Potential: This artifact creature can be a key piece in combos, particularly in those that capitalize on self-sacrificing mechanics or require an artifact to be put into the graveyard to trigger effects.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where graveyard strategies are prevalent, Heap Doll can serve as a valuable sideboard card or even a main deck choice for preemptive graveyard control, maintaining relevance in ever evolving formats.

How to beat

Heap Doll presents a unique challenge for players in the Magic: The Gathering universe. Residing in the niche of graveyard manipulation, Heap Doll is a low-cost artifact creature that allows you to exile target card from a graveyard at the sacrifice of the doll itself. This ability is particularly potent against strategies that hinge on specific cards being accessible in the graveyard for recursion or synergistic effects.

To effectively counter Heap Doll, it’s essential to either limit the availability of valuable targets in your graveyard or to implement strategies that can neutralize the Doll before it can execute its ability. Cards with instant-speed effects that can remove artifacts, such as Naturalize or Disenchant, can dispatch the Heap Doll before its ability is used. Alternatively, graveyard reshuffling cards like Elixir of Immortality can reset your graveyard, mitigating the potential impact of the Doll’s ability.

In summary, while Heap Doll might pose a threat to graveyard-centric decks, timely removal and strategic graveyard management can nullify its influence, ensuring your graveyard remains an asset rather than a liability.

Cards like Heap Doll

Heap Doll stands out as an intriguing option for MTG players interested in graveyard interaction. Functionally akin to cards such as Relic of Progenitus and Tormod’s Crypt, Heap Doll offers a way to selectively exile a card from a graveyard. Unlike the aforementioned relics which can wipe a graveyard clean, Heap Doll’s targeted removal allows for more strategic plays, pinpointing key components in an opponent’s graveyard engine.

Scrabbling Claws serves as another related comparison, providing both targeted and general graveyard control. While Heap Doll performs its job to disrupt graveyard strategies upon sacrifice, Scrabbling Claws has the advantage of whittling down graveyards over time, giving players the flexibility to react on their turn or in response to an opponent’s actions. Additionally, Nihil Spellbomb stands as a competitor, offering graveyard eradication like the Claws, with the added benefit of drawing a card if the controller spends black mana.

Ultimately, when examining the nuanced utility these cards provide, Heap Doll earns its place in MTG as a precise, single-use tool for thwarting opponents’ graveyard strategies, a niche yet potentially game-turning asset when timing and precision are prerequisites for victory.

Cards similar to Heap Doll by color, type and mana cost

Candelabra of Tawnos - MTG Card versions

Phyrexian Dreadnought - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Heap Doll MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor and Ultimate Masters, 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 Heap Doll and other MTG cards: