Viashino Skeleton MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Viashino Skeleton
Released	2008-10-03
Set symbol
Set name	Shards of Alara
Set code	ALA
Power	2
Toughness	1
Number	118
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Cole Eastburn

Key Takeaways

Unearth contributes to card advantage by enabling creature play without depleting the hand.
Activating unearth at instant speed allows strategic flexibility and surprise tactics.
Its specific mana cost and unearth’s discard requirement challenge deck design.

Text of card

, Discard a card: Regenerate Viashino Skeleton.

Underneath the Dregscape lay the remains of creatures long extinct from Grixis.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Viashino Skeleton can be unearthed from your graveyard, giving you an additional creature without spending a card from your hand. This can be particularly advantageous when you’re seeking to maintain board presence or bolster your forces for a minimal investment.

Resource Acceleration: As Viashino Skeleton’s unearth feature can be activated for a single red mana, it allows for resource acceleration by effectively maximizing the use of your mana pool. This can free up resources for other strategic plays within the same turn or shortly thereafter.

Instant Speed: The ability to use the unearth ability of the Viashino Skeleton at instant speed is crucial. It adds an element of surprise to your plays, allowing you to wait until the last possible moment before deciding to bring it back to the battlefield, thus keeping your opponents guessing and your strategies flexible.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Viashino Skeleton requires you to discard a card for its unearth ability, which could deplete your hand when you’re in need of options.

Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that includes both red and black mana, it necessitates a deck tailored to these colors, potentially reducing its flexibility in multi-color decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Having to invest four mana to cast it might not be the most efficient use of resources, especially when compared to other creatures in the same mana range that offer immediate impact on the board state.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: The Viashino Skeleton offers a unique blend of abilities, making it a diverse addition to any deck, particularly those that leverage graveyard strategies and need creatures that can recur from the graveyard.

Combo Potential: Thanks to its ability to return from the graveyard to your hand, this card can seamlessly integrate into and enhance various combo sequences, especially those involving sacrifice for benefit mechanics.

Meta-Relevance: In a metagame that’s heavy on attrition or control strategies, having a creature like the Viashino Skeleton, which can be a recurring threat, positions it as a valuable asset against decks that aim to deplete resources.

How to beat

The Viashino Skeleton card presents a unique challenge to overcome in Magic: The Gathering. This creature offers a recurring threat due to its ability to return from the graveyard to the battlefield. To effectively counter this, one strategy is to leverage exile removal spells since they prevent the skeleton from coming back once it hits the graveyard. Cards like Path to Exile provide a clean and permanent solution to this pesky creature.

Another method is to employ graveyard disruption tools that can restrict the player’s ability to utilize the reanimation ability of the Viashino Skeleton. Silent Gravestone is an example of a card that can hamper strategies revolving around graveyard interactions, making it hard for the player to bring their skeleton back into play. By including such cards in your deck, you can prepare for matchups involving graveyard-centric creatures and enhance your chance of prevailing over them.

When building your deck or choosing your sideboard cards, consider incorporating answers to persisting threats like the Viashino Skeleton. With the right removal spells or graveyard disruption, the challenge they pose can be mitigated, reinforcing your position in the game.

Cards like Viashino Skeleton

Venturing into the realm of recurring creature mechanics, the Viashino Skeleton offers a unique spin on battlefield resilience in Magic: The Gathering. A near kin in functionality is the Reassembling Skeleton, a creature with the ability to return from the graveyard to the battlefield at the cost of some mana and a turn’s wait. Although both share the capacity for regeneration, the Viashino Skeleton stands out with its requires a discard in addition to its mana cost for regeneration, offering strategic depth but at a steeper price for its revival.

Another creature worth mentioning is Bloodsoaked Champion, which also boasts a return-from-graveyard-to-battlefield ability. Where the Viashino Skeleton needs a discard to spring back into action, Bloodsoaked Champion bypasses that by harnessing the prowess of Raid — if you attacked with a creature this turn, it can come back to life. The fundamental difference lies in the activation conditions, with one leaning on combat success, while the other sinks its claws into hand management.

After peeling back the layers of these graveyard-loving creatures, Viashino Skeleton may demand more from players who wish to weave it seamlessly into their game. Yet, for those valuing ongoing threat potential and willing to maneuver their hand resources to do so, it may be a worthy contender in their deck-building strategies.

Reassembling Skeleton - MTG Card versions

Bloodsoaked Champion - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Viashino Skeleton by color, type and mana cost

Orcus, Prince of Undeath - MTG Card versions

Blim, Comedic Genius - MTG Card versions

Rakdos, Lord of Riots - MTG Card versions

Wort, Boggart Auntie - MTG Card versions

Exava, Rakdos Blood Witch - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Viashino Skeleton MTG card by a specific set like Shards of Alara, 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 Viashino Skeleton and other MTG cards: