Relic Golem MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Artifact Creature — Golem
Abilities	Mill
Released	2020-09-25
Set symbol
Set name	Zendikar Rising
Set code	ZNR
Power	6
Toughness	6
Number	249
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Svetlin Velinov

Key Takeaways

Relic Golem offers milling advantage and can disrupt opponents’ strategies while enabling your own.
Its activation and card draw provide flexibility and momentum in the right circumstances.
While powerful, the golem’s utility is conditional on opponents’ graveyard card count.

Text of card

Relic Golem can't attack or block unless an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard. , : Target player mills two cards. (They put the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Relic Golem provides strategic card advantage, as it enables milling of the opponent’s library, thereby potentially disrupting their game plan and reducing their resources. It also allows you to access Threshold and Delve mechanics more efficiently yourself.

Resource Acceleration: This powerful artifact becomes a formidable force once your opponent’s graveyard has eight or more cards. Its low-cost activation makes it an accessible threat that enhances your board presence quickly, acting as a catalyst for aggressive and tempo strategies.

Instant Speed: While Relic Golem itself is not an instant, its secondary ability to tap and draw a card can be utilized at instant speed. This instant speed function provides flexibility, allowing you to optimally time your plays and maintain momentary advantages during critical junctures in the game.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Relic Golem’s effectiveness is tied to its need for an opponent to have eight or more cards in their graveyard. Without this condition being met, the card remains inactive, hampering its utility in the early and mid-game stages.

Specific Mana Cost: This artifact creature comes with a colorless mana cost, which, while generally flexible, can still be a hindrance in decks that lack sufficient mana acceleration or those that are not optimized for artifact synergy.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Relic Golem isn’t the cheapest creature to hit the battlefield. Considering its conditional ability activation, players may find that other creatures or artifacts could offer immediate impact or value without such stringent requirements.

Reasons to Include Relic Golem in Your Collection

Versatility: Relic Golem offers flexibility in various deck builds. As a cost-effective artifact creature, it integrates well with decks that capitalize on artifact synergies or mill strategies to enable its attack function.

Combo Potential: The card pairs efficiently with other mill cards to unlock its full combat capabilities quickly. Its secondary ability to draw a card after reaching the threshold of eight cards in an opponent’s graveyard can trigger additional synergies or provide card advantage.

Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where graveyard interactions are prevalent, Relic Golem can be particularly effective. Not only does it contribute to a mill win condition but also disrupts the graveyards of opponents relying on graveyard-based strategies.

How to beat Relic Golem

Relic Golem stands as an imposing figure on the battlefield, touting a solid stat line that only gets better as the game progresses. This six-mana cost artifact creature can become a formidable foe if its milling requirement is met, but it also presents a unique challenge to overcome. To disrupt the golem’s power, a strategic approach to managing your graveyard is essential.

One effective tactic is to employ graveyard shuffling cards that can continuously recycle your library, thus negating the milling effect the golem depends on to become fully operational. Incorporating instant-speed graveyard interaction in your deck that can respond to the milling also proves to be a wise decision. It’s crucial to keep Relic Golem from reaching its full potential by ensuring your graveyard has fewer than eight cards. By doing so, you maintain control over the board and prevent the activation of the golem’s formidable abilities. With proper graveyard management and a keen eye on the number of cards it contains, Relic Golem’s threat can be efficiently mitigated, maintaining an edge in your matches.

When facing such a card, remember that its strength is directly tied to your graveyard’s size. Your ability to quickly adapt and manage your graveyard will decide the fate of the duel against Relic Golem.

Cards like Relic Golem

Relic Golem is a formidable artifact creature often seen in MTG decks revolving around graveyards. It holds its own when compared to other cards that thrive on the opponent’s graveyard size. A card like Crypt Incursion also interacts with graveyards but in a very different manner – it exiles creatures and gains you health. The golem, in contrast, becomes an active threat on the board as a 6/6 once the conditions are right.

Similar in concept, yet with a varying approach, is Eater of the Dead. This creature card also benefits from full graveyards by using its ability to untap and become a persistent nuisance. Unlike Relic Golem, which acts more passively until its power is unlocked, Eater of the Dead can engage more directly with graveyard strategies from the get-go. Vantress Gargoyle also presents an interesting comparison, as it shares the milling theme and conditions for attacking or blocking, though it’s more geared towards an aggressive strategy due to its earlier impact and flying ability.

In evaluating these cards side by side, Relic Golem’s potential for dominance in a game focused on graveyard manipulation is clear. Its unique activation condition and sheer power underscore its key role in specific MTG strategies focused on disabling opponents through their graveyards.

Cards similar to Relic Golem by color, type and mana cost

Scale of Chiss-Goria - MTG Card versions

Sword of Feast and Famine - MTG Card versions

Guardians of Meletis - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Relic Golem MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar Rising, 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 Relic Golem and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Relic Golem has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Relic Golem card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2020-09-25	An ability that offers a bonus if an opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard won’t provide additional benefits if more than one opponent has eight or more cards in their graveyard. There are also no additional benefits no matter how many cards are in an opponent’s graveyard, as long as there are at least eight.
2020-09-25	In a multiplayer game, once an opponent leaves the game, they won’t be considered for such an effect, no matter how many cards they had in their graveyard before leaving the game.
2020-09-25	Once Relic Golem has attacked, causing its first ability to apply by removing cards from graveyards won’t cause Relic Golem to be removed from combat.
2020-09-25	Similarly, once Relic Golem has blocked an attacking creature, causing its first ability to apply won’t cause that attacking creature to become unblocked or remove Relic Golem from combat.