Grixis Sojourners MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 4 |
| Rarity | Common |
| Type | Creature — Zombie Ogre |
| Abilities | Cycling |
| Released | 2009-04-30 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Alara Reborn |
| Set code | ARB |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 3 |
| Number | 112 |
| Frame | 2003 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | John Avon |
Key Takeaways
- Grixis Sojourners offers card advantage and instant speed cycling, enhancing strategical hand management.
- It demands specific mana and requires careful deck building for optimal play.
- The card’s adaptability makes it valuable in varying MTG metagame shifts.
Text of card
When you cycle Grixis Sojourners or it's put into a graveyard from play, you may remove target card in a graveyard from the game. Cycling (, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Grixis Sojourners enables cycling, allowing you to replace it with a new card from your deck, thus keeping your hand replenished and increasing the likelihood of drawing into key pieces for your strategy.
Resource Acceleration: When you cycle Grixis Sojourners or it hits the graveyard from play, you may return target instant or sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand, essentially recycling these resources and giving you more fuel to propel your game plan.
Instant Speed: Although the card itself is not an instant, its cycling ability can be used at instant speed. This flexibility lets you wait until the most opportune moment within your opponent’s turn to cycle it, keeping up the illusion of a full grip of reactive cards, all while sculpting the perfect hand for your subsequent plays.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Grixis Sojourners asks for a card to be discarded whenever you play a blue, black, or red permanent, which can pressure your hand if you’re not equipped with sufficient draw capabilities.
Specific Mana Cost: With a casting cost that demands all three colors from the Grixis shard, it requires a dedicated mana base to be played effectively, potentially constricting deck flexibility.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The initial investment of four mana for a 4/3 body might be steep, considering other creatures or spells available could offer a more immediate and impactful presence on the board for the same or less cost.
Reasons to Include Grixis Sojourners in Your Collection
Versatility: Grixis Sojourners can adapt to various deck themes, offering benefits such as recursive card draw when playing other cards with cycling or discard abilities. It complements strategies that revolve around manipulating graveyard resources, making it a utility player in different game scenarios.
Combo Potential: This card presents numerous synergy opportunities, particularly in decks focused on the resilience of graveyard interaction. With the ability to recur itself from the graveyard to your hand, it can become an integral part of a combo engine or simply provide sustainable card advantage over time.
Meta-Relevance: In a metagame that is graveyard-centric or has a focus on managing hand and deck cycling, Grixis Sojourners can be an effective countermeasure, offering repeated value and an edge against similar strategies. Its place in your collection can fluctuate with the shifting metagame, keeping your deck dynamic and competitive.
How to Beat Grixis Sojourners
Grixis Sojourners stands out with its versatility on the battlefield, offering fuel for strategies reliant on graveyard interaction and cycling. Typically found in decks that manipulate the graveyard, this card triggers whenever you cycle another card or it leaves the battlefield, consequently creating a direct route to whittle down an opponent’s life total or to retrieve a key card from your graveyard.
One strategic move to edge out Grixis Sojourners is by utilizing graveyard hate cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void to disrupt its graveyard-triggering abilities. This approach essentially nullifies the advantage that a player might gain from the Sojourners. Moreover, since cycling is a critical mechanic for the card’s functionality, incorporating cards that restrict or penalize drawing cards can also be a significant hindrance. Therefore, cards like Narset, Parter of Veils or Notion Thief can be incredibly effective counters.
Ultimately, while Grixis Sojourners can provide tactical depth to a deck, effectively managing and understanding its mechanics can lead to successful strategies to overcome it. By disrupting the interplay between the graveyard and the battlefield, one can diminish the Sojourners’ impact during a game.
Cards like Grixis Sojourners
Grixis Sojourners stands out with its versatility in decks that leverage the graveyard. When compared to other cards, its cycling ability offers a strategic advantage by allowing players to trade it for a new card and enable graveyard interactions. In this respect, it’s quite akin to the card Architects of Will, which also has cycling and can manipulate deck draws. However, Architects of Will leans more towards setting up future draws whereas Grixis Sojourners can actually put cards in the graveyard and potentially deal damage as well as drawing a card when another of your permanents hits the graveyard.
Another comparable card is Sedraxis Specter, which provides a different sort of utility. While sharing the same shard colors, Sedraxis Specter can disrupt opponents by forcing discard upon dealing combat damage. However, the Sojourners’ ability to impact the board post-death or through cycling provides a persistent threat even from the graveyard. Sedraxis Specter doesn’t offer the same type of longevity or cycling synergy that Grixis Sojourners does.
Looking at the bigger picture, Grixis Sojourners provides a unique role in graveyard-centric decks, blending perfectly the utility of both cycling and synergizing with death-triggered effects, setting it apart from other options within the vast card pool of Magic: The Gathering.
Cards similar to Grixis Sojourners by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Grixis Sojourners MTG card by a specific set like Alara Reborn, 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 Sojourners 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
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Grixis Sojourners has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Pauper | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Predh | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Grixis Sojourners card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2008-10-01 | Cycling is an activated ability. Effects that interact with activated abilities (such as Stifle or Rings of Brighthearth) will interact with cycling. Effects that interact with spells (such as Remove Soul or Faerie Tauntings) will not. |
| 2009-05-01 | Grixis Sojourner’s triggered ability may target Grixis Sojourners itself. By the time the ability triggers, Grixis Sojourner will already be in your graveyard. |
| 2009-05-01 | If you cycle this card, the cycling ability goes on the stack, then the triggered ability goes on the stack on top of it. The triggered ability will resolve before you draw a card from the cycling ability. |
| 2009-05-01 | The cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. If the triggered ability doesn’t resolve (due to being countered with Stifle, for example, or if all its targets have become illegal), the cycling ability will still resolve and you’ll draw a card. |
| 2009-05-01 | The triggered ability acts as a cycle-triggered ability or as a leaves-the-battlefield ability, as appropriate. The player who controls the triggered ability is the player who cycled the Sojourner, or the player who last controlled the Sojourner on the battlefield. |
| 2009-05-01 | You can cycle this card even if there are no targets for the triggered ability. That’s because the cycling ability itself has no targets. |
