Grafdigger's Cage MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityRare
TypeArtifact

Key Takeaways

  1. Grafdigger’s Cage grants card advantage by nullifying opponents’ graveyard-based strategies effectively.
  2. Acts as a game accelerator against opponents, hindering creature plays from libraries and graveyards.
  3. Ever-present on the battlefield, Grafdigger’s Cage maintains a persistent effect with no additional costs.

Text of card

Creature cards can't enter the battlefield from graveyards or libraries. Players can't cast cards in graveyards or libraries.

"If you wind up in one of mine, you can be sure as silver it will be your last." —Grafdigger Wulmer


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Grafdigger’s Cage does not inherently allow you to draw more cards, instead, it acts as a utility piece that disrupts your opponent’s strategy and protects your lead on the board. By preventing opponents from using their graveyard as a resource, you maintain card advantage by making their card recursion strategies obsolete.

Resource Acceleration: While Grafdigger’s Cage isn’t a resource acceleration card in the traditional sense of providing additional mana, it accelerates your game plan by slowing down your opponents. This can be particularly potent against strategies that rely on playing creatures from libraries or returning them from graveyards, allowing you to execute your strategy more efficiently.

Instant Speed: Grafdigger’s Cage works at the speed of the game. Once on the battlefield, its effect is continuous and requires no further investment of mana or actions, allowing you to deploy other spells without delay while keeping the cage’s restrictions in full effect. Its presence can force opponents to make difficult decisions, often at the sacrifice of playing the game at their ideal pace.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Grafdigger’s Cage does not directly require a discard, its presence on the field can severely limit strategies reliant on utilizing the graveyard, forcing players to discard otherwise useful cards that can’t be played due to the Cage’s restrictions.

Specific Mana Cost: Grafdigger’s Cage requires one generic mana, which makes it easily slotted into any deck. However, in a meta where mana efficiency is key, the inability to tap into color-specific mana acceleration can put you a turn behind.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: In fast-paced games, spending one mana to non-proactively affect the board can be costly. While its cost isn’t high, when comparing Grafdigger’s Cage to other one-mana spells that immediately impact the game, its preventive nature may not always align with aggressive deck strategies.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Grafdigger’s Cage offers a powerful toolkit for any collector’s arsenal, slotting effectively into numerous deck archetypes. Control, combo, and even some aggro lines can benefit from its passive graveyard and library lockdown capabilities.

Combo Potential: As a piece that can disrupt opposing strategies, the Cage works well in combination with effects that capitalize on opponents being unable to use their graveyard or library to their advantage, ensuring you stay one step ahead in the game.

Meta-Relevance: Given its efficacy against a wide range of strategies, it’s particularly potent in environments where graveyard-based combos or creature strategies are prevalent. This makes Grafdigger’s Cage a relevant sideboard option, ready to reshape the battlefield across various metas.


How to Beat Grafdigger’s Cage

Grafdigger’s Cage is a powerhouse in disrupting graveyard and library-based strategies within Magic: The Gathering. It prevents cards in graveyards from being utilized for casting spells, and it also bars creatures from entering the battlefield from libraries. This card is a frequent sight in sideboards, ready to shut down decks that rely heavily on such mechanics. However, it’s not impenetrable.

To outmaneuver Grafdigger’s Cage, you must consider artifact removal options such as Naturalize or Abrade, which can efficiently dispose of the Cage, clearing your path. Another tactic is to employ enchantment-based removal like Disenchant, bypassing the Cage’s restrictions seamlessly. Cards with universal removal capabilities, like Assassin’s Trophy, also serve as a dual-purpose solution, managing threats on the battlefield in addition to the troublesome artifacts and enchantments.

Fundamentally, while Grafdigger’s Cage can throw a wrench in the gears of certain MTG strategies, adapting your deck to incorporate flexible removal spells will ensure you can overcome this obstacle and continue your game plan undeterred.


BurnMana Recommendations

Mastering your MTG gameplay is a journey that often includes understanding and leveraging powerful cards like Grafdigger’s Cage. Its potential to shut down graveyard and library strategies makes it a formidable tool to have at the ready. As the landscape of the game evolves, knowing when and how to include such pieces in your deck can be game-changing. We invite you to deepen your knowledge and refine your strategy by exploring more about this card’s role in diverse metas. Ready to enhance your collection and gameplay? Discover the full potential of Grafdigger’s Cage and other strategic cards with us.


Cards like Grafdigger's Cage

Grafdigger’s Cage is renowned in the MTG universe for its strong graveyard and library interaction negation abilities. Rest in Peace is a noteworthy counterpart, excelling in graveyard control. Unlike Grafdigger’s Cage, which stops creatures from being cast from graveyards or libraries and shuts down creature cards entering the battlefield from these zones, Rest in Peace exiles all cards from graveyards upon entry and replaces all card moving to the graveyard with exile, offering a blanket solution against graveyard strategies.

Another relative is Tormod’s Crypt, a zero-cost artifact that, when used, exiles a player’s graveyard. The key advantage here is its cost-free activation, allowing for surprise plays without investment in the turn’s mana. Conversely, it’s a one-time use compared to the ongoing deterrence Grafdigger’s Cage provides. Then there’s Leyline of the Void, with its proactive approach to graveyard strategy interference, hitting the battlefield at the game’s start if in the opening hand, and exiling any card that would hit an opponent’s graveyard.

Overall, while there are several cards with similar graveyard-controlling capabilities, Grafdigger’s Cage stands out for its dual functionality affecting both graveyard and library, positioning it as a versatile and strategic choice among MTG players.

Grafdigger's Cage - MTG Card versions
Rest in Peace - MTG Card versions
Tormod's Crypt - MTG Card versions
Leyline of the Void - MTG Card versions
Grafdigger's Cage - Dark Ascension (DKA)
Rest in Peace - Return to Ravnica (RTR)
Tormod's Crypt - The Dark (DRK)
Leyline of the Void - Guildpact (GPT)

Cards similar to Grafdigger's Cage by color, type and mana cost

Glasses of Urza - MTG Card versions
Wooden Sphere - MTG Card versions
Sol Ring - MTG Card versions
Iron Star - MTG Card versions
Black Vise - MTG Card versions
Urza's Chalice - MTG Card versions
Ivory Cup - MTG Card versions
Brass Man - MTG Card versions
Mana Vault - MTG Card versions
Soul Net - MTG Card versions
The Rack - MTG Card versions
Helm of Chatzuk - MTG Card versions
Obelisk of Undoing - MTG Card versions
Feldon's Cane - MTG Card versions
Throne of Bone - MTG Card versions
Meekstone - MTG Card versions
Thran Foundry - MTG Card versions
Cursed Scroll - MTG Card versions
Candelabra of Tawnos - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Dreadnought - MTG Card versions
Glasses of Urza - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Wooden Sphere - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Sol Ring - The Brothers' War Commander (BRC)
Iron Star - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Black Vise - Revised Edition (3ED)
Urza's Chalice - Masters Edition (ME1)
Ivory Cup - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Brass Man - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Mana Vault - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Soul Net - Fifth Edition (5ED)
The Rack - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Helm of Chatzuk - Fourth Edition (4ED)
Obelisk of Undoing - Rinascimento (RIN)
Feldon's Cane - Pro Tour Collector Set (PTC)
Throne of Bone - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Meekstone - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Thran Foundry - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Cursed Scroll - World Championship Decks 1999 (WC99)
Candelabra of Tawnos - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Phyrexian Dreadnought - Magic Online Promos (PRM)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grafdigger's Cage MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Dark Ascension, 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 Grafdigger's Cage and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See Magic products

Printings

The Grafdigger's Cage Magic the Gathering card was released in 5 different sets between 2012-02-03 and 2019-12-02. Illustrated by 3 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 699892015normalblackNils Hamm
22012-02-03Dark AscensionDKA 1492003normalblackDaniel Ljunggren
32017-03-17Modern Masters 2017MM3 2212015normalblackDaniel Ljunggren
42019-07-12Core Set 2020M20 2272015normalblackDaniel Ljunggren
52019-12-02Secret Lair DropSLD 3242015normalborderlessMartin Ansin

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grafdigger's Cage has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2019-07-12 If an effect exiles a card from a library and allows a player to cast it, that player may do so. The spell is cast from exile, not a library.
2019-07-12 Look at the card as it exists in your graveyard to determine whether it can enter the battlefield. For example, Sculpting Steel can be put onto the battlefield as a copy of a creature, but Phyrexian Metamorph can’t be put onto the battlefield, even if it would copy a noncreature artifact.
2019-07-12 Manifesting a card from a graveyard or library is an impossible action while Grafdigger’s Cage is on the battlefield.
2019-07-12 Players can still play lands from graveyards or libraries if an effect allows them to do so.

Recent MTG decks

Continue exploring other format decks
More decks