Mortuary MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Enchantment
Released	1998-03-02
Set symbol
Set name	Stronghold
Set code	STH
Number	66
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Robert Bliss

Key Takeaways

Provides strategic creature recycling, optimizing future draws and maintaining threat consistency.
Dual-edge effect influences deck design and can constrain draw flexibility and strategic depth.
Essential for specific combo-driven decks, manipulating library order for meta-game advantage.

Text of card

Whenever any creature is put into your graveyard from play, put that creature on top of your library.

"Think of them not as failures but as works in progress." —Volrath

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Mortuary provides a strategic edge by continuously recycling creatures from the graveyard to the top of your library. This ongoing cycle ensures you never run out of threats and can systematically plan your next moves with known draws.

Resource Acceleration: By effectively reusing creature cards, Mortuary allows for the optimization of your resources. Instead of drawing a potentially less useful card, you secure a constant stream of creatures, streamlining your play and maximizing your resource use over time.

Instant Speed: While Mortuary itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with cards that do. It’s particularly potent with sacrifice effects and abilities that can be activated at instant speed, allowing you to plan your graveyard order strategically on the fly and ensuring that your next draw is exactly what you need for the evolving game state.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Mortuary forces you to not only lose a creature when it dies but also to put it atop your library in place of a potentially new draw, which can lead to a cyclical pattern that diminishes strategic depth and card variety in the course of a game.

Specific Mana Cost: Its black mana cost makes it restrictive for multi-colored decks, as it requires a consistent source of black mana which can dictate the overall deck design and potentially limit inclusion in diverse strategy builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The four-mana black investment to get Mortuary in play is considered steep for the delayed benefit it provides. In a game where tempo is critical, cards that offer immediate board impact or more flexible mana costs may be preferred.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Mortuary boasts a unique ability to manipulate the top of your library, providing a strategic edge common in various deck archetypes. This card is particularly useful in decks that capitalize on recurring creatures from the graveyard to the battlefield or hand.

Combo Potential: Mortuary’s capability shines in synergistic builds that revolve around creature-based combos. By ordering the return of creatures with potent enter-the-battlefield or die triggers, it can serve as a powerful engine for generating value or executing game-winning combinations.

Meta-Relevance: As meta-games fluctuate, Mortuary can become a key sideboard or mainboard card against strategies that heavily rely on creature removal. It turns potential losses into future gains, ensuring your key creatures are recycled and ready to return, thus reinforcing the card’s standing across various meta environments.

How to beat Mortuary

Mortuary is one of those cards in MTG that prompts a strategic approach. Understanding the card’s mechanism is key to formulating a strategy against it. Mortuary places creatures on top of a player’s library whenever they die, which can be a two-edged sword. On one hand, it offers players another chance with their creatures; on the other, it disrupts their draw cycle and can leave them drawing the same creature over and over again.

To counter this, consider using graveyard hate cards to prevent creatures from going back to the library. This can be achieved with cards like Leyline of the Void or Rest in Peace, which exile creatures instead. Apart from this, another strategy is to avoid destroying your opponent’s creatures and focus more on exile or bounce mechanics which can circumvent Mortuary’s effect—this will ensure that your opponent doesn’t get a second chance with their creatures and will help maintain the natural order of their library.

It’s also possible to take advantage of Mortuary’s effect by making the opponent overdraw and discard due to a full hand. Therefore, focus on utilizing a play style that can adapt to and exploit the nature of Mortuary, turning what could be an opponent’s advantage into a drawback. Alternatively, enchantment removal cards can dispatch Mortuary directly and liberate the battlefield from its grasp, streamlining the path to victory.

Cards like Mortuary

Mortuary, from Magic: The Gathering, weaves intricacy into gameplay much like other cards that interact with death triggers. It is reminisent of cards like Desecrated Tomb, which also exploits creatures leaving the graveyard, but Mortuary shines by directly influencing future draws rather than creating creature tokens. Contrastingly, Desecrated Tomb provides an immediate board presence bonus which Mortuary lacks.

Another card to consider is Grave Pact, that like Mortuary, thrives on creature death. However, Grave Pact goes a step further by not only affecting your board but also your opponent’s, demanding a sacrifice for every creature you lose. Mortuary is more self-contained, focusing purely on reordering your own deck’s prospects. While Mortuary doesn’t have the multiplayer influence of Grave Pact, it offers a subtler, yet strategic advantage of managing upcoming threats or combos.

In essence, Mortuary holds its own within the echelon of creature-based strategy cards in Magic: The Gathering. With its unique ability to queue up your next important draw, Mortuary stands as a tactical asset in any deck aiming to capitalize on creature deaths.

Cards similar to Mortuary by color, type and mana cost

Feast of the Unicorn - MTG Card versions

Erebos, Bleak-Hearted - MTG Card versions

Night of Souls' Betrayal - MTG Card versions

Measure of Wickedness - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Mortuary MTG card by a specific set like Stronghold, 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 Mortuary and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Mortuary has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Premodern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Predh	Legal

Rules and information

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