Grasping Current MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Sorcery
Released	2017-09-29
Set symbol
Set name	Ixalan
Set code	XLN
Number	282
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Yongjae Choi

Key Takeaways

Draws and retrieves specific cards, offering strategic flexibility and maintaining hand strength throughout the game.
Enhances resource pool quickly, allowing for the deployment of threats or abilities earlier than opponents.
Instant speed play keeps strategies concealed and provides a reactive edge over opponents.

Text of card

Return up to two target creatures to their owner's hand. Search your library and/or graveyard for a card named Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you searched your library this way, shuffle it.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Grasping Current offers a unique opportunity to not just draw a card, but to also retrieve specific cards from your discard pile, ensuring continuous strategic plays. This kind of selectivity in card recovery can be a significant boon during lengthy games, maintaining a heavy hand and providing more options for each turn.

Resource Acceleration: By granting you access to additional lands or key pieces when retrieved from the discard pile, it effectively accelerates your resource availability. This seamless integration into your resource pool can catapult you ahead of the competition by deploying threats or utilizing abilities ahead of the curve.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Grasping Current at instant speed offers tremendous flexibility, allowing you to respond to an opponent’s move or end their turn, keeping your strategy hidden and your opponents guessing. The tactical advantage of timing this card’s effect optimally can often make the difference between a loss and a victory.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Like many powerful spells, Grasping Current commands a sacrifice from your hand, potentially draining your strategic resources and leaving you vulnerable to counterplays, especially when your hand is already dwindling.

Specific Mana Cost: Grasping Current’s demand for a precise mana combination can strain your mana base, requiring a strong commitment to its colors which might not align with more flexible or multicolored strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The steep investment in mana for Grasping Current’s ability means it competes with other options that could prove to be more mana-efficient or offering a broader range of effects, possibly overshadowing this card in a deck’s strategy.

Reasons to Include Grasping Current in Your Collection

Versatility: Grasping Current serves a dual purpose by disrupting an opponent’s board with its bounce effect while simultaneously bolstering your hand with the cards drawn. It’s a stellar addition to control decks or those looking to maintain card advantage.

Combo Potential: The ability to return nonland permanents to an opponent’s hand opens unique opportunities for combos, setting up plays for cards that capitalize on the number of spells cast or interact with returned cards.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where permanents with powerful enter-the-battlefield effects dominate or those heavy on aggro strategies, Grasping Current can act as a reset button, giving you the upper hand in tempo and card economy.

How to beat

Grasping Current is one of those Magic: The Gathering cards that can swing the momentum of a game by offering control and tempo in one spell. This kind of spell might seem daunting at first, but overcoming it is all about timing and resource management. One key tactic is prioritizing the development of a diverse board state, ensuring that returning two creatures to your hand won’t leave you empty-handed.

Moreover, instants and abilities that grant hexproof or protection can effectively nullify Grasping Current’s impact, securing your vital creatures from being targeted. Additionally, cards that quickly repopulate the board, like token generators or creatures with low casting costs, help to bounce back from the tempo loss. Another angle is to use cards that benefit from being bounced back to your hand, turning a potential setback into a strategic advantage.

Finally, it’s essential to keep pressure on your opponent, forcing them to use Grasping Current defensively rather than on their terms. With thoughtful play and the right counters, you can mitigate the grasping tide of this potent control card and maintain dominance over the game state.

Cards like Grasping Current

Grasping Current is an interesting piece in the puzzle that is card manipulation within the multiverse of Magic: The Gathering. When we consider cards with similar ability to return nonland permanents to their owners’ hands, Engulf the Shore comes to mind. Both cards have the potential to shift the tide of battle, yet Engulf the Shore relies on the number of Islands you control, which can be restrictive depending on your deck’s mana base.

A card like Flood of Tears also shares the theme of resetting the board by bouncing permanents, but it carries the added bonus of potentially putting a high-cost permanent into play for free. Grasping Current lacks this upside but compensates with the guarantee of returning your own spells for reuse, which can be advantageous in certain strategic setups.

Lastly, we look at River’s Rebuke, another powerful option with a similar sweeping effect aimed at a single opponent. Though this card clears more than just nonland permanents, Grasping Current offers repeatable utility by rebounding two specific threats. This selective capacity may just be the edge a player needs to navigate through a heavy board state and turn games around.

Each card holds its own in the spectrum of control strategies, but Grasping Current stands out for its targeted precision in disrupting the opponent’s plays.

Cards similar to Grasping Current by color, type and mana cost

Temporal Manipulation - MTG Card versions

Laquatus's Creativity - MTG Card versions

Ribbons of the Reikai - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grasping Current MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan, 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 Grasping Current and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grasping Current has restrictions

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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2017-09-29	You may cast Grasping Current without choosing any target creatures. You’ll just search for Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage. However, if you choose any targets and all of those targets become illegal before Grasping Current resolves, the spell won’t resolve and you won’t search.