Possessed Skaab MTG Card
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 5 |
| Rarity | Uncommon |
| Type | Creature — Zombie |
| Released | 2015-07-17 |
| Set symbol | |
| Set name | Magic Origins |
| Set code | ORI |
| Power | 3 |
| Toughness | 2 |
| Number | 215 |
| Frame | 2015 |
| Layout | Normal |
| Border | Black |
| Illustred by | John Stanko |
Key Takeaways
- Grants strategic card advantage by reviving key spells or creatures from the graveyard, influencing board control.
- Offers resource acceleration without additional card draw, subtly speeding up your tactical deployment.
- Though not instant itself, it can lead to potential instant-speed play on subsequent turns.
Text of card
When Possessed Skaab enters the battlefield, return target instant, sorcery, or creature card from your graveyard to your hand. If Possessed Skaab would die, exile it instead.
A stitcher's attempt at a skaab with a soul.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Possessed Skaab brings back value from the graveyard, providing players with a critical strategic advantage. Reanimating a creature or returning an instant or sorcery to your hand ensures you never run out of options, turning the grave into an extension of your hand.
Resource Acceleration: The act of retrieving spells or creatures with Possessed Skaab leads to an implicit acceleration of resources. By leveraging the existing cards in your graveyard, you shorten the path to deploying powerful creatures or game-changing spells without the need for additional draw.
Instant Speed: Though Possessed Skaab itself is not an instant, its ability to recapture instant or sorcery cards grants you the potential for instant-speed interaction on following turns. This ensures that you have the right responses at the crucial moments, influencing the pace and flow of the game in your favor.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: One critical aspect to consider about Possessed Skaab is that while it doesn’t directly require you to discard a card, its ability hinges on having a range of utility creatures or spells in your graveyard. This necessitates a setup that might force you to discard valuable cards earlier in the game, which can be detrimental if you’re running low on cards in hand.
Specific Mana Cost: The mana cost of Possessed Skaab is unusually specific and somewhat restrictive, demanding one blue, one black, and three other mana. This requirement can be challenging to meet in a timely manner, especially in a multicolored deck that needs a fine-tuned mana base to consistently cast spells on curve.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: In the universe of five mana cost creatures, Possessed Skaab’s initial impact on the board might not seem as commanding, given it returns only a creature or instant/sorcery card from your graveyard to your hand. Other creatures or spells at a similar mana bracket might provide immediate board presence or effects that could turn the tide of the game more substantially.
Reasons to Include Possessed Skaab in Your Collection
Versatility: Possessed Skaab offers a blend of utility that can shine in a variety of decks. As it enters the battlefield, it allows you to return an instant, sorcery, or creature card from your graveyard to your hand, providing a second chance to utilize key spells or creatures.
Combo Potential: This undead wizard is a lynchpin in strategies that recycle graveyard resources. With its ability, Possessed Skaab not only recovers valuable pieces for combos but also perfectly aligns with decks featuring graveyard synergies.
Meta-Relevance: In a format where graveyard play is a common strategy, Possessed Skaab’s recursion ability is highly beneficial. It helps maintain pressure and resource advantage, ensuring your deck adapts well to various metagame shifts.
How to beat
Possessed Skaab brings a unique tempo to the battlefield in Magic: The Gathering, stepping in as both a creature and tool for card advantage. This formidable card allows its controller to return an instant, sorcery, or creature card from their graveyard to their hand once it enters the battlefield. To counteract this, strategic removal is key. Targeted removal spells that exile, like Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares, can ensure that Possessed Skaab is out of play without triggering its other ability, which brings it back upon death.
Board control is essential when facing a deck that features Possessed Skaab. Graveyard hate cards, like Relic of Progenitus or Rest in Peace, can be instrumental since they can remove the graveyard as a resource, nullifying the Skaab’s reanimation ability. Weaving in instant speed interactions lets you maintain pace and apply pressure, forcing your opponent to react rather than letting them play their game. Additionally, considering the card’s double nature; blue and black mana, running color-specific hate cards like Blood Moon can restrict the player’s ability to cast it altogether.
While Possessed Skaab can be a thorn in your side with its recursion and utility, a well-timed response or a preemptive strategy can render it far less threatening. Understanding when to disrupt your opponent’s graveyard can nullify the impact of the Possessed Skaab and give you the upper hand you need to succeed.
Cards like Possessed Skaab
Possessed Skaab enters the arena of utility creatures in Magic: The Gathering with the ability to make a difference in the graveyard interaction strategies. It stands side by side with cards like Archaeomancer and Izzet Chronarch, both capable of returning an instant or sorcery card from the graveyard to your hand. What sets Possessed Skaab apart is its flexibility, allowing you to choose between an instant, sorcery, or creature card, enhancing its versatility in various game situations.
Comparatively, Eternal Witness presents as one of Possessed Skaab’s peers, offering the power to retrieve any card from the graveyard, not just instants, sorceries, or creatures. While Eternal Witness boasts greater flexibility, Possessed Skaab compensates with its larger body, making it a more substantial presence on the battlefield. On the other hand, Cadaver Imp also draws a similarity with its capacity to return a creature card from the graveyard when it enters the battlefield, but it does not offer the broader choice Possessed Skaab does, nor does it have the same impact in terms of board state.
Illuminating the qualities and synergies of these comparables, Possessed Skaab carves out a niche within the MTG landscape as a multifaceted reanimation option that can shift the tide of a game in a player’s favor.
Cards similar to Possessed Skaab by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Possessed Skaab MTG card by a specific set like Magic Origins, 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 Possessed Skaab 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 Possessed Skaab has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Paupercommander | Restricted |
| Modern | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Possessed Skaab card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2015-06-22 | Possessed Skaab’s last ability will apply no matter what caused it to die (lethal damage, being sacrificed, enough -1/-1 counters, and so on). Possessed Skaab won’t go to the graveyard. It will be put from the battlefield into exile. Abilities that trigger whenever a creature dies won’t trigger. |
