Nether Spirit MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 4 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeCreature — Spirit
Power 2
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Nether Spirit excels at maintaining board presence without further card investments.
  2. Strategic discard and graveyard tactics multiply its value in specific decks.
  3. Resilient to removal, it offers unique utility in various MTG formats.

Text of card

At the beginning of your upkeep, if Nether Spirit is the only creature card in your graveyard, you may return Nether Spirit to play.

It roams in both the worlds of the living and the dead but belongs to neither.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Nether Spirit ensures a recurring presence on the battlefield, effectively providing you with a creature card that returns from the graveyard to play, minimizing card loss and maintaining board state.

Resource Acceleration: While Nether Spirit itself doesn’t directly accelerate resources, its reliable return from the graveyard can save mana that would otherwise be spent on casting creatures from your hand, indirectly conserving resources for other uses.

Instant Speed: Although Nether Spirit doesn’t operate at instant speed, its resurrection happens during your upkeep, which adds an element of surprise and readiness to your strategy by ensuring you have a blocker or attacker at the ready each turn without spending mana.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For Nether Spirit to be effective, your graveyard must be well-maintained with it being the only creature card. This necessitates strategic discarding or self-mill, potentially diminishing your on-hand options.

Specific Mana Cost: Nether Spirit’s casting cost of one colorless and two black mana can be restrictive for multicolored decks. This requirement may clash with the mana curve of diverse strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Despite its potential for repeated recursion, Nether Spirit’s initial mana cost is substantial for its 2/2 stats. Other creatures or graveyard interaction spells might provide greater value or versatility for a similar investment.


Reasons to Include Nether Spirit in Your Collection

Versatility: Nether Spirit effortlessly slides into various deck builds, carving its niche in control and midrange strategies that thrive on recurrent creatures.

Combo Potential: This card becomes integral in setups focused on graveyard mechanics, synergizing with cards that manipulate the graveyard to create formidable combos more effectively.

Meta-Relevance: With graveyard strategies perennially popular in diverse formats, Nether Spirit maintains a level of relevance, particularly in environments where resilient creatures can tip the scales in your favor.


How to beat Nether Spirit

Nether Spirit presents a unique challenge as a creature card in the MTG landscape. It’s an entity that refuses to stay in the graveyard for long, making it a resilient threat in long battles. However, no card is unbeatable, and there are strategies to mitigate Nether Spirit’s impact on the game. The key is to prevent it from recurring, or to ensure its return is less disruptive.

Exile effects are your best friend against Nether Spirit, as they permanently remove it from play. Cards like Path to Exile or Leyline of the Void prevent the Spirit from executing its graveyard-triggered ability by ensuring it doesn’t hit the graveyard at all. Similarly, Graveyard hate cards such as Rest in Peace can neutralize the advantage Nether Spirit gives by making all graveyard-based interactions obsolete.

Additionally, you can use effects that force your opponent to sacrifice multiple creatures, thereby ensuring that Nether Spirit isn’t alone in the graveyard and thus cannot return. Board wipes are especially effective, as they deal with not only Nether Spirit but also any other threats your opponent develops. Remember, the best offense against a persistent threat like Nether Spirit is to control the battlefield and keep your opponent on the defensive.


Cards like Nether Spirit

Nether Spirit is a unique card in the realm of Magic: The Gathering, fitting into the specific niche of recursive creatures that can return from the graveyard to the battlefield. Holding a resemblance to Bloodghast, which also has the ability to rise from the graveyard, Nether Spirit differs in that it only returns if it’s the only creature in your graveyard at the beginning of your upkeep. This presents a strategic nuance, as it requires careful graveyard management.

Nether Spirit shares characteristics with the relentless Reassembling Skeleton. Both can reanimate themselves, though Reassembling Skeleton’s ability requires mana investment, whereas Nether Spirit’s return comes at no cost. However, Skeleton’s versatility allows it to come back repeatedly, regardless of graveyard contents. Ichorid is another creature that comes back each turn but consumes other creatures in your graveyard as a cost, providing a different kind of recursive utility compared to Nether Spirit’s solitary condition.

Analyzing these creatures highlights Nether Spirit’s uniqueness in player strategies. Its no-cost revival can be exceptional in decks built around controlling the graveyard’s contents, making Nether Spirit a mainstay in formats like Legacy where such meticulous graveyard management is common.

Bloodghast - MTG Card versions
Reassembling Skeleton - MTG Card versions
Ichorid - MTG Card versions
Bloodghast - Zendikar (ZEN)
Reassembling Skeleton - Archenemy (ARC)
Ichorid - Torment (TOR)

Cards similar to Nether Spirit by color, type and mana cost

Nettling Imp - MTG Card versions
Royal Assassin - MTG Card versions
El-Hajjâj - MTG Card versions
Plague Rats - MTG Card versions
Frozen Shade - MTG Card versions
Scathe Zombies - MTG Card versions
Sorceress Queen - MTG Card versions
Wall of Bone - MTG Card versions
Lost Soul - MTG Card versions
Mindstab Thrull - MTG Card versions
Mischievous Poltergeist - MTG Card versions
Strongarm Thug - MTG Card versions
Razortooth Rats - MTG Card versions
Ghastly Remains - MTG Card versions
Lord of the Undead - MTG Card versions
Deepwood Ghoul - MTG Card versions
Dross Prowler - MTG Card versions
Nim Lasher - MTG Card versions
Nim Abomination - MTG Card versions
Nantuko Husk - MTG Card versions
Nettling Imp - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Royal Assassin - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
El-Hajjâj - Fourth Edition Foreign Black Border (4BB)
Plague Rats - Foreign Black Border (FBB)
Frozen Shade - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Scathe Zombies - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Sorceress Queen - Rivals Quick Start Set (RQS)
Wall of Bone - Rivals Quick Start Set (RQS)
Lost Soul - Introductory Two-Player Set (ITP)
Mindstab Thrull - Masters Edition (ME1)
Mischievous Poltergeist - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Strongarm Thug - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Razortooth Rats - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Ghastly Remains - Legions (LGN)
Lord of the Undead - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Deepwood Ghoul - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Dross Prowler - Mirrodin (MRD)
Nim Lasher - Mirrodin (MRD)
Nim Abomination - Darksteel (DST)
Nantuko Husk - Ninth Edition (9ED)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Nether Spirit MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques and World Championship Decks 2001, 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 Nether Spirit and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Nether Spirit Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 1999-10-04 and 2021-08-26. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11999-10-04Mercadian MasquesMMQ 1491997normalblackAlan Pollack
22001-08-08World Championship Decks 2001WC01 ar1491997normalgoldAlan Pollack
32019-06-14Modern HorizonsMH1 982015normalblackDeruchenko Alexander
42021-08-26Jumpstart: Historic HorizonsJ21 3662015normalblackDeruchenko Alexander

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Nether Spirit has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2019-06-14 If Nether Spirit isn’t the only creature card in your graveyard as its ability resolves, it remains in your graveyard.
2019-06-14 If Nether Spirit isn’t the only creature card in your graveyard as your upkeep begins, its ability won’t trigger. You can’t take any actions during your turn before your upkeep begins.
2019-06-14 If you have two Nether Spirits in your graveyard, they stop each other from returning.

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