Bone Mask MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	4
Rarity	Rare
Type	Artifact
Released	1996-10-08
Set symbol
Set name	Mirage
Set code	MIR
Number	295
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	D. Alexander Gregory

Key Takeaways

Bone Mask enables strategic graveyard recovery, providing card advantage and improved late-game maneuverability.
Its instant speed usage allows for surprise plays and more responsive strategies during gameplay.
Though powerful, Bone Mask’s discard requirement and specific mana cost may limit its playability in some decks.

Text of card

, oc T: Prevent all damage to you from any one source. For each 1 damage prevented in this way, remove the top card of your library from the game.

"The protection offered comes at a price. How numerous are your kin?" —Purraj of Urborg

Card Pros

Card Advantage: The Bone Mask card offers players a strategic edge by allowing the recovery of key spells or creatures from the graveyard. This aspect is crucial in maintaining card advantage over opponents, ensuring a steady flow of resources to outmaneuver them in the late game.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly accelerating resources in terms of mana, Bone Mask can indirectly influence the board by bringing back ramp cards or enabling synergistic interactions. It effectively accelerates your game plan by maximizing the potential of your graveyard as an extension of your hand.

Instant Speed: The ability to utilize Bone Mask at instant speed significantly enhances its value. It allows players to respond reactively to graveyard disruptions or to leverage surprise elements during the opponent’s turn. This flexibility ensures that you can adapt to the board state and the pace of the game seamlessly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The need to discard a card to activate Bone Mask can sometimes backfire, especially when playing a hand-intense strategy or when card advantage is critical. This becomes particularly noticeable in situations where a player is pressed for resources or needs to maintain specific combo pieces in hand.

Specific Mana Cost: Bone Mask demands a very specific mana investment, which may not always align smoothly with your mana base. A deck’s mana curve must accommodate for Bone Mask’s costs, potentially making it cumbersome for some builds that could otherwise benefit from its unique abilities.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While Bone Mask offers a unique effect, there are considerations to be had regarding its mana efficiency. With a higher mana cost compared to other artifacts that might serve similar or auxiliary roles, players often weigh the opportunity cost. It takes a substantial amount of mana that could otherwise be deployed towards advancing board state or countering opponent’s threats.

Reasons to Include Bone Mask in Your Collection

Versatility: Bone Mask slots into various deck archetypes due to its ability to disrupt graveyard-based strategies. It’s a utility card that can be played in sideboards or maindecks across multiple formats.

Combo Potential: As a piece that can be sacrificed, Bone Mask works seamlessly with mechanics that trigger upon sacrificing artifacts or that benefit from graveyard interaction, opening up numerous creative build paths.

Meta-Relevance: In games where opponents rely on graveyard recursion or have strategies susceptible to graveyard hate, Bone Mask emerges as a tactical choice to counter these plays, remaining a relevant sideboard card in various metagames.

How to beat

The mystique of Bone Mask as an intriguing defensive artifact in MTG offers a distinct tactical nuance to the game. This piece, reminiscent of equipment cards like Lightning Greaves or Whispersilk Cloak, provides a layer of protection, albeit with a sacrifice mechanism. To navigate around Bone Mask’s ability, smart play and resource management become key.

Adapting to Bone Mask’s presence requires a shift in strategy, similar to playing against controlling tools like Counterspell or Thoughtseize. The focus should shift towards incremental damage strategies or alternative win conditions that bypass its protections. Cards such as Trinisphere can put financial pressure on the Bone Mask’s activation cost, while graveyard interaction like Rest in Peace hampers its recurring use. Employing exile effects, like those from Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares, also nullifies Bone Mask’s protective capabilities, providing a direct path to disrupt your opponent’s defense.

In summary, while Bone Mask can pose a challenge, it’s not insurmountable. A balanced mix of pressure, removal, and graveyard disruption can effectively circumvent the resilience Bone Mask lends to your opponent’s creatures, positioning you to seize the victory in your MTG matches.

Cards like Bone Mask

Bone Mask represents an intriguing artifact in the diverse world of Magic: The Gathering. It can be likened to Elixir of Immortality, as both cards allow a player to shuffle their graveyard back into their library. Bone Mask delivers this shuffle with a more surgical precision, allowing the targeting of individual cards, each accompanied by a life essence tax. In contrast, Elixir of Immortality provides a broader stroke with a flat fee, and as a boon, it nudges up the player’s life total.

In the same category, Cranial Archive offers comparable utility, shuffling the whole graveyard back into the library, similar to Elixir of Immortality, but it lacks the incremental control Bone Mask offers. Then there’s the Codex Shredder, also an artifact, which stands out with the flexibility to target and retrieve a single card from the graveyard to the hand. It provides precise recovery but does not affect the library’s composition as extensively as Bone Mask or its counterparts.

Ultimately, each artifact presents a distinct balance of graveyard manipulation, with Bone Mask being an option for those who prefer to fine-tune their revival strategy over the broader and sometimes uncontrollable effects of its counterparts.

Elixir of Immortality - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Bone Mask by color, type and mana cost

Krark-Clan Ironworks - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Bone Mask MTG card by a specific set like Mirage, 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 Bone Mask and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Bone Mask 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 Bone Mask card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.