Grave Servitude MTG Card


Grave Servitude - Mirage
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityCommon
TypeEnchantment — Aura
Abilities Enchant
Released1996-10-08
Set symbol
Set nameMirage
Set codeMIR
Number126
Frame1997
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byAdrian Smith

Key Takeaways

  1. Instantly reanimates creatures, providing a strategic advantage during an opponent’s turn.
  2. Enables potent card advantage by utilizing graveyard resources efficiently.
  3. Casting flexibility complements both aggressive and control strategies in black decks.
Flash card art

Guide to Flash card ability

Explore the dynamic Flash ability in Magic: The Gathering (MTG), a feature that allows you to cast spells at lightning speed, often leaving your opponents reeling and your strategy several steps ahead. This versatile ability can turn the tide of a game, providing the element of surprise and tactical advantage. It places a premium on timing and foresight, transforming an ordinary deck into a formidable arsenal of instant threats and responses.

Text of card

You may choose to play Grave Servitude as an instant; if you do, bury it at end of turn. Enchanted creature gets +3/-1 and is black.

"I no longer believe in a final resting place." —Shauku, Endbringer


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Grave Servitude offers a potent form of card advantage for black decks. By reanimating a creature directly from the graveyard to the battlefield, it effectively grants you access to additional resources without using a card from your hand. This can tilt the balance in your favor, as you’re making better use of all your resources.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly offering mana acceleration, Grave Servitude quickly shifts the board state by getting a creature into play at potentially less than its mana cost. This quickened pace can outstrip an opponent’s resources as you accelerate your board presence and strategic plan.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Grave Servitude at instant speed cannot be overstressed. This allows players to wait until the most opportune moment, like during the end phase of an opponent’s turn, to bring a creature back into play. This surprise factor can catch opponents off guard and disrupt their strategies.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Grave Servitude’s utility comes at the price of discarding another card, potentially depleting your hand and compromising your ability to respond to new threats or opportunities on the battlefield.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s mana cost is strictly black, which may be cumbersome for multi-colored decks that require a balanced mana base to operate efficiently.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana value that might be considered steep for its effect, players may find it challenging to justify including Grave Servitude in a deck where other, less resource-intensive options are available.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Grave Servitude offers a flexible approach to gameplay, easily fitting into black-based aggro or control decks. Its ability to enchant any creature lends itself to various strategies, enhancing either your most formidable creature or weakening an opponent’s.

Combo Potential: This card shines in combos, especially with graveyard-based strategies. By reanimating key creatures with Grave Servitude, you can swiftly turn the tide of battle, making it a synergistic piece in any necromantic arsenal.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where resurrection and creature utility are pivotal, Grave Servitude proves its worth. It can repeatedly manipulate the battlefield, ensuring your deck adapts to and potentially dominates the competitive environment.


How to beat

Grave Servitude, with its utility to resurrect creatures from the graveyard and boost them with additional power, commands attention from any player who faces it across the table. However, like any card in Magic: The Gathering, understanding its weaknesses is key to overcoming its advantages. To effectively counter Grave Servitude, players may consider a strategy focused on graveyard disruption. Cards such as Tormod’s Crypt or Leyline of the Void prevent opponents from exploiting their graveyards, rendering Grave Servitude ineffectual.

Another approach is to prioritize removal spells that exile rather than destroy, such as Path to Exile or Swords to Plowshares. By exiling creatures, one ensures that they won’t become targets for Grave Servitude’s reanimation abilities. In addition to these, keeping up counter magic specifically for that critical turn can mitigate the impact of reanimated threats, giving you the tempo advantage necessary to control the game. Overall, the key to beating Grave Servitude lies in preemptive graveyard management, timely removal, and strategic counterspells—all integral parts of a well-rounded Magic: The Gathering deck.


Cards like Grave Servitude

Grave Servitude is a unique spell for those delving into the strategic depths of Magic: The Gathering. It shares the common theme of creature enhancement with cards like Unholy Strength, bestowing additional power and toughness upon the target creature. Grave Servitude adds on an impactful twist with its ability to also grant the bonus of being a black Zombie in addition to its other colors and types, setting it apart in a zombie-themed deck that might benefit from such tribal synergies.

In a similar comparison, we might look to the card Supernatural Stamina which also saves a creature from death for a turn, but it differs from Grave Servitude by providing a temporary resurrection ability rather than a static boost to power and toughness. Another parallel can be drawn to the card Death’s Approach, which, while not directly enhancing our own creatures, it debilitates an opponent’s creature based on the number of creature cards in their graveyard, aligning with the thematic elements of the graveyard manipulation found in black decks.

Therefore, when examining the intricacies and strategic advantages provided by various creature enhancement spells, Grave Servitude secures a unique position, particularly within black and zombie-centric decks, by offering a combination of power boost and tribal enhancement that is not common in MTG.

Unholy Strength - MTG Card versions
Supernatural Stamina - MTG Card versions
Death's Approach - MTG Card versions
Unholy Strength - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
Supernatural Stamina - Amonkhet (AKH)
Death's Approach - Gatecrash (GTC)

Cards similar to Grave Servitude by color, type and mana cost

Bad Moon - MTG Card versions
Fear - MTG Card versions
Warp Artifact - MTG Card versions
Deathgrip - MTG Card versions
Blight - MTG Card versions
Animate Dead - MTG Card versions
Seizures - MTG Card versions
Leshrac's Sigil - MTG Card versions
Lim-Dûl's Hex - MTG Card versions
Dance of the Dead - MTG Card versions
Enfeeblement - MTG Card versions
Oath of Ghouls - MTG Card versions
Despondency - MTG Card versions
Chains of Mephistopheles - MTG Card versions
Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - MTG Card versions
Brain Maggot - MTG Card versions
Aphemia, the Cacophony - MTG Card versions
Oversold Cemetery - MTG Card versions
Lingering Death - MTG Card versions
Cover of Darkness - MTG Card versions
Bad Moon - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Fear - Tenth Edition (10E)
Warp Artifact - Masters Edition IV (ME4)
Deathgrip - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Blight - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Animate Dead - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Seizures - Ice Age (ICE)
Leshrac's Sigil - Ice Age (ICE)
Lim-Dûl's Hex - Ice Age (ICE)
Dance of the Dead - Masters Edition II (ME2)
Enfeeblement - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Oath of Ghouls - Exodus (EXO)
Despondency - Urza's Saga (USG)
Chains of Mephistopheles - Magic Online Promos (PRM)
Tribute to Horobi // Echo of Death's Wail - Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (NEO)
Brain Maggot - Historic Anthology 2 (HA2)
Aphemia, the Cacophony - Theros Beyond Death Promos (PTHB)
Oversold Cemetery - Dominaria Remastered (DMR)
Lingering Death - Scourge (SCG)
Cover of Darkness - Assassin's Creed (ACR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grave Servitude 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 Grave Servitude and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grave Servitude has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PauperLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2004-10-04 The color change lasts only while this card is on the creature.
2009-10-01 The sacrifice occurs only if you cast it using its own ability. If you cast it using some other effect (for instance, if it gained flash from Vedalken Orrery), then it won’t be sacrificed.

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