Fossil Find MTG Card


Fossil Find - Shadowmoor
Mana cost
Converted mana cost1
RarityUncommon
TypeSorcery
Released2008-05-02
Set symbol
Set nameShadowmoor
Set codeSHM
Number206
Frame2003
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byDave DeVries

Key Takeaways

  1. Allows card recovery from the graveyard, giving players a significant late-game advantage.
  2. Instant speed of Fossil Find provides strategic flexibility and surprise plays.
  3. Recurrence capability and interaction with graveyard strategies make it a versatile pick.

Text of card

Return a card at random from your graveyard to your hand, then reorder your graveyard as you choose.

"Some secrets want to be revealed. They burst through the soil of their own accord." —Dindun of Kulrath Mine


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Fossil Find allows you to recur a card from your graveyard, which ensures you maintain card advantage. This retrieval can be particularly impactful in the late game where every card counts.

Resource Acceleration: By bringing back a land or mana-generating artifact, Fossil Find can help you accelerate your resources. This can enable larger plays or the ability to cast multiple spells in one turn.

Instant Speed: The card’s instant speed gives you flexibility, allowing you to wait for the opportune moment. Whether it’s at the end of your opponent’s turn or in response to a game-changing event, Fossil Find can be cast when it’s most advantageous for you.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Fossil Find requires the player to discard a card upon use. This can be particularly detrimental during the late game or in situations where card advantage is crucial for maintaining control over the game state. Discarding a key piece can sometimes backfire, leading to unfavorable outcomes in tight matchups.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s activation cost necessitates one red mana, which could potentially restrict its integration into multi-colored decks. Players might find it challenging to justify the inclusion of Fossil Find in strategies that do not heavily feature red or have a consistent means of mana fixing to accommodate its color-specific requirement.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With an activation cost that includes both red mana and the additional discard, Fossil Find’s total cost can sometimes be seen as a drawback. Especially when compared to other cards within the same mana range that might offer more immediate impact without the same degree of sacrifice, it can be less appealing during deck construction or when drawing it under pressure during gameplay.


Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Fossil Find offers a unique way to recover cards from your graveyard, enabling a diverse array of deck builds. Its ability to potentially return any card gives it a place in decks that operate with various graveyard strategies.

Combo Potential: With the right setup, Fossil Find can become a recurrent tool to retrieve combo pieces, enhancing synergies and increasing the consistency of your combos throughout the game.

Meta-Relevance: Considering graveyard interaction is a persistent theme in many competitive formats, having Fossil Find at your disposal allows you to adapt to environments where playing from the graveyard is advantageous.


How to beat

Fossil Find is an intriguing card in the MTG realm, offering players an unusual recursion ability. With the power to potentially reclaim the last card from your graveyard, it opens up strategic avenues especially for decks that meticulously manage graveyard order. However, every MTG card has its Achilles’ heel, and the trick to overcoming Fossil Find lies in disrupting graveyard order and utilizing graveyard hate strategies.

Cards like Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void can render Fossil Find functionally useless by exiling cards as soon as they hit the graveyard. Timing is crucial; precise use of these graveyard-hate enchantments can invalidate Fossil Find’s activation. Furthermore, strategic discard through cards like Thoughtseize or Inquisition of Kozilek can remove Fossil Find before it becomes a threat. Overall, understanding the timing and maintaining control of the graveyard are key in nullifying Fossil Find’s potential and keeping the upper hand in your MTG games.


Cards like Fossil Find

Fossil Find is a unique and intriguing spell in Magic: The Gathering that brings a sense of resourcefulness to the graveyard manipulation theme. It shares similarities with cards like Grim Discovery or Cadaver Imp, which also enable players to retrieve cards from the graveyard. Their objective is to gain an advantage by recycling valuable resources. Fossil Find, with its recursive potential, can be especially potent, as it allows for the retrieval of a random card from the graveyard if the number of cards is the same.

While Grim Discovery requires a direct choice and gains back a land in addition to a creature, Fossil Find provides a randomly beneficial outcome that combines well with a tailored graveyard strategy. Another card worth mentioning is Wildest Dreams, which, although more mana-intensive, lets you pick any number of cards to return to your hand. This can create a broader impact later in the game. Conversely, Fossil Find’s lower cost and spontaneous nature could be better suited for decks with a more aggressive and adaptable game plan.

Positioning Fossil Find in the MTG pantheon, it emerges as a noteworthy consideration for players crafting decks that require a smaller, efficiently-costed spell with the potential to produce an ongoing advantage.

Grim Discovery - MTG Card versions
Cadaver Imp - MTG Card versions
Wildest Dreams - MTG Card versions
Grim Discovery - Zendikar (ZEN)
Cadaver Imp - Rise of the Eldrazi (ROE)
Wildest Dreams - Kaladesh Promos (PKLD)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Fossil Find MTG card by a specific set like Shadowmoor, 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 Fossil Find and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Fossil Find has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2008-05-01 All players get to see which card you chose at random.
2008-05-01 Except for the card that you return to your hand, reordering your graveyard won’t affect anything that’s currently targeting or enchanting a card in your graveyard. Whatever it is will be able to track the card it’s targeting or enchanting as your graveyard is reordered.
2008-05-01 If you have multiple cards in your graveyard with the same name, and one of them is being targeted by another spell on the stack or enchanted (with Spellweaver Volute, for example), you must differentiate them so you know which one (if any) is chosen at random. In that case, it may be better to use dice to choose a card at random, or temporarily use a proxy card to represent the targeted card.
2008-05-01 The easiest way to choose a card at random from your graveyard is to turn your graveyard face down, shuffle it, and pick a card. You’re not normally allowed to reorder your graveyard, but since this card lets you do it anyway, it’s okay to mix the cards up while you’re picking randomly.

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