Grave Exchange MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2012-05-04
Set symbol
Set name	Avacyn Restored
Set code	AVR
Number	105
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Sam Wolfe Connelly

Key Takeaways

Offers dual benefits by returning creatures and forcing opponent sacrifices, optimizing card advantage.
Enables instant speed play, allowing for strategic flexibility and disruption of opponent’s plans.
Demands careful hand and mana management, posing a strategic puzzle for deck integration.

Text of card

Return target creature card from your graveyard to your hand. Target player sacrifices a creature.

"It's a cold, dark journey either way." —Eruth of Lambholt

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Grave Exchange offers a dual benefit by returning a creature from your graveyard to your hand while forcing your opponent to sacrifice a creature. This exchange often results in a two-for-one scenario, bolstering your hand and depleting your opponent’s battlefield presence, which is a substantial swing in resources during a match.

Resource Acceleration: By effectively retrieving key creatures from your graveyard, Grave Exchange acts as a form of resource acceleration. It allows you to reuse powerful creatures and their enter-the-battlefield abilities, giving you more mileage out of your cards and maintaining pressure on your opponent.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Grave Exchange at instant speed is a significant advantage. You have the ability to disrupt your opponent’s strategies during their turn, potentially removing a newly played threat or resurrecting a creature in response to an attack or key spell, which can drastically alter the game state in your favor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Grave Exchange asks players to toss another card from their hand into the graveyard, which can backfire if you’re already managing a dwindled hand size. The strategy needs a careful balancing act to avoid self-sabotage, particularly in the late game when each card’s value spikes.

Specific Mana Cost: Locked into a particular mana alignment, Grave Exchange demands black mana, which can be a sticking point in multicolored decks. Players running a broad spectrum of colors might find integrating this card smoothly into their mana curve a bit of a puzzle.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a demand for more mana than some alternative cards providing similar effects, Grave Exchange might not pass the efficiency test. In the fast-paced dynamic of the current gameplay environment, investing four mana could be seen as a steep price for the utility offered.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Grave Exchange offers a unique flexibility, fitting seamlessly into strategies that require both graveyard manipulation and control elements.

Combo Potential: This card acts as a catalyst within graveyard-centric decks, allowing players to retrieve key pieces while disrupting opponents.

Meta-Relevance: With graveyard interactions being a persistent theme in many MTG formats, Grave Exchange is a relevant tool to gain an edge in a wide array of matchups.

How to beat

Grave Exchange is an intriguing spell that can turn the tide of a Magic: The Gathering match with its ability to return a creature from the graveyard to the battlefield. Its strength lies in the element of surprise and resource maximization, similar to the iconic Zombify. To counter Grave Exchange, strategic graveyard management is key. Cards like Rest in Peace and Tormod’s Crypt excel by removing opponent’s graveyard options, effectively neutralizing the potential of Grave Exchange.

Moreover, countering the spell itself is a viable strategy. Providing you have the right color mana and counterspell, such as Counterspell or Negate, you can prevent Grave Exchange from resolving. This not only disrupts your opponent’s strategy but also maintains your tempo. Always be aware of the mana your opponent has available and the potential for a spell like Grave Exchange. If you can expect it, you can plan for it, tipping the scales in your favor.

Ultimately, being proactive with graveyard control and reactive with tailored counterspell strategies are the clearest paths to ensuring that Grave Exchange does not upset your carefully laid plans on the battlefield.

Cards like Grave Exchange

Grave Exchange enters the landscape of resurrection mechanics with a twist in MTG gameplay. Its neighbors in the realm of graveyard retrieval include Zombify and Rise from the Grave, both of which focus on bringing a creature back from the graveyard to the battlefield. Grave Exchange, operating in this same vein, adds to your strategic depth with an additional component of forcing an opponent to sacrifice a creature.

Comparatively, Unearth is also in the business of reanimation, boasting a lower cost but limited to creatures with a converted mana cost of 3 or less and giving them haste. This can lead to immediate impact plays, though sans the controlling aspect afforded by Grave Exchange. Then we delve into the domain of Beacon of Unrest, a flexible alternative capable of targeting not just creatures, but artifacts as well. The Beacon also has the upside of shuffling back into the library, providing potential recurring value that Grave Exchange doesn’t offer.

Amidst this cadre of grave-touched spells, Grave Exchange holds its ground by analogizing strategic positioning with a bonus disruption effect, making it a card worth considering for players looking to leverage their graveyard for both resource gain and opponent resource denial.

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

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Grave Exchange MTG card by a specific set like Avacyn Restored, 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 Exchange and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Grave Exchange has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2012-05-01	Grave Exchange targets both a creature card in your graveyard and a player. You can’t cast it unless there is a legal target to choose for both. You can target a player who controls no creatures.
2012-05-01	If both targets are illegal when Grave Exchange tries to resolve, it won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen. If only one target is legal, the effect relevant to that target will happen and the other will not.