Gravebreaker Lamia MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost5
RarityRare
TypeEnchantment Creature — Snake Lamia
Abilities Lifelink
Power 4
Toughness 4

Key Takeaways

  1. Lamia empowers graveyard strategies, enabling card entombment for later strategy or combo setups.
  2. Its static ability accelerates resources, reducing graveyard spell costs for potent plays.
  3. Despite high mana cost and color specificity, Lamia’s versatility makes it highly valuable.

Text of card

Lifelink When Gravebreaker Lamia enters the battlefield, search your library for a card, put it into your graveyard, then shuffle. Spells you cast from your graveyard cost less to cast.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Gravebreaker Lamia is a powerhouse for card advantage in MTG. When it enters the battlefield, its ability lets you search your library for a card, put it into your graveyard, and essentially expand your resources. This setup can be critical, especially if your deck thrives on graveyard strategies or if you need to set up a powerful reanimation spell.

Resource Acceleration: This enchantment creature also shines in resource acceleration. Its static ability reduces the cost of spells you cast from your graveyard by one generic mana. This cost reduction can significantly speed up your gameplay, enabling you to cast more spells or activate abilities that might have been too mana-intensive otherwise.

Instant Speed: While Gravebreaker Lamia itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it synergizes extremely well with cards that do. By stocking your graveyard with instant-speed spells through its enter-the-battlefield effect, you are setting yourself up for reactive plays that can catch opponents off guard.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: When you’re looking to integrate Gravebreaker Lamia into your deck, be mindful of its requirement for discarding a card from your hand. This could result in a setback, particularly if your hand is already depleted or if the discarded card is vital to your strategy.

Specific Mana Cost: Costing one generic and four black mana to cast, Gravebreaker Lamia demands a significant commitment to black mana. Decks that are not heavily skewed towards black might struggle to accommodate such a specific mana requirement or may face delays in casting it on curve.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a mana value of five, Gravebreaker Lamia is on the higher end of the curve. In fast-paced games or environments where lower-cost creatures dominate, the effectiveness and timeliness of employing Gravebreaker Lamia could be questioned as there are alternatives that might be quicker to hit the board and impact the game.


Reasons to Include Gravebreaker Lamia in Your Collection

Versatility: Gravebreaker Lamia’s ability to search your library for a card and put it into your graveyard makes it a fit for a wide array of strategies, especially when synergizing with graveyard mechanics.

Combo Potential: This creature can be the lynchpin in powerful combos, providing both a tutor effect and recurring access to key cards in your graveyard through its static spell cost reduction.

Meta-Relevance: Given its capacity to fuel self-mill decks or enable reanimator strategies, Gravebreaker Lamia holds a valuable place in any environment where graveyard interaction becomes a pivotal aspect of gameplay.


How to beat

Gravebreaker Lamia is a card that can slide into graveyard-centric decks in Magic: The Gathering with ease, offering both cost reduction for spells from the graveyard and a way to fuel that strategy by entombing a card. This snake enchantment creature might not possess immediate board impact, but its ability to set up powerful late-game plays makes it a pivotal card to address in matches.

To counter the strategic advantage Gravebreaker Lamia provides, graveyard hate cards such as Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void are crucial. These interrupt the utility of entombed cards and nullify the cost-reduction effect. Another effective approach involves preemptive removal spells like Path to Exile or Assassin’s Trophy to eliminate Gravebreaker Lamia before its controller can leverage the benefits. Timing is key, so aim to disrupt their plans before they can establish a graveyard-based synergy. Additionally, cards such as Scavenging Ooze can be both a proactive and reactive solution, offering the chance to eat away at key cards in the graveyard while simultaneously growing in strength.

In summary, while Gravebreaker Lamia has the potential to spice up the graveyard game, a well-prepared player with the right arsenal of answers can nullify its threat and maintain control over the match.


BurnMana Recommendations

To fully harness the potential of Gravebreaker Lamia in your MTG deck, consider the environment it best thrives in—where graveyard mechanics are not just an afterthought but a central strategy. Revel in the card’s power to sculpt your graveyard, turning it into a toolbox of accessible options, and pave the way to cost-effective spellcasting supremacy. As you optimize your plays, remember to reinforce your defenses against graveyard disruption, ensuring your Lamia’s reign on the battlefield is uncompromised. Eager to elevate your deck-building skills and unlock new pathways to victory? Dive deeper with us into the endless strategic possibilities MTG has to offer.


Cards like Gravebreaker Lamia

Gravebreaker Lamia is an intriguing creature card that brings a unique flair to the graveyard utility theme in Magic: The Gathering. Within its category, it bears resemblance to cards like Entomb, with the ability to search your library for a card and put it directly into your graveyard. However, Gravebreaker Lamia stands out by being a creature, providing a more permanent effect of reducing the mana cost of spells you cast from your graveyard.

Looking at parallels, we consider cards like Buried Alive, another tutor with graveyard placement capabilities. While Buried Alive allows for multiple cards to be placed into the graveyard, it doesn’t offer the cost-reduction benefit or the body on the board that Gravebreaker Lamia does. Then there’s Corpse Connoisseur, a creature with a similar ability to Entomb upon entering the battlefield. Still, Gravebreaker Lamia again tips the scales with its enchantment creature synergy and cost-reducing passive ability, bolstering strategies involving casting from one’s own graveyard.

Through evaluating Gravebreaker Lamia alongside its counterparts, it’s clear that it carves out a niche in graveyard strategy decks, providing ongoing value and synergy that enhances the potency of playing from beyond the grave within Magic: The Gathering.

Entomb - MTG Card versions
Buried Alive - MTG Card versions
Corpse Connoisseur - MTG Card versions
Entomb - Odyssey (ODY)
Buried Alive - Weatherlight (WTH)
Corpse Connoisseur - Shards of Alara (ALA)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Gravebreaker Lamia MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Theros Beyond Death, 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 Gravebreaker Lamia and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Gravebreaker Lamia Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2020-01-24 and 2020-01-24. Illustrated by Lius Lasahido.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 799672015normalblackLius Lasahido
22020-01-24Theros Beyond DeathTHB 3142015normalblackLius Lasahido
32020-01-24Theros Beyond DeathTHB 982015normalblackLius Lasahido
42020-01-24Theros Beyond Death PromosPTHB 98p2015normalblackLius Lasahido
52020-01-24Theros Beyond Death PromosPTHB 98s2015normalblackLius Lasahido

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Gravebreaker Lamia has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2020-01-24 Gravebreaker Lamia’s last ability doesn’t give you permission to cast cards from your graveyard. You need something else allowing you to do so, such as the escape keyword ability.

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