Glacial Grasp MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Instant
Abilities	Mill
Released	2020-09-25
Set symbol
Set name	Zendikar Rising
Set code	ZNR
Number	59
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Tomasz Jedruszek

Key Takeaways

Grants control by tapping a creature and drawing a card for sustained hand strength.
Instant speed increases versatility, letting players respond on their opponent’s turn.
Limited by specific mana cost and lack of forced opponent discard.

Text of card

Tap target creature. Its controller mills two cards. That creature doesn't untap during its controller's next untap step. (They put the top two cards of their library into their graveyard.) Draw a card.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Glacial Grasp not only hampers your opponent’s board presence by tapping a creature, but it also draws you a card, contributing to maintaining hand superiority throughout the match.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly generating mana or tokens, it essentially slows down your adversary, potentially keeping a land or crucial mana dork out of commission for an important turn, indirectly giving you a resource lead.

Instant Speed: Glacial Grasp’s utility is greatly elevated by its instant speed, allowing astute players to react during the opponent’s turn, preserving options and maximizing strategic depth in each game state.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Glacial Grasp can give players an edge by tapping an opponent’s permanent and drawing a card, it does not inherently force the opponent to discard. For a control strategy, this means it lacks the direct disruption to the opponent’s hand that other blue spells could provide, potentially making it a weaker choice in scenarios where diminishing your opponent’s resources is crucial.

Specific Mana Cost: Glacial Grasp is locked into a specific mana combination, costing one blue and two generic mana. This requirement makes it exclusively viable in decks running blue, and potentially a hindrance in multi-colored decks due to mana base constraints. Those not invested in a blue-focused mana base might find it difficult to cast the spell when needed.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana, Glacial Grasp is more expensive when compared with other instant-speed interaction options. A player might find themselves at a tempo disadvantage when using a three-mana spell that only temporarily removes a threat and replaces itself, as opposed to spending that mana on more impactful board development or disruption.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Glacial Grasp is a card that can fit into a variety of blue decks, particularly those that aim to delay the opponent’s game plan. With its ability to tap a target creature and prevent it from untapping during its controller’s next untap step, it’s a useful tool for tempo strategies.

Combo Potential: Glacial Grasp can also be part of intricate combos, as it can be used to disrupt an opponent’s creature-based combos by keeping key pieces tapped down. Additionally, the draw a card effect ensures you don’t lose card advantage, maintaining your hand size to facilitate other combo pieces or control elements.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta that features aggressive creature decks, Glacial Grasp serves as a timely answer. It can stall formidable attackers, safeguard your life total, and help you dig for further answers. Its relevance grows in slower-paced metas where card advantage and tempo gains can dictate the course of a match.

How to beat

Glacial Grasp is an impactful card within the control archetypes of Magic: The Gathering, capable of slowing down your opponent’s tempo by tapping a creature and drawing a card to maintain card advantage. It mirrors similar strategies found in cards like Frost Breath, although Glacial Grasp has the added benefit of the card draw, making it a key piece in managing the battlefield’s ebb and flow.

Despite its strengths, overcoming Glacial Grasp is plausible. The card only targets one creature at a time, thus swarming the board with multiple threats can dilute its effectiveness, as it can only hold back one of your creatures per use. Additionally, cards with hexproof or shroud are impervious to Glacial Grasp’s influence, providing a degree of protection against it. Lastly, instant-speed creature abilities or spells that can untap your creatures could easily mitigate the temporary setback posed by this card.

The value of Glacial Grasp is clear, especially in matches where tempo plays a crucial role. However, understanding its scope and limitations allows players to develop strategies that can push through its icy grip, keeping the momentum in their favor.

Cards like Glacial Grasp

Exploring the intricacies of control mechanisms in Magic: The Gathering reveals that Glacial Grasp is a card that adeptly freezes the competition. Much like Frost Breath, which also taps target creatures and prevents them from untapping during the next untap step, Glacial Grasp offers a comparable chilling effect. However, Glacial Grasp’s edge comes from its mill feature, sending the top two cards from the opponent’s library to the graveyard, potentially depleting their resources further.

Ice Over joins the ranks as another card with a paralyzing impact, albeit it, enchants a permanent to ensure it remains frozen for as long as the enchantment is in play. While not a direct analogy, the long-term control it exerts can be strategically advantageous. Then we have Sleep, a spell that executes a broader freeze, tapping all creatures the opponent controls. Though lacking the card milling aspect, it compensates by immobilizing an entire army at once.

Each card shines in its control strategy, but when it comes to disrupting the opponent and chipping away at their deck, Glacial Grasp delivers a unique blend of immediate tap-control and strategic deck thinning.

Cards similar to Glacial Grasp by color, type and mana cost

Thirst for Knowledge - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Glacial Grasp MTG card by a specific set like Zendikar Rising, 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 Glacial Grasp and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Glacial Grasp has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-09-25	If the target creature is an illegal target by the time Glacial Grasp tries to resolve, the spell doesn’t resolve. No player mills or draws any cards, and the creature won’t be stopped from untapping. If the target is legal but Glacial Grasp doesn’t tap it (most likely because it’s already tapped), the rest of Glacial Grasp’s effects still happen: that creature won’t untap during its controller’s next untap step, that player mills two cards, and you draw a card.