Moss-Pit Skeleton MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Creature — Plant Skeleton
Abilities	Kicker
Released	2020-09-25
Set symbol
Set name	Zendikar Rising
Set code	ZNR
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	228
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Bryan Sola

Key Takeaways

Moss-Pit Skeleton enables card advantage through its graveyard-return ability, enhancing long game endurance.
Its kicker fosters resource acceleration, bolstering creatures and board position for more robust play.
The card integrates well with counter-focused spells, permitting dynamic response to the evolving game state.

Text of card

Kicker (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.) If Moss-Pit Skeleton was kicked, it enters the battlefield with three +1/+1 counters on it. Whenever one or more +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you control, if Moss-Pit Skeleton is in your graveyard, you may put Moss-Pit Skeleton on top of your library.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Moss-Pit Skeleton offers the potential for repeated card advantage due to its ability to return from the graveyard to the top of your library – a significant benefit in long, grindy matches where resources are key.

Resource Acceleration: With its kicker cost, this card becomes a tool for resource acceleration by placing additional +1/+1 counters on your creatures, boosting board presence and enabling stronger attacks or better defenses.

Instant Speed: While Moss-Pit Skeleton itself doesn’t operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with instant-speed spells that operate with counters, allowing you to plan your graveyard strategy effectively and adapt to the current game state on the fly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For Moss-Pit Skeleton to fully leverage its potential, a specific discard condition must be met, which may not always align with your game strategy or current board state.

Specific Mana Cost: This card’s casting cost includes both black and green mana, demanding a commitment to a two-color deck composition, thus potentially limiting its incorporation into a variety of deck types.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of two mana—one of each black and green—it could consume a significant part of your mana resources in the early game, potentially detracting from other plays or board development strategies.

Reasons to Include Moss-Pit Skeleton in Your Collection

Versatility: Moss-Pit Skeleton sports a powerful keyword in the form of kicker, making it flexible to play early in the game or later with an added benefit. This adaptability ensures it can find a home in various deck archetypes looking for resilient creatures.

Combo Potential: It synergizes with +1/+1 counter strategies and graveyard-based decks, enabling intricate interactions. When combined with other cards that manipulate counters or the graveyard, Moss-Pit Skeleton can become a recurring threat that adversaries must address repeatedly.

Meta-Relevance: In a meta where graveyard interaction and counter play are prevalent, Moss-Pit Skeleton proves its worth. It can repeatedly contest the battlefield and provide persistent value, making it a card worth considering for decks designed to thrive in such an environment.

How to beat

The Moss-Pit Skeleton card is a nifty option in the Golgari ramp toolbox, featuring both a valuable graveyard interaction and a self-perpetuating presence on the battlefield. This creature card offers an interesting dynamic, able to return from the graveyard to the top of your library whenever you cast a spell with a greater power.

When facing this card, it’s essential to mitigate its self-recycling feature. The key to overcoming the Moss-Pit Skeleton’s resilience is to maintain graveyard control. Employing cards that exile such as Scavenging Ooze or Relic of Progenitus can efficiently remove it from the game, negating its recurring ability. Other strategies involve countering your opponent’s larger creatures to prevent the skeleton’s return trigger or using graveyard shuffling effects to ensure that it can’t stay on top of the library, ready for a comeback.

Ultimately, understanding the conditions for Moss-Pit Skeleton’s recurrence and having the right counters in place can nullify its advantages, allowing you to keep the upper hand in the match. Properly managing your removals and interruptions can turn this potentially persistent threat into a non-issue on your path to victory.

Cards like Moss-Pit Skeleton

Moss-Pit Skeleton is a unique card that blends seamlessly into the mechanics of Magic: The Gathering. It draws a close parallel to other self-recursion creatures like Golgari Thug, which similarly can return from the graveyard to the deck. Where Moss-Pit Skeleton shines is in its synergistic kicker ability, enabling it to strengthen itself when conditions are favorable.

Dread Wanderer is another creature that springs to mind, able to resurrect itself from the graveyard to the battlefield, but Moss-Pit Skeleton’s flexibility to come back as a bigger threat sets it apart. Moreover, Scavenging Ooze exists in a related category, offering graveyard interaction by exiling cards to gain strength, although it doesn’t return itself to play.

Sketching comparisons between these MTG creatures illuminates the strategic advantages Moss-Pit Skeleton holds, particularly for players leveraging graveyard tactics. Its kicker feature and scalability speak volumes for those aiming to construct a formidable creature presence that persists against adversity. Engaging in this type of strategic deck-building enhances the play experience with Moss-Pit Skeleton at the core.

Cards similar to Moss-Pit Skeleton by color, type and mana cost

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Skullbriar, the Walking Grave - MTG Card versions

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Moss-Pit Skeleton 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 Moss-Pit Skeleton and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Moss-Pit Skeleton has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Restricted
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Moss-Pit Skeleton 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	An ability that triggers when a player casts a kicked spell resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger, but after targets have been chosen for that spell. It resolves even if that spell is countered.
2020-09-25	If you copy a kicked spell, the copy is also kicked. If a card or token enters the battlefield as a copy of a permanent that’s already on the battlefield, the new permanent isn’t kicked, even if the original was.
2020-09-25	If you put a permanent with a kicker ability onto the battlefield without casting it, you can’t kick it.
2020-09-25	Kicker represents an optional additional cost that you may choose to pay as you cast the spell. A spell cast with that additional cost paid is “kicked.”
2020-09-25	Moss-Pit Skeleton’s last ability triggers if a creature enters the battlefield under your control with +1/+1 counters on it, as well as when +1/+1 counters are put on a creature you already control.
2020-09-25	Moss-Pit Skeleton’s last ability triggers only if it’s already in your graveyard as +1/+1 counters are put onto a creature you control.
2020-09-25	Some instant or sorcery spells require alternative or additional targets if they’re kicked. You ignore these targeting requirements if those spells aren’t kicked, and you can’t kick those spells unless you can choose the appropriate targets. On the other hand, you can kick a permanent spell even if you won’t be able to choose targets for an enters-the-battlefield ability of that permanent once the spell resolves.
2020-09-25	To determine a spell’s total cost, start with the mana cost (or an alternative cost if another card’s effect allows you to pay one instead), add any cost increases (such as kicker), then apply any cost reductions. The converted mana cost of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was.
2020-09-25	You can’t pay a kicker cost more than once.