Graveyard Removal Rocks Survey
General forum
Posted on Dec. 31, 2024, 2:42 p.m. by capwner
I'm curious especially for you Modern players, which is the best / your favorite or -drop piece of GRAVEYARD HATE to include in an Urza's Saga package?
To me it seems the contenders are...
Personally I have really been liking Ghost Vacuum for the repeatability, and the 2nd ability's effectiveness against cards like Phlage and Abhorrent Oculus, though it is weaker against decks such as delirium which rely more on a mass of cards in the graveyard vs. specific ones.
Are there any classic graveyard removal rocks I am missing? Which is your favorite and why?
Bookrook That is a good one! The colorfixing effect is unique for sure
December 31, 2024 3:45 p.m.
Probably a good card if you have a self mill deck and you only need to get rid of a specific card in your opponents graveyard.
December 31, 2024 3:48 p.m.
I don’t often play white, but when I do, Rest in Peace punches above its weight in a variety of builds. I don’t know if it would be viable in whatever you’re thinking about though, I’m not an Urza bro.
December 31, 2024 6:40 p.m.
TheOfficialCreator says... #6
I think Relic of Progenitus is the most well-rounded and versatile of the ones here, as it provides three benefits: card advantage, targeted graveyard hate (against reanimator decks), and mass graveyard hate (against abhorrent oculus-type decks). But any of them are pretty good.
January 1, 2025 6:30 p.m.
Balaam__ Rest in Peace is the GOAT, sadly not quite playable for us Saga bros however :) Grafdigger's Cage with its continuous effect would be the closest, but unfortunately if cage is removed the graveyard comes right back. The combined etb exile + continuous effect is what makes RIP such amazing GY hate.
TheOfficialCreator I agree Relic is the most classic and popular choice (besides Tormod's, maybe). But it's worth remembering that the first ability is non-targeted (well, targets a player but THEY choose the exiled card), meaning you can't remove specific cards like Ghost Vacuum or Soul-Guide Lantern ETB. But the tap ability is good for attrition if you can play it early. I agree the cantrip ON USE is nice, this is the main reason I don't like Soul-Guide. Disadvantages of relic would be needing to pay to activate it, the symmetrical effect (say you are playing Emry, Lurker of the Loch for example), and also it exiles itself so it's not possible to loop it (again most likely with Emry). I think in decks that don't care about these things, Relic could be the best option though.
January 2, 2025 2:40 a.m.
TheOfficialCreator says... #8
capwner ah, yeah, missed that part. I'd probably switch to prefer Soul-Guide Lantern then, tbh.
January 2, 2025 2:43 a.m.
TheOfficialCreator Yes I think Soul-Guide or Tormod's in Emry decks; Relic or Vacuum in other decks. Nihil Spellbomb is also unique in that you don't HAVE to hold up mana for it, but it still can cantrip+exile like Relic, so in a black deck I think Nihil is better. In the current modern meta I think Ghost Vacuum makes the most sense given the 2 most popular decks run Phlage and Oculus, making it both denial and a wincon. Grafdigger's Cage could also be promising if we start seeing a lot more Green Sun's decks.
January 2, 2025 6:06 a.m.
wallisface says... #10
Each option has it's own strengths and weaknesses which need to be considered - they're each meta dependent, as well as dependent on the kind of deck you yourself are running
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Relic of Progenitus is probably the strongest card here, but can be really unideal if your own deck is wanting to use its graveyard, as Relic removes your own grave as well. Generally I'll generally only consider the other options below when Relic feels too self-damaging. It's also worth noting that Relic requires a mana to perform its mass-exile, so prefers your deck to be able to easily leave mana up.
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Soul-Guide Lantern is imo a generally worse Relic of Progenitus, but can be a better option for protecting your own graveyard. Not requiring a mana for exile will also sometimes help with decks tighter on mana. Its ETB seems interesting but I haven't found it particularly relevant most of the time, particularly as an Urza's Saga fetch target.
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Tormod's Crypt is the bare-bones graveyard hate, as it costs no mana but comes with no benefits. Its probably only worth considering for decks that are extremely tight on mana (aggro), or decks with high artifact-count-relevance (affinity). Generally I think it would be super hard to justify using this as an Urza's Saga fetch.
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Nihil Spellbomb is a stronger Soul-Guide Lantern if your deck has the ability to pay the .
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Ghost Vacuum is interesting but generally wants to only be played in a deck that has decent-odds of making a game go long (if you're unlikely to ever trigger its mana ability, you're better off just using Relic of Progenitus)
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Grafdigger's Cage hits a very specific range of strategies, while doing nothing for other plans, so is super meta reliant.
Bookrook says... #2
This isn’t a very well known card, and probably more well suited to commander, but my personal favorite is Jack-o'-Lantern
December 31, 2024 3:32 p.m.