This is what's known in Magic as a "safety
valve". If graveyard-based decks are becoming
too strong, players can add this to their
sideboards to "release the pressure". Suddenly
non-graveyard decks can run some of these and
defuse Flashback, Undying, and the like, and be
able to compete against the strategies. If
graveyard-based strategies aren't strong enough,
nobody will use them, and thus nobody will
bother with cards like this. When nobody's
running cards like this, a graveyard-based deck
will be able to find victory by catching
opponents off-guard.
Really, the power of this card is entirely
dependent on how much graveyard recursion is
being played in your metagame. If everybody at
your Friday Night Magic has undying creatures
and/or Flashback spells, you'll definitely want
this. If they're rarely seen, this card is
worthless to you.
What I'm curious about is, why does it say "or
libraries?" What are people playing straight out
of their library? All I can think of is
Mirror-Mad Phantasm, and the only deck I can
think of that uses that doesn't even put a
Mirror-Mad Phantasm into play from its library.
Read this card carefully (if you happened to
boost one, you may have done so already). It's
one of the most powerful graveyard hosers of all
time, but it's also limited. It doesn't actually
get the cards out of the graveyard or draw a
card like Relic of Progenitus, and some decks
will want those. It doesn't affect cards like
Genesis or Squee, Goblin Nabob the way Yixlid
Jailer does, and those cards can cause problems
for a lot of decks. But that doesn't mean it
doesn't do something valuable - it does affect
things that can be very problematic in their own
right, and while it won't be the end of
graveyard strategies or go in every deck, it
most certainly will be seen somewhere. Its very
existence may scare some people out of trying
certain kinds of decks (don't fear it, fight
it!), which is a different but significant way
of impacting this game we call Magic.
Today's card of the day is Grafdigger's Cage
which costs one mana and prevents creature cards
from entering the battlefield from the graveyard
or library and players can't cast cards from the
graveyard or library.
The number of cards and combinations this
impacts makes it an amazing sidedeck card that
should not be overlooked by both those looking
to use the Cage and those it will be used
against. While it can be removed it is
enough of a threat, particularly if protected,
that a deck not prepared for it can be
completely disabled. Depending on the
local metagame this is even worth maindecking
and switching out if necessary against certain
opponents, which is a likely tournament
strategy.
For Limited a large number of cards in the block
are shut down by this card and the methods for
dealing with it are few, but it is definitely a
double-edged sword as your own pool is equally
weakened. It is possible to minimize
library or graveyard effects and mostly build a
deck around the Cage, but more than likely it
sacrifices more than it gains. A single
copy of this is not enough to build a strategy
on and losing powerful effects or keywords is
just not worth it. A deck shouldn't just
throw this in either as it can wind up
benefiting your opponent more if not played
correctly. If used as a sort of
pre-counter to an opponent's effect it might be
useful and in general you wouldn't want to see
it across the battlefield, so choosing it first
in Booster is not an incorrect move. In
Sealed it is a one mana artifact which can fit
into any deck as long as caution and
consideration are used before casting it.
In Multiplayer this may have you a targeted by
those that require graveyard or library effects,
but it makes them an even bigger target for
savvy opponents to take advantage of their
weakened condition.
Welcome to
the card of the day section here at Pojo.com!
Today we are looking at the rare artifact
Grafdigger’s Cage from Dark Ascension!
Grafdigger’s Cage is a rare artifact that costs
just one generic mana to drop. Grafdigger’s Cage
say that creature cards can’t enter the
battlefield from graveyards or libraries, and
player’s can’t cast cards from their graveyards
of libraries.
While this card may not see serious play, I feel that
it really should. Perhaps not as a main deck
component, but certainly as a sideboard option
for when you run across reanimate decks, or the
newer zombie decks. This card simply KILLS those
strategies! And it is also very effective
against Flashback based decks. No more getting
to Flashback a spell with this bad boy out!
One of the best instant sideboard rares from the set,
not so great for every situation perhaps, but in
those situations you do need it, you’ll be glad
to have it!
