Grapple with the Past

Instant

Mill three cards, then you may return a creature or land card from your graveyard to your hand. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.)

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

Drellino on Having lands in graveyard is good

1 year ago

wallisface i was thinking about this problem and i was waiting for soul of windgrace. Do you think Grapple with the Past is better than Crawling Sensation? For me the second one is slower but has more value. I'm a bit confused:)

TheOfficialCreator on What even is this card?

1 year ago

This card is bizarre, not in terms of gameplay, because it's a decently well-known mill and acceleration card for a lot of more mid-casual decks, but in terms of flavor.

It may be one of the cards with the strangest overall flavor in the game.

Can you guess it?

The Card and Why it's Strange Show

It's Grapple with the Past.

I was just digging through my Double Masters 2022 pack that I bought and stumbled upon a foil one of these suckers. And then I actually sat down and looked at it, analyzing the flavor because, hey, cool Eldrazi card.

But the more I looked at it, the more confused I got.

Because, you see, the name of the card is Grapple with the Past. Obviously a play-on-words about the fact that, in the art, an Eldrazi horror is grabbing... a chipmunk??

It gets worse than this, I promise. The effect kinda lines up with the name, but the flavor text doesn't at all.

Emrakul does not grant wishes. Desires simply align to her will.

Whose desires are we talking about? The chipmunks? What does a wish (something that is pointed towards the future) have to do with the past? Why is a wish connected with the mill card advantage?

Why is it an instant? I get that the original Emrakul could mess with time, but why can one of her horrors just suddenly, in the middle of combat, grab a gopher who somehow has the capacity to have wishes?

I don't know.

Again, this thread is an odd one, but it just comes to show how strange some of Magic: the Gathering's cards are.

What are some cards you've had a similar experience with?

wallisface on Grisly Golgari Grist

2 years ago

Grisly Salvage should be better than Grapple with the Past most of the time

Miwa0609 on Slogurk Land matters (Without Landfalls)

2 years ago

Epicurus

Thanks for all advices! I actually didn't build the deck yet, will do it soon!

I don't play lands that destroys other one because my playgroup don't like playing against them at all. I only play Ghost Quarter because it gives another land to the player so it's fair trade.

I really like Groundskeeper and Grapple with the Past, and I will add them!

Not sure yet how consistently i'll run out of lands, but Goblin Charbelcher is worth a try!

Wave of Vitriol is genius, forgot about that card, thanks!

Epicurus on Slogurk Land matters (Without Landfalls)

2 years ago

Strip Mine, Wasteland and Dust Bowl - They feed your theme, and subtly deny resources to your opponents.

Crop Rotation, Groundskeeper, Harvest Wurm, The Binding of the Titans, Grapple with the Past - All cheap spells on theme that might help lower your mana curve.

Goblin Charbelcher, because you probably run out of lands in your deck regularly.

Wave of Vitriol, because I really want to put it into a deck, but I haven't found the right fit, and I think you have it right here.

axeswinga115 on The Trollflayer

2 years ago

Ohhhh I overlooked that aspect of Grapple with the Past , that's actually a great point! I'm going to find a way to wedge that in there! Also, vengevine is fantastic, so I don't blame you lol

Klaymenard, do you have any social media? I'd love to have somebody to bounce ideas off of for Mdn SF!

Gattison on Killing Lands to go smack

2 years ago

Random suggestions: Rogue Elephant can put a land in the yard. Grapple with the Past could help fill the yard and at the same time retrieve creatures you want/need. Just in case lightning bolt isn't enough there's also Ground Assault and Searing Blaze. Also Groundswell could be cool.

Gattison on What are Ye Doin' in Mah Swamp?

2 years ago

Ah ok, I hadn't thought of that. In that case, perhaps consider this. Most of your creatures can be scavenged from the graveyard, so instead of keeping them OUT of the yard with the Umbras, what about sacrificing them for extra value? Consider 3x Village Rites (which is draw power, meaning you could theoretically find your Contaminated Grounds faster) and either 2x Bone Splinters or 2x Grapple with the Past (or some other form of recursion). I don't know the speed of your deck so it may not be feasible, and I'll try to playtest it later when I got time to see. For now though it's something to think about.