Gnaw to the Bone

Instant

You gain 2 life for each creature card in your graveyard.

Flashback 2{G}

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
Historic Brawl	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Modern Beyond Horizons	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

GummyShark on Bugging You

1 year ago

carpecanum thanks for the suggestions. May drop Gnaw to the Bone for Beacon of Creation

jarncards on SaladFingers

2 years ago

I might run fewer/creatures, since stickfingers will until you reveal x creatures, not just x cards. The fewer you have the higher chance you hit one that destroys the table if you just overload on ramp and reanimates. Rather than these things Crawl from the Cellar,Ghoul's Feast,Gravepurge I'd focus on just reanimating and is easy to get and will probably serve you better. If you really do want it back in your hand Genesis Skullwinder and Eternal Witness do this while attached to a body.

Rather than sending to your hand these will just bring back Diregraf Rebirth, Victimize, Reanimate, Exhume, Unearth, Whisper, Blood Liturgist, Stitch Together,Dread Return.Geth, Lord of the Vault is expensive but can fill your yard as well as revive others. Finale of Devastation revives or tutors, and is a finisher.

Blossoming Wreath,Gnaw to the Bone probably heal less than lifelink, and there's a ton of ways to give lifelink.

Rampant Growth is slightly inferior to Three Visits and Nature's Lore as long as your dual lands have both typesOvergrown Tomb, Bayou, Woodland Chasm, although I'd definitely run all three if there's room. Culling Ritual would be an amazing ramp/wipe card you can use to nuke all tokens and then cast stickfingers. Sakura-Tribe Elder is just rampant growth that works as a blocker for one turn, and it is another creature in your graveyard. Lotus Cobra ramps too, particularly with your other ramp options.

And you'll likey have enough mana to use Decree of Pain, if not, other wipe options are Damnation,Pernicious Deed,Death Cloud,Deathbringer Regent,In Garruk's Wake,Killing Wave,Necromantic Selection,Plague Wind,Reiver Demon,Toxic Deluge. Torment of Hailfire works as a finisher too Endurance is basically the only way you can protect your graveyard that I can think of. I'd probably run Veil of Summer too.

Moodmark Painter gives the +x/+x buff and is on a body Garruk Relentless  ^Flip flips into Garruk, the Veil-Cursed, but its tricky to make this one work

Since you'll have access to really big creatures these can be nice for draw. Greater Good, Momentous Fall, Return of the Wildspeaker, Garruk, Primal Hunter, Morbid Curiosity, Life's Legacy, Disciple of Bolas, Doom Weaver, Selvala, Heart of the Wilds.

Mesmeric Orb,Stitcher's Supplier would be an amazing graveyard filler.

Zombie Infestation and Wild Mongrel is usefull for dumping creatures out of your hand

I think every single black deck should run Dauthi Voidwalker, and the more grave hate you have the more you could take advantage of Living End/Living Death if you use these as mass reanimates. they are the cheapest.

Life from the Loam and Bala Ged Recovery  ^Flip would be good helps for mana and options.

As long as you run Filth run Crop Rotation and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth too since it will make every creature you have unblockable.

Deathrite Shaman would benefit from more fetch lands Marsh Flats,Verdant Catacombs,Misty Rainforest would help mana fix as well as throw more lands into your graveyard.

You have a fairly high number of tutors, and a ton of ramp, so i'd consider Panglacial Wurm. It's a card you dont need to waste a draw to get and can be cast instant speed. And its fun to surprise people with it at least once.

Macaronigrill5150 on Battalion of Bones

2 years ago

Skeleton Tribal unite! Anyways love the deck, I also made a skeleton tribal honestly thought I was the only one. I took the skeleton theme to the max, meaning I only put a card in my deck if it has a bone, or skeleton in the picture. Some cards I would suggest if you want more bones in your deck. Skeletal Grimace for the creatures you don't want to die. Gnaw to the Bone really good for heals. Retrieve this one speaks for itself and finally Read the Bones for the draw. not sure if some of these are legal, haven't really played pioneer, but great deck keep it up.

Balaam__ on The bone zone

2 years ago

Gnaw to the Bone is a decent sideboard option to recoup lost life. You have enough creatures to profit from some heavy life gain.

PikaPete22 on Come On Baby Light My Fire

2 years ago

Great price range, though the list does not include fetch lands.

Do the creatures get answered by Chalice of the Void?

Does Red Deck Wins usually outpace responses, or does RDW use sideboard spots for specific answers to Leyline of Sanctity, Gnaw to the Bone, and Thragtusk?

Gattison on Gruul Sandwiches...

3 years ago

Well, wow... this deck. One of the first pauper decks I ever built, and basically forgotten about until now. Thanks for your interest everybody, you've all inspired me to finally take a second/third/fourth/whatever look at it. I hope you all like the outcome! Let me know your honest thoughts! =D

Mechanon: Sorry for the late response, but I'm glad you like what you see, and I hope you like the new version just as much.

Cheerful_Zucchini: Great advice, all around. As for Hooting Mandrills and Winding Way, well... can you believe I'm out of spare copies, lol! For now I'm using Seek the Wilds and one each of Goblin War Party and Gnaw to the Bone as placeholders. I also researched all the 1-drop tramplers in pauper again, and these still currently look like the best ones... that I also actually own in my collection.

Balaam__: LOL, I feel like Prison Mike thinks he likes this, but if he ever actually experienced it, like with most things, he would just revert to baby-talk.

Goblinking81: I had not before, but it's not a bad idea. Being an artifact creature is actually good because it doesn't require a specific color on Turn 1. If my two new pet-cards (Goblin War Drums and Gnaw to the Bone) don't work out, I'll try that next. I could see that as a good two-of in this deck. Thanks a lot!

VeggiesaurusRex on Aztec Death Whistle (Songs of the Damned Combo)

4 years ago

Captaincaveman83, that's what Gnaw to the Bone is for; it cusions your life total so you can Crypt Rats without killing yourself.

Phunlife on Torex Control

4 years ago

Hey! This is Phunlife from the MTG@Home server. Just thought I'd give you some suggestions, since TortEx is my 2nd favorite Pauper deck. I'm gonna get nitpicky, be warned.

I see you're pretty keen on shutting down Tron with the 3 Thoughtpicker Witch, Mesmeric Fiend, and Burglar Rat. I see where your mind is, since Tron is one of TE's worst matchups.

I don't like Cast Down as it's not a creature and thus, not repeatable. All the other spells the mainboard are fine except those and maybe Gnaw to the Bone.

I also think your manabase needs some work. If you live in the US, I have two more Jungle Hollows I could send you. You reaaaaaalllyyyy want to be tapping for one black mana at a time in order to activate TE, and if you don't have the versatility in your manabase, you're done for. In my experience you don't want to be playing more than 2 Golgari Rot Farms, since tapping for BG is always awkward with TE. I play 2 in my list, but that's because I have a bit of a higher curve.