Grafdigger's Cage

Artifact

Creature cards in graveyards or libraries can't enter the battlefield.

Players can't cast spells from graveyards or libraries.

Discussion (51)

Massacar on Sword of Body and Mind ...

2 days ago

I would argue that if graveyard decks are already a problem for you, you should consider running things like Ashes of the Abhorrent, Rest in Peace, or Grafdigger's Cage since those all fit into mono white.

Yes giving extra grave resources to those decks is a big drawback, but if they're already a part of your meta it's good to proactively slot cards that can handle them.

Valengeta on YOU get a car! And YOU get a car!

2 days ago

Hello! First of all let me say that this deck looks awesome and really fun to play. I don't really have any suggestions for the Mainboard, but I do have some for the Sideboard:

Cry of the Carnarium might be more useful to you in the current Modern meta, because there's a lot of graveyard shenanigans lying around and things that like to sacrifice creatures. You supplying free sacrificial bodies might not be so good. I understand that you rely on tokens actually changing zones and not be exiled, but sometimes dealing with the opponent is more important, also because tokens dying and draining the enemy's life is not your primary win-con. Also, Relic of Progenitus or Tormod's Crypt will help dealing with graveyard stuff as well, better than Grafdigger's Cage imo.

I think that if you need another spell to protect your own creatures Mizzium Skin might help

Prometheusthewiz on We're all friends right?

3 days ago

Gahiji, Honored One for Gatecreeper Vine

Grand Arbiter Augustin IV for District Guide

Stuffy Doll for Brash Taunter

Skyshroud Claim for Circuitous Route

Nature's Lore for Expedition Map

Grafdigger's Cage for Amulet of Vigor

Notion Thief for Gatebreaker Ram

Forced Fruition for Gates Ablaze

Alms Collector for Scapeshift

Evacuation for Hour of Promise

Narset, Parter of Veils for Guild Summit

jaymc1130 on Silent Scepter

4 days ago

I was a bit intrigued so I threw a list together to test it for a couple of games against E-tron and Jund (my typical standards against which I first test new Modern decks) and the results of 3 games was actually quite promising. Silent Scepter took them all (granted it was going first in each game, but winning on the play against meta staples is the first hurdle a new concept should be able to overcome). I moved the concept to Bant to better play along the Tempo axis, and the exact list I tested was this:

Land: 2 Breeding Pool 4 Flooded Strand 4 Gemstone Caverns 2 Hallowed Fountain 4 Misty Rainforest 2 Mystic Sanctuary 1 Snow-Covered Forest 1 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Plains 1 Temple Garden

Instant: 3 Failure 4 Opt 2 Path to Exile 3 Remand 4 Silence

Creature: 3 Birds of Paradise 3 Grand Abolisher 3 Noble Hierarch 2 Spell Queller

Planeswalker: 3 Teferi, Time Raveler

Sorcery: 4 Serum Visions

Artifact: 4 Isochron Scepter

Sideboard: 2 Force of Negation 4 Grafdigger's Cage 2 Path to Exile 3 Spell Pierce 4 Veil of Summer

Don't actually know what the sideboard should look like but I figure cage is solid into Dredge, Lukka combo, and Neoform combo with potential to be useful in matchups where opponents are playing Uro, Kroxa, or Snapcasters as well. A couple extra paths for more aggro oriented strategies that land creatures before tempo control elements come online on turn 2 (Boggles, Hardened Scales, E-tron, Death's Shadow, Prowess, etc). Veil versus any deck running targeted discard or removal like Abrupt Decay, Assassin's Tropy, or Fatal Push (Grixis, Jund), And a couple of extra countermagic options to defend against other targeted removal like Abrade, or opposing spell based tempo concepts like Burn. Gotta say, even though I haven't play tested this idea ton, it does seem an idea with quite a bit of merit in Modern these days. Certainly has the potential to be a strong performer in the meta up to the point Teferi gets it's deserved ban.

Balaam__ on Jalira’s Three Card Monte

1 week ago

@Destroyerbirb This is quite late but I just noticed the last comment. Grafdigger's Cage is being summarily axed; the relevant wording that renders it completely useless in this deck is as follows: “Creature cards in graveyards and libraries can’t enter the battlefield.”

Jalira’s ability attempts to cause a creature to enter from one’s library, so Grafdigger's Cage is counterproductive. I have yet to playtest this build extensively, so I’m not sure how much graveyard hate I’ll actually need, but I suppose I have a few other options if it’s an issue. Thanks for the suggestions though.

echo4lima on Machine-gun Marwyn

1 week ago

Found and added Heavy Arbalest as an alternate direct damage source. Swapped Elvish Visionary for Llanowar Visionary. Swapped Ground Seal for Grafdigger's Cage (Gishath and Meren are in my meta).

Massacar on Avacyn's bombs

2 weeks ago

Ravnica at War could be a useful asymmetrical wipe.

Coercive Portal is a cool card that gives you either draw or a boardwipe.

Endless Horizons gives you the double bonus of clearing lands out of your deck so you don't get dead draws, while making sure you'll have mana to play every turn.

Grafdigger's Cage to keep the grave locked away, especially if you're playing against someone like Muldrotha.

Rest in Peace for the same reasons and Grafdigger's.

Soul-Guide Lantern and/or Relic of Progenitus for gravehate.

If you're interested you can find my own take on this style of deck here:Avacyn, Angel of Wrath

BRG24 on Felidae Cult

2 weeks ago

You’re, absolutely right, Encircling Fissure would be better than Winds of Qal Sisma, can’t believe I missed it. It does the exact same things, except they’re more consistent and gains more semi-relevant text for the late game, which is well worth the extra mana. Plus, it’s in white, which is your primary colour, so you’re more likely to have the necessary mana to cast it in a pinch.

I feel we will always disagree regarding Watchers of the Dead. To me it’s a card that does two things badly, to the point where you’d always be better off playing a card that only did one of those things properly. A Fleecemane Lion will always be a better body on the board, will always trade better, deal with removal better and will be something that your opponent will have to do something about before you make it monstrous. In a tiny number of cases the graveyard hate might be needed more, but the number of times where this makes Watchers the better card for you are tiny. In terms of actual graveyard hate, Tormod's Crypt is just infinitely better. The difference between no graveyard and two optimal cards in a graveyard is game losing for you. I’m not entirely sure what you’re getting at with your opponent signalling what they’re doing in what they keep, most of the time it’s pretty obvious what the danger cards are, be it an Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath, a Prized Amalgam, or just a big Eldrazi in a reanimator deck. Also, with Lurrus of the Dream-Den, Tormod’s can kill their graveyard every turn for free, basically shutting down their entire deck unless they can find an answer, which is surely much more desirable. And with regards to Lurrus, he can bring back ANY two drop, and actually interacts better with many of the others in your deck, since returning Watchers implies that you haven’t used it for its full value initially, whereas you probably will have with your other two drops. Finally, the fact that it is also an artifact can also be pretty relevant, and not in a good way. Many decks will have incidental artifact hate built into their decks, be that to counter decks built around Ensoul Artifact effects, Shadowspear or even to kill of the graveyard hate cards like Grafdigger's Cage, and to have the card even more vulnerable to removal than practically every other creature in the deck seems kinda problematic.