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
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
Pioneer	Legal
Planar Constructed	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (49)

razelfark on Tron Reanimator

3 weeks ago

Just noticed your using Grapple with the Past. This card can be replaced with Cache Grab as the card digs one deeper and can grab any permanent instead of just creatures or lands. The squirrel part of the card can be ignored.

Rhadamanthus on Tron Reanimator

3 weeks ago

If you're only going to play 19 lands then I think it'd be safer to lean more on the 1-cost landcyclers, Troll of Khazad-dum and Generous Ent, than the 2-cost ones. It's really important for you to be able to make the step from 1 to 2 so you can start casting Grapple with the Past, Malevolent Rumble etc. and make it to 3 to get your game plan started for real.

I see you have Maul Splicer in your maybeboard, I highly recommend a couple of these as just a good Pauper Tron piece (in my probably outdated opinion, having not played the deck for many years) as well as a good friend to Maelstrom Colossus for the trample.

I think Prophetic Prism was recently unbanned, so you can replace Energy Refractor and find space for a second copy as well.

UltimateRoxas40 on Kathril, Nightmare of Indatha [Keyword Primer]

3 weeks ago

KllrRoboPenguin Thanks for the suggestions!

I could probably slot in Assassin's Trophy in the place of Beast Within. And I've thought about Divine Reckoning before, but I've found that a full board wipe has often been more useful than all but one creature.

Ripples of Undeath seems like it would fit this deck, but I agree, it does run a little slow. I wouldn't replace Sylvan Library with it, but maybe one of my 'ramp' cards like Grapple with the Past or Winding Way. I'm actually working on getting a copy of this card, so I'll slot it in and play a couple rounds and see how it flows.

Not sure how I missed Bleeding Effect, it does seem like a better Odric, Lunarch Marshal. I'll have to play around with adding that in too.

As for Shrike Force, it's a little too vanilla for me. And my issue with Ketramose, the New Dawn is that I can't stand the checkered flag set symbol haha. That, and his additional abilities don't really synergize well with the rest of the deck. I've tried to curate my creatures to be both a good source of keywords and also be effective on the field if Kathril gets sidelined for any reason.

KongMing on Llanowar's Aftermath

6 months ago

How about Nyx Weaver, Grapple with the Past, Roots of Wisdom, The Binding of the Titans, and Aftermath Analyst?

Drellino on Having lands in graveyard is good

2 years 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:)

DeinoStinkus on What even is this card?

2 years 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

3 years ago

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

Miwa0609 on Slogurk Land matters (Without Landfalls)

3 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!