Price$0.89 – $37.33
Buy on TCGplayerGravecrawler
Creature — Zombie
LegalRank #692
This creature can't block.
You may cast this card from your graveyard as long as you control a Zombie.
2/1
Why is this card good?
Gravecrawler is one of the best sacrifice fodder cards in the format because it never stays dead. As long as you control another Zombie (which it satisfies itself once it's on the battlefield, but you need a different one to recast), you can keep pulling it back for a single black mana. That makes it an engine, not just a creature.
Where it shines:
- Aristocrats decks running Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, or Bastion of Remnants — recur it endlessly into a sac outlet for repeated drain.
- Zombie tribal (Wilhelt, Varina, Gisa) where it's both a payoff and infinite-combo enabler with free sac outlets like Phyrexian Altar or Carrion Feeder plus a payoff.
- Any mono-black graveyard shell wanting cheap, recurring bodies.
Skip it if you're not playing Zombies or a sac outlet — without another Zombie you can't recast it from the yard, and a 1/1 that can't block is otherwise filler. It's a build-around payoff, not a generically good include.
Related cards
Bloodsoaked Champion
Cheap recursive aggressive creature that returns from graveyard for sacrifice loops.
Reassembling Skeleton
Repeatedly returns from graveyard as a sacrifice fodder creature.
Nether Traitor
Recurs from graveyard cheaply, ideal for aristocrat sacrifice engines.
Carrion Feeder
Free sac outlet Zombie that pairs perfectly with Gravecrawler recursion loops.
Viscera Seer
Free sacrifice outlet enabling infinite Gravecrawler sac loops.
Phyrexian Altar
Provides mana per sacrifice, enabling infinite Gravecrawler recasting combos.
Blood Artist
Drains life each time Gravecrawler is sacrificed in aristocrat loops.
Zulaport Cutthroat
Aristocrat payoff draining opponents on each Gravecrawler sacrifice.
Printings (12)
Played by these commanders
Teval, the Balanced Scale100% of 1
Temmet, Naktamun's Will100% of 1
Combos (8)
- Gravecrawler + Phyrexian Altar
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite LTB
- Warren Soultrader + Gravecrawler + Blood Artist
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite lifegain triggers
- Warren Soultrader + Gravecrawler + Zulaport Cutthroat
→ Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB, Infinite lifegain triggers
- Gravecrawler + Pitiless Plunderer + Ashnod's Altar
→ Infinite colorless mana, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
- Pitiless Plunderer + Gravecrawler + Viscera Seer
→ Infinite LTB, Infinite ETB, Infinite sacrifice triggers
- Pitiless Plunderer + Gravecrawler + Carrion Feeder
→ Infinite +1/+1 counters on a creature, Infinite death triggers, Infinite ETB
Rulings (2)
- 2011-01-22
Gravecrawler's ability doesn't change when you could cast it.
- 2011-01-22
Once you've cast Gravecrawler and it's on the stack, it doesn't matter if you lose control of the other Zombie.