MTG Salvation

Praetor's Grasp 1BB

This is a card I NEVER see run in EDH.

It can:
-Effectively neuter a win condition
-Remove a card that would otherwise totally screw you (ie: Iona, Avacyn, etc) AND potentially allow you play said card if you have the color.
-Kill a combo
-Increase your power via artifact theft (two Sol Rings? Or a backup Top? Gilded lotus? Mindslaver? Speed booties? Darksteel Ingot? So many options!)
-Steal a powerful land, potentially fixing your own, or ruining theirs.

If you happen to be playing a color that your opponent is playing, you can very likely treat this card as another tutor. Remember also that the exiled card is pretty much completely untouchable until you decide you want to play it (if ever).

I can't think of an instance where you would play this card and not at least hit SOMETHING worthwhile using or removing. You could potentially even target a general if you're playing with tuck.

What are your opinions folks?

Hey, I run it.

I like it. I'm waiting for the day when I can Grasp the ----ing Ghave player to grab his Grasp, so I can then grab someone's Sol Ring. It will be glorious.

I run this in ALL the black decks. If a deck has the colour Black it's running Praetor's Grasp.

In most games it functions as a second and much more interesting Demonic Tutor, the only hassle is your opponents complaining about the time it takes you to search their deck.

Absolute worst case scenario, and I mean worst case, it's a rampant growth type effect for 1BB

Quote from RickstonSlade

Absolute worst case scenario, and I mean worst case, it's a rampant growth type effect for 1BB

That works on nonbasics

I am really struggling to find any reasons not to make room for this card in both my Karrthus and Kaalia decks...

For the record, pretty sure if you grab a tucked general they get the opportunity to return it to the command zone.

great card, used to use it all black decks but removed it because like most tutors i found myself always going fro the same card, and other players really don't like discovering you took an awesome land or their sol ring. I also found that no matter what card you take you make an enemy of the person you used it on for the
the rest of the game

LOVE this card. I play it every chance I get.

I should go add it to my five-color token deck!

Love the card, have used it to grab an opponents Force of Will or Pact of Negation many times and it comes out of nowhere because ppl dont see the card in your hand.

In every deck I start to build with black I run this card. At first I didn't like it, but I got four of them for a dollar....and had extra room in my Geth deck...and have never looked back.

I don't run Yawgmoth's Will or Sorin because I don't want to buy them...and this card exists (I have a black-heavy meta).

Definitely a good card. Run it in my mono black. But in contrast to the OP I have seen the card listed in many decks here?

Quote from Grinning Demon

Definitely a good card. Run it in my mono black. But in contrast to the OP I have seen the card listed in many decks here?

Yes, it sounds like this card is pretty popular around here, whereas in my meta it's more or less unseen. I'm sure if I start using it, it'll see more play.

In decks with UB, I use it. Even without U, it's useful to shanghai an Identity Crisis or some other thing. I could not run 5c today without it, I think. Excellent card all around that until now I thought was pretty well-known.

Quote from Egarran

Awesome card. I play it in a Thraxi deck with lots of fork and flashback effects. My record so far is six copies.

LOL that is enough to hurt a number of players, or basically "win" a 1v1 unless your opponent is killing you on the board.

I run it. Awesome card. At the very least, it's black mana ramp as your search out your opponent's Sol Ring, at medium you get rid of something really annoying to your build, and at best you get a new wincon.

Definately worth the spot.

One of the best parts is that it's a secret to everyone.

Quote from NGW

For the record, pretty sure if you grab a tucked general they get the opportunity to return it to the command zone.

They do not have a choice. If a General becomes face down in Exile and ANYONE can look at it, they must and then return it to the Command Zone.

Heh, yep, I researched on the internet some more deleted my question and now this bump makes no sense (=

Quote from RickstonSlade

Absolute worst case scenario, and I mean worst case, it's a rampant growth type effect for 1BB

Closer to sylvan scrying but it's still an accurate statement.

Usually it's just as good as a cruel tutor without lifeloss. Sure you won't find specialized niche cards you run in your deck, but it grabs you a second Sol ring and denies them the opportunity to tutor it themselves. It's yet to disappoint me.

It also has the added benefit that it dodges the biggest problem with running tutors in EDH: It doesn't make games samey. I've stopped running nearly as many tutors because you just tutor up engine or combo pieces and play the same game every time. With grasp because it's not your deck it has much greater variance.

It's a decent card... the problem is that I've only got two black decks, and neither of them wants it.

Ghave would much rather rack up a Gravestorm count and cast Bitter Ordeal for the same CMC with less restrictive colors; I don't get to play what I exile, but I get to completely neuter their deck instead... and I can do it to multiple people, and if I had gone infinite with the Gravestorm I can just exile every card in all of my opponents' libraries.

Toshiro wants more instants, and more creature destruction. Grasp is neither.

Quote from Sanity"s_Eclipse

Hey, I run it.

I like it. I'm waiting for the day when I can Grasp the ----ing Ghave player to grab his Grasp, so I can then grab someone's Sol Ring. It will be glorious.

Oh, it is a glorious feeling. I've Knowledge Exploited someones Knowledge Exploitation in an attempt to borrow a Time Stretch... which neither of the other blue players ran

Quote from simplemindedsage

Oh, it is a glorious feeling. I've Knowledge Exploited someones Knowledge Exploitation in an attempt to borrow a Time Stretch... which neither of the other blue players ran

I had one game where I gave Thada Adel, Acquisitor Plainswalk using Whim of Volrath in order to connect. I exiled Caged Sun and cast it, then prowled Knowledge Exploitation (targeting Opponent 1) for Bribery (targeting Opponent 2) for Chancellor of the Spires for Demonic Tutor (from Opponent 3's graveyard) for Notorious Throng. Then I prowled my Notorious Throng. Epic tutor chain is epic.

Grim tutor is $200.

All opponents Sol Ring, or something else worthwhile.
Praetor's Grasp is like Grim Tutor, only you saved $199.

In all seriousness, I run it alongside Nightmare Incursion and Sadistic Sacrament in my MBC deck, and it's pretty good. It's fun to ding a combo player, but, I often just go for the Sol Ring if I think no one at the table is running infinite combos.

Quote from Jm1234

Praetor's Grasp 1BB

This is a card I NEVER see run in EDH.

O___O

I play this in EVERY black deck I have. I looove it.