Thwart the Grave
Sorcery
This spell costs 
less to cast for each creature in your party. (Your party consists of up to one each of Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, and Wizard.)
Return target creature card and up to one target Cleric, Rogue, Warrior, or Wizard creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
- CMC
- 6
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Zendikar Rising
- Price
- $0.27
- EDHREC rank
- #8650
Thwart the Grave puts two creatures — one of them The Destined Warrior — directly onto the battlefield from your graveyard for a cost that collapses to as low as two mana in a party-stacked deck. At full reduction it's one of the most efficient reanimation spells in the format, and the party mechanic means the discount is rarely hard to achieve.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
The Destined Warrior
The Destined Warrior is the deck Thwart the Grave was designed for — the commander himself counts toward party, so you're almost always discounting this spell by at least one, and recurring him alongside a Cleric, Rogue, or Warrior closes the loop on his level-up game plan immediately.
Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero
Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero runs Thwart the Grave because the deck is already assembling a four-class party to maximize Burakos's treasure generation, which means the spell routinely costs two or three mana and recovers two key creatures in a single action.
Nalia de'Arnise
Nalia de'Arnise wants a full party on the board for her dungeon-venture trigger, so Thwart the Grave does double duty — it refuels the party count after a wipe and puts two creatures into play to trigger Nalia's ability in the same turn.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Thwart the Grave actually lives — party decks in the 99 treat it as budget reanimation that scales with the board state, and at its floor it competes with Zombify at a fraction of the effort. In competitive non-rotating formats like Legacy and Modern it has no meaningful home, since party synergies lack the critical mass to make the discount reliable and dedicated reanimation strategies have faster, unconditional options. Pioneer is the same story. Thwart the Grave is a Commander card through and through: the singleton format, slower pace, and tribal party commanders are the exact conditions that make the cost reduction real rather than theoretical.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.27 bulk tier
At $0.27, Thwart the Grave is deep bulk — easy to pick up in any trade binder or as a throw-in. Demand is narrow enough that the price isn't going anywhere meaningful, so grab it for its playability rather than any expectation of appreciation.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- The Destined Warrior
- Burakos, Party Leader // Folk Hero
- Nalia de'Arnise
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.