Watery Grave
Land — Island Swamp
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As this land enters, you may pay 2 life. If you don't, it enters tapped.
- CMC
- 0
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- BU
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Ravnica Remastered
- Price
- —
- EDHREC rank
- #52
Watery Grave enters untapped whenever you need it to — at the cost of 2 life — making it functionally a basic Island or Swamp that never slows you down. Every Dimir and Grixis deck wants it, and commanders like Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept that lean on precise early mana have no reason to run anything worse.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept runs an artifact-based combo shell that needs blue and black mana on curve from turn one, and Watery Grave is the most reliable dual that delivers both without entering tapped.
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero is a high-power partner pair that wants to cast both commanders as early as possible, and Watery Grave covers the overlap in their color requirements without a tempo penalty.
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce occupies a Grixis spell-slinging shell where hitting blue and black on turns one and two is non-negotiable, and Watery Grave is the cleanest answer to that constraint.
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
Tasigur, the Golden Fang has a delve cost that rewards you for hitting lands early and often, and Watery Grave's unconditional untapped entry means it never costs you the turn you need to cast him ahead of schedule.
Talion, the Kindly Lord
Talion, the Kindly Lord wants to land on three mana as reliably as possible and then keep generating card advantage, so Watery Grave's ability to produce either color on demand without entering tapped is exactly what the mana base needs.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Watery Grave is legal across every major constructed format and is a staple in all of them. In Commander it's an auto-include in any deck with blue and black in its color identity — the 2-life payment is negligible over a 40-life game, and the consistency it provides over a tapped dual is worth more than any budget substitution. In Modern and Pioneer it sees consistent play in every Dimir and Esper shell, where untapped dual lands are load-bearing infrastructure. Legacy and Vintage run it too, though those formats have access to duals that enter untapped for free; Watery Grave still earns its slot as redundancy in black-blue strategies that need more than four of the effect.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
unknown tier
Watery Grave has been reprinted multiple times and typically sits in an accessible range relative to other shock lands, making it one of the easier staples to acquire for any Dimir build. If you're building a deck that touches blue and black and don't own one, it's a pick-up — it sees play in every format it's legal in and holds demand across Commander, Modern, and Pioneer simultaneously.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh // Silas Renn, Seeker Adept
- Tevesh Szat, Doom of Fools // Thrasios, Triton Hero
- Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator // Vial Smasher the Fierce
- Tasigur, the Golden Fang
- Talion, the Kindly Lord
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.