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  3. Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm

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Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm

Grist, Voracious Larva // Grist, the Plague Swarm

Legendary Creature — Insect // Legendary Planeswalker — Grist

Grist, Voracious Larva wants a deck that fills its discard pile and plays cards back out of it. It also suits a deck that copies the best creature on the table.

  • Mana costgreen
  • Black, Green ()
  • Power / toughness1 / 2
  • RarityMythic

Deathtouch

Whenever Grist or another creature you control enters, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, you may pay green. If you do, exile Grist, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control.

//

+1: Create a 1/1 black and green Insect creature token, then mill two cards. Put a deathtouch counter on the token if a black card was milled this way.

−2: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.

−6: For each creature card in your graveyard, create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 1/1 black and green Insect.

Build a deck with Grist Find it in the app

Themes

Cards That Fit Grist, Voracious Larva

Picked for what they do in Grist's deck. When two cards do the same job, the one with the lower comes first. All of them fit Grist's color identity.Mana ValueThe total amount of mana a card costs, all added up. A card costing two generic and one green has a mana value of three. Wizards renamed this from "converted mana cost" in 2021, so older cards and articles may still use the old name.Sol RingOpen the full glossary

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

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The 6 Cards

Rulings for Grist, Voracious Larva

explain how Grist works in tricky situations. They come from Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic.RulingThe official answer to how a card works in a tricky situation. Most rulings are written by Wizards of the Coast, the company that makes Magic, and a few are notes from Scryfall, the card database Magic players use. A ruling explains a card. It does not change what the card says.Open the full glossary

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

A transforming double-faced card enters the battlefield with its front face up by default, unless a spell or ability instructs you to put it onto the battlefield transformed or allows you to cast it transformed, in which case it enters with its back face up.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

Each face of a transforming double-faced card has its own set of characteristics: name, types, subtypes, abilities, and so on. While a transforming double-faced permanent is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's currently up. The other set of characteristics is ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

Each transforming double-faced card in this set is cast with its front face up. In every zone other than the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of its front face. If it is on the battlefield, consider only the characteristics of the face that's up; the other face's characteristics are ignored.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

Except for the listed exceptions, the tokens created by Grist, the Plague Swarm's last ability copy exactly what was printed on the original cards and nothing else. They don't copy any information about the objects those cards were before they were put into your graveyard.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

If a card copied by one of the tokens had any "when [this creature] enters the battlefield" abilities, the appropriate token also has those abilities and will trigger them when it's created. Similarly, any "as [this creature] enters the battlefield" or "[this creature] enters the battlefield with" abilities that a token has copied will also work.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

If any of the copied cards have {X} in their mana costs, {X} is 0.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

If Grist, Voracious Larva leaves the battlefield while its triggered ability is on the stack, you can't exile it from the zone it's put into, so you won't return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

If you are instructed to put a card that isn't a double-faced card onto the battlefield transformed, it will not enter the battlefield at all. In that case, it stays in the zone it was previously in. For example, if a single-faced card is a copy of Ral, Monsoon Mage, choosing to exile that permanent during the resolution of its triggered ability will cause it to remain in exile.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

In some rare cases, a spell or ability may cause Grist, Voracious Larva to transform while it's a creature (front face up) on the battlefield. If this happens, Grist, the Plague Swarm won't have any loyalty counters on it and will subsequently be put into its owner's graveyard.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

In the Commander variant, a double-faced card's color identity is determined by the mana costs and mana symbols in the rules text of both faces combined. If either face has a color indicator or basic land type, those are also considered. For example, Ral, Monsoon Mage's color identity is blue and red, since its front face is red and its back face has a blue and red color indicator.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

The back face of a transforming double-faced card usually has a color indicator that defines its color. Colorless back faces, such as lands, do not.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

The mana value of a transforming double-faced card is the mana value of its front face, no matter which face is up.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

The tokens are Insects instead of their other creature types, and they're black and green instead of their other colors. These are copiable values of the tokens that other effects may copy.

Wizards of the Coast 7 Jun 2024

You can activate one of Grist, the Plague Swarm's loyalty abilities the turn it enters the battlefield. However, you may do so only during one of your main phases when the stack is empty. For example, if Grist, the Plague Swarm enters the battlefield during combat, there will be an opportunity for your opponent to remove it before you can activate one of its abilities.

14 rulings, all written by Wizards of the Coast. Read the originals on Gatherer ↗

Similar Commanders

Commanders that share the most with Grist, and what they share.

Color identityEvery color of mana symbol on a card, in its cost and in its rules text. Your commander's color identity sets the limit for your whole deck: every other card has to fit inside it. A deck led by a green and white commander cannot play a card with any blue in its color identity.Open the full glossaryBGPlayers write colors as letters: B for black, G for green.Graveyard/Self-MillGraveyard decks fill their own graveyard on purpose, then play cards from it as if it were a second hand. Moving cards from the top of your own deck straight into the graveyard is called self-mill.Open the Graveyard/Self-Mill pageSelf-MillPuts cards from your OWN library into your graveyard on purpose. Milling means moving cards off the top of a library into a graveyard. Aimed at an opponent that is an attack; aimed at yourself it is setup, filling the graveyard for the cards that want to use what is in it. Stitcher's Supplier, Hermit DruidOpen the Self-Mill pageGraveyard PayoffRewards you for having cards in your graveyard, or uses them straight from there. Your graveyard is normally where cards go once they are finished with; these turn it into a second hand, and the fuller it is the better they get. Golgari Grave-Troll, SplinterfrightOpen the Graveyard Payoff pageRecursionBrings cards back from the graveyard: to your hand, to the battlefield, or letting them be cast again from where they lie. Eternal Witness, Reanimate, VictimizeOpen the Recursion pageReanimationReturns a creature card from a graveyard straight to the battlefield, skipping its mana cost. That is why decks built around it put their biggest creatures into the graveyard on purpose. Named for Reanimate. Animate DeadOpen the Reanimation pageClonesClone decks copy the best creature on the battlefield, whoever owns it, so they always have one of the strongest things on the table. A copy also gets the original's 'when this enters' ability, so each clone can bring a fresh effect too.Open the Clones pageCloneCopies a creature or another permanent already on the battlefield. Copying the best thing on the table is often cheaper than casting something equally strong. Phyrexian Metamorph, Helm of the HostOpen the Clone pageToken EngineMakes tokens again and again rather than once. A token is a creature or other permanent created by a card, with no card of its own. Something that makes one token gives you a body; something that makes them every turn gives you a board you can keep rebuilding after it is cleared. Grave Titan, Bitterblossom, OphiomancerOpen the Token Engine pageReanimatorReanimator decks put big creatures into their own graveyard early, then bring them back onto the battlefield without paying their cost. It gets a huge creature into play far sooner than you could afford to cast it.Open the Reanimator pageInsectsInsects are mostly green and black creatures, from tiny swarms to giant beetles, and about a quarter of them fly.Open the Insects pageToken MakerCreates one or more tokens. Different cards make very different ones: creatures Grave Titan, Treasures Smothering Tithe, Clues Tireless Tracker or Food Gilded Goose. This is one of our largest tags, so pair it with an archetype or theme when you are hunting a specific kind.Open the Token Maker page