Grind
Grind is an unused keyword and informal term for a variation of the milling mechanic which puts cards from a library into the graveyard until a specified number of land cards are put there.[1][2] It was originally designed as the Dimir mechanic for Gatecrash.[3] After it was shifted to Cipher, the mechanic was still present, without the keyword, on several cards.[4]
| Mechanic | |
|---|---|
| Introduced | Gatecrash |
| Last used | The Lord of the Rings |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
|
10 cards  10%  30%  60% | |
While the actions a player takes when grinding appear to resemble those of mill, the specific rules of the mill keyword means it is inaccurate to reword it to "mill cards until you mill a land."
Most of them can only affect the opponent. Two that don't (Balustrade Spy and Undercity Informer) were notorious in larger formats to guarantee the owner's library in the graveyard when played in a deck with all double-faced lands, something that resulted in their banning for Pioneer.
Cards similar to grind
The following are not categorized as grind, generally because they do not use land as the revealed type.
Opponents
- Helm of Obedience — target opponent mills a creature or X cards
- Telemin Performance — target opponents reveal a creature
- Thought Dissector — target opponents reveal an artifact or X cards
Either
- Curse of Unbinding — enchanted player reveal a creature.
- Tunnel Vision — target player, only if they reveal a named card
- Oath of Druids — upkeep of player with fewer creatures reveals a creature.
Self only
- Gamekeeper — when Gamekeeper dies, reveal a creature.
- Hermit Druid — ability's controller reveals a basic land
- Spoils of the Vault — caster reveals a chosen card name.
References
- ↑ Mark Gottlieb (December 31, 2012). "Gatecrash Diaries". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2021-02-07.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (January 7, 2013). "Gatecrashing the Party, Part 2". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (March 27, 2016). "Can you share anything about Cipher?". Blogatog. Tumblr.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (May 23, 2015). "Do you have any trivia on Consuming Aberration?". Blogatog. Tumblr.