Chris' Magic: The Gathering Card of the Day!

The Card of the Day is....

Buried Alive

Search your library for up to three creature cards and put them into your graveyard. Shuffle your library afterward.

A brief rundown of the card:

At first glance, this seemed like a stupid card to me. Then I thought---hmmm, my animator deck could use a little help getting the Polar Krakens into my graveyard so I can animate them. It is a combo that has served me well. I have also seen a few people latley use it in other ways--here's a few of them:

• Ashen Ghoul
  Almost a re-usable black Lightning Bolt---if you know how to get the Ghouls in your graveyard fast enough. Buried Alive can help you get your Ghouls into the graveyard and thus into play quicker.
• Nether Shadow
  Almost like it's big brother the Ashen Ghoul, except it costs nothing to bring the Nether Shadow into play if there's 3 creatures on top of him in the graveyard. If you are new to Magic, having 4 Nether Shadows in your graveyard at the same time can cause some pretty serious situations if you think about it!! How else can you have a creature put into play for free when one of yours goes to the graveyard (ok, ok, Enduring Renewal works too)? You could use the cannon fodder Nether Shadows for so many things, I can't list them all here. Think: Skull Catapult.
• Barrow Ghoul/Circling Vultures
  These two cards are incredibly huge for their casting cost, but it is sometimes hard to pay the upkeep on them for long early in a game. Use Buried Alive to "top off" your graveyard with creatures so you can keep your huge hungry creatures around a few turns. The Vultures rock--a 3/2 flyer for one measly black mana is worth building a type 2 deck around.
• Nicol Bolis+Shallow Grave
  Use Buried Alive to put 3 Nicol Bolis' in your graveyard. Then use Shallow Grave during your turn to temporarily animate your 7/7 flying trample monstosity. Gleefully attack and make your opponent discard their entire hand. Repeat with added Shallow Graves as needed.
  

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