Grief — MH2 Elemental hand disruption and the Modern ban aftermath

Grief landed in Modern Horizons 2 as the black member of the evoke Elemental cycle. Three mana, evoke for a black card from hand, target opponent reveals and discards a nonland. Simple. Brutal. It powered Scam and other black-heavy strategies in Modern until the ban. Now it's gone from Modern and Legacy, but it's still legal in Timeless and Commander. We're not calling a top or a bottom — we're laying out what Grief did, why it got hit, and where it lives now.

What Grief did in Modern

Grief plus Undying Malice, Feign Death, or Not Dead After All let you strip two cards from your opponent's hand on turn one. Evoke, the creature dies, you recur it — the enters-the-battlefield trigger fires twice. That's the Scam line. Even without the double-trigger trick, a one-mana discard spell on a 3/2 body was strong. Black decks could pressure the hand and the board in one package. Play Design eventually decided Grief enabled too many non-games; it joined the Modern ban list, and Scam had to adapt or die.

Where Grief lives now

In Timeless, Grief sees play in black-based disruption strategies. No Scam loop — Timeless has different tools — but the evoke rate and the discard still matter. In Commander, Grief is a solid piece of interaction. Evoke it to rip a key card before a combo goes off; or cast it for full price if you want the body. EDHREC ranks it in the top 6,500 commanders and includes — demand is there for 99-card slots.

Reprints and price

Grief has one printing: MH2. No Secret Lair, no Masters set yet. Supply is what it is. The ban knocked some demand, but Commander and Timeless keep the card relevant. Foil and nonfoil both move. If you need Grief for a deck, check the chart below. If you're sitting on copies, we're not telling you to sell — we're reporting. May your opponent's hand be empty and your evoke targets be legal.