The Battlefield

Ashnod's Altar

$16.42

Gravecrawler

$0.70

Pitiless Plunderer

$2.32

AI DraftApr 12, 2026

Ashnod's Altar + Gravecrawler + Pitiless Plunderer

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Overview

If you cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard and then sacrifice it to Ashnod's Altar, the sacrifice action moves the creature to the graveyard and that death will cause Pitiless Plunderer to trigger (it triggers whenever another creature you control dies). The trigger goes on the stack like any triggered ability [405. Stack] and, when it resolves, creates a Treasure token you can later sacrifice for mana; note that casting Gravecrawler from the graveyard requires you to control a Zombie at casting time (see Ruling [2011-01-22]).

Step 1

Make sure Ashnod's Altar and Pitiless Plunderer are on the battlefield and a Gravecrawler is in your graveyard, and that you control a Zombie when you attempt to cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard (see Ruling [2011-01-22]).

Step 2

Cast Gravecrawler from your graveyard by paying its mana cost (you can only cast it from the graveyard if you control a Zombie at the time you cast it) and put it onto the battlefield once the spell resolves.

Step 3

Activate Ashnod's Altar’s sacrifice ability and sacrifice the Gravecrawler. Sacrificing moves the Gravecrawler from the battlefield directly to your graveyard , and the creature is now in your graveyard .

Step 4

When the Gravecrawler dies, Pitiless Plunderer sees 'another creature you control' die and its triggered ability triggers. That triggered ability is put on the stack like any triggered ability [405. Stack].

Step 5

When Pitiless Plunderer’s trigger resolves it creates a Treasure token. You may sacrifice that Treasure later to produce one mana of any color to help pay for further casts.

Step 6

You can use the Treasure (and other available mana) to pay for casting Gravecrawler from your graveyard again, subject to the requirement that you control a Zombie at the time you cast it; once the Gravecrawler is on the stack, losing that Zombie doesn’t undo the cast (Ruling [2011-01-22]).

Resolution

Sacrificing a Gravecrawler to Ashnod's Altar is a legal sequence: the sacrifice moves the creature to the graveyard (graveyard is a player's discard pile ), Pitiless Plunderer will see the other creature die and trigger, and that trigger will create a Treasure when it resolves [405. Stack]. If multiple creatures you control die at the same time, Pitiless Plunderer will trigger for each other creature that died (Ruling [2018-01-19]). Casting Gravecrawler from the graveyard requires you to control a Zombie at the time you cast it, but once the spell is on the stack losing that Zombie afterward doesn’t undo the cast (Ruling [2011-01-22]).

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