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Cling to Dust, art by Caio Monteiro
Art by Caio Monteiro · ™ & © Wizards of the Coast · image via Scryfall
Selected printing · USD
$0.35
checked Jun 14, 2026 · Scryfall
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Cling to Dust

{B} · Instant

Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a creature card, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, you draw a card. Escape—{3}{B}, Exile five other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)

Rulings (10)

Jan 24, 2020 · If the target card is an illegal target by the time Cling to Dust tries to resolve, the spell won’t resolve. You won’t gain 3 life or draw a card.

Jan 24, 2020 · If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.

Jan 24, 2020 · To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The mana value of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.

Jan 24, 2020 · Cling to Dust can target one of the five cards you’ll exile to pay its escape cost. In this case, the spell won’t resolve.

Jan 24, 2020 · If the exiled card is a creature card that’s also another card type (such as an enchantment creature), you gain 3 life. You don’t also draw a card.

Jan 24, 2020 · If a card with escape is put into your graveyard during your turn, you’ll be able to cast it right away if it’s legal to do so, before an opponent can take any actions.

Jan 24, 2020 · Escape’s permission doesn’t change when you may cast the spell from your graveyard.

Jan 24, 2020 · Once you begin casting a spell with escape, it immediately moves to the stack. Players can’t take any other actions until you’re done casting the spell.

Jan 24, 2020 · After an escaped spell resolves, it returns to its owner’s graveyard if it’s not a permanent spell. If it is a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield and will return to its owner’s graveyard if it dies later. Perhaps it will escape again—good underworld security is so hard to come by these days.

Jan 24, 2020 · If a card has multiple abilities giving you permission to cast it, such as two escape abilities or an escape ability and a flashback ability, you choose which one to apply. The others have no effect.

LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
ModernLegal
PioneerLegal
StandardNot legal
PauperNot legal
PremodernNot legal
cEDHLegal

Where it’s played now

Inclusion by archetype

% of archetype's lists running it · last 30 days · n=89 decks
ArchetypeFormatInclusionCopiesDecks (n)
Dimir ShadowModern100%1
Grixis ControlModern88.9%2–4×9
Dimir FrogModern72.7%1–2×55
Esper ControlModern60%1–2×5
Dimir ControlModern50%2
Esper FrogModern33.3%1–2×6
Grixis WizardsModern33.3%3
Grixis MidrangeLegacy25%8
Data as of Jun 14, 2026 · MTGO + papercasthaven.com

Price

Cling to Dust — price trend

Daily cheapest printing · USD · last 90 days · n=2 snapshots
Data as of Jun 14, 2026 · Scryfallcasthaven.com

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