Surveil in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on April 3, 2024

Dragon's Rage Channeler | Illustration by Martina Fackova

Graveyard-based mechanics are some of the most popular ones in MTG. There are tons of ways to interact with the graveyards and generate long-term value. Eternalize, embalm, unearth, undying, and escape are all examples of abilities that are used to bring creatures back from the graveyard.

Other strategies use Unearth or Exhume to bring their dearly departed creatures back to life. But that’s just bringing them back. What about ways to put them in the graveyard in the first place?

Today I’m covering one of the most popular abilities that tends to make a splash when it's reintroduced: surveil. I’m also going to analyze how the mechanic works and the decks that exploit it.

Let’s get started!

What is Surveil in Magic?

Deadly Visit | Illustration by Scott Murphy

Surveil X is a keyword ability that lets you look at the top X cards from your library, put any amount of them into the graveyard or on top of your library in any order.

On top of this, if another card’s effect lets you look at more cards from your library while you surveil, those additional cards are added as part of the effect. This means you can put more cards into the graveyard.

Surveil is a mechanic that has a similar effect to scry or explore. Most decks don't need to be built around it for it to work. Some cards are already very good even without a surveil-themed deck, like Thought Erasure and Sinister Sabotage.

History of Surveil

Doom Whisperer | Illustration by Vincent Proce

This ability was first introduced with Guilds of Ravnica, the 79th expansion, in October of 2018. It was the signature mechanic for Dimir and the most significant one of the set by a large margin.

Unexplained Disappearance and Deadly Visit were the first surveil cards revealed, used to explain how the mechanic works in the mechanic’s set spotlight video.

Surveil made occasional appearances in supplemental expansions like Modern Horizons 2 and the digital-only set, Jumpstart: Historic Horizons. The mechanic was upgraded to deciduous status with its inclusion in The Brothers' War, meaning it would now be keyworded and appear more frequently, but won't be expected in every set. Cards like Eat to Extinction and Consider were errata'd to use the surveil text.

Metagame History

Citywatch Sphinx | Illustration by Magali Villeneuve

Control decks ran some of these cards during Guilds of Ravnica’s Standard meta since they just happened to benefit from putting cards into the graveyard, but by no means were they built around it.

Despite the dominance of aggro decks, surveil made its appearance in two different archetypes at the Pro Tour Guilds of Ravnica. Teferi, Hero of Dominaria was one deck’s centerpiece and Sinister Sabotage played a significant role in controlling the game while crafting the following turns. It also incidentally helped Search for Azcanta transform quicker.

Another deck benefited from the surveil mechanic since Discovery / Dispersal worked in tandem with surveil to enable synergies between more than a half of the deck. This archetype later got into Historic as the infamous Izzet Phoenix deck that dominated the meta for a while before Brainstorm was banned.

Doom Whisperer saw a bit of play in the Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath Sultai decks that dominated Historic a while ago. It wasn’t a deck that relied on surveil to work but the card had great synergy with the rest of the build.

Surveil was reintroduced in June 2021 as one of Modern Horizon 2’s set mechanics. Dragon's Rage Channeler has seen the most play since its introduction. Not only does it enable itself to get bigger, but it also synergizes very well with cards that benefit from filling the graveyard. Izzet Tempo became a viable Modern deck in the meta with MH2’s release. We also saw an already-popular archetype, Izzet Blitz, get buffed with the introduction of this card.

There haven't been too many surveil strategies incorporated into Constructed metagames from the sets released in 2022 and 2023. However, I would keep my eyes open for new surveil additions like Confession Dial and Deeproot Wayfinder to make a possible splash.

Does Surveil Trigger Enter the Graveyard Effects?

Since surveil reads, “… You may put that card into your graveyard.” it will trigger any abilities that focus on cards entering the graveyard. Unfortunately, most interactions with the graveyard won’t be satisfied if done by the surveil ability.

Many triggers use the words “you control”, “from the battlefield”, or “dies.” Surveil will not satisfy any of these triggers as you don’t control the card that is surveilled and it isn't moving from the battlefield to the graveyard. Dreadhound is a good example of a card that triggers when you surveil a creature to your graveyard.

How is Surveil Different from Scry, Mill, and Looting?

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer | Illustration by Richard Kane Ferguson

Each term; surveil, scry, mill, and looting interact with the top card(s) of your deck. They all have subtle differences that can fit better in different styles of decks. 

Milling is the act of placing the top X cards of a deck into the graveyard. You can mill an opponent’s deck down to nothing for a win-con or self-mill yourself to stack your graveyard with cards to reanimate. The big difference between surveil and mill is choice. With surveil you can choose which cards you want to go to the graveyard, whereas mill just automatically places the top X cards into the graveyard. Mill is often an effective strategy for hindering your opponent, but the control you have with surveil is a much bigger advantage. 

Looting is a slang term for the act of drawing cards and then discarding an equal number of cards. Surveil and looting help you cycle through your deck much faster and make decisions that'll affect your hand and graveyard. Both strategies have some advantages depending on what you need. Looting brings new cards to your hand to quickly get the cards you need. Surveil has an advantage if the cards you look at are great and you don’t want to get rid of any of them. Both strategies help you see more cards, but depending on color and your speed of play, they can each be more appropriate for your build.

Surveil is very similar to scry as both are keyword abilities that let you craft your turns based on looking at the top X cards of your library. However, putting cards in your graveyard with surveil instead of the bottom of your library is a definite advantage. This subtle but important difference enables more synergies like the ones covered in the decks I mentioned earlier.

I have to mention one tiny downside, though. Many Dimir and self-mill decks find themselves unable to win before running out of cards. Decking yourself is a possibility with these abilities, so keep that in mind if you want to build a surveil- or mill-based deck.

It might be better to scry a card rather than mill it in some situations. For example, you’d be better off putting a creature card on the bottom of your library in a Grenzo, Dungeon Warden deck. Scry works better if you want to put a free creature on the battlefield with this legendary rogue.

Another application where scry is better is in combo decks like those that run Thassa's Oracle and Tainted Pact. You can enable easy wins by combining these cards with Brainstorm.

How to Use Surveil in MTG Arena

Surveil can be a tricky thing in MTG Arena, but don’t worry! I’ve got you covered.

1. Once a spell with surveil has resolved, the “Surveil” interface will appear with two boxes: “Library” and “Graveyard.”

2. The number of cards you surveilled (indicated in the card’s text as “surveil X”) will appear in the “Library” box. Click and drag on each card to move it to where you want it to be, whether that’s in the Graveyard pile or in a certain order on top of your Library pile.

3. When you’ve moved all of the cards you want in your Graveyard to that pile and arranged the remaining cards in your desired order in your Library pile, click “Done.”

Can Opponents See What I Surveil?

Your opponent can only see what you surveil if the card has been placed in the graveyard. Otherwise it remains on top of your library, hidden from your opponent.

The Best Surveil Cards

Dakkon, Shadow Slayer

The list can’t start without the signature surveil planeswalker. Dakkon, Shadow Slayer’s surveil ability is very nice, especially in early turns. You can also put your permanents in the graveyard to later enter the battlefield for free thanks to Dakkon’s last ability.

Deeproot Wayfinder

Deeproot Wayfinder is a solid card for green ramp decks. With surveil you can often throw away pesky lands that'll slow down your play. Now with Deeproot Wayfinder you can toss those hindering lands and play them from the graveyard whenever this card deals combat damage to an opponent. This can be wonderful ramp for the massive mana-hungry green decks. 

Doom Whisperer

While Doom Whisperer was an excellent finisher in Uro Sultai decks in Standard when it lived there, and then again later in Historic, it also helped find and enable the powerful titan.

Dragon's Rage Channeler

As you may have already guessed, Dragon's Rage Channeler is a total powerhouse that shook both Modern and Legacy’s meta. Multiple graveyard synergies often come together thanks to this creature. Additionally, having a 3/3 for 1 mana is a format breaker in every format it touches.

Lazav, the Multifarious

If you’re building a Commander deck around surveil, Lazav, the Multifarious is the best you can get. Not only does it enable itself, but it can become a huge threat if left unchecked.

Starving Revenant

The newest of the surveil cards will also pack a punch in certain builds. Starving Revenant has surveil with a little extra twist of being able to pay life to draw the cards surveilled. The big goal with this card is to fill your graveyard with permanents and siphon a life from your opponent each time you draw.

Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor

Giving all of your creatures vigilance and a tap ability is a solid enough static ability on its own. Tocasia, Dig Site Mentor then allows you to fill your graveyards with artifact cards and bring them back in one massive board advantage shift. This card is a little cost-intensive, but with the right build and good surveil choices, it can return immense value.

Confession Dial

Confession Dial might soon pack a major punch in the Eternal and Oathbreaker formats by giving legendary creatures in your graveyard escape. This card has a solid surveil 3 to get the cards you need or fill your graveyard with legendary creatures. The added escape ability for your legendary creatures will give a massive upside to most, if not every, legendary creature deck.

Discovery / Dispersal

As we saw, Discovery / Dispersal was heavily played in the Pro Tour by Yuuya Watanabe. It helped put key cards like Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard to later be played in multiples for “free” thanks to the Phoenix’s ability.

Sword of Once and Future

Many of the swords of MTG can be huge advantages when used well. Sword of Once and Future can give you tons of value by recasting your instants and sorceries that cost 2 or less mana. Surveil and general early-game removal will make sure you have plenty of instants and sorceries to choose from. This can make cards like Lightning Bolt and Dark Ritual even better!

Pile On

Pile On is a solid removal spell for token and cheap creature decks. You can convoke to pay its cost which can help you lure your opponents into traps if they're feeling confident in your lack of available mana. The surveil, convoke, and ability to target planeswalkers is what gives this card value in many builds.

Sinister Sabotage

Sinister Sabotage is a great option as far as Cancel effects go. I like this one for its versatility, but it’s heavily contested these days by Saw It Coming.

Thought Erasure

If you’re looking for Thoughtseize alternatives, Thought Erasure is the card for you. Especially in a format like Commander where you need multiple copies of the same effect over different cards.

Decklist: Lazav Surveil Deck in Commander

Mission Briefing | Illustration by Matt Stewart

As a treat for all the Commander fans, today I present you with the best surveil deck I could find featuring the already mentioned Lazav, the Multifarious:

This is a combo control deck that aims to reanimate big creatures and put them onto the battlefield or just make a copy of them with Lazav. The primary strategy is to blink cards like Sphinx of Uthuun and Rune-Scarred Demon with the help of Conjurer's Closet.

It’s a fun deck to play, and I highly recommend it if you want to run a nongreen reanimator deck.

Wrap Up

Sinister Sabotage | Illustration by Mathias Kollros

In my personal opinion, surveil is a busted mechanic. You can build around it and it’s perfect for combo and tempo decks. Dragon's Rage Channeler is a signature card that has shaken multiple formats since its introduction, and milling yourself to generate resources that can be reused along with graveyard-based strategies is huge. I can’t wait to start brewing decks with it once I get into Arena!

What about you? Do you like surveil? Do you think it’s fair, or is it broken? Please let me know in the comments below, and I’d be super happy to see any new and fun surveil decklists you have that you want to share. Be sure to follow us on Twitter and check our blog for more awesome articles.

As always, take care and have a good one!