Funeral Rites

Funeral Rites was originally released in the 2020 Jumpstart set, a product designed to facilitate a unique, quick-play drafting experience where players combine two randomized themed packs to form a ready-to-play deck. The card is a black-aligned sorcery that allows players to look at the top three cards of their library, put one into their hand, and place the rest into their graveyard, while simultaneously losing life. This mechanic serves as a versatile utility spell, balancing card selection with graveyard filling, a staple strategy in the game's black color identity.

The artwork for this particular iteration of the card was illustrated by Bram Sels. Sels, known for his atmospheric and moody fantasy compositions within the Magic: The Gathering ecosystem, sought to capture the somber, ritualistic nature of the spell’s title. The design centers on the dark, macabre aesthetics of the game's graveyard-focused playstyles, and it was received by the community as a functional and flavorful inclusion for decks that benefit from interacting with the resource pool in the discard pile.