Read the Bones

Read the Bones card image

Read the Bones: Sorcery, Foundations Jumpstart. Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life. Printings, prices, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{2}{B}
Mana value
3
Type
Sorcery
Colour identity
Black (B)
Rarity
Common
Set
Foundations Jumpstart (J25)
Released
2024-11-15
Collector number
479
Artist
Lars Grant-West
Commander rank
470 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)
Keywords
Scry

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About Read the Bones

Read the Bones is a Magic: The Gathering card, a common black sorcery from Foundations Jumpstart (J25), a draft-focused set released in November 2024. It is collector number 479 in that set, with art by Lars Grant-West. It costs {2}{B} (two generic and one black mana) to cast, for a mana value of 3. Its colour identity is black. It is legal in Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Pauper, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, Pauper Commander, Brawl, Historic, Timeless, Gladiator and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 15 sets, from Theros (2013) to Pioneer Masters (2024). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $0.33 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-02).

Card text

Scry 2, then draw two cards. You lose 2 life. (To scry 2, look at the top two cards of your library, then put any number of them on the bottom and the rest on top in any order.)

The dead know lessons the living haven't learned.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $0.33 (as of 2026-11-02).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Read the Bones by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

PioneerLegal
ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
PauperLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
Pauper CommanderLegal
BrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
TimelessLegal
GladiatorLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Read the Bones

Read the Bones has been printed in 15 sets. The 12 most recent other printings are listed here, newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
The List (PLST) #MOC-267Common2026
Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #2566Rare2026
Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #7066Rare2025
Secret Lair Drop (SLD) #7069Rare2025
Pioneer Masters (PIO) #104Common2024
Duskmourn: House of Horror Commander (DSC) #154Common2024
Commander Masters (CMM) #182Common2023
March of the Machine Commander (MOC) #267Common2023
Starter Commander Decks (SCD) #101Common2022
Dominaria United Commander (DMC) #117Common2022
Time Spiral Remastered (TSR) #328Special2021
The List (PLST) #DDP-56Common2019

Official rulings

Five official rulings apply to Read the Bones, newest first.

  • When you scry, you may put all the cards you look at back on top of your library, you may put all of those cards on the bottom of your library, or you may put some of those cards on top and the rest of them on the bottom.
  • You perform the actions stated on a card in sequence. For some spells and abilities, that means you'll scry last. For others, that means you'll scry and then perform other actions.
  • Scry appears on some spells and abilities with one or more targets. If all of the spell or ability's targets are illegal when it tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. You won't scry.
  • You choose how to order cards returned to your library after scrying no matter where you put them.
  • The loss of life is part of the spell's effect. It's not an additional cost. If Read the Bones doesn't resolve, you won't lose life.

Similar cards

Other sorcery cards with a black colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Read the Bones is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

In these card lists

These card lists include Read the Bones.

Mentioned in these guides

These guides mention Read the Bones.

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