Sideboard Guide: Neutralizing Merrow Bonegnawer in Modern

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Merrow Bonegnawer card art: a shadowy Merfolk Rogue ready to exile from graves

Image courtesy of Scryfall.com

Sideboard Guide: Neutralizing a Black Merfolk Rogue in Modern

Modern is a grand battlefield where even a tiny 1/1 with a tap ability can tilt games in unexpected ways. Merrow Bonegnawer, a black mana cost creature from Eventide, slides into some matchups as a low-profile graveyard grinder. Its mana cost is a clean B, and its body is modest at 1 power and 1 toughness. But don’t let the stat line fool you—its true power lies in the graveyard synergies and the way it punishes hands that rely on repeated graveyard shenanigans. And if you’re prepping sideboards, this little Merfolk Rogue deserves your attention 🧙‍♂️🔥.

Understanding the page-turner: what Merrow Bonegnawer actually does

Bonegnawer’s signature ability is simple and potent: {T}: Target player exiles a card from their graveyard. That single activation can derail key plans for Dredge, Reanimator, or any strategy that floods the graveyard with threats or fuel. And because the card untaps whenever you cast a black spell, it can become a small, ever-present menace if your deck leans heavily on black in Modern. The flavor text—about merrows banished to the Dark Meanders—feels apt, because this creature is the kind of nuisance you usually don’t notice until it’s already drained a few crucial cards from someone’s graveyard 🧙‍♂️💎.

Color identity and timing matter here. Bonegnawer is black through and through, a color that already leans into disruption and graveyard interaction. In Modern, that means it can show up in diverse shells—affecting both graveyard-centric decks and fair matchups where players try to chain value from the graveyard. It’s not just a blocker; it’s a tiny plan-wrecker that rewards patient sideboarding and thoughtful sequencing. The card’s rarity as a common doesn’t diminish its impact—common cards can still shape top-tier games when they slot into the right sideboard slots ⚔️.

Why your sideboard should care about it

Bonegnawer’s tapping exile effect targets a graveyard, which makes it an anti-graveyard engine in a format where the graveyard fuels a lot of contenders. In Modern, you’ll run into Dredge-adjacent strategies, shambling midrange builds that reuse creatures, and reanimator plans that want to flip the script with a single spell. Bonegnawer can stall those engines by exiling crucial cards before they can be recurred or reanimated. But if you’re not careful, you can also fuel its untap loop by throwing in black spells of your own. That’s the crux of a good sideboard plan: neutralize the threat without giving it free value.

Here are the kinds of sideboard tech you’ll want to consider, with practical targets and how they interact with Bonegnawer 🧙‍♂️🎲:

  • Graveyard hate that sticks — Cards like Rest in Peace, Leyline of the Void, and Relic of Progenitus shut down the very zones Bonegnawer exploits. Rest in PeaceSeriously hampers Dredge and other graveyard-focused decks by exiling cards from the graveyard and preventing future recurrences. Leyline of the Void is a free-to-activate shield if you’re on the draw, while Relic of Progenitus offers artifact resilience and can be pitched when not needed. Nihil Spellbomb is a budget, reusable answer that can swing a race in your favor by ticking up the card count on your sideboard while applying similar pressure to graveyard strategies.
  • Mana-efficient removal for the 1/1 — While you don’t want to overcommit to black removal just to answer a single 1/1, efficient kill spells like Fatal Push or Go for the Throat can clean Bonegnawer off the battlefield before it becomes an engine. If you expect a heavy black-based plan, bringing in a couple of inexpensive answers keeps the board clear and prevents the dread “untap trigger” from snowballing value.
  • Discard and disruption to slow the build — Inquisition of Kozilek and Thoughtseize are classic tools to strip a key piece from your opponent’s hand before their graveyard plan ramps up. If you’re facing mixed brews that lean on black spells, these disruption packages can protect you from Bonegnawer’s untap loop while you answer wider threats on the board.
  • Counterplay and tempo when appropriate — If you’re piloting a tempo or control shell, inexpensive counterspells and tempo disruption can blunt the impact of a Bonegnawer before it starts pecking away at your graveyard plan. A careful balance between pressure and protection helps you maintain control while you find the right answer to the card’s presence on the battlefield.
  • Non-graveyard-based strategies — Sometimes the best defense is a different path: go wide with powerful board states that outpace the need for a graveyard and rely on raw card advantage, life total, and pressure. Bonegnawer becomes a tempo hurdle rather than a game-ending threat when you push forward decisively with your plan.

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Putting it into practice: a sample sideboard plan

In a typical Modern table against a graveyard-heavy archetype, you might board in Rest in Peace and Nihil Spellbomb to shut down the engine, with Relic of Progenitus as a flexible answer that can also cycle value. Against black-heavy control or midrange, you could bring in Thoughtseize and Inquisition of Kozilek for early disruption, paired with a couple of removal slots for Bonegnawer itself. If your deck has the room, Leyline of the Void on the play can create overwhelming pressure on early turns for your opponent, accelerating your path to a stable board. Remember, the key is to prevent the creature from becoming a doorway to graveyard-thirsty strategies—without overloading your own deck with narrow answers. With careful tuning, Bonegnawer becomes a predictable nuisance rather than an unpredictable lock piece 🔥⚔️.

Merrow Bonegnawer’s place in Eventide may be modest in power on paper, but its role in a Modern sideboard is anything but small. A thoughtful plan that leans into true graveyard disruption—paired with precise removal and disruption—can keep this unassuming 1/1 in check while you execute your own game plan. And as you shuffle up for the next round, you’ll be reminded that the heart of Modern is unexpected, and the best defense is always a well-timed answer, a sturdy plan, and a dash of old-school grit 🎲.

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