The following document contains information originally provided by Aaron Hopkins.

A graveyard is a single face up pile of cards. Graveyard order only matters in formats that have cards that involve graveyard order legal.

The graveyard can be more than a “pile of cards.” IE, decks like dredge that spread them out, but keep the proper order.

Abilities from Graveyards

• Delve: Future sight ability, reduce the cost of cards by removing cards in graveyard – Tombstalker.
• Dredge: Printed first in Ravnica block. Replacement affect, while card is in the graveyard. As long as you have X cards in your library, you may put X number of cards from your library into your graveyard and “put that card in your hand instead.” (Not actually drawing)
• Flashback: follows the rules of paying alternate cost. If it would go anywhere from the stack, it always gets exiled.
• Recover: When a creature goes to the graveyard, you can pay X mana to have the card go to your hand from your graveyard.
• Retrace: Does not exile cards from graveyard, unlike flashblack. You may pay the spells mana cost while in the graveyard with the additional cost of discarding a land.
• Soulshift: When the creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield you may return a spirit creature card with converted mana cost X or less form your graveyard to play.
• Unearth: “flashback for creatures.” Exiles the creature if it would go anywhere but the exile the zone. Tricky with momentary blink. It is an activated ability, can be stopped by cards like Pithing needle. Sorcery speed only.
• Threshold: When you have 7 cards or more in your graveyard you have “Threshold.”

Triggers from Graveyards

• Last known information – Murderous Redcap is a popular example.

Graveyard in eternal formats – tricky interactions

• Dread Returning Golgari Grave-Troll. He counts himself. He checks Graveyard before he comes into play.
• Bridge from Below (read it everytime) Intervening Clause – Clauses that checks to make sure the ability is still true when the ability resolves.
• Painter’s Servant and Grindstone – discuss Blightsteel and Emrakul
• Leyline of the Void and Helm of Obedience – You will mill infinite. If you have a Blightsteel Colossus or Progenitus it creates a loop that the player must choose to break, thus losing the game.
• You cannot flastback a card with no mana cost.

Trigger from graveyards with Yixlid Jailer

• You still get Enter the Battlefield abilities if you Zombify
• Emrakul, the Aeons Torn does not trigger if it’s milled and you have a Jailer