Last Caress MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2001-06-04
Set symbol
Set name	Apocalypse
Set code	APC
Number	41
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Eric Peterson

Key Takeaways

Draw a card with Last Caress for sustained card advantage and disruption of opponent’s plans.
Instant speed play enhances tactical flexibility, reacting to threats and maintaining tempo.
Mandatory discard may be a trade-off, careful hand management is essential for optimal use.

Text of card

Target player loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. Draw a card.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Last Caress provides a significant edge by enabling you to draw a card after targeting a creature. This feature not solely disrupts your opponent’s board presence but also ensures that your hand remains filled, bolstering your strategic options throughout the game.

Resource Acceleration: By adding an extra mana of any color to your pool when casting it, Last Caress smoothly facilitates resource acceleration. This can be a game-changer, making it easier for you to cast higher-cost cards earlier than normally possible, which could significantly turn the tides to your favor.

Instant Speed: The ability to play Last Caress at instant speed provides tactical adaptability. This flexibility allows you to react swiftly to your opponents’ actions during their turn, effectively disrupting their strategies while keeping your mana open for unforeseen plays, ensuring that you’re always one step ahead.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Players using Last Caress must forfeit one of their own cards, which can pose a dilemma when your hand is already depleted or filled with crucial plays for maintaining board control.

Specific Mana Cost: To cast Last Caress, specific mana alignment is necessary, making it potentially cumbersome in multicolored or mana-fixing dependent decks.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Charging three mana, Last Caress faces competition from other cards with similar or better effects at a lower mana investment, potentially leading players to opt for more efficient removal options.

Reasons to Include Last Caress in Your Collection

Versatility: Last Caress showcases its adaptability by being a solid inclusion in various black-based decks. Its ability to remove creatures ensures that it remains relevant across multiple formats and playstyles, whether you’re thinning the board in a casual game or targeting key threats in more competitive scenes.

Combo Potential: Not just a simple removal, Last Caress opens up strategic plays. Its life loss aspect can complement strategies that capitalize on reducing an opponent’s life total or triggering abilities tied to life changes. This creates opportunities for synergy with cards designed around similar mechanics.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where creature-based strategies often dominate, having efficient removal is crucial. Last Caress provides that necessary edge in metas where small to mid-sized creatures are pivotal, keeping you one step ahead of opponents who rely on creature synergies to win.

How to beat

Last Caress is a spell that introduces a subtle complexity in Magic: The Gathering duels. At first glance, it may seem like a straightforward card that players can navigate with ease. But in practice, its multifaceted effects demand strategic planning to counter effectively. Much like its counterparts that disrupt the board while gaining an advantage, Last Caress can put its caster at an upper hand by removing a creature and potentially impacting life totals. To tackle this spell, having a grasp on your deck’s speed and its ability to replenish your board is vital.

Shielding your key creatures with hexproof or indestructible can serve as a solid line of defense. Also, considering spells or abilities that can regenerate or resurrect your creatures will help mitigate the impact of such targeted removal. As for the life loss and gain aspect, cards that limit or reverse life total changes could be your safety net in these scenarios. Above all, maintaining a diverse board state with redundancy in creature roles can diminish the effect of losing any single creature to Last Caress, keeping your strategy resilient and adaptive.

Understanding each card’s role within the metagame is essential to staying one step ahead. Cards like Last Caress challenge players to think ahead, anticipate opponents’ strategies, and devise plans that can absorb and counteract their moves effectively. Ultimately, overcoming this card relies on a combination of protective measures, recovery tactics, and strategic foresight, ensuring that a single setback doesn’t derail your path to victory.

Cards like Last Caress

Last Caress emerges as a compelling entry into the roster of removal spells in Magic: The Gathering. Diabolic Edict is a notable comparison, where the enemy is compelled to sacrifice a creature. Last Caress offers a twist, with the additional benefit of draining life from the opponent, altering the balance in your favor.

Other similar spells like Geth’s Verdict share the sacrifice aspect of Last Caress but also deal damage to an opponent. It echoes the dual functionality of Last Caress, yet the former is more restrictive with a requirement for black mana. On the other hand, Smallpox affects all players, making them discard a card, lose a life, sacrifice a creature, and sacrifice a land, paving the path for a more symmetrical yet devastating effect.

Therefore, when considering the utility and versatility of removal spells, Last Caress holds a unique position. Its ability to disrupt enemy lines while simultaneously nibbling away at an opponent’s life total ensures it is more than merely a creature removal tool in the robust universe of Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Last Caress by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Last Caress MTG card by a specific set like Apocalypse, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Last Caress and other MTG cards: