Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar MTG Card

It combines creature summoning with enemy disturbance, presenting a dual-threat to opponents. Resource management is crucial, as its casting involves precise mana and sacrifices. Despite its power, it faces challenges from fast-paced games and tight mana requirements.
Card setsReleased in 5 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost8
RarityMythic
TypeSorcery

Text of card

As an additional cost to cast this spell, you may sacrifice any number of creatures. This spell costs less to cast for each creature sacrificed this way. Each opponent sacrifices a creature. Create a 3/6 black and red Avatar creature token with haste and "Whenever this creature attacks, it deals 3 damage to each opponent."

Cards like Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar

Awaken the Blood Avatar stands out in the realm of Magic: The Gathering as a unique sacrificial option for deck strategies. Comparable to other cards that involve sacrificing creatures, such as Diabolic Intent, it allows for a significant shift in game state. While Diabolic Intent offers a search for any card in your library, thereby providing immense deck flexibility, Awaken the Blood Avatar demands a greater sacrifice for a more aggressive benefit – summoning a creature that can change the tide of combat.

Another card that echoes this type of gameplay is Bone Splinters, demanding a creature sacrifice to destroy an opponent’s creature, enforcing a one-for-one trade. However, Awaken the Blood Avatar goes a step further by not only requiring a sacrifice but also creating a potent Avatar creature that can apply immediate pressure on the opponent. Ritual of the Machine is also in this conversation, it not only makes you sacrifice but gives you control of an opponent’s creature, offering an entirely different tactical advantage.

Considering these comparisons, Awaken the Blood Avatar provides a dynamic that is both risky and rewarding, aligning well with strategies that capitalize on creature sacrificing while introducing commanding board presence, marking its distinction and value among similar MTG cards.

Diabolic Intent - MTG Card versions
Bone Splinters - MTG Card versions
Ritual of the Machine - MTG Card versions
Diabolic Intent - MTG Card versions
Bone Splinters - MTG Card versions
Ritual of the Machine - MTG Card versions

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Awaken the Blood Avatar grants you not just a formidable creature on the battlefield but often enables you to dispatch an opponent’s troublesome creature as well, offering a two-for-one scenario which is highly beneficial in maintaining leverage during the game.

Resource Acceleration: This card is part of a split card with “Assemble the Legion,” allowing you flexibility in casting. It can contribute significantly to resource acceleration by potentially reducing its casting cost; you can sacrifice any number of creatures and for each creature sacrificed this way, the spell costs 2 less mana to cast, leading to a faster and impactful board presence.

Instant Speed: While Awaken the Blood Avatar operates at sorcery speed, the strategic planning it demands ensures you sequence your turns for maximum impact. Knowing when to deploy it can shift the tides of a match decidedly in your favor as it presents an immediate and threatening presence that your opponent must address.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Awaken the Blood Avatar presents a unique challenge for players due to its discard requirement. As part of the casting cost, you’re compelled to sacrifice not only mana but also valuable cards from your hand. This can be particularly taxing when you’re running low on cards, potentially setting you back in the duel if you’re not managing your resources carefully.

Specific Mana Cost: Deploying Awaken the Blood Avatar requires a precise mana combination, which can be cumbersome for players running multicolored decks. Tapping into both black and red mana sources means you are restricted in your deck-building choices, having to ensure a stable mana base to cast it consistently, which can be a strategic limitation.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While the card offers a significant impact on the game, its relatively high combined mana cost of eight makes it a late-game play. In many fast-paced games, there’s a possibility that before you gather the resources to cast it, the tides of the battle may have already turned against you. This cost factor is important to consider, as there are alternative lower-costed cards that could be slotted into a deck to provide earlier advantages.

Reasons to Include Awaken the Blood Avatar in Your Collection

Versatility: Awaken the Blood Avatar provides a unique way to interact on the board by allowing a sacrifice-driven strategy. It fits well into decks that utilize creature and token sacrifices for a greater purpose or effect.

Combo Potential: This card has synergy with strategies that revolve around death triggers and casting multiple spells in a turn. Its ability to potentially change the tide of a game makes it a natural combo piece in decks looking to exploit sacrifice mechanics.

Meta-Relevance: With a variety of creature-based strategies often populating the metagame, Awaken the Blood Avatar can act as a countermeasure. Its ability to create a significant shift in board presence and pressure opponents means it holds relevance in various metagame scenarios.

How to Beat

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of Awaken the Blood Avatar can give players a significant advantage in MTG. This powerful card, notable for its ability to summon a sizeable creature while potentially siphoning life from opponents, operates at a sorcery speed, which presents opportunities for counterplay. Crucially, interaction during early game stages is key; delaying or countering the spell before the Blood Avatar hits the battlefield can prevent its devastating impact altogether.

Effective strategies may involve counter spells which disrupt the sorcery before it resolves, or removal spells post-summoning that can handle big creatures. Additionally, life gain decks can offset the life loss caused by the Blood Avatar, while graveyard hate cards can restrict the utilization of the sacrifice mechanic this card heavily relies on. Timing disruptions, such as instant-speed removals or bounce spells, play an important role in negating the threats posed by Awaken the Blood Avatar, ultimately preserving your position and leading you towards victory.

By keeping a vigilant eye on your resources and hand, and playing responsive cards at strategic moments, you can mitigate the blood-pumping power that Awaken the Blood Avatar brings to the game and secure your standing on the battlefield.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and Strixhaven: School of Mages, 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 Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2021-04-23 and 2021-04-23. Illustrated by Kekai Kotaki.

#ReleasedNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12002-06-24Magic Online PromosPRM 902942015Modal DFCBlackKekai Kotaki
22021-04-23Strixhaven: School of MagesSTX 3232015Modal DFCBlackKekai Kotaki
32021-04-23Strixhaven Art SeriesASTX 202015Art seriesBorderlessKekai Kotaki
42021-04-23Strixhaven Art SeriesASTX 20s2015Art seriesBorderlessKekai Kotaki
52021-04-23Strixhaven: School of MagesSTX 1492015Modal DFCBlackKekai Kotaki

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
CommanderLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
ModernLegal
OathbreakerLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Extus, Oriq Overlord // Awaken the Blood Avatar card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date Text
2021-04-16 As Awaken the Blood Avatar resolves, first the next opponent in turn order (or, if it’s an opponent’s turn, the opponent whose turn it is) chooses a creature they control, then each other opponent in turn order does the same knowing the choices made before them. Then all the chosen creatures are sacrificed at the same time.
2021-04-16 Awaken the Blood Avatar’s first ability can’t reduce its cost below . However, you can sacrifice any number of creatures, even if they won’t reduce its cost any further.
2021-04-16 Each magecraft ability has a different effect, although they all have the same trigger condition, whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell.
2021-04-16 For example, if you control Archmage Emeritus and cast an instant or sorcery spell, Archmage Emeritus’s magecraft ability will trigger and you will draw a card.
2021-04-16 If an effect creates a copy of an instant or sorcery spell, this will also cause the magecraft ability to trigger.
2021-04-16 If an effect creates multiple copies of an instant or sorcery spell, magecraft abilities trigger once for each copy created by the effect.
2021-04-16 Include any additional costs to cast Awaken the Blood Avatar before applying its own cost reduction. For example, if Extus is your commander, and an additional cost of applies from the “commander tax,” you may cast Awaken the Blood Avatar by sacrificing four creatures and paying .
2021-04-16 Returning a nonlegendary creature card is not optional. If there is at least one in your graveyard, you must target it with the magecraft ability.
2021-04-16 Some effects instruct you to copy an instant or sorcery card in a zone other than the stack. These copies do not cause magecraft abilities to trigger. However, most effects that do this also allow you to cast the copy, and casting the copy will cause magecraft abilities to trigger.
2021-04-16 The Blood Avatar will be awakened even if no player has creatures to sacrifice when it resolves.