Sanguimancy MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Released	2014-02-07
Set symbol
Set name	Born of the Gods
Set code	BNG
Number	81
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Dave Kendall

Key Takeaways

Offers a scalable draw power based on life total, enhancing decks that thrive on life gain.
Operates at instant speed, allowing strategic response to game state changes and opponent moves.
Demands a discard and specific mana, which can limit flexibility in certain gameplay scenarios.

Text of card

You draw X cards and you lose X life, where X is your devotion to black. (Each in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sanguimancy offers a potent mechanism for drawing cards proportional to your life total, thereby providing a potential substantial increase in card advantage. This is particularly advantageous in decks that are built around gaining life, turning your health reserve into a resource for outpacing your opponent.

Resource Acceleration: While Sanguimancy itself does not directly generate additional mana or tokens, the cards drawn can lead to resource acceleration by providing access to more lands or spells that can ramp your mana, ensuring a quicker execution of your strategy.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of Sanguimancy being an instant grants you the freedom to wait until the most opportune moment to cast it. This flexibility allows you to better respond to an evolving game state, potentially casting it in response to life gain triggers or other advantageous points during your opponent’s turn.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sanguimancy necessitates that you discard a card to initiate its effect, which can be particularly taxing when your hand is already running thin on valuable cards. This can sometimes force players into unfavorable positions where they must choose between deploying a crucial spell or activating the sanguimancy’s ability.

Specific Mana Cost: Sanguimancy’s casting requirements can be restrictive, demanding both black mana and additional generic mana. This specific combination may not always be readily available, making it less versatile and harder to cast on curve, especially in multi-colored decks that can’t consistently provide the necessary mana.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The cost to benefit ratio of this card is subject to scrutiny as for its mana investment, you might find yourself behind in board presence or tempo. With a rather steep mana value, deploying Sanguimancy could detract from your ability to play other impactful spells during crucial turns, potentially conceding advantage to your opponent.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Sanguimancy offers flexibility to any black deck due to its unique ability to draw cards while also acting as a life manipulation tool, making it a perfect fit for a variety of strategies that pivot around life totals.

Combo Potential: Sanguimancy thrives in environments that can exploit its card drawing mechanism. It pairs exceptionally well with cards that benefit from life payments or large hand sizes, thus opening up avenues for powerful combos.

Meta-Relevance: Given its capacity to both stabilize and turn the tide in games, it can be especially pertinent in a meta where card advantage is king. Its inclusion provides strategic depth against control decks that rely on outlasting the opponent.

How to beat

Sanguimancy is a unique card in the MTG universe that exemplifies the depth of black mana strategies. Much like the life manipulation cards it’s associated with, Sanguimancy allows a player to trade life points for card advantage. Its potency lies in its ability to turn a losing situation, in terms of life total, into a potential comeback with the right draws.

To effectively counter Sanguimancy, consider employing cards that limit life payment abilities or use life as a resource. Cards like Erebos, God of the Dead negate the benefit of life payments, while others can preemptively interfere with the card’s effectiveness by denying the player’s ability to lose life, such as with the incorporation of Angel’s Grace. Other strategies include neutralizing its impact through hand disruption methods or pressuring your opponent’s life total to a point where Sanguimancy’s cost is too steep to be viable. Direct damage cards or spells that impede black mana cards could also be strategically inserted into your game to maintain the upper hand.

Understanding how to dismantle Sanguimancy’s potential requires a shrewd sense of timing and a keen eye for board state, making it an excellent testament to the strategic complexity of MTG and the art of crafting a counteractive deck.

Cards like Sanguimancy

Sanguimancy finds its place among the array of life-based draw cards in MTG. Resembling the mechanics of spells such as Sign in Blood and Night’s Whisper, Sanguimancy goes further by adjusting the card draw to the amount of life you sacrifice. Unlike the flat two-card bonus these alternatives provide, Sanguimancy’s potential scales with your life commitment.

Comparably, we look at Greed, an enchantment allowing repeated card draw at the expense of life and mana. Sanguimancy trades the repeatability for a potential one-time larger draw. Erebos, God of the Dead, offers a similar effect but as an indestructible creature, demanding constant open mana to use the effect. The edge Sanguimancy holds is its one-off cost, which could lead to an overwhelming advantage when timed correctly.

When evaluating the synergistic harmony with life-loss strategies, Sanguimancy presents itself as a potent tool for decks capitalizing on high life totals. The card teeters on the balance of risk and reward, enticing players to leverage their life as a resource for significant card advantage within MTG.

Erebos, God of the Dead - MTG Card versions

Cards similar to Sanguimancy by color, type and mana cost

Voices from the Void - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sanguimancy MTG card by a specific set like Born of the Gods, 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 Sanguimancy and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sanguimancy has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sanguimancy card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2013-09-15	Hybrid mana symbols, monocolored hybrid mana symbols, and Phyrexian mana symbols do count toward your devotion to their color(s).
2013-09-15	If an activated ability or triggered ability has an effect that depends on your devotion to a color, you count the number of mana symbols of that color among the mana costs of permanents you control as the ability resolves. The permanent with that ability will be counted if it’s still on the battlefield at that time.
2013-09-15	Mana symbols in the text boxes of permanents you control don’t count toward your devotion to any color.
2013-09-15	Numeric mana symbols (, , and so on) in mana costs of permanents you control don’t count toward your devotion to any color.