Endless Sands MTG Card
2017-07-14 - Number 176
2017-07-15 - Number 176s
2020-04-17 - Number 272
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Land — Desert |
Key Takeaways
- Offers creative creature protection, circumventing common removal while leveraging enter-the-battlefield effects.
- Endless Sands requires careful mana management due to its activation cost, posing a challenge in multi-colored decks.
- While providing versatility and combo potential, it competes with lower-cost, high-impact MTG alternatives.
Text of card
: Add to your mana pool. , : Exile target creature you control. , , Sacrifice Endless Sands: Return each creature card exiled with Endless Sands to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Card Pros
Card Advantage: The unique ability of Endless Sands to exile creatures and later return them to the battlefield can be a strategic way to protect your valuable creatures from removal or to reuse enter-the-battlefield effects, potentially netting you extra value with each activation.
Resource Acceleration: Though not directly functioning as a traditional mana accelerator, Endless Sands offers a kind of “tempo acceleration” by saving your creatures from potential threats without spending additional mana on protective spells, thus keeping resources available for other plays.
Instant Speed: The flexible timing to activate Endless Sands means you can adapt swiftly to the changing battlefield. Its instant-speed interaction allows you to respond to removal, sweepers, or other threats at a moment’s notice, preserving your board state with strategic foresight.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Endless Sands necessitates the exile of creatures you control, which can be seen as a form of discard. This action may not always be beneficial as it temporarily removes your creatures from play, potentially leaving you defenseless.
Specific Mana Cost: In order to return the exiled creatures to the battlefield, a significant investment of both colorless and colored mana is required. This specific cost can be restrictive and not always easily met in multi-colored decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: Activating Endless Sands’ ability comes at a quite high mana cost. For six mana, the card competes with other impactful plays in the game that might offer immediate benefits rather than conditional, future advantages.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Endless Sands is a unique land card that offers a powerful and flexible ability to protect your creatures. Its capability to safeguard key creatures from removal spells makes it an adaptable addition to a wide variety of decks.
Combo Potential: Endless Sands has combo potential with cards that have enter-the-battlefield effects or with strategies revolving around creature sacrifice. This allows for innovative gameplay and tactical maneuvers within certain deck archetypes.
Meta-Relevance: In a game environment where creature removal is prevalent, Endless Sands provides a reactive tool to preserve your board presence. Its ability to potentially reload the battlefield on later turns makes it an asset in matchups against control decks.
How to Beat Endless Sands
Unraveling the strategy to trump Endless Sands begins with understanding its unique mechanics. Endless Sands, a desert land card from Magic: The Gathering, enables players to exile creatures they control and later release them back into play. It’s a defensive tool, ensuring creatures can escape removal or be saved for a more opportune moment.
Overcoming this card hinges on timing and disruption. Tactics such as land destruction can effectively neutralize Endless Sands before it becomes a strategic thorn in your side. Artifact removal spells, often overlooked, can swiftly take care of Endless Sands, considering it’s also an artifact land.
Timing counterspells or removal for when a creature is set to return to the battlefield can thwart your opponent’s plans as well, making Endless Sands’ ability unreliable. Finally, making Endless Sands a liability instead of an asset with cards that punish nonbasic lands or handle multiple threats simultaneously can tilt the balance in your favor.
Cards like Endless Sands
Endless Sands offers a unique twist on creature protection and battlefield management within MTG. This card finds its closest counterparts in lands such as Safe Haven, which similarly tucks creatures away to return them later. However, Endless Sands presents a clear advantage by allowing players to activate its ability at instant speed, offering more strategic flexibility in comparison.
Another relative in the realm of saving key creatures is the card Ghost Quarter. While not directly akin, as it focuses on land destruction, it does offer a level of board control by affecting lands on the battlefield. Endless Sands skips the destruction route, focusing solely on safeguarding your creatures from potential threats.
Finally, comparing it to Homeward Path underscores that despite both lands focusing on creature control, Endless Sands allows you to proactively shield creatures from exile or destruction, while Homeward Path is reactive, regaining control of your creatures after they’ve been commandeered by opponents. Ultimately, Endless Sands occupies a unique space in MTG, blending elements of protection and tempo control that can be pivotal in the ebb and flow of a match.
Cards similar to Endless Sands by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Endless Sands MTG card by a specific set like Hour of Devastation and Hour of Devastation Promos, 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 Endless Sands and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See Magic products
Printings
The Endless Sands Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2017-07-14 and 2020-04-17. Illustrated by Noah Bradley.
| # | Release | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017-07-14 | Hour of Devastation | HOU | 176 | 2015 | normal | black | Noah Bradley | |
| 2 | 2017-07-15 | Hour of Devastation Promos | PHOU | 176s | 2015 | normal | black | Noah Bradley | |
| 3 | 2020-04-17 | Commander 2020 | C20 | 272 | 2015 | normal | black | Noah Bradley |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Endless Sands 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 Endless Sands card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2017-04-18 | Desert is a land subtype with no special meaning. It doesn’t grant the land an intrinsic mana ability. Other cards may care about which lands are Deserts. |
| 2017-07-14 | If you exile a creature that isn’t a creature card with the second ability of Endless Sands (such as a token creature or a land that has become a creature), the third ability won’t return that token or card from exile. |
| 2017-07-14 | The last ability of Endless Sands returns only creature cards exiled by that card. If Endless Sands leaves the battlefield before you activate that ability, the exiled creatures are lost in the dunes forever. |
