Sage's Row Denizen MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Vedalken Wizard
Abilities Mill
Power 2
Toughness 3

Key Takeaways

  1. Triggers milling with blue creature entry, slowly depleting opponent’s library resources over time.
  2. Flexibility in gameplay; synergizes with mill decks and works well with instant speed blue creatures.
  3. Often compared with mill cards like Hedron Crab, but requires blue creatures for its unique milling ability.

Text of card

Whenever another blue creature enters the battlefield under your control, target player puts the top two cards of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

"I offer you wisdom untainted by false loyalty, learning free of any guild's agenda."


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sage’s Row Denizen can repeatedly trigger its ability to mill cards from your opponent’s library whenever another blue creature enters the battlefield under your control, potentially depleting their resources over time.

Resource Acceleration: While not directly providing mana or tokens, Sage’s Row Denizen enhances the value of your creatures by giving a secondary effect upon their entry, effectively speeding up your game plan in mill-centered decks.

Instant Speed: While Sage’s Row Denizen itself does not have instant speed, its triggered ability can work off of blue creatures that can be played at instant speed, making it a versatile component in decks that operate on the opponent’s turn.


Card Cons

Specific Mana Cost: Sage’s Row Denizen requires a combination of generic and blue mana to play, which could be restrictive for decks that aren’t heavily blue.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost of three mana for a creature that primarily synergizes with mill decks, there are alternatives that could provide more immediate board presence or utility.

Discard Requirement: While Sage’s Row Denizen itself does not require a discard to be played, it is most effective in strategies that demand card advantage, making other cards that synergize with it, which require discarding, a potential cost to your hand.


Reasons to Include Sage’s Row Denizen in Your Collection

Versatility: As a blue creature card, Sage’s Row Denizen offers flexibility in deck building. It can be a key piece in blue-centric strategies or color combinations that prioritize control and card advantage, integrating well with spells and abilities that manipulate the library.

Combo Potential: This card shines in mill decks, working synergistically with cards that enable you to put many opponent’s cards into their graveyard. It can also be paired with clone effects to repeatedly trigger its ability and efficiently mill the opponent.

Meta-Relevance: Given that mill strategies occasionally surface as rogue decks in competitive scenes, having a Sage’s Row Denizen on hand can be advantageous. Its relevance ebbs and flows with meta shifts, but it’s particularly useful when slower, control-based decks are in play, where grinding out resources over time is key to victory.


How to beat Sage’s Row Denizen

Sage’s Row Denizen is an intriguing creature in Magic the Gathering, primarily used in decks that focus on milling opponents by putting cards from their library into their graveyard. This blue creature shines when it can continually trigger its ability with numerous creature spells being cast. To effectively counter Sage’s Row Denizen, it’s crucial to shut down or limit these triggers as much as possible.

One strategy is to prioritize the removal of creatures or to employ counterspells to prevent them from entering the battlefield. This cripples the synergy that Sage’s Row Denizen relies on for milling your library. Sweepers like Wrath of God can clear the board, and targeted removal such as Murder can take out Denizen before it becomes a consistent threat.

Alternatively, graveyard reshuffling cards can nullify the milling done by Sage’s Row Denizen. Effects found in cards like Elixir of Immortality can be a simple yet effective solution to recycle your graveyard back into your library, minimizing the impact of the milling strategy. The key to success is to keep your library full and their board empty, preventing Sage’s Row Denizen from advancing your opponent’s win condition.


Understanding Sage’s Row Denizen

In the diverse world of blue creatures within Magic: The Gathering, Sage’s Row Denizen offers an intriguing dynamic to mill strategies. Similar to Vedalken Dismisser, which can put an opponent’s creature on top of their library, Sage’s Row Denizen has a more subtle effect, allowing for iterative milling whenever a blue creature enters the battlefield under your control. This synergizes effectively in decks packed with blue creatures or token generators.

Cards like Sage's Row Denizen

Sage’s Row Denizen is a valuable cog in the mill mechanism, akin to other cards like Hedron Crab, which mills whenever a land enters the battlefield. Unlike the crab, Sage’s Row Denizen requires blue creatures for activation, offering a different angle of deck building. Jace’s Phantasm also shares the blue-centric philosophy but rewards you with a robust creature once an opponent’s library is sufficiently thinned out.

Drowner of Secrets is another comparable creature, but rather than a passive ability, it requires tapping another merfolk to mill an opponent. This promotes an active gameplay style. The Denizen, conversely, remains more passive, enabling continuous effects as you naturally play creatures. Moreover, it serves as a subtle yet consistent threat, urging opponents to handle your board or face the consequences of a dwindling library.

Each of these cards caters to a mill-focused strategy, but Sage’s Row Denizen stands out when combined with repeatable creature deployments, etching away at your opponent’s options turn by turn.

Vedalken Dismisser - MTG Card versions
Hedron Crab - MTG Card versions
Jace's Phantasm - MTG Card versions
Drowner of Secrets - MTG Card versions
Vedalken Dismisser - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Hedron Crab - Zendikar (ZEN)
Jace's Phantasm - Magic 2013 (M13)
Drowner of Secrets - Lorwyn (LRW)

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Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sage's Row Denizen MTG card by a specific set like Gatecrash and Core Set 2020, 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 Sage's Row Denizen and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Sage's Row Denizen Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2013-02-01 and 2019-07-12. Illustrated by Svetlin Velinov.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12013-02-01GatecrashGTC 462003normalblackSvetlin Velinov
22019-07-12Core Set 2020M20 732015normalblackSvetlin Velinov

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sage's Row Denizen has restrictions

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

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