Dark Offering MTG Card

Dark Offering provides crucial card advantage by drawing multiple cards through creature sacrifice. Enhances mana resources instantly, enabling powerful plays and faster casting of spells. Instant speed casting of Dark Offering offers tactical flexibility, often catching opponents unprepared.

Portal Second Age (P02)
1998-06-24 - Number 72

Starter 1999 (S99)
1999-07-01 - Number 75

Card sets	Released in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery

Text of card

Destroy any one creature that isn't black. You gain 3 life.

"Our greatest hope has become our enemy's greatest triumph." —Restela, Alaborn marshal

Cards like Dark Offering

Dark Offering is an intriguing entrant in MTG’s pantheon of tactical sorcery spells. It closely mirrors the functionality of cards like Diabolic Tutor, which also allows a player to search their library for a card. Where Dark Offering differs is in its added ability to lose life and draw a card, thus providing additional deck thinning and card advantage at a potential cost to one’s life total.

Comparable also is Vampiric Tutor, offering the library searching ability albeit at instant speed and at a reduced cost of life and mana. While Vampiric Tutor doesn’t permit the drawing of a card, the instant speed provides a significant strategic advantage. Beseech the Queen is another counterpart sharing the deck searching mechanic, though it scales in mana cost depending on the number of lands in play. It doesn’t offer the life loss for card draw trade-off but can be more flexible in mana-intensive decks or those operating with a varied color palette.

Evaluating Dark Offering against its peers, its blend of immediate card access and life-for-resources exchange offers MTG enthusiasts a compelling spell choice, particularly in formats where tactical life management can be leveraged for late-game dominance.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Dark Offering ensures you stay ahead in the game by drawing cards equal to the sacrificed creature’s power. This potentially hefty draw effect not only refuels your hand but can also turn the tide in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: By providing an additional mana of any color, Dark Offering boosts your resource pool, quickly enabling more strategic plays and casting higher-cost spells earlier than expected.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast Dark Offering at instant speed adds a tactical layer to your gameplay. It allows you to react to battlefield changes on your opponent’s turn or after they’ve tapped out, ensuring maximum impact and surprise factor.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Dark Offering inherently necessitates discarding a card, which can be detrimental when your hand is already depleted or the card quality is too valuable to lose.

Specific Mana Cost: With a demand for both black mana and generic mana, decks not heavily skewed toward black may find it challenging to consistently meet the casting requirements, possibly impeding the smooth operation of multi-color strategies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that can be on the higher side for its effect, players might find that in the competitive landscape, there are alternatives that achieve similar outcomes more efficiently or at a lower resource investment.

Reasons to Include Dark Offering in Your Collection

Versatility: Dark Offering can seamlessly integrate into a variety of deck archetypes that lean on life manipulation or require a swift creature revival to gain an edge. Its dual purpose to recover a key creature and as a potential life gain makes it a valuable card in the right setup.

Combo Potential: This card opens up avenues for combo plays, enhancing strategies that pivot on graveyard mechanics or life-change triggers. It pairs well with cards that interact with life totals or benefit from creatures entering the battlefield from the graveyard.

Meta-Relevance: As the MTG landscape evolves, Dark Offering remains pertinent in environments where recuperating vital creatures swiftly can tilt the balance of the game. The current dynamics that favor graveyard synergy and life-total strategies make it a card worth considering for competitive play.

How to beat Dark Offering

Dark Offering is a unique spell in Magic: The Gathering, presenting a tactical challenge to opponents. When facing this card, the key is to anticipate and prepare for the life gain and creature enhancement it provides. One effective strategy is to maintain control over the board by removing creatures before Dark Offering can be used effectively. Board wipes or targeted removal spells become invaluable to prevent an opponent from capitalizing on the card’s benefits.

In addition, countering Dark Offering directly with counterspells is an excellent method to stifle your opponent’s plans. Employing disruption tactics, such as discard spells, can also strip this potent card from the opponent’s hand before it can ever impact the battlefield.

Lastly, it’s crucial to keep pressure on the opponent. Limiting the number of targets for Dark Offering by keeping their creatures at bay reduces the card’s potential to swing games. In essence, outpacing an opponent and minimizing their threats makes Dark Offering far less daunting, aiding you in steering the match to victory.

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Dark Offering MTG card by a specific set like Portal Second Age and Starter 1999, 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 Dark Offering and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Dark Offering Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 1998-06-24 and 1999-07-01. Illustrated by Edward P. Beard, Jr..

#	Released	Name	Code	Symbol	Number	Frame	Layout	Border	Artist
1	1998-06-24	Portal Second Age	P02		72	1997	Normal	Black	Edward P. Beard, Jr.
2	1999-07-01	Starter 1999	S99		75	1997	Normal	White	Edward P. Beard, Jr.

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Dark Offering has restrictions

Format	Legality
Predh	Legal
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal