Celestus Sanctifier MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 2 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityCommon
TypeCreature — Human Cleric
Power 3
Toughness 2

Key Takeaways

  1. Celestus Sanctifier enables card filtering to maintain game momentum by exploiting day/night transitions.
  2. Demands careful play—incorrect timing or resource mismanagement may hinder its potential benefits.
  3. Integrates well with current meta, especially for decks using graveyard strategies and day/night mechanics.

Text of card

If it's neither day nor night, it becomes day as Celestus Sanctifier enters the battlefield. Whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, look at the top two cards of your library. Put one of them into your graveyard.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Celestus Sanctifier has a remarkable ability to sift through your deck by allowing you to look at the top two cards of your library, then putting any number of them into your graveyard and the rest back on top in any order each time it becomes night or day. This selective process can smooth out your draws effectively, keeping the momentum in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: Due to its synergy with day and night transitions, this card plays exceptionally well with other cards in your deck that can switch between these states. When the day becomes night or vice versa, Celestus Sanctifier lets you gain a life, which, while not directly accelerating resources, maintains your stability on the battlefield, giving you breathing room to execute your strategy.

Instant Speed: While Celestus Sanctifier itself is not an instant, its interaction with the day and night mechanic allows you to take advantage of those changes which may occur at instant speed due to other spells or abilities. This added layer of functionality can provide unexpected card filtering and life gain at pivotal moments in the game, ensuring you’re always strategically primed.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: For players using Celestus Sanctifier, keep in mind that you’ll need to discard one card to unlock its potential. This can be particularly difficult when your hand is already depleted or if you’re saving crucial cards for future turns. Strategy and timing are essential to ensure this requirement doesn’t backfire and leave you at a disadvantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Celestus Sanctifier demands a precise mana combination to be played. With a casting cost that includes white mana symbols, its utility may be restricted. Decks without a white mana base will find it challenging to incorporate this card, making it less versatile across the different deck archetypes in Magic the Gathering.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that is on the higher end of the spectrum, Celestus Sanctifier may not be the most efficient choice when examining mana-to-effect ratio. Other cards in the game could offer similar benefits without the substantial mana investment, potentially allowing for quicker plays and better tempo control within a match.


Reasons to Include Celestus Sanctifier in Your Collection

Versatility: Celestus Sanctifier is a card that melds well with various deck themes. Its ability to mill cards can be advantageous in graveyard-centric strategies, while simultaneously enabling day and night transformations can bolster werewolf decks or other day/night mechanics.

Combo Potential: Its unique interactions allow for creative combos, such as leveraging the day/night cycle for cards like Tovolar, Dire Overlord, or maximizing value from graveyard retrieval. It’s an asset for decks looking to exploit these synergies.

Meta-Relevance: With the day and night mechanic being a recent addition, having a card that engages with this system is crucial. Celestus Sanctifier fits right into the current meta, providing advantages against decks that aren’t prepared to handle the continuous shift between day and night states.


How to beat Celestus Sanctifier

Celestus Sanctifier is a distinctive card that can give its controller a notable edge by filtering out their draws and transforming night into day or vice versa in Magic: The Gathering. Playing against this card requires a strategy that disrupts this rhythm. One efficient way is to limit the card abilities that trigger during the day or night. By incorporating cards that prevent actions from being taken during your opponent’s turn, you can decrease the chances for them to gain the full advantage of Celestus Sanctifier’s effects.

Another tactic involves utilizing removal spells that can directly target and remove the Sanctifier from the board. This is a straightforward method to diminish its influence on the game. Artifacts and creatures that control or alter the day/night cycle can also be beneficial by taking the control of the cycle away from your opponent, mitigating their ability to manipulate it with Celestus Sanctifier. Diligence in tracking the game’s progression and adjusting plays accordingly will be crucial in making the most of these strategies and triumphing over the powerful dynamics of Celestus Sanctifier.


Cards like Celestus Sanctifier

Celestus Sanctifier is a unique creature within the vast Magic: The Gathering card library that has a distinct place among cards that manipulate the graveyard. Similar to Golgari Thug, Celestus Sanctifier contributes to graveyard management by enabling the placement of cards into players’ own graveyard. However, Golgari Thug focuses on dredge, giving players direct control over the cards placed into the graveyard. On the other hand, Celestus Sanctifier provides an element of surprise in placing the top card of a player’s library into their graveyard during their end step if it’s a land.

Comparing to Balustrade Spy, which explores a player’s library until they reveal a land card, Celestus Sanctifier offers recurring potential each turn. But, while Balustrade Spy provides a one-time mass graveyard fill, Sanctifier’s ability allows for more controlled and sustainable play. Other cards such as Satyr Wayfinder also allow players to manipulate the top cards of their library and impact the composition of the hand and graveyard, but Celestus Sanctifier sets itself apart with its continuous ability and its nighttime condition that draws additional cards.

Ultimately, Celestus Sanctifier is appreciated for its versatility in both graveyard play and card draws under specific conditions, ensuring players an ongoing strategic advantage within Magic: The Gathering games.

Golgari Thug - MTG Card versions
Balustrade Spy - MTG Card versions
Satyr Wayfinder - MTG Card versions
Golgari Thug - Ravnica: City of Guilds (RAV)
Balustrade Spy - Gatecrash (GTC)
Satyr Wayfinder - Born of the Gods (BNG)

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Argivian Blacksmith - Antiquities (ATQ)
Jamuraan Lion - Media Inserts (PMEI)
Snow Hound - Ice Age (ICE)
Elvish Healer - Ice Age (ICE)
Femeref Knight - Mirage (MIR)
Border Guard - Portal (POR)
Stern Marshal - Portal (POR)
Benalish Knight - Anthologies (ATH)
Regal Unicorn - Classic Sixth Edition (6ED)
Wild Griffin - Starter 2000 (S00)
Pianna, Nomad Captain - Odyssey (ODY)
Dogged Hunter - Odyssey (ODY)
Diving Griffin - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Faithful Squire // Kaiso, Memory of Loyalty - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Kitsune Palliator - Betrayers of Kamigawa (BOK)
Freewind Equenaut - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Sanctum Guardian - Salvat 2005 (PSAL)
Field Marshal - Coldsnap (CSP)
Kithkin Healer - Lorwyn (LRW)
Kor Hookmaster - Zendikar (ZEN)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Celestus Sanctifier MTG card by a specific set like Innistrad: Midnight Hunt and Innistrad: Double Feature, 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 Celestus Sanctifier and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Celestus Sanctifier Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-09-24 and 2022-01-28. Illustrated by Irina Nordsol.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
12021-09-24Innistrad: Midnight HuntMID 122015normalblackIrina Nordsol
22022-01-28Innistrad: Double FeatureDBL 122015normalblackIrina Nordsol

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Celestus Sanctifier has restrictions

FormatLegality
StandardLegal
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
PaupercommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
PioneerLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PauperLegal
FutureLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
ExplorerLegal
BrawlLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2021-09-24 Before a player untaps their permanents during the untap step, the game checks to see if the day/night designation should change.
2021-09-24 Day and night are designations that the game itself can have. The game starts as neither. Once the game becomes day (or less commonly, night), the game will be exactly one of them—day or night—going back and forth for the rest of the game.
2021-09-24 For more information about Day and Night and the Daybound and Nightbound abilities, please see the Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Mechanics atricle (https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/innistrad-midnight-hunt-mechanics-2021-09-02).
2021-09-24 If a triggered ability triggers whenever day becomes night or night becomes day, it only triggers if it was already either day/night and becomes the other. It does not trigger when the game becomes day or night for the first time.
2021-09-24 If it is day, and the active player of the previous turn cast no spells during their turn, it becomes night.
2021-09-24 If it is night, and the active player of the previous turn cast two or more spells during their turn, it becomes day.
2021-09-24 The card you don't put into your graveyard stays on top of your library.

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