Sage of the Beyond MTG Card
2021-02-05 - Number 6
2024-04-19 - Number 111
| Card sets | Released in 2 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 7 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Creature — Spirit Giant |
| Abilities | Flying,Foretell |
| Power | 5 |
| Toughness | 5 |
Key Takeaways
- Provides strategic advantage by reducing costs of casting spells from the graveyard.
- Demands precise hand management and specific mana types for optimal use.
- Vital for decks that exploit graveyard mechanics, with significant combo potential.
Text of card
Flying Spells you cast from anywhere other than your hand cost less to cast. Foretell (During your turn, you may pay and exile this card from your hand face down. Cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Sage of the Beyond offers a unique strategic edge by enabling you to delve into your graveyard, effectively reducing the cost of spells you cast from there. This can lead to a substantial card advantage as you harness previously used resources with greater efficiency.
Resource Acceleration: This card has the potential to accelerate your resource management. By casting spells from your graveyard for a reduced cost, you preserve the mana in your hand for other strategic plays, allowing for more flexible and explosive turns.
Instant Speed: While Sage of the Beyond itself does not operate at instant speed, it synergizes well with cards that do, by potentially reducing their casting cost from the graveyard. This can propel you ahead by maximising the value of instant speed interactions—essential for seizing the moment and disrupting opponents during their turns.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing Sage of the Beyond requires careful hand management, as its ability-triggering condition compels you to part with another card. In situations when your hand is already stretched thin, using Sage could potentially backfire, leaving you at a disadvantage with fewer options to respond to your opponent’s moves.
Specific Mana Cost: Sage of the Beyond demands a precise blend of mana colors to cast. With two generic and three blue mana needed, it narrows the card’s compatibility predominantly to decks that can reliably generate ample blue mana, thus not fitting seamlessly into multicolored or off-theme decks.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: The demand of five mana to get Sage of the Beyond on the field is a weighty investment. When assessing the pace of play and the spectrum of available cards, this mana cost is on the steeper side, potentially delaying your game plan as you assemble the necessary resources, and may compare unfavorably to other cards in the same mana range with immediate impact or more versatile abilities.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: The Sage of the Beyond can serve multiple roles in various decks, particularly those focusing on utilizing the graveyard. Its static ability to reduce the cost of spells cast from anywhere other than your hand enhances strategies that involve flashback, reanimation, or foretell.
Combo Potential: This card, with its cost-reduction feature, enables intricate combos by freeing up mana. Players can leverage this to execute powerful sequences that would be otherwise too mana-intensive, potentially turning the tide of the game in your favor.
Meta-Relevance: In a game where decks often rely on maximizing value from the graveyard, Sage of the Beyond’s unique properties can exploit these prevalent strategies, putting you a step ahead in the current competitive environment.
How to Beat Sage of the Beyond
Understanding your opponent’s strategies can turn the tide of a game, and this is particularly true when facing Sage of the Beyond in Magic: The Gathering. This formidable card offers a discount on spells cast from the graveyard, making it a key piece in many graveyard-centric decks. An effective strategy against it is to disrupt your opponent’s graveyard with cards that can exile or shuffle it back into their library, thus nullifying the cost-reduction benefit of Sage of the Beyond.
Another approach is to prioritize removal. Employ spells or abilities that can bypass Sage of the Beyond’s defenses, ideally removing it from the game entirely or temporarily neutralizing it before it can become a persistent threat. Since Sage of the Beyond encourages a build-around strategy, removing it can dismantle your opponent’s game plan, providing you with a significant advantage.
Denying your opponent the additional benefit of casting from the graveyard can lead your carefully constructed deck to victory against Sage of the Beyond. Keep your disruption and removal tools at the ready, and the sage’s wisdom will be limited to mere whispers on the battlefield.
BurnMana Recommendations
Mastering your MTG deck is an art form, one that Sage of the Beyond can elevate with its unique card synergy and strategic depth. If your deck thrives on casting from unconventional locations like the graveyard, this card can reshape your game, making spells cost less and allowing for turns filled with surprising plays. We encourage you to ponder its potential inclusion, assessing how it might integrate with and empower your existing strategies. Dive deeper into the game’s intricacies, explore the many ways to optimize your deck, and ensure every draw builds toward victory. Intrigued by how Sage of the Beyond could change the game for you? Learn more with us and refine your deck to perfection.
Cards like Sage of the Beyond
Sage of the Beyond is one of those intriguing cards that can serve as a cornerstone for strategies built around graveyard manipulation and casting spells from places other than one’s hand in MTG. Like Shaman of Forgotten Ways, it not only provides a unique ability but also acts as a creature that can affect the board state. However, unlike the Shaman, Sage of the Beyond specifically reduces the cost of spells cast from the graveyard or exile, making it an ally for decks utilizing mechanics like flashback or the escape mechanic.
Comparable to cards such as Snapcaster Mage, Sage of the Beyond allows for a reuse of instants and sorceries, though the Mage’s immediacy in providing flashback to a single spell is distinctly more focused in comparison. Delve cards like Treasure Cruise also resonate with Sage’s theme of capitalizing on a stocked graveyard, although the approach is different; Sage facilitates recurring uses, while Cruise is a one-time massive card draw burst.
When evaluating its place within the pantheon of graveyard-centric cards, Sage of the Beyond has a unique offering. It doesn’t just relive past spells; it empowers them, carving a niche among MTG strategies that play with the conventional zones of the game.
Cards similar to Sage of the Beyond by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sage of the Beyond MTG card by a specific set like Kaldheim Commander and Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander, 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 of the Beyond 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 MTG Products
Printings
The Sage of the Beyond Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2021-02-05 and 2024-04-19. Illustrated by Cristi Balanescu.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2021-02-05 | Kaldheim Commander | KHC | 6 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Cristi Balanescu | |
| 2 | 2024-04-19 | Outlaws of Thunder Junction Commander | OTC | 111 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Cristi Balanescu |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sage of the Beyond has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Commander | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sage of the Beyond card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2021-02-05 | Because exiling a card with foretell from your hand is a special action, you can do so any time you have priority during your turn, including in response to spells and abilities. Once you announce you’re taking the action, no other player can respond by trying to remove the card from your hand. |
| 2021-02-05 | Casting a foretold card from exile follows the timing rules for that card. If you foretell an instant card, you can cast it as soon as the next player’s turn. In most cases, if you foretell a card that isn’t an instant (or doesn’t have flash), you’ll have to wait until your next turn to cast it. |
| 2021-02-05 | If you’re casting a foretold card from exile for its foretell cost, you can’t choose to cast it for any other alternative costs. You can, however, pay additional costs, such as kicker costs. If the card has any mandatory additional costs, those must be paid to cast the spell. |
| 2021-02-05 | The cost reduction applies only to generic mana in the costs of spells you cast from anywhere other than your hand. It can’t reduce requirements of a specific color of mana. |
| 2021-02-05 | To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying, add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions (such as that of Sage of the Beyond). The converted mana cost of the spell is determined only by its mana cost, no matter what the total cost to cast the spell was. |
