Taste of Blood MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Released	2011-07-15
Set symbol
Set name	Magic 2012
Set code	M12
Number	113
Frame	2003
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Howard Lyon

Key Takeaways

Taste of Blood’s casting cost is low, allowing for efficient early-game play and strategic resource management.
The card’s damage and life gain mechanism can serve as part of a combo or aggressive strategy in a deck.
Its specific mana cost can limit its use to certain deck archetypes, keeping it from being universally adaptable.

Text of card

Taste of Blood deals 1 damage to target player and you gain 1 life.

"How blessed are some people, whose lives have no fears, no dreads, to whom sleep is a blessing that comes nightly, and brings nothing but sweet dreams." —Bram Stoker, *Dracula*

Card Pros

Card Advantage: While Taste of Blood itself does not directly provide card draw, its low cost and ability to potentially remove a creature or chip away at an opponent’s life total can indirectly lead to card superiority. By applying pressure, you encourage your opponent to react and potentially overextend, which can then translate into a card advantage for you.

Resource Acceleration: Taste of Blood, as a one-mana spell, effectively complements a resource acceleration strategy. It allows you to utilize your mana efficiently in the early turns, paving the way for a more impactful play in subsequent turns. Even though it doesn’t generate additional mana or tokens, the life gain can be crucial for surviving in the early game or fueling spells that benefit from increased life totals.

Instant Speed: Since Taste of Blood can be cast at sorcery speed, it’s essential to plan its use strategically within your turn. Though it doesn’t have the flexibility of an instant, clever timing of this card can still disrupt your opponent’s strategy, especially when paired with other instant-speed interactions in your deck.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While Taste of Blood does not have a discard requirement, certain cards that synergize with its effect might. This can put you at a disadvantage if you’re trying to maintain card advantage.

Specific Mana Cost: Taste of Blood’s casting cost is specific to black mana, which may restrict its inclusion to mono-black or black-centric decks, potentially limiting its versatility in multi-color builds.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although it costs a single black mana, the impact of Taste of Blood might not always justify a card slot when compared to other one-mana spells. More impactful spells may provide a greater value for the mana invested.

Reasons to Include Taste of Blood in Your Collection

Versatility: Taste of Blood is an accessible spell that can serve as a staple in decks that thrive on life point swings. Its low casting cost makes it easy to weave into various game phases, fitting seamlessly into aggressive strategies that prioritize early damage offers.

Combo Potential: The ability of Taste of Blood to deal damage while gaining you life makes it a cog in the machine of synergistic decks. It acts as fuel for archetypes that capitalize on life changes, triggering conditions for cards that monitor life gains or losses.

Meta-Relevance: In a landscape where aggro decks or those leveraging life as a resource are top-dogs, Taste of Blood’s economical cost-to-effect ratio makes it a cogent choice. Its alignment with current tastes can give your deck a decisive edge in swiftly evolving gameplay scenarios.

How to Beat Taste of Blood

Taste of Blood is renowned for its singular ability to deal damage while gaining life, a combination that can tip the scales in the early game phases. This card’s one-for-one exchange can push a player towards a victory in decks built around life swings. But, there are ways to mitigate or altogether elevate your game above the reach of such a card.

To circumvent the potential setback Taste of Blood poses, consider introducing more efficient lifegain answers or damage prevention strategies into your own deck. Cards like Tormod’s Crypt can effectively neutralize graveyard strategies, ensuring that effects reliant on card recursion are kept in check. Additionally, deploying a diverse set of removal spells like Path to Exile helps maintain board control, making the life lost from a card like Taste of Blood far less significant.

In essence, while the life swing from Taste of Blood can be a nuisance, its impact is easily buffered by decks that include robust life management or control elements. By paying attention to these aspects, you can effectively navigate around the challenges posed by such cards and lead your deck to triumph over your opponents.

Cards like Taste of Blood

Taste of Blood is a card that perfectly encapsulates the vampiric essence in Magic: The Gathering, offering direct life point manipulation by dealing damage and providing life gain. A card it often gets measured against is Alms of the Vein. While Alms of the Vein also grants you a 3-life shift in your favor through its madness cost, Taste of Blood is more straightforward and easier to cast with just one black mana.

Another card worth comparing is Sovereign’s Bite, which mirrors Taste of Blood’s effects for the same mana cost but stands out with its direct targeting of opponents. This specificity can be advantageous in games where precision is crucial. Then there’s Dark Ritual, a card that doesn’t deal damage but provides a significant boost in mana for an explosive turn. It doesn’t alter life totals, however, which is where Taste of Blood finds its niche.

In essence, while there are several cards within MTG that share similarities with Taste of Blood, its uncomplicated casting cost and combination of damage with life gain provide a unique blend that can be quite advantageous in aggressive decks aimed at quickly diminishing an opponent’s life total.

Cards similar to Taste of Blood by color, type and mana cost

Bloodcurdling Scream - MTG Card versions

Call to the Netherworld - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Taste of Blood MTG card by a specific set like Magic 2012, 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 Taste of Blood and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Taste of Blood has restrictions

Format	Legality
Commander	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Paupercommander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Penny	Legal

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2011-09-22	If the player is an illegal target when Taste of Blood tries to resolve, Taste of Blood won’t resolve and none of its effects will happen. You won’t gain life.