Sacred Prey MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	1
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Horse
Released	1999-10-04
Set symbol
Set name	Mercadian Masques
Set code	MMQ
Power	1
Toughness	1
Number	268
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Rebecca Guay

Key Takeaways

Sacred Prey grants card advantage and resource acceleration, enhancing your strategic depth.
Requires careful play; discard and specific mana costs can limit deck compatibility.
Part of synergistic combos and meta-relevant for its life-gain capability in aggressive games.

Text of card

When Sacred Prey becomes blocked, you gain 1 life.

To see one is a good omen to the Cho-Arrim.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: When it comes to maintaining a strong hand, Sacred Prey shines by offering draw mechanics which can significantly swing the momentum in your favor.

Resource Acceleration: Sacred Prey provides an edge by granting additional resources, ensuring you’re always one step ahead in the race for board dominance.

Instant Speed: The flexibility of casting Sacred Prey at instant speed allows for strategic depth, giving you the ability to adapt swiftly to the evolving battlefield.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sacred Prey’s activation necessitates the discard of a card, a trade-off that could deplete your hand at critical moments, leaving you vulnerable to your opponent’s strategies.

Specific Mana Cost: Its casting cost includes both white and green mana, necessitating a deck built around these colors, which might not fit seamlessly into all strategies, particularly those that are mono-colored or that do not support this color pairing.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: The efficiency of Sacred Prey is debatable, considering its mana cost. For the same or lower investment, other cards could offer more advantageous abilities or creatures, allowing for a faster or more impactful game-play, which might make Sacred Prey less favorable in competitive scenes.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Sacred Prey offers a unique flexibility that allows it to adapt to various deck types. Its potential to gain life in creature-centric builds helps stabilize your board presence across match-ups.

Combo Potential: This card can become a key part of life-gain synergies, setting off a chain of beneficial effects. Its interaction with cards that react to life gain can turn the tide of the game.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where aggressive strategies dominate, Sacred Prey’s life-gain mechanics can provide the necessary buffer to outlast your opponents, making it a timely addition to your collection.

How to beat

Understanding your opponent’s strategies is key in the world of Magic: The Gathering, and this is no less true when facing off against the Sacred Prey card. One effective tactic to triumph over this creature is by utilizing removal spells that can circumvent its defensive abilities. Cards like Doom Blade, which can target non-black creatures, prove invaluable in swiftly dealing with Sacred Prey before its life-link ability becomes a complication. Board wipes such as Wrath of God can also play a crucial role in clearing the field of this resilient prey.

Another avenue to explore is preventing the Sacred Prey from ever reaching the battlefield. Counterspells, such as Cancel or Mana Leak, can nip the threat in the bud by stopping the creature spell while it’s still on the stack. If Sacred Prey does make it into play, keeping its life-link ability in check is paramount. Cards that remove or negate abilities can transform it into a less intimidating creature. Finally, keeping pressure on your opponent by maintaining a stronger lineup of creatures will help ensure Sacred Prey’s impact on the game remains minimal at best.

Every card in Magic: The Gathering poses a challenge, and Sacred Prey is no exception. However, with the right strategy and use of controlling spells, its threat can be efficiently neutralized, allowing you to maintain the upper hand in your game.

Cards like Sacred Prey

Sacred Prey is a distinctive option for players looking to amplify their life-gain strategies in Magic: The Gathering. It invites comparison with cards such as Ajani’s Pridemate, which similarly benefits from instances of life gain, growing stronger with each life point restored. However, unlike Sacred Prey, Ajani’s Pridemate’s power increases directly without the need to trigger an attack phase.

Moving to other counterparts, there’s the card Sunscorch Regent, which not only gains +1/+1 counters whenever you gain life but also when opponents cast spells, thus serving a dual function. This creates potential for larger stat gains but comes with a higher mana cost than Sacred Prey. Another relative in this thematic group is Eternal Thirst, an enchanting aura that bestows the life-gain trigger for +1/+1 counters onto any creature it enchants. While it lacks Sacred Prey’s built-in life-link, it offers greater flexibility in creature targeting.

Assessing these cards side by side, Sacred Prey offers a unique blend of aggressive playstyle with life gain benefits, carving its niche within MTG’s vast array of life-oriented cards and standing its ground as a viable choice for players.

Cards similar to Sacred Prey by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sacred Prey MTG card by a specific set like Mercadian Masques, 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 Sacred Prey and other MTG cards: