Sanguine Sacrament MTG Card
2017-09-29 - Number 33
2017-09-29 - Number 33s
2020-09-26 - Number XLN-33
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 2 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Instant |
Text of card
You gain twice X life. Put Sanguine Sacrament on the bottom of its owner's library.
"As the sun sets to make way for dawn, so we turn to darkness to bring about the coming salvation."
Cards like Sanguine Sacrament
Within the realm of life-gaining spells in MTG, Sanguine Sacrament stakes its claim with a unique twist. It echoes the functionality seen in cards like Beacon of Immortality, which also doubles a player’s life total, a formidable move in any match. Both cards cater to strategies centered around delaying the game and maximizing survival chances. However, Sanguine Sacrament’s advantage burgeons at instant speed, allowing players to dictate the pace and surprise opponents.
Comparatively, cards like Revitalize and Renewed Faith also provide life gain, though they present it in more modest increments. Trading dramatic effects for consistency and a lower mana cost, these spells often include card draw, blending sustainability with card advantage. Sanguine Sacrament forsakes the card draw but compensates with the potential for a massive life swing, especially with its repeatable option provided through its exile prevention.
Ultimately, while other cards offer benefits like card draw or more permanent effects, the versatility and instant impact of Sanguine Sacrament distinguish it within the landscape of MTG life-gain spells, catering to players who embrace a defensive and reactive gameplay style.
Cards similar to Sanguine Sacrament by color, type and mana cost
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Sanguine Sacrament is a unique card offering an indirect form of card advantage. It can essentially ‘buy’ you more draws by increasing your life total significantly, thus prolonging your opportunity to draw into the answers or threats you need.
Resource Acceleration: While Sanguine Sacrament doesn’t directly accelerate your resources in the form of mana or tokens, it does provide you with a life buffer. This allows you to use your life as a resource more liberally for other game mechanics or effects that require life payments, effectively accelerating your strategic options.
Instant Speed: The ability to cast Sanguine Sacrament at instant speed is a considerable tactical advantage. It means you can wait until the end of your opponent’s turn to make a decision, keeping your mana open for other potential interactions, surprise your opponent by significantly increasing your life total during combat, or in response to life-threatening situations ensuring maximum impact and keeping your opponents guessing.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: While Sanguine Sacrament doesn’t require you to discard, it does require a significant mana investment before you can reap its benefits, which can leave you vulnerable or unable to play other cards in your turn.
Specific Mana Cost: Sanguine Sacrament demands a strict white mana cost, which ties it firmly to white decks or decks that can reliably produce white mana, potentially reducing its flexibility in multi-colored decks or formats where mana fixing is less available.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its XX white mana cost structure, Sanguine Sacrament can become expensive quickly. To gain a substantial amount of life, you need to sink a lot of mana into it, which can be a setback when facing decks that thrive on tempo or when you are trying to maintain defensive options.
Reasons to Include Sanguine Sacrament in Your Collection
Versatility: Sanguine Sacrament offers vital lifegain that can be a game-changer in many different deck archetypes. Whether you’re running a control deck or a combo-centric strategy, this card can provide you with the cushion needed to stabilize or pivot to your winning move.
Combo Potential: In decks that synergize with life gain, Sanguine Sacrament serves as a powerful engine. It can work in tandem with cards that trigger effects whenever you gain life, or with those that benefit from having high life totals, ultimately enabling game-winning combos.
Meta-Relevance: Against aggressive decks looking to close out the game quickly, the instant-speed life gain can be a key to surviving until your own strategy comes online. It has a place in metas where resilience and recovery are vital to outlast opponents’ threats.
How to beat
Sanguine Sacrament is an intriguing instant card that can be a thorn in the side of aggro decks in Magic: The Gathering. Its ability to double life gain presents a unique challenge to overcome, particularly in moments of the game when maintaining pressure is crucial. Its instant nature means it can disrupt the pacing of the game and give its user a significant survival boost.
Effective strategies to counter this card include using discard effects to remove it from an opponent’s hand before it can be used. Cards like Thoughtseize can play a crucial role in this. Additionally, applying continuous pressure and reducing the opponent’s life as quickly as possible can minimize the impact of Sanguine Sacrament. Another method is employing counterspells like Negate to deny its casting entirely, which can be pivotal during late-game scenarios where the life gain can be most impactful.
Overall, while Sanguine Sacrament can provide a substantial defense mechanism, understanding and anticipating this card, along with careful resource management, will often allow skilled players to navigate around it and secure victory in their MTG matches.
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Sanguine Sacrament MTG card by a specific set like Ixalan and Ixalan Promos, 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 Sanguine Sacrament and other MTG cards:
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- eBay
- 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
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Printings
The Sanguine Sacrament Magic the Gathering card was released in 3 different sets between 2017-09-29 and 2017-09-29. Illustrated by Bastien L. Deharme.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2017-09-29 | Ixalan | XLN | 33 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Bastien L. Deharme | |
| 2 | 2017-09-29 | Ixalan Promos | PXLN | 33s | 2015 | Normal | Black | Bastien L. Deharme | |
| 3 | The List | PLST | XLN-33 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Bastien L. Deharme |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Sanguine Sacrament has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Penny | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sanguine Sacrament card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2017-09-29 | Sanguine Sacrament causes you to gain an amount of life equal to twice the number chosen for X as a single life-gain event. An ability that triggers “Whenever you gain life” will trigger only once. |