Brush with Death MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Buyback
Released	1998-03-02
Set symbol
Set name	Stronghold
Set code	STH
Number	52
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Stephen Daniele

Key Takeaways

Offers card recovery and indirect resource acceleration, but demands strategic hand management.
Instant speed adds versatility, yet constrained by specific mana cost and high casting price.
Worth inclusion for its unique life-manipulation and combo potential in certain deck styles.

Text of card

Buyback o Bo B (You may pay an additional o Bo B when you play this spell. If you do, put it into your hand instead of your graveyard as part of the spell's effect.) Target opponent loses 2 life. You gain 2 life.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Brush with Death enables players to return a creature card from their graveyard to their hand, ensuring that valuable resources can continuously serve your strategy and enhance your gameplay experience.

Resource Acceleration: This card comes with the upside of potentially draining life from an opponent for each black mana spent. This can translate to an indirect form of resource acceleration by weakening your opponent while strengthening your own position on the board.

Instant Speed: Its instant speed nature provides the flexibility to respond to an opponent’s actions or end their turn, making it a versatile tool in maintaining control of the flow of the game. This attribute is especially useful for navigating through complex battle phases or as a surprise tactic to reclaim key creatures.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: One of the drawbacks of Brush with Death is its discard requirement as part of the payment cost. This can hinder your card advantage, as you’re losing a card from your hand to activate its effect, potentially exhausting valuable resources.

Specific Mana Cost: This card necessitates precisely two black mana in its cost, which can be restrictive. Players not running a deck heavy on black mana may find it challenging to cast, thereby limiting its versatility across different deck archetypes.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: At three total mana, including the aforementioned two black mana, Brush with Death might be viewed as having a steep cost for the life gain effect it provides. Considering other cards in MTG that offer life gain at lower costs, this may reduce its appeal in competitive play.

Reasons to Include Brush with Death in Your Collection

Versatility: Brush with Death offers a unique mix of life gain and recurring damage, easily slipping into control or black-based life manipulation decks that seek to whittle down opponents over time.

Combo Potential: This card shines when combined with effects that capitalize on life changes, such as triggering abilities that activate when life is gained or opponents lose life.

Meta-Relevance: In games where stalling strategies and incremental advantages are crucial, Brush with Death can serve as a consistent threat, demanding answers from opponents and helping to secure the late game.

How to beat

Brush with Death is a card in Magic: The Gathering that beckons players into a subtle dance of life and death. As a sorcery that allows one to pay life to draw cards, it comes with a high-risk, high-reward scenario that demands strategic finesse to counteract. To outmaneuver this card’s potential, the best approach lies in timing and the art of disruption.

While this card gifts its owner with precious card advantage, it also drains their life, lending an opportunity to apply pressure in a match. Fast-paced, aggressive decks can punish this life payment by shortening the window in which Brush with Death can be safely used. Additionally, swift and unexpected counterspells are the bane of Brush with Death’s existence. By denying such a critical spell, opponents can maintain the tempo in their favor. Staving off its effects may also involve targeted discard strategies, stripping this potent card from a player’s hand before it can upset the balance of the game.

Ultimately, a player facing Brush with Death needs to carefully gauge their own threats and responses, ensuring that every life point loss in the opponent’s quest for cards edges them closer to defeat, rather than an overwhelming onslaught of resources.

Cards like Brush with Death

Brush with Death introduces a novel strategy to the realm of life drain in Magic: The Gathering. When scrutinized alongside other life sapping cards, Brush with Death offers a unique proposition: the ability to potentially disrupt opponents repeatedly. Another contender in this life-draining category is Exsanguinate, which, while it drains life from all opponents at once and can lead to significant life swings, doesn’t offer the repeatability that Brush with Death does.

Meanwhile, cards like Death Grasp provide targeted life drain per investment of mana in a one-off event. This can be a more efficient immediate life exchange, yet it lacks the long-term strategic depth Brush with Death can provide if the game prolongs. And let’s not forget Blood Tribute, a card that can halve an opponent’s life total in a single swoop but doesn’t give you the flexibility to spread the effect across turns or the added advantage of card draw.

Ultimately, Brush with Death may not offer as massive a life exchange in one go as some of its counterparts, but its repeatable nature paired with the card draw potential places it in a league of its own within the strategic landscape of life-draining cards in Magic: The Gathering.

Cards similar to Brush with Death by color, type and mana cost

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Brush with Death MTG card by a specific set like Stronghold, 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 Brush with Death and other MTG cards: