Altar of Dementia MTG Card


Card setsReleased in 6 setsSee all
Mana cost
Converted mana cost2
RarityRare
TypeArtifact
Abilities Mill

Key Takeaways

  1. Providing card advantage, it allows players to populate graveyards quickly for future gameplay strategies.
  2. It offers instant-speed flexibility, turning it into a versatile reaction tool against opponents.
  3. Despite its strengths, it requires creature sacrifices, which can hinder some deck strategies.

Text of card

Sacrifice a creature: Target player puts a number of cards equal to that creature's power from the top of his or her library into his or her graveyard.

"It is not that you will go mad. It is that you will beg for madness." —Volrath


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Altar of Dementia stands as a top-flight card in MTG due to its ability to provide substantial card advantage. Aiding you in swiftly filling up your graveyard, it turns future topdeck creatures into potential fuel and thus delivers significant advantage over the course of a game.

Resource Acceleration: Altar of Dementia can be seen as a resource accelerator. By milling cards quickly into your graveyard, it indirectly fuels resource-intensive strategies like Reanimation or Delve. This gives acceleration for your bigger, more lethal creatures to hit the battlefield faster.

Instant Speed: While it is an artifact and not an instant, the Altar’s activated ability can be used at instant speed. This means you can use it to sacrifice creatures whenever you wish, even during your opponent’s turn, adding an excellent level of flexibility in gameplay. This leads to immediate reactions to combat or removal spells, guarding your field in response to unforeseen threats.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: The Altar of Dementia demands you to sacrifice a creature as an additional cost to use its powerful milling ability. This results in a loss of resources and can put you at a significant disadvantage in the gameplay if your deck is running low on creatures.

Specific Mana Cost: The casting cost of the Altar of Dementia only requires two colorless mana. However, it belongs to the artifact category of cards, which may limit its inclusion and effectiveness in certain decks that don’t align with artifact synergies.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: While two mana might seem low, it’s in relation to the effect offered by the Altar of Dementia, its overall value might be offset by other cards providing improved efficiency or beneficial effects. Other artifact or mill-oriented cards may come at a cheaper cost or offer more game-winning potential.


Reasons to Include Altar of Dementia in Your Collection

Versatility: As an artifact, Altar of Dementia effortlessly integrates into multiple deck archetypes across various formats. Its sacrifice ability has versatile uses including self-mill strategies or creature control.

Combo Potential: This card unlocks multiple game-winning combos. Primarily, sacrificing creatures to mill an opponent’s library significantly or even completely, thus causing instant defeat for the opponent under the right conditions.

Meta-Relevance: With the prevalence of graveyard-centric strategies in the current meta-game, the Altar of Dementia could provide a strategic edge. It also serves as an effective tool against creature-heavy metas, as sacrificing creatures can disrupt opponents’ board state.


How to beat

Cracking the seemingly mysterious puzzle of the Altar of Dementia in Magic: The Gathering is easier than it appears upon closer scrutiny. A prime tactic is to monopolize graveyard interaction. Cards like Tormod’s Crypt or Leyline of the Void can remove the effectiveness of your opponent’s Altar, preventing them from using it for its mill strategy.

Additionally, players can focus on strategies that leverage indestructible or hexproof creatures, diffusing the card’s sacrifice-and-mill mechanic. Cards such as Stuffy Doll, or those with hexproof like Invisible Stalker, can work as a shield, countering the mill attack.

Lastly, cards with high mana costs can help reduce the damages of potential mills. The more expensive cards in your deck, the less number of them will be milled, reducing the impact of the Altar’s strategy. After assessing the value of various alternatives, it becomes apparent that defeating the Altar of Dementia card is a matter of clever strategy and tactical foresight.


BurnMana Recommendations

Reflecting on the intricate qualities of Altar of Dementia in MTG, it’s evident that mastering this card can substantially escalate your deck’s potency. Its ability to rapidly mill while operating at instant speed opens up strategic avenues for seasoned players. However, it’s also crucial to balance your deck, mitigating the sacrifice requirement’s impact. Interested in crafting a deck that unleashes the full potential of Altar of Dementia, or seeking a way to neutralize its threat in your opponent’s arsenal? Join our community where we dissect the nuances of MTG gameplay and empower you with strategies to turn the tides of battle in your favor.


Cards like Altar of Dementia

Altar of Dementia presents an intriguing dimension to sacrifice outlets in Magic: The Gathering. It can be compared to the likes of Dark Privilege, another card that facilitates creature sacrifice. Yet, Altar of Dementia distinguishes itself with its powerful mill ability, offering an alternate win condition by emptying your opponent’s library.

In the same vein, we find Ashnod’s Altar. This card also lets you sacrifice a creature, but the outcome here is very different—it generates two colourless mana. Despite not having the milling potential that Altar of Dementia possesses, it still provides a solid resource advantage.

Phyrexian Tower is another comparable card. Like the Altar, it allows for creature sacrifice, but it generates different value by adding one black mana to your mana pool for each sacrificed creature. While less flexible than the colorless mana Ashnod’s Altar provides, it excels in decks focused on black mana usage.

In summary, Altar of Dementia is undeniably a strong choice amongst its peers for offering a dual function—creature sacrifice and opponent milling. This makes it rather unique within Magic: The Gathering, and of attractive interest to those crafting intricate, complex strategies.

Dark Privilege - MTG Card versions
Ashnod's Altar - MTG Card versions
Phyrexian Tower - MTG Card versions
Dark Privilege - Multiverse Gift Box (MGB)
Ashnod's Altar - Antiquities (ATQ)
Phyrexian Tower - Urza's Saga (USG)

Cards similar to Altar of Dementia by color, type and mana cost

Chaos Orb - MTG Card versions
Winter Orb - MTG Card versions
Amulet of Kroog - MTG Card versions
Nacre Talisman - MTG Card versions
Howling Mine - MTG Card versions
Essence Bottle - MTG Card versions
Emerald Medallion - MTG Card versions
Scrying Glass - MTG Card versions
Cursed Totem - MTG Card versions
Tsabo's Web - MTG Card versions
Millikin - MTG Card versions
Ark of Blight - MTG Card versions
Surestrike Trident - MTG Card versions
Energy Chamber - MTG Card versions
Water Gun Balloon Game - MTG Card versions
Angel's Feather - MTG Card versions
Demon's Horn - MTG Card versions
Elsewhere Flask - MTG Card versions
Steel Overseer - MTG Card versions
Wurm's Tooth - MTG Card versions
Chaos Orb - Unlimited Edition (2ED)
Winter Orb - 30th Anniversary Edition (30A)
Amulet of Kroog - Rinascimento (RIN)
Nacre Talisman - Ice Age (ICE)
Howling Mine - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Essence Bottle - Tempest (TMP)
Emerald Medallion - Commander Anthology (CMA)
Scrying Glass - Urza's Destiny (UDS)
Cursed Totem - World Championship Decks 2000 (WC00)
Tsabo's Web - World Championship Decks 2001 (WC01)
Millikin - Odyssey (ODY)
Ark of Blight - Scourge (SCG)
Surestrike Trident - Darksteel (DST)
Energy Chamber - Fifth Dawn (5DN)
Water Gun Balloon Game - Unhinged (UNH)
Angel's Feather - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Demon's Horn - Ninth Edition (9ED)
Elsewhere Flask - Shadowmoor (SHM)
Steel Overseer - Magic 2011 (M11)
Wurm's Tooth - Magic 2011 (M11)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Altar of Dementia MTG card by a specific set like Tempest and Conspiracy, 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 Altar of Dementia and other MTG cards:

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Printings

The Altar of Dementia Magic the Gathering card was released in 4 different sets between 1997-10-14 and 2022-11-18. Illustrated by 2 different artists.

#ReleaseNameCodeSymbolNumberFrameLayoutBorderArtist
11997-10-14TempestTMP 2761997normalblackBrom
22014-06-06ConspiracyCNS 1962003normalblackBrom
32019-06-14Modern HorizonsMH1 2182015normalblackBrom
42022-11-18The Brothers' War Retro ArtifactsBRR 31997normalblackBrom
52022-11-18The Brothers' War Retro ArtifactsBRR 661997normalblackIsis
62022-11-18The Brothers' War Retro ArtifactsBRR 66z1997normalblackIsis

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Altar of Dementia has restrictions

FormatLegality
HistoricbrawlLegal
HistoricLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
GladiatorLegal
CommanderLegal
ModernLegal
PremodernLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal
PredhLegal
PennyLegal
TimelessLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2019-06-14 If the target player's library contains fewer cards than the sacrificed creature's power, all of those cards are put into that player's graveyard. That player won't lose the game until they try to draw from the empty library.
2019-06-14 The number of cards the target player puts into their graveyard is equal to the power of the sacrificed creature as it last existed on the battlefield.

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