Virtus's Maneuver MTG Card


Virtus's Maneuver - Battlebond
Mana cost
Converted mana cost3
RarityRare
TypeSorcery
Released2018-06-08
Set symbol
Set nameBattlebond
Set codeBBD
Number54
Frame2015
Layoutnormal
Borderblack
Illustred byTomasz Jedruszek

Key Takeaways

  1. Forces sacrifices, granting potential creature count advantage and clearing blockers for attacks.
  2. Instant speed offers tactical flexibility during crucial gameplay moments.
  3. Reanimation ability provides synergy with enter-the-battlefield effects for combo setups.

Text of card

For each player, choose friend or foe. Each friend returns a creature card from their graveyard to their hand. Each foe sacrifices a creature they control.

Brutality had never been so exquisite.


Card Pros

Card Advantage: Virtus’s Maneuver is proficient at tipping the scales in your favor by forcing each player to sacrifice a creature. If you’re facing fewer creatures than your opponents, you can ensure you’re gaining more from this exchange, effectively resulting in a potential advantage in the creature count.

Resource Acceleration: It may not directly generate mana or tokens, but by selectively removing blockers or important creatures from your adversaries, Virtus’s Maneuver can accelerate your game plan. It creates openings for your attacks or diminishes opponents’ resources, indirectly giving you a lead on the board.

Instant Speed: The ability to cast this card at instant speed allows you to respond with precision to the unfolding battle. Whether you need to disrupt a combo, save your creatures from a board wipe, or simply create an opening for a lethal attack, the timing of Virtus’s Maneuver gives you a tactical edge in the game’s critical moments.


Card Cons

Discard Requirement: While playing Virtus’s Maneuver, you’re faced with the decision of potentially discarding valuable cards. This can be detrimental when your hand comprises high-impact options, leaving you to make tough choices that could cost you the game.

Specific Mana Cost: Virtus’s Maneuver requires both black and white mana, thus demanding a commitment to a two-color mana base. Decks that cannot reliably generate both types of mana may find including this card in their rotation challenging.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With a casting cost that totals three mana, including one black and one white, this card’s impact on the board could be seen as less than what you might expect for such a cost. Considering the tempo of competitive play, there may be other cards that provide more immediate or meaningful effects for a similar mana investment.


Reasons to Include Virtus’s Maneuver in Your Collection

Versatility: Virtus’s Maneuver can easily find a home in various deck builds, particularly in ones that thrive on interaction and managing the board. Its ability to force decisions and simultaneously recover your own resources makes it adaptable across multiple play styles.

Combo Potential: This card offers unique synergy opportunities by allowing you to return creatures with beneficial enter-the-battlefield effects to your hand, setting up potential combo chains or recurring value from your graveyard.

Meta-Relevance: In a game state where creatures and creature-based strategies are prominent, Virtus’s Maneuver steps up as a timely response. It disrupts opponents’ boards while enhancing your own, keeping you competitive in a diverse meta.


How to beat

Virtus’s Maneuver is a unique spell in Magic: The Gathering that creates opportunities for tactical plays. It forces the battlefield into a complex dance where each player must sacrifice a creature, setting the stage for potential advantage shifts. However, like any strategy, it has vulnerabilities that can be exploited.

To outmaneuver Virtus’s Maneuver, consider cards that spawn creature tokens. These often-disposable creatures can be sacrificed without significant loss, effectively negating the impact of Virtus’s Maneuver’s sacrifice clause. Another tactic is to capitalize on death-trigger abilities. Certain creatures reap benefits upon dying, transforming the drawback of Virtus’s Maneuver into a boon for you. Finally, instant-speed removal can disrupt the intended balance of the card by eliminating key creatures before the spell resolves. It allows you to maintain board presence while your opponent may still suffer the sacrifice.

Strategically incorporating these elements can dismantle the advantages that Virtus’s Maneuver presents to your adversary. It underscores the importance of versatile deck construction and foresight in countering opponents’ tactics within Magic: The Gathering.


BurnMana Recommendations

If you’re captivated by the nuances of board control and tactical advantage in MTG, Virtus’s Maneuver could be a remarkable addition to your arsenal. Employing this versatile card can effectively shape the tide of battle in your favor, selectively clearing the path for your strategy to unfold. Seeking to elevate your gameplay with strategic sacrifices and revive potential? Virtus’s Maneuver provides that tactical depth. Delve deeper into its synergistic potential and discover how it can turn the tables in creature-centric metas. Expand your deck-building horizons and navigate the battlefield with renewed prowess—join the discussion and further your MTG expertise with us.


Cards like Virtus's Maneuver

Virtus’s Maneuver is an intriguing MTG card that invites comparison with other black spells designed to unbalance the field. It shares a similar objective with something like Smallpox, in that both propose to shrink opponents’ resources. Virtus’s Maneuver, however, is more targeted, giving you a choice regarding the creatures affected and offering an upside with the second part of its text—returning a low-cost creature back to the battlefield.

A closer look also aligns it with the likes of Innocent Blood. Both are black sorcery spells compelling each player to sacrifice a creature. The difference with Innocent Blood is its simplicity and lower mana cost, but it lacks Virtus’s Maneuver’s selective advantage and reanimation potential. Fleshbag Marauder also enters the equation, functioning very similarly to Innocent Blood, but in creature form, it brings a body to the board, which provides potential for subsequent interactions and advantages in-game.

Ultimately, Virtus’s Maneuver holds a unique position amongst MTG cards with sacrifice mechanics. It’s the delicate balance between forcing sacrifices, offering choice, and reviving utility creatures that defines its strategic niche and can lead to significant swings in board state favor, especially in games that are creature-heavy.

Smallpox - MTG Card versions
Innocent Blood - MTG Card versions
Fleshbag Marauder - MTG Card versions
Smallpox - Time Spiral (TSP)
Innocent Blood - Odyssey (ODY)
Fleshbag Marauder - Shards of Alara (ALA)

Cards similar to Virtus's Maneuver by color, type and mana cost

Darkpact - MTG Card versions
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Darkpact - Limited Edition Alpha (LEA)
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Infernal Contract - Seventh Edition (7ED)
Touch of Death - Fifth Edition (5ED)
Wicked Pact - Starter 1999 (S99)
Nature's Ruin - Portal (POR)
Buried Alive - World Championship Decks 2003 (WC03)
Choking Sands - World Championship Decks 1997 (WC97)
Brush with Death - Stronghold (STH)
Perish - The List (PLST)
Stupor - Arena League 2000 (PAL00)
Coercion - Eighth Edition (8ED)
Hand of Death - Starter 2000 (S00)
Grim Tutor - Core Set 2021 Promos (PM21)
Forced March - Mercadian Masques (MMQ)
Soul Burn - Invasion (INV)
Noxious Vapors - Planeshift (PLS)
Mind Rot - Kaladesh Remastered (KLR)

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Virtus's Maneuver MTG card by a specific set like Battlebond, 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 Virtus's Maneuver and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Virtus's Maneuver has restrictions

FormatLegality
CommanderLegal
LegacyLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PennyLegal
VintageLegal
DuelLegal

Rules and information

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

DateText
2018-06-08 Friends perform their specified actions before foes. This means that a friend’s action may cause a triggered ability of a foe’s permanent to trigger before that foe’s action causes that permanent to leave the battlefield.
2018-06-08 Players can’t take actions in between the time that friends perform their actions and the time that foes perform theirs. If any abilities trigger from friends performing actions, those triggers won’t be put onto the stack until the foes perform their actions and the spell finishes resolving.
2018-06-08 The designation of friend or foe is only relevant to the spell that asks you to choose. A player you call your friend doesn’t become your teammate, and the next “friend or foe” spell you cast could name that player your foe.
2018-06-08 When Virtus’s Maneuver resolves and you choose friend or foe, first the next friend in turn order (or, if it’s a friend’s turn, that friend) chooses a creature card in their graveyard, then each other friend in turn order does the same, then each of those players return those cards to their hands at the same time. Friends will know choices made by earlier players when making their choices. Repeat this process for foes, who choose a creature one at a time and then sacrifice them all at the same time.
2018-06-08 You make this choice for yourself as well as each other player. In some rare cases, you may wish to call yourself (or your teammate in a Two-Headed Giant game) a foe. You can do that.
2018-06-08 You may call a player a friend or a foe even if that player will be instructed to perform an impossible action. For example, for Regna’s Sanction, a foe may control no untapped creatures.

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