Sorin's Guide MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	5
Rarity	Rare
Type	Creature — Vampire
Released	2019-07-12
Set symbol
Set name	Core Set 2020
Set code	M20
Power	4
Toughness	2
Number	292
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Jason Rainville

Key Takeaways

Provides card selection advantage, ensuring efficient access to creatures within a player’s library.
Enables quicker play of creatures, bypassing normal mana costs for a tempo edge.
Instant speed ability enhances strategic flexibility and can surprise opponents.

Text of card

When Sorin's Guide enters the battlefield, you may search your library and/or graveyard for a card named Sorin, Vampire Lord, reveal it, and put it into your hand. If you search your library this way, shuffle it.

"My people serve the dragon Kolaghan, but I give my blood for a greater lord."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sorin’s Guide ensures that you gain an upper hand in card utility by allowing you to select a creature card from among a revealed set, effectively sifting through your deck for key pieces. This helps in maintaining a flow of threats and answers over the course of a game.

Resource Acceleration: By placing a creature directly onto the battlefield, Sorin’s Guide accelerates your resource deployment, bypassing the need for sufficient mana to cast the creature normally. This can give you a significant tempo boost and overwhelm your opponent with unexpected speed.

Instant Speed: The ability to act at instant speed provides you with flexibility, enabling you to respond to your opponent’s moves or optimize your own strategy at the end of their turn. This reactive nature of Sorin’s Guide can catch opponents off-guard, maximizing its strategic impact during complex board states.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Integrating Sorin’s Guide into your deck means you need to be prepared for the additional cost of discarding a card. This can be a significant downside when your hand is already running thin and each card holds critical strategic value.

Specific Mana Cost: Sorin’s Guide demands a precise combination of mana types to be cast. This not only constrains it to decks that can produce these mana colors but also can be challenging to fulfill on curve, especially in a mana base that’s not perfectly tuned.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Weighing the utility of Sorin’s Guide against its mana expenditure is essential. Its higher casting cost can be cumbersome when matched against other options in the same mana range, potentially leading to less efficient use of your turns in terms of both board development and resource allocation.

Reasons to Include Sorin’s Guide in Your Collection

Versatility: Sorin’s Guide is a highly flexible card that can slot into multiple deck archetypes. Its capacity to consistently support vampire-themed decks while also serving as a key piece in black and white color combinations makes it a shrewd add to any collection.

Combo Potential: This card shines when it comes to synergy. From enabling strategies focused on life gain to supporting the development of creature-based board states, Sorin’s Guide bolsters your chances of executing your game-winning combinations with its vampire tutoring ability.

Meta-Relevance: As the metagame shifts and strategies evolve, having cards that adapt to various playstyles becomes imperative. Sorin’s Guide holds its ground, maintaining relevance by providing tactical alternatives in both aggressive and control frameworks, proving to be an essential asset in diverse meta environments.

How to Beat Sorin’s Guide

Sorin’s Guide is a potent magic card that can turn the tides of a game by providing a reliable way to search for and play Vampire cards from your deck. While this can give a significant advantage to your opponent, it’s not an unconquerable strategy. Effective countermeasures involve disrupting your adversary’s game plan by neutralizing the card’s impact or preventing it from operating smoothly.

Consider using instant-speed removal spells that can eliminate Sorin’s Guide before it can activate its ability. Cards like Murderous Rider or Hero’s Downfall allow you to swiftly remove the threat from the battlefield. Additionally, you can employ counterspells such as Counterspell or Negate to prevent Sorin’s Guide from even entering the playing field.

Another strategy involves attacking your opponent’s resources, reducing their ability to utilize Sorin’s Guide’s effects. Hand disruption techniques, like Thoughtseize or Duress, can be employed preemptively to remove Sorin’s Guide from your opponent’s hand. Moreover, graveyard removal tools can be especially useful if the game strategy depends on recurring creature cards, with cards like Rest in Peace or Tormod’s Crypt making sure that those vampires don’t come back once dealt with.

Cards like Sorin's Guide

Sorin’s Guide is a unique card that provides specific utility in MTG gameplay. It mirrors the functionality of cards like Demonic Tutor and Diabolic Tutor, which are pivotal for players to search their library for a needed card. Unlike these tutors, Sorin’s Guide has a more focused ability, allowing players to only search for a Vampire card, which is excellent for Vampire-themed decks.

Another comparable card might be Forerunner of the Legion. While Forerunner provides an on-entry library search for a Vampire card, which is similar to what Sorin’s Guide offers, it doesn’t put the card directly into your hand but on top of your library. Moreover, Forerunner also allows you to manipulate combat scenarios with its ability to boost other Vampires whenever another Vampire enters the battlefield. The Guide, however, offers immediate hand advantage, showing its unique role among tutoring effects.

When looking at the impact of Sorin’s Guide, its advantage in Vampire decks cannot be overstated. It shines by ensuring that key creatures can be accessed exactly when you need them, bolstering strategic gameplay and enhancing archetypal synergy.

Forerunner of the Legion - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sorin's Guide MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2020, 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 Sorin's Guide and other MTG cards:

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Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sorin's Guide 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