Blood Vassal MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	3
Rarity	Common
Type	Creature — Thrull
Released	1998-10-12
Set symbol
Set name	Urza's Saga
Set code	USG
Power	2
Toughness	2
Number	118
Frame	1997
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Chippy

Key Takeaways

Blood Vassal enables strategic mana ramping and potentially game-changing plays by sacrificing it.
The card’s instant speed sacrifice offers flexibility, responding to opponents’ moves efficiently.
However, its mana gain and utility are limited to one-time use, reducing long-term board presence.

Text of card

Sacrifice Blood Vassal: Add o Bo B to your mana pool. Play this ability as a mana source.

"They are bred to suffer and born to die. Much like humans." —Gix, Yawgmoth praetor

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Blood Vassal may not directly provide card draw but its utilization can be pivotal in enabling card advantage strategies. Sacrificing it allows for mana generation at a critical moment, potentially facilitating a game-changing play or combo that can lead to an advantageous board state.

Resource Acceleration: As a creature that can be sacrificed for additional mana, Blood Vassal dovetails smoothly into resource acceleration strategies. The ability to turn a creature presence into immediate mana can accelerate your strategy, allowing for more impactful plays ahead of schedule and setting the pace of the game.

Instant Speed: While Blood Vassal itself is a creature card that doesn’t operate at instant speed, its sacrifice ability can be used any time you have priority. This creates opportunities to react swiftly to an opponent’s actions or end-of-turn maneuvers, making Blood Vassal a flexible addition to any deck looking to optimize the timing of their mana resources.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Blood Vassal’s ability requires sacrificing it, which can detract from your creature count, potentially weakening your board presence.

Specific Mana Cost: As it taps for black mana only, Blood Vassal may not seamlessly fit into decks that aren’t heavily black or lack a way to utilize single-color resources effectively.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: For a three-mana creature, Blood Vassal offers relatively moderate returns on your mana investment, especially since its sacrifice ability yields only a single black mana, which can be underwhelming in later game stages.

Reasons to Include Blood Vassal in Your Collection

Versatility: Blood Vassal serves as a flexible option, accommodating various deck builds focused on sacrifice mechanics or requiring a burst of mana for critical plays.

Combo Potential: Utilizing this card can open doors to powerful combos, particularly in black-centered decks that capitalize on sacrificing creatures to trigger game-changing effects or power up other cards.

Meta-Relevance: In environments where the sacrifice strategy is prevalent, or where managing resources efficiently is key, having Blood Vassal in your arsenal can offer significant advantages on the battlefield.

How to beat

Blood Vassal serves as a utilitarian creature in Magic: The Gathering, with its primary allure coming from its ability to ramp mana. As an asset allowing players to effectively jump from three to five mana in a single turn, it strikes as an analog to cards that serve a dual role of resource acceleration and board presence. However, its one-shot nature means that once used, the Vassal’s utility becomes exhausted.

To outplay this card, the crux lies in timing. Denying the temporary boost it grants can be pivotal. Counterspells can prevent it from entering the battlefield while removal spells can handle it once it’s in play. Fast-paced decks can punish opponents before they utilize the mana advantage or alternatively, outvalue the short-term ramp with sustainable sources of mana advancement. Focus on disrupting the Vassal’s sacrifice for mana or outpace the temporary boon it provides.

Strategic deck building and in-game decision making blend to overshadow the fleeting advantage rendered by Blood Vassal. Plan your moves to mitigate this card’s impact and maintain tempo, ensuring a stable path to victory.

Cards like Blood Vassal

Blood Vassal steps into the arena of sacrifice spells in Magic: The Gathering bearing some interesting similarities to cards like Blood Pet. What makes Blood Vassal stand out is its ability to be sacrificed for two colorless mana, a feature that can rapidly escalate your mana curve when you most need it. Blood Pet, on the other hand, provides only one black mana, which, while helpful, doesn’t offer the same flexibility in resource acceleration.

Comparatively, Skirk Prospector also allows you to sacrifice a creature for mana. However, unlike Blood Vassal, the Prospector specializes in converting only Goblins into red mana, which is a great fit for tribal strategies but isn’t as universally applicable. Then there’s Burnt Offering, which grants an amount of black and red mana equal to the sacrificed creature’s cost but lacks the simplicity and direct mana gain of the Blood Vassal.

Overall, in the realm of MTG, Blood Vassal presents a valuable option for players looking to bolster their mana availability, especially in decks that thrive on the versatility of colorless mana and don’t rely on creature-type specific benefits.

Cards similar to Blood Vassal by color, type and mana cost

Mischievous Poltergeist - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Blood Vassal MTG card by a specific set like Urza's Saga, 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 Blood Vassal and other MTG cards: