Sweet Oblivion MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	2
Rarity	Uncommon
Type	Sorcery
Abilities	Escape,Mill
Released	2020-01-24
Set symbol
Set name	Theros Beyond Death
Set code	THB
Number	70
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Clint Cearley

Key Takeaways

Provides consistent graveyard fuel, critical for enabling powerful strategies and interactions in gameplay.
Instant speed offers flexibile play, allowing for strategic decisions that can disrupt opponents effectively.
Its escape mechanic ensures Sweet Oblivion remains a persistent threat, ideal for milling strategies.

Text of card

Target player puts the top four cards of their library into their graveyard. Escape—, Exile four other cards from your graveyard. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its escape cost.)

When memory is torment, oblivion is bliss.

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sweet Oblivion is designed to be a key player in graveyard-focused strategies. With the ability to target a player to mill four cards successive times via its escape mechanic, it provides consistent fuel for various graveyard synergies and replenishes your resources substantially.

Resource Acceleration: By stocking your own graveyard, Sweet Oblivion lays the groundwork for an accelerated gameplay. This acceleration can be pivotal for archetypes that capitalize on the volume of cards within the graveyard, leading to enhanced interactions and swifter execution of your game plan.

Instant Speed: One of the definitive perks of Sweet Oblivion is its instant speed, granting you the flexibility to wait until the most opportune moment within your opponent’s turn. This strategic advantage ensures that you can better navigate the pace of the game while discretely disrupting your adversary’s strategies.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sweet Oblivion necessitates players to discard cards, which could be detrimental to one’s hand, especially in situations where maintaining card advantage is critical.

Specific Mana Cost: With a cost that demands both blue mana and generic mana, Sweet Oblivion’s efficacy can be restricted, obliging deck builders to work around a potentially inflexible mana base.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: With multiple options available in the current pool, Sweet Oblivion’s cost might be considered on the higher side for its effect, potentially hindering its inclusion in fast-paced or mana-efficient decks.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Sweet Oblivion offers an efficient way to fill the graveyard, supporting strategies around delve, threshold, and escape mechanics. Its ability to target any player also makes it versatile for self-mill or disrupting opponent’s strategies.

Combo Potential: Given its self-mill capability, it pairs excellently with cards benefiting from a stocked graveyard, potentially enabling powerful reanimation plays or enhancing delve spell effectiveness.

Meta-Relevance: In a game where graveyard strategies are prevalent, Sweet Oblivion can become a valuable piece in decks designed to exploit the graveyard or to counteract opponent’s strategies that rely on their own.

How to beat

Sweet Oblivion is a distinctive card in MTG that requires a nuanced approach to counter effectively. This card taps into the mill strategy, aiming to deplete an opponent’s library by forcing them to put the top four cards into their graveyard. A powerful tactic against it is to utilize graveyard-shuffling cards like Gaea’s Blessing or the artifact Elixir of Immortality which can reshuffle your graveyard back into your library, thereby negating Sweet Oblivion’s milling effect.

Another strategy involves cards with graveyard-to-hand retrieval abilities. Employing such cards allows you to capitalize on the potential benefits from the cards that Sweet Oblivion mills. Furthermore, playing cards with graveyard casting abilities or escape mechanisms also turn this apparent disadvantage into a tactical boon. Finally, a quicker, more aggressive deck can often outpace mill strategies, rendering the long-term mill effects of Sweet Oblivion less threatening.

Understanding how to counter mill strategies in MTG is as essential as knowing how to implement them. Sweet Oblivion adds depth to the game, providing insightful windows for strategic deck building and in-game tactics that can work to the player’s advantage, even when facing the abyss of an emptying library.

Exploring the Depths of Sweet Oblivion

Immersing ourselves in the realm of escape mechanics within MTG, Sweet Oblivion presents a nuanced twist. This sorcery not only plunges the opponent into the void of their library but synergizes impeccably with graveyard strategies. The echoing whispers of similar MTG cards are heard in the likes of Glimpse the Unthinkable, which also targets a player’s library. The distinction lies in Glimpse’s immediate impact, milling a substantial amount of cards without the flexibility of escape.

Cards like Sweet Oblivion

Sweet Oblivion offers a fascinating dynamic when held against the canvass of its mill-focused brethren. Tasha’s Hideous Laughter, often celebrated for its potential to exile a trove of cards, shares the intent but diversifies in execution. It’s reliant on the varied mana costs within a deck, creating a sporadic effect instead of Sweet Oblivion’s consistent four-card exile. Moreover, we are reminded of the esteemed Tome Scour, a minimalist’s choice that mills without Sweet Oblivion’s option for later use from the graveyard.

Ultimately, Sweet Oblivion stands out due to its escape mechanic, allowing players to weave it back from exile into a relentless tide of strategic library depletion. As we delve into similar spells, it’s clear that Sweet Oblivion affords a dual threat in mill decks, acting as both a reliable and recurring source of one’s strategy.

Glimpse the Unthinkable - MTG Card versions

Tasha's Hideous Laughter - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sweet Oblivion MTG card by a specific set like Theros Beyond Death, 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 Sweet Oblivion and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sweet Oblivion 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

Rules and information

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

Date	Text
2020-01-24	After an escaped spell resolves, it returns to its owner’s graveyard if it’s not a permanent spell. If it is a permanent spell, it enters the battlefield and will return to its owner’s graveyard if it dies later. Perhaps it will escape again—good underworld security is so hard to come by these days.
2020-01-24	Escape’s permission doesn’t change when you may cast the spell from your graveyard.
2020-01-24	If a card has multiple abilities giving you permission to cast it, such as two escape abilities or an escape ability and a flashback ability, you choose which one to apply. The others have no effect.
2020-01-24	If a card with escape is put into your graveyard during your turn, you’ll be able to cast it right away if it’s legal to do so, before an opponent can take any actions.
2020-01-24	If you cast a spell with its escape permission, you can’t choose to apply any other alternative costs or to cast it without paying its mana cost. If it has any additional costs, you must pay those.
2020-01-24	Once you begin casting a spell with escape, it immediately moves to the stack. Players can’t take any other actions until you’re done casting the spell.
2020-01-24	To determine the total cost of a spell, start with the mana cost or alternative cost you’re paying (such as an escape cost), add any cost increases, then apply any cost reductions. The converted mana cost of the spell remains unchanged, no matter what the total cost to cast it was and no matter whether an alternative cost was paid.