Pointed Discussion

I'm sure there will be some combos with this, just can't think of any really. Prevents drawbacks similar to the one on Force of Nature.

You're not even trying.
You use this to make symmetrical burn effects like Earthquake that much less symmetrical.

This is some tasty combo jank. I hope someone comes up with an awesome pestilence/pyrohemia combo deck, with this card as a way of avoiding the hurtful damage from a lifelink Crypt Rats for even more HP goodness

Doesn't even protect your creatures.

What garbage is this?

Edit: I completely take this comment back. Anyone else notice Manabarbs was reprinted? That could be tasty.

.... Earthquake, Pyrohemia, Manabarbs

Was that so hard?

I took them long enough, but Black Vise got hosed!

She is eating fruit.

Annoyingly, most of the good combos with this seem to be off-color. I suppose there are are some artifacts which hurt both players, though.

this w/ Minion of Leshrac...

Am I the only one who screamed Fastbond when I saw this card?...Also makes cards like Serendib Efreet, City of Brass, and Orcish Artillery a little better. Even manages to make Psionic Blast, and Erg Raiders slightly better than marginal. My personal favorite, though, might be the potential to use Hellfire without the drawback!! :)...then again, Ankh of Mishra looks pretty tasty, too! Oh yeah...Mana Crypt and Ancient Tomb become amazing!

Makes City of Brass have basically no drawback at all.

Shuts down Bloodthirst entirely.

Clearly stupid with the right cards... which, admittedly may not be in print right now, but still...

@Khavrion
That would be a cool combo but it says damage, and damage and loss of life aren't the same thing.

Y'all missed the best application: turns Phyrexian Mana symbols into {0}.

For example, 4 drop Moltensteel Dragon, which can become an infinity / 4.

"Y'all missed the best application: turns Phyrexian Mana symbols into {0}. "

what nonsense! phyrexian mana is no damage..!

The cards in Standard (as of M12's release) that this has beneficial synergy with are as follows:
Jinxed Idol (if you get stuck with it)
Magnetic Mine (if you're running a sacrifice-artifacts deck with this for some reason)
Manabarbs (Most obvious pairing.)
Pestilence Demon
Slagstorm

It also provides a defense against Lust for War and Obsidian Fireheart, a blocking Perilous Myr and forces your opponent to use burn effects that would hit you on their turn.

So yeah, pretty limited in usage in Standard at least. It's obviously made for a Manabarbs control deck, but it can have applications in other formats. We'll see whether Innistrad adds anything else that can be interesting with this.

Agree with EndOsiris... This one with any card (especially sorcery cards) that damages all players is a nice one... Got two of 'em, and i love them... 4.5/5

phyrexian mana is now free :)

Keeps fetchlands from stinging.

wait, so does this work with Phyrexian mana or not? I'm confused.

Phyrexian mana is NOT damage. It's a payment of life. this does literally nothing to it.

If you're desperate for a piece of M12 combo jank, you have Sundial of the Infinite. Sure, there are cards that this works well with (at least in extended/modern/legacy), but in pretty much all of those cases, your deck will probably be better off with another card in its place. Yeah, you can keep Arid Mesa from pinging you. But who cares? Most any other card will do more than prevent 4 damage (at absolute most, unless you're using Sun Titan or something). I don't count Manabarbs because that card is more of an aggro finisher than anything, and meant to come down when you have board control to keep your opponent from stabilizing. And that kind of deck isn't one that would run Personal Sanctuary. (And if you're worried about Manabarbs, may I direct you to Demystify/Revoke Existence/Oblivion Ring? Or just Timely Reinforcements to completely hose aggro in general?)

Then you get into the fact that this is pretty much pure jank - meaning it will do literally nothing without its combo pieces in place (other than making your opponent bolt you during their turn instead of yours) - which for a combo that doesn't do something like win the game instantly is damning. Sure, you could put it in your Legacy deck and prevent Earthquake damage, but if you're in legacy, there are way better options than this. Maybe not better options for preventing the damage, but better options for making you win. And if you want to talk about preventing double-edged sword cards from hurting you, the Cho-Manno, Revolutionary/Pariah combo blows this one out of the water. Entirely. And that's just one example. In the same colors.

The final strike against Personal Sanctuary is the colors it hoses. White and Green have no trouble dealing with this if they for some reason decide it's actually a threat (unlikely). And both can do it at instant speed. Blue may have a little trouble, but likely not much. That leaves Red and Black. Even after rotation and before knowing anything about Innistrad, white already has plenty of red hoses; it doesn't need Personal Sanctuary to keep it from losing a few life. So that leaves you with black. It may be useful against mono-black. Possibly. That is, if it weren't for the fact that it's not very good to begin with.

Of course you can't accurately judge any core set card, particularly combo cards, before you get a good feeling for its block (only 41 Innistrad cards revealed as of posting, other than basic lands). But unless Innistrad releases a whole slew of cards with a damage drawback or "kill everyone" cards, this will have pretty much no place in standard and will be terribly outclassed everywhere else. It may find some niche use in Extended, but I find that unlikely.


As an aside, a strong sign that a card isn't that good, especially one that's this easy to understand, is when such a high percentage of commenters who post uses of the card are actually wrong. Like the number of people who claim it combos with Phyrexian mana or shuts down bloodlust (lol?)

Armageddon Clock

No seriously, I'm not even kidding. Run this, Manabarbs, a proliferation engine and Armageddon Clock and you will be the master of slowly ticking down your enemies while they faff about with tapping lands filled with PAIN!

OBSCURE CARD REFERENCES? YES PLEASE!

No longer will I fear retribution from the Lord of the Pits and the Force of Natures I summon to the battlefield!

This will definitely rock out with Ravenous Demon / Archdemon of Greed

The Manabarbs that pair this with Blood Moon / Magus of the Moon are sick.

This doesn't make "pay 1 life" fetchlands or Phyrexian mana any better, sure, but I have LOVED pairing it with Ancient Tomb, City of Brass, Mana Vault, and Mana Crypt. Commander heaven. :)

Ok, question with the wording. I get that it wouldn't prevent any damage that would be dealt by something like Yawgmoth's Bargain. and it would prevent the damage from something like Lord of the Pit. But would it prevent damage from something like Grinning Demon?

Or, I guess a more direct way to ask is this: When a card says "lose life," does that count as taking damage?

@Lazenca

Damage is always loss of life, but loss of life isn't always damage. Kinda like how a square is always a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't always a square.

A nice bit of protection from your own Zo-Zu the Punisher.

I'm making a casual Plague Spitter deck with this in it, Lashknife Barrier, Caltrops, and Spirit Loop.

f-f-f-f-f-Fastbond

Earthquake

Manabarbs combo, Oblivion Ring both of them...

Worldfire. Watch your opponnet(s) squirm while you casually wait for a Mountain and a Goblin Fireslinger or Lobber Crew.

Why is this rated so low? Sure it doesn't belong in every deck, but neither does Dragonstorm. It can completely break certain cards.

Last Laugh for both figurative and literal lulz
Best when also paired with Desecration Demon so if they sac it's a board-wipe, and even if they don't, they're taking 6 easy.

5/5

Very strong card. Run with Sulfuric Vortex and watch your opponent cry.

x, x