Should have been called "Hemomancy", since this is a Greek Mythology inspired set.
Totema
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(3 votes)
@DaLucaray: Black never says "up to" or "may" or things like that. Black is always all-or-nothing.
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's a bit like Necrologia. They are both black five mana sorceries that make you draw cards equal to the amount of life lost.
Advantage of Sanguimancy: - requires only one black mana instead of two - you still have your main phases to play stuff
Advantage of Necrologia: - you can freely choose how much life you lose to draw cards
So, I think I'd prefer Necrologia. If I play it on turn five or so, I won't have enough mana anyway to cast something, so whether I play it during the main phase or end step would be quite irrelevant.
Nucleon
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Sorin: "Apologies, I thought you said...Ahem, I'll finish tending to matters back over on Innistrad."
Eternal_Blue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So for 5 mana you draw approximately 3-5 cards and lose 3-5 life. I think I'll stick with Read the Bones.
I tried this card at fnm. It just sat in my hand doing nothing. I would not recommend this card. read the bones is better. 1/5
SnesController
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Speaking as a limited player, this is not a vey good card in my opinion. I don't think there's a spot where you're okay paying that much mana and some amount of life for the same amount of cards. A better design would be to lower the mana cost and make the life lost fixed. "Draw X cards and lose 3 life" would be fair for 3 and a black.
As for its synergy with Gray Merchant, yes, it does synergies with Gray Merchant quite well. Too bad you have no way of being sure you'll have any Gray Merchants in your next two packs. If this card was printed in Theros, it would probably be a good pick. As it is, it's just a really weak card.
Silence9
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
In the right deck this is nutty. Threw one in mono Black Vampires. Think about that... Plus the flavor... Don't knock it until you draw 6 cards with it, as the life loss doesn't matter because you've gained a ton already.
JimmyNoobPlayer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Whelp, it's a five-drop sorcery that is sometimes completely useless. You don't really need to know more than that.
It's useless when you have no devotion. Gray Merchant is incredibly good because of the . Even in the worst case, it is still a life swing of four. (True, your opponent can kill the Merchant in response to its ETB trigger, but if your opponent has wiped out your side of the battlefield and still has creature removal ready, not much can save you.) I think people are only considering this card because the permanent-based devotion cards from Theros were so good. (It was a very good idea for the game designers to introduce permanent-based devotion first!)
It's useless when your life is lower than your devotion. When your life drops to zero or lower, you die as a state-based action after the current ability or spell or combat step resolves. You don't get a chance to cast any of those cards you drew, even if one is a Heroes' Reunion. Caveat: I'm not suggesting you play Heroes' Reunion. In your Black Devotion deck. Or any deck.
Even when it's not completely useless, it's very awkward. I've never played with Necropotence, but I understand much of the challenge of using it was in precisely estimating the amount of life you need to keep. Sanguimancy gives you one option, possibly too few cards or too much life loss.
Maybe the sweet spot of enough life and enough devotion is wide enough that Sanguimancy will be useful in most games, but I doubt it. Not enough reason to use a sketchy five cost card! Using this card is an extreme challenge for the most masochistic uber-Johnnies. It's more difficult to use than One With Nothing.
Comments (15)
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T3:Nightveil Specter
T4:copy pack rat
T5:Gray Merchant of Asphodel
T6:This
Advantage of Sanguimancy:
- requires only one black mana instead of two
- you still have your main phases to play stuff
Advantage of Necrologia:
- you can freely choose how much life you lose to draw cards
So, I think I'd prefer Necrologia. If I play it on turn five or so, I won't have enough mana anyway to cast something, so whether I play it during the main phase or end step would be quite irrelevant.
As for its synergy with Gray Merchant, yes, it does synergies with Gray Merchant quite well. Too bad you have no way of being sure you'll have any Gray Merchants in your next two packs. If this card was printed in Theros, it would probably be a good pick. As it is, it's just a really weak card.
Don't knock it until you draw 6 cards with it, as the life loss doesn't matter because you've gained a ton already.
It's useless when you have no devotion. Gray Merchant is incredibly good because of the
It's useless when your life is lower than your devotion. When your life drops to zero or lower, you die as a state-based action after the current ability or spell or combat step resolves. You don't get a chance to cast any of those cards you drew, even if one is a Heroes' Reunion. Caveat: I'm not suggesting you play Heroes' Reunion. In your Black Devotion deck. Or any deck.
Even when it's not completely useless, it's very awkward. I've never played with Necropotence, but I understand much of the challenge of using it was in precisely estimating the amount of life you need to keep. Sanguimancy gives you one option, possibly too few cards or too much life loss.
Maybe the sweet spot of enough life and enough devotion is wide enough that Sanguimancy will be useful in most games, but I doubt it. Not enough reason to use a sketchy five cost card! Using this card is an extreme challenge for the most masochistic uber-Johnnies. It's more difficult to use than One With Nothing.