This card alongside with ashnod's altar are the best tools for johnnies when they need a sacrifice device. This one is specially dangerous when paired with cards like tombstone stairwell or bridge from belowto mill yourself, as it can fill your graveyard really quickly and create an unstoppable horde of zombies!!!
DarthTony
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
Question about this card. If a creature is dieing as a result of combat damage and this is used to preempt its death then a instant is played to kill the same creature, can the alter be used again in the same action to sacrifice it before the instant is resolved? Can this be artifacts ability go on the stack multiple times?
kitsunewarlock
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
4.5/5. Amazing card. Great for combos. But also great as just a "throw in" if you don't use cards like Diamond Valley but frequently find yourself chump blocking. You can reword this card, in a way, to "Every time a creature you control is destroyed...". Once you read it like that, you realise its power. In drafts, this card is a first pick. One of the best draft cards out there. Using self-ressurecting creatures such as Nether Shade with this card can get pretty scary too.
HighlordBaiden
★★★★☆ (4.9/5.0)(4 votes)
To Kitsunewarlock:
Part of the cost of this card is to sacrifice a creature therefore it cannot be responded to at all. Just as tapping is part of the cost of many other cards, it just can't be responded to.
Actually trying to make a deck with this card with Nacatl War-Pride. Very fun.
Osmodius
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(1 vote)
this in a saproling deck with Coat of Arms is an easy win by deck out.
car2n
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
To be used with Golgari/Dimir decks. Even green, which hates artifact, can make very good use of this card.
SuicidalTendancies
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Great card to toss into a beefy creature deck. Having a secondary win condition when you're locked down with some kind of constant mists effect is awesome. And when you've got 45 points of power on the board this can end it pretty fast for only 2 mana.
I'm putting it in a Cleric deck: W cost Cleric + Edgewalker + Enduring Renewal + this. Belz_'s works well too, but this can be a great back-up for a sac-heavy deck.
lordof1000mimes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This + Su-Chi + Nim Deathmantle
EnV
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
F**king broken this is...
Bursama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Anyone Ball Lightning?? Sac it before end step, but attack first.
Thinking of using a few of these in an Ally deck with Halimar Excavator's, Graypelt Hunter's, and Oran-Rief Survivalist's, and some clones/rite of replication's.
kiseki
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Belz_ has a subtle combo. Rather than infnite sacrifice, make infinite power and sac once. The only prior vote to mine was 1/2 star, and I almost missed how it worked. You can also combo this with any persist creature and Juniper Order Ranger (which will annihilate the -1/-1 counters for free) to get the infinite sacrifices.
endersblade
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I just tossed this card into my Saproling EDH deck. Mycoloth plus the altar can get crazy, especially with doubling season in play.
Salient
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
It's hard to fit into a Dredge deck, but this is my favorite way to burn through Ichorids while Bridge from Below is in my graveyard. I can mill my own deck, finding more creature cards for Ichorid to munch on next upkeep. :)
pedrodyl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Question: Is the power of the sacced creature checked upon resolution or upon the sacrifice?
Megapossum
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
this is just plain wrong with mortician beetle(s)
C5r1a5z0y
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
Gravecrawler makes a sweet combo, especially once you get a Rooftop Storm in play. Also has strong synergy with Havengul Lich, as it can find more targets to reanimate each turn. Not to mention Undead Alchemist, which can just randomly mill people out when you get lucky.
@pedrodyl: It will be checked on resolution, but it will use the last known information from when it was last on the battlefield - i.e. when it was sacced.
A great card, no doubts there....the combos are nice, but I feel some of them are quite a bit contrived.
The only thing I resist liking about sacrifice-themed combos is that they are difficult to breach the gap from merely 'great win con', to 'super insanity'- i.e., chaining lots of different combos together.
You can use them with death triggers, You make them feed themselves by finding the perfect 'opposite effect card', You can even use Altar of Tawnos to get infinite mana to do something else with, But so far, there is only one 'whenever you sacrifice a creature' card in Magic.
Maybe this is indicative that I'm just a Mad Johnny looking to make as many things happen as possible at once, ala 'Rube Goldberg Machine.dec'.....but I'd like to see more things that go off 'whenever you sacrifice a creature.'
4.5 stars is a LOT you know. I think that people are rating this just a bit high because of the feeling you get when your combos work. It doesn't produce mana (directly) or draw cards (directly). Those Altars deserve 4.5+ stars, but this one I think is closer to just a solid 4 stars. Maybe 4.2-4.3
In summary, the only thing I don't like is the Development Team. They always spoil my fun, rofl. But it's a good thing we have them or I'd do some seriously wrong things with some of these pieces of cardboard. :p
I want to see this, enduring renewal, and memnite. (with a DoD in the deck for fun)
@ ArannisNalaar Use Door of Destinies int that deck, not Coat of arms. With CoA, your creatures will get smaller each time you sacrifice one. With DoD, theyll just keep getting bigger and bigger.
Travelsonic
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I had a thought: Get Altar of Dementia onto the field, get a creature onto the field, and use the Basalt Monolith/Power Artifact infinite colorless mana combo - ramp up enough mana, then play something like enrage on the creature, giving it a total power equal to your opponent's library size, then sacrifice and watch your opponent **** himself.
CarlosLiberated
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmmm, let's see...I think this is the piece in my Ertai, the Corrupted/Merfolk EDH deck I was looking for:
I tap 5 Merfolk Wizards to use Supreme Inquisitor's ability. One of those wizards is Stonybrook Schoolmaster. Its ability provides me with an extra Merfolk Wizard. I sacrifice that Merfolk Wizard to Altar of Dementia, milling my opponent for 1. I have Faces of the Past on the battlefield, so once my Merfolk Wizard dies, my other Merfolk Wizards untap, restarting the process, exiling 5/6 of my opponent's decks and milling the other 1/6.
Janky? Of course, but this is EDH, after all.
Keiya
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Incredibly amusing to use with Woodfall Primus and Cathars' Crusade. Mill their entire library and destroy everything they have except their creatures. Any other creatures you will likely have will be extremely large, and the opposing Emrakul, will be thinking "I'm supposed to be the extremely large monstrosity that annihilates everything..."
And now I wait for the day that Wizards makes the mistake of ever reprinting this in standard...
flare1122
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Tamiyo, the Moon Sage's emblem and this card equals self draw, extremely annoying ETB creatures, and limitless mill. Now mix this combo with Omniscience...
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The cheapest colorless free sac-outlet I could find. While milling is fairly useless, sometimes you need on-the-cheap saccing; and there are not many options.
HallowedFury
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Infinite Mill+Lifegain turn three in Monogreen? If I didn't know better I'd call broken.
@blurrymadness Milling is hardly useless. If you think it is useless, try Spawning Pit. Same CMC, it's a sac outlet, and does something other than mill. It's also like 50 cents instead 5 bucks.
This card is awesome. I have it in my mimeoplasm EDH deck because it is an amazing sac outlet. You can use it on yourself to find your juicy targets, or on an opponent to both bring them closer to death, and to get some targets out of their graveyard. Self-mill can be dangerous because it's a form of overextending.
MostlyLost
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Played an EDH game once where a guy had this out along with two 41/41 Consuming Aberrations (original and a token) and an Undead Alchemist. Somebody tried to swords one of the Aberrations. Lulz ensued.
With Undead Alchemist and a mill spell to start the snowball, this will pretty much mill a creature heavy deck through. Geralf's Mindcrusher can mill 21 cards with this alone, doubt you even need another combo piece for that.
patrickmahan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Turns phyrexian dreadnaught into a 1 colorless 12 mill spell.
themicronaut
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I run this as an alternate win condition in my mono-green saproling deck that floods the board early with Spontaneous Generation, Parallel Lives, Collective Unconsciousness, Coat of Arms and Saproling Cluster with a few other one ofs to create extremely large creatures. Every now and then I get hosed by a Moat-like effect or mass destruction, and this card is the answer to those strategies.
Fun and powerful casual card from one of my favorite sets.
questionflanger
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"the combos are nice, but I feel some of them are quite a bit contrived." @DarthParallax - Yes! Maybe this pure Johnny talking, but that's what makes this card truly awesome. Weird and improbable combos are just as plentiful as powerful and predictable ones with this card.
My favorite moment with this card so far was reanimating Sepulchral Primordial in a 4 player game, reanimating the 3 biggest fatties in their graveyards, sacrificing everything (milling for about 8 each), then doing it all over again and again with an Animate Dead and Grim Return and Gruesome Encore.
Comments (41)
Part of the cost of this card is to sacrifice a creature therefore it cannot be responded to at all. Just as tapping is part of the cost of many other cards, it just can't be responded to.
Actually trying to make a deck with this card with Nacatl War-Pride. Very fun.
Even green, which hates artifact, can make very good use of this card.
Sac it before end step, but attack first.
You can also combo this with any persist creature and Juniper Order Ranger (which will annihilate the -1/-1 counters for free) to get the infinite sacrifices.
@pedrodyl: It will be checked on resolution, but it will use the last known information from when it was last on the battlefield - i.e. when it was sacced.
The only thing I resist liking about sacrifice-themed combos is that they are difficult to breach the gap from merely 'great win con', to 'super insanity'- i.e., chaining lots of different combos together.
You can use them with death triggers,
You make them feed themselves by finding the perfect 'opposite effect card',
You can even use Altar of Tawnos to get infinite mana to do something else with,
But so far, there is only one 'whenever you sacrifice a creature' card in Magic.
Maybe this is indicative that I'm just a Mad Johnny looking to make as many things happen as possible at once, ala 'Rube Goldberg Machine.dec'.....but I'd like to see more things that go off 'whenever you sacrifice a creature.'
4.5 stars is a LOT you know. I think that people are rating this just a bit high because of the feeling you get when your combos work. It doesn't produce mana (directly) or draw cards (directly). Those Altars deserve 4.5+ stars, but this one I think is closer to just a solid 4 stars. Maybe 4.2-4.3
In summary, the only thing I don't like is the Development Team. They always spoil my fun, rofl. But it's a good thing we have them or I'd do some seriously wrong things with some of these pieces of cardboard. :p
@ ArannisNalaar Use Door of Destinies int that deck, not Coat of arms. With CoA, your creatures will get smaller each time you sacrifice one. With DoD, theyll just keep getting bigger and bigger.
I tap 5 Merfolk Wizards to use Supreme Inquisitor's ability.
One of those wizards is Stonybrook Schoolmaster. Its ability provides me with an extra Merfolk Wizard. I sacrifice that Merfolk Wizard to Altar of Dementia, milling my opponent for 1.
I have Faces of the Past on the battlefield, so once my Merfolk Wizard dies, my other Merfolk Wizards untap, restarting the process, exiling 5/6 of my opponent's decks and milling the other 1/6.
Janky? Of course, but this is EDH, after all.
Milling is hardly useless. If you think it is useless, try Spawning Pit. Same CMC, it's a sac outlet, and does something other than mill. It's also like 50 cents instead 5 bucks.
This card is awesome. I have it in my mimeoplasm EDH deck because it is an amazing sac outlet. You can use it on yourself to find your juicy targets, or on an opponent to both bring them closer to death, and to get some targets out of their graveyard. Self-mill can be dangerous because it's a form of overextending.
Fun and powerful casual card from one of my favorite sets.
@DarthParallax - Yes! Maybe this pure Johnny talking, but that's what makes this card truly awesome. Weird and improbable combos are just as plentiful as powerful and predictable ones with this card.
My favorite moment with this card so far was reanimating Sepulchral Primordial in a 4 player game, reanimating the 3 biggest fatties in their graveyards, sacrificing everything (milling for about 8 each), then doing it all over again and again with an Animate Dead and Grim Return and Gruesome Encore.