Braids, Arisen Nightmare
Legendary Creature — Nightmare
Legal Salt 1.05Card DrawBoard WipeRank #283
At the beginning of your end step, you may sacrifice an artifact, creature, enchantment, land, or planeswalker. If you do, each opponent may sacrifice a permanent of their choice that shares a card type with it. For each opponent who doesn't, that player loses 2 life and you draw a card.
3/3
Why is this card good?
Braids, Arisen Nightmare turns your own sacrifices into relentless card advantage and incremental drain — exactly what black wants. The key is feeding her with permanents that have built-in value: tokens, fetchlands/sac-lands, Treasures, clue/food tokens, or recursive creatures. You profit from sacrificing them anyway, so the "may match" tax on opponents is pure upside.
The genius is the dilemma: opponents either lose 2 life and let you draw, or they sacrifice a permanent — often a worse outcome than the damage. In a 3-opponent game she can draw multiple cards and drain 4-6 life per turn cycle. She slots beautifully as a commander or 99 in aristocrats and sacrifice decks, and pairs nastily with stax pieces that punish what opponents sac.
Run plentiful free sac fodder — token generators, treasure makers, landfall sac-lands — or she fizzles.
Don't play her in decks lacking expendable permanents, or in lifegain-light builds where the symmetrical-ish chipping can hurt you against fast aggro.
Related cards
Smothering Tithe
Punisher engine that taxes opponents similarly, forcing choices for value.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Black 3-4 drop punishing draws and rewarding your engine with life swings.
Dictate of Erebos
Sacrifice synergy that turns Braids' fodder into board wipes for opponents.
Grave Pact
Each sacrifice forces opponents to sacrifice, pairing with Braids' fodder.
Bolas's Citadel
Plays from top of library, fueled by extra cards/life Braids generates.
Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
Sacrifice payoff drawing cards off each permanent sacrificed.
Mayhem Devil
Damage payoff every time you sacrifice a permanent to Braids.
Pitiless Plunderer
Generates treasures off sacrifices, refueling Braids' costs.
Printings (9)
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Played by these commanders
Valgavoth, Harrower of Souls100% of 1
Hearthhull, the Worldseed100% of 1
Rulings (1)
- 2022-09-09
If the permanent that you sacrifice as you resolve Braids's triggered ability has more than one card type, each opponent may choose to sacrifice any permanent they control that shares any card type with it. For example, if the permanent you sacrifice is an artifact creature, one opponent might choose to sacrifice an artifact and another opponent might choose to sacrifice a creature.