Price$0.30 – $4.13
Buy on TCGplayerExsanguinate
Sorcery
LegalRank #285
Each opponent loses X life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.
Why is this card good?
Exsanguinate is a premier mono-black finisher and a staple X-spell payoff for big-mana ramp decks. Because it hits each opponent and gains you that life back, a single resolution in a four-player pod can drain 30+ life total while padding your own — making it both a kill spell and an anti-aggro insurance policy.
It shines in any deck that generates massive black mana: Cabal Coffers/Urborg ramp, treasure decks, and devotion shells. Commanders like K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth (pay life for mana, then drain it back), Sidisi, or any Liliana-style mono-black build love it. It's also a classic top-end in 8-Rack or drain-themed aristocrats decks.
The catch: it's strictly a "win-more" spell. With nothing to ramp into it, casting Exsanguinate for X=4 is embarrassingly weak. It does nothing to the board, advances no plan, and is a dead card early.
Don't run it unless you reliably make double-digit mana — otherwise it's just a worse, slower drain.
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Printings (8)
Played by these commanders
Y'shtola, Night's Blessed100% of 2
Combos (8)
- Rowan, Scion of War + Exsanguinate + Wall of Blood
→ Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss
- Rowan, Scion of War + Exsanguinate + Treasonous Ogre
→ Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss, Near-infinite red mana
- Rowan, Scion of War + Exsanguinate + Blood Celebrant
→ Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss
- Skirge Familiar + Peer into the Abyss + Exsanguinate
→ Near-infinite draw triggers, Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss
- Rowan, Scion of War + Exsanguinate + Necropotence
→ Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss
- Rowan, Scion of War + Exsanguinate + Doom Whisperer
→ Near-infinite lifegain, Near-infinite lifeloss
Rulings (1)
- 2011-01-01
Players can lose more life than they have. For example, say you're playing a multiplayer game in which one of your opponents has 3 life and your other opponent has 10 life. If you cast Exsanguinate with X of 4, your opponents will wind up at -1 life and 6 life, respectively. You'll gain 8 life.