Price$4.77 – $19.92
Buy on TCGplayerSanguine Bond
Enchantment
Legal Salt 1.34Rank #492
Whenever you gain life, target opponent loses that much life.
Why is this card good?
Sanguine Bond turns lifegain from a defensive resource into a direct kill condition, and that's its entire appeal in Commander.
On its own it's just a slow value piece — fine in lifegain-matters decks (Karlov, Vito, Oloro) where you're already triggering it repeatedly. But its real reputation comes from the infinite combo with Exquisite Blood: you gain life, opponent loses life, that loss triggers Blood to gain you life, looping until everyone's dead. Vito, Dolon Frost is essentially Sanguine Bond on a body and combos identically.
Decks that want it: lifegain/aristocrat builds in mono-black or Orzhov/Mardu, especially ones running Exquisite Blood, Vito, or heavy incidental lifegain (soul sisters effects, Aetherflux-style shells).
When to skip it: at five mana it does nothing by itself, and a single point of incidental lifegain only pings one opponent — terrible in a four-player game without the combo. If you're not building around the Blood loop or constant triggers, it's overpriced filler. Don't run it as a standalone "good card."
Related cards
Exquisite Blood
Combo partner that drains and triggers life gain, creating an infinite loop with it.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Cheaper creature version of the same lifegain-to-life-loss effect.
Marauding Blight-Priest
Functions identically as a creature triggering opponent life loss on lifegain.
Defiant Bloodlord
Creature with the exact same drain-on-lifegain ability.
Cliffhaven Vampire
Damages opponents whenever you gain life, similar payoff.
Epicure of Blood
Each opponent loses life when you gain, parallel drain effect.
Aetherflux Reservoir
Another lifegain payoff that converts life into damage.
Vizkopa Guildmage
Activated ability doubles drain by causing opponent life loss equal to lifegain.
Printings (10)
Played by these commanders
Edgar Markov100% of 1
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic100% of 1
Willowdusk, Essence Seer100% of 1
Sam, Loyal Attendant100% of 1
Frodo, Adventurous Hobbit100% of 1
Rulings (5)
- 2024-04-12
In a Two-Headed Giant game, life gained by your teammate won't cause Sanguine Bond's ability to trigger, even though it caused your team's life total to increase.
- 2023-09-01
Each creature with lifelink dealing combat damage causes a separate life-gaining event. For example, if two creatures you control with lifelink deal combat damage at the same time, Sanguine Bond's ability will trigger twice and you may choose a different opponent for each trigger. However, if a single creature you control with lifelink deals combat damage to multiple creatures, players, planeswalkers, and/or battles at the same time (perhaps because it has trample or was blocked by more than one creature), the ability will trigger only once.
- 2021-03-19
If an ability triggers whenever an opponent loses life and causes you to gain life, such as the ability of Exquisite Blood, this will loop until either you win the game or a player takes an action to break the loop. If neither of these happen, the game ends in a draw.
- 2021-03-19
If you gain an amount of life "for each" of something, that life is gained as one event and Sanguine Bond's ability triggers only once.
- 2009-10-01
Sanguine Bond's ability triggers just once for each life-gaining event, whether it's 1 life from Soul Warden or 8 life from Tendrils of Corruption.