Does anyone else feel like they’ve simply got too much blood, and perhaps need an extremely beautiful vampire to exsanguinate you? Just me? Well, we shan’t unpack that. But what we can and should get excited for, is being able to get the job done in Magic: The Gathering.
We’ve ventured almost everywhere this year in Magic: The Gathering – from radiation-fizzling zones and the untameable wild west, to deeply haunted mansions – and it’s now high time for us to go back to basics. MTG: Foundations is nearly upon us, featuring both new cards and some select reprints, and we’re keen to see how well it revitalises our decks.
Thanks to the folks at Wizards of the Coast, GamesHub has the privilege of revealing an exclusive card from MTG: Foundations – and it’s one that makes us feel more than a little toothy. Please give an extremely warm and neck-exposing welcome back, to a card that feels right at home in every vampire deck: the inimitable Exsanguinate.
Check out the stunning art by Marie Magny below:
How does Exsanguinate work?
An X/two black card, Exsanguinate is a tricky little Sorcery spell that can very easily turn the tide in a Commander setting. Depending on how much mana value you attribute to X, you can not only decimate your opponents’ health, but also revitalise your own in the process.
What’s important to note here is the language of the text. “Each opponent loses X life. You gain life equal to the life lost this way.” This isn’t just a case of swinging hard at a single opponent, this is a potentially wide-reaching card that can tee you up a hefty dose of life.
While this may not have as much of an impact when playing Modern, it’s the fact that Exsanguinate specifies “each opponent” that really hits home in Commander. No matter how many people are in your pod, you’re sinking those fangs deep into all of them with reckless abandon.
Say, for instance, that you’re in a pod of four people. Maybe it’s late in the game, and you’ve accumulated a good amount of mana. If you were to hypothetically say that X = 8 (plus the requisite additional two black mana, of course), this would result in each of the four opponents losing 8 life – garnering you a tidy 24 life in return.
Read: Getting into Magic: The Gathering as an adult has reshaped my brain
As someone who thoroughly appreciates the appeal of a broody, powerful vampire, Exsanguinate is definitely a card I can see myself integrating into my spookier, fang-oriented decks. Plus, let’s just lay our cards on the table (forgive the pun) and admit it: the art is incredibly hot. Marie Magny has certainly captured an energy.
As far as reprints go, I’m excited to welcome Exsanguinate back into the fold. From the stunning art to the efficacy of its damage, I’ll be very interested to see how my fellow players react when I hit them with this card in future.
In my home pod, I’m often stuck facing down some hard-hitting decks – often monster-themed. I’ve faced down mummies, goblins, angels and more, often to little avail. It’ll be nice to try and staunch the flow of lost life with a card like this – so long as my friends don’t mind me sending this cheeky bite their way. It’s chomp time, folks!
We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more reveals from the MTG: Foundations set, but in the meantime, I’ll just be here imagining how nice it’ll feel to decimate my friends with Exsanguinate – respectfully, of course.
Magic: The Gathering – Foundations launches in pre-release on 8 November 2024, and will be widely available from 15 November 2024. As is tradition, there’ll be pre-release events at a variety of WPN stores to celebrate its arrival. You can find your nearest venue via the WPN locator.
