Alas, life gain is all but useless when going up
against Phyrexian's infect army. If the Mirrans
want to win this war, they'll have to learn
that. Hopefully not the hard way.
But what's not useless is a 3/3 flyer for 4. I'm
reminded of Howling Banshee, a Pojo preview card
from a while back, but instead of everybody
losing 3, you gain 3. Over and over. Especially
useful since Sangromancer rewards you for making
opponents discard cards and for killing enemy
creatures-- things that Black is good at, and
would like to have done anyway. While the 3 life
might not stave off death by poisoning, it will
be useful for the host of black cards that use
your life total as a resource, as well as
outside Scars of Mirrodin block where lots of
life is indeed a good thing.
This card seems tailor-made for Standard
constructed. We've had similar cards to this in
the past, but there are a couple of differences
that might make Sangromancer play a little
differently - namely, we rarely see this effect
on a 3/3 creature with flying, much less one
that fits so well into a tribal deck like
Vampires. Against other creature decks, the
Vampire deck needs to kill as many of its
enemies as possible, and three life per creature
put into the graveyard will get it out of "burn
everything" range very, very quickly. Another
card with a lot of potential, even if it's
somewhat specialized.
Welcome back readers today's card of the day is
an interesting and powerful vampire. For four
mana you get a 3/3 flyer decent, also whenever a
creature an opponents control is put into a
graveyard you may gain 3 life, also when an
opponent discards a card you may gain 3 life. In
standard I don't believe this card will see any
play its got semi relevant abilities as well as
being a flyer it just isn't enough to put it
into the playable category. In extended and
eternal a possibility in Megrim/ Lilian's caress
style decks although the same comments from
standard apply its just now efficient or
powerful enough to see play as it has no
immediate impact on the board. In casual and
multiplayer this card is great not only does it
reward you for creatures that die, hint in
multiplayer a lot of creatures die, it rewards
you for placing it in a discard deck shell I can
see casual players building with this card. In
limited its a relatively cheap flying creature
with bonus abilities that may not have a huge
impact the life gain on creatures dying is
gravy. Overall a powerful casual and multiplayer
card with little constructed applications.
Today's card of the day is Sangromancer which
is a four mana 3/3 Flying vampire shaman with
two life gain abilities that combine well with
standard Black themes. The first may add
three life whenever an opponent's creature is
put into the graveyard from the battlefield
which is the more common Black theme. The
second is for discard based decks, but as it
doesn't actually help force any discard or deal
damage it doesn't fit in overly well for that
theme. As a vampire and shaman it has
support, is decently priced for a 3/3 Flying,
and is likely to see some play in vampire based
removal decks.
For Limited a four mana 3/3 Flying is a great
card for Black even without any effects, add in
a potential life gain and this is probably worth
the first choice most rares are selected with.
Support is the always in demand removal, so no
special strategy is needed in further draft
choices or in reviewing your Sealed pool.
Overall a solid if not overwhelming card that is
a nice addition to any Black deck in the format.
