Mystic Sanctuary - This card is incredible!
Posted: Wed Oct 23, 2019 4:50 am
I've been playing with this card over the last of few days, and initially it went completely under my radar. It's a common after all, so how good can it be?
But having watched video streams of decks in Legacy and Modern utilizing it I got inspired.
One of the most important element of this card that makes it good is that it has the Island subtype. It's not a basic, but it is an Island. What this allows you to do is to turn any fetch-land that can search for an Island into a Noxious Revival for instants and sorcery.
When you get to a point in playing Magic where you can understand getting tiny inches out of your land base, like seriously this card is absurd for versatility and ultimately power level.
If we break this down you can turn these lands into any instant or sorcery from your graveyard.
The usually poor-mans cousin Mirage fetch-lands in Bad River and Flood Plain now become a viable option for even competitive games.
Now there is a stipulation that you need 3 other Islands in play to trigger the ability. But this is easily done in even 3 color decks if you have access to the duel lands and all the fetch-lands and carefully plan out what you get and perhaps make some concessions on your land base.
For example you might need to look at the cycle lands and battle lands in Fetid Pools, Irrigated Farmland, Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow as inclusions in two or more colored decks, on-top of revised dual lands and shock lands.
So granted this is for serious players who have access to the expensive duel lands. Sorry didn't you know Commander was for the rich only? Joking, not joking.
Further to this let's look at non-land cards that can search for lands:
Ones that put them, directly into play Crop Rotation, Hour of Promise, Pir's Whim, Reap and Sow, Scapeshift, Tempt with Discovery.
However another very important stipulation is that it only triggers if it comes into play untapped. So Hour of Promise, Pir's Whim, Scapeshift will not work. Even Amulet of Vigor will not get around this as the lands still come into play tapped, and then untap.
There are also creatures that can search for lands with;
Knight of the Reliquary, Elvish Reclaimer, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Ulvenwald Hydra.
Realm Seekers, Weathered Wayfarer
Again Elvish Reclaimer, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Ulvenwald Hydra all come into play tapped, so can't be used this way.
However Knight of the Reliquary can be used at instant speed. Combine this with instant speed card draw, for example Sensei's Divining Top you can respond to the game state in many ways.
Whether that is a Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Nature's Claim or whatever you might have played (or milled).
Turning a Crop Rotation into a Noxious Revival for instants and sorcery really does give cards like these a new scope in your decks potential utility.
Further card that can just search to put into hand Expedition Map, Realms Uncharted, Sylvan Scrying.
There are going to be several ways you can use this card. As a toolbox for responding to the game state or as simply a combo card.
I've used it as both in the same deck. So it's versatility has a huge ceiling.
The way I've been using it as a combo card is with extra turn cards that don't exile as part of the effect; Time Warp, Temporal Manipulation, Capture of Jingzhou, Walk the Aeons.
Specifically I'm using Aminatou to blink out the Mystic Sanctuary to put them back on top for infinite turns (with some other stipulations to make this work).
Now there are not a lot of cards that will "blink out" lands for this type of combo, but here is a list that I've identified:
Felidar Guardian, Flicker, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag, Oath of Teferi, Skybind, Synod Sanctum, Teferi's Time Twist, Venser, the Sojourner, Ghostly Flicker, Ruin Ghost, Blizzard Strix.
Then these have the built in stipulation that they also need to leave play:
Parallax Tide, Petradon, Petravark, Wormfang Newt, Wormfang Turtle.
A "combo" I like to use in decks that run a lot ETB creatures is pairing up Eternal Witness with Eerie Interlude or Ghostway, so that the Witness can get back the flicker card for reuse each turn.
Now you can combine Mystic Sanctuary in a similar fashion with Felidar Guardian, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag, Petradon, Petravark, Wormfang Newt, Wormfang Turtle to get back instants like Eerie Interlude for repeated use. It goes back on-top so it takes up a draw, but often I'm using these with draw creatures anyway like Wall of Omens for card advantages.
Ruin Ghost can be used to put back any instant or sorcery every turn, so that is an infinite combo with;
Ruin Ghost + Time Warp + Mystic Sanctuary = infinite turns.
Same with Venser, the Sojourner + Time Warp + Mystic Sanctuary = infinite turns.
Now as well as flicker there will be ways to "play out" the Mystic Sanctuary as a repeatable source. That maybe via returning to hand, or say replaying from graveyard.
There are a lot of these so 'll just pick out some ones that interested me; Cloudstone Curio, Mana Breach, Overburden, Trade Routes, Hallowed Ground.
Legendary creatures Heidar, Rimewind Master, Kefnet the Mindful, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Uyo, Silent Prophet.
Non-legendary that can also do this Temporal Adept, Tidespout Tyrant, Tradewind Rider, Vedalken Mastermind, Soratami Cloudskater, Soratami Rainshaper, Soratami Savant
Once again you can combine these with extra turns for infinite.
For example with Tidespout Tyrant you cast your Time Warp to return the Mystic Sanctuary to replay it and put back Time Warp on-top for infinite turns and HAUMPH fly in for 5/5 damage.
With Trade Routes for example it's as simple as returning the Mystic Sanctuary to replay it.
Uyo, Silent Prophet seems great as you can copy the extra turn spell which will allow you an additional turn to spend mana on other things...busted.
As far as instants you can get repeatable use out of counterspells like; Cryptic Command, Disappearing Act, Silumgar's Command, Daze, Deprive.
Gush can be cast multiple times when you need additional cards.
Sunder means that you can keep repeating this indefinitely once you reach the 3 Island threshold.
The bounce lands and lairs can be used for reuse Coral Atoll, Azorius Chancery, Boros Garrison, Dimir Aqueduct, Golgari Rot Farm, Gruul Turf, Izzet Boilerworks, Orzhov Basilica, Rakdos Carnarium, Selesnya Sanctuary, Simic Growth Chamber, Crosis's Catacombs, Darigaaz's Caldera, Dromar's Cavern, Rith's Grove, Treva's Ruins.
Deny Reality can be used every turn for the cascade.
Devour in Flames can make sure that you always have access to a spell to remove a planeswalker or creature when you need.
There is also graveyard reuse like Sun Titan, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, Wrenn and Six, Fall of the Thran, Holistic Wisdom, Lord Windgrace, Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar, Nissa, Vital Force, Ramunap Excavator, Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, The Mending of Dominaria, Scaretiller.
Unfortunately World Shaper and Splendid Reclamation return to play tapped so won't get further use out of Mystic Sanctuary trying to use it this way.
Now you'll most likely need ways of sacrificing or destroying your own lands.
An example interaction might be Ramunap Excavator and Elvish Reclaimer, where you just keep sacrificing the Mystic Sanctuary to put it back into play via Ramunap Excavator to keep putting an instant or sorcery on top.
Now I've focused a lot on combos, but remember this can be used to put back anything, and the toolbox element is real.
For example what if it was a Cyclonic Rift that you keep putting back. You constantly have a way to deal with opponents boards every turn.
How about Fall of the Thran and recycling Replenish?
I could see combining a 5-color Superfriends deck with Wrenn and Six, Nissa, Vital Force, Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, Lord Windgrace and land sacrifice outlets, to keep putting back a way to control the board each turn like Austere Command or Akroma's Vengeance.
Vraska, Golgari Queen or simply using Ghost Quarter/Strip Mine/Wasteland/etc or Dust Bowl to keep putting into graveyard to retrieve again.
In a similar way you can use Life from the Loam to keep getting back Mystic Sanctuary and say Ghost Quarter. If you have ways to play additional lands like Exploration, Burgeoning, etc, then you can dredge to increase the potential targets, and just keep putting a spell on-top each turn that you might want.
Or you might just have a land sacrifice outlet like Squandered Resources to make this easier.
You want to avoid dredging away the instant or sorcery you put on-top so you'd either have to do it every other turn or work around it with other draw cards like the cycling lands (Tranquil Thicket, etc) to get the spells immediately.
Second Sunrise, Faith's Reward and Brought Back I'm sure can be used with sacrifice effects for constant reuse.
You can do a land based combo with Second Sunrise or Faith's Reward with sacrifice lands to get infinite mana and infinite draw.
Tomb of Urami can do this combined with enough lands and Mystic Sanctuary.
Another way for example is to use Lotus Vale to pay for the Second Sunrise and sacrificing Mystic Sanctuary to it. Then you can also use Lotus Field to sacrifice itself and the Lotus Vale.
You can also obviously just use sacrifice fetch-lands to must up as many lands as your deck will allow.
Further to this for mana Archaeological Dig, Crystal Vein, Crosis's Catacombs, Darigaaz's Caldera, Dromar's Cavern, Rith's Grove, Treva's Ruins.
Slightly trickier plays is to Strip Mine/Wasteland/Ghost Quarter/etc to destroy another land (of yours) to get additional mana or to simply remove all your opponents lands (evil).
You have to have draw the Second Sunrise/Faith's Reward so need to use lands like Cryptic Caves, Waterlogged Grove, Fiery Islet, Horizon Canopy, Nurturing Peatland, Silent Clearing, Silent Clearing, Castle Locthwain, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, Sea Gate Wreckage to draw the Second Sunrise after putting in back on-top of library.
There are also additional non-land cards that allow you to search for non-basic Islands.
Spoils of Victory, Gem of Becoming, Shard Convergence, Shoreline Ranger, Jhessian Zombies, Sanctum Plowbeast. So there is a little more scope around these cards as well.
There are tons of other ways I'm sure to get Mystic Sanctuary into play that I haven't thought about.
For example Genesis Wave or Primal Surge which you'll probably trigger Mystic Sanctuary to then put back those spells back on-top for another go! Disgusting.
Of note it's still an Island for High Tide decks and I'm sure putting back the High Tide to draw and recast is exactly what you want to be able to do.
The point of me starting this thread was literally an exercise in what might be possible, but also recognizing that there was going to be a lot potential behind this card.
After all it's a single land that potentially can just replace a basic Island, but open up new doorways to how your entire deck works. It's probably more likely that you build around it in some ways however.
But you can see even from my afternoons worth of theory-crafting just how much is packed into this innocuous Island at first glance.
But having watched video streams of decks in Legacy and Modern utilizing it I got inspired.
One of the most important element of this card that makes it good is that it has the Island subtype. It's not a basic, but it is an Island. What this allows you to do is to turn any fetch-land that can search for an Island into a Noxious Revival for instants and sorcery.
When you get to a point in playing Magic where you can understand getting tiny inches out of your land base, like seriously this card is absurd for versatility and ultimately power level.
If we break this down you can turn these lands into any instant or sorcery from your graveyard.
The usually poor-mans cousin Mirage fetch-lands in Bad River and Flood Plain now become a viable option for even competitive games.
Now there is a stipulation that you need 3 other Islands in play to trigger the ability. But this is easily done in even 3 color decks if you have access to the duel lands and all the fetch-lands and carefully plan out what you get and perhaps make some concessions on your land base.
For example you might need to look at the cycle lands and battle lands in Fetid Pools, Irrigated Farmland, Prairie Stream, Sunken Hollow as inclusions in two or more colored decks, on-top of revised dual lands and shock lands.
So granted this is for serious players who have access to the expensive duel lands. Sorry didn't you know Commander was for the rich only? Joking, not joking.
Further to this let's look at non-land cards that can search for lands:
Ones that put them, directly into play Crop Rotation, Hour of Promise, Pir's Whim, Reap and Sow, Scapeshift, Tempt with Discovery.
However another very important stipulation is that it only triggers if it comes into play untapped. So Hour of Promise, Pir's Whim, Scapeshift will not work. Even Amulet of Vigor will not get around this as the lands still come into play tapped, and then untap.
There are also creatures that can search for lands with;
Knight of the Reliquary, Elvish Reclaimer, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Ulvenwald Hydra.
Realm Seekers, Weathered Wayfarer
Again Elvish Reclaimer, Golos, Tireless Pilgrim, Ulvenwald Hydra all come into play tapped, so can't be used this way.
However Knight of the Reliquary can be used at instant speed. Combine this with instant speed card draw, for example Sensei's Divining Top you can respond to the game state in many ways.
Whether that is a Counterspell, Swords to Plowshares, Nature's Claim or whatever you might have played (or milled).
Turning a Crop Rotation into a Noxious Revival for instants and sorcery really does give cards like these a new scope in your decks potential utility.
Further card that can just search to put into hand Expedition Map, Realms Uncharted, Sylvan Scrying.
There are going to be several ways you can use this card. As a toolbox for responding to the game state or as simply a combo card.
I've used it as both in the same deck. So it's versatility has a huge ceiling.
The way I've been using it as a combo card is with extra turn cards that don't exile as part of the effect; Time Warp, Temporal Manipulation, Capture of Jingzhou, Walk the Aeons.
Specifically I'm using Aminatou to blink out the Mystic Sanctuary to put them back on top for infinite turns (with some other stipulations to make this work).
Now there are not a lot of cards that will "blink out" lands for this type of combo, but here is a list that I've identified:
Felidar Guardian, Flicker, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag, Oath of Teferi, Skybind, Synod Sanctum, Teferi's Time Twist, Venser, the Sojourner, Ghostly Flicker, Ruin Ghost, Blizzard Strix.
Then these have the built in stipulation that they also need to leave play:
Parallax Tide, Petradon, Petravark, Wormfang Newt, Wormfang Turtle.
A "combo" I like to use in decks that run a lot ETB creatures is pairing up Eternal Witness with Eerie Interlude or Ghostway, so that the Witness can get back the flicker card for reuse each turn.
Now you can combine Mystic Sanctuary in a similar fashion with Felidar Guardian, Flickerwisp, Glimmerpoint Stag, Petradon, Petravark, Wormfang Newt, Wormfang Turtle to get back instants like Eerie Interlude for repeated use. It goes back on-top so it takes up a draw, but often I'm using these with draw creatures anyway like Wall of Omens for card advantages.
Ruin Ghost can be used to put back any instant or sorcery every turn, so that is an infinite combo with;
Ruin Ghost + Time Warp + Mystic Sanctuary = infinite turns.
Same with Venser, the Sojourner + Time Warp + Mystic Sanctuary = infinite turns.
Now as well as flicker there will be ways to "play out" the Mystic Sanctuary as a repeatable source. That maybe via returning to hand, or say replaying from graveyard.
There are a lot of these so 'll just pick out some ones that interested me; Cloudstone Curio, Mana Breach, Overburden, Trade Routes, Hallowed Ground.
Legendary creatures Heidar, Rimewind Master, Kefnet the Mindful, Meloku the Clouded Mirror, Uyo, Silent Prophet.
Non-legendary that can also do this Temporal Adept, Tidespout Tyrant, Tradewind Rider, Vedalken Mastermind, Soratami Cloudskater, Soratami Rainshaper, Soratami Savant
Once again you can combine these with extra turns for infinite.
For example with Tidespout Tyrant you cast your Time Warp to return the Mystic Sanctuary to replay it and put back Time Warp on-top for infinite turns and HAUMPH fly in for 5/5 damage.
With Trade Routes for example it's as simple as returning the Mystic Sanctuary to replay it.
Uyo, Silent Prophet seems great as you can copy the extra turn spell which will allow you an additional turn to spend mana on other things...busted.
As far as instants you can get repeatable use out of counterspells like; Cryptic Command, Disappearing Act, Silumgar's Command, Daze, Deprive.
Gush can be cast multiple times when you need additional cards.
Sunder means that you can keep repeating this indefinitely once you reach the 3 Island threshold.
The bounce lands and lairs can be used for reuse Coral Atoll, Azorius Chancery, Boros Garrison, Dimir Aqueduct, Golgari Rot Farm, Gruul Turf, Izzet Boilerworks, Orzhov Basilica, Rakdos Carnarium, Selesnya Sanctuary, Simic Growth Chamber, Crosis's Catacombs, Darigaaz's Caldera, Dromar's Cavern, Rith's Grove, Treva's Ruins.
Deny Reality can be used every turn for the cascade.
Devour in Flames can make sure that you always have access to a spell to remove a planeswalker or creature when you need.
There is also graveyard reuse like Sun Titan, Crucible of Worlds, Life from the Loam, Wrenn and Six, Fall of the Thran, Holistic Wisdom, Lord Windgrace, Multani, Yavimaya's Avatar, Nissa, Vital Force, Ramunap Excavator, Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, The Mending of Dominaria, Scaretiller.
Unfortunately World Shaper and Splendid Reclamation return to play tapped so won't get further use out of Mystic Sanctuary trying to use it this way.
Now you'll most likely need ways of sacrificing or destroying your own lands.
An example interaction might be Ramunap Excavator and Elvish Reclaimer, where you just keep sacrificing the Mystic Sanctuary to put it back into play via Ramunap Excavator to keep putting an instant or sorcery on top.
Now I've focused a lot on combos, but remember this can be used to put back anything, and the toolbox element is real.
For example what if it was a Cyclonic Rift that you keep putting back. You constantly have a way to deal with opponents boards every turn.
How about Fall of the Thran and recycling Replenish?
I could see combining a 5-color Superfriends deck with Wrenn and Six, Nissa, Vital Force, Tamiyo, Collector of Tales, Lord Windgrace and land sacrifice outlets, to keep putting back a way to control the board each turn like Austere Command or Akroma's Vengeance.
Vraska, Golgari Queen or simply using Ghost Quarter/Strip Mine/Wasteland/etc or Dust Bowl to keep putting into graveyard to retrieve again.
In a similar way you can use Life from the Loam to keep getting back Mystic Sanctuary and say Ghost Quarter. If you have ways to play additional lands like Exploration, Burgeoning, etc, then you can dredge to increase the potential targets, and just keep putting a spell on-top each turn that you might want.
Or you might just have a land sacrifice outlet like Squandered Resources to make this easier.
You want to avoid dredging away the instant or sorcery you put on-top so you'd either have to do it every other turn or work around it with other draw cards like the cycling lands (Tranquil Thicket, etc) to get the spells immediately.
Second Sunrise, Faith's Reward and Brought Back I'm sure can be used with sacrifice effects for constant reuse.
You can do a land based combo with Second Sunrise or Faith's Reward with sacrifice lands to get infinite mana and infinite draw.
Tomb of Urami can do this combined with enough lands and Mystic Sanctuary.
Another way for example is to use Lotus Vale to pay for the Second Sunrise and sacrificing Mystic Sanctuary to it. Then you can also use Lotus Field to sacrifice itself and the Lotus Vale.
You can also obviously just use sacrifice fetch-lands to must up as many lands as your deck will allow.
Further to this for mana Archaeological Dig, Crystal Vein, Crosis's Catacombs, Darigaaz's Caldera, Dromar's Cavern, Rith's Grove, Treva's Ruins.
Slightly trickier plays is to Strip Mine/Wasteland/Ghost Quarter/etc to destroy another land (of yours) to get additional mana or to simply remove all your opponents lands (evil).
You have to have draw the Second Sunrise/Faith's Reward so need to use lands like Cryptic Caves, Waterlogged Grove, Fiery Islet, Horizon Canopy, Nurturing Peatland, Silent Clearing, Silent Clearing, Castle Locthwain, Mikokoro, Center of the Sea, Sea Gate Wreckage to draw the Second Sunrise after putting in back on-top of library.
There are also additional non-land cards that allow you to search for non-basic Islands.
Spoils of Victory, Gem of Becoming, Shard Convergence, Shoreline Ranger, Jhessian Zombies, Sanctum Plowbeast. So there is a little more scope around these cards as well.
There are tons of other ways I'm sure to get Mystic Sanctuary into play that I haven't thought about.
For example Genesis Wave or Primal Surge which you'll probably trigger Mystic Sanctuary to then put back those spells back on-top for another go! Disgusting.
Of note it's still an Island for High Tide decks and I'm sure putting back the High Tide to draw and recast is exactly what you want to be able to do.
The point of me starting this thread was literally an exercise in what might be possible, but also recognizing that there was going to be a lot potential behind this card.
After all it's a single land that potentially can just replace a basic Island, but open up new doorways to how your entire deck works. It's probably more likely that you build around it in some ways however.
But you can see even from my afternoons worth of theory-crafting just how much is packed into this innocuous Island at first glance.