Sacrifice
| Sacrifice | |
|---|---|
| Keyword Action | |
| Introduced |
Alpha (mechanic) Revised Edition (keyword) |
| Last used | Evergreen |
| Reminder Text | No official reminder text |
| Scryfall Statistics | |
Sacrifice, often shortened to sac, is a keyword action. It means to move a permanent you control to its owner's graveyard.
Description
Sacrificing or saccing is removing a permanent from play. This can be due to an ability, a spell effect, a cost, or part of inherent rules baggage. A sacrificed permanent cannot be regenerated and was one of two terms that was borne from the obsolete bury keyword. Sacrificing always costs a card as an object, but by virtue of token creation the card may not be necessarily one that the player had to use a card in hand for.
Even though the card Sacrifice was in Alpha, the keyword action of sacrifice didn't show up until Revised Edition.[1]
Strategy
Sacrifice decks leverage the fact that spells that require a sacrifice tend to be cheap to compensate for the card advantage loss, which, when coupled with expendable fodder, lets the deck accelerate through multiple spells every turn. One of the popular tricks is to use red's temporary control effects (which are often cheap as their standard use case only produces damage) to steal their opponent's creatures for sacrifice fuel. As one-mana spells improve and token-making design expands, sacrifice decks have been infamous for both their intricate lines of play and slow gameplay experiences as a result.
One of the first competitive combo sacrifice decks is among the most famous in its history: Prosperous Bloom by way of Squandered Resources.[2]
Rules
From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (September 19, 2025—Marvel's Spider-Man)
- Sacrifice
- To move a permanent you control to its owner’s graveyard. See rule 701.21, “Sacrifice.”
From the Comprehensive Rules (September 19, 2025—Marvel's Spider-Man)
- 701.21. Sacrifice
- 701.21a To sacrifice a permanent, its controller moves it from the battlefield directly to its owner’s graveyard. A player can’t sacrifice something that isn’t a permanent, or something that’s a permanent they don’t control. Sacrificing a permanent doesn’t destroy it, so regeneration or other effects that replace destruction can’t affect this action.
Examples
Example 1
Arms Dealer 
Creature — Goblin
1/1
, Sacrifice a Goblin: This creature deals 4 damage to target creature.
Example 2
Cruel Edict 
Sorcery
Target opponent sacrifices a creature.
Example 3
Krark-Clan Ironworks 
Artifact
Sacrifice an artifact: Add 
.
Sacrificing resources
Red has the broadest sacrificing range, able to sacrifice all types across different sets. Some only occur in set-specific contexts (Heartfire, Betrayer's Bargain), and the payoff is often something tempo-forward but card-negative. Black has the second most, with a similar context (Spark Reaper, Final Vengeance, Deadly Dispute) but often sacrifices for higher value. Together, black and red is often a sacrifice archetype that turns partial value into full cards. Tokens are popular fodder for these decks, and with the prevalence of predefined artifact tokens, artifact sacrifice is common regardless of the set theming.[3] White sometimes gets sacrifice creature effects like in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, but by and large it is relegated to creating plentiful fodder.
Forced sacrifice aka "Edicts"
Edict is a naming convention used by Magic R&D for cards that force a player to sacrifice a creature. The mechanic is typically used on black instants and sorceries. This is a form of removal, but with a different strategic context than normal removal. The naming convention started with Diabolic Edict in Tempest. The flavor is that of an authority figure using their official power to force a sadistic choice.
In the wider sense, any card that forces a player or opponent to sacrifice something is called an edict. Some of these effects target multiple players or opponents. Variations include forced exile, sacrificing a subset of creatures (such as nontoken or greatest power), or each player sacrificing. These all have different textures in gameplay: one of the most critical applications is bypassing hexproof or indestructible on creatures.
Sacrificing effects by color pie:
- Sacrifice a creature (target/each player sacrifices a creature) is primary in black.[4] Sacrificing a creature with flying has turned up in green.
- Sacrifice an artifact (target/each player sacrifices an artifact) is primary in red.[4]
- Sacrifice an enchantment has occurred in white, green and black.
- Cataclysm effects are white.
- Sacrifice a land is primary in red.
- Sacrifice a permanent (target/each player sacrifices a permanent) is primary in red, as it is often tantamount of sacrificing a land.[4]
Cards that can't be sacrificed
Cards that prevent/prohibit sacrificing
- Angel of Jubilation
- Assault Suit
- Sigarda, Host of Herons
- Tajuru Preserver
- Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
- Yasharn, Implacable Earth
- Zurgo, Thunder's Decree
Trivia
- The sacrifice keyword shares its name with the card Sacrifice.
- The following Edicts deviate from the naming convention:
- Imperial Edict (Portal Three Kingdoms) does not force an opponent to sacrifice but rather chooses a creature that is then destroyed. It has most of the gameplay of an edict.
- Telim Tor's Edict (Mirage) — a red instant that predates Cruel Edict. It exiles target permanent you own or control, in exchange for a card draw at the beginning of the next turn’s upkeep. It fits in a thematic sense, as the caster "sacrifices" a permanent.
- Yawgmoth's Edict (Urza's Saga) — a black enchantment that drains opponents for one life point whenever they cast a white spell.
- Angelic Edict (Gatecrash) — a white sorcery that exiles a target creature or enchantment.
References
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (June 8, 2015). "Evergreen Eggs & Ham". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Adam Styborski (July 28, 2020). "What Would You Sacrifice To Win?". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 18, 2021). "Mechanical Color Pie 2021 Changes". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.
- ↑ a b c Mark Rosewater (June 5, 2017). "Mechanical Color Pie 2017". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.