Card Spotlight
Exquisite Blood
A 5-mana black enchantment: whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life. With Sanguine Bond, each trigger sets off the other until every opponent is dead.
Commander Spotlight
Exquisite Blood ↗
A 5-mana black enchantment: whenever an opponent loses life, you gain that much life. With Sanguine Bond, each trigger sets off the other until every opponent is dead.
See Exquisite Blood's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- The Sanguine Bond loop. Ten mana across two enchantments, and then any life swing drains the whole table.
- Vampire loops. Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Marauding Blight-Priest both drain on life gain, so either one completes the loop in place of Sanguine Bond. For a Halloween deck, that keeps the whole combo in vampires apart from the Blood itself.
- Drain and Aristocrats decks. Without the combo, every drain effect in the deck also gains you life, which keeps you alive through a long game.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
Exquisite Blood is an enchantment, so it can never be a commander. It goes in the 99 of black drain, lifegain or Vampire decks.
In the 99
It belongs in any black deck that drains opponents and already runs Sanguine Bond, Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Marauding Blight-Priest. Each of those turns it into a win. Without a partner it is a five-mana lifegain engine that does little the turn it comes down.
Formats it's strong in
- Black drain, lifegain and Vampire decks. The deck already has several ways to start the loop and more than one card to complete it.
- Long Bracket 3 and 4 games. Ten mana for both pieces arrives late, and in a long game the loop is a reliable finish.
Formats it's weak in
- cEDH. Five mana for half a combo is slow next to two-card wins that cost three or four mana in total.
- Tables with enchantment removal. Removing either enchantment in response to the first trigger stops the loop, and both pieces are visible on the battlefield long before the loop starts.
Synergistic cards
Sanguine Bond ↗
The classic other half: life gained makes an opponent lose that much, which Exquisite Blood turns back into life.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose ↗
A three-mana Vampire with Sanguine Bond's trigger. It completes the same loop and can lead a deck as the commander.
Marauding Blight-Priest ↗
Each life gain makes each opponent lose 1 life, and Exquisite Blood gains you 1 for each of them, so the loop hits the whole table at once.
Blood Artist ↗
Any creature dying drains a player for 1, which is enough to start the loop once both halves are out.
Is it worth the price?
Exquisite Blood is mid-priced and costs more than Sanguine Bond, despite reprints in Jumpstart, Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander and Secret Lair. Marauding Blight-Priest is an inexpensive common, which makes it the cheapest way to complete the loop.
Frequently asked questions
How does the Exquisite Blood and Sanguine Bond combo work?
Any opponent losing life makes Exquisite Blood gain you that much. That life gain triggers Sanguine Bond, which makes a target opponent lose the same amount, which triggers Exquisite Blood again. Both triggers are mandatory, so the loop keeps running. When one opponent hits zero, Sanguine Bond targets the next, until no opponents are left.
How do you start the Exquisite Blood loop?
With any single point of opponent life loss or any life gain. A creature dealing combat damage to a player, a Blood Artist trigger, or a lifelink creature all work. Once both enchantments are on the battlefield, almost any interaction with life totals ends the game.
Is Exquisite Blood allowed in lower brackets?
Exquisite Blood isn't on the Game Changers list. With Sanguine Bond it is a two-card infinite, which Wizards' bracket rules keep out of Brackets 1 and 2. Bracket 3 excludes only early-game two-card infinites, and two five-mana enchantments are slow to assemble, so this pair is usually a late-game combo. Confirm it at Rule 0 before you play it at an Upgraded table.