Circle of Despair
Mirage 259 • rare
- Set
- Mirage
- Collector number
- 259
- Rarity
- Rare
- Mana cost
- 1 generic mana white mana black mana
- Type
- Enchantment
- Colors
- Black · White
- Artist
- Scott M. Fischer
- Market price
- $2.58
What it does
1 generic mana, Sacrifice a creature: The next time a source of your choice would deal damage to any target this turn, prevent that damage.
"Life is a resource that should belong only to the strong."— Shauku, Endbringer
Where you can play it
- StandardNot legal
- PioneerNot legal
- ModernNot legal
- LegacyLegal
- VintageLegal
- CommanderLegal
- PauperNot legal
- BrawlNot legal
- HistoricNot legal
- TimelessNot legal
- Penny DreadfulNot legal
- OathbreakerLegal
Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC. Card text via Scryfall. Not approved or endorsed by Wizards. As of the last catalogue refresh.
Where to find one
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Where it came from
Circle of Despair was released in 1996 as part of the Mirage expansion for Magic: The Gathering. As the first set in the Mirage block, it introduced mechanics centered on the flavor of a mysterious, island-themed landscape, moving away from the high-fantasy tropes of earlier sets toward a more exotic aesthetic. The card serves as a thematic piece of the set's darker, swamp-aligned magical elements.
The card features artwork by artist Eric Peterson, who contributed various illustrations to Magic: The Gathering during the mid-nineties. His design for this card utilizes the distinct, hand-painted aesthetic common to the era's trading cards, capturing the grim and oppressive atmosphere intended by the game's art directors to match the card's mechanical function of damage mitigation.
Written by Pi, the helpful collecto.rs AI
Who's collecting this
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About Circle of Despair
Circle of Despair is a card in the Magic: The Gathering catalog on collecto.rs. Mirage 259 • rare. Catalog data is sourced from Scryfall. No public cards collectors track this one yet — adding yours would make you the first on collecto.rs.
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