Despotic Scepter
Ice Age 316 • rare
- Set
- Ice Age
- Collector number
- 316
- Rarity
- Rare
- Mana cost
- 1 generic mana
- Type
- Artifact
- Colors
- Colorless
- Artist
- Richard Thomas
- Market price
- $4.86
What it does
tap: Destroy target permanent you own. It can't be regenerated.
"We were not meant to have such terrible things. They should be left where we found them, if not destroyed!"— Sorine Relicbane, Soldevi Heretic
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
The Despotic Scepter was released in 1995 as part of the Ice Age expansion for the Magic: The Gathering trading card game. Created by Wizards of the Coast, the set was designed to introduce a cold-themed, survivalist aesthetic to the game, featuring mechanics that focused on resource scarcity and long-term strategy. The card reflects the set's broader mechanical interest in permanents that could interact with the battlefield state in ways that were previously unexplored in the core game.
The artwork was illustrated by Richard Thomas, one of the original artists involved in the game’s formative years. Thomas chose a stark, regal composition that emphasized the cold, authoritative nature of the artifact, aligning with the dark, frozen flavor text that characterizes much of the Ice Age set. While the card is often remembered by players for its niche utility in protecting creatures from opponent theft, it stands primarily as a piece of early 1990s fantasy illustrative design that defined the visual identity of the game's expansion era.
Generated by Pi, the collecto.rs collecting companion
Who's collecting this
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About Despotic Scepter
Despotic Scepter is a card in the Magic: The Gathering catalog on collecto.rs. Ice Age 316 • 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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