MTG
Exquisite Blood
B

Exquisite Symmetry

The bond. The blood. The infinite.

Mono-Black · Lifegain Combo

Casual 60 · Freeform / XMage

Old-school evil: Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond (or Vito). One ping ends the game.

Why it works

Any life loss triggers Exquisite Blood to gain life; Sanguine Bond / Vito turns that gain into more loss. Closed loop. Table folds.

Signature interactions

  • Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond = classic infinite
  • Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose as Bond #2
  • Cliffhaven Vampire as a soft version of the same idea

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Any life loss triggers Exquisite Blood to gain life; Sanguine Bond / Vito turns that gain into more loss. Closed loop. Table folds.

  • Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond = classic infinite
  • Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose as Bond #2
  • Cliffhaven Vampire as a soft version of the same idea
Scryfall

Raw list

// Exquisite Symmetry
// The bond. The blood. The infinite.
// Casual 60 · Freeform / XMage

4 Blood Artist
3 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
2 Exquisite Blood
2 Sanguine Bond
3 Cliffhaven Vampire
3 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Basilica Bell-Haunt
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
3 Sign in Blood
2 Peer into the Abyss
2 Tendrils of Corruption
2 Go for the Throat
2 Fatal Push
2 Phyrexian Arena
1 Well of Lost Dreams
2 Castle Locthwain
20 Swamp
2 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
2 Mutavault

More in this collection

Related

This is the sophisticated black pile: Dark Ritual accelerates Hypnotic Specter and Necropotence; Hymn and Duress empty their hand; pump knights and Sengir close; Drain Life is removal, lifegain, and the kill — the original 'curative' spell. Lake of the Dead and Coffers turn late drains into game-ending math. It still wins fair games today because the engine never stopped being unfair.

  • Dark Ritual → turn-1 Hypnotic Specter (the classic opener)
  • Necropotence + Drain Life — pay life to draw, gain it back while killing them
  • Lake of the Dead / Cabal Coffers → oversized Drain Life finishers
Scryfall

You want creatures dying on your terms. Zulaport and Blood Artist pay you for every funeral; Viscera Seer and Aristocrat keep the assembly line moving. Kalitas turns their removals into your zombies.

  • Blood Artist + Zulaport Cutthroat = double drain on deaths
  • Viscera Seer / Indulgent Aristocrat as sac outlets
  • Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet — their creatures become your tokens
Scryfall

Red gives haste and reach; black gives recursion and Blood Artist math. You pressure early, then convert creatures into damage when the board stalls.

  • Falkenrath Aristocrat + tokens / fodder = indestructible beats
  • Stromkirk Captain makes the whole bloodline hit harder
  • Lightning-style removal clears blockers so lifelink vampires connect
Scryfall

Rotpriest turns every targeted spell or ability into a poison threat. Cheap proliferate and toxic creatures race to 10 counters while blue protects the stack.

  • Venerated Rotpriest + any pump / bounce / cantrip targeting = free poison
  • Proliferate chains push 1–2 counters into a kill
  • Bloated Contaminator as the fat toxic beater
Scryfall

You win through incremental advantage — tokens, lifegain riders, and creatures that punish over-extension. It's the 'I always have another body' deck.

  • Token makers + anthem effects
  • Voice of Resurgence punishes instant-speed interaction
  • Residual lifegain from the Curative shell as a side plan
Scryfall