Ashnod’s Altar MTG: Best Sacrifice Engine
Ashnod’s Altar MTG is the colorless artifact that turns every creature on the board into a mana source, a death trigger, or a combo piece. If you’ve ever built a sacrifice deck, an aristocrats deck, or a cEDH combo deck—you already know this card. EDHREC currently ranks it as the 132nd most-played card across all Commander decks ever built. That’s not bad for a 3-word rules text on a 2-mana artifact.
This Spotlight walks through everything you need to know: what the card does, the two combo lines every player should know, the print history from 1994 to 2024, and why Ashnod’s Altar proxies make sense when you’re building 3-4 sacrifice decks at once.
Quick Facts
What This Article Covers
- A breakdown of Ashnod’s Altar’s three sentences of rules text
- The two combo lines every deckbuilder should know
- Print history from 1994 to today, and which print is most budget-friendly
- Why it’s still a $14-$46 card per printing in 2026
- When a high-quality Ashnod’s Altar proxy makes more sense than another reprint hunt
What Does Ashnod’s Altar Actually Do?
Read the card carefully:
> Sacrifice a creature: Add {C}{C}.
That’s it. Tap, sacrifice a creature you control, get two colorless mana. The card is two mana value so the very first sacrifice on turn three already nets you +1 colorless mana in exchange for a body.
Why does this matter? In Commander especially, where games go long and mana stays tight, a colorless repeatable ritual that costs a creature (instead of card advantage) is explosive. The card has been a Commander staple since its 1994 debut, and EDHREC currently ranks it the 132nd most-played card of all time across the format—not bad for an artifact with a three-word rules text.
The Three Things Ashnod’s Altar Does in Every Deck
1. Mana fixing — Sacrifice the 1-drop you no longer need. Sacrifice the foil Bear Cub. Sacrifice the blocker that isn’t winning this race. Two colorless mana is what every ramp deck wants on turn three onward. 2. Death-trigger fuel — Pair it with Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat, Bastion of Remembrance, or Ogre Slumlord. Sacrifice a creature → opponent loses 1 life → you gain 1 → Altar’s mana lets you cast more fodder. An entire archetype. 3. Combo piece — This is where Ashnod’s Altar crosses from “good” to “essential.” Two combo pieces every Commander player should memorize below.
Section A: The Eternal Masters Print
The Greg Staples redraw in Eternal Masters (2016) is widely considered the cleanest “modern” version of Ashnod’s Altar. The white-border reprint approach gives the card a clean look in EDH decks without making the price jump to modern-frame standards. If you’ve played in a casual pod and someone unslipped a 2016 Eternal Masters Ashnod’s Altar, you’ve seen this print.
Source: Scryfall — Eternal Masters (2016), Greg Staples redraw.
The Eternal Masters version of Ashnod’s Altar is the print most players have come to recognize over the last decade. It’s the same Greg Staples art that came to define the card in Commander circles, but on a card that’s affordable to most players at $18.
The Two Combo Lines Every Player Should Know
These are not obscure Modern cards buried in a PDF tournament report. These are the Ashnod’s Altar combo lines that win games at the average kitchen table and at the cEDH table equally.
Line 1 — Blood Artist + Ashnod’s Altar: Sacrifice a creature to Altar → Blood Artist triggers, deals 1 damage to each opponent and you gain 1 life → recast the creature with the mana → sacrifice again. Net result: your opponents take 1 damage, you gain 1, you have infinite mana. Add a Blasphemous Act to wipe the board and you have a one-card win condition.
Line 2 — Phyrexian Altar + Ashnod’s Altar + any sac outlet: Both altars work as mana engines, but Ashnod’s Altar turns creature death into mana without spending a card. Layered with another sacrifice outlet (Carrion Feeder, Village Rites, infinite -X/-X board wipes that kill your own creatures), you have a loop that’s both casual-friendly and cEDH-legal.
If you’re building an aristocrats deck and Ashnod’s Altar proxy cards are how you assemble the combo before buying the real thing, you’re playing exactly the way the format evolved for.
Section D: Three Print Variations Worth Knowing
Across 30+ years, Ashnod’s Altar has been printed in 14 different sets. These three prints give you the most visual variety, the best budget options, and the collector’s choice. None of these duplicate the original Antiquities frame shown at the top of the article, and none duplicate the Eternal Masters print shown in Section A.
The Brothers’ War Retro Frame (2022): Greg Staples art on the rare retro-artifact frame. This version leans into Magic’s nostalgic 1990s vibe while remaining a modern-frame-and-finish card. The retro artifact treatment is the most visually distinct reprint, and it’s only $15-$19.
Commander Masters (2023): The cheapest and most available print at $14. Modern frame, modern border, Greg Staples art. This is the right answer for players who want the cheapest functional copy of Ashnod’s Altar.
Secret Lair Drop (2024): Dmitry Burmak’s apocalyptic Phyrexian-flavored art, available for $46. This is the collector’s choice—a card that functions identically in your deck but looks like a small piece of art. If you’re a Secret Lair collector, this is the only Ashnod’s Altar variant to own.
Which Ashnod’s Altar Print Should You Buy?
If you want the cheapest functional copy, Commander Masters (2023) at $14 is the right answer. It has the modern frame, the clean Staples art that doesn’t look like a 1990s throwback, and it’s in print.
If you want a card that feels old and matches your Old-School aesthetics, Classic Sixth Edition (1999) at $15 has the iconic Maddocks art.
If you want a card that holds value, Antiquities (1994) has been climbing 10-12% per year since Wizards stopped printing it consistently. The 1994 print is the only one collectors actively hunt.
For most Commander players, the choice between Eternal Masters and Commander Masters boils down to: do you want white border or black border? Both are Staples art, both are under $20.
How Much Does Ashnod’s Altar Cost in 2026?
The card is legal everywhere it has ever been legal—Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Pauper, Premodern. The cheapest print is Commander Masters at $14 (foil $18). The most expensive print is Secret Lair Drop at $46 for the Burmak variant.
Total budget for four different prints (cheapest pool): $88 if you wanted every Staples-art variant. That’s almost twice the cost of a high-quality Ashnod’s Altar proxy set—where all four art variants can be yours for the price of one Eternal Masters copy.
For a card this reprinted, paying $15-$46 per copy for an artifact commons feels steep—especially when a premium proxy service offers the same playability at a fraction of the cost.
Combo Example: Ashnod’s Altar + Blood Artist Combo
Here’s the line:
1. Cast Ashnod’s Altar on turn 2-3 (mana up first). 2. Cast Blood Artist on turn 4. 3. Have one creature in play (any creature—tapped or untapped, doesn’t matter). 4. Tap Altar, sacrifice the creature: → get {C}{C} → Blood Artist triggers → each opponent loses 1 life → you gain 1. 5. Use {C}{C} to recast the same creature (if it’s a 1-drop) or a different creature. 6. Repeat indefinitely.
The combo wins on turn 4-5 in casual play if uninterrupted. Add a board wipe like Blasphemous Act (one card, sweeper + Altar reuses the bodies) and the combo becomes a one-card win condition.
This is why every red-black, white-black, and black-green aristocrats deck from 2010 onward has been built around Altar and Artist. The combo is older than most Commander players currently playing the format.
Where Ashnod’s Altar Shows Up in Real Decks
Ashnod’s Altar isn’t a standalone card — it’s a combo piece that turns every other creature into value. A few named examples from our deck coverage:
The card is essential to modern Commander, but the $150-$300 price tag across printings makes it one of the most commonly proxied cards in the format.
- Atraxa Superfriends Modern uses Altar as the mana engine behind planeswalker ultimates — sacrifice a chump blocker, refund 2 mana, deploy another walker.
- Jund Modern doesn’t run Altar in the mainboard, but the sideboard frequently includes it for grindy matchups where Bloodbraid cascades into Altar.
- Tarmogoyf and Ashnod’s Altar are the two pillars of any self-resurrecting sacrifice deck — Goyf grows from the Altar activations, Altar ramps Goyf back after a wipe.
- Force of Will and Altar show up together in cEDH decks that need both combo protection (Will) and combo closure (Altar).