Image courtesy of Scryfall.com
When to Mulligan for Blood Money: Keeping tempo or chasing Treasure?
If you’ve cracked open The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander and spy Blood Money staring back at you from the command zone, you’re staring at a quintessential black puzzle piece: a seven-mana sorcery that doubles as both board wipe and ramp engine. The decision to keep or ship a hand containing Blood Money isn’t just about mana costs; it’s about reading the board, your deck’s speed, and the kind of game you’re likely to steer. In multiplayer commander, where threats multiply and Treasure tokens become a currency for bigger plays, your mulligan instinct for Blood Money should balance fuel (ramp) with fire (removal) and forethought (opponent dynamics). 🧙♂️🔥
What Blood Money actually does, and why it matters for mulligans
- Mana cost and effect: Blood Money costs {5}{B}{B} (7 mana total) and is a black sorcery. Its effect is devastating and deliciously asymmetric: Destroy all creatures. For every non-token creature destroyed this way, you create a tapped Treasure token.
- Treasure payoff: Treasures are mana for later turns, not just “one-and-done” spells. If your board has many non-token creatures, you net a swarm of Treasure tokens that can fuel a second, even bigger, play that turn—or set up turns to come. If the board is full of tokens, the payoff shrinks, but you still reset the field with a black anchor behind the chaos. ⚔️
- Strategic timing: Because you wipe the board, Blood Money tends to be most valuable when you’re either behind, or you’re ready to capitalize on the aftershock—using the Treasures to stabilize, draw into threats, or recast key spells. The timing is a tug-of-war between “kill now to snowball later” and “hold if you’re about to flood.” 🎲
Flavor note from the card: “The more you have, the more you have to lose.” It’s a sly reminder that Blood Money rewards risk—and punishes complacency.
Opening-hand mulligan logic: keep vs ship with Blood Money in mind
In Commander, mulligans are less about perfect curves and more about shaping inevitability. Here are practical guidelines to weigh Blood Money in your opening seven (or eight, depending on your London Mulligan rules):
- Ramp density first: Do you have reliable black mana sources to reach seven by turns 3–5? If your opening hand is light on mana rocks or black mana acceleration (Sol Ring, Dark Ritual-style accelerants, or black duals in multicolor decks), you may want to ship Blood Money if there’s no dependable path to cast it in a reasonable window. A seven-mana spell that you can’t cast soon enough is a card that can stall you rather than accelerate you. 🔥
- Board-state awareness: If your hand includes Blood Money but little or no immediate removal or sweep-light alternatives, you’ll often want to mulligan into a hand that creates insurance against a hostile board—especially in a pod where your opponents’ boards are likely to be heavy on threats. The card’s payoff scales with a real board to take down; otherwise you risk spending seven mana to do little more than stare at a lost turn. 🧙♂️
- Treasure-forward game plan: If your deck is built around Treasure synergy (cards that benefit from Treasure tokens or that rely on mana produced by Treasures), Blood Money becomes the perfect bridge between wipe and ramp. In hands where you already possess a handful of Treasure-generating cards or cheap ways to cash in Treasures quickly, Blood Money is more forgiving to keep. A future-proof, ramp-forward approach can make even a late-game Blood Money feel timely. 💎
- Color and card quality: Blood Money is a mono-Black card, so your opening hand should demonstrate solid black mana reliability plus a few black answers or threats. If your hand is heavy with colors you don’t plan to play soon, or if mana sources are sparse, that’s a sign to mulligan. A clean, consistent black base helps you extract maximum value from the treasures after the wipe. ⚔️
- Local meta and longevity: In a table where removals are frequent and wipe-heavy games stretch across multiple players, Blood Money can be a steadying force. If the meta rewards mid-to-late-game stability and you have ways to reuse or capitalize on Treasures across several turns, you may opt to keep even a slightly delayed matchup plan. 🧙♂️
How to deploy Blood Money once it’s in hand
Timing is everything. Cast Blood Money when you’re ready to capitalize on the Treasures you’ll generate, not when you’re simply looking to erase the board. A few practical deployment strategies:
- Clearing non-token threats: If your opponents have token-heavy boards (think armies of Saprolings or Servo-sidekick tokens), Blood Money will wipe away the cheap threats while letting you keep or create Treasures that fuel bigger plays. Tokens vanish easily, but non-token threats are the real currency here. 🧙♂️
- Treasure conversion window: After you cast Blood Money, look for options to convert Treasures into impactful plays—big spells, recursion, or even card draw engines. A common move is to follow with spells that demand big mana, like re-casting threats or generating card advantage in bursts. The more non-token creatures you destroy, the more Treasures you hold onto for a second wave. 💎
- Guarding the board: If you’re under pressure, Blood Money can be a reset button that buys you time while you stabilize. Claimed treasures can fund wipes, removals, or land ramps that fuel your next assault. This is where patience pays off—you want to see the payoff turn into long-term advantage. 🔥
Deckbuilding and synergy notes
Blood Money shines in decks that lean into two lanes: black control and Treasure economy. If your strategy includes cards that care about Treasure tokens or that benefit from mana acceleration, you’ll maximize the value of Blood Money’s aftermath. For example, a Treasures-focused toolkit can turn a board wipe into a robust mana base for colossal plays on the following turn. And as a Commander-legal mythic in The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander, Blood Money slots neatly into groups that celebrate mythic “big swing” moments. The flavor line about loss echoes the design intent: your sacrifices now fuel a powerful payoff later. 🎨
Flavor, art, and collector context
Inka Schulz’s art captures a moment where great wealth and great ruin collide, a perfect metaphor for a card that punishes attachment by offering new resources in its wake. The Lost Caverns of Ixalan Commander brings a lore-first, table-wide scramble to the forefront, and Blood Money embodies that tension—your gains come with a cost that scales with the board you’ve built. The card’s rarity (mythic) and its reprint status make it a desirable piece for collectors who love the thrill of a big game-changer that’s also a functional ramp engine. The price tag may be modest, but the strategic depth certainly isn’t. 🧙♂️⚔️
Practical minutes for the road: a quick playset mindset
- Keep Blood Money in hands that look ramp-ready or threat-dense, especially if your table is likely to present a crowded board with non-token threats.
- Mulligan away a hand that can’t guarantee seven mana by turn four or five, unless you’re confident in a lock-down control plan that doesn’t rely on Blood Money’s immediate payoff.
- Remember the Treasure payoff: even if many creatures get wiped, you’re buying mana for future plays—don’t waste Treasures on marginal targets. Prioritize big plays that shift the game in your favor. 💎
Being a fan of this card means embracing the dual nature of power and risk. Blood Money doesn’t just erase the board; it redefines what you can play next. If you’re planning tournament days or friendly pods, a nimble mulligan decision can lock in a momentum swing you’ll remember long after the last creature falls.