Sanctuary
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NAME | Sanctuary |  |
NAME | Sanctuary | |
| ELEMENT | Light | ELEMENT | Light | |||
| COST | 4  |
COST | 3 |
|||
| TYPE | Permanent | TYPE | Permanent | |||
| ATT/HP | - | ATT/HP | - | |||
| DESCRIPTION | Your quanta pool and your hand can not be altered during your opponent's turn. Heal 4 HP per turn. | DESCRIPTION | Your quanta pool and your hand can not be altered during your opponent's turn. Heal 4 HP per turn. | |||
| RARITY | Common | RARITY | Upgraded | |||
| PRICE | 58 | PRICE | +1500 |
Contents
Overview
Sanctuary is a powerful healing permanent with capabilities to help keep Light-users safe from a variety of denial techniques. In addition to healing 4 HP per turn, Sanctuary also protects the owner from enemy attacks that affect their quanta pool or their hand.
General Use
Quick Facts:
- Sanctuary heals for 4 HP per turn, and prevents any enemy card from affecting your quanta or hand during their turn.
- Multiple Sanctuaries stack the healing effect.
- The quanta/hand protection from Sanctuary still lasts for one additional turn when the last one is removed from a player’s field.
- Quanta-reactive cards (Solar Shield, Dissipation Shield, etc.) do not work when Sanctuary is also in play.
While the Light element has various cards to recover HP, Sanctuary is special in that it comes with an added benefit. For 4 (or 3 upped) quanta, a player can recover a decent 4 HP each turn a Sanctuary is out on the field. Having multiples of them will stack the healing effect (up to a total maximum of 24 HP with 6 Sanctuaries in a deck).
However, the unique benefit doesn’t come from the healing. Instead, Sanctuary has a special mechanic that prevents opponents from distorting a player’s quanta pool or their ability to play and draw cards into their hand. The following cards are completely shut down (for the enemy) by the Sanctuary card due to their effects:
Note that the first three cards (Black Hole, Discord, and Devourer) are quanta-denial cards, whereas the latter three (Nightmare, Silence, and Shard of Bravery) are hand-manipulation cards. In either case, when an enemy player attempts to use one of these cards, Sanctuary simply blocks the effect. Even when Sanctuary is stolen or destroyed, the protection is still there for an additional turn (the Sanctuary icon still remains on the player’s hand until his next turn arises). Because of these bonuses, Sanctuary is a hard counter towards several types of denial decks, given enough time to be set up on the field properly.
Sanctuary does have a few drawbacks, however. As the card states that a player’s quanta pool cannot be altered during the opponent’s turn, certain shields are affected by Sanctuary’s protective qualities. Solar Shield, for example, coverts absorbed damage from enemy creature attacks into quanta. However, when a Sanctuary is on the same field as that shield, the damage is still absorbed, but the player won’t receive any additional quanta from the prevented damage via Solar Shield (their quanta pool cannot be altered). Similarly for Dissipation Shield, the quanta used to block all damage from the opponent’s creatures is negated completely while Sanctuary is out. Thus, the abilities of Dissipation Shield are completely removed, and cannot block any damage while Sanctuary is up. Finally, if an enemy’s creature dies on their turn, a player with Sanctuary and Soul Catcher will not receive the 
quanta.
Synergies
Miracle | Improved Miracle is well known for its massive healing and game-turnover capabilities; combined with Sanctuary, the recovery options are boundless. While Sanctuary can provide small healing over time to help a player survive their setup (or stall out the other enemy), Miracle can work as an instant refresher to one’s HP. A Miracle can assist the player in getting elemental masteries easier, while the Sanctuary can help protect quanta in using the expensive spell. Combining these two cards only improves Light’s own recovery skills in game, and re-strengthens the Light element as a whole.
Surprisingly, Fire Shield | Fire Buckler has a fun synergy with Sanctuary. Although Fire Shield cannot block any damage, enemy creatures receive damage upon attacking, which in some decks, can be devastating (unless the creatures have high HP). Sanctuary will then recover the HP slowly, and if Fire Shield kills the creatures, a player can survive with the shield and Sanctuaries on the field. This strategy is very prone to copious amounts of permanent control cards like Steal and Deflagration, but if the opponent doesn’t have enough PC to stop the healing and creature-reactive damage, their deck may be unable to kill a player with the combo.
Other Cards With Synergy
Because Sanctuary can be a prime candidate for removal by PC effects, Protect Artifact is a good consideration to include in an Earth-Light deck alongside Sanctuary. An untargeted Sanctuary will nullify any deck that uses the major denial cards listed above. Various other healing cards like Heal, Purify, and Stone Skin can further bolster one’s healing skills in battle, although the redundancy is better used in stall decks to prevent losing rather than giving a direct way to win.
Conclusion
While many players see Sanctuary as the non-rare version of Shard of Gratitude, Sanctuary is a key component to fighting against various quanta and hand denial decks. With the added healing and a fair cost, Sanctuary is great for filling in any deck that uses , and can be a major asset against some of the most difficult False Gods in game.
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