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Gaius van Baelsar
Legendary Creature — Human Soldier
When Gaius van Baelsar enters, choose one — • Each player sacrifices a creature token of their choice. • Each player sacrifices a nontoken creature of their choice. • Each player sacrifices an enchantment of their choice.
3 / 2
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“Political sacrifice engine that punishes opponents while protecting your board.”
Midrange
Intermediate
Combat damage, Attrition
Sacrifice, Blink, Aristocrats
Strategy
Gaius van Baelsar is a political powerhouse that turns sacrifice into a game-wide event. When he enters, you get to choose which type of permanent everyone sacrifices, which means you can surgically dismantle your opponents' strategies while protecting your own board. The beauty here is asymmetry—you can build around tokens, big creatures, or enchantments knowing you'll always have a way to leverage the sacrifice trigger for value.
The core gameplan is to play Gaius, make a choice that hurts opponents more than you, then repeat the trigger as many times as possible. Pairing him with flicker effects like Ephemerate or Soulherder lets you re-trigger his ETB effect multiple times per turn, turning him into a repeatable miniature board wipe that you control. You can also lean into sacrifice outlets and death-trigger synergies (like Blood Artist or Viscera Seer) to turn enforced sacrifices into card advantage and chip damage.
You win through a mix of creature damage, attrition, and incremental value. As you force opponents to sacrifice their best permanents while your board grows or your graveyard fills, you'll eventually take over the game. This is a grindy, resource-denial deck that rewards careful sequencing and good politics.
Strategy generated by Tapped Decks AI. Not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
Key Synergies
Budget Build
Skip pricey flickering effects like Soulherder; use Ephemerate, Essence Flux, and bounce lands like Bojuka Bog instead. Cheap creatures with death triggers (Blood Artist, Zulaport Cutthroat) replace expensive tutors.
Signature Cards
Inclusion = % of Gaius van Baelsar decks running this card. +lift = percentage-point boost over the format average.
Community Decks
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