Bloodline Recollector // Ancestral Craving is one of those cards players keep asking about. Here is, in plain words, what its official text says, the rulings published by Wizards of the Coast, and the combos players actually run.
Official card text
At the beginning of each end step, if three or more creatures died this turn, this creature becomes prepared. (While it's prepared, you may cast a copy of its spell. Doing so unprepares it.) Target player draws three cards and loses 3 life.
Complete guide
Bloodline Recollector is a versatile Vampire Warlock that thrives on the carnage of the battlefield. By monitoring the number of deaths in a single turn, it can grant you access to Ancestral Craving, a powerful draw spell hidden within its own card mechanics.
Understanding the Prepare Mechanic
Bloodline Recollector features a unique keyword called 'prepared.' At the beginning of each end step, the game checks if three or more creatures died during that turn. If they did, Bloodline Recollector becomes prepared, and you create a copy of its associated spell, Ancestral Craving, in the exile zone. While the creature remains prepared on the battlefield, you have the right to cast that copy from exile by paying its mana cost. Once you cast the spell, the creature becomes 'unprepared' and must meet its death-trigger condition again to regain the ability.
Resolution and Timing
The check for becoming prepared happens only at the beginning of the end step. If three creatures died earlier in the turn, the ability triggers. Upon resolution, a copy of Ancestral Craving is placed in exile. Note that you can only cast this copy if you are the current controller of the Bloodline Recollector. If the creature leaves the battlefield or is already prepared when the trigger resolves, you do not get a second copy of the spell. The copy in exile remains there until you cast it, the creature leaves the battlefield, or an effect specifically 'unprepares' it.
Common Pitfalls
A common mistake is assuming that copying a prepared creature results in a prepared token; however, 'being prepared' is not a copiable value. Another important rule is that if Ancestral Craving is cast and its target becomes illegal before resolution, the spell is removed from the stack and fails to resolve. Even if this happens, the Bloodline Recollector still becomes unprepared because the act of casting the copy is what consumes the prepared status, regardless of whether the spell successfully resolves.
When to Play It
Bloodline Recollector is best utilized in 'Aristocrats' style decks where you have control over when your own creatures die. Since it checks for three deaths from any source, it is also an excellent follow-up to a board wipe or a heavy combat phase. Because Ancestral Craving costs only one black mana when cast via the prepare mechanic, it allows for explosive turns where you refill your hand immediately after a bloody confrontation.
Interaction examples
Ornithopter of ParadiseYou control Bloodline Recollector and three copies of Ornithopter of Paradise. During your turn, you use a spell to destroy all three Ornithopters. At the beginning of your end step, the Recollector's ability triggers because three creatures died. Upon resolution, the Recollector becomes prepared and you create a copy of Ancestral Craving in exile. You may now cast Ancestral Craving for {B} to draw three cards.
Blood ArtistWith Bloodline Recollector and Blood Artist on the battlefield, combat results in three creatures dying. Blood Artist triggers three times, draining 3 life from your opponent. Then, at the beginning of the end step, Bloodline Recollector becomes prepared. On your next turn, you cast the exiled Ancestral Craving targeting yourself. You draw three cards and lose 3 life, effectively using the life gained from Blood Artist to offset the cost of the forbidden knowledge.
Guide written with AI from the official text and rulings. Official English text prevails.
How it works : Bloodline Recollector // Ancestral Craving
Original English text — Wizards of the Coast / Scryfall
- #1· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect causes a creature to become unprepared, a prepared creature stops being prepared and the associated copy of its prepare spell in exile ceases to exist. If it wasn't prepared at that time, nothing happens.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #2· Wizards of the Coast
Only the current controller of a prepared creature can cast the copy of its prepare spell in exile. It doesn't matter who owns that creature or who controlled it when it became prepared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #3· Wizards of the Coast
Being prepared isn't a copiable value. If a permanent becomes a copy of a prepared creature, it won't be prepared. That permanent will have the alternative characteristics, though, and some other effect could cause it to become prepared later.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #4· Wizards of the Coast
If a prepared creature stops being a creature, it will still be prepared, and the copy of its prepare spell will remain in exile. That permanent's controller will still be able to cast it. The same is true if a prepared creature becomes a copy of something else, even if it's then a permanent without a prepare spell.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #5· Wizards of the Coast
Preparation cards can be cast only with their base characteristics.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #6· Wizards of the Coast
A creature without a prepare spell can't become prepared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #7· Wizards of the Coast
A preparation card is a creature card in every zone. For example, while it's in your graveyard, Diviner of Victory is a blue creature card whose mana value is 1. It can't be the target of Stingcaster Mage's triggered ability ("When this creature enters, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.").
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #8· Wizards of the Coast
If a prepare spell with one or more targets has no legal targets when it tries to resolve, it won't resolve and none of its effects will happen. Since the spell was cast, the associated permanent will still not be prepared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #9· Wizards of the Coast
While copies of spells in zones other than the stack cease to exist when state-based actions are checked, this does not apply to copies of prepare spells in exile that were created as a creature became prepared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #10· Wizards of the Coast
As an effect causes a creature with a prepare spell to become prepared (including effects that state that a creature "enters prepared"), that creature's controller creates a copy of that creature's prepare spell in exile. That copy remains in exile for as long as that permanent is on the battlefield and is prepared. That creature's controller may cast that copy as long as it remains in exile. As they cast it, that creature stops being prepared.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #11· Wizards of the Coast
A creature with a prepare spell can't become prepared more than once at the same time. For example, say Bloodline Recollector is on the battlefield and is prepared. During the current turn, three creatures die. At the beginning of the end step, Bloodline Recollector's last ability triggers. When that ability resolves, since Bloodline Recollector is already prepared, the ability won't cause it to become prepared a second time or create a second copy of Ancestral Craving in exile.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #12· Wizards of the Coast
If a prepared creature loses all abilities, it won't stop being prepared, and nothing will happen to its alternative characteristics or to the copy of its prepare spell in exile.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #13· Wizards of the Coast
Casting a copy of a prepare spell from exile isn't casting it for an alternative cost. Effects that allow you to cast a spell for an alternative cost or without paying its mana cost may allow you to apply those to a copy of a prepare spell cast from exile.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #14· Wizards of the Coast
If an effect instructs you to choose a card name, you may choose the alternative prepare spell's name. Consider only the alternative characteristics to determine whether that is an appropriate name to choose.
No other card is named in this ruling.
- #15· Wizards of the Coast
Creating a copy of a creature's prepare spell in exile ignores copy exceptions applied to that creature that would affect the copiable values of that spell. For example, say a player casts Croaking Counterpart (a sorcery that says "Create a token that's a copy of target non-Frog creature, except it's a 1/1 green Frog") targeting Diviner of Victory. The token copy of Diviner of Victory will enter prepared as a 1/1 green Frog creature, but the copy of Unwind History in exile will still be a blue sorcery. The copy of Unwind History won't be green, a creature, or a Frog, and it won't have power or toughness.
No other card is named in this ruling.
Legal formats
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