Dark SupplicantHow it works & interactions with other cards

What It Does

Dark Supplicant has a single activated ability that requires you to tap it and sacrifice three Clerics as the cost. In exchange, you get to search three different zones—your graveyard, your hand, and your library—for a card named Scion of Darkness and place it directly onto the battlefield. This bypasses the mana cost of the Scion, which usually requires six mana to cast normally.

How It Resolves Step by Step

First, you activate the ability by tapping Dark Supplicant and sacrificing three Clerics (Dark Supplicant itself can be one of these three). Second, the ability is put on the stack. Once it resolves, you choose which zones to search; you can look in just your hand, just your graveyard, just your library, or all three. Finally, you put Scion of Darkness onto the battlefield. If you chose to look through your library at all, you must shuffle it afterward.

Common Mistakes

A common mistake is thinking you must search all three zones. You can choose to search only your hand if you know the Scion is there, which avoids the need to shuffle your library. Another error involves the sacrifice cost; remember that the three Clerics are sacrificed simultaneously as a cost, so they are in the graveyard by the time the search begins, making them valid targets for other effects but not for the search itself.

When to Play It

You should play Dark Supplicant when you have a high density of Clerics to fuel its ability. It is particularly effective when combined with cards that benefit from creatures dying or when you want to surprise an opponent by bringing out a 6/6 trampler at instant speed during their end step.

Interaction examples

The Scion Summoning

Scion of Darkness

With three Clerics on the field, you tap Dark Supplicant and sacrifice all three Clerics. You search your library, find Scion of Darkness, and put it onto the battlefield. Because you searched your library, you then shuffle it. You now have a 6/6 with Trample ready to attack on your next turn.

Dying for Value

Blood Artist

If you have Blood Artist on the battlefield when you activate Dark Supplicant's ability, sacrificing the three Clerics will trigger Blood Artist three times. This allows you to drain your opponent for 3 life and gain 3 life while simultaneously searching for your Scion of Darkness.

Mana and Typing

Ornithopter of Paradise

While Ornithopter of Paradise can provide the black mana needed to cast Dark Supplicant, it is an Artifact Creature — Thopter, not a Cleric. Therefore, it cannot be sacrificed as part of the cost for Dark Supplicant's ability, which specifically requires three Clerics.