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Desperate Plea

Desperate Plea

Sorcery — Lesson

rare

As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice a creature. Choose one or both — • Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield if its power is less than or equal to the sacrificed creature's power. • Destroy target creature.

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Semantic Tags

Specifically removes creatures — destroy, exile, damage, or -X/-X.

Emergevector

A keyword ability that lets a player cast a spell for less by sacrificing a creature. See rule 702.119, “Emerge.”

Cares about cards in the graveyard, puts cards into the graveyard, or benefits from things dying.

Returns cards from the graveyard to your hand, the battlefield, or the top of your library.

Power Mattersmechanical

Cares about power of creatures — Fling effects, power-based draw, Xenagos strategies.

Reanimatormechanical

Puts creatures into the graveyard then returns them to the battlefield cheaply.

Removalmechanical

Answers an opponent's threat by destroying, exiling, bouncing, or otherwise removing a permanent or spell.

Broadly benefits from sacrificing permanents — overlaps aristocrats but includes non-creature sacrifice.

Lets you sacrifice your own creatures or permanents for value. Key enabler for aristocrats strategies.

Format Legality

commanderlegal
oathbreakerlegal
modernnot legal
pioneernot legal
standardnot legal
legacylegal
vintagelegal
paupernot legal
historiclegal
explorernot legal
alchemynot legal

Price history

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Printings (2)

SetRarityTCGplayerCard KingdomCardmarket
Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal#103rare···
Avatar: The Last Airbender Eternal#185rare···

Related Rules

702.119

Emerge

702.119a

Emerge represents two static abilities that function while the spell with emerge is on the stack. “Emerge [cost]” means “You may cast this spell by paying [cost] and sacrificing a creature rather than paying its mana cost” and “If you chose to pay this spell’s emerge cost, its total cost is reduced by an amount of generic mana equal to the sacrificed creature’s mana value.” Casting a spell using its emerge ability follows the rules for paying alternative costs in rules 601.2b and 601.2f–h.

702.119b

Emerge from [quality] is a variant of emerge. “Emerge from [quality] [cost]” means “You may cast this spell by paying [cost] and sacrificing a [quality] permanent rather than paying its mana cost” and “If you pay this spell’s emerge cost, its total cost is reduced by an amount of generic mana equal to the sacrificed permanent’s mana value.”

702.119c

You choose which permanent to sacrifice as you choose to pay a spell’s emerge cost (see rule 601.2b), and you sacrifice that permanent as you pay the total cost (see rule 601.2h).

Rulings

2025-10-02

Because you select targets for Desperate Plea before paying its additional cost, the first mode cannot target and return the creature you sacrificed.