Collecting Cards
Learning the Cards
Where can I see a complete card list?
Where can I find articles that teach Sanctum strategy
and tactics?
Collecting the Cards
How many Sanctum cards exist now?
Which Sanctum card sets have been released?
What rarity levels does Sanctum have?
Advanced Collecting
Very Rares
Whispers: Bonus Cards
OOPs: Out of Print Cards
NIPs: Never in Print Cards
Archives
A Brief History of OOPs
Learning the Cards
Where can I see a complete card
list? A complete list of all the cards is available at cards.
(Equivalently, you can click on the world
link in the menu bar along the left edge of this page, then click the All
the Spells link.)
Where can I find articles that
teach Sanctum strategy and tactics? This site features all of the
Ngozi's Way strategy columns by Ian
Schreiber. (You can also find this link on the world
page.) These articles:
- Teach many of the fundamental ideas for good competitive play
- Introduce the major strategies that most houses can use
- Present many fresh deck ideas
You can also find numerous other articles at the following resources:
- NIOGA Forums
- Sanctum-Discuss mailing list archives
- Other player-run Sanctum sites
Collecting the Cards
How many Sanctum cards exist now?
There are 514 cards in Sanctum as of July 19, 2003, the day of Sanctum:
Revolutions release.
Which Sanctum card sets have
been released? Sanctum comprises 4 full card sets to date,
not counting the Whispers partial set. A 5th card
set is currently in final Beta test, and will be shipped in an upcoming Service
Pack for 1.70!
Set
|
Date
|
Version
|
Company
|
Classic
|
July 1998
|
1.00
|
Digital Addiction
|
Bloodlines
|
Dec 1998
|
1.10
|
Digital Addiction
|
Oppositions
|
May 1999
|
1.22
|
Digital Addiction
|
Whispers
|
Revolutions
|
July 2003
|
1.50
|
NIOGA
|
|
Spring 2009
|
1.70 SPx
|
NIOGA
|
What rarity levels does Sanctum
have? Sanctum has 4 levels of rarity for normal cards, plus
3 more levels of special rarity. The following table shows how many cards
of each rarity exist in each card set.
Set
|
Rarity
|
Special
|
Total
|
V
|
R
|
U
|
C
|
W
|
O
|
N
|
Classic
|
2
|
55
|
76
|
85
|
|
3
|
2
|
223
|
Bloodlines
|
2
|
14
|
20
|
24
|
|
|
|
60
|
Oppositions
|
5
|
31
|
23
|
26
|
|
|
|
85
|
Revolutions
|
5
|
43
|
43
|
36
|
|
|
1
|
128
|
Whispers
|
|
|
|
|
17
|
|
1
|
18
|
- Common: Commons make up about 2/3 of all cards.
- Uncommon: There's approximately 1 Uncommon
per 2 Commons.
- Rare: Each booster pack has 1 Rare (or Very Rare).
- Very Rare: There's 1 Very Rare per 19 Rares.
(That is, 1 in 20 packs will have a Very Rare instead of a Rare.)
For a list of all Very Rares in Sanctum, go here.
Advanced Collecting
Very Rares. Sanctum
has always had Very Rare cards, at a ratio of 1 Very Rare to 19 Rares. As of
Sanctum: Revolutions release, NIOGA has made this information public,
to enable players to make more informed decisions when trading.
These are all of the Very Rare cards in Sanctum.
Classic
|
Bloodlines
|
Oppositions
|
Revolutions
|
Dracha's Trade
|
Chalice of Hope
|
Phantom
|
Day of the Dead
|
Pages to Dust
|
Renegades
|
Questing Beast
|
Juggernaut
|
|
|
Revelers
|
Maelstrom
|
|
|
Tornado
|
Narh'u'ha
|
|
|
Volgaris
|
Spirit Binding
|
Note: Very Rares are still displayed as Rare
in the card list.
Whispers: Bonus Cards.
When Sanctum: Oppositions was released in May 2000, it also included
additional cards from a special bonus set called Whispers. Whispers is
not yet a complete expansion set, as it has only a small number of cards. Whispers
may yet be expanded to become a full set in the future.
- Whispers cards are randomly inserted into Classic, Bloodlines,
and Oppositions packs.
- Roughly 1 pack in 16 will have 1 Whispers card. (Hence, Whispers
are comparable to Very Rares.)
- It's a bonus. The Whispers card is in addition to the pack's
usual cards. It doesn't replace any card.
- Current Whisper. At any given moment, there may be one current
Whisper. All purchases during this period that qualify for a Whisper
will receive the current Whisper. The current Whisper typically rotates after
several weeks.
- Random Whisper. Alternatively, the current Whisper may
be set to random. In this case, all Whispers are eligible, and are equally
likely.
Whispers cards are fully playable in all games. They have various in-game effects,
ranging from whimsical to powerful.
House
|
Whispers
|
House
|
Whispers
|
Abomination
|
Doppelganger
|
Life
|
Seelie Court
|
Body
|
Cessao Spiral
|
Making
|
Fuligin
|
Death
|
Pyre
|
Mind
|
Firewalking
|
Despair
|
Ice Age, Oblivion, Bleak Isle II
|
Nature
|
Syzygy
|
Hope
|
Shield of Vela, Sword of Zana II
|
Unmaking
|
Gatemouth, Zurzavar
|
Justice
|
Destiny Manifest
|
War
|
Lava Flow
|
Note: Whispers are still displayed as Rare
in the card list,
and as Very Rare in DeckBuilder.
OOPs: Out of Print Cards.
An out of print card, or OOP, is a card that has been removed from
production. These cards are no longer printed. They remain in circulation, and
can still be traded and used in all games.
Sanctum has 3 OOPs from the Classic set.
- Classic: Apocalypse (Death), Bleak Isle (Despair), Sword of Zana
(Hope).
Note that all 3 of these cards have since been reprinted
as Whispers. They will remain in-print from now on, as Whispers cards.
Note: OOPs are still displayed as Rare
in the card list, and as Very Rare
in DeckBuilder.
NIPs: Never in Print
Cards. A never in print card is a special promotional
card that was never released for regular sales. NIPs are valid for trading,
and may be used in all games.
There have been two kinds of NIPs.
Beta Test reward cards. These cards are given as rewards to players
who have contributed to a Sanctum Beta Test. Each expansion set has its own
reward card (except Bloodlines). NIOGA's policy is that these cards shall
be available only through Beta testing.
- Classic: Elven Piper (Life).
- Oppositions: Organ Grinder (Abomination). Note that this card
is considered to be an Oppositions NIP, despite being part of the Whispers
card set.
- Revolutions: War Drums (War).
You can still obtain any of these cards in future Beta tests, even Elven
Piper. Older Beta reward cards require a greater contribution in testing.
Since these cards have no in-game effect other than to play some music, we
call them noisemakers.
Special promotion cards. These cards have various origins.
- Classic: Water Walking (Body). This card was first released as
a special holiday promotion for Christmas 1998. More recently, it has appeared
briefly as the current Whisper (even though it's a Classic card). It
will likely be handled similarly to a Whisper in the future.
- Whisper: Ice Age (Despair). This card was held out of the first
rotation of Whispers. More recently, it has been added to the normal rotation
of current Whispers. It is now handled just like the other Whispers.
Note: NIPs are still displayed as Rare
in the card list, and as Very Rare
in DeckBuilder.
Archives
A Brief History of OOPs.
1998:
- Sanctum: Classic is released. Sword of Zana is an Uncommon. Apocalypse
and Bleak Isle are Very Rare.
- It is discovered that all 3 of these cards tend to prolong game length
and make games less fun.
- Each of these 3 cards can be defeated over-the-board by using
specific defensive tactics.
- However, these very tactics tend to be time-consuming and tedious.
- Soon thereafter, Sword of Zana is changed to Rare.
- Later, the decision is made to OOP these cards, that is, to withdraw
them from production.
- These cards remain in circulation, and are still legal for all game play.
June 8, 2001:
- NIOGA announces that the OOPs will be reprinted as Whispers, with distinct
borders.
- Version equivalence. Each deck may contain
up to 4
total of each OOP or its reprint, in any combination.
August 21 October 14, 2001 and January 16 February
21, 2002:
- Sword of Zana II becomes the current Whisper.
February 21 May, 2002:
- Bleak Isle II becomes the current Whisper.
August October, 2005:
- Apocalypse II becomes the current Whisper.
October, 2005 present:
- All Whispers are randomly generated, with uniform distribution.
v2.20.00 Last updated 2009/03/21
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