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.

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.

• 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.

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.

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 2 of these 3 cards have since been reprinted as Whispers. They will remain in-print from now on, as Whispers cards. The 3rd card, Apocalypse II, will also be reprinted as a Whisper in the near future.

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 like to 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.