Sustaining Spirit
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This printing
SetALL
Collector #18
Released1996-06-10
Rarityrare
ArtistRebecca Guay
LanguageEN
Layoutnormal
ScryfallOpen ↗

Sustaining Spirit

RareReserved listColour IDMV 2
Creature — Angel Spirit
Cumulative upkeep (At the beginning of your upkeep, put an age counter on this permanent, then sacrifice it unless you pay its upkeep cost for each age counter on it.)
Damage that would reduce your life total to less than 1 reduces it to 1 instead.
0 / 3
Keywords
Cumulative upkeep
Card capabilities
Creature
Derived deterministically from card types, Oracle text and keywords. Not a strategic evaluation.
Format legality
Other printings
1 other English printingEarliest 2008-09-22Newest 2008-09-22
Rulings (7)
wotc1 Oct 2008
The second ability is not a prevention effect. It stops unpreventable damage from reducing your life total below 1.
wotc1 Oct 2008
Sustaining Spirit won’t prevent you from losing the game if your life total is 0 or less or some other effect causes you to lose the game.
wotc1 Oct 2008
Paying cumulative upkeep is always optional. If it’s not paid, the permanent with cumulative upkeep is sacrificed. Partial payments of the total cumulative upkeep cost can’t be made. For example, if a permanent with “cumulative upkeep {1}” has three age counters on it when its cumulative upkeep ability triggers, it gets another age counter and then its controller chooses to either pay {4} or sacrifice the permanent.
wotc1 Oct 2008
The ability doesn’t change how much damage is dealt; it just changes how much life that damage makes you lose. An effect such as Spirit Link will see the full amount of damage being dealt.
wotc1 Oct 2008
If an effect asks you to pay life, you can’t pay more life than you have.
wotc1 Oct 2008
The second ability applies only if your life total is being reduced by damage. Other effects or costs (such as “lose 1 life” or “pay 1 life”) can reduce your life total below 1 as normal.