First printed in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths (2020)
Enchantment
Whenever you cycle a card, you may pay . When you do, exile target artifact or creature you control, then return it to the battlefield under its owner's control.
Sanctuaries harnessed the glowstones' natural reaction to monsters to create a warning system.
- Illustrated by
- Deruchenko Alexander
Legality
- Legal in
- Pioneer, Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Historic, Timeless, Penny Dreadful, Gladiator, Commander, Duel Commander, Tiny Leaders, Oathbreaker, Brawl, Competitive Brawl
- Not legal in
- Standard, Pauper, Future Standard, Alchemy, Premodern, Old School 93/94, Pauper Commander, PreDH, Standard Brawl
Rulings (7)
- When the card returns to the battlefield, it will be a new object with no connection to the card that was exiled. Auras attached to the exiled permanent will be put into their owners’ graveyards. Any Equipment will become unattached and remain on the battlefield. Any counters on the exiled permanent will cease to exist.
- While resolving Escape Protocol’s triggered ability, you can’t pay
multiple times to exile multiple permanents you control.
- Escape Protocol’s triggered ability goes on the stack without a target. While that ability is resolving, you may pay
. If you do, a second ability triggers and you pick a target artifact or creature you control. This is different from abilities that say “If you do . . .” in that players may cast spells and activate abilities after mana is paid but before the target changes zones.
- Some cards with cycling have an ability that triggers when you cycle them, and some cards have an ability that triggers whenever you cycle any card. These triggered abilities resolve before you draw from the cycling ability.
- You can cycle a card even if it has a triggered ability from cycling that won’t have a legal target. This is because the cycling ability and the triggered ability are separate. This also means that if either ability is countered (with Disallow, for example), the other ability will still resolve.
- Triggered abilities from cycling a card and the cycling ability itself aren’t spells. Effects that interact with spells (such as that of Cancel) won’t affect them.
- If a token is exiled this way, it will cease to exist and won’t return to the battlefield.
Prices
MTGO price: 0.003 TIX, the cheapest non-foil print (average sell price on GoatBots, 29 Oct 2026).
Combos
129 combos, the most popular first:
- Infinite card draw, Infinite self-discard triggers…: Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + New Perspectives + Vizier of Tumbling Sands
- Infinite card draw, Near-infinite creature ETB…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fetid Pools + Fluctuator
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Irrigated Farmland
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Scattered Groves
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Slippery Karst
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Remote Isle
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Polluted Mire
- Infinite card draw, Near-infinite creature ETB…: Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator + Surly Badgersaur (+ 1 other requirement)
- Infinite black mana, Infinite card draw…: Bone Miser + Drifting Meadow + Escape Protocol + Eternal Witness + Fluctuator