Reverse the Sands

Reverse the Sands card image

Reverse the Sands: Sorcery, Commander 2016. Redistribute any number of players' life totals. Printings, prices, and format legality on Mana Grove.

Mana cost
{6}{W}{W}
Mana value
8
Type
Sorcery
Colour identity
White (W)
Rarity
Rare
Set
Commander 2016 (C16)
Released
2016-11-11
Collector number
75
Artist
Jeremy Jarvis
Commander rank
12,406 (by how often it appears in Commander decks)

Build around this card with Grover

About Reverse the Sands

Reverse the Sands is a Magic: The Gathering card, a rare white sorcery from Commander 2016 (C16), a Commander product released in November 2016. It is collector number 75 in that set, with art by Jeremy Jarvis. It costs {6}{W}{W} (six generic and two white mana) to cast, for a mana value of 8. Its colour identity is white. It is legal in Modern, Legacy, Vintage, Commander, Duel Commander, Oathbreaker, PreDH and Penny Dreadful. It has been printed in 2 sets, from Champions of Kamigawa (2004) to Commander 2016 (2016). The latest aggregated market price for this printing is $1.09 (normal finish, as of 2026-11-11).

Card text

Redistribute any number of players' life totals. (Each of those players gets one life total back.)

Worse than the years of aging was the burden of memory. The young monk lost his youth and gained a vicarious lifetime of hardship and woe.

Market price

Latest aggregated market price for the normal finish of this printing: $1.09 (as of 2026-11-11).

The figure covers this printing only; other printings carry their own price on their own page.

Format legality

Legality of Reverse the Sands by format. Formats in which it is not legal are not listed.

ModernLegal
LegacyLegal
VintageLegal
CommanderLegal
Duel CommanderLegal
OathbreakerLegal
PreDHLegal
Penny DreadfulLegal

Other printings of Reverse the Sands

Reverse the Sands has been printed in 2 sets. The other printings are listed newest first, with the rarity and release year of each.

PrintingRarityYear
Champions of Kamigawa (CHK) #41Rare2004

Official rulings

Two official rulings apply to Reverse the Sands, newest first.

  • You can’t split up a life total when you redistribute it. For example, suppose that in a two-player game your life total is 5 and your opponent’s life total is 15 when Reverse the Sands starts to resolve. You can choose to (a) leave the life totals as they are or (b) make your life total 15 and your opponent’s 5. You can’t choose to make your life total 20 and your opponent’s 0.
  • You choose which player gets which life total when the spell resolves.

Similar cards

Other sorcery cards with a white colour identity, ranked by how often they appear in Commander decks.

In these precons

Reverse the Sands is in the decklist of these preconstructed Commander decks.

Explore Mana Grove