What it does
Vanishing puts a number of time counters on a permanent as it enters (Vanishing N enters with N counters). At the beginning of each of your upkeeps, remove one counter. When the last one is removed—when it has zero counters—you sacrifice the permanent. It's essentially a self-destructing timer baked into the card's cost reduction or power level.
The nuance people miss: the permanent is sacrificed when the last counter is removed, not simply when it has zero counters. So if a Vanishing permanent enters with zero counters (or you somehow strip them), it isn't sacrificed automatically, because no counter was removed to trigger it. Also, Vanishing isn't "exile" or phasing—it leaves normally via sacrifice, so it triggers death/dies abilities.
In Commander, Vanishing rewards you for using a powerful effect quickly, then pairs beautifully with proliferate or counter-doublers to extend the clock, or with sacrifice/blink synergies to cash in the permanent before it vanishes.
Iconic cards with Vanishing
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