The best vampire commander in MTG (2023)

Vampires, traditionally associated with the dark arts, are one of the most popular types of creatures in the world.Magic: GatheringGenerally characterized by the ability to drain the life of other players, vampires appear on the Magic set in various forms, from the black and red Rakdos vampires of Innistrad toConqueror Orzhov white/blackwith Ixalan

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Along with the presence of vampires in Magic for the most part, powerful legendary vampires have also left their mark. Legendary creatures are very popular due to their obvious potential to lead Commander decks. Let's take a look at the most powerful legendary vampires in the history of magic.

Updated May 16, 2023 by Chris Stomberg:Vampires are one of the oldest creature types in all magic, and Senjir Vampire was the first Vampire card to be consistently printed in alpha. The popularity of vampires in the fantasy canon has led to a lot of vampires in print over the years, and there's no sign of that ending anytime soon. New vampires are printed with almost every issue, so it's no surprise that many large and powerful vampires are regularly added to this list. With that said, let's take a look at what the latest series has brought.

22 Timothy, bat baron

A card appearing in the decks of the commander of the Crimson Oath, Timothar, Batbaron, invokes the iconic transformation of a vampire into a bat. Timothar is a 6-mana mono-black vampire that is a 4/4 creature with knockback protection cost, making it very difficult for opponents to take him out.

Whenever a non-token vampire dies under your control, you may pay 1 mana to create a 1/1 bat token with flying that banishes that vampire. Whenever one of these bat tokens deals combat damage, it is sacrificed in exchange for returning the exiled vampire to play. This makes dealing with player Timothar's vampires a permanent headache, as instead of dying, they effectively transform into bats.

21 Felisa, Silverfeather's Fang

Released with Strixhaven, Felisa as part of Silverquill's Commander pre-built deck, Fang of Silverquill is a Legendary Vampire that uses +1/+1 counters.

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Orzhov 3/2 (Black/White) with a flying mentor and four mana, whenever another creature you control dies, you create a number equal to 2/1 of the number of +1/+1 counters on that creature Flying Inkling creature tokens Mentor's ability Felisa allows her to place tokens on other creatures and is a solid commander option for those who want to play Noble decks that use tokens.

20 Werner, The Butcher of Magan

Orzhov are generally known for their powerful options.while movingVona, Butcher of Magan is a legendary vampire who embodies this feeling.

At 4/4 of 5 mana with Vigilance and Lifebond, Werner can touch himself for 7 lives, destroying every non-land permanent. Because this ability can be triggered every turn, Vona can remove a lot of troublesome permanents. Because it combines alertness and the bond of life, it can also help mitigate the health reward required.

19 Anowon, Sage of the Ruins

A solid five-mana black vampire, Anowon the Ruin Mage provides a universal effect that deals damage to most players but has little effect on vampire players.

This is because each player sacrifices a non-vampire creature at the start of an Anowon controller upkeep. While this is a disadvantage for many decks, especially those with a small number of creatures, Anowon controllers usually only control vampires.

18 Cormela, the charm thief

Unlike many of the vampires on this list, Cormela is not a tactical vampire. Instead, it is combined with instant decks and Grixis spells (blue/black/red) for extra mana.

It produces three mana per turn, and Cormela's access to the haste keyword allows her to deliver it the same turn she is debuffed as long as you have extra general mana. It should be noted that Cormela gives you an extra 2 mana per turn as it costs 1 normal mana to activate, but it's still a great bonus.

The icing on the cake is that it allows you to return an instant or spell from your graveyard to your hand if your opponent chooses to remove it, so you'll probably get value here anyway. This is what we expect from Magic.

17 Angie Falkenrath

Released in Commander 2019, Anje Falkenrath is the perfect commander for those who want to play with crazy decks. Insanity is a unique mechanic that allows you to use spells as you cast them, usually at a discounted price.

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Angie isinexpensive rakdo(Red/Black) Three Charge Leader, who draws cards by touching and discarding them. Then, if the discarded card has Insanity, Anje will reset even if the card was not cast. This allows Anje to reliably remove unwanted and dead cards from her hand and replace them with new drawn cards.

sixteen Masshas The Sorcerer

Mathas, the Fiend Seeker is a legendary Mardu vampire with three mana (black/red/white), perfect for commanders who like to play political games.

Threatening 3/3, You may place a bounty token on any creature during your end step. When a creature dies, all players except its controller gain 2 life and draw a card. This allows the Mathas controller to encourage other players to use their removal spells while conserving resources, allowing for interesting and unique political negotiations at the commander's table.

15 Drana, Malakir's savior

Drana is easier to cast than most of the vampires on this list, requires only two blacks, and has amazing aggressive effects. Giving +1/+1 counters to the entire board can quickly get out of hand, especially if there are three or more creatures on the board.

Drana's counters also apply to herself, making her a formidable character even in the worst case when she's the only creature on your side of the battlefield. Finally, the combination of flight and first strike makes Delany's blocking a sore point for opponents.

First, flying creatures typically don't have much durability, so opponents often have to spend money removing this relatively cheap creature. In other words, Drana is perfect for paving the way for the bigger, worse vampires on this list.

14 Evelyn Codiciosa

Grixis part (black, blue and red) Masters of the Streets of New Capenna, Evelyn, Covetous is a creature that, thanks to its many colors, gives a unique character to the vampire archetype. For a 2/5 flash for 5 mana, whenever Evelyn or another of your Vampires enters the battlefield, exile the top card of each player's library with a collection token.

Since Evelyn allows you to land and cast spells from these exiled cards, the minion effectively turns each vampire cast into a different form of card advantage, the power of which scales based on the number of players in the game. This makes Evelyn a very underrated vampire commander and allows you to use vampires to steal spells from your opponents.

13 longing, painter

Another Grixis vampire printed as part of the Masters faction, Longing for the Painter is the title of the Masters Massacre Commander pre-built deck. A powerful death touch for 1/3 and 3 mana, the Longing skill may not work well with other vampires, but it can provide you with considerable value.

This is because the first instant or spell you cast has a loss of 2, meaning you can sacrifice a creature with a power of 2 or higher when you cast it, doubling it in the process.

The Longing effect allows you to faithfully recreate the most influential spells in the game as long as you have creatures at your disposal, this is a great option for those who want to play noble spellcasting decks.

12 Anowan, Ruin Robber

This is the second iteration of the Anowan character. While Anowan, Ruin Thief is a vampire, this card is the main commander of the Dimir (blue and black) thieves deck. For four mana, this rogue vampire grants +1/+1 to each rogue on his controller while crushing enemies for their damage.

When creatures are ground this way, Anowan will also draw cards for you. Since rogues dodge a lot, Anowan can easily turn the damage of these unstoppable minions into a card advantage.

11 Verac, Cursed Senjir

Inscribed in Valak's United Dominion, Sen'jir Twisted is a highly effective Orzhov vampire who can make many of your already powerful activations even more powerful. A respectable 2/2 with triple mana flying, deathtouch, and lifelink, Verrak's ability says that if you pay life to activate an ability, you pay double life to double that ability.

There are a lot of great cards with useful activation abilities that cost you your life, like the aforementioned Vona and the ever-good Yawgmoth, Thran Physician. However, one of Verrak's most notable feats is his ability to double the value of each of the quest lands, as these lands require you to pay a life to search the library to place them.

10 henryka domnati

Henrika may not be the most brilliant or powerful vampire on this list, but since one of her three abilities triggers at the start of combat on your turn, she provides a fairly consistent value. Unless an opponent prevents immediate removal, Henrik is immediately replaced by drawing a card, or acts as a removal, forcing the opponent to sacrifice the creature.

At best, Henrika can do both, then transform into a rather large flying creature combining life with deathtouch, absorbing mana to buff herself and potentially buff you on the battlefield of other creatures on this side. That's a lot of action for four mana.

9 Lord Xander, Collector

Lord Xander the Collector, while he can consume a lot of mana, is an extremely powerful Grixis vampire, capable of draining his opponents of their resources in three different ways.

First, when this seven-man vampire enters the battlefield, you can make your opponent discard half of their hand immediately, rounding down, removing a few potentials they may have in your game plan.

Second, whenever Lord Xander attacks, he removes the top half of the defending player's library, placing it on a rapidly declining clock to avoid losing the mill. Finally, let's say that the opponent decides to eliminate Lord Xander. This can be costly because when the creature dies, the targeted opponent sacrifices half of their non-land permanents, acting as a small one-sided wiper.

8 Yahenni, the festival of the living dead

Yahenni, Undying Partisan is a low-budget, aggressive, pure black Aetherborn vampire from Aether Revolt. Yahenni costs three mana, has haste 2/2, and gains a +1/+1 counter whenever a creature under the opponent's control dies.

Combined with a large number of removal spells, Yahenni can grow quite quickly. Yahenni can also be combined with auto-repeat creatures and creatures with powerful kill triggers, as at the cost of creating Yahenni can grant herself invulnerability.

7 Olivia the Scarlet Bride

Bride in Innistrad Key Wedding: Crimson Vow, Olivia, Crimson Bride is a powerful Rakdos vampire capable of reviving your grave creatures.

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3/4 of 6 mana, whenever Olivia attacks, you may place any creature in your graveyard directly onto the battlefield, touch it, and attack it. Olivia's repeating minion would be banished if its owner didn't control a legendary vampire, but this card is a great way to repeat a lot of cards from the graveyard, potentially undermining the high mana cost and cheating. Amazing creatures come into play.

6 Olivia Waldalen

From her first impression in Innistrad, Olivia Voldaren has been one of Magic's most iconic legendary vampires. A 3/3 vampire that flies for four mana, Olivia can damage any target creature once for two mana, turning that creature into a vampire and putting Olivia a +1/+1 counter.

Additionally, Olivia may spend 5 mana to control any target vampire. Between these two abilities, Olivia is able to steal many powerful creatures from her opponents.

5 Vito, Twilight Rose's Thorn

In the 2021 Vito core set, Thorn of the Dusk Rose was a vampire with remarkable synergy with vampire and non-vampire creatures.

1/3 for three mana, Vito is a solid black vampire who loses so much life to the target player every time you gain life. Since many vampires have the ability to restore life, Vito can deal significant damage. It also chains Exquisite Blood, which grants an amount of health equal to the amount lost by the opponent.

Even in situations where you have little or no life sources, Vito can provide a lifeline to all creatures under your control at a cost of five mana.

4 Elenda, the Evening Rose

Elenda, Twilight Rose is a legendary figure in Ixalan and Ixalan's Nemesis, and is the amazing vampire of the four Feorzhov. 1/1 with lifelink, and every time another creature dies, you put a +1/+1 counter on Elend, making her a significant threat.

Additionally, when Elenda dies, a number of 1/1 Vampire tokens equal to her strength and life chain appear, allowing her full power to spread out. If she didn't get a quick response, Elenda would surely cause trouble for her opponent.

3 Kalitas, the ghetto traitor

Kalitas, the Betrayer of the Ghetu is a versatile Legendary Vampire capable of amassing a lot of in-game value. DOWNpure blackKalitas 3/4 with 4 mana lifelink, banishes all non-token creatures upon death, then immediately creates a 2/2 Zombie token.

This makes graveyard-based strategies much harder and helps put large numbers on one side of the battlefield. If someone tries to buff Kalitas at the cost of three mana, you may sacrifice a vampire or zombie to put two +1/+1 counters on Kalitas.