Having haunted the night since the days of Alpha, Vampires are a regular sight in any black deck. Which makes sense, given they're a characteristic creature of the color.

Historically, they've run the gambit across all Mardu colors with an anchor in black . Each different color's Vampires has a difference specialty to reflect their color while retaining the same basic traits.

Black Vampires tend to have flying and sacrifice your own creatures. Red Vampires tend to have madness and deal with Blood tokens. White Vampires most often have lifegain, usually via lifelink.

Vampires across all colors possess flying and +1/+1 counter generation, and a fair few are transformation cards. And while most of them have middling stat lines, particularly for their cost, there are some incredible heavy-hitters among them.

You Have Options With Vampires

In no small part due to their prominence across all of Magic's sets and planes, Vampires have a fantastic range of options available to them.

You'll have large beatsticks that can deal big damage, utility pieces that change the way the game is played, solid commanders, and fearsome planeswalkers.

Vampires can't support every playstyle, though they can do most of them very well. And even if you aren't running a Vampire deck, including even a few will rarely not work out for you. There's even a large overlap with other creature types, like Knights, Clerics, and Demons that can lead to interesting strategies.

That's due to the fact that, while Vampires do support one another, they are quite comfortable as solitary pieces. Many Vampires increase the power and toughness of your other Vampires or can interact with specifically other Vampires, though many others still are agnostic on creature type interactions, such as Bishop of RebirthBishop of Rebirth.

Making More "Vampires"

As befits their folkloric origins, Vampires have multiple ways of inflicting vampire-like traits on other creatures you control. This can manifest in something as simple as converting its creature type to Vampire or something more roundabout.

Mark of the VampireMark of the Vampire, for instance, doesn't actually turn a creature into a Vampire. Just a vampire-like.

There are many ways for this to happen, meaning what in-type support Vampires do have for one another will be able to spread to other creatures. And this also allows for non-Vampire creatures that remain non-Vampires to gain keywords or abilities that help them fit mechanically or narratively into your deck.

Sustain

It's actually quite difficult to remove Vampires.

Their lifegain makes it so that anyone playing Vampires will be around for a while. Vampires are sometimes cheap enough and often numerous enough you can field them faster than your opponents can rush you. Even sacrificing Vampires tends to give you some recursion or benefit from returning them to the field.

Ichor DrinkerIchor Drinker is one such example. It's cheap, it has lifelink, and you can exile it from your graveyard to gain an Incubator token. That means you have a cheap blocker that can gain you some life, act as sacrifice-fodder, and then come back as a small artifact creature.

Relying On Abilities

Many Vampires fail the "vanilla test," which is a benchmark of quality to judge a card's value. It's a quick assessment to see if a card's power and toughness are equal to or greater than its cost.

Timothar, Baron of BatsTimothar, Baron of Bats fails the test as a 4/4. Assuming this card was "vanilla" and had no abilities or keywords, it would need to be a 6/6 to be worth considering in most decks due to its costs.

However, due to its ward and Bat summoning ability, Timothar can be a worthwhile inclusion in Vampire decks despite not passing the test.

Mathas, Fiend SeekerMathas, Fiend Seeker passes the test. As a 3/3, that's equal to the cost of and therefore would be worth considering without its keywords and abilities. But on top of that, Mathas also has menace and its bounty counters, meaning it has additional value atop its stats.

Many Vampires don't make the vanilla test, though they usually have flying, lifelink, or some ability to make up for it. The vanilla test is just a brief, easy way to appraise a card's general value. Failing it doesn't make a card bad, particularly with some of the abilities Vampires have.

But just be aware, many Vampires need a bit of work to see their full potential.

Spread Too Thin?

Though this may be "suffering from success," Vampires aren't particularly focused as a creature type. They're incredibly numerous, meaning there are many fantastic Vampires, but many more that fail to meet the mark.

Vampires from Ixalan focus on white-aligned lifegain and teamwork. Innistrad Vampires tend more towards black and thereby engage in sacrificing and creature destruction.

These differing focuses compliment one another when used in tandem, but Vampires aren't close to a monolith. They are fractured across various sets and planes, with their strategies being idiosyncratic to wherever they find themselves.

You can reliably get a +1/+1 to all of your Vampires almost anywhere, so you at least have cohesion.

Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov

Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov is the second most played commander in the game at the time of this guide's writing.

A 4/4 with first strike and haste who puts a +1/+1 on each of your Vampires after he attacks? That's good. But his eminence ability is why he's one of the most played commanders out there.

Eminence as a keyword means that the ability still is active even if the card it's tied to is in the command zone. That means that whenever you cast another Vampire spell, even if you've never cast Edgar MarkovEdgar Markov in the game, you create a 1/1 black Vampire token.

If you're playing Vampires, that gives you more Vampires. If you're casting Edgar, his haste allows him to attack and strengthen your Vampires. It feeds both into itself as well as into the archetype, which is why it's so commonly played!

Clavileño, First of the BlessedClavileño, First of the Blessed

This commander turns your Vampires into Demon Vampires, which, aside from being cool, also gives them a death trigger to draw a card and create a 4/3 flying Vampire Demon.

This isn't quite as reliant on having a Demon subtheme as you might expect, given card draw is always useful and 4/3 flyers are nice to have. Even in a strictly Vampire deck, this just gives you some extra coverage on flyers and allows for your dead Vampires to get another enter-the-battlefield (ETB) trigger with their Demon.

Strefan, Maurer ProgenitorStrefan, Maurer Progenitor

Strefan, Maurer ProgenitorStrefan, Maurer Progenitor enjoys poking and pinging opponents, which red has in spades. At the end of your turn, create a Blood token for each player who lost life. Including you! So if you ping all of your opponents with a red spell and then spend some life on something black, you're creating four Blood tokens.

Next turn, you can sacrifice two of them to get a free Vampire from your hand tapped and attacking with temporary indestructability. This is the main reason you'll play Strefan, as Blood tokens aren't really useful enough to invest in on their own. They provide card draw at the cost of discarding a card, but both red and black have better ways to access cards than that.

Elenda, the Dusk RoseElenda, the Dusk Rose

Elenda, the Dusk RoseElenda, the Dusk Rose rides a nice line between being required to grow over time and being a threat on her own. She will grow quickly and even provide value when destroyed, even if her initial cost seems a bit steep.

Elenda's largest weakness is being taken out early, as focusing on her before destroying any other creature will allow opponents to stop any +1/+1 counters on her. Luckily, Elenda creates Vampires equal to her power, so there will almost always be at least one. But she'll need some protection, either in the form of white protection or black creature destruction.

After all, she gains counters whenever any other creature dies! Not just yours.

Astarion, the DecadentAstarion, the Decadent

Despite his high cost, Astarion, the DecadentAstarion, the Decadent is flexible enough to make up for it. Boasting both deathtouch and lifelink, he'll scare larger attackers away while being able to get extra value from blocking smaller attackers. Then at your end step, you get to either force an opponent to lose life or you can gain life.

Depending on what your deck is built around, this can be quite oppressive. Soul WardenSoul Warden and a rush of tokens can easily get into the double digits of life gained, not to mention lifelink on your Vampires.

Olivia VoldarenOlivia Voldaren

The ability to convert creatures into Vampires is always fun, as it allows you to slot in some creatures into your Vampire deck that otherwise wouldn't fit the synergies. The fact it makes Olivia VoldarenOlivia Voldaren gain a +1/+1 counter just adds to her strength, primarily due to the fact it helps her not die. If you have the mana to spare, you can cast her and then use her first ability multiple times to pump her stats.

But the fun starts when you convert your opponents' creatures to Vampires and then take control of them. The creature doesn't need to take damage to become a Vampire, meaning Olivia can steal some absolutely heinous creatures that ago were a threat to you.

Elenda and AzorElenda and Azor

Depending on your mana production, Elenda and AzorElenda and Azor can grant you some explosive potential. Not only does it have fair stats with ward to keep it on the field, but you can get scaling card draw. Then after that, you can use the cards you drew to create 1/1 Vampire Knights.

It isn't the most complicated commander, but a solid means of getting card advantage as well as board advantage is rarely a bad thing. And if you have a board wipe or two, you'll find it quick enough and be able to occupy the now empty battlefield.

Master of Dark RitesMaster of Dark Rites

With how expensive many Vampires are and how easy it is to get tokens of them, Master of Dark RitesMaster of Dark Rites is a fantastic inclusion. It's classic black, with short-term gains at the expense of burning through your resources. But that's exactly what Vampires need: a jumpstart to help them fill out their board and set up their plans.

Malakir BloodwitchMalakir Bloodwitch

A great way to drain the life of your opponents and keep yourself alive, this is made even more powerful if you have the ability to bring it back from the graveyard. With flickering and recursion, you could set Malakir BloodwitchMalakir Bloodwitch up to win you the game. Though that would take quite a few spells and many Vampires.

Still, even just dropping it down when you have a handful of Vampires will give you a vitality boost and a deceptively durable blocker.

Blood ArtistBlood Artist

Your Vampires are going to die a lot, usually self-inflicted by sacrifice effects. Therefore, draining opponents' life while healing yourself is just an efficient use of your time. Blood ArtistBlood Artist is cheap and convenient to just throw down behind a wall of Vampires, though it's likely going to be targeted quite quickly.

It's a part of multiple three-card infinite combos, meaning cautious players might not allow it to stay out for long.

Blood FountainBlood Fountain

Blood FountainBlood Fountain is a cheap, disposable artifact meant to assist Rakdos decks to build up their Blood token supply and ensure the value of their creatures. It's a useful boost to decks that care about Blood tokens and the ability to return some creature cards to your hand is quite nice.

It won't win games, but it has its place.

Glass-Cast HeartGlass-Cast Heart

Creating even more Blood tokens, Glass-Cast HeartGlass-Cast Heart actually gives you something to do with all this blood. While it does allow you to create tokens with lifelink, which, due to requiring tapping, is a bit slow but not unwelcome, its main feature is its third ability.

Will you regularly achieve thirteen or more Blood tokens? Probably not, unless your deck is built around them. And even then, thirteen life is good but needs support to finish the job. That being said, as a late-game strike or in a deck already generating many Blood tokens, this gives some minor token generation and an explosive finish in your back pocket.

Blade of the BloodchiefBlade of the Bloodchief

Blade of the BloodchiefBlade of the Bloodchief is good on non-Vampires, but even better on Vampires, allowing continuous growth on specific creatures you control. It's cheap enough you can swap it around easily, meaning you can either invest heavily in a single striker or divide the growth between multiple different Vampires..

With how many creatures will be dying, the counters will add up faster than you'd think. Particularly when you start sacrificing your own.

Sanguine BondSanguine Bond

Vampires have so many ways of gaining life that Sanguine BondSanguine Bond just adds some punch to what you're already good at. Many Vampires even already drain opponents while gaining life. This just enhances that further, ensuring you're an active participant in the match.

Also, it makes a two-card combo with cards that gain you life when opponents lose life, like Exquisite BloodExquisite Blood.

Stensia MasqueradeStensia Masquerade

Giving your creatures first strike is good; your Vampires gaining +1/+1 counters upon dealing damage to an opponent is great! Stensia MasqueradeStensia Masquerade gives you some nice buffs, with the added benefit that you can cast it when it gets discarded.

First strike and deathtouch is an evergreen combo, meaning some Vampires will be even better fits for this enchantment than others. And if you have any support for +1/+1 counters on your Vampires, this also feeds into that further.

March of the CanonizedMarch of the Canonized

Spawning in a mass of tokens gives great potential for explosive damage or life gain, alongside the fact the tokens created by March of the CanonizedMarch of the Canonized have lifelink. The Vampire Demons don't, though a passive creation of a flying 4/3 each turn isn't bad by any means.

This card supports a more aggressive, assertive style of play. Vampires like draining, pinging, and building before striking, whereas this card is played before a rushdown. It might not be at the end of the game, but it's certainly not something to play and let the moment pass.

New BloodNew Blood

Another means of converting creatures into Vampires, just in a different way than the rest. New BloodNew Blood gains control of a creature and replaces all instances of one creature type with "Vampire."

It's not the same as just making a creature into a Vampire, as it also impacts what abilities they have, leading to some incredibly powerful interactions if used on the right creature.

Crackling DoomCrackling Doom

Crackling DoomCrackling Doom is an effective ping of damage whose primary value comes from forcing each opponent to sacrifice their most powerful creatures. Vampires innately don't have many ways to deal with threats they aren't more powerful than, outside of those with deathtouch. And even then, many Vampires have flying and may be unable to take out a cautious player's biggest creature.

The ability to remove the biggest threats your opponents have available frees you up to either counterattack or continue building your forces to hide behind while draining your opponents.

Ruinous UltimatumRuinous Ultimatum

An expensive, simple one-sided board wipe. Ruinous UltimatumRuinous Ultimatum is devastating if not countered, and you'll be set up in a strong position after playing it not simply due to clearing the opponents' boards.

Playing Vampires, you'll have both numbers and strength. You may not have the ability to finish off every opponent, depending on when you play the Ultimatum. However, you can consistently remove one or even two players should you have a developed board state. That means it will be one or two players rebuilding their board as your tokens with +1/+1 counters, flying, and/or lifelink prepare for another attack.

Sorin, Imperious BloodlordSorin, Imperious Bloodlord

Sorin has many cards depicting him as a planeswalker, but Sorin, Imperious BloodlordSorin, Imperious Bloodlord is useful in a facilitative sense. Its first ability not only grants temporary deathtouch and lifelink to a creature, but also gives it a +1/+1 counter if it's a Vampire. And sacrificing a Vampire to deal three damage to any target and gain three life isn't bad either, considering the benefits you can get from death triggers and recursion.

Being able to play a Vampire for free is the kicker, though. Vampires are generally expensive, and black's mana production isn't very sustainable. Neither is red's or even white's.

Sorin, Lord of InnistradSorin, Lord of Innistrad

Creating lifelink Vampires with an emblem that's a flat +1/+0 are both good. Neither are gamebreaking, but neither are going to hurt you, either. Being able to destroy up to three target creatures and potentially gain control of them is nice, but it's fairly expensive what Sorin, Lord of InnistradSorin, Lord of Innistrad can achieve.

This incarnation of Sorin is most valuable as just a token generator, with the ticking clock of destroying your opponents' creatures pressuring them to devote resources to taking him out. Vampires don't quite swarm, though they do hunt in packs, so any bit helps.

Sorin, Grim NemesisSorin, Grim Nemesis

Sorin, Grim NemesisSorin, Grim Nemesis gives you some free, revealed card draw that also drains life from your opponents based on its mana cost. And based on the cost of some of your Vampires, that's not something to ignore!

This Sorin can then deal however much damage you need to a creature or planeswalker and get you some life or spam the field with as many creatures as your opponents have life. Potentially even more than that, assuming you'd been gaining life yourself.

Accursed DuneyardAccursed Duneyard

The ability to regenerate your Vampires can be incredibly powerful, particularly considering how much Vampires enjoy +1/+1 counters. Accursed DuneyardAccursed Duneyard should only be used on your most important Vampires, as black has enough means of returning creatures from the graveyard and white has enough ETB effects that most other Vampires simply aren't worth the trouble.

Vault of the ArchangelVault of the Archangel

Vault of the ArchangelVault of the Archangel is another example of a land reinforcing what Vampires are good at, rather than adding a new mechanic. Some of them have deathtouch while many have lifelink. This means that, outside of being thematic, adding these keywords to other Vampires that don't have them will allow them to engage with in-type support.

Plenty of Vampires already give benefits from gaining life, meaning granting lifelink to one that doesn't already have it will perpetuate the Vampire strategy further.

Vampires are mid-range creatures that are good in numbers, clusters, and when supported by external spells. A lot of Vampire tactics will involve sustaining themselves by doing drain damage, gaining life, and building up a force of +1/+1 boosted tokens.

However, most Vampires have an end goal of just poking at their opponents until they keel over.

The tokens and +1/+1 counters, even with how many flying Vampires there are, just don't compare to how much support there is for ability-oriented methods of taking down your opponents. They can still absolutely win via traditional swinging for direct attacks, but that's not the Vampire's preferred strategy.

Astarion, the DecadentAstarion, the Decadent is an example of how you can turn life gain into life loss, which is not hard to get into lethal or near-lethal levels. Vampires excel at doing direct life loss to your opponents while gaining life for a long enough time that they just outlast everyone.

Vampires have a few 2-3 card combos, whose validity and efficacy will change dependent on which Bracket you're playing in.

Something like Sanguine BondSanguine Bond/Exquisite BloodExquisite Blood requires a single point of life to be gained or lost and suddenly you win the game. Combos oriented around Blood ArtistBlood Artist tend to take more cards that involve destroying a creature that can freely come back or come back at the cost of life, which is regained by Blood ArtistBlood Artist.

Then, of course, there's winning via stampeding your opponents with an army of flying tokens saddled with lifelink and +1/+1 counters, though that feels a bit improper to classify as an alternate win condition to their normal strategy. It is viable, though!