Edgar Markov has been the king of Vampire Commander decks for a long time. Not even Crimson Vow, a dedicated Vampire set, could produce a worthy rival for the elder Vampire. But surprisingly, Streets of New Capenna has quite a few Vampires in the set including Evelyn, the Covetous, who may finally give Edgar a run for his money.
Evelyn, the Covetous
Evelyn has different motives than Edgar. She’s a collector. And her collection is mostly comprised of your opponents’ cards.
“Whenever Evelyn or another Vampire enters the battlefield under your control, exile the top card of each player’s library with a collection counter on it.” You can trigger this ability many times in a single turn, getting rid of opposing combo pieces for good.
But Evelyn gets really nasty when she starts using your opponents’ cards against them, as once each turn (including your during your opponents’ turns) you can play a card with a collection counter.
These abilities make Evelyn a value-oriented commander who excels in games of attrition.
Evelyn vs Edgar?
Up until New Capenna, the go-to Vampire commander was Edgar Markov. Because of his eminence ability, Edgar didn’t have to be on the battlefield to be useful. Instead, you could leave him in the Command Zone and create hordes of Vampire tokens.
Edgar is, of course, still an amazing Vampire commander. But now that Evelyn made her debut, is he still the best?
It is a little difficult to say whether Evelyn or Edgar makes the better Commander. While each is a dedicated Vampire deck, they each have fundamentally different strategies.
An Edgar Markov deck has a more aggressive angle of attack which swarms the battlefield with Vampires and attacks.
On the other hand, Evelyn, the Covetous, is a grindy deck that aims to generate consistent card advantage.
It’s up to you which playstyle you’re more interested in and which color combination you prefer.
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Vampires to Fuel Evelyn’s Ability
Some Vampires are better than others when it comes to triggering Evelyn’s ability. There are plenty of efficient and repeatable ways to add to Evelyn’s collection.
If you exile enough cards off the top of your opponents’ libraries, you may even assemble full infinite combos.
One-Mana Vampires
Regardless of what Vampire you play, Evelyn exiles one card off the top of each player’s library. Even one-mana Vampires will do the trick. You can’t play all of the “collected” cards in one turn, but you can eventually play all of them. In a way, Evelyn’s ability is like a pseudo-draw-four. Triggering this with efficient one-mana Vampires is an absurd rate for the card advantage you gain.
Generating Vampire Tokens
Vampire tokens will trigger Evelyn’s ability too! Consistent token generators like Bloodline Keeper, Sorin the Mirthless, and Glass-Cast Heart can repeatedly trigger Evelyn over many turns.
Recursive Vampires
Vampires that can return themselves from the graveyard to the battlefield can also repeatedly trigger Evelyn.
With Bloodghast, your lands can effectively trigger Evelyn. And if you include life gain or Blood token subthemes in your deck, Silversmote Ghoul and Falkenrath Forebear can pull off similar tricks.
Of course, you’ll need a sacrifice outlet to abuse these cards each turn. There are many to choose from, but Viscera Seer is excellent in this deck because it is another one-mana Vampire.
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More Vampires for Evelyn, the Covetous
Vampires have a longstanding history in Magic: the Gathering with a catalog of cards that are at their best in a Vampire tribal deck such as Evelyn, the Covetous.
Captivating Vampire
While Evelyn steals cards from your opponents’ libraries, Captivating Vampire can steal their creatures on the battlefield. And this isn’t a temporary Threaten-style of effect. What Captivating Vampire takes, he takes for good.
Captivating Vampire
This is the Vampire version of Dark Confidant. Except, Twilight Prophet is actually much better than Confidant in Commander.
Whereas Confidant deals you damage to draw an extra card, Twilight Prophet directs that damage at your opponents. You even gain life with Twilight Prophet, which could tie into potential life gain synergies that are common on Vampire cards.
Vito’s Life Gain Infinite Combo
Because Vampires drain the blood of their victims, many of MTG’s Vampire cards reflect this mechanically by draining your opponents’ life totals.
If you choose to play a life-draining subtheme in your Evelyn deck, then you have to include Vito and Exquisite Blood. Together, they create an infinite damage combo.
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Tribal Boons
Magic has many cards that reward you for playing a solitary creature type, such as Vampires.
Every Vampire you cast while Reflection of Littjara comes with a friend, giving you twice the number of Eveyln triggers. Patriarch’s Bidding can return all your Vampires from your graveyard to the battlefield to recover after a board wipe. And speaking of board wipes, Kindred Dominance will clear the field, sparing only your Vampires.
Kindred Discovery turns every Vampire you play into card advantage. Herald’s Horn is another form of card advantage whild discoutning your Vampires. And Pyre of Heroes is the tribal Birthing Pod which can trade your Vampires in for more expensive ones from your deck.
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Scion of Opulence INFINITE COMBO
This is like the Vampire version of Pitiless Plunderer, which is widely known as a combo enabler in Commander. Scion of Opulence can pull off some similar tricks and it even costs one less mana than Plunderer and has an additional relevant ability.
Here’s what you need to deal infinite damage, gain infinite life, and make infinite generic mana with Scion of Opulence:
- Sacrifice Oathsworn Vampire with Ashnod’s Altar to add two mana to your mana pool.
- Blood Artist triggers. An opponent loses 1 life and you will gain 1 life.
- Scion of Opulence triggers. You create one Treasure token.
- Using the Treasure token and mana from Ashnod’s Altar, cast Oathsworn Vampire from your graveyard.
- Repeat Steps 1-4.
