With Wilds of Eldraine on the horizon very soon, we are already looking towards the Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Much like Wilds of Eldraine, we are revisiting a well-received plane. Ixalan focuses on a lot of unique Creature types. Recently, we went over the top Dinosaurs as well as the best Pirates in Commander. Today, we will focus on a different Creature type abundant back in original Ixalan. That Creature type is none other than Vampires.
Vampires have made their mark on MTG. With cards like Sanctum Seeker and Legion Lieutenant, Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan provided Standard with a decent Vampire typal deck. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord helped make Vampires a tier-one deck in Pioneer for a while. In Commander, Edgar Markov is an elite payoff for playing lots of Vampire Creatures in your deck. Vampires can undoubtedly be cool and powerful, and sometimes, they can hold decently high price tags, too. Let’s take a look and see what Vampires have stood the test of time. Here are the top six most expensive MTG Vampires.
Notably, we will only be considering the cheapest reprint value among Vampire cards when making this list. Prices will come from TCGplayer.
#6 Captivating Vampire- $7
Captivating Vampire is a strong Commander card. It was originally printed back in the Magic 2011 core set, then was later reprinted in Commander 2017 and as a list card. In Commander 2017, this card was featured alongside Edgar Markov, and for good reason. For three mana, you get two very strong effects. First, Captivating Vampire pumps your whole Vampire squad, which is excellent alongside the tokens Edgar creates. That’s not all, though.
You also can tap five Vampires to gain control of another Creature and turn it into a Vampire. This is a rather flavorful ability, but with enough tokens in play, can also be extremely powerful. Getting to continuously steal opposing Commanders is quite strong, and likely forces the opponent to try to kill Captivating Vampire as soon as possible. Luckily, this ability isn’t affected by summoning sickness, so if you have four other Vampires in play, you can play Captivating Vampire and immediately steal an opponent’s Creature before they can do anything about it. It currently sits at $7 on TCGplayer according to market price.
Read More: Wilds of Eldraine’s Most Expensive Card Doubles in Price!
#5 Rodolf Duskbringer- $9
Rodolf Duskbringer is a solid Commander for any Creature-based deck capable of gaining lots of life. For six mana, you get a four-power Flier with Deathtouch and Lifelink. If you can gain life at any point, Rodolf also gains Indestructible until the end of the turn. This pairs quite well with ways to gain life at Instant speed, such as with Pristine Talisman, in order to save Rodolf from opposing removal spells.
At the beginning of your end step, you also have the option to pay two mana in order to reanimate a Creature from your graveyard as long as its mana value is less than or equal to the amount of life you gained during your turn. Given that this card had Lifelink, it’s easy to get a Creature back relatively consistently. All of the card’s abilities work well together, and getting to get a Creature back to play every turn is quite strong. Rodolf is worth $9 and was only ever printed in Jumpstart 2022.
Read More: Top Six Best Aura Cards in MTG
#4 Bloodghast- $9
Bloodghast is an interesting card. Despite being a Vampire, it doesn’t exactly fit in with typical Vampire themes such as life gain. That, however, doesn’t mean the card isn’t strong in its own right. For two mana, you get a two-power Creature. However, each time you play a Land, if Bloodghast is in your graveyard, you can return it to play. In Constructed, this works quite well alongside ways to get Bloodghast into your grvaeyard, such as with various Dredge cards or Faithless Looting. Specifically in Vintage, the card often sees play in Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis strategies, as you can discard it to Bazaar of Baghdad, play a Land to bring it back, and use it to Convoke out Hogaak.
In Commander, Bloodghast has a lot of sacrifice synergies, since you can keep recurring the card naturally. Add Fetchlands into the equation and you can really go ballistic. Despite not necessarily fitting into every Vampire-focused strategy, Bloodghast is still a great card, and sits at $9 despite being reprinted multiple times.
Read More: $750+ LOTR Card Could End Up Plummeting in Price!
#3 Bloodline Keeper- $10
Bloodline Keeper is a great card for any go-wide Vampire deck. Every turn, you can tap Bloodline Keeper to make a 2/2 Vampire with Flying and slowly build up your army. This helps make cards like Captivating Vampire more reliable. Much like Captivating Vampire, Bloodline Keeper also pays you off for having five or more Vampires in play. Once you do, you can pay one mana to transform it.
Bloodline Keeper transforms into Lord of Lineage, which is a 5/5 Flier on its own. It still retains the ability to tap and make 2/2 Fliers, but now it also gives all of your other Vampires plus-two plus-two. This makes all your Vampire tokens into massive threats. Bloodline Keeper can truly run away with the game on its own if not answered in short order. It currently sits at roughly $10.
Read More: Top 10 Best MTG Rat Cards in Commander
#2 Elenda, the Dusk Rose- $10
Elenda, the Dusk Rose is another great Vampire Commander card. For four mana, Elenda starts as a 1/1 with Lifelink. However, whenever another Creature dies, Elenda grows. Notably, this includes when your opponent’s Creatures die, not just your own. From there, whenever Elenda dies, you get a number of Vampire tokens with Lifelink equal to Elenda’s power. If you can raise Elenda’s power by either using sacrifice outlets like Phyrexian Alter or removal spells on opposing Creatures, Elenda can get big very quickly.
Then, as long as Elenda doesn’t get exiled, it threatens to create a huge army all on its own. Any go-wide Vampire deck wants this card, and it works very well with both Captivating Vampire and Rodolf Duskbringer. Elenda has a decently high price tag at $10, but none of these cards’ prices compare to that of the top card on this list.
Read More: Wilds of Eldraine Is Warping Formats After Just Two Days
#1 Edgar Markov- $78
Edgar Markov is the ultimate Vampire Commander. As long as you have lots of Vampires in your deck, Edgar will pay you off nicely. For six mana, you get access to a Hasty Creature that pumps all of your Vampires when it attacks. That already is decent, but Edgar also pays you off each time you cast a Vampire spell by making a 1/1 Vampire token.
The real strength of the card, however, and why it plays so well lies with the fact that Edgar’s ability to make Vampire tokens each time you cast a Vampire spell triggers even with Edgar in the Command zone. Typically with expensive Commanders, they can be powerful, but if they get removed multiple times, it can be hard to utilize them effectively. With Edgar, you can simply leave the card in the Command zone until the time is right to attack with it and pump your squad. Even if Edgar gets removed, it’s nothing to worry about, since you can keep making your board wider and wider thanks to the Eminence ability.
Edgar is certainly strong, and outside of a Judge promo, the card was also only printed in Commander 2017 as a foil. As a result, the card has a huge price tag of $78, far more than any other Vampire in MTG. Could any future Vampires from the Lost Caverns of Ixalan overtake one of the cards on this list? Only time will tell.
Read More: New LOTR Leaks May Feature Best Protection Spell Ever Printed!
