Instant banishment for enemy planeswalkers.
Instant-speed 20/20 indestructible creatures. An
instant answer to Darksteel Reactor, the graft
mechanic, and Time Spiral "storage" lands. Oh,
and she's a vampire, with amazing art. What's
not to like?
Welcome back readers today’s card of the day is
one of the game changing cards to appear in
Zendikar, not only did it lend itself to
standard vampire decks but it singlehandedly
spawned its own competitive extended deck with
the help of Dark Depths. In standard this card
not has first strike and receives an awesome
pump from its tribal lord but can at anytime
sacrifice itself to destroy any planeswalker as
well as removing any troublesome counters that
may be worrying you, an essential component of
the highly competitive vampire builds Hexmage
stands tall in standard. In extended it
singlehandedly made a jank rare playable and
proved itself a competitive deck archetype, not
only can it net you an indestructible
20/20 courtesy of Dark Depths but it also
removes planeswalkers and modular counters, any
card that spawns an entire deck archetype in a
format as vast and cutthroat as extended is
certainly powerful and significant. In casual
and multiplayer creatures with first strike are
great and being able to negate opponents
planeswalkers and Doubling Season tricks make it
a valuable tool if you’re running a deck with
black or a vampire deck. In limited it’s a first
strike creature that can occasionally sacrifice
itself to wreck some opponent’s bomb cards that
utilize counters which there is a good amount. I
don’t feel uncomfortable giving this card a
perfect score not only is it an efficient small
creature in black but it single handedly spawned
its own competitive archetype as well as
providing an overwhelmingly versatile creature
that has effected most facets of competitive
extended and standard play, Vampire Hexmage is
one of the best black cards to see print in
recent memory not on the same level as cards
like Necropotence gosh no, but as Dark
Confident, an essential cog in whose versatility
and raw power provide a niche in which it can
flourish.
Today's card of the day is Vampire Hexmage
which is one of the easiest anti-planeswalker
measures made to date. In addition it functions
quite well for stopping creatures kept alive by
their counters such as a hydra or modular
creature and can release Marit Lage from Dark
Depths on the third turn with no other support.
In Constructed, Casual, and Multiplayer this
is a fantastic card at derailing any type of
card that tries to benefit from counters and as
mentioned above can work offensively to produce
a cheap 20/20 indestructible flying. Either way
a 2/1 First Strike for two mana with that kind
of ability can certainly find room in at least a
sidedeck and likely some Black builds in various
formats.
For Limited the 2/1 First Strike for two by
itself isn't bad, but the ability to knock out
nearly unstoppable planeswalkers like Sorin
Markov and stall quest cards makes this a potent
threat. The double Black mana cost is a bit
restrictive, but in a format like this anything
that can stop a planeswalker cold for just two
mana is worth drafting. A Sealed deck running
Black should definitely include this card or at
least keep it in mind as a sidedeck option. In
Booster if going Black already especially if you
have a Sorin this card should be drafted
heavily. It works well to keep the board under
your control, but you really don't want an
opponent stopping you with a card you could use
yourself. Also, as a vampire there is some
support in set that can make for a fairly nasty
deck standing behind their planeswalker general.
