Not since the late, great Baron Sengir have
Vampire aficionados gotten a decent Vampire
lord. And this one is arguably stronger. As long
as you've got a black card on top of your
library, this is a 5/4 flyer for only four mana!
Even green doesn't get creatures that efficient!
And it boosts all your other Vampires as well!
There are downsides, though. Black has always
had a minor theme of "don't play any color but
me", illustrated through cards like Nightmare
and Consume Spirit. The Nocturnus really makes
it hard for you to play any other colors, both
through his mana cost of 1BBB, and his needing a
black card on top of your library. His other
downside is that the bonus he grants to your
other Vampires--- +2/+1 and flying--- isn't
something most Vampires benefit much from. Blood
Tyrant will hardly notice, Vein Drinker will
kind of like it, Garza Zol is a little better,
but all those cards already have flying, and if
you have them out, +2/+1 isn't making much of a
difference. The black Changelings from Lorwyn
will benefit a lot, but they're rotating out of
Standard before too long. I seriously expect
WoTC to give us a good supply of Vampires in
M2010, including some that aren't very big and
don't already fly, for this to be as awesome as
it suggests it can be.
Constructed- 3
Casual- 4.5
Multiplayer- 4.5
Limited- we won't know until M2010 is released,
will we?
David Fanany
Player since
1995
Vampire Nocturnus
One of the big perks of M10 is brand-new cards
from Wizards of the Coast's design department -
cutting out the middle man, if you like, by
placing cards that would be awesome in the core
set directly into the core set, rather than
trying to make room for them in an expansion
first. If they're all as cool as Vampire
Nocturnus, I say keep 'em coming. He is one of
the best examples of top-down design ever
printed - when are vampires strongest? At night.
How can you tell when it's night? When there are
other evil creatures lurking around the corner.
He's decent even in a regular mono-black aggro
deck; with that two-cost Child of Night vampire
from Aaron Forsythe's article the other week,
things really get ugly. By my count, he is also
the first "lord" who specifically helps Vampires
since Baron Sengir in Homelands.
Which reminds me: another of the big perks of
M10 is the best art I've seen since I started
playing. Raise your hands if you're glad Raymond
Swanland is still on the art staff. I'll bet
there are a lot of hands up right now.
Constructed:
WOW! This cards is going to be awesome. For
constructed tournaments we will have to see what
other black cards will be available.
Casual &
Multiplayer:
They are keeping some tribal theme with this
one. Somebody will make a cool Vampire deck.
Limited:
We will have to see how many different Vampires
will be in M10. Or will there be any
Shapeshifters new or old ones in M10. It could
be a real good bomb, but I will hang on to that
until the release of M10.
Overall this looks like it will be a great hit
with the casual crowd.
Constructed: 3
Casual: 3
Multiplayer: 4
Limited: 3
Later
Miguel
Paul
Magic The Gathering COTD: Vampire Nocturnus
Welcome back readers today we have a new mythic
rare from MTG 2010 that can situationaly pump
vampires. Vampires as a tribe haven’t received a
large amount of support but that precedent looks
to be changing with the release of a slew of
Vampires in MTG 2010. Constructed can make use
of changelings to possibly have a decent
creature deck. Casual and multiplayer vampires
could become a popular and effective tribe to
utilize as more support cards are introduced. In
limited if you have enough vampires to make it
worthwhile Vampire Nocturnus could be an ok pick
that still can serve as an attacking creature.
If enough support is added to the vampire tribe
Nocturnus has a wealth of potential.
