Malakir Familiar

Creature — Bat

Flying, deathtouch

Whenever you gain life, Malakir Familiar gets +1/+1 until end of turn.

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (38)

RamenNoodles on Golgari tabletop

5 years ago

Malakir Familiar's Ability will only proc off of the two Gifted Aetherborn. I would suggest a different card for a flier.

TheMart22 on Mono-Black Good Stuff

7 years ago

I've never heard of Malakir Familiar before but like the thought behind having the flying deathtouch.

tovare on Mono-Black Good Stuff

7 years ago

Since you're not too crazy about Drana I would recommend Malakir Familiar. At first glance the card is not as "sexy" but if you're taking a more defensive/controlling strategy then its great. The best deck in standard at the moment plays a playset of Heart of Kiran and often has a copy or two of either Aethersphere Harvester or Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip. Having a flying deathtoucher could be really nice in those matchups.

precociousapprentice on Queen Marchesa: Politics, Aikido, and Control

7 years ago

After thinking about why Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim should have been good, and why she turned out to be less than I had hoped, I started to consider other cards for that spot. The problem was that she was rarely active, she advertised her value before she was able to fulfill her role, and she often just drew hate. She was an efficient deathtouch creature, but those are better when they are less obtrusive, so having a powerful ability that never got used just made her, and hence me, a bigger threat than she actually was. This was counter to the theme of the deck. She was fine, just not great, and despite all indications that she would fit nicely, she was antisynnergistic.

The most obvious alternatives would be other efficient deathtouch creatures. Since that was the role she actually fulfilled, I could easily find other deathtouch creatures to fill it. Rancid Rats actually works pretty well, same CMC, easier to cast, and skulk means that it can usually sneak in to steal The Monarch back if I lose it, or hit for a huge Hatred when I have the opportunity. Not bad. Fetid Imp brings flying, and can gain deathtouch for a . Malakir Familiar brings flying and an extra ability. Flying defense is nice in EDH. Pharika's Chosen, Ruthless Ripper, Typhoid Rats are all very efficient, but don't really bring much more than a Queen Marchesa token, and would potentially not bring enough value to the deck for the card slot. Any of these could probably replace Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim without affecting the performance of the deck, since her actual role only turned out to be a ground deathtouch creature that seemed more threatening than she actually was.

Finally, another direction I could go is assassins. Kiku, Night's Flower, Royal Assassin, and King's Assassin all threaten to kill any attacker, including evasive attackers, but they also threaten utility creatures that tap for value. The ability can be used politically, can be used either outside of combat or when I am not involved in combat, and it is active on the turn after they come into play. This can effectively perform exactly the same function that I hoped Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim would perform, but be active from the start, if slightly more limited in scope. I think the tap to destroy effect on each of these is slightly more powerful than block or be blocked to destroy ability of a deathtouch creature. The tradeoff is dropping a less subtle threat, which Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim also brought with her.

In the end, this is not an essential function, just a duplicate of functions the deck already performs. I can replace Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim with something that performs a similar function, or potentially go a different direction, without really changing deck performance much.

musicman3310 on Hands Of Death (B)

7 years ago

Zombies don't fly, sadly. Well, instead of Malakir Familiar you could use Consecrated by Blood to make them. Lol

Sirenfall on Spread the love

7 years ago

Take the Rancid Rats out and switch it for Malakir Familiar. Let your lifelink units attack first then dish out 3 damage from Malakir Familiar from the life gain pump. I used to run this kind of deck.

Aniviane3 on

7 years ago

I love these types of decks, i am making one myself but without focusing on allies, here's my deck that i'm working on Orzhova life sucking., and i have received great help from a guy in the comments, he mentioned his own deck there look it up, now some Advice!

Since you are constantly gaining life from something you should use it, you already are with the Bloodbond Vampire and Cliffhaven Vampire, but you can take it to the next level with these cards: Malakir Familiar Bloodchief Ascension and Ajani's Pridemate, although the pridemate is hard to find in my case, the rest are pretty helpful and easy to find,

You can add up a bunch of creatures to be on the board in certain times, even with the effect of Sorin, Grim Nemesis i suggest Harsh Sustenance,

Also some land suggestions, Scoured Barrens for triggering Bloodbond Vampire's ability, and Shambling Vent to get that lifelink on.

There you go i hope that this advice helps you.

Mornelith on Orzhov Life Drain

7 years ago

Aniviane3 I would recommend Bloodbond Vampire as an alternate option to Malakir Familiar or Ajani's Pridemate. Also, the reason I'm running Ob Nixilis Reignited over the other is, I'm running this in Standard format. In another format, I would be running quite a few different options for sure.