Vampiric Tutor
Set Price Alerts

Combos Browse all Suggest

Legality

Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Archenemy Legal
Big Apple Highlander Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Freeform Legal
Highlander Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Planar Constructed Legal
Planechase Legal
PreDH Legal
Premodern Legal
Quest Magic Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vanguard Legal
Vintage Legal

Vampiric Tutor

Instant

Search your library for a card, then shuffle your library and put that card on top of it. You lose 2 life.

plakjekaas on What do you want more …

1 month ago

Oh so you do agree the Commander format is unique due to its restrictions compared to other magic formats? Can we keep it that way?

Difference in sets? Well Legacy then. Those people shell out hundreds of dollars for two color mana bases already anyway, let alone five.

Yeah, 100 card singleton vs 60 card 4 copies. In commander, every game should play out different by design of its restrictions, so there's a lot of room for the social aspect. In Standard/Modern/Legacy, your plan needs to come together as consistently as possible every game to beat the opponent. Now what good is a Sideboard going to do in commander, except for consistently having access to the same cards every single game through Wish effects? The same good Demonic Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Imperial Seal and Gamble are going to do, which is why those cards are gamechangers that you'd need to disclose using. That's why Companions are pretty universally considered the worst mechanic to ever be put to cardboard. In a game built on variance as a key component, too little of it will ruin the play experience. The 4 copy rule was only made after people tried to play 40 Lightning Bolts with 20 Mountains which made for especially uninteresting gameplay.

You can list every detail I didn't mention, in which the formats are still different, but every change you've suggested thus far would make those differences less pronounced and their play patterns and play experience more similar. You recognize Commander to not be the same as Modern, but by everything you said in this thread, I infer you want to feel similar playing either format, instead of celebrating their difference.

As someone who plays Commander especially because it's unlike any 1v1 competitive 60 card format, I'm trying to explain it's a terrible thing to lose your identity as a format because you have to accomodate people who don't like to stick to the well established rules and traditions that made Commander the most popular way to play magic. Especially now that the format is curated by the same party that prints and sells the cards, it's important to adhere to those traditions, and not let the format be blandly blended together with all others so you need even more copies of the same expensive cards that are good in every deck in every format.

Balaam__ on Not So Versatile Graveyard

2 months ago

How is it you’re running two copies of Vampiric Tutor, 3x Demonic Tutor and 4x Lotus Petal in Vintage?

Beespair on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

3 months ago

Profet93

Isochron Scepter is great, can make an instant occur way more times than I normally could and the instant imprinted can change depending on the playgroup.

I agree with what you said about Cabal Ritual, never really had the chance to play it in the games I played with the deck, but the graveyard does not often stay with 7 cards in it. Switched it for Sign in Blood, as you've mentioned, more draw could help and at the same time I like cards that can do more than one thing in EDH.

Vampiric Tutor is not really a budget issue, as I'm proxying the deck, but I have friends in my playgroup that don't and I try to keep it to cards they would normally have. I'm already justifying Imperial Seal because of its name and Word of Command because it's a fun card to use and it's mostly the lack of printing that justify it's high price.

I removed these cards from the deck:

Agatha's Soul Cauldron: Although fun and a cheap crime, I rarely get useful activated abilities, the +1 to toughness was it's biggest use IMO.

Cabal Ritual: As you've mentioned, the threshold wouldn't really happen often.

Languish: Yahenni's Expertise is just more fun, same CMC and the 4 to 3 difference doesn't change much of the purpose behind the card.

Ulcerate: Cheap removal, but I already have a lot and this one was the weakest IMO.

Cabal Stronghold: As you've mentioned, 17 basics is too little.

Swamp: Removed one swamp to fit an additional non-basic land. Cabal Stronghold is gone, no need to keep that many basics.

I then added these cards:

Isochron Scepter: So many cool options, just neglected it when deck-building because I've been too tainted by the Dramatic Reversal combo and I only think about it in this situation.

Sign in Blood: One more card draw, can also burn enemies and with this deck's recursion can be re-used.

Yahenni's Expertise: Just a cooler Languish.

Buried Ruin: Nice recursion on stuff I can't normally recur because it's colorless.

Deserted Temple: As you've mentioned, crime, politics, ramp with Cabal Coffers.

Sudden Spoiling: Cool tech against control and protected creatures.

I did not add Helm of Obedience, felt like the 4 CMC is a bit too high. I will try it in the deck to see if I want to change something for it.

I did not add both flash cards because I can cast stuff from the graveyard at instant speed if needed with a crime. There's also not much I'm thinking of that I would really want to get that is not an instant. I might be missing some situations though.

Profet93 on Rule the Galaxy [Kaervek, the Punisher]

3 months ago

Beespair

I'm glad you found my suggestions useful, I am genuinely curious about your thoughts for isochron scepter. Do you feel it's too much of a 2 for 1 risk or is there another reason to not warrant it's inclusion despite it's high ceiling?

Also, do you have enough draw? I only see about 5-6 cards that draw. With such a low avg cmc, I can imagine you run out of gas pretty quickly. While some are better than others, here are some potential considerations: Night's Whisper/Sign in Blood (Can target opponents in a pinch + politics), Read the Bones (scry is useful) or a Syphon Mind (expensive cmc but is usually draw 3, each opponent discards one).

How has cabal ritual been playing for you? I understand your deck is low to the ground and you can fill up your GY quickly, but with all the self-exile, do you find yourself often meeting the threshold requirement?

Vampiric Tutor - I presume budget restrictions preclude it, although I see no mention of budget in the description.

Mind Twist - Triggers commands, anti blue (cast for 2-3, force them to use counterspell prior to using your wincon), or just ramp and make them cry.

Would love to pick your brain about your cool deck :)

jethstriker on Unbalanced Cycles in MtG

3 months ago

The original boon cycle was designed by Richard Garfield himself, and he was aware that Ancestral Recall was significantly more powerful than the rest. That's why he put it at rare while the rest are at common. So right from the beginning the creator of the game himself already set the tone that cycles aren't meant to be created equal. What I don't like in cycles is almost always red gets the short end:

The color-aligned legendary lands of Urza's Saga. Tolarian Academy is broken, followed by powerhouses Gaea's Cradle and Serra's Sanctum, followed far down the line is the decent Phyrexian Tower, then at the very bottom is Shivan Gorge.

In more recent times they created another "force" cycle in Modern Horizons. Again blue is on top with Force of Negation, followed by Force of Vigor and Force of Despair. Then once again red is at the bottom with white with Force of Rage and Force of Virtue.

The worst I can remember is they omitted red entirely in a cycle. In Mirage they printed 3 tutors: Enlightened Tutor, Mystical Tutor, and Worldly Tutor. The following set came Vampiric Tutor. Then Weatherlight came and there was no red tutor on it. I just personally imagine that Gamble is the unofficial red member of the tutor cycle to clear my mind on this.

SufferFromEDHD on Ob Nixilis 43 Lands.dec

7 months ago

Dark Confidant/Dark Tutelage is the draw tech for this strategy. I will be adding Phyrexian Arena and Vampiric Tutor upon your observation.

Kjacobson6800 on Kaalia, Queen of the Vast

10 months ago

Cool Build. I have a pretty mean Kaalia myself but its rather competitive. Yours looks fun to play I just tested it a few times. Love the Sneak Attack as a backup. Feel free to take a look at mine if you'd like. My only real suggestions after seeing your maybe list is to tune the creatures a bit more and sell that Alpha/Beta D-Tutor ... buy a Chrome Mox. Would leave you with a few $$ to really deck this thing out. Id also be running all 3 Talismans. A revised Demonic tutor is Rather affordable. I run Gamble Demonic Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, Vampiric Tutor, Grim Tutor, And Imperial Seal. More tutors and maybe Steelshaper's Gift to get the Greaves out fast. Diabolic Tutor works just fine to go get an Avacyn or something and get the whole table salty Lotus Petal is clutch too and chronically slept on IMO, especially when it comes to Kaalia... Im pretty sure Jeweled Lotus is banned in EDH now so maybe let that one go too. Necropotence is stupid good in a Kaalia deck, especially if you can get a Reliquary Tower out. As soon as i focused more on tutors, mana rocks, and a few board-wipes Wrath of God Day of Judgment Damn She started going off quick and dirty.Sensei's Divining Top is super helpful too. I wouldn't sleep on Dark Ritual if you're short a Jeska's Will. I slip a Dark Rit in mine from time to time depending on where I'm playing. I also run Armageddon and Catastrophe. Sometimes Winter Orb ...locks everyone down once I have Her out. I Cant tell you how many times Steel Hellkite has won the game for me. Blows up all dorks and keeps opponents rocks at bay. Plus you can grab him with Enlightened tutor. Dragon Mage could work in this to help load up youre Kaalia drops without needing a Wheel of Fortune Solid build!! Ive been tuning mine for years now.

legendofa on The New Commander Brackets Beta

10 months ago

I've been struggling with this for a couple of my decklists recently, and I'm trying to summarize my thoughts here without starting a new thread. So this is semi-stream-of-thought, and I apologize if it gets a little rambly.

There are several criteria being tracked by the current bracket system, including resource generation, speed, reliability, and oppression, and possibly others.

Game changers: A combo like Demonic Consultation/Tainted Pact + Thassa's Oracle gets a key card on the game changers list, because it's fast and reliable, ending a match on turn 3-4. These are speed game changers. Other game changers generate resources just by playing the game, like Rhystic Study or Smothering Tithe. This group often also includes oppression, since a lot of them tax the opponent. Another group is cheap (1-2 mana) tutors, like Vampiric Tutor, Enlightened Tutor, or Survival of the Fittest, that increase a deck's reliability for very little opportunity cost. Most game changers can be sorted into one of these four categories. Ancient Tomb and Gaea's Cradle are speed and resource generation, Drannith Magistrate and Force of Will are oppression, and so on.

Bracket Guidelines: From Gavin Verhey's announcement article, here's what each of the brackets mean and expect. Important to note that the system is still in beta testing, so this is probably going to be different in the future.

  • Bracket 1: Decks with more focus on a gimmick than on winning. "Winning is not the primary goal here, as it's more about showing off something unusual you've made. Villains yelling in the art? Everything has the number four? Oops, all Horses? Those are all fair game!" This bracket doesn't allow extra turns, two-card infinite combos, mass land denial, or game changers, and restricts tutors.

  • Bracket 2: Decks that can win, but are not tightly focused, or slow to develop. "While Bracket 2 decks may not have every perfect card, they have the potential for big, splashy turns, strong engines, and are built in a way that works toward winning the game. While the game is unlikely to end out of nowhere and generally goes nine or more turns, you can expect big swings." This bracket doesn't allow any game changers, mass land denial, two-card infinite combos, or multiple extra turns in a row, and restricts tutors.

  • Bracket 3: Decks that are focused on winning efficiently, but are not optimized. "They are full of carefully selected cards, with work having gone into figuring out the best card for each slot. The games tend to be a little faster as well, ending a turn or two sooner than your Core (Bracket 2) decks." This bracket does not allow mass land denial or multiple extra turns in a row, and restricts game changers and two-card infinite combos, and allows tutors freely.

  • Bracket 4: Decks that are optimized for their strategy. "Bring out your strongest decks and cards... This is high-powered Commander, and games have the potential to end quickly. The focus here is on bringing the best version of the deck you want to play, but not one built around a tournament metagame." This bracket has no restrictions.

  • Bracket 5: Decks that expect to win at the most competitive levels. "There is care paid into following and paying attention to a metagame and tournament structure, and no sacrifices are made in deck building as you try to be the one to win the pod." This brackets has no restrictions.

Deck Analysis 1: The deck I've been struggling most with is Clear Waters. As I listed in another thread, it has an infinite turns combo (Wanderwine Prophets + Deeproot Pilgrimage + Merfolk Sovereign) and mass land denial (Opposition + Seedborn Muse, Quicksilver Fountain), and a selection of tutors to pull these together (Forerunner of the Heralds, Idyllic Tutor, Merrow Harbinger, Seahunter, and Sterling Grove). This should put it squarely into Bracket 4.

My concern is that it's neither high powered nor optimized. On the axes of speed, resource generation, reliability, and oppression, I would score it high on oppression, pretty good on reliability, and low on speed and resources generation. Looking at examples of other Bracket 4 decks around the internet, all four of those criteria need to be high in this bracket. The infinite turns combo is slow and easily removed, and the land denial is optional (Opposition can have other targets) or temporary (Quicksilver Fountain can remove its own effect).

It would be easy to simply add a big pile of game changers to improve all of these facets. Right now, it has one game changer in Grand Arbiter Augustin IV, and that one's not essential to the deck. That's not the direction I want to go with the deck, though--I want to keep it reasonably budget, and even adding the three least expensive of the game changers I'm considering would basically double the deck's cost.

I know that people in brackets under 4 want to be able to play their deck, and the infinite turns and land denial shut that down. These are clearly stated in the announcement article -"A single extra-turn spell can be fun and splashy. However, extra-turn spells take a ton of time away from other players and their ability to play the game and tend to be unfun when repeated."- that's why they're forced into brackets 4 and 5. But if a deck isn't able to compete against high power, optimized Bracket 4 decks, can it be considered Bracket 4?

Deck Analysis 2: Another deck that I've been struggling with is an enchantment deck, Do Not Mistake Peace For Passivity. The point of concern for this deck is land denial. Blood Moon is classic mass land denial, and the deck is designed to play around it with Abundant Growth, Fertile Ground, Prismatic Omen, and similar cards. It also has a combo that doesn't directly deny lands, but punishes their play and use: Manabarbs + Citadel of Pain. Otherwise, the deck fits all the criteria of a Bracket 2 deck--no game changers, no infinite combos, few tutors, and no extra turns.

This deck can be converted into a pure Bracket 2 deck without much effort by replacing Blood Moon and Manabarbs. But as it stands, a single card pushes the deck up two brackets, according to the guidelines. Again, I don't feel the deck is high powered or optimized, and would not be able to compete in a Bracket 4 match. It could probably survive in Bracket 3, since it's highly synergistic, but nothing any higher.

In this case, adding a bunch of game changers and power cards would somewhat dilute how the deck functions. A few, like Smothering Tithe or Trouble in Pairs, could slot in, but most others would be more gratuitous.

Conclusion: To quote the article again, "There's some wiggle room, and while playing against decks that are all inside your bracket is ideal, you can usually wiggle within one bracket away from you safely." "You should play where you think you belong based on the descriptions." All of this can be discussed in a Rule 0 talk. I strongly believe the brackets are intended to help this conversation, not replace it. As an example, for the Clear Waters deck, I would say that the deck is not optimized to Bracket 4, and I think it fits best into Bracket 3, but it's controlling and has a potential three-card infinite turns combo. I'm willing to announce when the combo is assembled and ready to start, to give everyone a turn cycle to react, and reduce the use of Opposition to creatures and artifacts.

I feel like the current setup is a little too restrictive of the kind of combo-control decks I like. I can have fun smashing big creatures into each other and outmaneuvering everyone else, but I will enjoy locking down the board and establishing my inevitability, and I'm having a harder time trying to find ways to do that in lower brackets. Some people have already offered me excellent feedback and suggestions that I'm taking into consideration, but I'd also like to see how people are responding to the bracket system so far.

For comparison, here's a few more of my decklists:

Load more