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Blood Researcher

Creature — Vampire Druid

Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

CMC
3
Mana cost
{1}{B}{G}
Color identity
BG
Rarity
common
Set
Strixhaven: School of Mages
Price
$0.14
EDHREC rank
#15329
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Blood Researcher card art
Blood Researcher turns every life-gain trigger into a +1/+1 counter, and every counter into a damage clock — the whole engine fits on a two-mana body. Agatha's Soul Cauldron can imprint its activated ability onto other creatures, and Dina, Soul Steeper pairs with it to convert those counters into a direct kill condition.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Dina, Soul Steeper

Dina, Soul Steeper

22.6% of decks · synergy 0.22

Dina, Soul Steeper drains opponents whenever you gain life, and Blood Researcher converts that same life gain into a growing threat — both halves of the engine fire on the same trigger, so every life-gain event pulls double duty.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

FormatVerdict
commander legal
legacy legal
modern legal
pioneer legal
standard not legal
vintage legal
pauper legal
oathbreaker legal

In Commander, Blood Researcher slots into any life-gain shell that needs a redundant payoff — it doesn't ask for much beyond a steady stream of triggers, which those decks produce naturally. Pauper is where it competes most seriously outside of Commander; common-legal life-gain synergies are deep enough that a two-mana creature that scales without a mana investment earns a real spot in dedicated builds. In Modern and Pioneer it's outclassed by payoffs that either close faster or demand less setup, so Blood Researcher rarely sees those 60-card tables. Legacy and Vintage have no interest — the power ceiling is simply too low for those formats.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.14 bulk tier

At $0.14, Blood Researcher is pure bulk — pick up as many copies as you need without a second thought. Bulk common-rarity synergy pieces at this price point don't appreciate meaningfully, so treat it as a throw-in, not a hold.

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Sources

Mentioned

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Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.