MagicTheGathering.fyi

Bloodbond Vampire

Creature — Vampire Shaman Ally

Whenever you gain life, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.

CMC
4
Mana cost
{2}{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
uncommon
Set
Battle for Zendikar
Price
$0.23
EDHREC rank
#13117
Buy on TCGplayer
Bloodbond Vampire card art
Bloodbond Vampire turns every life gain event into a permanent +1/+1 counter, and paired with Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Agatha's Soul Cauldron it becomes a recursive threat that snowballs faster than opponents can answer it. The cost is a four-mana 3/3 with no immediate impact — if it dies before you gain life, it did nothing.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

14.5% of decks · synergy 0.14

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose converts every life gain trigger into drain damage, which means Bloodbond Vampire is simultaneously growing and closing out the game on the same events — the two cards form a self-reinforcing loop that punishes opponents for letting either one stick.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

Bloodbond Vampire is a Commander card through and through — the format's longer games give it the time to accumulate counters and become genuinely threatening. In competitive 60-card formats like Modern and Pioneer it's too slow and too fragile: a four-mana 3/3 that requires board setup to do anything gets outpaced immediately. Legacy and Vintage are strictly worse environments for it for the same reasons, and the absence of a Pauper printing keeps it out of that format entirely. Stick to Commander, where life gain decks can actually exploit the triggered ability across a full game.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$0.23 bulk tier

At $0.23, Bloodbond Vampire is deep bulk — easy to pick up in any trade binder or as a throw-in. Bulk rares that only fit one strategy rarely climb in price, so treat this as a cheap include rather than a hold.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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