Captivating Vampire
Creature — Vampire
Other Vampire creatures you control get +1/+1.
Tap five untapped Vampires you control: Gain control of target creature. It becomes a Vampire in addition to its other types.
- CMC
- 3
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- rare
- Set
- Innistrad Remastered
- Price
- $1.53
- EDHREC rank
- #2453
Captivating Vampire pumps every Vampire you control and, once you have five tapped ones, permanently steals any target creature — that's a lord and a control piece on a three-mana body. In Edgar Markov builds that flood the board with tokens, hitting the five-Vampire threshold is trivial, making this card a staple rather than a consideration.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Edgar Markov
Edgar Markov generates Vampire tokens on cast triggers even from the command zone, so Captivating Vampire's theft ability — requiring five tapped Vampires — becomes live as early as turn four without any additional setup.
Olivia Voldaren
Olivia Voldaren already wants to steal creatures; Captivating Vampire adds a second theft vector that doesn't cost mana each activation, and the +1/+1 pump makes Olivia herself hit harder as the board fills.
Evelyn, the Covetous
Evelyn, the Covetous rewards playing Vampires from multiple angles, and Captivating Vampire's passive anthem makes every creature Evelyn exiles and recasts more threatening on the stack.
Clavileño, First of the Blessed
Clavileño, First of the Blessed cares about non-token Vampires dying and drawing cards, and Captivating Vampire's lord effect keeps those attackers large enough to demand blocks — which feeds Clavileño's engine.
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Elenda, the Dusk Rose scales on creatures dying, and Captivating Vampire's anthem means each Vampire that trades in combat puts more counters on Elenda before it goes to the graveyard.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | not legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
Commander is where Captivating Vampire earns its keep — 40-life games give tribal boards time to develop, and five tapped Vampires is a realistic bar when your commander is generating bodies every other turn. In Legacy and Vintage it's legal but irrelevant; Vampire tribal has no competitive presence in those formats, and a three-mana do-nothing-immediately creature doesn't survive the tempo math. Modern is the one non-rotating format where tribal aggro is viable, but Vampires lean on white cards and faster threats, and Captivating Vampire's theft ability rarely fires before the game ends. Play it in Commander, ignore it everywhere else.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$1.53 cheap tier
At $1.53, Captivating Vampire sits in the cheap tier — a negligible entry cost for a card that shows up in over 80% of Edgar Markov decks. Wide printings have kept the price flat and it's unlikely to spike, so there's no reason to wait on picking one up.
Explore
Sources
Mentioned
- Edgar Markov
- Olivia Voldaren
- Evelyn, the Covetous
- Clavileño, First of the Blessed
- Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.