Vampire Cutthroat
Creature — Vampire Rogue
Skulk (This creature can't be blocked by creatures with greater power.)
Lifelink (Damage dealt by this creature also causes you to gain that much life.)
- CMC
- 1
- Mana cost
- Color identity
- B
- Rarity
- uncommon
- Set
- Eldritch Moon
- Price
- $0.63
- EDHREC rank
- #6646
Vampire Cutthroat is a one-mana 1/1 with lifelink, skulk, and menace — three keywords that combine to make it nearly unblockable in the early game while draining life every hit. Gonti, Night Minister decks run it because consistent lifelink triggers are the engine, and a one-drop that reliably connects is exactly what that shell wants.
Best Commanders
Commanders with the highest synergy
Gonti, Night Minister
Gonti, Night Minister rewards you for gaining life on opponents' turns as well as your own, and Vampire Cutthroat's skulk makes it almost guaranteed to connect — stacking lifelink triggers off a one-drop is exactly how the engine accelerates.
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor wants creatures connecting with opponents every combat, and Vampire Cutthroat's skulk ensures it slides under most early blockers to enable Gix's group-draw payoff on turn one.
Rev, Tithe Extractor
Rev, Tithe Extractor cares about life drain and incremental pressure, and Vampire Cutthroat delivers a reliable lifelink hit for a single black mana — exactly the low-cost, high-uptime attacker that shell wants filling out the curve.
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose converts every life gained into opponent life loss, so Vampire Cutthroat's repeated lifelink triggers turn a 1/1 into a recurring drain source that punches well above its mana cost.
Format Analysis
Where it lives, where it can’t
| Format | Verdict |
|---|---|
| commander | legal |
| legacy | legal |
| modern | legal |
| pioneer | legal |
| standard | not legal |
| vintage | legal |
| pauper | not legal |
| oathbreaker | legal |
In Commander, Vampire Cutthroat earns its slot specifically in life-gain and combat-damage-matters builds — the skulk keyword keeps it relevant past the early turns where a vanilla 1/1 would be irrelevant. In Legacy and Vintage, it sees essentially no competitive play; the rate of a 1/1 lifelinker doesn't match what those formats demand, and superior one-drops crowd it out. Modern and Pioneer are similar stories — Vampire Cutthroat is legal but rarely played, outclassed by creatures that do more for the same cost. The card's real home is Commander, where specific synergy commanders make its keyword suite genuinely threatening rather than incidental.
Key Combos
Combo lines featuring this card
Price Context
Current price
$0.63 bulk tier
At $0.63, Vampire Cutthroat is firmly bulk — cheap enough to add without a second thought in any deck that wants it. Given its narrow competitive demand outside Commander synergy builds, there's no pressure on the price, and it will stay in this range.
Explore
Sources
Updated . Data from Scryfall, EDHREC, and Commander Spellbook.