MagicTheGathering.fyi

Vampire Hexmage

Creature — Vampire Shaman

First strike
Sacrifice this creature: Remove all counters from target permanent.

CMC
2
Mana cost
{B}{B}
Color identity
B
Rarity
special
Set
Time Spiral Remastered
Price
$1.81
EDHREC rank
#8793
Buy on TCGplayer
Vampire Hexmage card art
Vampire Hexmage does something no other two-drop does: it hits the table and immediately threatens to strip every counter off any permanent — planeswalkers, Dark Depths, anything — at instant speed for zero mana beyond the sacrifice. The cost is the Hexmage itself, which means redundancy matters, but in counter-heavy metas or combo shells that want a zero-mana activation, it's not a fair trade for the opponent — cards like Glissa Sunslayer that care about destroying permanents or enabling sacrifice loops make the cost feel even cheaper, and odd-duck applications like wiping counters off Divine Intervention show just how wide the targeting range actually is.

Best Commanders

Commanders with the highest synergy

01
Glissa Sunslayer

Glissa Sunslayer

14.9% of decks · synergy 0.15

Glissa Sunslayer triggers on combat damage to a player, letting you remove enchantments, artifacts, or counters — and Vampire Hexmage slots in as both a counter-stripping threat and a sacrifice-able body that synergizes with the Golgari value engine Glissa wants to build.

02
Olivia Voldaren

Olivia Voldaren

12.4% of decks · synergy 0.12

Olivia Voldaren runs a Vampire tribal shell that benefits from every member pulling double duty, and Vampire Hexmage delivers real utility — instant-speed counter removal that doubles as a Vampire body Olivia can buff or steal creatures alongside.

Format Analysis

Where it lives, where it can’t

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

In Commander, Vampire Hexmage earns its slot primarily through the Dark Depths combo — sacrifice it to remove all ten ice counters and immediately create a 20/20 indestructible token — making it a two-card instant-win package that Black already tutors for easily. Outside that combo, it answers planeswalkers and loyalty-counter threats that would otherwise spiral out of control in a four-player game, which keeps it relevant even in non-combo builds. In Legacy, Vampire Hexmage sees real play as part of the Dark Depths combo in Depths-based strategies, where it competes with Thespian's Stage as the faster, less mana-intensive half of the package. Modern legality doesn't translate to meaningful play there — the format's speed and disruption density leave a two-mana 2/1 without enough support. Vintage and Oathbreaker follow Commander's logic: corner-case counter removal with a combo line attached.

Key Combos

Combo lines featuring this card

Price Context

Current price

$1.81 cheap tier

At $1.81, Vampire Hexmage sits comfortably in the cheap tier — low enough that the Dark Depths combo costs almost nothing to assemble on the card-price side, since Dark Depths itself is the only expensive half. That price is unlikely to move dramatically given multiple printings, so picking up copies now or later makes little practical difference.

Explore

Sources

Mentioned

← All cards

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