tad too expensive. Another baron sengir.....awesome but will probably never ever play it. Though baron was more awesome
Lestat13
★★★★☆ (4.4/5.0)(4 votes)
Turn 8 is a bit too late to just start making a good board position.
Donovan_Fabian
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Ah, so flavor wise, he bites enemy creature, and turns it into vampire. Rawwrr I want your blooood! Love the ability, yet feel if I saw this drop on the field I'd remove it really fast. Thankfully since its a destroy ability and not sacrifice, doesn't work on shroud or indestructibility either. All in all, still a great card though, I'm sure someone will figure out some good uses for its ability, like ooze garden and mighty emergence combo, etc. Probably the best use is to give him vigilance so he can still kill things to make into vampires and attack at the same time. Also note that the ability can target itself, so if its about to die, use 3 mana, and you get a 5/5 back and then you can play it again later from graveyard or a second one in your hand.
Imura
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
So it says "creature token onto the battlefield." Who's control does it come into play under?
inmypants22
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
comes out too late unless you have a couple of dark rituals
SavageBrain89
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Will he ever see standard? Doubt it. He's definitely a great EDH general however.
Vinifera7
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
So awesome, but not for constructed play.
@Imura: Unless stated otherwise by the card text, a permanent enters the battlefield under the control of the player who controlled the ability that put it there. So in other words, it works exactly as expected.
Pwnsaw
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Black/Green has been the hype since zendikar. With some green mana ramp like harrow, this guy is not unreasonable to get out. He has the highest CMC of all cards I have played though.
In casual you can ritual into this guy on turn 5, though you may want to wait a little longer to exhaust your opponents removal.
I found this guy gets owned by nissa's chosen though. Not in graveyard = no token. Same thing with the blade of the bloodchief.
Elfenthuisiast
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.8/5.0)(3 votes)
I know its unlikely, but in casual if u get 3 dark rituals, a swamp, and him he's out on turn 1
getz19
★☆☆☆☆ (1.2/5.0)(2 votes)
A great card in a casual deck with dark rituals (or even just Culling the Weak or Cabal Ritual). Also good in reanimator decks.
But without FLYING, the Baron is a bigger threat than him.
omniszron
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Very evocative skill. I played him at my last sealed PTQ and he came out to play 3 times. I won two of the games easily. In the other one though, my opponent blasted my whole board with spot removal and left a kicked Gatekeeper of Malakir for Kalitas. As for the rules on the tokens - the M10 rules differ with the previous ones. It used to be that the owner of a token was the person who controlled the ability that put it into play. Unfortunately it caused confusion when people played hunted creatures (like Hunted Troll) and then used Warp World. So they changed it to the more intuitive rule that a token's owner is the player under who's control the token came into play.
Yes, Dark Rituals in a vampire deck with vamps like Child of Night, Vampire Nighthawk, and Malakir Bloodwitch to keep you alive until Kalitas can splooge out the lesser vamps.
AbyssalManZero
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
A bit exspensive-- But worth it XD
I mean, he's fun to use, and add in a set of dark rituals and you can drop him by fifth turn easy, don't seem too bad.
Gezus82
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I would prefer if he had the ability to steal you opponents creatures and turn them into black vampires. It would be nice to keep whatever ability instead of just getting a vanilla hulk.
I mean it's not like its an unheard of ability:Soul Collector,
its also kind of disappointing that the "Whenever a creature dealt damage by this creature this turn is put into a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature" died as soon as vamps were made tribal.
I almost prefer my tribal vamp with Mephidross Vampire and other random black cards than this new zendikar crap
JaxsonBateman
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(3 votes)
I'd be interested to see how this would pan out in limited. On the one hand, it's a huge win condition which will give you total board dominance given how little spot removal there is, but on the other its a turn 7 drop at best unless you ramp with green, and by that stage the game may be reaching its end already.
StreamHopper
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I play a vampire deck, and couldn't afford Vampire Nocturnus. So I settled for one of these. Nice trump card to look forward to getting, but I've only been able to play him once. I'd say he was worth it though. With all the creature destruction though, he won't stay out very long without a whispersilk cloak.
darkfury
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(4 votes)
turn 8 is too late to start on a good board position, but it is perfect to turn a good one into a spectacular one
ChampionofSquee
★★☆☆☆ (2.4/5.0)(6 votes)
I have him in a three colored deck and he works perfectly. its Black Green and White so i have a lot of mana generators and a lot of overall mana. In combination with feast of blood he is great... i played a friend and got out Kalitas before he could summon his first creature. After that i won the game because whenever he summoned a creature i killed it and got a copy. Considering that he got out 2 Dominus Of Fealty and i killed both with minimal effort, i would say that he is the best card in my deck. Also, in response to whoever said that Nissa's chosen owns him... don't use his effect on Nissa's chosen. if they only have Nissa's chosen out then you really shouldn't be worried and if they have other creatures out then use his effect on them until they only have Nissa's chosen left.
Htoth3izzO
★★★☆☆ (3.1/5.0)(6 votes)
how the FRICK did you get out Kalitas before they had a single creature?!? your friend must suck..
Demonic_Angel13
★☆☆☆☆ (1.9/5.0)(4 votes)
This guy and Bloodghast work good together. Attack with Bloodghast, kill it, get a token then play a land. You could also use Kalastria Highborn for some cool life gain/loss effects.
klauth
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(5 votes)
Kalitas gets a good 3.5 out of me especially if you can get him out early
although I have a hard time understanding his ability flavor especially when it comes to other black creatures i.e. turning zombies/skeletons/spirits into vampires
yes people, Kalitas turns "BRAAAAAAAINSSSSS!!" into "I vant to suck yer vlood!!"
PaladinOfSunhome
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(3 votes)
This card is aweosme. You get to distroy any creature for just BBB and get a Vampire equal to the ditroyed creatures P/T. This is a deadly card.
4.0
psyklone
★★☆☆☆ (2.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Didn't this guy star as the villian in Star Trek: Nemesis?
Looks EXACTLY the same.
EvilCleavage
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Wow, if you use him in a regen deck and put two or four of these, You could destroy and regenerate creatures all day. Get some untap spells or an artifact to do the trick.
Alpha_Zenith
★★☆☆☆ (2.7/5.0)(5 votes)
A lot more valuable against Eldrazi creatures, and with standard slowing down.
OpenSeasonNoobs
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(5 votes)
Too high on the mana curve to ever work efficiently. Drana does his job of creature controlling one million times better and turns into a monster truck of damage, Nirkana Revenant should be sucking up all of the mana she is spewing out herself, so Kalitas ends up being one of the wort end game picks for vamps. Besides, your Vampire Nocturnis should have ended the game with your BloodghastVampire Nighthalk army long before you could ever generate 7 mana to drop this useless cow. No reason to ever include him over any other end game, he provides a slight board advantage, but paying 10 mana just to steal a creature? That just has bad written all over it. Use your mana on better things.
Sironos
★★★★☆ (4.6/5.0)(7 votes)
What is so hard to understand about his ability flavour?
He is a vampire, and he turns his victims into vampires, it's the most basic, common, well known folk lore about vampires.
He rocks, he makes the process of killing your opponents strongest creatures and raising them to serve you a whole lot shorter, it's a doom bolt; rise from the grave (vampire style) all packed in a 3mana cost (the 2 spells would cost 7 mana combined) creature ability that also works on blacks and can be cast each round!
GOD DAMN I want this one for my vamp deck!
He can even steal Eldrazi!
5 stars!
IshubarashI
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(6 votes)
Why are so many people close minded about this card just because it's a vampire? Let me remind you, you can play vampire creatures outside of a vampire deck. Throw this guy into a regular monoblack or part black deck and he works out great, ability gives a good advantage, and he can be thrown out very early thanks to eldrazi tokens
achilleselbow
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
From the comments it looks like some people are misunderstanding this card. You don't destroy your own creatures. You destroy your opponent's creatures and you get the tokens. Another example of a high mana cost creature with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
iamjohn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(6 votes)
Horrible card that doesn't work till the design team realized their mistake and added a ruling online,as well as being a Timmy card that could see limited play.
id give it 0 stars if I could but I can't
donjohnson
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(4 votes)
Awesome Creature. Not sure why a few folks here dont seem to get how good it is....not a tourney card, I'd think...but casual its a killer. I have him in a deck with 4x Powerstone, 1x Sol Ring and 4x Thran Dynamo, so hes coming out pretty soon most of the time. turn 5 or so. But hes basically just removal in the deck I have him in because the deck is more about ripping the opponents deck to sheds (removing their cards from the game in mass). Seems like a deck could be built around him and Visara pretty easily.
btw. if youre not getting him out and using him till turn 8, your deck is too slow. Accelerate...
Pandapwnium
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This Vampire is a very good end gamer EXCEPT against decks like blue black or blue white control decks since of cost, and isnt great against a no creature burn deck, but TAKING someones creature, adding it to your army of vampires as a VAMPIRE is a great effect against green or red fatties. Don't forget eldrazi or creatures with great effects.
@EvilCleavage His effect says that the creature must enter the graveyard, not regenerate.
@Open Season Noobs You arn't paying 10 for stealing a creature, you are paying 7 then paying three every turn for a creature stealin' machine.
Clavat99
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Throw down Blade of the Bloodchief on this guy and he gets +2/+2 everytime he uses his ability. So not only is he getting massive very fast, you also get a token equal to whatever you killed. I dont know about anyone else but i think its a win/win right there lol
I run him in my vampires and I've dropped him on turn 3 without a problem. Turn 1, Swamp, Tap, Guul Draz Vampire, end. (next turn) Swamp, tap 2, Demonic Tutor to get Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet to my hand, swing for 1, end. (3rd turn) Swamp, Tap 3, cast 2 Dark Ritual, drop Kalitas. I did that just to drive one of my friends insane. Otherwise, I would've snagged out my Nirkana Revenant i had in hand turn 2.
On a more related note, Just 3 Black and Tap him to kill anything and essentially make a copy of it on your side of the battlefield? Pretty damn good. His cost to get out is a tad high, but Nirkana Revenant takes care of almost all large cost issues in black, especially monoblack. Seeing as I'm running 4 Revenant, I'm actually debating on tossing in my Staff of Domination to actually have more of a way of abusing her mana production. All-in-all, solid card. I'd give it a 4/5.
Hell-oGR
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Great card!It is pure vampire power!The cost of course is high but this black guy truly deserves it.
Shadoflaam
★★★☆☆ (3.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Okay, first off, I am a hardcore Vampires player. Seriously, I traded half my rares (Progenitus, Iona, etc.) for a Nocturnus when it was legal and I was stupid. I love Vampires. And, flavor-wise, I love this card. He is the consummate "turn into Vampires" card, and is a beautiful addition to many decks. The problem?
He's a terrible Vampire.
Don't get me wrong, I do like him. But seriously? 7 for a 5/5? Vampires have already won or lost by turn 5, and if you miss a second land drop you scoop! I wouldn't be whining like this if I thought he was unfix-able, but he can clearly be fixed by making him a 2/2 for 5, effectively taking the place of a Bloodwitch! Even a 1/1 for 5 would be decent (maybe not, though, he might need flying), if not as flavorful. So, the lesson? Don't put him in Vampires. There are probably other decks you can use him in, or if you want to try Vamps EDH, he might do okay as a general!
Bottom line: 4/5, but 1/5 as a vampire.
frommerman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
made more interesting with the inclusion of necrotic ooze. I would love to have this ability on turn 5 or earlier with a {g} {b} deck.
supershawn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I don't understand why people who play black would be putting this out on turn 8... dark rituals aside I would have this baby out turn 4-5. then he starts destroying ANYTHING and putting a creature of irrelivant strenth onto my side of the field as well... turn eight my ass!
As a person running a mono-black Vamp deck with all the trappings, this boy is pure GOLD. Keep 3 mana open and ensure that big scary isn't looking at you. Oh and you still have 3 mana open at the end of your turn because you didn't need to instant speed respond? Blow up the biggest creature on the field anyway, just for kicks. And get yourself a vamp token out of it.
5/5
StealthShadow
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
A powerhouse for Vampire decks, and he has that brutal kill ability. Not as incredible as Avatar of Woe's, but is still a massive threat when it hits the field. 4.5/5
hedronMatrix
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I love him cuz turn 4, you could use the ability with Necrotic Ooze. You could even get this ability with Necrotic Ooze turn 2 Turn 1: Swamp + Dark Ritual + Entomb, search for Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet Turn 2: Swamp + Dark Ritual + Necrotic Ooze Turn 3: Kill a creature and keep it Turn 4:??? Turn 5: Profit
hubbcapp
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy is one hell of a beast in a mono-black vampire EDH deck, especially as a general.
As long as you tutor for your Cabal Coffers, you should be able to cast him surprisingly early in a good deck. Then, from there, he is killer board control. Think of him as a token generator, though, because the best part is the magic he can work with a Bloodline Keeper, especially when he transforms (which really won't take long at all with those two out.
Get out Anowon, the Ruin Sage and from that point on, you have the table. The rest of the very short game is dodging removal while you slam enemies with all your huge vampires. Bonus points if you drop in a Butcher of Malakir just for the lulz.
With all the death that should be happening if you play your cards right, the new Blood Artist is a fun addition, letting you slowly drain people. He's one of the many reasons I love playing a Plague Wind.
TheDementiaBat
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(1 vote)
@ Htoth3izzO
Ever heard of control?
Cygore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I see a lot of discontent for this guy, which I think of its wrong. This guy isn't good for an aggressive deck, but he is good for control. Just run one or two of him just incase you've been having a hard time landing the killing blow to your opponent. Drop this guy out and it won't be long before your opponent has nothing left.
Goatllama
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A well designed mythic with a very effective and flavorful ability. However, my favorite part about Kalitas is the art. The view from behind him is really effective for some reason, perhaps it gives the impression of a giant bat.
Smoke_Stack
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I find the lack of flying disturbing for 7 mana but the ability is awesome. Still feel like Olivia outclasses him but I'd play him in mono-black.
majinara
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Hmm... What I don't like about guys like these is: you spend a lot of mana, you have a guy with a high power and toughness around, and then you can't attack, because you want to use the tap ability.
I like it more when it's done on the invasion dragon cycle, where you get large expensive creatures, and you get their special abilities to trigger when they deal damage.
Pick15
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It was a sad day when Surrakar Marauder was first pickable over this. Dammit Zendikar draft. D:
Continue
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
, : Turn target creature into your vampire slave. Sweet.
NissasChosen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@ jaxsonbateman and every single other person saying anything about him coming out too late "unless you ramp with green" or get a Dark Ritual or two:
odds are that in mono-black, or even splashing another color, a good chunk of these cards are easily playable in your deck. I've personally see him in Anowon, the Ruin Sage EDH, and he's decent there, but I can only imagine the terror he'd wreak in mono-black Reanimator with Bog Witch and Beacon of Unrest.
"I kill your threat, get a token as big as it was, then bring it back on my side of the field" or "I kill your threat, get a token as big as it was, then bring back the bigger threat I just discarded to make the mana to kill your threat."
O0oze
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
with the new legendary rule, it can kill your opponent's kalitas and gain control of it! amazing card. only 4.5, for costing 7 (although less than that would be too broken).
Comments (54)
@Imura:
Unless stated otherwise by the card text, a permanent enters the battlefield under the control of the player who controlled the ability that put it there. So in other words, it works exactly as expected.
In casual you can ritual into this guy on turn 5, though you may want to wait a little longer to exhaust your opponents removal.
I found this guy gets owned by nissa's chosen though. Not in graveyard = no token. Same thing with the blade of the bloodchief.
Also good in reanimator decks.
But without FLYING, the Baron is a bigger threat than him.
As for the rules on the tokens - the M10 rules differ with the previous ones. It used to be that the owner of a token was the person who controlled the ability that put it into play. Unfortunately it caused confusion when people played hunted creatures (like Hunted Troll) and then used Warp World. So they changed it to the more intuitive rule that a token's owner is the player under who's control the token came into play.
I mean, he's fun to use, and add in a set of dark rituals and you can drop him by fifth turn easy, don't seem too bad.
I mean it's not like its an unheard of ability:Soul Collector,
its also kind of disappointing that the "Whenever a creature dealt damage by this creature this turn is put into a graveyard, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature" died as soon as vamps were made tribal.
I almost prefer my tribal vamp with Mephidross Vampire and other random black cards than this new zendikar crap
although I have a hard time understanding his ability flavor especially when it comes to other black creatures i.e. turning zombies/skeletons/spirits into vampires
yes people, Kalitas turns "BRAAAAAAAINSSSSS!!" into "I vant to suck yer vlood!!"
4.0
Looks EXACTLY the same.
He is a vampire, and he turns his victims into vampires, it's the most basic, common, well known folk lore about vampires.
He rocks, he makes the process of killing your opponents strongest creatures and raising them to serve you a whole lot shorter, it's a doom bolt; rise from the grave (vampire style) all packed in a 3mana cost (the 2 spells would cost 7 mana combined) creature ability that also works on blacks and can be cast each round!
GOD DAMN I want this one for my vamp deck!
He can even steal Eldrazi!
5 stars!
id give it 0 stars if I could but I can't
Not sure why a few folks here dont seem to get how good it is....not a tourney card, I'd think...but casual its a killer.
I have him in a deck with 4x Powerstone, 1x Sol Ring and 4x Thran Dynamo, so hes coming out pretty soon most of the time. turn 5 or so.
But hes basically just removal in the deck I have him in because the deck is more about ripping the opponents deck to sheds (removing their cards from the game in mass).
Seems like a deck could be built around him and Visara pretty easily.
btw. if youre not getting him out and using him till turn 8, your deck is too slow. Accelerate...
@EvilCleavage His effect says that the creature must enter the graveyard, not regenerate.
@Open Season Noobs You arn't paying 10 for stealing a creature, you are paying 7 then paying three every turn for a creature stealin' machine.
On a more related note, Just 3 Black and Tap him to kill anything and essentially make a copy of it on your side of the battlefield? Pretty damn good. His cost to get out is a tad high, but Nirkana Revenant takes care of almost all large cost issues in black, especially monoblack. Seeing as I'm running 4 Revenant, I'm actually debating on tossing in my Staff of Domination to actually have more of a way of abusing her mana production. All-in-all, solid card. I'd give it a 4/5.
He's a terrible Vampire.
Don't get me wrong, I do like him. But seriously? 7 for a 5/5? Vampires have already won or lost by turn 5, and if you miss a second land drop you scoop! I wouldn't be whining like this if I thought he was unfix-able, but he can clearly be fixed by making him a 2/2 for 5, effectively taking the place of a Bloodwitch! Even a 1/1 for 5 would be decent (maybe not, though, he might need flying), if not as flavorful. So, the lesson? Don't put him in Vampires. There are probably other decks you can use him in, or if you want to try Vamps EDH, he might do okay as a general!
Bottom line: 4/5, but 1/5 as a vampire.
dark rituals aside I would have this baby out turn 4-5.
then he starts destroying ANYTHING and putting a creature of irrelivant strenth onto my side of the field as well...
turn eight my ass!
As a person running a mono-black Vamp deck with all the trappings, this boy is pure GOLD. Keep 3 mana open and ensure that big scary isn't looking at you. Oh and you still have 3 mana open at the end of your turn because you didn't need to instant speed respond? Blow up the biggest creature on the field anyway, just for kicks. And get yourself a vamp token out of it.
5/5
Turn 1: Swamp + Dark Ritual + Entomb, search for Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
Turn 2: Swamp + Dark Ritual + Necrotic Ooze
Turn 3: Kill a creature and keep it
Turn 4:???
Turn 5: Profit
As long as you tutor for your Cabal Coffers, you should be able to cast him surprisingly early in a good deck. Then, from there, he is killer board control. Think of him as a token generator, though, because the best part is the magic he can work with a Bloodline Keeper, especially when he transforms (which really won't take long at all with those two out.
Get out Anowon, the Ruin Sage and from that point on, you have the table. The rest of the very short game is dodging removal while you slam enemies with all your huge vampires. Bonus points if you drop in a Butcher of Malakir just for the lulz.
With all the death that should be happening if you play your cards right, the new Blood Artist is a fun addition, letting you slowly drain people. He's one of the many reasons I love playing a Plague Wind.
Ever heard of control?
I like it more when it's done on the invasion dragon cycle, where you get large expensive creatures, and you get their special abilities to trigger when they deal damage.
Cabal Coffers
Magus of the Coffers
Cabal Ritual
Crypt Ghast
Nirkana Revenant
Extraplanar Lens
Gauntlet of Power
Liliana of the Dark Realms
Bog Witch
Caged Sun
Priest of Yawgmoth
Lake of the Dead
Culling the Weak
Gilded Lotus
Thran Dynamo
or
Reanimate
Life//Death(Death)
Animate Dead
Dance with the Dead
Zombify
Rise from the Grave
Exhume
Beacon of Unrest
Dread Return
Unburial Rites
Vigor Mortis
odds are that in mono-black, or even splashing another color, a good chunk of these cards are easily playable in your deck. I've personally see him in Anowon, the Ruin Sage EDH, and he's decent there, but I can only imagine the terror he'd wreak in mono-black Reanimator with Bog Witch and Beacon of Unrest.
"I kill your threat, get a token as big as it was, then bring it back on my side of the field"
or
"I kill your threat, get a token as big as it was, then bring back the bigger threat I just discarded to make the mana to kill your threat."
amazing card. only 4.5, for costing 7 (although less than that would be too broken).