I really liked thoughtpicker witch during triple Ravnica... but you could use her aggressively. I'm not sure how I feel about this, especially with damage no longer using the stack. I suspect that excellent players will use this card ingeniously in some decks at some times. The rest of us will leave it in our sideboards and not really miss it.
Mode
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
I think this card is currently underrated.
Getting the option to sacrifice a creature with no further cost to a one-drop can already be pretty handy.
While you boost Carrion Feeder by saccing creatures to it,
you can get topdecking control with this guy instead. And this Vampire Wizard can also serve as a chump blocker, as opposed to our fellow Zombie.
UltimaCenturion
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
Yay for sac engine. :> With the right cards (Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker) there is lots of ways to abuse this. :>
hansjoerg
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
This turned out quite useful in limited at the prerelease. Even if your pool doesn't provide for combo potential, you still get a free scry whenever you chump block, play an Arc Runner or an Act of Treason, or your opponent plays a removal.
Probably not good in constructed, though.
Tinkerermcmuffin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I played a mainly black deck with a splash of red at the prerelease and was surprised with how it comboes so well with cards in the set.
Act of Treason let me scry while attacking with and killing their best creature, and Reassembling Skeleton helped me for a great mid game search engine (i scried like 3 times a turn when there was nothing to do at end of their turn).
Mephastopheles
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
This combined with Deathrender and a pair of Cadaver Imps or similar allows you to put any card on top of your library, for free. Might be useful for new extended? Combine it with a Deathgreeter or Soul Warden, and you get infinite life into the bargain.
EDIT: The idea is, you equip the Imp with the sword and sacrifice it to Viscera Seer to scry one, then use the sword's ability to put the second Imp onto the battlefield, returning the first to your hand. Repeat until you find the card you're looking for. You could even finish off with an Elvish Seer to actually draw that card.
PolarisDeNexum
★★★★☆ (4.7/5.0)(3 votes)
This card is specially useful with Sun Titan and Roc Egg allowing you to look the top card and play a 3/3 flier again and again.
Mesmerist
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Although it probably isn't constructed material this guy can work quite well in limited formats. Use Viscera Seer to sac a chump blocker, an attacker that's going to fall victim to combat shennanigans and manipulate your top deck to bounceback next turn. As mentioned before Viscera Seer+Reassembling Skeletons can be used to scry through a large portion of your deck increasing the chances of drawing what you need when you need it.
Selez
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Play it in limited, it's amazing there.
Standard play?? I think this guy may actually have a good shot. With Bloodthrone Vamp, Vamp Aristocrat, Scarland Thrinax and Jinxed Idol as cheap ways to sac creatures (not only do they all cost three or less but the sac effect requires NO MANA) in addition to Sarkhan the Mad, as well as many ways to gain control of creatures like Act of Treason, Mark of Mutiny, Traitorous Instinct, Slave of Bolas and Conquering Masticore this may see play... We'll have to see if decks remain creature oriented.
Cards that'll cycle out with Scars: Slave of Bolas, Scarland Thrinax, and Vamp Aristocrat. Nothing to worry about, so if this deck doesn't work in today's standard, it may during Scars'.
Kankui
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
If you sac an Eldrazi spawn, does the vampire get scry and also the mana from the spawn?"
Ugh...the flavour text...WHY?!?! Can be good in the right deck, bare minimum he lets you scry whenever something gets bolted etc. Flavour text is almost as bad as Renegade Doppelganger. I miss the good days of flavour text.. Obliterate and Flame Javelin come to mind.
Nicol_Nocturnus
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(3 votes)
Wow! I use this card all the time! I only have one though, wish I had another one. I use this while I two Blade of the Bloodchiefs equiped to Vampire Nighthawk or a Butcher of Malakir so that I scry 1, my opponent has to sac a creature and Butcher gets +8/8.
Chamale
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(1 vote)
I say this is currently underrated at 2.9. This thing single-handedly stops my Corrupted Consciences from being useful in Standard. It also lets the controller scry whenever one of his creatures would be destroyed in combat - highly useful in a Dark Tutelage deck.
Biggles
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
can be useful for sacrificing monsters that get mind controlled or domesticated, plus you get a free scry out of it.
not amazing but still quite handy.
Sterling_Archer
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
He's a big part of the Kalastria, Bloodghast, combo, plus has synergies with Dark Tutelage, he is definitely an important vamp.
Enemy_Tricolor
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(5 votes)
This card is a wonderful object lesson in "don't knock it till you've tried it". I pulled like ten of these and thought they were garbage, then I decided to try out a B/R Vampires deck with this guy. My opinion has changed greatly.
SparkleTiger
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
I don't think people see that this guy is used in Type 2 Vamps as a pretty potent finisher. With Kalastria Highborn in play, you have a free sac outlet to "B: 2 damage to target player". With Vampires you can pretty easily get an opponent down to 10 by turn 5. On turn 5 five, sac five vampires and spent BBBBB to finish the job. Or the ability, once again with Kalastria Highborn in play, to sac your Vamps and make a 4-point life swing instead of having them destroyed by cards like Lightning Bolt and Dismember.
Outside of a deck with cards like Kalastria Highborn, yeah this guy is pretty crap. But look at his potential within a Vampire deck. There are loads of cards that suck pretty hard stand-alone, but work great within the right deck. That's Magic: The Gathering for you. If every card rocked no matter what the circumstances, no one would have to build decks using an ounce of creativity. I like that Magic requires creativity and it makes the game fun for me and many others. Cards like Baneslayer Angel beg to differ, but let's face it, cards like that are OP and no fun.
Paleopaladin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
This has been a 3 of or 4 of in several vampire decks at the championship level (and strangely enough, Vampire Nighthawk usually ISN'T). We're missing something here with it being rated 2.9.
EDIT: I've since playtested this as a 4x in a deck that also has 4 x Bloodghast. When you get enough of the Bloodghasts out, this thing starts acting like a Vampiric Tutor. Add Kalastria Highborn for offense and either Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir for board control as others here have said and it just gets insane. DEFINITELY under-rated!
4/5 at LEAST!
Shadoflaam
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
@krazypunk: Yes. Everyone. Then they found out about CawGo.
Totema
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not bad as a sac engine. I like his low cost too. Black doesn't usually get enough of stuff like this these days.
JumajMajdzi
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
BEST. FLAVOUR TEXT. EVER.
IExorI
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
5 stars for using him with kokusho in EDH :) o im going to gain shit ton lfe and scry 1, o I don't like this land ill get my next card, pretty good synergy if you ask me :)
RunedServitor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It doesn't make sense that he can eviscerate himself and learn anything from it, but it's cool that he can.
Vogie
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Flavor text would've been better as:
"In matters of life and death, he trusts your guts."
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
An easily overlooked card that is mediocre unless you realize he's almost as good as free card filtering. Whenever you're going to lose a creature you instead improve the value of your draw and prevent whatever other detrimental effects the kill spell would've caused.
Free sac outlets are often decent, and this one has a blue effect in black; quite handy. 3.5.
Also not that there are only a handle of 1 drop free-sac outlets, this guy is one who can also chump if need be. Carrion Feeder is usually better, but the scry effect is quite good.
Shadow_of_the_Sun
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Very good, even if only because it's a sac engine that helps a few combos go infinite.
Araes
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This is currently the only 1 cmc sac outlet with no additional cost in modern. To have infinites go off on curve he is vital. As a bonus, he improves your draws and allows you to tutor for anything you want as long as your creature can survive the sac, which is what the infinites are based on anyhow.
Jitteryowl
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Totally not abusable in the least as a sac engine. Nope, not at all.
Alchemix
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
How is this rated 3.1 stars when it is THE go-to sac outlet for Melira Pod, easily the most successful deck in the format?
You can pod Dryad Arbor into it. You can pod it into Melira, Voice, Wall of Roots, Spellskite, and Qasali Pridemage. It's reusable, and even if you aren't going infinite, you can scry your way up to whatever you need. Didn't draw a Pod but the hand was filled with persist dudes? Viscera Seer has your back.
SiamKor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
A way to turn this into a tutor for any card you want (though a complicated one, that requires two enchantments and a 0-cost creature):
Sac the 0-cost creature for Scry 1. Resolve the Mortuary trigger first to put the sacrificed creature on top, resolve the Fecundity trigger after to draw that creature. Cast for 0. Repeat as needed. You can even reverse the triggers at the end to draw the card you found.
You should probably be tutoring for Goblin Bombardment, to repeat the loop for infinite damage. Or alternatively, for Altar of Dementia - though you better be using a Memnite for the loop. :)
Assuming you found one of those, reversed the triggers and have the mana, you cast your win condition, sac Viscera Seer for 1 damage / 1 mill, draw a card first (the 0-cost creature from before) and then put the Seer on top, cast the 0-cost creature, and you're set to win in that same turn.
(Of course, you should just use Enlightened Tutor to get the 0-cost creature and /or the win-con enchantment or artifact and use Enduring Renewal for the loop instead.)
Comments (33)
Getting the option to sacrifice a creature with no further cost to a one-drop can already be pretty handy.
While you boost Carrion Feeder by saccing creatures to it,
you can get topdecking control with this guy instead. And this Vampire Wizard can also serve as a chump blocker, as opposed to our fellow Zombie.
With the right cards (Shirei, Shizo's Caretaker) there is lots of ways to abuse this. :>
Probably not good in constructed, though.
Act of Treason let me scry while attacking with and killing their best creature, and Reassembling Skeleton helped me for a great mid game search engine (i scried like 3 times a turn when there was nothing to do at end of their turn).
EDIT: The idea is, you equip the Imp with the sword and sacrifice it to Viscera Seer to scry one, then use the sword's ability to put the second Imp onto the battlefield, returning the first to your hand. Repeat until you find the card you're looking for. You could even finish off with an Elvish Seer to actually draw that card.
Standard play?? I think this guy may actually have a good shot. With Bloodthrone Vamp, Vamp Aristocrat, Scarland Thrinax and Jinxed Idol as cheap ways to sac creatures (not only do they all cost three or less but the sac effect requires NO MANA) in addition to Sarkhan the Mad, as well as many ways to gain control of creatures like Act of Treason, Mark of Mutiny, Traitorous Instinct, Slave of Bolas and Conquering Masticore this may see play... We'll have to see if decks remain creature oriented.
Cards that'll cycle out with Scars: Slave of Bolas, Scarland Thrinax, and Vamp Aristocrat. Nothing to worry about, so if this deck doesn't work in today's standard, it may during Scars'.
Or if you had a Bloodthrone Vampire out, would it boost both of them?
Does you know?
not amazing but still quite handy.
Outside of a deck with cards like Kalastria Highborn, yeah this guy is pretty crap. But look at his potential within a Vampire deck. There are loads of cards that suck pretty hard stand-alone, but work great within the right deck. That's Magic: The Gathering for you. If every card rocked no matter what the circumstances, no one would have to build decks using an ounce of creativity. I like that Magic requires creativity and it makes the game fun for me and many others. Cards like Baneslayer Angel beg to differ, but let's face it, cards like that are OP and no fun.
EDIT: I've since playtested this as a 4x in a deck that also has 4 x Bloodghast. When you get enough of the Bloodghasts out, this thing starts acting like a Vampiric Tutor. Add Kalastria Highborn for offense and either Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir for board control as others here have said and it just gets insane. DEFINITELY under-rated!
4/5 at LEAST!
o im going to gain shit ton lfe and scry 1, o I don't like this land ill get my next card, pretty good synergy if you ask me :)
"In matters of life and death, he trusts your guts."
Free sac outlets are often decent, and this one has a blue effect in black; quite handy. 3.5.
Also not that there are only a handle of 1 drop free-sac outlets, this guy is one who can also chump if need be. Carrion Feeder is usually better, but the scry effect is quite good.
You can pod Dryad Arbor into it. You can pod it into Melira, Voice, Wall of Roots, Spellskite, and Qasali Pridemage. It's reusable, and even if you aren't going infinite, you can scry your way up to whatever you need. Didn't draw a Pod but the hand was filled with persist dudes? Viscera Seer has your back.
Mortuary + Fecundity + Any one creature that costs 0 mana.
Sac the 0-cost creature for Scry 1. Resolve the Mortuary trigger first to put the sacrificed creature on top, resolve the Fecundity trigger after to draw that creature. Cast for 0. Repeat as needed. You can even reverse the triggers at the end to draw the card you found.
You should probably be tutoring for Goblin Bombardment, to repeat the loop for infinite damage. Or alternatively, for Altar of Dementia - though you better be using a Memnite for the loop. :)
Assuming you found one of those, reversed the triggers and have the mana, you cast your win condition, sac Viscera Seer for 1 damage / 1 mill, draw a card first (the 0-cost creature from before) and then put the Seer on top, cast the 0-cost creature, and you're set to win in that same turn.
(Of course, you should just use Enlightened Tutor to get the 0-cost creature and /or the win-con enchantment or artifact and use Enduring Renewal for the loop instead.)