It sort of looks like she's been equipped, if you know what I mean.
axiobeta
★★☆☆☆ (2.6/5.0)(17 votes)
I'm not confused about the art, I've known what I've seen since I first saw it. You don't grab a dress like that. The dress pushes you like that. I mean wow. That's huge. Teh secret is out Olivia, though somehow I doubt vampire society will care.
Get your minds out of the rotting, body part-filled sewer.
EnV
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(8 votes)
You guys....wow this is worse than the original cover of "The Little Mermaid". And yes her *** is probably larger than 14 inches.
Ximenez
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(6 votes)
I'm just sad this wasn't the art for say ... laboratory maniac. Mourn for the rocky horror references that will never be.
ICEFANG13
★☆☆☆☆ (1.5/5.0)(9 votes)
I lold when I got the pen is jokes floating around
It does look like it though doesn't it?
Gavrilo
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(7 votes)
Olivias Codpiece of Doom, ultimate equipment that will put Jitte, Batterskull and Swords to shame. Coming in Dark Ascension, February 2012.
Lord_of_Tresserhorn
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
Okay, more seriously, run Grixis colors, play Training Ground! :O
DragonicSphinx
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(5 votes)
So THATS how she deals the damage...
Nucleon
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(10 votes)
Make all the dick jokes you want, I'm more focused on the glass of blood. I hope that some sort of Vampire equipment of that comes out.
"What is a man!? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!"
jsttu
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I had a chance to play with her in the pre-release using a red-black midrange aggro/control deck, and not only did i go undefeated, she directly won me 4 games.
Once she is out she can pump herself easily, and take over some of your opponents creatures if she consider's them to be good enough to work for her. She gets out fairly early, and while i didn't run any werewolves she works perfectly with them, giving an amazing manasink without losing any tempo at all. Any werewolves i stole were soon transformed, and great beatings were had by my opponents.
Do not underestimate her due to the weird dress, she is a MUST answer card and a blast to play.
DazeRyuken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My girl in the Prerelease, wiping out wolves left and right. Without her, I wouldn't have made it to Top 2.
Eigma
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(2 votes)
That's simply a great card, though its second effect is pretty exoensive, but wot do u want, it can take control of an emrakul!! All in all a great card, even in its most basic concept: a 3/3 flyer that can kill 1/1 and grow for only 4 mana? Dude, this rocks! (yeah I might be a lil' biased cuz' I got 1 yesterday on the prerelease =D
Smithney
★★★★☆ (4.5/5.0)(9 votes)
Man, she is a Magic version of Swiss knife with low mana cost. Let's see: Solid 3/3 flyer, 1-toughness creature removal, tribal vampifier, vampiric memnarch and self-pump, all in one pack for 2BR. 5/5
My trick with this card is to have a creature that can block all creatures or Lure them. Then have that have it equipped with Wooden Stake. Use her effect to ping the opponent's creatures and Wooden Stake will automatically kill them.
crazytim8854
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
truly powerful vampire that requires immediate removal before she can get online. as people have said, pinger, new age memnarch, etc, but lets not forget a big one. she can ping any creature to pump herself. that includes those big beasties that you just took from your opponent. swing and then pump her by draining non attacking creatures for maximum damage. gets her out of tricky spots. this girl came to play rough, and is very playable, even if you dont take control of their creatures.
i_was_like_you
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
She's not pulling at that dress. I'm guessing it should have been a knee (much the way they claim it's just a knee on Disney's "The Little Mermaid"), but it's as if the artist, Eric Deschamps, forgot that he drew her with her knee up as she was flying when he decided to draw both of her feet dangling.
JaFaR_Ironclad
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
Pity she can't gain control of target Sorin Markov.
Teotanek
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(4 votes)
@Ximenez Yeeeh I wish they had done it, they could have easily done a sort of subtile reference to the movie, just like orcish librarian reads naked lunch.
By the way, she could have costed 5 and would have been a excellent card, still.
TallHobbit
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.6/5.0)(4 votes)
If you have Ovivia Voldaren on the battlefield and the opponent use Doom Blade , will Olivia Voldaren die?
C4rl0wn463
★★★☆☆ (3.7/5.0)(3 votes)
@ TallHobbit: Doom Blade can only target nonblack creatures. Olivia is a black creature. The fact that red is not black does not affect Olivia: She is both black and red.
Also, fun card. But not for me. Hope to trade it away soon =|.
In other news... words actually fail to describe how awesome this card is.
Baconradar
★★☆☆☆ (2.3/5.0)(5 votes)
Eric Deschamps hopefully got a stern talking to for this art flub.
No matter how wizards want to spin it, she is clearly not holding the dress up with that hand. Her knee was there originally and the artist changed it and flubbed.
Hell the second leg that's been added to the lower right is actually transparent if you look closely enough.
Fenizrael
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(2 votes)
If Olivia's ability doesn't damage a creature, does she still get a counter or does it fizzle and nothing happens?
Zoah
★★★☆☆ (3.9/5.0)(7 votes)
Why is everyone so worried about how she's holding her dress? It looks to me like she's pinching it between her thumb and fingers...
Anyway... This is the card that I want to have for this set. I'll never get her for that very reason I'm sure... but I want her in a deck.
001010011100101110
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Memnarch got a reprint outside of special sets?
Oh ho ho, R&D, you can't trick us, Trix are for kids.
OmegaSerris
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(5 votes)
She is an awesome Vamp General. She covers one of the weaknesses of , indestructibility. Rather than praying for a Dismember, I just take it for myself. >:-) A fun thing to put on her, oddly enough, is Wooden Stake and/or Blazing Torch. As you can make their creatures Vamps at instant speed. ;-)
As for the Art debate, check out a time lapse of him creating it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itkvEGMa3Y. The legs were ALWAYS like that, it was the holding of the dress that was added later on. Hopefully, this will redirect the comments back to the actually card and not ill-founded dick jokes.
@Fenizrael It depends. If the target becomes illegal (suddenly gains Pro-, , or non-humans or if the target leaves play) then no. The ability is countered as it has no other legal targets, so none of the clauses of the ability happen. If it damage is simply prevented, than yes. It still becomes a Vamp, and she still gets the counter. What's funny is, for that same reason, when the damage is redirected (Carom, for example). It is the targeted creature, not the one dealt damage, that becomes the vampire.
SkaerKrow
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Heh, "Femnarch." Funny stuff. Good creature to join the Red and Black halves of the Vampire pie in Innistrad. Even outside of that context, she's an excellent card.
MechaKraken
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
This is the new Memnarch. Btw, I wonder if there is a way to turn all creatures on the battlefield into vampires? Much the same as Mycosynth Lattice benefitted Memnarch.
Shadoflaam
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(2 votes)
You are all perverted. I make jokes about every other piece of art I see, and this is definitely a chick-pire. That is just her grabbing the dress. This is one MTG-meme (Storm Crow FTW) I WON'T be participating in.
iamvinia
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
It's like four cards into one. Pay 2: Put a +1/+1 counter on her, AND kill critter or prepare larger one for conversion. Pay 5: Steal your opponents beatstick. Singelhandedly capable of controlling almost whatever your opponent drops, assuming you have some untapped lands. As if all that wasnt enough, she is tribal. With CMC5 I would still vote her 5/5.
Kryptnyt
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
"Oh hi there, Jenara. Didn't mean to one-up you. But no, really. I didn't have to try that hard." -Olivia Voldaren Girls can be so evil sometimes.
BiOhyBr
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Best card in Type 4
Splizer
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(8 votes)
Uuuh, question?....Can she even move her neck in that thing? I don't hate it, its kinda sexy, but egads you can just hide underneath her dress and she wouldn't be able to check if you were there!
How could she even bite anyone if she can't angle her head properly? Just...lean forward? I don't think that busty dress will allow you, Ma'am.
What, sorry? Great card, now lets have a B/G or a B/U Memnarch variant!
Soundblaster1
★★☆☆☆ (2.5/5.0)(2 votes)
Sorin's Bride?
Guest987921114
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I Wonder, If she takes over an attacking creature of my opponent, does it still deal damage to me? I mean, a creature can't attack it's controller, right?
joeah100
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
I only lost one game in a booster draft with this card. Everything else was decided as soon as she hit the table.
MasterOfBearLore
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I picked up a foil one at the prerelease. Great card, but possibly the laziest foil I have ever seen. The only shiny thing in the picture is her wineglass.
Judgemaster_Rolan
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
1R to damage a creature, convert it and make it vulnerable to the other ability if it survives, and a +1/+1 counter...everything else is just icing.
CuriousThing
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
So...that price spike. Wow. Who here was lucky enough to own a playset of these?
UDDO
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
im glad i got my 2 at the prerelease now there going for 15$ each
MakeshiftMage
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I like this card but if Undead Slayer beats Olivia in a race with her to the battlefield, then bam; Undead Slayer for those hard to reach places.
LordofAwesome33
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
She is going to be such a fun and hated General in EDH format. B/R Vamp Control is what I'm thinking.
Edit: I have the deck up and running for now and it works great as an aggro deck with a bit of creature conversion. It's a really pleasing sight when someone puts out a huge creature into play and starts gloating, only to have it stripped away from them the moment it comes into play.
Quibbleflux
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
You know you could just use her first ability over and over again to ping enemy creatures and/or your own (if they have enough toughness) to put counters on her.
deadeye1387
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Easily, 5/5, it outdates both the Prodigal Pyromancer and Mind Control, and is excellent in Vampire tribal decks. And all for a CMC of 4.
Let's hear it for the guys at The Coast!!
Gabriel422
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I looked up the price and literally went WTF because of shock. I seriously thought this would have been a dollar mythic, or at least... in the affordable $3-5 range.
poprockmonster
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(3 votes)
Let's just put it down to science: vampires do not have a beating heart. No beating heart, no blood flowing, no pitching tents. I know this is not how they have been portrayed in popular culture, but that's because certain books and tv shows are more interested in being sexy than being accurate to science. All of you guys n' gals relentlessly insisting it is a woody are either immature or 12 years old, probably the latter. Yes, but of course, the way to turn someone into a vampire is with a massive hip thrust. T_T
Red_Wizard
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Love the card, and I am still trying to figure out how to make one work in a deck that isn't EDH. She's seen play quite a bit thus far, however between her and for some reason Sangromancer, I think the hate is tied.
That said, I have have also tried extensively to see this alleged phallus so many people are going bananas over. Short of photoshopping in one though, I think the notion is little more than childish amusement, akin to saying "Tehee farty poop". I don't necessarily think that she is holding the dress quite right to be holding it up so as not to tread on it, but that is clearly what she is attempting to do. I think the artist did a fantastic job with this piece, and capturing Olivia's suggested personality and tastes.
For those who have not yet seen the video of the process of her painting, do a quick search and I'm sure you can locate it. One poster implied that are some point her leg was supposed to be bent at the knee, however that isn't something that seems to be in any way reflected in the video.
Tezz
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Love the art....... cannot unsee :(
Ferlord
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(2 votes)
I happy. Aren't you all happy? I hope you're happy.
I'm not happy about this card... I mean, what I'm happy about is not about this card per-se, but the whole Vampire tribal in general.
With the ever-expanding popularity of Twilight, I was afraid Wizards would make all the vampires sparkly sissyboys and girls and they'd lose their coolness. Fortunately, except for Captivating Vampire, that hasn't happened (and that's arguable, since he just looks like a creep)
See, things like this is why I love the Magic Universe and playing the game in general: it's still trying to be kind of creative and it's own thing. Obviously, it does take some things from J.R. Tolkien (elves being "one with the nature", dwarves being miners and such, etc.), but so does every type of medieval fantasy game and series.
I'm obviously giving Olivia 5/5 because she's technically a 7-cost recyclable Mind Control with flying, pumping abilities, and only costs 4 CMC.
I have very good luck with getting mythics (the last 24 packs of innistrad I've opened, I've pulled 10 mythics), but I've never touched Olivia yet. Maybe I should go to a few more drafts...
MyrBattlecube
★★★☆☆ (3.3/5.0)(3 votes)
@Gabriel422 Well, the funny part is that she was a $3-5 card a good time before Worlds. Then that crazy guy we all love, Mr. Patrick Chapin, used this to excellent effect at Worlds. One mob-mentality later, she actually costs something.
Anyways, I like to think of this in a slightly different light. Remember how they said something about the art being aimed more towards the women and the, what was the word? Bromosexuals? Something like that? Well, what if Olivia here is a sign showing openness towards the futanari community? It's totally revolutionary, Wizards would be breaking ground here. Publicly accepting the futanari community instead of shooting them weird looks of disgust and anger. I salute you, WotC, for keeping an open mind.
Ertai69
★★★★☆ (4.2/5.0)(6 votes)
The twisted lovechild of Masticore, Memnarch, and Anne Rice, strictly better only than the latter, but often better than all three.
ZeroSheep
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If I have Uncle Istvan out, can I use Olivia's pinging ability on him just to put counters on Olivia? Or will the ability not work at all because he can't be targeted by her?
Ike38
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Can she use the first ability to kill big creature? For example, you pay 6 mana to deal 3 damage to 3/3 flying. I am curious.
Halo_Is_Overrated
★★★☆☆ (3.2/5.0)(5 votes)
Vampires being represented as nobility? Vampire Hunter D, anyone? Love it. Sorry Ferlord, Wotc isn't quite as original as you thought in that regard =/ But nonetheless, I love the art direction for these modern vamps and as someone else pointed out not the bromosexual Twilight BS
Inadvertanly combo'd this with deathbringer thoctar. An EDH opponent played a bunch of 1/1's. Killed one with the Olivia, counter goes on the thoctar, removed a counter from the thoctar, killed another 1/1, machine gunned!!!!!
Lotonoro
★★☆☆☆ (2.0/5.0)(1 vote)
The first ability should be "1R:Olivia Voldaren deals 1 damage to a NON-VAMPIRE creature. That creature becomes a Vampire in addition to its other types. Put a +1/+1 counter on Olivia Voldaren." The user of Olivia should have to decide to either make a creature vampire and never ping it again; or kill it now. It just makes sense. Both flavor wise and power level wise.
OWNdizzaled
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Unreal card with a low CMC, and it combos with Blade of the Bloodchief for 3x +1/+1 counters off of a 1 toughness creature.
5/5
Totema
★★★★☆ (4.8/5.0)(4 votes)
Part of me wishes she has some sort of "history" with Sorin. Wink wink, nudge nudge.
Now as for the card itself... I put her in my Vampire tribal deck because I needed a creature costing 4 that had good presence to back up my mostly-weenie creature base. I thought she would work well based on her abilities in adding to your own army, but was a little worried that the costs of them would be a little prohibitive. In practice, though, I found them fairly usable instead. Having them split in two makes her quite versatile, and you can do quite a lot to make her useful.
Dustsomeday
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(4 votes)
This belongs in all B/R decks, not just vampire tribal decks. Also, this let's me run other non-vampire creatures in my vamp deck and allows them to benefit from things like Lord of Lineage and Stromkirk Captain.
Kasmodian
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Olivia is just brutal, couple her with Stromkirk Captain and your opponent loses control of their big bad creature and it comes bigger and badder than ever... with first strike.
My buddy rocks her in his Vamp deck. I hate her.
PS: she makes Huntmaster of the Fells embarrassed to be a mythic
Triturate
★★☆☆☆ (2.2/5.0)(8 votes)
Have any of you looked at the art closer? That's not her leg she's holding...
i run her in my modern build, and like 90% of the time if i drop olivia, it's game over. she's a one-card wincon, made even nastier by the fact that i run 4 nocturnus and 4 stromkirk captain.
But anyway, the real shocker is I keep thinking of this as a 4/4 for 5 mana, not a 3/3 for 4.
I think decreasing a creature's power and toughness does not necessarily justify decreasing it's mana cost- yes, Red Removal Effectiveness Rating or White Creature Token Fight Rating (how fast can you get what you need to kill this, using either one spell or a multiblock of creatures) are both stats that should care about Power/Toughness and have that influence mana costs....
But there are some times when a creature's non-Toughness qualities ought to justify increasing mana cost. Example- not so much 'what the ability does/how powerful it is', but 'what kind of deck does this'-
Olivia is a creature I want as my Champion to finish up a game I've established Control Over. Like Vengevine. I think both cards are fine ALREADY in slow decks. They each cost 4 mana. Which lets FAST decks have them too. Which I think is a no-no. The most extreme example of this is Tarmogoyf, and Olivia and Vengevine aren't as bad as HIM, but they are skating around the same territory. Creatures that would be just fine for winning slow games at 5 mana, but at cost 4 mana it's STILL the tank you radio in for 'cleanup' duty...but...it gets there, prepared to take on an army, or storm a castle...before the opponent has actually put together that much force.
Baneslayer Angel, may she rot in hell, at least cost 5 mana, so there was a good chance that when she came out, she did at least actually have to fight through something. There at least was going to be a castle to storm. She was still a Tank, and still smashed things pretty good, but the 5-cost Tank is better for The Game (fair) than the 4-cost Tank, because it lets the guy you're invading have about 1 or 2 turns of siege to try to draw into something.
It's especially important for 'Tank' creatures to cost 5, because the Planeswalker Sweet Spot cost is 4:
That means a 5 cost Tank creature will maybe have to fight a 4 cost Sweet Planeswalker, and that's somewhat fair, or you can curve into your 5 cost Tanks from your 4 cost Planeswalkers, and that's awesome but you are tapped out, and 5 and 4 are close enough to each other, with Planeswalkers being better than creatures usually, that they can play with or against each other, and the deckbuilding for either the Attack deck or the Defense deck or the Versatile Deck all gain benefits, problems, and solutions when the Tanks and the Planeswalkers are costed like that. 5 Cost Planeswalkers and 6 Cost Creatures share the same relationship: the Tank/Super Tank Creatures, because they can attack, ought to cost 1 more than the Planeswalkers, whose use tends to be defense/control oriented. Even Ajani, Caller of the Pride or Chandra, the Firebrand are good walls/damage soakers.
I know she's a Mythic. Mythics are supposed to do unusual things. Mythics have begun to fall into a pattern of 'being better than rares' the way Rares are better than Uncommons. For abilities, I'm ok with that. For Power/Toughness per Mana, I'm not. I looked at the set 'Legends', and I actually like a lot of what I saw. I think the best place is a middle ground between 'Legendarily Overcosted' and 'Mythically Undercosted'
Emrakul disproves this *** card! Olivia make me vampire and steals me...***!
handoflazav_414
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
ohoho! awesome. just awesome. got her for my vampire deck. basically it's an innistrad vamp deck that proliferates +1/+1 counters all around for never-ending, blood-sucking, human-mauling fun. three Rakish Heirs, four Stromkirk Captains, and two Vampire Nighthawks make such good combos...
DjVortex
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
The first ruling could just as well be the card's flavor text. "If Olivia Voldaren deals lethal damage to a creature with its first activated ability, that creature will become a Vampire before dying."
drtony828
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Ok, here's my question: let's say i use olivia to take control of a tapped sublime archangel with rancor on it. First, does the subarch untap when it changes hands? If so, can it attack? And lastly, the rancor doesn't change hands too, right? It just goes to the graveyard and then back to its owner's hand, right?
Szalen
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
My favorite card. An elegant one card win-con to feast upon the weak and enslave the strong. A vampiric madwoman, Olivia dear, we love you^^
bloodlinekeeper
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
One of the most underrated legends in my opinion. She kills smaller creatures and takes the bigger ones...and she gets bigger. She should be 4/5 just for that. But she is also an awesome General so 5/5. I may be biased since she is one of my favorite creatures with a flavorful and useful ability.
h8yuns
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
There is nothing not to like about this card. Even its legendery status isn't a drawback as more than one creature on the field with its abilities would be redundant and pointless. She's your control, removal and a 3/3 flyer that actually grows... permanently... as you use her first ability... which is really cheap... just like her casting cost. Good artwork, wonderful flavor and excellent synergy with so much other standard stuff in the same color set. My B/R vamp deck is brutal without her. It's almost unfair with her.
Lifegainwithbite
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@drtony828: The rancor technically still belongs to the person who played it. But it doesn't change targets. So as long as you control that creature, the rancor stays attached to it and therefore helps you. When the creature dies, rancor goes back to it's owner's hand. And no the archangel doesnt untap but it doesnt have summoning sickness so when it does untap, you can attack with it on the same turn.
That one innocent line at the end of the first ability makes Olivia unbelievably deadly. You can use any excess mana to deal damage to creatures and add +1/+1 counters to Olivia. You don't even need to take the creatures, just keep pumping Olivia and killing small creatures. The bigger ones that you really can't deal with and you can't get through, you can take control of but it's not all that necessary.
DacenOctavio
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Against a Thundermaw Hellkite, I didn't have enough mana to yoink the damned thing, so I used the first ability to put a damage on it, and pump Olivia enough so that they traded that turn. It pissed off my opponent.
d43c
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Seriously? 5/5
GhostCounselor
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Oh no, they got Miss Frizzle!
MtG_Perv
★☆☆☆☆ (1.6/5.0)(4 votes)
Her enormous wang obviously has many loyal followers.
Spockawitz92Y
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This hot mama is a beast in commander or any other multiplayer format. A little slow for 1v1, I use her in a counter ramp deck with lots of other vamps and Curse of Stalked Pray and the obvious Stromkirk Captain and Rakish Heircombo. Lots of fun if you have the mana to feed her hunger. Smoken' body either way!, 4/5.
Lueseto
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Playing against this as a Commander is absolutely boring. No way to win.
fate.scion
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(2 votes)
What is her hand resting on if both her feet are sticking straight out the bottom of her dress? I mean, his dress...
Drescale
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Jund players looking for mid-range: Order on eBay. Combos well with expedited shipping.
TJC
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
With the ruling saying whatever you "bite" even if its lethal damage it becomes a vamp..... so for her second ability does that mean you can grab vamps from the graveyard?
applecorn
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@TJC No, the creature would have to be in play, on the battlefield.
@ZeroSheep He can be targeted by a creature, he doesn't have protection. Olivia wouldnot do any damage, but still receive her +1/1.
As for the multitude of perversion, ever thought she's not 'resting' her hand on something? Maybe pulling her dress forward which was rather common as some ladies do when walking, as to not end up stepping on their dress.
Olivia is the card that made me realize that "it dies to removal" IS a drawback, but it does not obsolete the card as long as it's played properly.
Wizards has been making removal spells worse and worse (I mean, after printing path to exile, it's hard to make removal spells better), and the balance between creatures vs noncreatures has slowly been tipping towards creatures over the years. If your opponent has huntmasters and thragtusks and you run just removal spells, you can't win that war. This forces more decks to be honest and play creatures, and run less noncreature stuff that can kill creatures.
What this means is that there will be a point in the game where the opponent won't have any removal spells left. You play more creatures that give immediate value but also present enough of a threat where the opponent is pressured into using his premium removal spells on them. Then if your opponent empties his removal spells, or he fills the board with creatures of his own and thus he didn't have removal in his hand anyway, that's when you slam Olivia, and nothing needs to be said about how an unanswered Olivia will dominate a creature matchup.
Wizards will probably not print a creature as powerful as Olivia for awhile; she is THE best card to have in any midrange creature-based matchup. She obsoletes so many other potential game enders in the same colors (basically the only things that see play in the same colors at roughly the same mana costs are flying haste creatures like thundermaw, because the aggro decks would want haste damage over a grindy creature) that it's not very good for the format.
EotFactorfiction
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Just an insane card. If it survives one turn (it doesn't even need to do that if it's fairly late game) and your opponent has any small creatures at all, they just die. It is one of the strongest draft cards ever printed - it just kills and kills and gets massive.
The card is worst because you're still hoping you peel removal off the top the whole time it's destroying you and yet even if removal arrives, it's mostly too late - it's just killed two or three of your creatures and you have nothing left. I am well glad it's out of standard now. Let's not even talk about draft - it was unbeatable in draft. Luckily you didn't see it much but if anyone got it, they won and won and won.
MortisAngelus
★☆☆☆☆ (1.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I give this card 3.5/5. Its abilities easily makes this 5/5, but because I think she is a bit overpowered I wote her down...
She should need to tap when activating her abilities, because she has one of the cheapest "add +1/+1 counter" out there, and late game with a lot of mana she grows big ridicelously fast.
Another reason why she should have tap for ability is because after she has grown and stolen a creature (like that wasn't enough) she comes at you hitting you with God knows how much damage. With these abilities she makes planeswalkers look like noobs, as the can't combo their abilities as she can.
MisterAction
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
She'll be my next commander. Look at all that utility!
She kills little creatures. She not only steals big creatures, but she turns them into vampires for extra tribal shenanigans. And the whole time, she pumps herself and flies in for a very quick 21-damage kill once everything that could chump her is dead. She just has such synergy with herself. And lord help them if she gets deathtouch.
She'll be hilarious with Anowon, the Ruin Sage. I can't wait until they shrug off his trigger because they have something inconsequential to sacrifice, only for me to say "NOPE! I turn that into a vampire, you gotta sac something else."
Bacon_Businessman
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Have four of her and dark imposter in my deck. Whatever my opponent brings out near end-game: I immediately get rid of. The reaction is normally amusing.
Enelysios
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I play her as an EDH general in a pure vampire tribal deck. She is brutal, but the second ability's "For as long as you control Olivia Voldaren" really evens her out a bit. She is a target like no other so you really need to protect her; if you do, she will carry the game.
The 'unfun' issue isn't as strong in my deck because I adhere only to vampire cards and vampire themed cards. I have some great ones for her in there (Vampiric Tutor, Blade of the Bloodchief, Wooden Stake) but it stops me from just having the best that red and black have to offer.
Even still, if an opponent has a particularly bad start and I get her out before they have anything on the field or an answer? Yeah, its assured victory. If you are having trouble facing her, carry artifact and creature removal. (Artifact because every single player runs equipment to protect their general) Thats just kind of EDH 101.
My group runs enough destruction that she has never been a big issue, she is good but not overpowered. Oh, and the art? Its fantastic, ignore the children. Reminds me of Eyes Wide Shut, which is a bit creepy.
Comments (102)
It sort of looks like she's been equipped, if you know what I mean.
You don't grab a dress like that. The dress pushes you like that. I mean wow. That's huge. Teh secret is out Olivia, though somehow I doubt vampire society will care.
Trans-gender Vamp deck here I come.
Seriously.
She's just pulling on the edge of the dress.
Get your minds out of the rotting, body part-filled sewer.
It does look like it though doesn't it?
"What is a man!? A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk, have at you!"
Once she is out she can pump herself easily, and take over some of your opponents creatures if she consider's them to be good enough to work for her. She gets out fairly early, and while i didn't run any werewolves she works perfectly with them, giving an amazing manasink without losing any tempo at all. Any werewolves i stole were soon transformed, and great beatings were had by my opponents.
Do not underestimate her due to the weird dress, she is a MUST answer card and a blast to play.
Cheap and well costed vampire legend with good abilities
By the way, she could have costed 5 and would have been a excellent card, still.
Also, fun card. But not for me. Hope to trade it away soon =|.
In other news... words actually fail to describe how awesome this card is.
No matter how wizards want to spin it, she is clearly not holding the dress up with that hand. Her knee was there originally and the artist changed it and flubbed.
Hell the second leg that's been added to the lower right is actually transparent if you look closely enough.
Anyway... This is the card that I want to have for this set. I'll never get her for that very reason I'm sure... but I want her in a deck.
Oh ho ho, R&D, you can't trick us, Trix are for kids.
As for the Art debate, check out a time lapse of him creating it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7itkvEGMa3Y. The legs were ALWAYS like that, it was the holding of the dress that was added later on. Hopefully, this will redirect the comments back to the actually card and not ill-founded dick jokes.
@Fenizrael
It depends. If the target becomes illegal (suddenly gains Pro-
Girls can be so evil sometimes.
How could she even bite anyone if she can't angle her head properly? Just...lean forward? I don't think that busty dress will allow you, Ma'am.
What, sorry? Great card, now lets have a B/G or a B/U Memnarch variant!
Edit: I have the deck up and running for now and it works great as an aggro deck with a bit of creature conversion. It's a really pleasing sight when someone puts out a huge creature into play and starts gloating, only to have it stripped away from them the moment it comes into play.
Let's hear it for the guys at The Coast!!
That said, I have have also tried extensively to see this alleged phallus so many people are going bananas over. Short of photoshopping in one though, I think the notion is little more than childish amusement, akin to saying "Tehee farty poop". I don't necessarily think that she is holding the dress quite right to be holding it up so as not to tread on it, but that is clearly what she is attempting to do. I think the artist did a fantastic job with this piece, and capturing Olivia's suggested personality and tastes.
For those who have not yet seen the video of the process of her painting, do a quick search and I'm sure you can locate it. One poster implied that are some point her leg was supposed to be bent at the knee, however that isn't something that seems to be in any way reflected in the video.
I'm not happy about this card... I mean, what I'm happy about is not about this card per-se, but the whole Vampire tribal in general.
With the ever-expanding popularity of Twilight, I was afraid Wizards would make all the vampires sparkly sissyboys and girls and they'd lose their coolness. Fortunately, except for Captivating Vampire, that hasn't happened (and that's arguable, since he just looks like a creep)
One thing that is great about the Vampire tribal is that they are mostly some form of royalty. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see Bloodthrone Vampire, Vampire Aristocrat, Stromkirk Noble, Falkenrath Noble, Bloodlord of Vaasgoth and Rakish Heir. For all I know, I missed a few.
See, things like this is why I love the Magic Universe and playing the game in general: it's still trying to be kind of creative and it's own thing. Obviously, it does take some things from J.R. Tolkien (elves being "one with the nature", dwarves being miners and such, etc.), but so does every type of medieval fantasy game and series.
I'm obviously giving Olivia 5/5 because she's technically a 7-cost recyclable Mind Control with flying, pumping abilities, and only costs 4 CMC.
I have very good luck with getting mythics (the last 24 packs of innistrad I've opened, I've pulled 10 mythics), but I've never touched Olivia yet. Maybe I should go to a few more drafts...
Anyways, I like to think of this in a slightly different light. Remember how they said something about the art being aimed more towards the women and the, what was the word? Bromosexuals? Something like that? Well, what if Olivia here is a sign showing openness towards the futanari community? It's totally revolutionary, Wizards would be breaking ground here. Publicly accepting the futanari community instead of shooting them weird looks of disgust and anger. I salute you, WotC, for keeping an open mind.
The user of Olivia should have to decide to either make a creature vampire and never ping it again; or kill it now.
It just makes sense. Both flavor wise and power level wise.
5/5
Now as for the card itself... I put her in my Vampire tribal deck because I needed a creature costing 4 that had good presence to back up my mostly-weenie creature base. I thought she would work well based on her abilities in adding to your own army, but was a little worried that the costs of them would be a little prohibitive. In practice, though, I found them fairly usable instead. Having them split in two makes her quite versatile, and you can do quite a lot to make her useful.
My buddy rocks her in his Vamp deck. I hate her.
PS: she makes Huntmaster of the Fells embarrassed to be a mythic
But anyway, the real shocker is I keep thinking of this as a 4/4 for 5 mana, not a 3/3 for 4.
I think decreasing a creature's power and toughness does not necessarily justify decreasing it's mana cost- yes, Red Removal Effectiveness Rating or White Creature Token Fight Rating (how fast can you get what you need to kill this, using either one spell or a multiblock of creatures) are both stats that should care about Power/Toughness and have that influence mana costs....
But there are some times when a creature's non-Toughness qualities ought to justify increasing mana cost. Example- not so much 'what the ability does/how powerful it is', but 'what kind of deck does this'-
Olivia is a creature I want as my Champion to finish up a game I've established Control Over. Like Vengevine. I think both cards are fine ALREADY in slow decks. They each cost 4 mana. Which lets FAST decks have them too. Which I think is a no-no. The most extreme example of this is Tarmogoyf, and Olivia and Vengevine aren't as bad as HIM, but they are skating around the same territory. Creatures that would be just fine for winning slow games at 5 mana, but at cost 4 mana it's STILL the tank you radio in for 'cleanup' duty...but...it gets there, prepared to take on an army, or storm a castle...before the opponent has actually put together that much force.
Baneslayer Angel, may she rot in hell, at least cost 5 mana, so there was a good chance that when she came out, she did at least actually have to fight through something. There at least was going to be a castle to storm. She was still a Tank, and still smashed things pretty good, but the 5-cost Tank is better for The Game (fair) than the 4-cost Tank, because it lets the guy you're invading have about 1 or 2 turns of siege to try to draw into something.
It's especially important for 'Tank' creatures to cost 5, because the Planeswalker Sweet Spot cost is 4:
That means a 5 cost Tank creature will maybe have to fight a 4 cost Sweet Planeswalker, and that's somewhat fair, or you can curve into your 5 cost Tanks from your 4 cost Planeswalkers, and that's awesome but you are tapped out, and 5 and 4 are close enough to each other, with Planeswalkers being better than creatures usually, that they can play with or against each other, and the deckbuilding for either the Attack deck or the Defense deck or the Versatile Deck all gain benefits, problems, and solutions when the Tanks and the Planeswalkers are costed like that. 5 Cost Planeswalkers and 6 Cost Creatures share the same relationship: the Tank/Super Tank Creatures, because they can attack, ought to cost 1 more than the Planeswalkers, whose use tends to be defense/control oriented. Even Ajani, Caller of the Pride or Chandra, the Firebrand are good walls/damage soakers.
I know she's a Mythic. Mythics are supposed to do unusual things. Mythics have begun to fall into a pattern of 'being better than rares' the way Rares are better than Uncommons. For abilities, I'm ok with that. For Power/Toughness per Mana, I'm not. I looked at the set 'Legends', and I actually like a lot of what I saw. I think the best place is a middle ground between 'Legendarily Overcosted' and 'Mythically Undercosted'
basically it's an innistrad vamp deck that proliferates +1/+1 counters all around for never-ending, blood-sucking, human-mauling fun.
three Rakish Heirs, four Stromkirk Captains, and two Vampire Nighthawks make such good combos...
"If Olivia Voldaren deals lethal damage to a creature with its first activated ability, that creature will become a Vampire before dying."
That one innocent line at the end of the first ability makes Olivia unbelievably deadly. You can use any excess mana to deal damage to creatures and add +1/+1 counters to Olivia. You don't even need to take the creatures, just keep pumping Olivia and killing small creatures. The bigger ones that you really can't deal with and you can't get through, you can take control of but it's not all that necessary.
No, the creature would have to be in play, on the battlefield.
@ZeroSheep
He can be targeted by a creature, he doesn't have protection. Olivia wouldnot do any damage, but still receive her +1/1.
As for the multitude of perversion, ever thought she's not 'resting' her hand on something? Maybe pulling her dress forward which was rather common as some ladies do when walking, as to not end up stepping on their dress.
Combo with Falkenrath Aristocrat to sac humans you gain control of.
Wizards has been making removal spells worse and worse (I mean, after printing path to exile, it's hard to make removal spells better), and the balance between creatures vs noncreatures has slowly been tipping towards creatures over the years. If your opponent has huntmasters and thragtusks and you run just removal spells, you can't win that war. This forces more decks to be honest and play creatures, and run less noncreature stuff that can kill creatures.
What this means is that there will be a point in the game where the opponent won't have any removal spells left. You play more creatures that give immediate value but also present enough of a threat where the opponent is pressured into using his premium removal spells on them. Then if your opponent empties his removal spells, or he fills the board with creatures of his own and thus he didn't have removal in his hand anyway, that's when you slam Olivia, and nothing needs to be said about how an unanswered Olivia will dominate a creature matchup.
Wizards will probably not print a creature as powerful as Olivia for awhile; she is THE best card to have in any midrange creature-based matchup. She obsoletes so many other potential game enders in the same colors (basically the only things that see play in the same colors at roughly the same mana costs are flying haste creatures like thundermaw, because the aggro decks would want haste damage over a grindy creature) that it's not very good for the format.
The card is worst because you're still hoping you peel removal off the top the whole time it's destroying you and yet even if removal arrives, it's mostly too late - it's just killed two or three of your creatures and you have nothing left. I am well glad it's out of standard now. Let's not even talk about draft - it was unbeatable in draft. Luckily you didn't see it much but if anyone got it, they won and won and won.
She should need to tap when activating her abilities, because she has one of the cheapest "add +1/+1 counter" out there, and late game with a lot of mana she grows big ridicelously fast.
Another reason why she should have tap for ability is because after she has grown and stolen a creature (like that wasn't enough) she comes at you hitting you with God knows how much damage. With these abilities she makes planeswalkers look like noobs, as the can't combo their abilities as she can.
She kills little creatures. She not only steals big creatures, but she turns them into vampires for extra tribal shenanigans. And the whole time, she pumps herself and flies in for a very quick 21-damage kill once everything that could chump her is dead. She just has such synergy with herself. And lord help them if she gets deathtouch.
She'll be hilarious with Anowon, the Ruin Sage. I can't wait until they shrug off his trigger because they have something inconsequential to sacrifice, only for me to say "NOPE! I turn that into a vampire, you gotta sac something else."
Whatever my opponent brings out near end-game: I immediately get rid of.
The reaction is normally amusing.
The 'unfun' issue isn't as strong in my deck because I adhere only to vampire cards and vampire themed cards. I have some great ones for her in there (Vampiric Tutor, Blade of the Bloodchief, Wooden Stake) but it stops me from just having the best that red and black have to offer.
Even still, if an opponent has a particularly bad start and I get her out before they have anything on the field or an answer? Yeah, its assured victory. If you are having trouble facing her, carry artifact and creature removal. (Artifact because every single player runs equipment to protect their general) Thats just kind of EDH 101.
My group runs enough destruction that she has never been a big issue, she is good but not overpowered. Oh, and the art? Its fantastic, ignore the children. Reminds me of Eyes Wide Shut, which is a bit creepy.