Welcome back. Time to do some catching up with some old friends.
Xilinoc
★★★★☆ (4.1/5.0)(12 votes)
Back in black, I've hit the sack, I've been too long I'm glad to be back.
Yes, I'm let loose From the noose That's kept me hanging about.
I'm looking at the sky 'Cause it's getting me high Forget the hearse 'cause I never die.
I got nine lives Cat's eyes Abusin' every one of them and running wild!
.Blaze.
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I started playing a bit after this came out so I never was able to get a few. This is about to change. The only question now is how good Vampires will become with him back.
DarthParallax
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(7 votes)
He's just like The Master from Buffy the Vampire Slayer! :D
SocialExperiment
★★★★☆ (4.3/5.0)(9 votes)
Hopefully won't get as out of hand as he did last time, since vampires are pretty heavy in Red as well. Still powerful, but shouldn't be as obscene.
You can splash red to get in Stromkirk Captain and Olivia Voldaren without diminishing this guy's effectiveness. One drops are going to be a bit of a problem in standard though. You'll either have to give up on all black or on all vampire.
blindthrall
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I had to settle for second place because of this prick.
mrhardy12
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Innistrad has many cool Vampires, in both black and red. This guy is awesome for MANY Vampire decks.
Pulled one of these at the prerelease, then another the Friday of the official release. I wish I had luck like this more often when it came to good pulls from boosters :)
Hancocky
★★★☆☆ (3.5/5.0)(3 votes)
Bah, another card that is clearly too strong... Also, if it has to be reprinted (sadly), why in this set?! M13 has 3 OTHER vampires, there's no point in that. (Yeah, Innistrad is in T2, but let's go the whole hog, core sets should be geared to the next block)
bry57911
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This guy and Crystal Ball go great together, and even though I know it's wax I still like to imagine it's blood forming around crystal ball.
lorendorky
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
This was much more consistent in Zendikar STD with fetchlands.
@Nolhavent: comparing a planeswalker to a land is hardly fair :P the lands are uncounterable and hard to destroy.
Me: I can't believe they're actually reprinting Vampire Nocturnus My friend: yeah, well, at least he doesn't have Vampire Nighthawk to work with this time Me: ... Me: there's something you should know
Lotsofpoopy
★☆☆☆☆ (1.8/5.0)(4 votes)
The ultimate vampire is back. Vampire decks are looking very good right now especially to pros like me.
Morgaledh
★★☆☆☆ (2.8/5.0)(2 votes)
Got this dude in a booster today, knew exactly where he'd go and how I'd use him. Was a good day.
Nexath_of_Kalastria
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(11 votes)
Me: *taps 4 lands* play Vampire Nocturnus. *topdecks a black card* WHAT A HORRIBLE NIGHT TO HAVE A CURSE.
FrankieGeah
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Two of these attack for 14, that's pretty impressive.
MechaKraken
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Use Grindstone against him and watch how your opponent reacts.
blackaggro
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I regard him as the king of all Vampires for black. This card is the key strength to my black deck. 2 of them on the field and you win everytime if your opponent has no removal.
OrphanerDualscar
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I want that jacket...
Taudisban
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I love the flying flavor of this guy. "Sometimes I'm on a chandelier! Come, my vampire brethren! Chandeliers for all!"
brmajor
★★★☆☆ (3.0/5.0)(1 vote)
Why the low rating? I dont get it. It is the best vampire ..
Voldrin
★★★★★ (5.0/5.0)(2 votes)
@ UncreativeNameMaker If you are really afraid of running Stromkirk Noble in your standard vampire deck, you can now run Shadow Alley Denizen as your one drop. Or run both, like I do. ;)
Lifegainwithbite
★★★★☆ (4.0/5.0)(1 vote)
I don't see all the hype with this card... Lands are colourless. That means about 40% of your deck is not going to trigger his ability, even if you're playing mono black. If you're not playing mono black, he's completely unusable and some of the best vampires are red/black or red (Stromkirk Noble?)
Adderbine
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
@brmajor: I agree that he is an extremely useful vampire, especially in a tribal. However, I must disagree that he is the "best". I play a mono black tribal, and I still do not consider this card to be a game changer. Not quite. After running with 3x Vampire Nocturnus and 3x Bloodline Keeper for a few matches, I ended up switching out one of my Nocturni for another Keeper, making it 2x Nocturnus and 4x Keeper. Once bloodline keeper transforms, the vampire buff is conditionless, and the Lord of Lineage continues to produce additional flying vampires by itself.
I only use two non-fliers in my vampire deck: Shadow Alley Denizen and Blood Artist, aside from Vampire Nocturnus, of course. The rest are flying. As a result, I do not need to rely on the Vampire Nocturnus for flying, and considering top-decking a land grounds the fliers and neutralizes the buff, I simply cannot rely on him to get me out of a jam.
As for the best vampire, I would have to say it's Lord of Lineage, especially in numbers. At least, that's the best I've used, so I'm a little biased.
emlit
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.5/5.0)(1 vote)
<4 rating? Seriously? Such strong hate for such a strong card.
kruggiero
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
Not sure why this is rated so high. This is a decent mono-black Vampire, but in Standard, R/B vampire decks are superior due to Stromkirk Captain, Stromkirk Noble, Vampiric Fury, and Dreadbore. I removed this from my R/B standard deck because it was unreliable - only about 20% of my cards are Black, plus my opponent is seeing what I have coming.
If you're working more in a mono-black modern deck, this becomes usable - but even then, Captivating Vampire is more reliable and cheaper. That said, the bonus is good enough that I generally would include it in any mono-black Vampire deck.
blurrymadness
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
I want to point out the flavor: Vampires are night-creatures, so they become stronger (and flyers apparently) at night. The "black card" on top of your deck represents "night", while any other color represents daytime. Hence the name "Nocturnus" and the nighttime flavor text. Nighttime hits and he and his clique end your life with their buffs.
@MeerkatWarchief Viscera Seer is an okay choice, but do you really want to sacrifice one of your creatures each time you want to change the top card? Ad Nauseum does not work very well with this card. You don't get to see the top card of your deck again until the spell resolves. You can't keep looking at what you're drawing each time, only the first card. It even says in the rules for this card.
This guy is pretty cool though. However, vampire tribal was not as strong in innistrad as it was in zendikar. Bloodghast too good.
As I was playing my friend's Vampire deck with my Merfolk deck today, this card gave me a brilliant idea.
I was down 7 to 20. I had lots of Merfolk tokens out, but they couldn't block any of his beefed up flying Vampires. I was doomed to die the next turn, but I had a brainwave: I played Drowner of Secrets using Seahunter, and tactically milled my opponent so that he always only had a Swamp for the top card of his library.
Judge of Currents and Merfolk Commerce just made it even sadder for my friend, because he only drew lands for the rest of the game, as his Vampires were in smaller numbers than my Merfolk and no longer flying.
Thank you Andrew for a great deck idea. Lantern of Insight will be added to my Merfolk deck for ultimate troll muwahaha
bertuccia32
☆☆☆☆☆ (0.0/5.0)
If the top card of your library is black -- time to *** shit up.
If the top card of your library is NOT black -- quick! Get him while we can!
Comments (40)
Card isn't bad also. 5/5
I've hit the sack,
I've been too long I'm glad to be back.
Yes, I'm let loose
From the noose
That's kept me hanging about.
I'm looking at the sky
'Cause it's getting me high
Forget the hearse 'cause I never die.
I got nine lives
Cat's eyes
Abusin' every one of them and running wild!
Liliana of the Dark Realms might be a reliable replacement
@Nolhavent: comparing a planeswalker to a land is hardly fair :P the lands are uncounterable and hard to destroy.
This guy = Darth Vader
Me: I can't believe they're actually reprinting Vampire Nocturnus
My friend: yeah, well, at least he doesn't have Vampire Nighthawk to work with this time
Me: ...
Me: there's something you should know
*topdecks a black card*
WHAT A
HORRIBLE
NIGHT TO
HAVE A
CURSE.
If you are really afraid of running Stromkirk Noble in your standard vampire deck, you can now run
Shadow Alley Denizen as your one drop. Or run both, like I do. ;)
I only use two non-fliers in my vampire deck: Shadow Alley Denizen and Blood Artist, aside from Vampire Nocturnus, of course. The rest are flying. As a result, I do not need to rely on the Vampire Nocturnus for flying, and considering top-decking a land grounds the fliers and neutralizes the buff, I simply cannot rely on him to get me out of a jam.
As for the best vampire, I would have to say it's Lord of Lineage, especially in numbers. At least, that's the best I've used, so I'm a little biased.
If you're working more in a mono-black modern deck, this becomes usable - but even then, Captivating Vampire is more reliable and cheaper. That said, the bonus is good enough that I generally would include it in any mono-black Vampire deck.
Vampires are night-creatures, so they become stronger (and flyers apparently) at night. The "black card" on top of your deck represents "night", while any other color represents daytime. Hence the name "Nocturnus" and the nighttime flavor text. Nighttime hits and he and his clique end your life with their buffs.
Viscera Seer is an okay choice, but do you really want to sacrifice one of your creatures each time you want to change the top card?
Ad Nauseum does not work very well with this card. You don't get to see the top card of your deck again until the spell resolves. You can't keep looking at what you're drawing each time, only the first card. It even says in the rules for this card.
This guy is pretty cool though. However, vampire tribal was not as strong in innistrad as it was in zendikar. Bloodghast too good.
I was down 7 to 20. I had lots of Merfolk tokens out, but they couldn't block any of his beefed up flying Vampires. I was doomed to die the next turn, but I had a brainwave: I played Drowner of Secrets using Seahunter, and tactically milled my opponent so that he always only had a Swamp for the top card of his library.
Judge of Currents and Merfolk Commerce just made it even sadder for my friend, because he only drew lands for the rest of the game, as his Vampires were in smaller numbers than my Merfolk and no longer flying.
Thank you Andrew for a great deck idea. Lantern of Insight will be added to my Merfolk deck for ultimate troll muwahaha
If the top card of your library is NOT black -- quick! Get him while we can!