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Pojo's Magic The Gathering
Card of the Day

Daily Since November 2001!

Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Image from Wizards.com

Top 10 Cards of 2013

#4 -
Blood Baron of Vizkopa
- Dragon's Maze

Reviewed December 30, 2013

Constructed: 4.17
Casual: 4.44
Limited: 4.75
Multiplayer: 4.60

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale:
1 being the worst.  3 - average.  5 is the highest rating

Click here to see all of our 
Card of the Day Reviews 

BMoor

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

Protection from a color is always a pretty sweet ability, as it's both evasion and an active defense against removal spells. The Baron has protection from two colors-- the two that have the most removal spells between them-- in a multicolor block where seven out of ten guilds have one color or the other in them. Lifelink also means that you'll be generating an advantage with every attack even if your opponent has something that can block it. A 4/4 with evasion and lifelink, that's as hard to kill as the Baron, would be an excellent play for 3WB even without its last ability. Once that triggers, there's really no hope left for your opponent.

Constructed- 4.5
Casual- 4.75
Limited- 4.9
Multiplayer- 4.9


David Fanany

Player since 1995

Blood Baron of Vizkopa

I know it's probably not reasonable to expect complete consistency in creature types between visits to a setting years apart, but I feel that the recent revisits did raise some questions they haven't addressed at all. Where were the Phyrexian Sliths and Atogs? And where were all these Orzhov vampires back when Teysa first visited Utvara? Perhaps they were hoping that all the powerful cards in those sets would overshadow the questions - Blood Baron of Vizkopa is certainly very powerful. He follows in the footsteps of the original Ghost Council card, by giving Orzhov decks a control card and a finisher in the form of a creature that's very hard to deal with.

The most eye-catching part of this card's rules text is certainly the part where it becomes a 10/10 flyer, and although it looks excessive, I think it's actually intended more for multiplayer. That sort of boost helps you come back if you've become a target for some reason, and it helps you become a major threat if someone else is close to being eliminated from the game.

Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5

Michael "Maikeruu" Pierno

The number four card of the year is Blood Baron of Vizkopa which is a five mana White and Black 4/4 vampire with Lifelink, protection from White and Black, plus gets +6/+6 and Flying while you have thirty or more life and an opponent has ten or less. The last effect is can shorten the game by two attacks by itself, which isn't bad in a vacuum and is likely to at least partially occur relatively often. The real standout points are the 5/5 body with two very relevant protections with a bonus of Lifelink. Getting past a very popular combination, either Orzhov or Black/White tokens, and many removal options gives this enough potential to appear in multiple formats. Multiplayer in particular, but Constructed could easily run this as a finisher or sideboard response.

In Limited this is an easy first pick on the way to an Orzhov build and can seriously threaten seven of the ten guilds. There's no real drawback to a five mana 4/4 with Lifelink either and if the final effect is enabled the game is likely to be over.

Constructed: 4.0
Casual: 4.0
Limited: 5.0
Multiplayer: 4.5


Skid Rambo

Blood Baron of Vizkopa is another creature that I hired to be part of my Sanguine Bond deck. If you play Standard, then you should either love or hate the Blood Baron. This vampire is a nightmare match up against Black & White decks. There are a lot of players out there that rely on direct kill spells and Blood Baron of Vizkopa is protected from most of those spells. If you play Commander, then you should know that the Blood Baron is one of the most dangerous creatures in that format. Overall, Blood Baron of Vizkopa is one of the best, if not the best Vampire ever made. I would be up for that argument any day!

Constructed: 4
Casual: 5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 5


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