Olivia, Crimson Bride – Crimson Vow
Date Reviewed: November 22, 2021
Ratings:
Constructed: 3.25
Casual: 3.83
Limited: 4.67
Multiplayer: 3.33
Commander [EDH]: 3.83
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
David
Fanany
Player
since
1995
Speaking of people who could’ve been bosses in Castlevania games, we’re starting this week with the other half of the ceremony; the bride, though I’m not sure she’s the type to blush. It’s hard to make an absolute statement about Olivia’s efficiency when she could bring along anything from a Vampire Lacerator to an Eldrazi when she attacks, and it’s hard to criticize a six-mana reanimation spell when it effectively grants the target super haste. A 3/4 creature is somewhat solvable, perhaps as a small mercy to opponents, but any opponent who fails to do so is going to fall to her. Very quickly, too.
Constructed: 4/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 4/5
Olivia 3.0 is an interesting enough threat, one that can do a lot of damage on her own. Six mana brings in an evasive, hasty flier that also brings back the dead to do her bidding; you can reanimate your creatures each time she attacks, though their vitality is tied to the legendary Vampires you may or may not have. That particular tether means that other legendary Vampires can be revived with no effective downside, which is quite nice, and a four-toughness creature with evasion does ask for a bit of legwork to bring her down. I think she’ll serve a role as a top-end finisher in Standard Vampire decks for the run of Crimson Vow, since a single swing can represent a massive threat if you, say, bring back her prospective groom, but she’s also a card that needs a bit of build-up to reach her full potential.
Constructed: 3.75
Casual: 4.5
Limited: 5
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 4 (Rakdos Vampire builds won’t mind using her at the helm, though she’s fine in the 99 of other combinations where she’s permitted)
Olivia Crimson Bride
Six mana for a 3/4 flying, haste seems like it’s a bad card but when you get to the meat of the card’s main effect is where this is one of the better vampires ever printed. It has the downside of forcing you to attack in order to use it, by turn 6 your opponent should have some beef out there on the field, but you get to return a target creature from your graveyard tapped and attacking. There are a lot of crazy and cool combo things you can do with that ability. The downside though, and this had to be done in order to make this not really over powered, is that if you don’t control a legendary vampire exile that creature. It doesn’t have to be Olivia (why would you not want it to be though?) but you’ll have to use cards to protect her to keep this going otherwise you’ll be left with an empty battlefield.
She might be too expensive for standard, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a deck built around it where she’s the win condition. Eternal formats your limited to the six mana value causing delays. She shines in limited though, this is your win condition and all the creatures that perished before will come back with a vengeance!
She’s going to be a fun commander. No questions about it. She might not be top tier, but who knows what fun combinations people will find! You could mill yourself, use discard effects on yourself, throw some eldrazi in there. Possibilities are definitely there!
Constructed: 2/5
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 4/5
Commander: 3.5/5
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