The Legion of Dusk grows in power within Magic: The Gathering Commander through the Lost Caverns of Ixalan Blood Rites Precon, featuring two commanders and eight new Rare cards.
Vampires have a soft spot in my heart, especially in the colors WB (White and Black). A return to the plane of Ixalan provided MTG devs an opportunity to build upon Mono-White and BW Vampires legal to play in Eternal formats.
Commanding the Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCC) Blood Rites Precon is Clavileño, First of the Blessed, a Vampire Cleric tapping into demonic power from Aclazotz. And slotted in as a secondary commander was Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher, a Vampire Soldier able to reanimate permanents back to the battlefield.
The new MTG Rare Blood Rites Commander cards from Lost Caverns of Ixalan
In addition to the Vampire typal Commander deck, WotC dropped three other Precon builds focused on other creature types seen on the plane of Ixalan: Merfolk, Pirates, and Dinosaurs.
Clavileño, First of the Blessed
Clavileño, First of the Blessed is a unique commander for the Blood Rites Precon in that upon attacking, another Vampire becomes a Demon. And when that converted vampire dies, it creates a tapped 4/3 BW token Vampire Demon with Flying.
Only one Vampire can get converted into a Demon per attack, which is a significant downside to Clavileño, First of the Blessed. The Legendary is cheap to cast at 1WB, but Clavileño’s 2/2 baseline stats leave the vampire vulnerable to a wider range of removal.
Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher
Clavileño, First of the Blessed is a fine commander but I prefer Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher, the alternate commander within the Blood Rites Commander deck. The Vampire Soldier synergizes with Aristocrat WB themes of sacrificing your stuff, scaling in power, and toughness whenever any player sacrifices a permanent.
Carmen Cruel Skymarcher costs 3WB for a 2/2 body. But the Legendary’s cost is worth it as Carmen will likely increase in power on the turn the soldier enters the battlefield. And when Carmen Cruel Skymarcher attacks, you get to return a sacrificial lamb from the graveyard to the battlefield as long as the permanent has a mana value less than or equal to Carmen’s power.
Elenda’s Hierophant
Synergizing with life gain is the three-drop Mono-White Vampire Cleric, Elenda’s Hierophant. The Rare creature has Flying with 1/1 stats but scales +1/+1 counters every time you gain life.
Elenda’s Hierophant is a must-have in a deck that gains massive amounts of life and the Vampire Cleric continues to have value when it dies, creating “X” 1/1 tokens, where “X” is Elenda’s Hierophant’s power.
Master of Dark Rites
Spinning off Dark Ritual is Master of Dark Rites, a one-drop that produces three Black mana upon tapping and sacrificing a creature. The Dark Ritual ability is always a nice form of ramp in Black, especially within builds that rely upon sacrifice strategies to succeed. Master of Dark Rites is a cute play on the ability but lacks any real value as a one-drop creature.
Redemption Choir
Using the MTG mechanic Coven to reanimate is Redemption Choir. The four-drop Mono-White Vampire Cleric has Lifelink on a 3/3 body, which is fine, but not great for double-pip White four-cost. When Coven triggers, Redemption Choir is a good card, and when it doesn’t it could trigger feels-bad moments instead.
Charismatic Conqueror
Potentially the best Mono-White Vampire in the LCI Blood Rites Commander Precon is Charismatic Conqueror. The two-drop has Vigilance and 2/2 stats. It’s Charismatic Conqueror’s ability where the Vampire’s value is at, though.
Disrupting board states upon ETB, Charismatic Conqueror forces opponents to have their Artifacts or creatures come in tapped or trigger a 1/1 token with Lifelink under your control. The soldier is a pesty two-drop that opponents will want to remove as soon as possible.
March of the Canonized
March of the Canonized is a Mono-White Enchantment that uses the Devotion keyword mechanic to gain additional value on a Rare that is worth including in a variety of Commander decks. The Enchantment is a solid way to recover after a board wipe, especially when the Devotion requirements are met, building out a go-wide board each turn with 4/3 tokens with Flying.
Dusk Legion Sergeant
Presenting a twist on sacrifice themes through the MTG mechanic Persist is Dusk Legion Sergeant. The two-drop 2/2 Vampire Soldier with Menace is fine as a body. Its activated ability, however, can protect another Vampire.
In the right deck, it can prompt death triggers twice. I’m not sure Blood Rites is the best Commander deck for Dusk Legion Sergeant, but I will be testing it out in an Aristocrat deck with Teysa Karlov and Elas il-Kor, Sadistic Pilgrim.
Promise of Aclazotz
Slotting right into Vampire BW sacrifice decks is Promise of Aclazotz. The Enchantment is a two-drop Adventure with a Sorcery spell called Foul Rebirth at the cost of 2B. Getting a 4/3 token with Flying in exchange for a cheap Vampire that can get reanimated is a solid deal, especially with death and ETB triggers. Foul Rebirth alone putting in an Aristocrat deck.
Promise of Aclazotz is a solid early drop that can get the ETB triggers flowing, or keep them flowing after casting Foul Rebirth through the MTG mechanic Populate.
Order of Sacred Dusk
Using the MTG mechanic Convoke, Order of Sacred Dusk slots into an aggressive Vampire Commander build that can cheat the eight-drop out early. The Vampire Knight also has Exalted which can come in handy. I’m more interested in playing it early with Flying, Lifelink, and Haste.
