"Malakir Bloodwitch" is a 4/4 black vampire shaman printed as a rare for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Zendikar." This is an example on how Zendikar is promoting the theme of vampires. With cards like Malakir Bloodwitch printed, many may create black standard decks built around vampires. For many reasons, the Malakir Bloodwitch seems to be a good card to use for one of those kind of decks.

The converted mana cost for the Malakir Bloodwitch is five. You will need two black mana and three colorless mana to play the Malakir Bloodwitch from your hand onto the battlefield. For what the Malakir Bloodwitch can do, five mana is very reasonable enough for the most part. Just be sure to have plenty of vampires on hand before bringing out the Malakir Bloodwitch.

What does Malakir Bloodwitch do in the first place?

The first ability of the Malakir Bloodwitch is that it has Flying. Flying creatures let alone those that are 4/4 are great to have. Should you attack with Malakir Bloodwitch and your opponents neither have creatures with Flying or Reach, s/he is taking four points of combat damage. Until your opponent has creatures with Flying or Reach, you can swipe off four points of life from him/her for a number of turns. But, that is not the only ability of the Malakir Bloodwitch.

The second ability is that Malakir Bloodwitch has Protection from White. If your opponent has a white deck, you can constantly attack with Malakir Bloodwitch. Your opponent cannot do anything about it. In the current standard format, your opponent would have to play "Day of Judgment." In an extended format, an opponent would have to play "Wrath of God." If an opponent attacks with a white creature, you can go ahead and block with the Malakir Bloodwitch.

The main ability is quite interesting for the most part. This is effective if you have enough vampires on the battlefield. When Malakir Bloodwitch enters the battlefield, your opponents lose life points equal to the number of vampires on the battlefield. If there are six vampires on the battlefield, your opponents lose six points of life each. You gain that many life points in return.

The third ability is possibly the best one that the Malakir Bloodwitch can offer. You can take away opponents' life points and use that for yourself. In a sense, this is similar to the main ability of "Kokusho, the Evening Star." In a standard format, you can combine this with "Sanguine Bond" from "Magic 2010." As Sanguine Bond is on the battlefield, you can make a target opponent lose life points as you gain life points. In an extended format, you can add in "Wound Reflection" which doubles the amount of life points your opponents lose.

Overall, the Malakir Bloodwitch is a pretty decent card for the most part. In standard play, it is highly likely it would receive a lot of play in black decks. In extended, it probably will get a lot of play in vampire decks. If you are planning to build a black let alone a vampire deck, then Malakir Bloodwitch seems to be a card worth using.

Learn more about this author, Can Tran.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Magic the Gathering card analysis: Malakir Bloodwitch?
We want to hear your view. Write now!