by Can Tran

Created on: November 09, 2009   Last Updated: January 23, 2010

"Vampire Hexmage" is a 2/1 black vampire shaman printed as an uncommon for the Magic the Gathering expansion set known as "Zendikar." From the looks of Vampire Hexmage, it is an example on how the Zendikar expansion set is promoting the classic theme of vampires. If you are building a vampire deck, the Vampire Hexmage is something that is worth looking into for the most part. With this said, Vampire Hexmage could be a good card in any control deck with vampires. This can neutralize many cards on the battlefield.

The converted mana cost for Vampire Hexmage is two. You are going to need two black mana to bring Vampire Hexmage from your hand and onto the battlefield. For what the Vampire Hexmage can do, the converted mana cost is well worth it for the most part. The main ability makes the Vampire Hexmage a very handy card to have if you are going up against opponents with cards that have counters on them.

What does Vampire Hexmage do in the first place?

The first ability of Vampire Hexmage would be First Strike. If the Vampire Hexmage is blocking or is blocked, it will be the first to deal combat damage. If the other creature gets sent to the graveyard in the process, it does not deal damage back to the Vampire Hexmage. However, that does not apply to other creatures with First Strike or creatures with Double Strike.

The main ability allows you to sacrifice Vampire Hexmage. Doing so allows you to remove all counters from a target permanent. If you look at the words "counters" and "permanent," you can target any permanent with any sort of counters on it. Because of this, you could get much use out of Vampire Hexmage. In regards to some of the various cards in Zendikar, Vampire Hexmage comes incredibly handy for the most part.

One such example would be the "Quest" and "Ascension" enchantments. Against cards such as "Bloodchief Ascension," "Archmage Ascension," or "Luminarch Ascension," Vampire Hexmage can be sacrificed. Quest counters would be removed from those enchantments. It forces the controllers of those enchantments to start over again.

Vampire Hexmage can even be used against the legendary creature "Ob Nixilis, the Fallen." Ob Nixilis has an interesting Landfall ability which lets the controller put three +1/+1 counters on it every time s/he plays a land onto the battlefield. As the opponent is busy dropping lands to build up those +1/+1 counters, you can simply play Ob Nixilis. This can even work against "Jenara, Asura of War."

If your opponent has

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