Magic: The Gathering released the hounds in September, unleashing card packs of werewolves in its Innistrad: Midnight Hunt expansion. Now the trading card game’s next Gothic horror-themed expansion is on its way to celebrate another classic creature of the night: Vampires.
Innistrad: Crimson Vow introduces 267 new cards to Magic, with its lore focusing on Vampire Planeswalker Sorin’s attempts to stop an evil vampire wedding. It looks as though this is more of a power and politics issue than a forbidden love one, but I’m still holding out hope for a vampiric recreation of The Graduate.
In the lead up to Innistrad: Crimson Vow’s release, Mashable can exclusively reveal a new card arriving in this expansion: Blood Hypnotist.
Credit: Wizards of the Coast
Blood Hypnotist is an Uncommon 3/3 Red Vampire Creature that costs three mana to play, including one Red. Unfortunately she can’t block, so this big tiddy goth girlfriend alone will contribute absolutely nothing to your defense when your opponent attacks you.
Rather, Blood Hypnotist’s strength lies in offence, demonstrating her worth through her activated ability: “Whenever you sacrifice one or more Blood tokens, target creature can’t block this turn. This ability triggers only once each turn.”
‘Magic: The Gathering’ unleashes werewolves in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Blood tokens are a new mechanic in Innistrad: Crimson Vow, and can be gained through other cards’ abilities. Sacrifice a Blood token and discard a card, and you can draw another card from your deck — a useful tool if there’s nothing in your hand that might alleviate your immediate predicament.
Blood Hypnotist adds an extra boon whenever you sacrifice a Blood token, allowing you to select any creature and prevent them from blocking attacks for the current turn. You can only choose one creature regardless of how many Blood tokens you sacrifice, but it still puts a valuable hole in your enemy’s defence. If you’re strategic with your choice, you could force an opponent to choose between using other creatures as meat shields or taking a hit to their life points.
Of course, you’ll want to make sure Blood Hypnotist is accompanied by cards that generate Blood tokens, so this bloodsucker isn’t a great candidate for slipping into the decks you already have. But if you want to build a new Vampire-themed Crimson Vow set, she’s certainly one to consider.
Credit: Jason A. Engle / WIZARDS OF THE COAST
Credit: WIZARDS OF THE COAST
Magic: The Gathering‘s Innistrad: Crimson Vow set arrives Nov. 19.
