"The Dark Impostor"

"Me an unsung hero? nah..."

"The Dark Impostor"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

One of the things that I got in my Avacyn Restored Packs during the Pre-release was a Tamiyo , Moon Sage and the card that I would love to talk about today. The Dark Impostor. While I am not a fan of vampires in general I am a fan of this guy. I never got to play him in the Pre-release because I went with the more Aggressive White Humans with Riders of Gavony and Goldnight Commander leading the way. So this guy went into the pile that did not see any action that night. I have been hearing that his skill was good but it took quite awhile in order to activate it and with a lot of Pillar of Flames making the rounds in the Pre-release it seemed like a waste to have a card that would be easily exiled by a very cheap removal spell. The pre- release ended and it was a thrilling way to spend midnight till Dawn. I forgot about this vampire for awhile.

A few months passed and I was making my Dimir EDH Deck with Circu , Dimir Lobotomist at the helm. He was a card that I would love to play around with. So I looked at the pile of cards in my room (And there are a lot of card pillars in my room because I ran out of binders a long time ago) and one of the things that I saw in these piles was again this 2 Colorless and 1 Black mana vampire that was just begging to be played to show its true worth. I decided that my Dimir Deck would be a Milling one  but I haven't decided on the final roster. I added this creature as an afterthought and it would prove its might in a recent match in our house.

I love Underplayed and Undervalued cards. And this guy has the nifty ability to remove a creature from the game , have a +1/+1 counter put on it as well as that exiled creatures activated abilities. The ability to remove from the game and not just put in a players graveyard negates any positive gain from having an Undying Creature on the Battlefield and was designed to counter the ultra aggressive Vorapede and Strangleroot Geists that littered Standard during that time. For me though Dark Impostor stood out when my friend Mark and I were the last men standing after eliminating our team mates Aj , Nolan and Gino. He was able to eliminate my brother Aj with his aggressive Gruul Deck that had the Legendary Stonebrow giving each attacking creature with +3/+3 so it was no surprise that after eliminating my brother he was gearing up to trample on me as well. Dark Impostor and a lot of mana was the difference. At the end of his turn I was able to exile Stone Brow and another creature for 12 mana. He did the math and at this rate I could exile more creatures faster than they could deal damage to me. He conceded and decided to buy a Dark Impostor as well for his other decks.

It was in the late game where people predicted that this guy would shine and he did so for me. It was one out of many memorable games but it did showcase how one lone creature could hold off a horde of trampling Gruuls. He was the difference and I like cards like that who when given a chance really do shine.