"The Blood Baron of Vizkopa: Blah blah blah blah"

"I don't talk like that , blah blah blah blah."

"The Blood Baron of Vizkopa: Blah blah blah blah"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. 

     One of the most abusive one drops in EDH is the Serra Ascendant.On turn one it becomes a mighty 6/6 Life linking flyer because your first turn assures that you have met its specific condition.( As long as you have 30 or more life.It gains flying and a +5/+5 stat).EDH lives start at 40 and with the Ascendant in play you get to attack and raise that life total starting on the 2nd turn. Its the reason it has been banned during one on one EDH. However the use of this card continues because of the one-sided advantages that it poses to deliver.

    The card I'm going to talk about today is pretty much an update of the Serra Ascendant and offers you more of the same in the Mid-game.Even More.

    Enter the Blood Baron of Vizkopa who at 3 Generic , 1 black and white mana promises to give your opponents time to pause and look at their hands for a possible answer. 

    A chunkier and better version of Serra Ascendant it promises a lot of beat down because of its +4/+4 body and with Life Link too. Not too mention that its Pro-White and Pro-black so it just passes through creatures with those colors. It also  cancels any spot removal from 2 colors that traditionally have the best removal.

    And like the Ascendant you will most likely meet his Condition as well because lets face it at the early stages of EDH nobody really attacks either because of the fear of politics or that people are just really setting up. The Blood Baron is sure to be an option because he could finish an opponent in one swing. Well , with the 10 life of Less condition for an opponent , the best addition would be another vampire...Sorin Markov. He assures that at least one opponent will have 10 life or less. Having a life total like that just really invites vultures to circle around your head.

   While The Blood Baron is not as easily cast as Serra's Ascendant Orzhov decks already running Sorin Markov / Sorin's Vengeance will find that this vampire already fits in well to the kind of strategy and offers another option when you are unable to get your Sorin's Vengeance.I have such a deck and the Blood Baron is on my want list now. Its going to be a busy week for people updating decks after the release of Dragons Maze.