Summary
If there’s one character fromBaldur’s Gate 3that has swept players off their feet, it’s Astarion the wickedly charismatic High Elf Vampire. If you’ve been charmed by this day-walking Vampire and find yourself wanting to make aMagic: The GatheringCommander deck with Astarion at the lead, you’ll want to keep these cards in mind.
Much of Astarion’s scenes in Baldur’s Gate 3 follows his journey of self-discovery, learning why he identifies with some of the more evil entities of the world, and keeping himself safe and keeping his ability to walk under the sun. With all this in mind, if you want to build a thematic Commander deck around him, these cards will fit right in.
10Blood Tribute
There’s Always Someone To Pay
In the years after Astarion was given his second life as a vampire, he was subjected to torture from the Vampire that turned him, Cazador. Part of his responsibilities as vampire spawn, Astarion had to tempt other mortal victims to Cazador’s lair, where they would be consumed and used for an evil ritual.
Blood Tribute is a strong and thematic card for an Astarion deck, since he had been forced to deliver fresh victims to Cazador. This spell has your opponent lose half their life total, and kicking it has you gain that much life as well, which can pull double duty with Astarion’s abilities.
9Vampiric Tutor
Put That Vampiric Strength To Use
As a Vampire Spawn, Astarion gained very little from his turning compared to a full Vampire. He has all the weaknesses, like being unable to walk under the sun, and having immense cravings for blood, but the little special illithid tadpole helped to rework him to a stronger version of Vampire.
With all that power, you’ll want to be able to cast whatever spell you want, and Vampiric Tutor does just that. For just one mana you can search your library for any card you want and place it on top of your deck after shuffling. All for the low cost of just two life.
8Commander’s Plate
He’ll Do Anything To Keep Himself Safe
Since being infected with the illithid tadpole, Astarion has found himself in a precarious situation. The tadpole has given Astarion his freedom, even though its development will lead to his eventual demise.
Astarion wants to find a way to keep himself walking in the sun and without becoming a tentacle-faced monster, and what better way than Commander’s Plate? Astarion will get a beefy stat increase, +3/+3, and gain protection from blue, red, and green spells, creatures, and abilities.
7Captivating Vampire
Look Deep Into My Eyes
If there’s one thing that Astarion is good at, it’s seducing others to join him with his vampiric powers. You can bet that after years of helping to turn others into spawns, he knows a thing or two about gaining control of others.
Captivating Vampire lets you put those talents to good use, letting you tap five Vampires you control to permanently gain control of another creature, turning it into a Vampire as well. While he’s at it, Captivating Vampire gives Astarion and your fellow Vampires a bump in power.
6Well Of Lost Dreams
Drink The Pure Blood
Sustaining Astarion and gathering information all in one card, Well of Lost Dreams can help you gain Astarion’s approval by exploiting your opponents and can trigger off of his ability at the end of your turn for an even greater card draw.
With Astarion, his ability lets you gain life equal to the amount of life you’ve already gained. Well of Lost Dreams then lets you dump mana into it to draw cards equal to the amount of mana you spend, up to a max of the amount of life you gained.
5Bolas’s Citadel
Life Is Just Another Resource
You’re going to be gaining life, that’s just a fact with Astaion out and his dual ability. So you might as well put all that extra life to good use with Bolas’s Citadel.
Bolas’s Citadel lets you look at the top card of your deck anytime you like, and gives you the ability to cast that spell by paying life instead of the mana cost of it. If you’re sitting at a healthy amount of life and have a bunch of spells on the top of your deck, you can easily burn through five or six cards practically for free.
4Sorin Markov
A True Vampire Lord
Sometimes Astarion needs a little help from his friends, so why not call in another Vampire to show him how it’s done? Sorin Markov is another vampire who can walk in the daylight, a power given to him by his planeswalker abilities.
Sorin comes loaded with three abilities, one that lets you pick off little creatures while fueling your life gain, and tremendously powerful ability to set your opponent’s life total to 10, and then a mesmerizing ability to gain control of an opponent’s turn. Keep in mind that changing an opponent’s life total with his second ability doesn’t count as a loss of life, so it won’t play into Astarion’s Feed ability.
3Exquisite Blood
Take It All In
There comes a point in every Commander game where you just have to close the game out and Exquisite Blood provides the means to your victory. At just one line of text, this very straightforward card states anytime your opponent loses life, you gain that much life.
With Astarion out, you can turn your opponent’s pain into more life for your self, but pair it with another card, Sanguine Bond, and you can start an infinite loop of life-stealing triggers until you win the game.
2Quietus Spike
A One Hit KO
All it takes is one hit with Astarion, or any creature, equipped with a Quietus Spike to completely remove them from the game. When a creature with Quietus Spike deals combat damage to a player, that player loses half their life, rounded up. Rounded up is key here since it synergizes with Astarion’s Feed ability.
Feed states that an opponent loses life equal to the amount of life they’ve already lost this turn. If an opponent is at 40 life, and takes a hit from Astarion with the Spike equipped, they will lose four life from combat damage, putting them to 36, and then half of that from Quietus Spike, dropping them to 18, for a total of 22 points of life lost. When Astarion’s Feed ability triggers, they’ll lose another 22 life, and taking them out of the game.
1Gray Merchant Of Asphodel
Life And Punishment All In One
One of the premiere black creatures in Commander, Gray Merchant of Asphodel does everything Astarion could want in a Commander game. When it comes into play, each of your opponents loses life equal to your devotion to black, with you gaining life equal to the total among to life lost.
Since you’re gaining life while your opponents are losing life, Gray Merchant lets you pick and choose which of Astarion’s abilities you want to trigger at the end of your turn, either putting your opponents in a precarious situation, or helping you take the lead with a massive surge of health.
When Gray Merchant of Asphodel enters the battlefield, each opponent loses X life, where X is your devotion to black. You gain life equal to the life lost this way. (Each {B} in the mana costs of permanents you control counts toward your devotion to black.)
