Sorin, Vampire Lord MTG Card

Mana cost
Converted mana cost	6
Rarity	Mythic
Type	Legendary Planeswalker — Sorin
Released	2019-07-12
Set symbol
Set name	Core Set 2020
Set code	M20
Loyalty	4
Number	290
Frame	2015
Layout	Normal
Border	Black
Illustred by	Chris Rallis

Key Takeaways

Sorin provides significant card advantage, ensuring players have options throughout the game.
Resource acceleration through Sorin allows bypassing high mana costs for creature resurrection.
Pairing Sorin with instant speed cards creates opportunities for powerful board impacts.

Text of card

+1: Up to one target creature gets +2/+0 until end of turn. −2: Sorin, Vampire Lord deals 4 damage to any target. You gain 4 life. −8: Until end of turn, each Vampire you control gains ": Gain control of target creature."

Card Pros

Card Advantage: Sorin, Vampire Lord shines in providing card advantage with his abilities to draw cards or reanimate creatures from the graveyard. This can tip the scales in your favor, ensuring you always have options at your fingertips.

Resource Acceleration: Sorin offers robust resource acceleration by enabling you to cheat mana costs. Through his unique reanimating skills, you can return a high-cost creature to the battlefield, bypassing its original mana cost and propelling your board state forward with efficiency.

Instant Speed: While Sorin, Vampire Lord himself doesn’t operate at instant speed, he synergizes well with instant speed cards. Deploy Sorin and immediately affect the board before passing the turn, or hold up mana for instant speed interaction, knowing Sorin can rebuild your presence swiftly.

Card Cons

Discard Requirement: Sorin, Vampire Lord requires specific sacrifices or discard actions which can be detrimental when your options are already depleted or when your hand is crucial for upcoming moves.

Specific Mana Cost: His casting cost demands a precise combination of mana types, which can occasionally challenge players to incorporate him seamlessly into multi-color decks without hindering their mana curve.

Comparatively High Mana Cost: Although Sorin is a powerful planeswalker, his loyalty abilities come at a high mana cost compared to other planeswalkers or spells offering similar levels of board impact, thereby requiring strategic planning to utilize effectively.

Reasons to Include in Your Collection

Versatility: Sorin, Vampire Lord can seamlessly adapt to various deck styles, lending itself particularly well to decks that capitalize on vampire synergies and life manipulation strategies.

Combo Potential: This planeswalker can augment existing combos with its abilities to both control the board and bolster your life total, integrating well with cards that thrive on life changes or benefit from having a high-powered vampire on the field.

Meta-Relevance: Considering the changing dynamics of the game, Sorin, Vampire Lord remains a relevant addition, providing resilience against aggressive match-ups where its ability to generate vampire tokens and sway life totals can be game-changing.

How to beat

Confronted with Sorin, Vampire Lord on the opposite side of the battlefield is a challenge many players face. Understanding the dynamics of this formidable card is crucial to outmaneuver it in your games. The key to countering Sorin, Vampire Lord is to tackle its ability to control the board by creating and empowering vampire creatures. Focus on removing these threats as they appear by utilizing targeted removal spells such as Path to Exile or board wipes like Damnation, which disrupt the opponent’s strategy and diminish Sorin’s influence on the game.

Another tactic is to prevent it from resolving in the first place. Counterspells like Negate or Dovin’s Veto can be instrumental in this approach, keeping your opponent’s game plan in check. It’s also beneficial to apply pressure early in the game. Aggressive strategies can force a Sorin player to use resources defensively, thereby reducing the likelihood of them stabilizing the board with Sorin’s powerful abilities. Always be aware of the pace of the match; accelerating your plan can often outpace a Sorin deck’s capacity to build up a commanding presence.

Maintaining control over the game’s tempo and recognizing when to shift gears from reactive to proactive plays will greatly enhance your chances against Sorin, Vampire Lord, making your path to victory clearer.

Cards like Sorin, Vampire Lord

Sorin, Vampire Lord brings a unique blend of abilities to Magic: The Gathering decks centered around vampire themes. Mirroring his capabilities, cards such as Sorin Markov spotlight their own method of manipulating life totals, a hallmark of Sorin Planeswalker cards. While Sorin Markov sets an opponent’s life total to 10, Sorin, Vampire Lord offers a more gradual path to dominance through creature control and buffing vampire strengths.

Vampiric abilities are further explored with cards like Drana, Liberator of Malakir. Drana offers an attack-phase advantage by powering up your team with every connection she makes with the opponent. Though Drana lacks the sweeping influence of Sorin, Vampire Lord’s -3 ability to destroy creatures, she remains a firm favorite in aggressive vampire decks. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is another closely related card that bolsters vampire tribes by summoning them or giving them lifelink. Where Sorin, Vampire Lord demands a heftier mana investment, the Imperious Bloodlord can swing the tide early on in the game.

Comparing Sorin, Vampire Lord to its counterparts, it stands out for its balanced approach to power, control, and tribal synergy, solidifying its place as a card of choice for nuanced and strategically layered vampire deck builds in Magic: The Gathering.

Drana, Liberator of Malakir - MTG Card versions

Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord - MTG Card versions

Where to buy

If you're looking to purchase Sorin, Vampire Lord MTG card by a specific set like Core Set 2020, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.

For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.

Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.

Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Sorin, Vampire Lord and other MTG cards:

Continue exploring other sealed products in Amazon
See MTG Products

Legalities

Magic the Gathering formats where Sorin, Vampire Lord has restrictions

Format	Legality
Historicbrawl	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Commander	Legal
Modern	Legal
Vintage	Legal
Duel	Legal
Explorer	Legal
Penny	Legal
Timeless	Legal

Rules and information

The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Sorin, Vampire Lord card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.

Date	Text
2019-07-12	If the chosen target is an illegal target by the time Sorin’s second ability tries to resolve, the ability doesn’t resolve. You won’t gain 4 life.
2019-07-12	The control-change effect from ability granted by Sorin’s last ability lasts indefinitely. It doesn’t wear off during the cleanup step, and it doesn’t expire if Sorin or a Vampire whose ability was activated leaves the battlefield. In a multiplayer game, it does expire if you leave the game.