Lorwyn’s First Vampire Is an Ability-Copying Boros Commander

Last updated on December 12, 2025

Kirol, Attentive First-Year | Illustration by Evyn Fong

First a new elf commander, now a new vampire commander? Oh, be still my beating heart!

The Lorwyn Eclipsed story has been kind to people eagerly awaiting spoilers for next year's opening set, and Episode 5 delivered with another new legendary creature, this time a RW vampire from Strixhaven who's found themselve lost on Lorwyn. It's not as much of a slam-dunk as High Perfect Morcant was on Thursday, but it's still an intriguing card to look at.

Introducing Kirol

My perpetually-online brain immediately went to the Rick Grimes / Carrrrrrl meme here. To be fair, I'm not sure what the pronunciation of “Kirol” is supposed to be, but it definitely reads like Kirrrrrol to me. Anyway, the card:

Kirol, Attentive First-Year is a 3-mana 3/3 hybrid creature that lets you tap some dudes to copy triggered abilities. Note, that's triggered abilities only, not activated abilities, so we've got some classic Strionic Resonator action going on. It's a “once each turn” ability, but it's not limited to your turn only, so a board full of creatures can theoretically copy up to four abilities in one turn cycle.

There's no mana requirement here either, so your only limitations are the number of creatures you control and your ability to produce triggered abilities. Well, also the prospects of a massive crackback if you tap down too many creatures, but we're Boros, we're the aggressors here!

You can copy attack triggers, death triggers, upkeep triggers, and so one. What's especially nice is that creatures can tap themselves along with a partner to double up on their own enters-the-battlefield effects. Just as a basic example, you could cast a Dragon Fodder with Purphoros, God of the Forge in play, and immediately tap those two goblin tokens to squeeze an extra trigger out of your god; summoning sickness doesn't apply to this ability.

Not Your Typical Vampire

Edgar Markov | Illustration by Volkan Baga

Of course, given that we're talking about a Lorwyn set here, people's eyes will inevitably gravitate to the typeline. We say an explosive elf commander just a day ago, there's an entire Commander precon focused on elementals, and we know changelings are making a comeback, so naturally the creature types on these cards will matter quite a bit. Kirol… probably not so much.

Accounting for all four sets in the original Lorwyn block, Kirol's actually the first vampire associated with the plane, due to the fact that they're not really from Lorwyn at all. You can read up on the story yourself, but suffice to say Kirol's not on Arcavios anymore. So being a vampire is probably mostly irrelevant for the purposes of this set, but not for Commander!

This is actually only the third Boros vampire in Magic, after Markov Waltzer and Odric, Blood-Cursed from Innistrad: Crimson Vow. And since we don't acknowlede that Odric's existence and Waltzer White's a throwaway Limited uncommon, it's almost like this is Magic's very first Boros vampire commander!

Of course, Edgar Markov lists everywhere are salivating at the prospect of a new addition to their deck. You can always baseline copy an eminence trigger when you cast your vampires, but how about destroying another creature with Patron of the Vein, or reanimating another permanent with Carmen, Cruel Skymarcher? Or how about losing an additional life on upkeep with Moroii? No wait, don't do that one, and get that blue card out of your Markov deck.

Kirol also just reads like it has infinite combo potential somewhere. Copying anything usually leads to some sort of loop with the right tools. It likely involves blinking Kirol so you can then use its ability again, and there are enough cards in this space that I'm just going to assume there's a 3-card infinite somewhere and let you all figure that out.

This looks like a sweet new addition to the Boros line-up, one that doesn't necessarily force you into an aggressive strategy, but can still work in one as, say, a backup Isshin, Two Heavens as One trigger or an extra Winota, Joiner of Forces enabler. There's a lot of potential here, both with and without other vampires. And yes, it's a cleric too, and might even become playable in non-red cleric decks next year depending on how the ruling on hybrid mana gets handled.