Sorin Markov | Illustration by Kieran Yanner
Few planeswalkers capture an emo spirit like Sorin Markov, languishing about the Gothic plane of Innistrad when he’s not planeswalking and brooding over the fate of his home plane. The vampiric planeswalker has incredibly consistent designs and a few winning planeswalkers that represent him.
From token payoffs to card draw engines, Sorin planeswalkers have a classical feel: They provide exactly the long-term advantage you’d expect from a value engine. Are they a little underpowered in the modern climate? Sure. But sometimes it’s nice to lean back with a glass full of a dark liquid that’s definitely wine and enjoy some casual Magic, and these planeswalkers might be the perfect card to start with.
What Are Sorin Planeswalkers in MTG?
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord | Illustration by Martina Fackova
Sorin planeswalkers depict the character Sorin Markov, a vampire planeswalker from Innistrad, and have the Sorin type. Sorin planeswalkers are always black, though the character is often depicted with white for an Orzhov () ‘walker.
Sorin planeswalkers are themed around vampires. They often create vampire tokens, and even when they don’t, they care about lifelink and draining your opponent, mechanics that allude to draining your opponent of blood to strengthen yourself.
#9. Sorin, Vampire Lord
As usual, the Planeswalker Deck planeswalkers are kicked to the bottom of the list. Wizards doesn’t even try to make these good; they’re almost always over-costed and underwhelming. Case in point: A 6-mana planeswalker whose uptick is… a temporary power buff that won’t even help the creature to survive combat or defend Sorin. Sorin, Vampire Lord sucks, which is a shame because the ultimate is a cool payoff for vampire decks. But attached to a planeswalker with such a high cost and mediocre other abilities, it won’t see the dark of night.
#8. Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Sorin, Grim Nemesis just costs 1 or 2 mana too much for modern Magic. The abilities are fine; draining your opponent while drawing cards could be fun in a deck with top-deck manipulation like Scroll Rack and Sensei's Divining Top. But for 6 mana? To draw a card and maybe deal some damage? It doesn’t hold up to more recent 6-mana planeswalkers like The Eternal Wanderer and Chandra, Hope's Beacon, which display the impact a planeswalker with such a high cost needs these days.
#7. Sorin Markov
Whenever the discussion of planeswalkers as commanders come up, players love to point to Sorin Markov as an example of why it wouldn’t work, because it would be so terribly unfair for the 6-mana planeswalker to deal 30 damage to someone—like the 3-mana Vivi Ornitier can’t do that.
Sorin Markov, the first Sorin planeswalker printed back in Zendikar, suffers in a similar was as Sorin, Grim Nemesis: It’s almost 20 years old, and its age shows. It gets the nod over Grim Nemesis because of its extremely achievable ultimate. One uptick and one proliferate trigger, or other means of getting a single counter onto it, and you can activate it the turn after you play it. Not many planeswalkers ultimate that fast.
#6. Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord
Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord is rather small in effect. Giving your team lifelink works well with commanders like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, and this is actually the only card in the game that gives planeswalkers lifelink, which could be cute with Chandra, Awakened Inferno and similar planeswalkers. But the whole card is only okay. This could fit into a mid-power Cube or Battle Box that wants the value of a planeswalker without it warping games, but that seems too niche to recommend the card highly.
#5. Sorin, Solemn Visitor
Sorin, Solemn Visitor plays well with token decks thanks to its buff ability. Like the Vengeful Bloodlord, its abilities are on the weaker side, but it isn’t embarrassing. This is definitely a planeswalker for aggressive decks since it does very little to protect itself; the 2/2 flier and buff are both far better on the offensive.
#4. Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Sorin, Lord of Innistrad inverts the template of Sorin, Solemn Visitor, making tokens on its uptick and a buff on the downtick. The resulting planeswalker is superior. Since we aren’t investing loyalty into the tokens, we’re much freer to use them as sacrifice fodder or chump blockers, breaking away from the aggro-only design (though this Sorin still wants to attack). It also buffs your creatures by making an emblem, which we currently can’t interact with in Magic. If you downtick Sorin, it’s guaranteed to impact the rest of the game, even if it eats a removal spell.
#3. Sorin the Mirthless
Sorin the Mirthless boldly asks what would happen if you gave a planeswalker Dark Confidant’s trigger as an uptick, and the answer is pretty decent. Since the uptick is a may, you don’t have to worry about killing yourself with an unlucky flip, and the vampire token’s lifelink offsets the damage nicely. The card is arguably bland since it rarely does more than sit around, draw cards, and soak up some pressure, but it gets the job done. It works especially well with life loss payoffs like Vilis, Broker of Blood.
#2. Sorin of House Markov / Sorin, Ravenous Neonate
Sorin of House Markov and its flipside, Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, is the Sorin variant that cares most about lifegain. A 2-mana 1/4 with lifelink is an astonishingly good defensive play, especially with extort to add the odd bit of life here and there. In the right Cube matchup, Sorin of House Markov alone is a formidable threat.
Once it flips into Sorin, Ravenous Neonate, you get a fantastic lifegain payoff in the -1 ability, which can deal immense damage. It works particularly well in Commander with cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Debt to the Deathless that gain huge amounts of life due to the multiplayer format. Similarly, one extort trigger in Commander is enough to flip Sorin, which takes much more work in 1v1 formats.
#1. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
Putting the only Sorin to get banned at the top of the list might be cheap, but it’s hard to ignore Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord. Dropping a 3-mana Vein Ripper got it banned in Pioneer, but other formats can exploit it—like Commander.
Part of this card’s power comes from how unlike a planeswalker it feels. Most planeswalkers are useful because they provide a long-term advantage—look at the Sorins that draw a bunch of cards or create tokens to snowball. But this one is incredibly front-loaded because you just want to drop large creatures into play. You get the effect you care about, then have a planeswalker kicking around that your opponents need to deal with.
Sorin Payoffs
The only Sorin payoff that references the planeswalker is Sorin's Guide, a Planeswalker Deck exclusive card that tutors for Sorin, Vampire Lord. It’s every bit as unplayable as its planeswalker; you could even argue it’s worse since making the Guide function forces you to add a second bad card to your deck.
Looking further afield, vampire payoffs work well. Vein Ripper and Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord are obviously a match because of how well they work, but most Sorins make vampire tokens, so cards like Captivating Vampire and Champion of Dusk naturally work with them.
Similarly, most Sorin planeswalkers gain life somewhere, whether it’s directly draining, giving creatures lifelink, making tokens with lifelink, etc., so lifegain payoffs like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose and Exemplar of Light pair nicely with them.
Who Is Sorin Markov?
Sorin Markov is an ancient vampire planeswalker from the plane of Innistrad, forced to become a vampire by his uncle, Edgar Markov. He had a role in sealing the Eldrazi on the plane of Zendikar with the aid of Nahiri, a Zendikar native, and Ugin, a dragon from Dominaria. He also created the angel Avacyn, tasking her with defending humanity on Innistrad from threats such as vampires, which caused a rift between him and his family.
When the Eldrazi became restless on Zendikar, Sorin returned, expecting to find Nahiri and Ugin per their agreement, but he was alone. He allied with Nissa, but ultimately the Eldrazi were unleashed on Zendikar once more and Sorin planeswalked away. He’d go on to confront Tibalt on Innistrad after Avacyn’s disappearance; then would move on to Tarkir, where he freed Ugin from a hedron cocoon to a less than warm welcome. After, Nahiri would summon Emrakul to Innistrad as revenge for Sorin letting the Eldrazi run amok on Zendikar, which would ultimately see Avacyn consumed by madness, forcing Sorin to slay her. The events of Midnight Hunt, the last story to feature Sorin prominently, found him grieving Avacyn and unwilling to help Chandra and her friends to stop Olivia Voldaren from plunging Innistrad into eternal night until he realized it’d destroy the plane, at which point he aided them.
Is Sorin Still Alive?
Yes. The last we saw of Sorin, he was working with the werewolf planeswalker Arlinn Kord to fortify Innistrad against the Phyrexian Invasion during the events of March of the Machine.
Does Sorin Still Have His Spark?
Whether or not Sorin has his spark hasn’t been confirmed. The last we saw of him was a throwaway line about defending Innistrad from Phyrexians. At the very least, we haven’t gotten a legendary creature version of Sorin, with the exception of Sorin of House Markov, but that card depicts Sorin’s spark igniting some 1,000+ years before the present story, not his current status.
What Other Sorin Cards Are There?
Wrap Up
Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord | Illustration by Tommy Arnold
Sorin planeswalkers aren’t always the strongest, but they have a very concise identity that makes them as recognizable as the character himself. I’m impressed with how each iteration expresses similar ideas yet remains distinct, and I hope to see more of Sorin in the future.
Which Sorin planeswalker is your favorite? Do you hope he returns as a planeswalker or a sparkless legendary creature? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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