Edgar Markov is the first vampire of Innistrad and founder of the Markov bloodline. Four Magic cards show him or his alternate-reality double: Edgar Markov (2017), Edgar, Charmed Groom (2021), and Edgar, Ancient Bloodlord and Edgar, Moonlit Sovereign (both 2026).
Compiled 28 October 2026
Edgar began as a human alchemist on Innistrad and became the progenitor of its vampires. Per the MTG Wiki, a famine swept the land and the demon Shilgengar convinced him to experiment with blood. Edgar and his sons trapped the angel Marycz in his laboratory and drained her, then built a ritual from a decoction of her blood that made his subjects feed on the blood of other beings. It fed a few and, because the demand for blood also culled the population, reduced the number of hungry mouths.
The conflict runs from Edgar forcing vampirism on Sorin, through Sorin building Avacyn and the Helvault against the vampires’ interests, to a fight on Edgar’s wedding day in Crimson Vow that ends with Sorin sparing him. Edgar has not been killed, and his fate after the wedding is unresolved.
Edgar creates vampirism and forces it on his grandson. The trauma ignites Sorin’s planeswalker spark, and he leaves Innistrad. In Sorin’s Crimson Vow flashback, relatives insist the angel’s blood is for his own good, Edgar declares Innistrad belongs to the Markovs, and Sorin is forced to drink.
“Drink and be eternal.”
After centuries away, Sorin judges that vampires are pushing humanity toward extinction. Edgar dismisses his concerns, so Sorin acts alone. He creates the archangel Avacyn to guard humans and forges the Helvault, a prison, from a piece of the silver moon. Many vampires saw this as a betrayal of their race.
Edgar sleeps for millennia in a crypt under Markov Manor and wakes only briefly. Sorin sometimes wakes him when he needs his counsel.
Olivia Voldaren steals Edgar’s coffin, wakes him and proposes, and he agrees. Sorin tries to stop the wedding, then follows a fleeing Edgar into the sanguitorium.
Edgar opens the fight, then presses it.
“It didn’t have to be this way.” “Do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed for you?”
He breaks Sorin’s wrist and throws him into a vat. Sorin hits back with a pipe and an iron bar. Edgar answers that Sorin never asked for the gift, “that is what makes it a gift”, and drops him into a great pit.
Sorin drinks the blood, heals and climbs out. He finds Edgar fighting Teferi and his companions, and the two duel. Edgar falls and pleads, “Sorin, you have to understand”. Sorin holds a blade to his throat and does not kill him.
“Go. Get out of my sight.”
Edgar flees with Olivia when Arlinn Kord’s wolves corner them. Tovolar catches only the tails of his coat. Asked by the pyromancer if he is all right, Sorin lies and says yes; Teferi tells him he did the right thing.
The two 2012 stories add backstory but no face-to-face scene between them. Both are narrated articles by Doug Beyer, now hosted on mtglore.com because Wizards removed them from its site.
Edgar’s Crimson Vow line “Do you have any idea how much I’ve sacrificed for you?” fits the 2012 account that he wanted agelessness for Sorin too. The stories do not say this themselves.
The two Crimson Vow episodes were read through a page-summary tool, so check the quotes against the originals before relying on exact wording.
Eminence — Whenever you cast another Vampire spell while Edgar is in the command zone or on the battlefield, create a 1/1 black Vampire token.
First strike, haste
Whenever Edgar attacks, put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire you control.
Other Vampires you control get +1/+1, and when Edgar dies he returns transformed.
Back: Edgar Markov’s Coffin, Legendary ArtifactAt your upkeep, create a 1/1 white and black Vampire token with lifelink and add a bloodline counter. At three counters it transforms back into Edgar.
Whenever another creature or planeswalker you control dies, gain 1 life.
{2}, sacrifice another creature or planeswalker: put a +1/+1 counter on Edgar, and he gains menace until end of turn.
“Our family was born in blood, and through blood it will endure.”
The werewolf double of Edgar from Jace’s alternate reality (Echoverse).
Flash. At your end step, if you cast no spell this turn, put two +1/+1 counters on him.
{4}{G}: put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control that has one.
Edgar Markov and Edgar, Charmed Groom are the two that matter in practice: one is a Mardu (red, white, black) commander, the other a white-black Vampire lord that comes back after dying. Both are by artist Volkan Ba&gcaron;a.
Edgar Markov was a Commander-only card for years, and that scarcity drove his price past $100 before the 2025 reprint (MTGRocks). The regular Innistrad Remastered copy now costs about $44.58 (USD, current price lookup).
| Card | Set | No. | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Edgar Markov | Commander 2017 | 36 | Original printing, in the Vampiric Bloodlust Commander deck |
| Edgar Markov | Commander 2017 Oversized | 36 | Oversized commander card |
| Edgar Markov | Judge Gift Cards 2021 | 3 | Judge promo |
| Edgar Markov | Innistrad Remastered | 234 | Regular frame, first proper reprint (January 2025) |
| Edgar Markov | Innistrad Remastered | 328 | Showcase frame |
| Edgar Markov | Innistrad Remastered | 428 | Retro frame |
| Edgar Markov | Innistrad Remastered | 491 | Serialized, double rainbow foil |
| Edgar Markov | Treasure Chest | 65693 | Treasure Chest product |
| Edgar Markov | Art Series: Innistrad Remastered | 24 | Art card, not tournament legal |
| Edgar, Charmed Groom | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | 236 | Regular frame |
| Edgar, Charmed Groom | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | 311 | Fang frame showcase |
| Edgar, Charmed Groom | Innistrad: Double Feature | 503 | Reprint in the Double Feature set |
Printing lists come from mtg.wtf, EchoMTG, MTGStocks and Face to Face Games. There is no full official checklist behind it, so promos may be missing. Images are not available here for the Judge promo, the oversized card, the Treasure Chest version or the Double Feature printing.
Thirteen more cards carry the Markov name. They represent his family and house, not Edgar himself, and most of them are Vampires that work with him as a commander. Costs are blank where the card search did not return one.
| Card | Set | Cost | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sorin Markov | Magic 2012 | {3}{B}{B}{B} | Legendary Planeswalker, Sorin (his grandson) |
| Sorin of House Markov // Sorin, Ravenous Neonate | Modern Horizons 3 | Legendary Creature, Human Noble // Legendary Planeswalker | |
| Markov Patrician | Innistrad | {2}{B} | Creature, Vampire (lifelink) |
| Markov Blademaster | Dark Ascension | {1}{R}{R} | Creature, Vampire Warrior (double strike) |
| Markov Warlord | Dark Ascension | {5}{R} | Creature, Vampire Warrior (haste; two creatures can’t block) |
| Chosen of Markov // Markov’s Servant | Dark Ascension | Creature, Human // Creature, Vampire | |
| Markov Dreadknight | Shadows over Innistrad | {3}{B}{B} | Creature, Vampire Knight (flying) |
| Markov Crusader | Eldritch Moon | {4}{B} | Creature, Vampire Knight (lifelink; haste with another Vampire) |
| Markov Purifier | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | {1}{W}{B} | Creature, Vampire Cleric (lifelink) |
| Markov Retribution | Innistrad: Crimson Vow | {2}{R} | Sorcery (a Vampire deals damage equal to its power) |
| Markov Enforcer | Crimson Vow Commander | {4}{R}{R} | Creature, Vampire Soldier |
| Markov Waltzer | Innistrad Remastered | {2}{R}{W} | Creature, Vampire (flying, haste) |
| Markov Baron | March of the Machine: The Aftermath | {2}{B} | Creature, Vampire Noble (other Vampires get +1/+1) |
Edgar Markov is legal in Commander and leads 52,283 decks on EDHREC, with Vampires, lifegain, tokens, aggro and aristocrats as the most common themes. Edgar, Charmed Groom is in 55.4% of those decks, one of the most-played creatures alongside him. EDHREC counts all Commander decks, so these numbers are not specific to 1v1.
The two official rulings (24 January 2025) both concern Eminence: Edgar must be in the command zone or on the battlefield both when you cast the Vampire spell and when the trigger resolves. If he leaves that zone in between, the trigger does nothing. Edgar, Charmed Groom has one ruling: a non-double-faced copy of him will not return when it dies.
Source: EDHREC data, retrieved through a card-data tool on 28 October 2026.