If the Vampire dies, do I lose the creatures I took control of with him?
No. The effect doesn’t state a duration (e.g., “as long as you control Captivating Vampire”), so it will last indefinitely (until the stolen creature leaves the battlefield or another control effect takes over).
Can I tap the Captivating Vampire as one of the five vampires?
Absolutely! He is indeed a vampire, and the activation cost doesn’t say “five OTHER vampires” so he can tap himself this way.
What if he has summoning sickness?
Yep, that’s not a problem! That’s the great thing about abilities that require you to tap something but don’t use the Tap symbol itself. Summoning Sickness only prohibits attacking or activating abilities with the Tap or Untap symbol in the cost. Since none of those things are true about the Vampire, you can tap him along with 4 other vampires even if they all entered this turn!
What about the creatures I steal? Can I tap them for the ability?
You bet! Since they gain the vampire type as part of the Captivating Vampire’s control changing ability, they are now officially vampires to be used however you please. This also means they get the +1/+1 bonus as long as you control the Captivating Vampire.
If I control 2 Captivating Vampires and 3 other vampires, can I take two creatures per turn?
Nope, you can only steal one per turn (unless you have some way to untap them all…). Unlike triggered abilities that can trigger off a single event, Captivating Vampire has an activated ability (indicated by the use of the colon “:”). You can’t use a single dollar to buy a soda from two different machines, and you can’t tap 5 vampires to pay for one ability and get a two-for-one special on the other one. You have to pay the full cost to activate either vampire’s ability, so you’d need a total of 10 vampires to take control of two creatures in the same turn.
Today’s Rules Tip written by
Josh Stansfield, Level 2 judge from Orange, CA