MTG Salvation

I seem to be running into problems with one of my decks. While all of my other decks can either a)win on a consistent basis, or b)put up a good fight as they lose, Edgar does neither. My biggest problem seems to be mana flood/drought, which is confusing; if it were one or the other, I would know what to do, but having both happen regularly...

Anyway, can anyone see what I'm doing wrong? Like I stated in the title, the plan is cheap vampires with some lifegain/loss shenanigans as a backup.

https://www.mtgsalvation.com/decks/1967-rise-of-markov

For convenience, since I was 'asked'...

You don't have a consistent draw engine, your curve is too high and you didn't post your list in this thread so I had to go click somewhere else to look at it.

1. Suggestion?
2. Suggestion? I'm using utility vampires that fit into the gameplan...you're saying I need vanillas instead?
3. Still in the site, but sorry for your extra effort. For your convenience, here...

Lots of us who have been playing edgar have moved to a very low curve high draw style of list.


I put my list in just as a reference of what I am talking about. I run 15 one drop vampires in part because cheap vampires provide a LOT of pressure. Edgar Markov gives us assistance in running cheap vampires on two fronts:

1. We get a free token for every vampire we cast. How good the vampire is does not matter in what kind of free value we get back from him which means that casting the cheapest vampires possible gives more value on the free bodies front.
2. Edgar himself is an anthem that benefits the most from having many bodies in play. If you were to cast 2 vampires on curve before being able to cast Edgar then as an anthem he isn't very impressive but if instead you had cast 6 vampires before getting to him the difference in power bump is much bigger.

Given how small these vampires are its really important to put a lot of restocking value into your draw plan though. Necropotence is by far the most ridiculous draw engine you can run in a list like this because of the fact that you can easily cast a whole hand of cards in a turn so for a deck like this Necropotence is like paying for wheel of fortune one turn and getting it to rebound every turn it sticks moving forward. I pushed a lot of tutors into my list as well to encourage the ability to get draw or to reach out and get a finisher if that is what I need.

What Tev was eluding to was that a lower curve with high draw has been something that many of us have had pay off for us.

ISBPathfinder covers most of it. He runs an extremely low curve list, which I think is probably the most competitive version you can run. My curve is not as flat and mine is unique with Agnostic token spam - I'm just trying to flood the board with bodies, I don't care what Creature type they are. Now that I can read your list easier, here's a few things I've noticed.

Draw is important. Necropotence is number one for a reason. Cheaper alternatives would be Dark Prophecy, I'm even thinking of Midnight Reaper though I have more token causalities. I see you have Mana Crypt, if price is no object Wheel of Fortune is amazing. Minions' Murmurs is another card I hadn't heard of until I needed an effect like that.

Tempo is also very important, you should be running little-to-no ETBT Lands. The only mandatory one I run is Path of Ancestry, everything is a Checkland of some kind whether it is the Bond Land, Checklands, Shocks or Pain. You want at least 6 power swinging by Turn 4, so that the most dangerous deck to you is in its mid 20s by the time they can realistically cast their first Wrath.

Even with my curve being less flat than ISBPathfinder's, yours is bloated by comparison. I have 1 six drop, 5 five drops (two of which are Swords, so I include the Equip cost), 11 four drops (two of which are Equipment and a few of these can probably be turned into 2 or 3 drops but I find them too cool to do so) and lots more three and under. You, in comparison, have an Eldrazi Titan plus all other expensive creatures. If you ever get mana to cast Ulamog, you've probably have lost; even games where I hit enough mana to cast Edgar Markov feel like I'm fighting uphill because everyone else has more answers to my swarm. You want the game to be long over by the time it gets there.

Magma Phoenix and Voldaren Pariah kill your own board too much.

The first thing I noticed was a complete lack of fetchlands - and you don't have to have the most expensive ones (not that it looks like a problem for you). You're not even running Evolving Wilds or Terramorphic Expance. No panoramas or Ash Barrens. Cards like these help a lot when you are experiencing both mana flood and drought. They make sure you hit your land drops and get the colors you need, but then they thin your deck and make it more likely to draw a nonland after you already got the land you need. Think of them as a land that takes two slots in your deck, so you're twice as likely to draw them; it's almost like drawing an extra card when you get them. The closest thing you have is an Expedition Map. I would definitely add some on top of the lands you already run - you currently only have 33 lands, which is a bit light, especially considering your curve (more below) and the fact that you only have two mana rocks.

You say in the OP that your plan is cheap vampires, but your vampires curve fairly high. You have several high cost (5+ CMC) vampires that provide minimal impact while skipping lower CMC ones that could speed up your game and keep you from feeling like you are mana starved. Specifically, I would consider cutting these:
Arvad the Cursed - Overcosted for its own abilities, only pumps ten other creatures. Better to use an anthem that pumps all your creatures.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief - Slow and expensive to make an impact.
Magma Phoenix - Not even a vampire and provides a poor imitation of a boardwipe that is harder to time right.
Licia, Sanguine Tribune - The ceiling is decent, but the floor is not great. Better in a deck built around her.
I'm not the authority on Edgar Markov - I'm still tweaking my deck, but there are a couple of great build in the forum you can check out.
Cheaper vampires also get more tokens out earlier, which makes that Skullclamp you're running far more effective. In a game just this week, I drew almost 20 cards by clamping tokens; I also recoverd from a board wipe very quickly, dropping three cheap vampires (and three tokens) rather than just one expensive one (and the accompanying token).

You also have very sub-optimal life gain cards.
Spirit Link - Sure, it's cheap, but it's a one-shot effect that dies with the creature. Do you put on the first creature you get out? Do you wait and put it on your best? Do you cry when you get 2-for-1ed when an opponent kills the creature wearing it? Spirit Loop or an equipment would be far better, and you wouldn't be as scared to slap it on any creature.
Curse of Vitality - One of the worst curses in the game. If you really want to build around life triggers, there are a hundred better options (look at any Karlov deck for inspiration). Honestly, though, your deck is an Edgar deck, not a Licia deck, so this card, which does nothing but gain life, is unnecessary. I'd replace it with just about anything, even a Vampire Cutthroat, which gives an extra token, an earlier attacker, some tribal synergy, and something that actually damages an opponent. Or replace it with Shared Animosity, which makes all of your vampires crazy aggressive and increases your lifegain on anything with lifelink by potentially a factor of 10.

No Vanquisher's Banner? For a cheap draw effect, it synergizes well with Edgar's eminence ability, it's also not very costly either.

1. Thank you.
2. Check the mana count again...one reason why I prefer the deckbuilder to listing stuff here is because cards can be forgotten, leading to problems.
3. Ulamog is there for deck recycling...some people at my LGS do enjoy running some pretty nasty wheel and mill decks.
4. Just to point out something...don't mistake the fact that I have a Mana Crypt that I can grab just about any cards I want. As some of us know, we just get lucky now and again with getting a rare one. lol
5. Fair points all around, will see what adjustments can be more easily made.

Besides the Vampires themselves having a better selection, I don't play Edgar, so I'm sure other can help out there, but from a "spells" perspective I definetely would take some out for more draw that can help with filtering through your deck better, allowing to mitigate flood or mana screw better.

Remove
Spirit Link - more life gain? too greedy.
Deflecting Palm - keeping up mana for this spells seems bad, with not much reward.
Exsanguinate - too expensive for an aggressive deck.
Consuming Vapors - too costly.
Magma Phoenix - seems off theme and can hurt your team as well as being extremely mana inefficient
Curse of Vitality - more life gain? too greedy.
Blind Obedience - can be annoying, but you don't have any other stax effects to make it better and spending mana on the extort isn't great.
Norn's Annex - the deck is so creature heavy a feel like you just need to man up and duke it out
Loxodon Warhammer - the trample is nice, but it's just so mana intensive to play and equip.
*a land - 36 land will be fine once you lower the curve a bit.


Add
Price of Fame - the surveil can help to either find lands (spells on top) or put lands into graveyard.
Faithless Looting - extremely efficient and you'll never be flooded if you draw this card, as you can also flashback.
Phyrexian Arena
Necropotence
Read the Bones
Dusk Legion Zealot
Bloodtracker
Twilight Prophet
Champion of Dusk
Living Death - closing out games is hard in the face of removal, so depends on your meta. You have Boros Charm and Teferi's Protection against board wipes, but a card like Living Death can really bring you back in the lead after a board wipe.

So just adding in some Vampires that draw cards will help. Honestly there are a lot better selection of Vampires to be had overall, but I'm sure the Edgar players can help out with lowering the curve a bit.

With Edgar you should be killing people before Ulamog is relevant. If you know someone is bringing mill to the table and that's the most dangerous thing in the pod, kill them. Edgar is banned in 1v1, so if you treat each opponent as a 1v1 they'll have issues. The I find the 2nd opponent to be the hardest to kill; the first just dies and by then the 2nd and 3rd have some sort of alliance.

Heir of Falkenrath, Stromkirk Noble, Indulgent Aristocrat, Gatekeeper of Malakir - All cheap vampires to add in to the deck and smooth out the curve.

Unburial Rites - Yes, yes...I know what Edgar says, and how this won't work for it. But it can be useful to bring some bigger vampires back to play for whatever reason.

Attrition - more value for the weenies in case I don't have other uses for them.

Stensia Masquerade - more anthem effects for the vampires aren't bad, yes?

Chromatic Lantern - tri color decks need color fixing now and again...this should help.

A low as possible curve and a fair bit of draw are quite key to Edgar being able to churn out vampires and getting in that damage. If you are really worried about getting milled out, I'd suggest Feldon's Cane as an alternative. Much easier to cast and trigger, might not be repeatable but with Edgar you should have enough time with a single reshuffle.

In truth, I'm trying to find my copies of the walking stick. I'm also considering a bottle of hooch as well, given that it's on theme and fits into my secondary win-con.

EDIT:
- Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre
+ Elixir of Immortality
- Butcher of Malakir
+ Plains