Thoughts on something like this? A budget version I put together just to have another deck to play with, otherwise Bloodghastwould be included and the land base would be better.
Bloodsoaked Champion synergizes well with Falkenrath Aristocratand is another aggressive turn 1 play.
8 discard outlets with Heir of Falkenrath and Stromkirk Condemned. Maybe better to include more?
12 discard targets with Bloodsoaked ChampionAsylum Visitor[/card]Voldaren Pariah[/card]
Finishers are Voldaren pariah and Falkenrath Aristocrat. I don't think I'll be replacing Aristocrat any time soon as she's such a reliable beater. Almost always gets in damage and is difficult to remove. Pariah on the other hand I'm not so sure about. Has anyone else had success with it? Dropping it on curve with madness is great but activating it is difficult and maybe a more reliable finisher would be better? Then again the synergy with the rest of the madness cards is great.
The deck is a bit unfocused. You only have 4 discard outlets. That means most of the time you'll be playing volderan pariah for 5 mana, which is too much for this effect in modern. Also falkenrath aristocrat asks that you sac creatures as well, and you don't want to sac aristocrat to pariah. I think the deck should choose one or the other. Take a look at my falkenrath aristocrat list above and tell me what you think. Add smuggler's copter or stromkirk condemned for another madness outlet.
Bloodghast is down to $9 for near mint copies right now. If you have interest in playing vamps i'd pick it up as it can be one of the best cards in the deck. I also feel for this deck to be viable, we should be maindecking 2-4 hand hate in the form of inquisition of kozilek or thoughtseize. Too many cards can kill us before we kill our opponent. Hand hate is pretty much the only way to get around this for some cards.
I'd also trade out 2 lightning bolt for 2 terminate.
Rivals of Ixalan spoiler are coming soon. Let's hope wizards gives us the love we need to make this deck shine!
Our prayers have been... answered? They just spoiled a new vampire lord in white. Legion Lieutenant is WB for a 2/2 vamp. with other vampires you control get +1/+1.
Anyone have any ideas for this guy? I like that it can put gifted aetherborn out of bolt range. It might make it worth it to consider a b/w or mardu build. Having access to path to exile and some artifact hate through white could be interesting. A two cost lord in white also starts to make Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle look possibly playable.
Seems like a lifelink theme could spring up around Mardu lord build.
that can both act as a pseudo-lord and vampire generators. They also just spoiled Bishop of Binding which looks possibly playable, at least in the sideboard.
Perhaps there's something to be had with adding white indeed.
I've been tinkering with Rakdos Vampires as an FNM brew for a few months. I went for a very aggressive build. I've come to doubt the validity of playing any 4-drops at all. I noticed getting to 4 mana was a constant struggle for me. I think Nocturnus is only fringe playable because he can end the game the turn he comes down. There's so many awesome 4 mana vampires, but most of these take time to generate value and are very fragile, you have to assume they will be shot down before they can do anything. Others are just too weak or don't fit our gameplan.
I wouldn't bother with any of the following: Bloodline Keeper, Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Nocturnus, Kalitas, Sanctum Seeker, Falkenrath Aristocrat
Instead, I went for the 3-drop lords, Captivating Vampire and Stromkirk Captain. I also bought some Metallics Mimic, I haven't played with those enough but they seem clunky. This new lord is definitely worth considering.
What do you guys think of Skymarcher Aspirant? I'm currently playing Pulse Tracker and Vicious Conquistador as 1-drops. I feel she's similar to Guul Draz Vampire, but Ascend seems tough to set up without tokens. So if we want to trigger Ascend, we'd need to invest into the white token generators from Ixalan.
Well i actually use Bad Moon as a pseudolord in my vampire deck, these the new vampires are going to see play around Dusk Legion Zealot for card advantage and Forerunner of the legion to tutor up nocturnus
I've been tinkering with Rakdos Vampires as an FNM brew for a few months. I went for a very aggressive build. I've come to doubt the validity of playing any 4-drops at all. I noticed getting to 4 mana was a constant struggle for me. I think Nocturnus is only fringe playable because he can end the game the turn he comes down. There's so many awesome 4 mana vampires, but most of these take time to generate value and are very fragile, you have to assume they will be shot down before they can do anything. Others are just too weak or don't fit our gameplan.
I wouldn't bother with any of the following: Bloodline Keeper, Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Nocturnus, Kalitas, Sanctum Seeker, Falkenrath Aristocrat
Instead, I went for the 3-drop lords, Captivating Vampire and Stromkirk Captain. I also bought some Metallics Mimic, I haven't played with those enough but they seem clunky. This new lord is definitely worth considering.
What do you guys think of Skymarcher Aspirant? I'm currently playing Pulse Tracker and Vicious Conquistador as 1-drops. I feel she's similar to Guul Draz Vampire, but Ascend seems tough to set up without tokens. So if we want to trigger Ascend, we'd need to invest into the white token generators from Ixalan.
Everyone's coming out of their caves! Glad to see people posting here again. I'd love to see more deck lists that are current, and the brews to come.
I agree that getting to 4 mana doen't seem worth it most of the time. It seems better to play more 1/2/3 drops than play extra land to get to an inconsistent 4 drop. That being said, we do get a bit better protection for vamp. nocturnus and a better chance at buffing Falkenrath aristocrat the turn they come out. V Nocturnus dies to lightning bolt without a black card on top, but with an extra 2 cost lord, we stand a better chance of it being a 4/4 regardless.
I was brewing with but not actually playtesting Falkenrath aristocrat. We should have at least 1 or 2 creatures out by the time it hits turn 4. The haste, flying, possible indestructibility and pumps from lords seems significant. Only exile spells get rid of it at that point, and it's almost guaranteed damage going through if it's not removed. You may be right about the lower curve and land though.
I'm interested to hear how xElianx gets out vamp. nocturnus consistently with only 20 land. Also curious about all those mutavaults!
I remember being excited when this card came out, but modern has fallen by the wayside for me. With the release of a new 2 cost lord, this card only gets better. We can cheat on mana to get a 2 drop back to the battlefield, undoing and bolt or fatal push for the same cost. We get an additional effect for our 1 mana spell while they do not. I think this deck wants to be aggro as possible as we just can't survive well late game. At the same time, we need some resiliency from removal spells and card advantage. Claim/Fame is both, plus possibly extra damage. I can see this as possibly a 1-2 mainboard or possibly sideboard card against control decks that just kill everything. For 3 mana, this card provides an extra +2 power, plus the original creature's power through haste, plus any extra power from lords that are already on the board. This is possibly the wincon on turn 4 after a Legion Lieutenant and/or Stromkirk Captain are on the battlefield, plus a 1 drop or two drop that was killed or discarded earlier in the graveyard. Haste is something I feel the deck lacks. Haste on a creature that's double buffed from fame and lords will help this deck win the game earlier. Thoughts?
I'm also curious as to how people feel about dark confidant. I have a play set of them already, and being able to lower the curve but still have lords with Legion Lieutenant seems pretty good. I also like that the lords can buff our possible lifelinkers.
Here's a list madness/dark confidant list I was toying with pre-Rivals of Ixalan spoilers. This deck keeps it's life up with the lifelinke vampires and collective brutality if needed. I think there could be more to confidant now that there's a 2 cost lord. At the same time, playing confidant in a 3 color hungry color deck could be too much with the fetches and shocks. I think claim/fame could work in this list at least in the sideboard. Note that indulgent aristocrat could be more copies of falkenrath gorger, or Vampire Cutthroat or Claim/fame. Also the mana base is easy on the fetch/shocklands, further enabling dark confidant's playability.
I dont get out nocturnus consistently actually lol but well, i do use viscera seer with bloodghast or even mutavault for the scry/black card on top, and with the new silverguill adept vampire i think it will work more often, there are so many things to tweak with white color coming up as a core color, path,stony silence,rest in peace, hell if u really want to get nocturnus consistenly u can try the new 3 drop white vampire wich lets u search for a vampire card and put it on the top of your library
I dont get out nocturnus consistently actually lol but well, i do use viscera seer with bloodghast or even mutavault for the scry/black card on top, and with the new silverguill adept vampire i think it will work more often, there are so many things to tweak with white color coming up as a core color, path,stony silence,rest in peace, hell if u really want to get nocturnus consistenly u can try the new 3 drop white vampire wich lets u search for a vampire card and put it on the top of your library
I just meant since you have only 20 lands and 4 of them tap for colorless mana, it must be hard to get Nocturnus out on time even when it's in your hand. I don't mean if you draw it by turn 4, but if you have it in hand when turn 4 rolls around can you usually play it? By silvergill adept vampire do you mean Dusk Legion Zealot? I'd say it's more like elvish visionary.
Dusk Legion Zealot is quite interesting. I can see this possibly being better than dark confidant for us. Just watched a youtube vid. that said people are talking about this possibly being in modern outside of vampires. I also like that this is a nice target for Claim/Fame. (Can someone tell me how to make this card tag work?) Vamps. are traditionally lacking card draw and card advantage. Most other modern decks just seem to have better synergy, or better card advantage.
What about arterial flow? It's 1BB for a sorcery with Each opponent discards two cards. If you control a vampire, each opponent looses 2 life and you gain 2 life. It at least gives burn some bad beats, possibly tron too? Can this card open a new hand control archetype for us? Play this with Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil. Add in some madness support cards and maybe Gatekeeper of Malakir as we can start to control how many creatures they can play. Seems pretty nasty, and can allow our tiny vamps. to keep swinging through. OMG! If we take it that far, we could play Smallpox possibly too! Also arterial flow and collective brutality which will give us life gain to negate the loss of playing 3 colors and thoughtseize possibly.
I must say, they saved all of the good vampires for this set. Ixalan was disappointing, but this set is making up for it. I feel very confidant that we will make better decks using these new cards. Can't wait to see the newer competitive decks we build!
Well , elves have infinite mana combo,mana dorks,colected company is green, can swarm of out of nowhere for a millon dmg with ezuri, no need of protection when you have 10 elves 10/10 with trample.
slivers can adapt most of the time to any situation because of random keywords,mana dorks, tons of lords,CoCo and vial,some sorta of protection with difussion sliver.
merfolks have great sinergy,evasion, card draw, vial,TONS OF LORDS SERIUSLY, taping permanents, tempo based deck, they have great sideboard because of blue color, they have protection as well (kopala,kira), can play the discart game with vendilion clique.
on the other hand we have vampires... wich i think is on the weak side of the tribes, indeed it is going to be better with white splash in sideboard and a few white dudes in mainboard,vampires have no evasion, wich i think is key for most tribes, merfolk have islandwalk, slivers have fliying, elves have trample, vampires SHOULD HAVE FLYING, thats why i think we should try to get in nocturnus atleast 2 copies of it.
Instead of Claim // Fame i would use kolaghan's command because it is too strong, one extra mana for so much value... i think its worth it
We hit their hand as hard and as fast as possible. We clean up creatures with path to exile, fatal push, Liliana, collective brutality and gatekeeper midgame. Mid/late game we hope they are out of cards or close to it when we start pumping out creatures. All the while, we can gain incremental advantage through bloodghast, asylum visitor and possibly Dakmor Salvage.
I'm not sure if 23 lands is where this deck needs to be. On the other hand, we really want to hit 3 land on curve most games. Maybe take out dakmor salvage for Dusk Legion Zealot? We can't keep hands with less than 2 mana really.
This deck should play very differently than previous vamp. decks. I think it should be more resilient to a wider variety of threats as well. We have all of the best 1 cost removal spells in troves. I think we can out value our opponents cards by playing cheaper spells to get rid of theirs.
I could possibly see forerunner of the legion going into the deck. Late game we might want a bloodghast to discard, asylum visitor if we are out of cards, gatekeeper or gifted aetherborn to deal with opponent's opposing creatures.
Anyone else have some crazy ideas? What about this deck? Is it playable and does it have enough synergy to make the vampire theme worth it? I've been playtesting it on tapped out by substituting current cards for the spoiled cards. Seems like a fun deck!
Inspired by some of the new vampires coming in RIX, I wanted to try brewing a more midrange-esque vampire shell. I can see that most people here are going for aggro, but I feel like a midrange shell has some merits as well.
Match ups were: Jeskai Breach (2-1), Bant Spirits (2-1), Knightfall (2-1), UW Control (1-2), and Goblins (2-1) for an overall record for 4-1. GRANTED this was a friendly, but barring Goblins, I felt like I played against some 'real' decks so the results aren't totally meaningless.
There are a handful of changes and notes I wanted to make, so this may be a bit jumbled and I apologize.
1st: -4 Mutavaults +4 Field of Ruin.
Other than Goblins, all of my loses came at the hand of utility lands. Fulminator wasn't always able to make it down when necessary, and while Mutavault was able to get in a few points of chip damage, it was largely stone walled. Field would have let me snipe Gavony's and Collonades without interaction from the opponent.
2nd: -4 Fulminator +4 other stuff (currently looking at +2 Ratchet Bomb +2 Call the Bloodline)
I feel like omitting Ratchet Bomb in the initial 75 was a mistake as it gives the deck some answers to enchants (damn Detention Sphere), and if I'm switching Mutas for Fields, the extra land hate is unnecessary. Tron is generally going to be a bad time (even more so once they get Blood Sun) so I feel like it's better to put points into other match ups.
3rd: Vampire Nocturnus won be multiple games, I think 2 is a good number.
The sudden "oops everyone has flying and +2/+1" was huge for just ending games. Given that isn't super reliable, I think keeping it at 2 for the ability to quickly end games, but not being over-reliant on it is where to be. Maybe bumping up to 3, but the curve might suffer a bit.
4th: Sanctum Seeker was "meh"
I put this guy in as a 2 of to test because the effect seems great, especially when you're suiciding Bloodghasts. He did give me exactly lethal through a Gideon of the Trials +1 though, so I can't say the guy was completely useless.
Given that Bloodghast is for some synergy with self discard and trying to suicide through blockers, I think the drain 2 is much more a boon than Sanctum Seeker and his drain for 1 on attack. Kalastria comes down early and doesn't force us to be aggressive to get the drain either. We can be on the backfoot chump blocking and still manage to get there.
The easy swap is 2 seekers for 2 highborn, but is 2 too few? I don't want to get clogged with triggers I can't afford but at the same time if I'm throwing Bloodghasts at walls I would want to see her.
6th: Maybe 1 more Gatekeeper.
Gatekeeper was solid everytime as an edict + body, and I think I might want just one more, but I'm not totally sure what to cut.
Granted I played against 4 white decks so she really got to shine, but the drain stapled to the pro white won me a ton of games. Blood Baron is probably better given the splash since he can dodge Terminate, but I think she does a good impression while also occasionally just being reach.
Overall, I think the deck might have some (tier 2 at best) legs. Creature matchups are generally a joke given 8 Deathtouch bodies, 4 Push, and 5 Edict effects. I'm excited to try Twilight Prophet, Champion of Twilight, Vona's Hunger, and maybe even Dusk Legion Zealot, even if they end up not making the final cut.
Again, I know most people are going for aggro and that's understandable given that's what the cards and archetype seem to heavily favor, but I hope that I least gave you guys something interesting. I'm going to keep working on this deck in the near future, so I hope I have some more stuff to share soon.
Mind Sludge would be cute in the board for control / combo, but I already know it's not worth it
Red should be burn, Goblins, Dragons, draw/discard, and Standard-unplayable 5CMC cards with insane, lengthy effects that take 10 minutes to figure out what they do and another 20 to actually make their effects work on the field.
On the topic of Mutavaults. I started with 4 but I kept shaving them until I just dropped them entirely. My list is super black heavy, and this deck is so aggressive that I always found myself with something better to do than activate Mutavault.
On Claim//Fame, this is a card I've been wanting to test as well, but haven't gotten around to. I agree that haste is something that might help this deck.
In playing this deck, I noticed that we really lack a way to get ahead, that's also unique to the Vampire tribe. I think that in order to brew a competitive list, we need to find the cards that are both strong and unique to Vampires. The first card that comes to mind is Bloodghast. Gatekeeper of Malakir is a spectacularly cheap 2-for-1 in the best cases but rather clunky in the worst cases. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Gifted Aetherborn + Stromkirk Captain seems really powerful but it's already venturing into the 'cute' territory. In short, I think we need to answer the question: Why Vampires over Merfolk?
On the topic of Mutavaults. I started with 4 but I kept shaving them until I just dropped them entirely. My list is super black heavy, and this deck is so aggressive that I always found myself with something better to do than activate Mutavault.
On Claim//Fame, this is a card I've been wanting to test as well, but haven't gotten around to. I agree that haste is something that might help this deck.
In playing this deck, I noticed that we really lack a way to get ahead, that's also unique to the Vampire tribe. I think that in order to brew a competitive list, we need to find the cards that are both strong and unique to Vampires. The first card that comes to mind is Bloodghast. Gatekeeper of Malakir is a spectacularly cheap 2-for-1 in the best cases but rather clunky in the worst cases. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Gifted Aetherborn + Stromkirk Captain seems really powerful but it's already venturing into the 'cute' territory. In short, I think we need to answer the question: Why Vampires over Merfolk?
vampires can splash to red color, i mean, im pretty sure that we need to build around blood moon to be competitive, that card in the actual meta destroys entire decks by itself
If you want to start winning as many modern games as you can or go to competitive events Merfolk is a better idea at this point. But why not just play a tier 1 deck if you already have it or want to go competitive? For me, vampires are my brewing dream, especially with the new creatures we are getting. It's a chance to really customize your own deck, while still having a chance to beat tier 1 decks every now and again. There are so many different directions to go with vamps. especially now that white is relevant for them. They are also so much fun to play. I have a tier 1 burn deck, but vamps. are more fun for me as I have to keep modifying the deck to make it better.
Now, vamps. still have some strengths that have yet to see their full potential released. Over merfolk, we can synergize with Liliana of the Veil, one of the best planeswalkers in modern. We also have the best synergy with Smuggler's copter out of any modern deck. Bloodghast is a decent card, and we have the best potential to abuse it.
I'm also pretty sure our deck is pretty cheap compared to merfolk too. We stand a chance of being one of the cheapest tier 2 decks in modern (if we can get there,) which is cool enough for some people just getting started in modern.
Besides that, we have access to the best 1 cost removal spells in modern compared to merfolk or other tribes. We can play fatal push, Path to exile and lightning bolt. At the same time, we can play Inquisition of Kozilek and thoughtseize to deal with artifacts and enchantments that we normally can't touch.
As I pointed out in my above B/W control/discard deck, we have the back bone of a decent control deck right here:
Throw in Bloodghast for synergy with Liliana and collective brutality plus a stromkirk captain or smuggler's copter and we have something to start with: A deck that has answers to nearly everything in the format plus the possibility for additional synergy.
They are still spoiling possibly playable vamps. y'all! Oathsworn Vampire, Martyr of Dusk, and Famished Paladin as a build around me. One thing vampires has in spades is life gain. We now also have a ton of vamps. that recur themselves or provide a creature upon leaving. This makes Kalastria Highborn and Indulgent Aristocrat stronger cards. Oathsworn vampire has both madness, Lifegain and recursion synergy. The more lifegain/lower curve we have, the more Dark confidant becomes viable.
Quick Lifegain with Dark confidant and madness brew:
I need to cut 2 cards from the deck, but wanted to keep some cards in just to show they are there. Just imagine a mana base of 21 with the necessary fetches et. We have the strong 1 cost removal package plus dark confidant and a couple of smuggler's copter to really keep the cards flowing.
Oathsworn vampire just looked too good not to try and brew with it. He gets the one up on asylum visitor because we don't need to have the 2 mana immediately upon being discarded. I see this guy as possibly extra copies of bloodghast in the deck. We already like playing Gifted aetherborn and sometimes kalastrian highborn. He also synergizes with indulgent aristocrat and kalastria highborn. He may not end up being feasible, but a no-mana investment upon discard madness card is pretty cool.
Martyr of dusk just keeps up the theme of having recurring creatures, but not sure it's worth it. Interesting card though.
The strategy of this deck is to attack the opponent's hand early if we have it. If not, we play a turn 1 creature and hopefully smuggler's copter or stromkirk condemned turn 2 to start discarding bloodghast/oathsworn vampire. (The deck may want a tad more madness synergy than it currently has.) Dark confidant can really shine in this deck. Super low cmc, plus indulgent aristocrat to sac. him and pump the team when needed. We should naturally build ourselves a nice life pillow through all of the lifegain, so we shouldn't be too worried about losing life from cards revealed. The low cmc of the deck ensures we can play out all of those extra cards in a timely manner. Confidant also fuels madness enablers. I didn't even put Collective brutality in the deck, but it sure can fit here. A card that gains back it's life loss from confidant while enabling madness is pretty nice.
This deck gives us options with our mana with the couple of mana sinks. If we don't have to be afraid of dumping out most of our hand if we can start sac. vamps. with indulgent aristocrat especially if we have kalastria out. The deck should also have a natural resistance to burn, which is nice.
I almost feel as if the deck could drop the madness theme/smuggler's copter/bloodghast/oathsworn vampire and go brute force lords, lifegain and dark confidant.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't sacrificing Martyr of Dusk to indulgent aristocrat end up with us getting a +1/+1 counter on that lifelinker we create? It may be a little janky, but indulgent aristocrat can end up being anothe vampire lord in the right scenario.
This deck just hopes to overwhelm with creatures, lifegain and control of the hand and board. We should be able to hold off our opponents until mid game through discard and removal. By midgame, we should have a board presence that will continue to grow taller, wider, and in synergy as the game goes on.
Glad to see everyone posting.
Edit: I have to mention Paladin of Atonement before I go. It seems a bit slow late game. I think it's better than it looks early game. Play this bad boy turn 2 after fetching and it's a 2/2 with upside at the beginning of your opponent's next turn. If you're playing against an aggro deck, they dealt you damage on turn 3, so now you have a 3/3 for 2 mana plus upside on your turn 3. If you're playing against a slower deck, the card still grows through use of fetchlands. He also has synergy with dark confidant, which if you haven't guessed, I feel could be a card that helps bring vamps. up a notch.
I think the new 2 mana lord gives further incentive to run Vampire Nocturnus, Viscera Seer and tokens with +3/+3 and flying is much more intimidating than just +1/+1. You could almost see it as Overwhelming Stampede with a body attached for a post-combat world
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I'd appreciate it if you'd check out one of my lists, and tell me what you think!
- Mono Black Pox BBB Modern:
Decks I have in my bag of tricks- Needless to say, someone who wants to play will probably have a deck UB/x Faeries UR Storm XURWB Affinity G Elves UW control
I want to throw my two cents on the subject. As someone already said we are not as esplosive as Elves, nor as synergic as humans and our lords are nowhere near to merfolks'. So, what is our competitive advantage over other tribes? Imho that advantage come from being mainly in the best modern colour: black.
Vampires are natural born midrangers: they have access to the best discard and removal packages in all modern without even splashing, while being good stand-alone creatures.
DISCLAIMER:I'm going to explain this sentence, but keep in mind that i love interaction and play a mono-b midrange version, so take my word with a grain of salt.
What i noticed playing the deck is that unlike humans, Elves or Merfolk, our creatures are not dependant on lords or totally subpar when compared with those of non-tribal decks. Gifted Aetherborn, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Asylum Visitor, Bloodghast... we play a lot of creatures who are fine on their own and almost incidentally benefit from the same lord. In other words, i think that vampires' historical tribal advantage was having powerful and indipendent individuals. The spirit of Black itself: selfishness and "greatness at any cost".
But i said "historical" for a reason: Ixalan brought us a lot of new toys and a lot them are white. White is a powerful colour and so are some of the new vampires, but its philosophy is the opposite of black's! For this reason i struggle to see how our long time staples can combine with those new "numbers matter" members of the tribe. Maybe i'm wrong, but i foresee the birth of a new archetype, more similar to WB Tokens or even to white weenies, than to what we have played until now. Even the new mechanic, ascend, seems to be made for midrangey, tokens strategies.
I don't really think that vampires land themselves to a midrange deck, the only vampire to see play in a "real" midrange deck was Kalitas
(and Olivia Voldaren before it) and it is pretty rare to see it now.
Other vampires rely heavily on synergy to be any good which is quite the opposite of what you'd want in a midrange deck.
There is a reason Gatekeeper is only played in Mono-B Devotion, Bloodghast in GY-matters decks like Dredge, BR Madness (and Pox decks)
and Asylum Visitor isn't played anywhere (as there is Dark Confidant). Gifted Aetherborn is a decent card but not something that can replace creatures like Tarmogoyf, Grim Flayer (or Tasigur) for a midrange deck.
I intended to suggest a playstyle for vampires for those who wants to play vampires. If one simply wants to play a top tier midrange deck, he/she should choose DS, Jund, Abzan.
The same if one wants to play a top tier tribal: he/she should pick Humans, Elves or Merfolk.
The deck is a bit unfocused. You only have 4 discard outlets. That means most of the time you'll be playing volderan pariah for 5 mana, which is too much for this effect in modern. Also falkenrath aristocrat asks that you sac creatures as well, and you don't want to sac aristocrat to pariah. I think the deck should choose one or the other. Take a look at my falkenrath aristocrat list above and tell me what you think. Add smuggler's copter or stromkirk condemned for another madness outlet.
Bloodghast is down to $9 for near mint copies right now. If you have interest in playing vamps i'd pick it up as it can be one of the best cards in the deck. I also feel for this deck to be viable, we should be maindecking 2-4 hand hate in the form of inquisition of kozilek or thoughtseize. Too many cards can kill us before we kill our opponent. Hand hate is pretty much the only way to get around this for some cards.
I'd also trade out 2 lightning bolt for 2 terminate.
Rivals of Ixalan spoiler are coming soon. Let's hope wizards gives us the love we need to make this deck shine!
Anyone have any ideas for this guy? I like that it can put gifted aetherborn out of bolt range. It might make it worth it to consider a b/w or mardu build. Having access to path to exile and some artifact hate through white could be interesting. A two cost lord in white also starts to make Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle look possibly playable.
Seems like a lifelink theme could spring up around Mardu lord build.
We have
in lifelink,
in the lords section and
Adanto Vanguard or dark confidant to spend the life on.
Indulgent aristocrat alongside Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle and bloodghast seems okay...
Anyway, I thought this card was worth pointing out as a possible brewing prompt.
- Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
- Sorin, Solemn Visitor
that can both act as a pseudo-lord and vampire generators. They also just spoiled Bishop of Binding which looks possibly playable, at least in the sideboard.Perhaps there's something to be had with adding white indeed.
I wouldn't bother with any of the following: Bloodline Keeper, Olivia Voldaren, Vampire Nocturnus, Kalitas, Sanctum Seeker, Falkenrath Aristocrat
Instead, I went for the 3-drop lords, Captivating Vampire and Stromkirk Captain. I also bought some Metallics Mimic, I haven't played with those enough but they seem clunky. This new lord is definitely worth considering.
What do you guys think of Skymarcher Aspirant? I'm currently playing Pulse Tracker and Vicious Conquistador as 1-drops. I feel she's similar to Guul Draz Vampire, but Ascend seems tough to set up without tokens. So if we want to trigger Ascend, we'd need to invest into the white token generators from Ixalan.
4 Blood Crypt
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Marsh Flats
4 Mutavault
1 Mountain
2 Swamp
2 Fatal Push
2 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Bad Moon
4 Bloodghast
3 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Viscera Seer
2 Stromkirk Condemned
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Captivating Vampire
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Stromkirk Captain
2 Liliana of the Veil
and sideboard
2 Damnation
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Fatal Push
3 Kolaghan's Command
2 Leyline of the Void
2 Kalastria Highborn
Everyone's coming out of their caves! Glad to see people posting here again. I'd love to see more deck lists that are current, and the brews to come.
I agree that getting to 4 mana doen't seem worth it most of the time. It seems better to play more 1/2/3 drops than play extra land to get to an inconsistent 4 drop. That being said, we do get a bit better protection for vamp. nocturnus and a better chance at buffing Falkenrath aristocrat the turn they come out. V Nocturnus dies to lightning bolt without a black card on top, but with an extra 2 cost lord, we stand a better chance of it being a 4/4 regardless.
I was brewing with but not actually playtesting Falkenrath aristocrat. We should have at least 1 or 2 creatures out by the time it hits turn 4. The haste, flying, possible indestructibility and pumps from lords seems significant. Only exile spells get rid of it at that point, and it's almost guaranteed damage going through if it's not removed. You may be right about the lower curve and land though.
I'm interested to hear how xElianx gets out vamp. nocturnus consistently with only 20 land. Also curious about all those mutavaults!
A card that we've completely passed over is Claim/Fame. I can't get the card tag to work, but check it out here: https://magiccards.info/hou/en/150a.html
I remember being excited when this card came out, but modern has fallen by the wayside for me. With the release of a new 2 cost lord, this card only gets better. We can cheat on mana to get a 2 drop back to the battlefield, undoing and bolt or fatal push for the same cost. We get an additional effect for our 1 mana spell while they do not. I think this deck wants to be aggro as possible as we just can't survive well late game. At the same time, we need some resiliency from removal spells and card advantage. Claim/Fame is both, plus possibly extra damage. I can see this as possibly a 1-2 mainboard or possibly sideboard card against control decks that just kill everything. For 3 mana, this card provides an extra +2 power, plus the original creature's power through haste, plus any extra power from lords that are already on the board. This is possibly the wincon on turn 4 after a Legion Lieutenant and/or Stromkirk Captain are on the battlefield, plus a 1 drop or two drop that was killed or discarded earlier in the graveyard. Haste is something I feel the deck lacks. Haste on a creature that's double buffed from fame and lords will help this deck win the game earlier. Thoughts?
I'm also curious as to how people feel about dark confidant. I have a play set of them already, and being able to lower the curve but still have lords with Legion Lieutenant seems pretty good. I also like that the lords can buff our possible lifelinkers.
Here's a list madness/dark confidant list I was toying with pre-Rivals of Ixalan spoilers. This deck keeps it's life up with the lifelinke vampires and collective brutality if needed. I think there could be more to confidant now that there's a 2 cost lord. At the same time, playing confidant in a 3 color hungry color deck could be too much with the fetches and shocks. I think claim/fame could work in this list at least in the sideboard. Note that indulgent aristocrat could be more copies of falkenrath gorger, or Vampire Cutthroat or Claim/fame. Also the mana base is easy on the fetch/shocklands, further enabling dark confidant's playability.
2x falkenrath gorger
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Stromkirk condemned
4x Asylum Visitor
4x Bloodghast
4x Dark Confidant
3x Stromkirk Captain
4x Lightning bolt
2x collective brutality
2x Fatal Push
1x Blood Crypt
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Dragonskull Summit
1x Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth
6x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
I just meant since you have only 20 lands and 4 of them tap for colorless mana, it must be hard to get Nocturnus out on time even when it's in your hand. I don't mean if you draw it by turn 4, but if you have it in hand when turn 4 rolls around can you usually play it? By silvergill adept vampire do you mean Dusk Legion Zealot? I'd say it's more like elvish visionary.
Dusk Legion Zealot is quite interesting. I can see this possibly being better than dark confidant for us. Just watched a youtube vid. that said people are talking about this possibly being in modern outside of vampires. I also like that this is a nice target for Claim/Fame. (Can someone tell me how to make this card tag work?) Vamps. are traditionally lacking card draw and card advantage. Most other modern decks just seem to have better synergy, or better card advantage.
What about arterial flow? It's 1BB for a sorcery with Each opponent discards two cards. If you control a vampire, each opponent looses 2 life and you gain 2 life. It at least gives burn some bad beats, possibly tron too? Can this card open a new hand control archetype for us? Play this with Inquisition of Kozilek, Thoughtseize, Collective Brutality and Liliana of the Veil. Add in some madness support cards and maybe Gatekeeper of Malakir as we can start to control how many creatures they can play. Seems pretty nasty, and can allow our tiny vamps. to keep swinging through. OMG! If we take it that far, we could play Smallpox possibly too! Also arterial flow and collective brutality which will give us life gain to negate the loss of playing 3 colors and thoughtseize possibly.
I must say, they saved all of the good vampires for this set. Ixalan was disappointing, but this set is making up for it. I feel very confidant that we will make better decks using these new cards. Can't wait to see the newer competitive decks we build!
slivers can adapt most of the time to any situation because of random keywords,mana dorks, tons of lords,CoCo and vial,some sorta of protection with difussion sliver.
merfolks have great sinergy,evasion, card draw, vial,TONS OF LORDS SERIUSLY, taping permanents, tempo based deck, they have great sideboard because of blue color, they have protection as well (kopala,kira), can play the discart game with vendilion clique.
on the other hand we have vampires... wich i think is on the weak side of the tribes, indeed it is going to be better with white splash in sideboard and a few white dudes in mainboard,vampires have no evasion, wich i think is key for most tribes, merfolk have islandwalk, slivers have fliying, elves have trample, vampires SHOULD HAVE FLYING, thats why i think we should try to get in nocturnus atleast 2 copies of it.
Instead of Claim // Fame i would use kolaghan's command because it is too strong, one extra mana for so much value... i think its worth it
4x Bloodghast
3x Asylum Visitor
3x Gifted Aetherborn
1x Strokirk condemned
4x Legion Lieutenant
2x Gatekeeper of Malakir
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
1x Collective Brutality
2x Arterial Flow
2x Liliana of the Veil
4x Fatal Push
4x Path to Exile
2x Godless Shrine
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Isolated Chapel
1x Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth
7x Swamp
1x Dakmor Salvage
We hit their hand as hard and as fast as possible. We clean up creatures with path to exile, fatal push, Liliana, collective brutality and gatekeeper midgame. Mid/late game we hope they are out of cards or close to it when we start pumping out creatures. All the while, we can gain incremental advantage through bloodghast, asylum visitor and possibly Dakmor Salvage.
I'm not sure if 23 lands is where this deck needs to be. On the other hand, we really want to hit 3 land on curve most games. Maybe take out dakmor salvage for Dusk Legion Zealot? We can't keep hands with less than 2 mana really.
This deck should play very differently than previous vamp. decks. I think it should be more resilient to a wider variety of threats as well. We have all of the best 1 cost removal spells in troves. I think we can out value our opponents cards by playing cheaper spells to get rid of theirs.
I could possibly see forerunner of the legion going into the deck. Late game we might want a bloodghast to discard, asylum visitor if we are out of cards, gatekeeper or gifted aetherborn to deal with opponent's opposing creatures.
Anyone else have some crazy ideas? What about this deck? Is it playable and does it have enough synergy to make the vampire theme worth it? I've been playtesting it on tapped out by substituting current cards for the spoiled cards. Seems like a fun deck!
This is the list I ended up with:
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
4 Bloodstained Mire
2 Polluted Delta
4 Mutavault
4 Bloodghast
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Asylum Visitor
4 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Sanctum Seeker
2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
2 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Fatal Push
3 Liliana of the Veil
4 Fulminator Mage
2 Malakir Bloodwitch
2 Collective Brutality
2 Flaying Tendrils
1 Ob Nixilis Reignited
1 Liliana, the Last Hope
1 Damnation
2 Relic of Progenitus
Match ups were: Jeskai Breach (2-1), Bant Spirits (2-1), Knightfall (2-1), UW Control (1-2), and Goblins (2-1) for an overall record for 4-1. GRANTED this was a friendly, but barring Goblins, I felt like I played against some 'real' decks so the results aren't totally meaningless.
There are a handful of changes and notes I wanted to make, so this may be a bit jumbled and I apologize.
1st: -4 Mutavaults +4 Field of Ruin.
Other than Goblins, all of my loses came at the hand of utility lands. Fulminator wasn't always able to make it down when necessary, and while Mutavault was able to get in a few points of chip damage, it was largely stone walled. Field would have let me snipe Gavony's and Collonades without interaction from the opponent.
2nd: -4 Fulminator +4 other stuff (currently looking at +2 Ratchet Bomb +2 Call the Bloodline)
I feel like omitting Ratchet Bomb in the initial 75 was a mistake as it gives the deck some answers to enchants (damn Detention Sphere), and if I'm switching Mutas for Fields, the extra land hate is unnecessary. Tron is generally going to be a bad time (even more so once they get Blood Sun) so I feel like it's better to put points into other match ups.
3rd: Vampire Nocturnus won be multiple games, I think 2 is a good number.
The sudden "oops everyone has flying and +2/+1" was huge for just ending games. Given that isn't super reliable, I think keeping it at 2 for the ability to quickly end games, but not being over-reliant on it is where to be. Maybe bumping up to 3, but the curve might suffer a bit.
4th: Sanctum Seeker was "meh"
I put this guy in as a 2 of to test because the effect seems great, especially when you're suiciding Bloodghasts. He did give me exactly lethal through a Gideon of the Trials +1 though, so I can't say the guy was completely useless.
5th: I think I want some Kalastria Highborns.
Given that Bloodghast is for some synergy with self discard and trying to suicide through blockers, I think the drain 2 is much more a boon than Sanctum Seeker and his drain for 1 on attack. Kalastria comes down early and doesn't force us to be aggressive to get the drain either. We can be on the backfoot chump blocking and still manage to get there.
The easy swap is 2 seekers for 2 highborn, but is 2 too few? I don't want to get clogged with triggers I can't afford but at the same time if I'm throwing Bloodghasts at walls I would want to see her.
6th: Maybe 1 more Gatekeeper.
Gatekeeper was solid everytime as an edict + body, and I think I might want just one more, but I'm not totally sure what to cut.
7th: Malakir Bloodwitch was a house.
Granted I played against 4 white decks so she really got to shine, but the drain stapled to the pro white won me a ton of games. Blood Baron is probably better given the splash since he can dodge Terminate, but I think she does a good impression while also occasionally just being reach.
Overall, I think the deck might have some (tier 2 at best) legs. Creature matchups are generally a joke given 8 Deathtouch bodies, 4 Push, and 5 Edict effects. I'm excited to try Twilight Prophet, Champion of Twilight, Vona's Hunger, and maybe even Dusk Legion Zealot, even if they end up not making the final cut.
Again, I know most people are going for aggro and that's understandable given that's what the cards and archetype seem to heavily favor, but I hope that I least gave you guys something interesting. I'm going to keep working on this deck in the near future, so I hope I have some more stuff to share soon.
Mind Sludge would be cute in the board for control / combo, but I already know it's not worth it
It's a bit messy, I was trying out various things before I switched back to UB Fae. I'd like to try out Aether Vial but I'm not sure what I'd cut.
On the topic of Mutavaults. I started with 4 but I kept shaving them until I just dropped them entirely. My list is super black heavy, and this deck is so aggressive that I always found myself with something better to do than activate Mutavault.
On Claim//Fame, this is a card I've been wanting to test as well, but haven't gotten around to. I agree that haste is something that might help this deck.
In playing this deck, I noticed that we really lack a way to get ahead, that's also unique to the Vampire tribe. I think that in order to brew a competitive list, we need to find the cards that are both strong and unique to Vampires. The first card that comes to mind is Bloodghast. Gatekeeper of Malakir is a spectacularly cheap 2-for-1 in the best cases but rather clunky in the worst cases. Beyond that, I'm not sure. Gifted Aetherborn + Stromkirk Captain seems really powerful but it's already venturing into the 'cute' territory. In short, I think we need to answer the question: Why Vampires over Merfolk?
vampires can splash to red color, i mean, im pretty sure that we need to build around blood moon to be competitive, that card in the actual meta destroys entire decks by itself
If you want to start winning as many modern games as you can or go to competitive events Merfolk is a better idea at this point. But why not just play a tier 1 deck if you already have it or want to go competitive? For me, vampires are my brewing dream, especially with the new creatures we are getting. It's a chance to really customize your own deck, while still having a chance to beat tier 1 decks every now and again. There are so many different directions to go with vamps. especially now that white is relevant for them. They are also so much fun to play. I have a tier 1 burn deck, but vamps. are more fun for me as I have to keep modifying the deck to make it better.
Now, vamps. still have some strengths that have yet to see their full potential released. Over merfolk, we can synergize with Liliana of the Veil, one of the best planeswalkers in modern. We also have the best synergy with Smuggler's copter out of any modern deck. Bloodghast is a decent card, and we have the best potential to abuse it.
I'm also pretty sure our deck is pretty cheap compared to merfolk too. We stand a chance of being one of the cheapest tier 2 decks in modern (if we can get there,) which is cool enough for some people just getting started in modern.
Besides that, we have access to the best 1 cost removal spells in modern compared to merfolk or other tribes. We can play fatal push, Path to exile and lightning bolt. At the same time, we can play Inquisition of Kozilek and thoughtseize to deal with artifacts and enchantments that we normally can't touch.
As I pointed out in my above B/W control/discard deck, we have the back bone of a decent control deck right here:
Throw in Bloodghast for synergy with Liliana and collective brutality plus a stromkirk captain or smuggler's copter and we have something to start with: A deck that has answers to nearly everything in the format plus the possibility for additional synergy.
They are still spoiling possibly playable vamps. y'all! Oathsworn Vampire, Martyr of Dusk, and Famished Paladin as a build around me. One thing vampires has in spades is life gain. We now also have a ton of vamps. that recur themselves or provide a creature upon leaving. This makes Kalastria Highborn and Indulgent Aristocrat stronger cards. Oathsworn vampire has both madness, Lifegain and recursion synergy. The more lifegain/lower curve we have, the more Dark confidant becomes viable.
Quick Lifegain with Dark confidant and madness brew:
3x Indulgent aristocrat
1x Martyr of Dusk
3x Kalastria Highborn
4x Gifted aetherborn
4x Legion Lieutenant
2x Stromkirk Condemned
4x Bloodghast
1x Oathsworn vampire
4x Dark Confidant
2x Smuggler's Copter
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
2x Thoughtseize
4x Fatal Push
4x Path to exile
4x Swamps
I need to cut 2 cards from the deck, but wanted to keep some cards in just to show they are there. Just imagine a mana base of 21 with the necessary fetches et. We have the strong 1 cost removal package plus dark confidant and a couple of smuggler's copter to really keep the cards flowing.
Oathsworn vampire just looked too good not to try and brew with it. He gets the one up on asylum visitor because we don't need to have the 2 mana immediately upon being discarded. I see this guy as possibly extra copies of bloodghast in the deck. We already like playing Gifted aetherborn and sometimes kalastrian highborn. He also synergizes with indulgent aristocrat and kalastria highborn. He may not end up being feasible, but a no-mana investment upon discard madness card is pretty cool.
Martyr of dusk just keeps up the theme of having recurring creatures, but not sure it's worth it. Interesting card though.
The strategy of this deck is to attack the opponent's hand early if we have it. If not, we play a turn 1 creature and hopefully smuggler's copter or stromkirk condemned turn 2 to start discarding bloodghast/oathsworn vampire. (The deck may want a tad more madness synergy than it currently has.) Dark confidant can really shine in this deck. Super low cmc, plus indulgent aristocrat to sac. him and pump the team when needed. We should naturally build ourselves a nice life pillow through all of the lifegain, so we shouldn't be too worried about losing life from cards revealed. The low cmc of the deck ensures we can play out all of those extra cards in a timely manner. Confidant also fuels madness enablers. I didn't even put Collective brutality in the deck, but it sure can fit here. A card that gains back it's life loss from confidant while enabling madness is pretty nice.
This deck gives us options with our mana with the couple of mana sinks. If we don't have to be afraid of dumping out most of our hand if we can start sac. vamps. with indulgent aristocrat especially if we have kalastria out. The deck should also have a natural resistance to burn, which is nice.
I almost feel as if the deck could drop the madness theme/smuggler's copter/bloodghast/oathsworn vampire and go brute force lords, lifegain and dark confidant.
More like
4x Indulgent aristocrat
1x Viscera Seer
2x Martyr of Dusk
4x Kalastria Highborn
4x Gifted aetherborn
4x Legion Lieutenant
4x Dark Confidant
3x Captivating Vampire
3x Inquisition of Kozilek
3x Thoughtseize
4x Fatal Push
4x Path to exile
21x Swamp
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't sacrificing Martyr of Dusk to indulgent aristocrat end up with us getting a +1/+1 counter on that lifelinker we create? It may be a little janky, but indulgent aristocrat can end up being anothe vampire lord in the right scenario.
This deck just hopes to overwhelm with creatures, lifegain and control of the hand and board. We should be able to hold off our opponents until mid game through discard and removal. By midgame, we should have a board presence that will continue to grow taller, wider, and in synergy as the game goes on.
Glad to see everyone posting.
Edit: I have to mention Paladin of Atonement before I go. It seems a bit slow late game. I think it's better than it looks early game. Play this bad boy turn 2 after fetching and it's a 2/2 with upside at the beginning of your opponent's next turn. If you're playing against an aggro deck, they dealt you damage on turn 3, so now you have a 3/3 for 2 mana plus upside on your turn 3. If you're playing against a slower deck, the card still grows through use of fetchlands. He also has synergy with dark confidant, which if you haven't guessed, I feel could be a card that helps bring vamps. up a notch.
- Mono Black Pox BBB Modern:
UB/x Faeries
UR Storm
XURWB Affinity
G Elves
UW control
Vampires are natural born midrangers: they have access to the best discard and removal packages in all modern without even splashing, while being good stand-alone creatures.
DISCLAIMER:I'm going to explain this sentence, but keep in mind that i love interaction and play a mono-b midrange version, so take my word with a grain of salt.
What i noticed playing the deck is that unlike humans, Elves or Merfolk, our creatures are not dependant on lords or totally subpar when compared with those of non-tribal decks. Gifted Aetherborn, Gatekeeper of Malakir, Asylum Visitor, Bloodghast... we play a lot of creatures who are fine on their own and almost incidentally benefit from the same lord. In other words, i think that vampires' historical tribal advantage was having powerful and indipendent individuals. The spirit of Black itself: selfishness and "greatness at any cost".
But i said "historical" for a reason: Ixalan brought us a lot of new toys and a lot them are white. White is a powerful colour and so are some of the new vampires, but its philosophy is the opposite of black's! For this reason i struggle to see how our long time staples can combine with those new "numbers matter" members of the tribe. Maybe i'm wrong, but i foresee the birth of a new archetype, more similar to WB Tokens or even to white weenies, than to what we have played until now. Even the new mechanic, ascend, seems to be made for midrangey, tokens strategies.
(and Olivia Voldaren before it) and it is pretty rare to see it now.
Other vampires rely heavily on synergy to be any good which is quite the opposite of what you'd want in a midrange deck.
There is a reason Gatekeeper is only played in Mono-B Devotion, Bloodghast in GY-matters decks like Dredge, BR Madness (and Pox decks)
and Asylum Visitor isn't played anywhere (as there is Dark Confidant).
Gifted Aetherborn is a decent card but not something that can replace creatures like Tarmogoyf, Grim Flayer (or Tasigur) for a midrange deck.
The same if one wants to play a top tier tribal: he/she should pick Humans, Elves or Merfolk.