Pulse Tracker was one of the first one drop vampires i used alongside Stromkrik Noble but there's been better cards that we've got over the years, even Vicious Conquistador is a strict upgrade being a 1/2 so i can't see it really being that great unless your in a low to the ground aggro shell.
The option to discard aether vial later is very tempting. Don t have the math for it, but it helps to speed up the game? My playtesting in regards to nocturnus to bloodhall priest is that nocturnus would be the stronger one in most cases. Bloodhall priest beeing hellbent wasnt that often.. but i used the thoughtseize, lili, enchantment build. Maybe vial is better in this case. I will think about best possible lines of play... t3 kill is impossible? Have some t4 kills via nocturnus or kalastria in my mind but sorin with nocturnus with vial does 18dmg. 3 2/2, vial, sorin, stromkirk turn 3 with sorin dropped nocturnus and black card on top
You play viscera seer. It's not as good at dealing damage as tracker/conquistador. Sure, you can sac a creature that's being targeted to get to scry, but that's not worth taking up 4 cards in the main 60. Late game after a board wipe, you draw Seer. I, personally, would much rather have a creature that has potential to finish closing out the game in a couple turns rather than have a creature that, at best, is a chump block->Sac->Scry after a couple turns.
You play viscera seer. It's not as good at dealing damage as tracker/conquistador. Sure, you can sac a creature that's being targeted to get to scry, but that's not worth taking up 4 cards in the main 60. Late game after a board wipe, you draw Seer. I, personally, would much rather have a creature that has potential to finish closing out the game in a couple turns rather than have a creature that, at best, is a chump block->Sac->Scry after a couple turns.
Those are some fair points and i would agree if you got your opponent to a low enough life total then Tracker/Conquistador will be better. I use Viscera Seer in combination with Bloodghast which works very nicely with [card]Cordial Vampire[/card} but that's the great thing about Vampires in general, there's multiple ways you can build them.
I think Kalastria Highborn is a decent turn 3 play, we can hopefully trade a creature and be able to drain them. If you have Sorin out, play kalastria turn 4 then use sorin's sac. ability and pay a black for kalastria, you drain them for 5 and you gain 5. You will need to play Viscera Seer alongside her I'm sure to really make things work well.
So heres the list Ive been playing around with lately, A good amount of testing went into it so Ill explain some of my reasoning.
Vampire Nocturnus: Can end games out of nowhere, and a 4cmc vamp is not hard to cast in a deck with 4 aether vials and 4 sorin. The only non-black card that isnt a land is aether vial, and the pay off for the speed that vial provides is more than worth it.
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I'll admit I was very hesitant about vial for this reason but time and time again vial proves why its a such a good card. In terms of stats with vial you still have a 60% chance to hit a black card. (66% without vial in the deck)
Stromkirk Captain: A resolved captain against creature decks is devastating. He makes combat near impossible for the other side. Also cute synergies like giving VotDM first strike and death touch is pretty cute. This also applies when sorin gives anyone his +1 LL & DT for the turn.
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A vialed in captain be4 damage is done is also hilarious and a blowout almost every time.
Cordial Vampire: It should be obvious why hes in here. His ability is bonkers, and he directly combos with many of our cards, indulgent, bloodghast, sorin, etc. A vialed in cordial in response to removal or a seemingly ok creature trade can end a game on the spot. One of my favorite things to do is trade a cordial on the field with another 1/1 and then vial in another cordial be4 damage is done. Who doesnt want 4 +1/+1 counters on their guys
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I once did this, and 4 things died so I got 8 counters on all my dudes... Ya he scooped after that.
Dusk Legion Zealot: Much like silvergill adept for merfolk, dusk legion is an important ard in this deck. Now a 1/1 that loses a life and draws a card doesnt seem like much at first. However, getting a dude on the field and replacing himself for 2 is very useful. Talk to any competent merfolk player about the important of silvergill in the deck.
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His 1/1 body makes him a great choice for sorin & indulgent sacs, allowing us to squeeze out even more value from him. He also plays nicely with vial. Good card.
Bloodghast: Theres a saying that goes, hardcasting a bloodghast is not something you want to do in modern, and Id agree with that. However with this build the value we get from bloodghast is just too good to pass up. Also a good amount of times we can vial him in so we aren't technically hardcasting him.
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Bloodghast went in as soon as we got our new sorin, the +1 helix while sacing bloodghast is borderline unfair for a lot of decks. Its a great line and puts a lot of pressure on the opponent to find a way to get rid of sorin. This can clear the board of problem creatures or even go to the dome against controlish decks.
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Naturally, bloodghast is our best sac targets for our 2 sacing abilities (& cordial), and he allows us to "overextend" against decks with mass removal. Ive found vamps to have kind of a rough time against control so this is an important consideration. He also allows VERY unfair things with 2 of our other vamps, more on that later.
Indulgent Aristocrat: Im not sure why everybody underrates this guy, but hes a pseudo-lord for B. Thats nuts, and he even has lifelink attached, how nice. I ran 3 when testing VotDM and KotEL but immediately went back up to 4 so he comboes so well with this deck. He makes combat math rough for our opponents and allows us to get more value out of targeted removal against us.
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Now its true you need 2 mana up, but with vial this happens more often than you think. Comboes will be discussed in the next section.
Vampire of the Dire Moon: Curently I cant decide if VotDM is more important or the Knight is. However I will say having a 1 mana creature trade with ANYTHING that doesnt posess either evasion or indestructible is bonkers. Oh, and you gain a life
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Comboes well with stromkirk, first strike deathtoucxh is pretty good I hear. The lifelink ability is very relevant when the game gets tight or its time to race. A big VotDM either from cordial or lords is wuite a problem for the opponent.
Knight of the Ebon Legion: Big fan of this guy, have only played a max of 3 of him at once but I have to say Im never unhappy to see him. Turning into a 4/5 death touch is pretty useful. Also the 4 dmg get bigger ability is pretty relevant and gets out of hand quick. Ive found sometimes against quick decks that Id rather have VotDM to trade with their fatty, whereas with KotEB I dont always have the 3 mana to spend to do the same thing.
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I may move him up to 3 soon, but as of now Im liking 2.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord: When I first saw him, I thought cool a vamp planeswalker, I'll probably run 3. I was stupid, this guy is an instant 4 of.
He allows us to do something thats very important for our deck, constantly put on pressure. Not only can he do things like chuck zealots and bloodghasts at our opponents to gain us life. But he can also make threats our of our smallest creatures.
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I once had a control deck have to supreme verdict away a ZEALOT! Just because I had been +1ing him for a few turns. Thats value. Now the Deathoutch part isn't super relevant most of the time, but the +1 counter and Lifelink definitely is.
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As for the minus 3, Dropping a nocturnus turn 3 is pretty cool, although I usually dont -3 until a round of +1 to keep him a little safer, but theres a lot of flexibilty with him. Im also considering running 1 malakir bloodwitch or blood baron of vizkopa just to be able to dump one down turn 3.
Aether Vial: This card is nuts, you need a DAM good reason to not run it. I think in todays speedy modern format this card is a MUST. Also with all our lords and or combat tricks/ETB effects we get great value from this.
Fatal Push: A quick and efficient removal spell for us. Plays well with cordial since he wants to see things die, not just leave the battlefield. (path to exile) Gets turned onto 4 often from Bloodghast, Sac lands, Horizon lands, indulgent & sorin sacs.
Silent Clearing: The other lands are sensible I think, but since this land is new I'll just mention it here. This card allows us to not get mana flooded. This is so important, in a deck that has 8 ways to cheat in creatures, the worst thing we can draw mid and late game is more land. Sac lands plus these boys help solve that problem. Can also reset nocturnus is we need to.
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Don't forget you can use them to draw to try to find something to put into play with vial if you're desperate.
COMBOS / Synergies
Indulgent + Cordial Vampire = 2 mana sac a creature give all your guys 2 +1/+1 counters, absolutely back-breaking when used correctly.
Indulgent + Cordial Vampire + Bloodghast + sac land = if you have 4 mana up w/ a sac land, you can give all your guys 4! +1/+1 counters at INSTANT SPEED. If this isnt unfair I dont know what is. Sac bloodghast to indulgent and get 2 rounds of counters thx to cordial. Sac your land to get bloodghast back via landfall and then sac him again to get the 2nd round.
Cordial + Bloodghast + Sorin = Sorin now +1s and helixs something while thanks to cordial you get a round of +1/+1 counters for all your guys. Just drop a land to get bloodghast back and do all over again. Nuking the field while pumping your army, seems good. Oh and gaining 3 life on top of it.
Vial Tricks
Stromkirk Captain: Vial in during combat before damage to make deathtouch first strike, which is an instant kill to everything not indestructible or having first/double strike itself. VotDM already has Deathtouch but sorin can give it to anyone.
Indulgent Aristocrat: vial in, as a response to removal and sac your creature yourself. Useful to pump the army or to prevent bloodghast getting exiled through cards like PtE. This can also be done during combat to rlly screw over combat math.
Cordial Vampire: Vial as a response to removal or when there is a lot of trading going on in combat. People block differently when a cordial is and isnt on the field so a surprise cordial is usually a blow out. Gets really unfair when you already have a cordial on field.
Vampire of the Dire Moon/Knight of the Ebon Legion: vial in as a surprise deathtouch blocker. Note that knight will require a 3 mana investment as well. But also a 4/5 out of nowhere is pretty good in its own right.
Nocturnus Notes
Nocturnus can sweep games freom nowhere, but only if the card on the top of the deck is black. Remember in this deck we have 3 ways to change our top card. Forgetting we have these options could make or break a game.
1. Sac land- get to reshuffle our library.
2. Horizon land- get to draw a card and try again.
3. Dusk legion zealot- vialing/playing a zealot draws us a card which gives us another shot.
I am currently running a midrange version of mono black since I think sorin is a midrange card (doesn't throw out vampires and sacrifices them instead, pumps 1 vampire). Discards and removal is a strong foundation for the deck.
Only problem now is the abundance of plague engineers combined with wrenn and six which mows down my asylum visitors. Dusk legion zealot same issue even though you get a draw. And gifted aetherborn is too slow to clock tron.
So I could either replace the visitors with legion lieutenant at the cost of 2 life from shocks, or go for sign in blood and stromkirk condemn.
My suggestion would be to make your maindeck as good as possible against certain MUs, and help the remaining ones via your SB.
Don't try to be good VS everything in your maindeck, it's impossible with vampires.
Engineers come off your opp's SB, so your X/1s can be cut in favor of Aetherborns for example. But Aetherborns are good at protecting Sorin too, so they may be worth the maindeck anyway.
Besides, I really like Falkenrath Aristocrat over the other 4-drops, be sure to stop Mantis and Phoenix looks important. It misses a good recursive vampire on top of Bloodghast though. This deck needs another good vampire, no matter what kind of deck I want to build. Still short a card for being competitive imo.
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Pioneer - A bunch of stuff Modern - Humans Legacy - Grixis Phoenix / Death & Taxes
I used to run Sign in blood back when vamps were standard in Zendikar, its a decent card.
However, in modern you can't afford to be playing draw spells like that in an aggro creature deck.
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If you could show us your list we would be better able to help you out. I took out visitor after a while b/c I was almost always at 1-2 cards in hand (lands) when I really wanted a draw. A deck that abuses discard mechanics (madness) is a better home for her I think.
I would consider Vampire hexmage if planeswalkers are a huge problem, but Plague engineer is still a threat. One of the main reasons we run removal right
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I like lieutenant, and ran him for awhile but was at the point where it was either him or cordial, and cordial is just better 9 times out of 10. Its also definitely worth it to splash another color, not only for mainboard but for side as well.
My original list splashed white for lieutenant and red for stromkirk captain and I dont regret it.
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I think in terms of card advantage for vamps we need cards that aren't so obviously card advantage. This is where bloodghast and sorin come in for me. Sorin can speed things up and make our other little vamps threats and bloodghast keeps coming back. So its not obvious card advantage bc we arent drawing anything, but we can get a lot of value out of these 2, especially together.
I mean come on, who doesn't want a smiting helix every turn for free
By all means try out SiB, but I think you'll find when you aren't flooding the board with dudes, your clock is going to be too slow to come back from.
Only issue I see with your list Noc is you don't have any hand disruption. Maybe put in some Collective Brutality in your list? Also works good against engineers if that is a problem in your area.
Oh for sure, I have 4 Thoughtseize that come out of the Sideboard.
Still playing around with the idea of having 4 main deck thoughtseize and having the fatal pushs in the side board.
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So far tho, fatal push has tested better since it has nice synergy with Cordial. I'll keep playing around with it however.
Collective brutality might be worth testing, I have a feeling 2 mana might just be a tad too slow.
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Adanto Vanguard, is he really good enough for modern? The 4 dmg synergy with knight is cool but that seems more of a standard play. I havent tested him yet so maybe with sorin hes great but it just doesnt look impactful enough. Also the 2 drop slot is pretty optimized at this point, Id put gifted aetherborn before I put adanto.
Falkenrath aristocrat is a card a lot of people like. I wonder with the new sorin, imperious bloodlord sacing our guys, will we have enough lying around to sac to her when she gets targeted.
I like being able to Sorin +1 her and get 5 flying, lifelink, haste damage out of nowhere tho.
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In terms of vampires not being competitive enough, I think they can get there with our new tools, namely Sorin and Cordial.
However, if we ever get a vamp that takes things from their hand like kitesail freebooter does, I honestly believe Vamps would be a solid tier 2 deck.
Have sorin lighting helix one creature, and lily sac the bigger one. Or Sorin can dump a vamp from the hand, and then have lily use her discard.
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Of course naturally lily works well with asylum visitor and bloodghast, but I think this combo is crazy. Honestly considering oathsworn vampire with sorin and lily because the synergy is so good.
Feels like I dont even need to run fatal push in this version, which opens up room to run more main deck Thoughtseize which is always nice.
And combo nicely with knights, making them able to attack for a lot even at surprise (my opponent see only a knight so attack me with everything and in my turn crack fetch, search grave, cast training ground and beat for a bazillion)
There could be another combo . Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Arcane Adaptation + emrakul (insert another fatty of your choice here) but perhaps it would be very marginal or fringe to try it?
In my testings this list works good, any advice is welcome also!!
yes, thats the thing I played last testing. the inclusion of the oathsworn vampire sounds not bad. Had trouble against really good decks so this deck went on ice at testing by now. But I have an eye on it ^^
a little problem is that the version is a bit slow at the aggro plan to close out. But yes, when that grinding works.. it was much fun to play the hellbent asylum visitor token generator build.
If we get a good vampire from eldraine? Dracula tale might be a thing
Hi guys, I'm following this topic because I'm building a vampire deck too.
My considerations:
Vampire Nocturnus, as Nocturnus said, is a powerful end game card, in some cases it can overturn matches that seemed to be lost.
Cordial Vampire is a very good card, but in my experience it can't be the heart of the deck: we won't have enough vampire on the battlefield to make it worth.
As you can see the deck is an aggro deck that wants to swarm in the beginning and close with the Vampire Nocturnus Viscera Seer is a card that slow down the raise, but allow us to activate the Vampire Nocturnus ability the 100% of times if on the battlefield. But again, it slow down the raise... Maybe 3x is a good balance.
I chose the W/B combination because I always want a Black card on top and Legion Lieutenant is a too precious lord, just 2 mana
I only got 1 problem: Anger of the Gods... That's why I need to draw and that's why I'm considering to add 2x or 3x Champion of Dusk
Great list, EllEtheFoOl reminds me of my list a few iterations ago.
Lacerator, imo isnt good enough anymore. Also I think Vampire of the Dire Moon is the most underrated vampire we have access to.
This thing helps us race with its life gain, and trades with ANYTHING that doesnt have the right evasion. Its 1 mana, I took out the knight because VotDM requires no mana investment after the B, and is relevant throughout the game.
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I also like legion lieutenant but cordial in testing just preforms better 9 times out of 10.
As mediocre as he may appear, Dusk Legion Zealot has an important role in this deck which is to draw cards while building a board. He can also be sacced to sorin if need be.
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I dont want to turn your deck into mine lol but thats my opinion on those 2. Id run 2 Champion of dusk at most since Sorin is your only realistic way to drop him.
The other 5 drops I would consider with sorin would be Malakir Bloodwitch and Blood Baron of Vizkopa since they both have powerful evasion and bloodwitch immediately impacts the board.
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Also, as cute as Mutavault is, I think (in Vamps) its a mistake. You have 12 2 drops who require exactly BB or BW, if you have a hand of swamp and mutavault, you cant play them. I think its going to be hurting you much more than its going to be helping.
In Vamps you need to be using all your mana every turn, its very important for this tribe.
You play viscera seer. It's not as good at dealing damage as tracker/conquistador. Sure, you can sac a creature that's being targeted to get to scry, but that's not worth taking up 4 cards in the main 60. Late game after a board wipe, you draw Seer. I, personally, would much rather have a creature that has potential to finish closing out the game in a couple turns rather than have a creature that, at best, is a chump block->Sac->Scry after a couple turns.
I also will experiment with the old skool kalastria version with cordial similar to the 5-0 list that was posted earlier.
Very exciting times for vampires this year!!! Also make sure you get your vamps before they top 8 and they start going up.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0Nn6ks_kRA
Right now I'm running 4 indulgents, 2 KotEL and 2 VotDM just to see which I like better.
They both have their uses, but I'm wondering if VotDM having lifelink will push it above the knight.
Although having 8 1CMC guys who can use open mana seems very useful.
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4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Bloodghast
4 Cordial Vampire
4 Dusk Legion Zealot
4 Indulgent Aristocrat
3 Vampire of the Dire Moon
2 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Aether Vial
4 Fatal Push
4 Swamp
4 Silent Clearing
1 Blood Crypt
1 Godless Shrine
4 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs
4 Cavern of Souls
3 Stony Silence
3 Leyline of the void
2 Wear // Tear
4 Thoughtseize
So heres the list Ive been playing around with lately, A good amount of testing went into it so Ill explain some of my reasoning.
Vampire Nocturnus: Can end games out of nowhere, and a 4cmc vamp is not hard to cast in a deck with 4 aether vials and 4 sorin. The only non-black card that isnt a land is aether vial, and the pay off for the speed that vial provides is more than worth it.
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I'll admit I was very hesitant about vial for this reason but time and time again vial proves why its a such a good card. In terms of stats with vial you still have a 60% chance to hit a black card. (66% without vial in the deck)
Stromkirk Captain: A resolved captain against creature decks is devastating. He makes combat near impossible for the other side. Also cute synergies like giving VotDM first strike and death touch is pretty cute. This also applies when sorin gives anyone his +1 LL & DT for the turn.
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A vialed in captain be4 damage is done is also hilarious and a blowout almost every time.
Cordial Vampire: It should be obvious why hes in here. His ability is bonkers, and he directly combos with many of our cards, indulgent, bloodghast, sorin, etc. A vialed in cordial in response to removal or a seemingly ok creature trade can end a game on the spot. One of my favorite things to do is trade a cordial on the field with another 1/1 and then vial in another cordial be4 damage is done. Who doesnt want 4 +1/+1 counters on their guys
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I once did this, and 4 things died so I got 8 counters on all my dudes... Ya he scooped after that.
Dusk Legion Zealot: Much like silvergill adept for merfolk, dusk legion is an important ard in this deck. Now a 1/1 that loses a life and draws a card doesnt seem like much at first. However, getting a dude on the field and replacing himself for 2 is very useful. Talk to any competent merfolk player about the important of silvergill in the deck.
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His 1/1 body makes him a great choice for sorin & indulgent sacs, allowing us to squeeze out even more value from him. He also plays nicely with vial. Good card.
Bloodghast: Theres a saying that goes, hardcasting a bloodghast is not something you want to do in modern, and Id agree with that. However with this build the value we get from bloodghast is just too good to pass up. Also a good amount of times we can vial him in so we aren't technically hardcasting him.
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Bloodghast went in as soon as we got our new sorin, the +1 helix while sacing bloodghast is borderline unfair for a lot of decks. Its a great line and puts a lot of pressure on the opponent to find a way to get rid of sorin. This can clear the board of problem creatures or even go to the dome against controlish decks.
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Naturally, bloodghast is our best sac targets for our 2 sacing abilities (& cordial), and he allows us to "overextend" against decks with mass removal. Ive found vamps to have kind of a rough time against control so this is an important consideration. He also allows VERY unfair things with 2 of our other vamps, more on that later.
Indulgent Aristocrat: Im not sure why everybody underrates this guy, but hes a pseudo-lord for B. Thats nuts, and he even has lifelink attached, how nice. I ran 3 when testing VotDM and KotEL but immediately went back up to 4 so he comboes so well with this deck. He makes combat math rough for our opponents and allows us to get more value out of targeted removal against us.
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Now its true you need 2 mana up, but with vial this happens more often than you think. Comboes will be discussed in the next section.
Vampire of the Dire Moon: Curently I cant decide if VotDM is more important or the Knight is. However I will say having a 1 mana creature trade with ANYTHING that doesnt posess either evasion or indestructible is bonkers. Oh, and you gain a life
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Comboes well with stromkirk, first strike deathtoucxh is pretty good I hear. The lifelink ability is very relevant when the game gets tight or its time to race. A big VotDM either from cordial or lords is wuite a problem for the opponent.
Knight of the Ebon Legion: Big fan of this guy, have only played a max of 3 of him at once but I have to say Im never unhappy to see him. Turning into a 4/5 death touch is pretty useful. Also the 4 dmg get bigger ability is pretty relevant and gets out of hand quick. Ive found sometimes against quick decks that Id rather have VotDM to trade with their fatty, whereas with KotEB I dont always have the 3 mana to spend to do the same thing.
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I may move him up to 3 soon, but as of now Im liking 2.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord: When I first saw him, I thought cool a vamp planeswalker, I'll probably run 3. I was stupid, this guy is an instant 4 of.
He allows us to do something thats very important for our deck, constantly put on pressure. Not only can he do things like chuck zealots and bloodghasts at our opponents to gain us life. But he can also make threats our of our smallest creatures.
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I once had a control deck have to supreme verdict away a ZEALOT! Just because I had been +1ing him for a few turns. Thats value. Now the Deathoutch part isn't super relevant most of the time, but the +1 counter and Lifelink definitely is.
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As for the minus 3, Dropping a nocturnus turn 3 is pretty cool, although I usually dont -3 until a round of +1 to keep him a little safer, but theres a lot of flexibilty with him. Im also considering running 1 malakir bloodwitch or blood baron of vizkopa just to be able to dump one down turn 3.
Aether Vial: This card is nuts, you need a DAM good reason to not run it. I think in todays speedy modern format this card is a MUST. Also with all our lords and or combat tricks/ETB effects we get great value from this.
Fatal Push: A quick and efficient removal spell for us. Plays well with cordial since he wants to see things die, not just leave the battlefield. (path to exile) Gets turned onto 4 often from Bloodghast, Sac lands, Horizon lands, indulgent & sorin sacs.
Silent Clearing: The other lands are sensible I think, but since this land is new I'll just mention it here. This card allows us to not get mana flooded. This is so important, in a deck that has 8 ways to cheat in creatures, the worst thing we can draw mid and late game is more land. Sac lands plus these boys help solve that problem. Can also reset nocturnus is we need to.
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Don't forget you can use them to draw to try to find something to put into play with vial if you're desperate.
COMBOS / Synergies
Indulgent + Cordial Vampire = 2 mana sac a creature give all your guys 2 +1/+1 counters, absolutely back-breaking when used correctly.
Indulgent + Cordial Vampire + Bloodghast + sac land = if you have 4 mana up w/ a sac land, you can give all your guys 4! +1/+1 counters at INSTANT SPEED. If this isnt unfair I dont know what is. Sac bloodghast to indulgent and get 2 rounds of counters thx to cordial. Sac your land to get bloodghast back via landfall and then sac him again to get the 2nd round.
Cordial + Bloodghast + Sorin = Sorin now +1s and helixs something while thanks to cordial you get a round of +1/+1 counters for all your guys. Just drop a land to get bloodghast back and do all over again. Nuking the field while pumping your army, seems good. Oh and gaining 3 life on top of it.
Vial Tricks
Stromkirk Captain: Vial in during combat before damage to make deathtouch first strike, which is an instant kill to everything not indestructible or having first/double strike itself. VotDM already has Deathtouch but sorin can give it to anyone.
Indulgent Aristocrat: vial in, as a response to removal and sac your creature yourself. Useful to pump the army or to prevent bloodghast getting exiled through cards like PtE. This can also be done during combat to rlly screw over combat math.
Cordial Vampire: Vial as a response to removal or when there is a lot of trading going on in combat. People block differently when a cordial is and isnt on the field so a surprise cordial is usually a blow out. Gets really unfair when you already have a cordial on field.
Vampire of the Dire Moon/Knight of the Ebon Legion: vial in as a surprise deathtouch blocker. Note that knight will require a 3 mana investment as well. But also a 4/5 out of nowhere is pretty good in its own right.
Nocturnus Notes
Nocturnus can sweep games freom nowhere, but only if the card on the top of the deck is black. Remember in this deck we have 3 ways to change our top card. Forgetting we have these options could make or break a game.
1. Sac land- get to reshuffle our library.
2. Horizon land- get to draw a card and try again.
3. Dusk legion zealot- vialing/playing a zealot draws us a card which gives us another shot.
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Only problem now is the abundance of plague engineers combined with wrenn and six which mows down my asylum visitors. Dusk legion zealot same issue even though you get a draw. And gifted aetherborn is too slow to clock tron.
So I could either replace the visitors with legion lieutenant at the cost of 2 life from shocks, or go for sign in blood and stromkirk condemn.
Suggestions are welcome.
Don't try to be good VS everything in your maindeck, it's impossible with vampires.
Engineers come off your opp's SB, so your X/1s can be cut in favor of Aetherborns for example. But Aetherborns are good at protecting Sorin too, so they may be worth the maindeck anyway.
White offers the Lord but also Adanto Vanguard, which pumps Knight of the Ebon Legion proactively if needed, and is good with Sorin's +1.
Besides, I really like Falkenrath Aristocrat over the other 4-drops, be sure to stop Mantis and Phoenix looks important. It misses a good recursive vampire on top of Bloodghast though. This deck needs another good vampire, no matter what kind of deck I want to build. Still short a card for being competitive imo.
However, in modern you can't afford to be playing draw spells like that in an aggro creature deck.
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If you could show us your list we would be better able to help you out. I took out visitor after a while b/c I was almost always at 1-2 cards in hand (lands) when I really wanted a draw. A deck that abuses discard mechanics (madness) is a better home for her I think.
I would consider Vampire hexmage if planeswalkers are a huge problem, but Plague engineer is still a threat. One of the main reasons we run removal right
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I like lieutenant, and ran him for awhile but was at the point where it was either him or cordial, and cordial is just better 9 times out of 10. Its also definitely worth it to splash another color, not only for mainboard but for side as well.
My original list splashed white for lieutenant and red for stromkirk captain and I dont regret it.
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I think in terms of card advantage for vamps we need cards that aren't so obviously card advantage. This is where bloodghast and sorin come in for me. Sorin can speed things up and make our other little vamps threats and bloodghast keeps coming back. So its not obvious card advantage bc we arent drawing anything, but we can get a lot of value out of these 2, especially together.
I mean come on, who doesn't want a smiting helix every turn for free
By all means try out SiB, but I think you'll find when you aren't flooding the board with dudes, your clock is going to be too slow to come back from.
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Still playing around with the idea of having 4 main deck thoughtseize and having the fatal pushs in the side board.
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So far tho, fatal push has tested better since it has nice synergy with Cordial. I'll keep playing around with it however.
Collective brutality might be worth testing, I have a feeling 2 mana might just be a tad too slow.
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Adanto Vanguard, is he really good enough for modern? The 4 dmg synergy with knight is cool but that seems more of a standard play. I havent tested him yet so maybe with sorin hes great but it just doesnt look impactful enough. Also the 2 drop slot is pretty optimized at this point, Id put gifted aetherborn before I put adanto.
Falkenrath aristocrat is a card a lot of people like. I wonder with the new sorin, imperious bloodlord sacing our guys, will we have enough lying around to sac to her when she gets targeted.
I like being able to Sorin +1 her and get 5 flying, lifelink, haste damage out of nowhere tho.
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In terms of vampires not being competitive enough, I think they can get there with our new tools, namely Sorin and Cordial.
However, if we ever get a vamp that takes things from their hand like kitesail freebooter does, I honestly believe Vamps would be a solid tier 2 deck.
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I have to say that the Sorin, Imperious bloodlord and liliana of the veil combo is absurd.
Have sorin lighting helix one creature, and lily sac the bigger one. Or Sorin can dump a vamp from the hand, and then have lily use her discard.
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Of course naturally lily works well with asylum visitor and bloodghast, but I think this combo is crazy. Honestly considering oathsworn vampire with sorin and lily because the synergy is so good.
Feels like I dont even need to run fatal push in this version, which opens up room to run more main deck Thoughtseize which is always nice.
Anyone used this combo yet?
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My list is :
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Indulgent Aristocrat
4 Bloodghast
4 Cordial Vampire
2 Stromkirk Condemned
4 Bloodhall Priest
2 Kalitas, traitor of ghet
2 Olivia Voldaren
4 Training Grounds
3 Dismember
2 Fatal Push
4 Swamp
1 Blood Crypt
1 Watery Grave
4 Polluted Delta
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Urborg, Tomb of yawgmoth
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Cavern of Souls
I'm testing the package of training grounds that synergies with:
And combo nicely with knights, making them able to attack for a lot even at surprise (my opponent see only a knight so attack me with everything and in my turn crack fetch, search grave, cast training ground and beat for a bazillion)
Also using the other combo: Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Bloodhall Priest or Olivia Voldaren (olivia + grounds + sorin = machine gun).
There could be another combo . Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Arcane Adaptation + emrakul (insert another fatty of your choice here) but perhaps it would be very marginal or fringe to try it?
In my testings this list works good, any advice is welcome also!!
yes, thats the thing I played last testing. the inclusion of the oathsworn vampire sounds not bad. Had trouble against really good decks so this deck went on ice at testing by now. But I have an eye on it ^^
a little problem is that the version is a bit slow at the aggro plan to close out. But yes, when that grinding works.. it was much fun to play the hellbent asylum visitor token generator build.
If we get a good vampire from eldraine? Dracula tale might be a thing
I'm really happy with the new vampires knight of the ebon legion, cordial vampire and sorin m20; this tribe will soon become competitive.
Someoen build around that standard built https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=22559&d=353756&f=ST ?
My considerations:
Vampire Nocturnus, as Nocturnus said, is a powerful end game card, in some cases it can overturn matches that seemed to be lost.
Cordial Vampire is a very good card, but in my experience it can't be the heart of the deck: we won't have enough vampire on the battlefield to make it worth.
My list so far:
Cretures:
4xVampire Lacerator
4xViscera Seer
4xCordial Vampire
4xBloodghast
4xLegion Lieutenant
4xCaptivating Vampire
3xVampire Nocturnus
4xKnight of the Ebon Legion
1xDrana, Liberator of Malakir
Planewalker:
4xSorin, Imperious Bloodlord
Other Spells:
4xFatal Push
Lands:
4xGodless Shrine
4xMarsh Flats
2xConcealed Courtyard
4xSilent Clearing
2xMutavault
3xSwamp
1xPlain
As you can see the deck is an aggro deck that wants to swarm in the beginning and close with the Vampire Nocturnus
Viscera Seer is a card that slow down the raise, but allow us to activate the Vampire Nocturnus ability the 100% of times if on the battlefield. But again, it slow down the raise... Maybe 3x is a good balance.
I chose the W/B combination because I always want a Black card on top and Legion Lieutenant is a too precious lord, just 2 mana
I only got 1 problem: Anger of the Gods... That's why I need to draw and that's why I'm considering to add 2x or 3x Champion of Dusk
What do you think? Any consideration?
Lacerator, imo isnt good enough anymore. Also I think Vampire of the Dire Moon is the most underrated vampire we have access to.
This thing helps us race with its life gain, and trades with ANYTHING that doesnt have the right evasion. Its 1 mana, I took out the knight because VotDM requires no mana investment after the B, and is relevant throughout the game.
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I also like legion lieutenant but cordial in testing just preforms better 9 times out of 10.
As mediocre as he may appear, Dusk Legion Zealot has an important role in this deck which is to draw cards while building a board. He can also be sacced to sorin if need be.
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I dont want to turn your deck into mine lol but thats my opinion on those 2. Id run 2 Champion of dusk at most since Sorin is your only realistic way to drop him.
The other 5 drops I would consider with sorin would be Malakir Bloodwitch and Blood Baron of Vizkopa since they both have powerful evasion and bloodwitch immediately impacts the board.
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Also, as cute as Mutavault is, I think (in Vamps) its a mistake. You have 12 2 drops who require exactly BB or BW, if you have a hand of swamp and mutavault, you cant play them. I think its going to be hurting you much more than its going to be helping.
In Vamps you need to be using all your mana every turn, its very important for this tribe.
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That's what I will do after your reply:
1. Replace 4x Knight of the Ebon Legion with 4x Vampire of the Dire Moon. I want to play Vampire Lacerator for the moment, because I really like the impact it has on the battlefield
2. Replace the 2x Mutavault with 2 fetch lands, you're right about that, 9/10 i'm not happy to draw them
3. Replace 2x Captivating Vampire + 1x Viscera Seer with 3xDusk Legion Zealot
I want to try this list firstly and depending on what I feel is lacking in the deck, I'll consider to add Malakir Bloodwitch and/or Blood Baron of Vizkopa
Really guys other suggestions are welcome, Vampire is my "pet-deck"