MTG Salvation

I think wizards has finally given vampires some legs in the meta game. With Bloodhall Priest, Geier Reach Sanitarium and Stromkirk Condemned. On the back of those 3 cards alone, vampires will be a thing. It might be hopeful thinking but i think the Bloodhall Priest could be a sleeper in this set. When its the last card in your hand many times it can be played as a 2 for 1. It also improves on vampires reach. Stromkirk Condemned is going to be the premier discard engine. It also gives vampires the payoff the deck needed. Finally, Geier Reach Sanitarium is the looter land this deck was begging for. It synergis with Falkenrath Gorger. Am I crazy?

I think vamps are still left behind. They just added a bunch more "good" vamps without flying, so they still get clogged on the ground by tokens and weenie humans...

Stromkirk Mystic was just released and I think it slots right in. A lot of the other ones were too black-mana-intensive to fit into a low-land-count RB deck. Right now I'm looking at this for RB:



I'm also considering a monoblack version that's less madness and more vampire-based, but needs way more work:


Then there might be a hellbent deck with Olivia, Mobilized for War, Bloodhall Priest, Avaricious Dragon, and Stromkirk Mystic. Maybe even splash blue for Geralf's Masterpiece and Day's Undoing.

EDIT: Collective Brutality is going to be amazing for all these decks.
RB: -4 Macabre Waltz, +4 Collective Brutality
Monoblack: (Not sure here, we probably need another black madness kill spell and Murderous Compulsion isn't going to cut it) -3 Ultimate Price, -1 Grasp of Darkness, -2 Indulgent Aristocrat, -2 Geier Reach Sanitarium, +4 Collective Brutality, +2 From Under the Floorboards, +2 Drownyard Temple?
Also, Lupine Prototype, of course, for the hellbent deck.

I think Stromkirk Mystic is just a bad card. Or at least bad in this metagame. right now this is the deck i have so far.



I dont know about the mana yet. but i do know the power of the deck is real.

What exactly is the goal of a Vampires deck?

That's the big problem.

You look at Humans which has been successful. Their goal is straightforward. Flood the board with a critical mass of aggressively-costed creatures and make use of anthem effects (including Thalia's Lieutenant, the big Human payoff) to get past bigger blockers and survive sweeper effects.

You'll notice that the Human synergy is incidental: a critical mass of aggressive white creatures already existed to get this type of deck close to success, and Thalia's Lieutenant was the final incentive needed to throw them all together and call it a deck. Lieutenant was the payoff -- your creatures get big enough to get past midrange blockers and either kill before the sweeper hits or survive the sweeper if it's too fast.

Now look at Vampires. What are you doing? You're playing a bunch of creatures that are marginally above rate if you can discard them and cast them that way, and which are on-rate or below-rate otherwise. That forces you to play cards which normally 2-for-1 yourself in order to get the discount to play your marginally-above-rate cards. So when everything is humming, you're an aggressive deck playing slightly more efficient than usual creatures. That's not actually a fantastic payoff for all the trouble! And when the trouble is so big -- you 2-for-1 yourself because you have to Lightning Axe something but don't have a Madness spell or the mana to cast it, or the like -- and you have no on-plan source of card advantage (Read the Bones and Painful Truths could work, but that dilutes your aggressive gameplan too much), you have to wonder why you're bothering.

thats why i think the deck might have a chance now, with cards like asylum visitor and the new aditions in eldritch moon, bloodhall priest, stromkirk occultist and even lupine prototype, that rewards hellbenting, we have card advantage! and better buffs, better creatures... dont know, test will tell.. all in hellbent

God, I hate to say it... But what about Jund splashing the green for Collected Company and Noose Constrictor? Or are there not enough good madness creatures that cost under 4?

I have tried building a vampire deck before and I always came to the same conclusion: The vampires are the weakest cards in the deck. You cannot comeback from Languish unless you splash green for Collected Company. And looting is not what you need, you need to draw cards (very badly). Since you will be discarding so many cards and be hellbent very quickly.

A grixis madness control deck would be much more competitive.

Also I believe RG/GB Werewolves are way better than vampires. But spirits are a tier above both. That said I could see the spirit deck having trouble keeping up with the Vampire MU. Especially because of Bloodhall Priest and the access to cheap burn spells.

The only vampire deck i can see being viable is mono red now. Both RB and B lack focus. There are no vampire Lords in the format in black, and none of the black vampires are fantastic outside of the 2 drop flip.

But in mono red, there's enough madness suport with highly agressive bodies, coupled with burn and abnormal forms of removal evasion that the deck seems effecient.

The aet added Distemper the Blood, Furyblade Vampire, and Incindiary Flow, all of which are really solid cards. Otherworldly Outburst is also an absolutely amazing card.

But distemper isnt good' bs its not. Vamp bodies tend to have weak butts and strong powers. They loose trades and do no damage. +0/+2 and trample would be playable with its cost imho. The extra power is icing.

Using 4x Skin Invader and 4x Otherworldly Outburst let us trade incredibly effeciently when we need to, and then we have Fiery Temper, Incidiary Flow, and potentially more burn spells to clear the ground.

Skin invader and outburst also allow us to directly dodge boardwipes or removal in a control matchup.



Very even curve, agressive, wins trades through removal and outburst.

on the top of my head here's a mono B deck I'd be trying and tweaking til the next fnm



very straightforward to use, just focus on making your army grow by indulgent aristocrat and call the bloodline. Stormkirk condemned helps with this, and allows vampire cutthroat to grow once he gets though since he has skulk.

the spells in the deck are self explanatory as they all aim to abuse the madness mechanic via different discard outlets.

the sideboard still needs work but as I said this is from the top of my head, but I'm really curious as how funny distended minbender can get.