Yeah I noticed that too. I used to like first picking Emmy if I was in that sort of mood, but now they all seem unpickable if you don't already have Sneak Attack, Rofellos, or a Cradle.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
I would've dropped all 3 if they cut Show and Tell and Eureka. The other ramp spells are fine, but without the true fatty cheating, they would've been better off with 7-8 drops, IMO. Especially since the Legacy cube can't run Channel either.
Just did a Legacy Swiss, and like the above poster, I wanted to force vampires to see if it was viable to play in single-elim. (maybe this wasn't the greatest thinking with less than 2 cubes worth of phantom points, but meh)
I ended up first-picking a Gatekeeper of Malakir in a weak pack with Thran Dynamo probably the most notable card I passed.
I proceeded to basically get the nuts for a vampire deck, including a p1p8 Nocturnus. I'll list the decklist below -
As you can see, almost every notable key vampire card is here, along with a few other black staples.
Round 1 I played against a heavy blue ramp deck, with ramp into Upheaval, Jace Beleren, Kiora, Future Sight, Sphinx's Revelation as utility, and light on finishers (Wurmcoil Engine, Ugin, and Kozilek are the ones I remember). He ended up decking himself in Game 1 and timing out in Game 2.
Round 2 I played a U/R Tempo deck (a Delver-style deck even though I didn't see a Delver). The early combination of Young Pyromancer and removal/counterspells was great here and it wasn't even close. I will admit my hands were subpar and I saw a lot of the top of my curve, but I don't know that it would have mattered.
Round 3 was a Boros Aggro deck that was a lot of dorks backed up by some burn spells. Goblin Guide, Accorder Paladin, Firefist Striker, Doomed Traveler and burn spells are the cards I remember, along with an Ajani Vengeant. Game 1 was basically a mulligan hand, I grudgingly kept a 2-lander on my 7 and didn't see another until it was no longer relevant. Game 2 was a lot better, and I ended up stabalizing with a nice board to stop his early aggro, but died to my own Phyrexian Arena the upkeep I would have killed him.
Verdict - It seems that decks with good removal and early tempo can really disrupt your synergy, so the deck might need a small discard/disruption suite to have a chance in those matchups. Red aggro seems like an issue too, but with the right hand you can outclass their creatures for a similar mana investment.
I think the deck is actually positioned well against slower ramp and control strategies, and can probably even fight through a single wrath or maybe two. (I did hate-draft a couple of late wraths in this draft as they seemed really strong against my deck)
The deck probably beats the same decks that mono-red or boros aggro does, except for a creature midrange strategy, which I think the vampires deck is better against with the better creature quality and more evasion.
I think red is the better deck but I have no doubt that vampires will often be open and can be a consideration in a weak pack 1 or if your initial few picks get cut off. Any time that I took a key vampire and it was a close pick over another, the one I passed wheeled every time it had the chance to.
I will give it another go to force in my next draft (unless I open a solid pack with nothing for the archetype) and I'll let you know how that goes.
I mentioned that this deck probably beats the same decks that red does, but neglected to mention that probably at a lesser rate (Where red may have a 65/35 matchup against a deck, this deck is probably more like 55/45). So it essentially does a lot of the same things red does but not as well.
I was able to naturally draft Vampires yesterday, and went 2-1 in swiss losing round 2. P1P1 was Sorin, Lord of Innistrad with Sangromancer also in the pack. Unsure of my pick 2, but I ended up also passing Malakir Bloodwitch from that pack. After a few picks, saw vampires were still coming to me, so went for it. Was surprised when Sangromancer didn't come back, but stuck with it when Bloodwitch did come back and still picked up other wheeled vampires after that. List ended up as
R1 2-0 against BW midrange. He had a few of the cards I would want like the other BW Sorin and a few vampires
R2 1-2 against GU ramp.
R3 2-1 against G ramp.
Overall, most of my wins were off the back of Bitterblossom or Armageddon. Most of the vampires really could have been anything. Falkenrath Aristocrat and Blood artist were MVPs and I was also impressed by rakish heir. bloodthrone vampire on the otherhand, was as terrible as you might expect. I would draft the archetype again if I opened a bitterblossom, but its certainly nothing I would force if I wasn't already in black.
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Did a draft last night - played G/B Ramp, first two opponents both played G/X ramp decks lol.
Vampire Tribal looks terrible, may try to force it in a Swiss draft for s's and g's....
I ended up first-picking a Gatekeeper of Malakir in a weak pack with Thran Dynamo probably the most notable card I passed.
I proceeded to basically get the nuts for a vampire deck, including a p1p8 Nocturnus. I'll list the decklist below -
B/R Vampires Legacy Cube Deck
Creatures
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Vampire Hexmage
1 Vampire Interloper
1 Guul Draz Vampire
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Stromkirk Captain
1 Dark Confidant
1 Bloodghast
1 Geralf's Messenger
1 Kalastria Highborn
1 Rakish Heir
1 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Skinrender
1 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
18 cards
Other Spells
1 Sorin Markov
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Chainer's Edict
1 Ultimate Price
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
5 cards
Lands
1 Blood Crypt
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Sulfurous Springs
1 Bloodstained Mire
1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
10 Swamp
1 Mountain
1 Volrath's Stronghold
17 cards
Sideboard
1 Supreme Verdict
1 Spikeshot Elder
1 Goblin Bushwhacker
1 Obstinate Baloth
1 Madcap Skills
1 Disciple of Bolas
1 Day of Judgment
1 Night's Whisper
1 Sneak Attack
1 Molten Rain
1 Imperial Recruiter
1 Shadowmage Infiltrator
1 Recurring Nightmare
1 Bloodcrazed Neonate
1 Disfigure
1 Swamp
16 cards
As you can see, almost every notable key vampire card is here, along with a few other black staples.
Round 1 I played against a heavy blue ramp deck, with ramp into Upheaval, Jace Beleren, Kiora, Future Sight, Sphinx's Revelation as utility, and light on finishers (Wurmcoil Engine, Ugin, and Kozilek are the ones I remember). He ended up decking himself in Game 1 and timing out in Game 2.
Round 2 I played a U/R Tempo deck (a Delver-style deck even though I didn't see a Delver). The early combination of Young Pyromancer and removal/counterspells was great here and it wasn't even close. I will admit my hands were subpar and I saw a lot of the top of my curve, but I don't know that it would have mattered.
Round 3 was a Boros Aggro deck that was a lot of dorks backed up by some burn spells. Goblin Guide, Accorder Paladin, Firefist Striker, Doomed Traveler and burn spells are the cards I remember, along with an Ajani Vengeant. Game 1 was basically a mulligan hand, I grudgingly kept a 2-lander on my 7 and didn't see another until it was no longer relevant. Game 2 was a lot better, and I ended up stabalizing with a nice board to stop his early aggro, but died to my own Phyrexian Arena the upkeep I would have killed him.
Verdict - It seems that decks with good removal and early tempo can really disrupt your synergy, so the deck might need a small discard/disruption suite to have a chance in those matchups. Red aggro seems like an issue too, but with the right hand you can outclass their creatures for a similar mana investment.
I think the deck is actually positioned well against slower ramp and control strategies, and can probably even fight through a single wrath or maybe two. (I did hate-draft a couple of late wraths in this draft as they seemed really strong against my deck)
The deck probably beats the same decks that mono-red or boros aggro does, except for a creature midrange strategy, which I think the vampires deck is better against with the better creature quality and more evasion.
I think red is the better deck but I have no doubt that vampires will often be open and can be a consideration in a weak pack 1 or if your initial few picks get cut off. Any time that I took a key vampire and it was a close pick over another, the one I passed wheeled every time it had the chance to.
I will give it another go to force in my next draft (unless I open a solid pack with nothing for the archetype) and I'll let you know how that goes.
I mentioned that this deck probably beats the same decks that red does, but neglected to mention that probably at a lesser rate (Where red may have a 65/35 matchup against a deck, this deck is probably more like 55/45). So it essentially does a lot of the same things red does but not as well.
1 Vampire Lacerator
1 blood artist
1 bloodthrone vampire
1 vampire nighthawk
1 rakish heir
1 taurean mauler
1 disciple of bolas
1 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Olivia Voldaren
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Burst lightning
1 chainer's edict
1 arc trail
1 dreadbore
1 char
1 rift bolt
1 armageddon
1 bitterblossom
1 lightning greaves
1 hall of triumph
1 sorin, lord of innistrad
1 blood crypt
1 bloodstained mire
1 clifftop retreat
1 dragonskull summit
1 godless shrine
1 marsh flats
1 plateau
1 temple of malice
1 temple of triumph
1 volrath's stronghold
1 windswept heath
5 swamp
R1 2-0 against BW midrange. He had a few of the cards I would want like the other BW Sorin and a few vampires
R2 1-2 against GU ramp.
R3 2-1 against G ramp.
Overall, most of my wins were off the back of Bitterblossom or Armageddon. Most of the vampires really could have been anything. Falkenrath Aristocrat and Blood artist were MVPs and I was also impressed by rakish heir. bloodthrone vampire on the otherhand, was as terrible as you might expect. I would draft the archetype again if I opened a bitterblossom, but its certainly nothing I would force if I wasn't already in black.
[180 classic cube]