Edgar Markov - Low Curve Fast Aggro
Main Board (99)
Creature (38)
Enchantment (10)
Basic Land (34)
Artifact (5)
Instant (5)
Sorcery (7)
Creature (38)
Enchantment (10)
Basic Land (34)
Artifact (5)
Instant (5)
Sorcery (7)
Quick Info
This is really my 2.0 version of vampires. My first build I put a lot more emphasis on turning bodies over and using ETB / deaths to generate value and damage to my opponents. I realized in playing that list how strong and profitable cheap vampires are with the free token that Edgar gives. I had a crazy idea to try a low curve vampire build given how profitable the tokens really were for those cheap creatures who might do some small utility plus provide two bodies for a cheap cost.
Essentially as soon as I made the change to a faster list I realized I loved the concept and that it was a lot smoother than it had been when I was doing less of a tribal thing.
This list really functions off of the back of unfair card draw mechanics like Necropotence, Dark Confidant, Tymna the Weaver, Skullclamp, Dark Prophecy, Ad Nauseam, and Wheel of Fortune all turn over a crazy amount of resources for their mana. I then use fast and cheap tutors to try to get those cards (mostly Necropotence) to hand so that I can cast and abuse them. Because the deck is so full of cheap vampires using fair one shot card draw like Sign in Blood just doesn't go quite as far not to mention that it takes up time to cast those cards where we want to ideally be pushing to move faster.
In a nut shell, this is a tempo style of tribal deck built up on the back of free tokens from Edgar, cheap vampires, and unfair card draw.
Early Game
Opening Hand: ideally I aim for some sort of card draw or a tutor for card draw as my primary goal for this deck. If you have draw, you can get past a bad opening hand so its kind of my highest priority. Beyond that having cheap creatures and tempo ramp is good in the opener but draw is your priority.
Early Game: Flood the board with creatures and try to replenish your hand. If you have a tutor I almost always put my priority on Necropotence over my other draw. Essentially the name of the game is to put as many resources into play as you can and refill your hand as many times as you can.
Mid Game
Mid Game: Keep pushing resources as fast as you can and drawing more. Usually people start answering and or trying to block you. Push for evasion if too much gets in your way. Anthems & Evasion while pushing as many cards to play and drawing as many as you can.
Answers / Removal: Generally speaking I try to only use these cards on cards that will keep me from being able to play the game. Things like Propaganda, Moat, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite are what I am talking about that have to be answered. Be very careful in removing anything that is not stopping you from playing the game as it needs to generally be something that will stop you from playing or lead to someone else winning before I want to answer it over being proactive in the mid game.
Late Game
Whaaaat are you doing? Why are they not dead yet???
Late Game: Nothing has really changed from the mid game plan, we are still trying to kill everyone. So long as you are able to keep yourself as the aggressor keep pushing foward full steam trying to kill everyone. If someone else looks like they are going to close out the game you can try to play a little more politically (such as not attacking the open player because they wont be the one killing you). Ideally if you get to the late game and things bog down some cards that allow direct life loss like Purphoros, God of the Forge, Sanctum Seeker, or Malakir Bloodwitch can help with that.
Edgar: Don't be afraid to bring out your commander and start buffing your vamps if things slow down. He anthems every turn he can attack so even if you cant nicely hit the person who is stabilizing you can swing Edgar anywhere and buff up all of your creatures to hopefully be able to attack in future turns.
General
In general you can find the list and the updates here. There is a bit of history in the original thread but I also acknowledge how the deck here can be useful especially for opening hand simulations. I will try to keep an eye on both areas if you want to post here or to the forum thread for the list I will try to answer either.
I totally play through archenemy all the time with this deck. I have a very heavy tutor targeting towards unfair draw outlets such as Necropotence, Skullclamp, Dark Prophecy, Tymna the Weaver, Dark Confidant, Ad Nauseam, and Wheel of Fortune that normally I refill my hand very heavily as kind of the strategy I am going with. Its very easy to tempo your hand into play when the overall curve of the deck is so low and then I utilize some of these unfair draw outlets to replenish my hand quickly afterwards. Between all of the aggressive threats, life siphoning, and evasion its hard for my opponents in most cases to keep up with removing me.
The key really is to keep the draw going nicely and once you have your drawing going well its just a question of how frequently and how often they can answer you and if you are still chip damaging them or not through that.
I had a really good game a few weeks ago that I outlined that kind of shows what some of the power draw can do for the deck (link here).
Is it effective and affective? Absolutely.
Does it have a specific direction? Sort of...
Don't get me wrong, I love the deck. However, especially in tribal, you need to have a specific direction.
While I absolutely love Serra Ascendant, does it belong in a vampire deck...?
Are there more vampires out there that support all vampires that could replace other cards that don't fit the idea of the deck...?
Nice job on the deck!
Serra Ascendant is really only in the list because it fits the concept of a low curve aggro card that fits into moving its hand quickly and heavily. I could cut it and probably not feel bad about it but its also really strong which is why I have kept it in my list. It just takes a few tribal buffs to outclass the fact that it is a 6/6 for 1. In general I guess it takes about two anthem style of cards to equate to the card on its own.
Right now I am just waiting for spoiler season next week where I suspect there will probably be several changes to my list assuming we see any good vampires which I suspect we will given the state of standard right now I think they need to push their tribes to be a bit stronger to contest with energy decks so I look forward to what I assume will be a push to improve the tribes.
That most certainly is true. Serra Ascendant is just a wonderful card. Especially in Commander.
By the way, not trying to push anything at you, but I would suggest you add cards like Vanquisher's Banner and Coat of Arms to the deck. They are absolutely wonderful in tribal.
No problem I always encourage suggestions as sometimes they are cards I have not considered. Other times I think there is valid discussion in talking about some other card options and the value in them.
I think both cards can fit tribal builds but in both cases I felt they were a little clunky and slow for the build I was objectively trying to make here.