Anowon, The Ruin Sage (and his band of merry vampires)
What is this deck?
This deck is a vampire tribal deck, and when I say vampire tribal I mean it. There are no other creature types found, none, zero, zilch. Just Anowon, The Ruin Sage and his army of vampires just waiting to ruin your day. I also tried to make the other parts of the deck (enchantments, sorceries, instants, etc.) focus on a vampire theme as well, so you'll see a lot of stuff with blood in the name. Why you ask? Because vampires like blood, it's kind of their whole deal. Does it mean this deck suffers by not being able to have certain black staples? Surprisingly no, as you'll see in the deck list.
This deck is mainly an agro deck, though its mid-game and late-game presence is quite scary as well. It also has quite a few devastating combos included that are guaranteed to ruin your opponent's day. I've tuned it to be a bit more focused on 1v1 because whenever I played multiplayer I was targeted pretty much right off the bat due to the sheer amount of screw-you cards I've included. Just having Anowon, The Ruin Sage in your commander area is enough to draw hate from most people (he doesn't play well with others).
Why play this deck?
Play this deck if you like:
Vampires (duh)
Gaining life regularly
Combo'ing out
Winning out of nowhere with a well placed spell
Poking people with 1 damage until they die
Using all of your mana each turn
Clearing every board but your own
Sacrificing creatures you don't own
Winning out of nowhere
Don't play this deck if you like:
Casting fatties each turn
Werewolves
Countering spells
Being a nice person
Leaving mana untapped
Winning with one massive creature
Graveyard shenanigans
Why Anowon?
Remember that whole 'this deck only has vampire types in it'? Yeah, this is why. Anowon, The Ruin Sage is one of the most racist generals out there, he really really really does not like other creature types, but he's very good at making sure there aren't other types out on the field. Let's break him down shall we?
BB3: At 5 CMC, he is beaten by Olivia Voldaren by 1 mana (but she’s part red and we don’t like red mana in a mono black deck) and tied with Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief. Overall though, he’s pretty cheap, and with only swamps and special lands in your deck, the two swamp part is a non-issue.
4 Power: Solidly meh. You shouldn’t be expecting to kill anyone with commander damage using this deck, but he can do a decent amount of damage, enough so it’s actually worth something to swing with him at least.
3 toughness: This is the part that is kind of sucky, at 3 toughness he is susceptible to removal—red mages I’m glaring at you—so it might be nice to find some way to give him hexproof or shroud. It also limits his blocking potential, which kind of sucks, but this is the price you pay for the lulziness of the next part of him.
Effect: “At the beginning of your upkeep, each player sacrifices a non-Vampire creature.” This is the big middle finger to everyone you play against, and the reason he is my favorite out of the mono-black vampire commanders (Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet comes in a close second though, more on that later) This effect is why you want to bust Anowon, The Ruin Sage out as soon as you can, preferably before they put their commander into play. Unfortunately the effect is not ‘every upkeep’ but if it was he would be one busted vampire. Forcing your opponent to sacrifice creatures is a great way past indestructibility, hexproof, shroud, and also a great way to trigger some of the nasty abilities of your other vampire buddies.
Alright, now comes the fun part. I’m going to explain why each and every card is in this deck. Yes you heard me right. Every. Single. Card. Let’s get started shall we?
Artifacts:
Lightning Greaves: Great protection for Anowon, The Ruin Sage or any other creature you don’t want targeted, plus haste and a zero equip cost make it pretty much a staple.
Door of Destinies: 31 creatures of the same type? This one is a shoe-in, just casting 5 vampires with this beast out will give all of your creatures +5/+5, and that is damn scary.
Gilded Lotus: Mmm…mana. 3 black mana can do quite a bit in this deck, and giving yourself a 3 mana advantage is quite nice.
Sensei’s Divining Top: A staple for pretty much every commander deck, a great way to plan your next moves and make your deck operate the way you want, taking out some chance out of your deck, which is always nice.
Sol Ring: It's a staple for every commander deck just like the top, and it gives ridiculous mana advantage if it's in your opening hand.
Gauntlet of Power: Gives your creatures +1/+1 and essentially doubles your mana, this is a great card.
Creatures:
Anowon, The Ruin Sage: He’s the commander, and he really screws with the game plans of a lot of decks, especially voltron commanders.
Ascendant Evincar: A flying 3/3 body that gives your creatures +1/+1 and all creatures who don’t have the honor of being black -1/-1. There are better 6 casts in this deck, but he’s certainly worthy of a spot among the vampires.
Baron Sengir: He’s a 5/5 flyer which is already big enough to cause some damage, but if he kills a creature he gets +2/+2. He can explode pretty quickly and he can also be tapped to regenerate a target vampire (I.E any other creature in your deck).
Blood Artist: One of the more underestimated cards in this deck, but also one of the more dangerous. Any time any creature dies, you gain a life and your opponent loses a life. A great deterrence for board wipes, especially when there are a lot of creatures out. His 0/1 body makes some less experienced players overlook him, which can often be a fairly deadly mistake.
Blood Seeker: A solid card for its CMC, and the effect is particularly deadly against token decks, and synergises well with quite a few of the enchantments in this deck.
Bloodhusk Ritualist: If you have the mana for it, this nasty sucker can make someone discard their entire hand, which is great. After that though, it’s just a 2/2 body, which isn’t awesome but good for chump blocking.
Bloodline Keeper: This card is an absolute beast, and I’ve had quite a few people freak a bit when he’s flipped over. Not only does he pop out a chump blocker each turn with flying, but once he’s transformed he gives every vampire +2/+2. He’s great when combined with Captivating Vampire.
Bloodlord of Vaasgoth: bloodthirst 3 for every creature in the deck is pretty awesome because generally vampires aren’t the biggest creatures around.
Butcher of Malakir: The ultimate ‘do you really want to kill my creature’ test. At 5/4 he’s tough enough to handle his own, and he makes people terrified to hit you, especially with Anowon, The Ruin Sage already sacrificing one of their creatures on each of your upkeeps anyways. It makes your dinky little 1/1’s and 2/2’s a whole lot scarier.
Captivating Vampire: Not only does he give all of your vamps +1/+1, he can also steal away creatures given a big enough audience. He can be used in a variety of different combos, and for some reason people don’t seem to understand why he’s scary until their creature is suddenly yours.
Chancellor of the Dross: A 6/6 with flying and lifelink is scary, a 6/6 with flying and lifelink that can be revealed in your opening hand to automatically give you at least a 6 life advantage is awesome. The 7 CMC is kind of annoying, but once he’s out the game is nearing the end anyways, one of my favorite boomsticks in this deck.
Dark Impostor: Pay 6 mana to exile any creature and give him a +1/+1? Yes please. Also, if someone has another non-vampire black creature with an activated ability you want (Avatar of Woe anyone?), he’s a great way to get it.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: One of the boomier boomsticks in this deck. Given the mana, you can not only remove a large threat from the board, but pump her up to scary levels. She gets no boost to her defense though, so be a bit careful. She’s a great way to get rid of any fliers your opponent has to clear a path for your own.
Fiend of the Shadows: Her effect is good no matter your opponent, but great if you’re playing someone using black mana. Discarding is one thing, exiling is another far better option.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Pay 3 mana and force them to sacrifice a creature, this is a great way to get rid of something troublesome, and most people don’t see it coming. Once it’s out it’s a 2/2 chump blocker, which can also be nasty with this deck.
Guul Draz Assassin: A great card to start the game out with, he’s a good place to dump mana if you drew big CMC cards. Once he’s fully leveled up he can be quite scary.
Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet: One of my personal favorite cards and another boomstick of the deck. He used to be my commander for a bit but it just took too long to bring him out. His effect is awesome because it not only destroys creatures and brings them back to your side, but also turns them into vampires; and the more vampires you have, the happier you’ll be.
Malakir Bloodwitch: Devastating upon entry, especially combo’ed with exquisite blood or sanguine bond, plus protection from white and a 4/4 flier. Try not to play her unless you have 5 or more vamps for maximum effect. This card is where your token generators shine.
Mirri the Cursed: This card could be better (+1/+1 when dealing combat damage to a player instead of a creature) but as it stands it’s a pretty nasty blocker. First striking for 3 damage is enough to put quite a few cards out of misery, especially on turn 4.
Necropolis Regent: Want to make your boomsticks boomier? Here’s the card to do it with. This card will often win games once it’s out, especially with the sheer amount of fliers you have.
Nirkana Cutthroat: The only card with the capability to get first strike and deathtouch besides Glissa, The Traitor and istherefor one of the best blockers in this deck. Sure you have to pump a ton of mana into her, but it can be quite worth it.
Nirkana Revenant: Double mana all the way across the sky! She also can hurt a lot if you want her too, as you’re guaranteed to have at least 12 mana when she comes out.
Pulse Tracker: This little guy shines in early game, more so in multiplayer but he can do his fair share of damage in 1v1 games.
Sangromancer: Blood Artist on steroids minus the damage to your opponent, this chick is great, plus a 3/3 flier is always nice to have.
Sengir Nosferatu: A great way to ensure you have at least one creature left after a board wipe and a good way to reliably trigger some of your nasty sacrifice cards, he may not look like much but this guy can get dangerous.
Skeletal Vampire: This guy pumps out chump blockers/sac outlets better than any other vampire, and he can be regenerated as well.
Vampire Nighthawk: This little bugger is downright scary and is one of the meaner 3 CMC cards out there, especially for an uncommon.
Vampire Nocturnus: The ‘give ALL the vampires flying!’ card. This guy can ruin someone’s day and win the game all at once, plus with only 5 artifacts in the deck you’re pretty much guaranteed to always have +2/+1 and flying on all of your creatures.
Enchantments:
Black Market: Sweet mother of mana batman! This card is fantastic especially with all of the auto-sacrificing that will be going on because of Anowon.
Bloodchief Ascension: Yo dawg, I heard you like siphoning life, so I made it so whenever you siphon life you can siphon life so you can siphon life as you siphon life. This enchantment is great, especially with the 1 and 2 casts you have that can dish out damage early.
Cover of Darkness: Giving all of your vampires fear is pretty sexy, especially against non-black decks. Serves them right for not using the master color.
Exquisite Blood: Oh boy, this one is scary. It really shines in multiplayer, but unfortunately it is destroyed immediately almost every time because some people are lame and don’t like you gaining life like it’s going out of season. Oh yeah, and it’s part of a 2 card infinite lifegain, infinite damage combo, but that’s not too important.
Grave Pact: This one pretty much ensures your opponent will never attack you without having more creatures, which is kind of nice given the way you can pump them out.
Gravestorm: A great way to either get card advantage or make sure your opponents don’t have things in their graveyard they can revive in some way. Also the name is awesome. (graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavestooooooooorm *lightning and thunder*)
Necropotence: One of the best black cards ever printed, this is a good way to put the ridiculous lifegain that goes on in this deck to good use, making sure you always have enough cards.
No Mercy: The ultimate in ‘come at me bro’ technology. Oh so you have a giant creature huh? Well if you attack me it dies, and if you don’t it gets sacrificed on my upkeep. One of my personal favorites.
Painful Quandary: Very good for when people just will not stop casting things. This enchantment really throws a wrench in the plans of some decks.
Phyrexian Arena: 1 life for 1 card, I consider that a win, especially with the ridiculous amount of lifegain this deck has.
Polluted Bonds: Absolutely great against any deck that uses lands (you know, all of them) especially ramp decks. If you’re playing anyone using green, this is the card to play.
Sanguine Bond: Not quite as scary as its counterpart Exquisite Blood in multiplayer, but way scarier in 1v1. This one is also a part of not one, but two auto-win combos (for the inner troll in all of us).
Underworld Dreams: Polluted Bonds screws with green, but this card is the one to play against blue, it really punishes card draw, and at a 3 cast it is especially deadly.
Wound Reflection: If this is allowed to resolve, it’s pretty much game over. Doubling life lost is absolutely brutal.
Instant:
Tendrils of Corruption: Yes, the only instant in this deck. It’s a very good card, especially late game when you’ve got more swamps than Florida.
Land:
Bojuka Bog: For those pesky reanimation decks. It’s a shame it comes in tapped, but oh well.
Bottomless Vault: A great first drop, storage lands are the jam. This is the card that will let you cast Anowon, The Ruin Sage on turn 3, which is very bad news for your opponent.
Cabal Coffers: Hnnnnnnnngh. This card is absolutely great and should be in every mono-black deck.
Cavern of Souls: Speaking of hnnnnnnnngh, this card is awesome because it allows you to play every one of your creatures without worrying about them being countered.
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse: Giving Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief fear after powering her up is a pretty sure-fire way to win a game. Besides that it’s an all-round solid card, utility lands are always useful to have around, plus it comes into play untapped.
Swamp: An absolute staple in every black deck. It’s your primary source for mana, need I say more?
Thespian's Stage: You know what's better than one Cabal Coffers? Two Cabal Coffers. One of the only ways to get two of them is through this card, and I like that a lot.
Volrath’s Stronghold: Aw man you killed my super strong creature, oh wait, I’m sorry. I can’t hear you over the sound of me putting it back on top of my library. This land is awesome, allowing for constant recycling of your boomstick creatures. It’s also nice because it makes board wipes and removal less of a threat.
Sorceries:
Blood Tribute: Is your opponent hoarding all his life and not letting you borrow any? Well here’s a great way to even the score. Both fantastic and hilarious when used against a lifegain deck and it can be combo’ed with quite a few cards for instant wins.
Choice of Damnations: My absolute favorite card in the game. I normally wait until my opponent’s life and the number of permanents they control are about equal and toss this sucker out, normally causing a forfeit.
Consuming Vapors: Force your opponent to sacrifice a creature, and then do it again, while gaining life! This one is pretty awesome, especially if they like playing huge creatures.
Curse of the Cabal: This card is guaranteed to ruin someone’s day, especially in mid-game. Most opponents will sacrifice 2 or 3 permanents before realizing how screwed they are, and by the time it comes out of suspend it will decimate them.
Decree of Pain: Every deck needs a sweeper, and this one even gives you a load of cards for using it. How nice of it! The 8 CMC may seem scary, but you'll have more than enough mana if you ever need to use this sucker.
Diabolic Revelation: A great tutor to get one of your combos into your hand, especially if you’ve got heaping piles of mana. Not as good as some other tutors but waaaaay cheaper in price.
Sadistic Sacrament: That combo deck repeatedly kicking your ass? Well not anymore! It's so evil it's in the name of the damn card. There are few decks out there that can still pull off a win against you when you get rid of their 15 best cards.
Temporal Extortion: Sometimes an extra turn can mean the game, this one ensures that if you don’t get that turn your opponents pay the price.
Victimize: Sacrificing a chump blocker or token to bring back two boomsticks is hilarious and very deadly.
Whew that took a while, now that I’ve explaining why I have the cards, it’s time for everyone’s favorite section, the combos!
These are only the combos that guarantee a kill, there a plenty of lesser ones in this deck as well. Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood = infinite lifegain, infinite damage
Just as an additional section, here’s a good idea of how to play this deck, also a summary of how it has been performing.
Your main goal with this deck is to get Anowon, The Ruin Sage out as early as possible and control the board that way. If No Mercy is in your hand always play it before any other 4 casts, it will give you protection for quite a while. Focus on playing cards that help clear the way for your creatures, that way when your creatures start coming in they can quickly rack up the damage or set up the opponent for a killing blow with Exsanguinate. Bloodline Keeper is another card that should get priority, his vampire tokens can be used to not only chump block and chip away at the opponent, but get enough vamps out to use Captivating Vampire’s ability. Don’t use the ability only for taking cards you want to use either, but also to ensure certain cards are sacrificed when Anowon, The Ruin Sage’s ability is triggered (because then you have the choice of which creature to sacrifice, not your opponent). This deck has a lot of incredibly nasty cards in it, but I like to hold off using them until I’m in danger of dying, otherwise you just look like a jerk when you hit someone with an infinite combo out of the blue.
I’ve had this deck for a solid three months now, and it has been doing fantastic in 1v1. In multiplayer it doesn’t really get a chance to shine because I’m focused immediately (the downside of Anowon, The Ruin Sage) but in 1v1 that doesn’t matter. It’s played against a huge assortment of commander deck, and the only one it really had trouble with was a mono-blue Talrand, Sky Summoner deck, but even then it was able to pull off a few wins. It’s an absolute blast to play, and even though it’s limited to the vampire-theme, it doesn’t feel lacking. The only thing I wish it had was enchantment hate, because the most reliable way I’ve seen to beat this deck is to play a monster enchantment (Assemble the Legion anyone?) Unfortunately black is lacking in that area, and the only way I can deal with it is through forcing them to sacrifice permanents.
And lastly, for those who are curious who I am:
I’ve only been playing MtG for a while (started just when Dark Ascension came out) but ever since it has become a huge part of my life. This vampire deck was the first commander deck I built from the ground up, and I figured I would share it with you guys because there hasn’t been a new Anowon deck in a while on this site.
EDIT 1: Here's a commentary on a few games to show how this deck plays:
Here’s a few playthroughs of the deck, just to give an idea of how it plays:
Game 1:
I played against my friends Mayeal, The Anima deck for this one. It’s a pretty standard Mayael, play commander and pull out cards that beat face. I’ll be going through a turn-by-turn of the game. Cards will be tagged when they enter play, not when they’re in the hand.
Turn 1:
He won the roll and went first, drawing a forest, plains, mountain, Kessig wolf run, Avatar of Might, Titanic Ultimatum, and Vigor.
I drew 3 swamps, grave pact, underworld dreams, blood tribute, and gatekeeper of malakir. Not the best hand, but playable so I kept it.
He played a Plains and passed to me
I drew a Swamp and…wait for it guys…played a Swamp
Turn 2:
He drew Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (yikes), and played a Mountain
I drew an Exsanguinate (I would have liked a creature but whatever) and played another Swamp, I wanted to hold off on the gatekeeper so I could sac Mayael when she comes out.
Turn 3:
He drew a Mountain, played a Mountain, and played Mayael.
I drew Exquisite Blood, played a Swamp, and then played Gatekeeper of Malakir (kicked of course), forcing him to sac Mayael which would buy me at least two turns.
Turn 4:
He drew a Plains and played a Mountain, good thing Mayael takes time to ramp
I drew a Falkenrath Noble (finally another creature!) and played Grave Pact so he’ll be afraid of blowing up my creatures. Swinging for 2 with Gatekeeper just to get some damage on him.
I drew a Swamp and brought out Anowon, The Ruin Sage swinging with gatekeeper for another 2 because I knew he wouldn’t block (it would force him to sac Mayael).
Turn 5:
He Mayael’d a Megalonoth into play and played a Forest, trying to avoid sacrificing Mayael.
I drew a Swamp and Anowon’s affect triggered. He sacrificed Megalonoth and I played the Swamp and Exquisite Blood. I didn’t need Falkenrath Noble for the body and the enchantment would give me way more life in the long run. After that I swung for 6 putting me at 46 life and him at 32.
Turn 6:
He drew a Decimate, played a Plains, and used the Decimate. Well, that kind of sucked. He blew up my Anowon, The Ruin Sage, Grave Pact, and a Swamp. Unfortunately since Grave Pact left at the same time the trigger didn’t happen and Mayael was still alive. Things had just gotten interesting.
I drew a Swamp so I could still play Blood Tribute, which I did. Tapping Gatekeeper for the kicker, I put on the hurt dealing 16 damage and gaining a whopping 32 life, putting me at 78 life.
I drew a Gilded Lotus, played it, and then played my Falkenrath Noble. I needed a chump blocker for Gisela and you can never have too much lifegain.
Turn 8:
He drew a Gavony Township, played it, and then played Kalonian Behemoth. At this point I knew that his deck was reaching exploding levels, so I was starting to get a wee bit worried, even at 78 health Gisela hurts. He swung with Gisela and I blocked with Falkenrath Noble, he didn’t lost life thanks to Gisela being OP but I gained yet another life.
I drew a Swamp and put Anowon, the Ruin Sage back into play as well as Underworld Dreams. At this point I just needed Gisela to go away so I could finish it with Exsanguinate and Anowon would slowly but surely do the job.
Turn 9:
He drew a Chromatic Lantern and played it, then played a Vigor. At this point it was pretty obvious he was getting way better draws than me but nothing I couldn’t handle. He swung with Kalonian Behemoth and Gisela, and I used Gatekeeper to block the behemoth and watched Gisela swing over my head to deal 10 damage.
I drew another Swamp and Anowon’s ability forced him to sac Vigor (I would have chosen the Behemoth but not having the Vigor to deal with is awesome.) I played the Swamp and unfortunately couldn’t really do much else.
Turn 10:
He drew a Giant Adephage and put it into play, then swung with the behemoth and Gisela. Dropping me to 41 health. At this point it was kind of frustrating, the only thing keeping him alive was Gisela and I wasn’t drawing my cards.
Aaaaaaand I drew Curse of the Cabal, this was exactly what I needed. He sacked the Behemoth from Anowon’s trigger and I played Curse. He sacrificed 7 permanents and it was pretty much a done deal. He had 6 lands and only Mayael after that one and I was a happy clam. I swung with Anowon because he had to take it, bringing him within range to get exsanguinated.
Turn 11:
He drew a Woolly Thoctar, and instead of playing it he decided to use Mayael. He put a Krond The Dawn Clad into play and ended what would be his last turn.
I drew a Necropolis Regent, but at this point it didn’t really matter. Krond gets sacrificed because Anowon triggers and I finally play my Exsanguinate. It hits him for 9, which gives me back 18 health, and then I swing with Anowon for the win.
Game 2:
This game was played against another tribal deck, except this one is all elementals with Horde of Notions as the commander. It can explode out of nowhere and is a solid toolbox deck, though it can have problems with mana because it’s 5 color.
Turn 1:
I lost the roll again and he went first, drawing a forest, swamp, mountain, simic growth chamber, drowned catacomb, putrefy, and genju of the realm. He played a forest and passed to me.
I drew 4 swamps, Nirkana Cutthroat, Diabolic Revelations, and Gauntlet of Power. Then I drew a Sanguine Bond, played a Swamp, and passed the turn.
Turn 2:
He drew a Spitemare and played a Simic Growth Chamber, returning the Forest to his hand before passing the turn to me.
I drew a Consuming Vapors, played a Swamp, and passed.
Turn 3:
He drew a Nova Chaser and played a Swamp, at this point he had every color but Plains, but until he got all the colors I wasn’t really worried.
I drew a Swamp, played one, and then put Nirkana Cutthroat into play. At this rate I was on my way to casting Anowon and starting to really turn this game into my favor.
Turn 4:
He drew a Rakdos Carnarium and put a Mountain into play, then he played his Putrefy and blew my Nirkana Cutthroat to oblivion. This was actually good for me because it meant he couldn’t remove Gauntlet of Power when it came out.
I drew a Vampire Nocturnus which was great because now I have something to cast with my 4 swamps, so I put a swamp into play and cast Vampire Nocturnus.
Turn 5:
He drew a Terramorphic Expanse and played it, taking a Plains and putting it into play. Now he had his 5 colors and could start casting creatures, which was worrying. Thankfully Anowon was going to be making an appearance.
I drew the Swamp on the top of my deck to reveal another Swamp, which kind of sucks because Vampire Nocturnus doesn’t trigger. I played a Swamp and then Anowon, The Ruin Sage, swinging with Nocturnus before passing.
Turn 6:
He drew a Stigma Lasher, which is really not good because I like gaining life and it’s cheap. He played Rakdos Carnarium and returned a Swamp, not casting Horde of Notions because it would have been sacrificed next upkeep.
I drew the Swamp and revealed Pawn of Ulamog, now Nocturnus triggered (fly my pretties fly!) and I played a Swamp and then Gauntlet of Power (naming black obviously). I swung with my two vampires for 13 damage, leaving him at 26 life.
Turn 7:
He drew a Living Hive and put a Swamp into play, then casting Genju of the Realm on the Swamp. This was a good call because it gave him a massive creature that wouldn’t be sacrificed.
I drew Pawn of Ulamog and revealed a Swamp, losing my vamp buff. After my upkeep he turned Genju into an 8/12. Now it was time to have fun. Thanks to my buddy Gauntlet Of Power, I’m getting double mana, so I tapped 3 (leaving 1 mana floating) and played Sanguine Bond before playing my trump card. I tapped another 2 mana (leaving 1 floating) and cast Consuming Vapors, forcing him to sacrifice the land Genju was enchanting. This not only removed his only creature, but gave me 12 life and did 12 damage to him. I rebounded Consuming Vapors just in case, pretty much ensuring my win. He was at 3 life and I was at 52, so yeah I was pretty confident.
Turn 8:
He drew Slave of Bolas and played it after putting down a Forest, taking over my Nocturnus and passing. It threw a wrench into my plan, but it was still done this turn.
I drew that swamp on the top of my deck and played it, then playing Diabolic Revelation with 2 mana extra, fetching Exquisite Blood and Underworld Dreams (yes I’m a jerk but I wanted to end it.) I cast both of them and then passed my turn, waiting for him to kill himself by drawing a card.
Turn 9:
He drew a Mountain and suffered the wrath of my infinite damage/lifegain combo, giving me the victory.
Game 3:
This game was going to be a tough one, against my friend’s dread Azusa, Lost But Seeking ramp deck. I’ve played it before and we go back and forth, so it would be interesting.
Turn 1:
I won the roll and decided to go first, drawing 2 Swamps, Pulse Tracker, Chancellor of the Dross, Bloodhusk Ritualist, Choice of Damnations, and Door of Destinies. This hand was awesome, except I really needed to get mana these next few draws or it would be a problem. I revealed the chancellor to collect my life, played a Swamp, and then played Pulse Tracker before passing.
He drew 3 Forests, Howling Mine, Primalcrux, Giant Adephage, and Brawn. He drew Myojin of Life’s Web and played a Forest before passing.
Turn 2:
I drew Cover of Darkness, which was not what I wanted but was still nice. I played a Swamp and then the enchantment, swinging with Pulse Tracker for 2 damage.
He drew Allosaurus Rider, played a Forest, and played Howling Mine before passing the turn.
Turn 3:
I drew a Polluted Bonds and then Underworld Dreams, this was not good. I swung with Pulse Tracker and passed.
He drew a Forest and Praetor’s Council, and then played a Forest and Azusa, Lost but Seeking playing another Forest before passing.
Turn 4:
I drew an Underworld Dreams and finally another Swamp. I put them both into play and swung before passing.
He drew Garruk’s Horde and a Forest and lost two life, then played a Forest and Brawn before passing. I could tell his deck was getting ready to explode, and I needed to step it up.
Turn 5:
I drew two swamps, which was nice but I had still missed a land drop and was way behind. I put Door of Destinies into play, swung, and passed.
He drew another Forest and Primordial Hydra (gulp). He put both into play, making it a 4/4 and then swinging with Brawn.
Turn 6:
I drew a Swamp and Wound Reflection. Originally I was going to put down Anowon this turn, but with the amount of damage he was taking per turn I felt Wound Reflection would be better and played it instead. I didn't swing with Pulse Tracker because I needed to block that Hydra and then passed.
He drew two Forests and played them both. Next he brought out Allosaurus Rider as a 9/9 and the Hydra was now an 8/8. He swung with Brawn and the Hydra, which I blocked.
Turn 7:
I drew Krovikan Vampire and Baron Sengir. Bad bad bad bad bad. I needed a land but settled for playing Polluted Bonds. If I had played vapors he would have sacrificed brawn and given all his creatures trample, same with Anowon, and Krovikan would have just been throwing my mana away. I discarded Baron Sengir because there was no way I was going to get to play him.
He drew and played two Forests, giving me 4 life. Unfortunately he played Myojin of Life’s Web and then swung with everything he could. Hitting me for 30 (ouch).
Turn 8:
I drew a Swamp and Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet. I played the Swamp and then my favorite card in all of Magic: the Gathering. Choice of Damnations. There was no way he could win now, if he choose any number over 4 he would die, any number under he wouldn’t have enough to cast anything and would die next turn. He ended up just choosing 20 because he was too stubborn to forfeit. It was really close, but I would have ended it much sooner had I got the mana (I only got the chance to cast 1 creature)
EDIT 2: Spent all day today playing EDH and managed to try out the deck against a bunch of different deck types. It really showed exactly what the deck was weak at and how I could change it to make it better. Here's how I edited it, I’ll add why the new cards are in the deck in the section where I explain that:
Swamp -----> Thespian's Stage: Trading a swamp for something which can give me two cabal coffers is a great deal. Krovikan Vampire ------> Skeletal Vampire: Krovikan kind of sucks, it’s not strong enough to bring over anything and if they have a really good creature they can just not block or make sure you can’t kill it. Skeletal Vampire not only is able to regenerate, but also pumps out tokens and sac outlets. Swamp ------> Sol Ring: Sol Ring is kind of just flat-out awesome. Feast of Blood -------> Sadistic Sacrament: Feast of Blood is a decent card, but Sadistic Sacrament effectively cripples any deck when kicked. Pawn of Ulamog ---------> Black Market: Holy jesus dat mana! Also Pawn of Ulamog wasn’t producing nearly enough tokens to make him worth it. Swamp ----------> Necropotence: With all of the open mana you have with all the mana doublers and generators, the more cards you can fit in your hand the better. Swamp -----------> Decree Of Pain: I found that this deck really needs at least one sweeper, and card draw is always good too, especially since you'll definitely have enough mana to play this when you need to.
So that’s my take on a vampire tribal deck, I’m fairly new to MtG so I don’t know a lot of the cards so any suggestions would be awesome. Comments are also welcome and appreciated. If any of you decide to build this or a version of it let me know how it goes!
Updated with some edits to the deck, reasoning for removing the cards I did and adding the ones I did, and a question for anyone who cares to answer. I want to keep this deck vampire-only, but I feel it doesn't have enough Sorin Markov (my favorite walker) in it. I know the he's technically a vampire but the fact that he's a Plainswalker is why I'm struggling with putting him in the deck. What are your guy's opinions?
It's hard to make suggestions without knowing which direction you want to take the deck. The title of the thread has the word "competitive" in it, but the deck itself is described as vampire tribal.
like Flux have mentioned, I'm not quite sure how would you approach it... even if you are doing Tribal deck (?), you shouldn't limit with just Vampires. You should also have quick and cheap removal (and not only in the hand). You don't even have enough removal (Damnation and friends) or even draw power (Phyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper and etc).
Competitive means your deck is prepared to outlast or give enough decent match against other competitive decks... Even if you're on a budget, there are other cards that could compensate it (like acquiring Bob).
PS
If you have enough mana... Sorin Markov should be in there. He's cheap and all. He's even a counter bait from blue players.
I think I didn't quite understand what the competitive tag meant, I thought it meant that the deck was created with the intention to win, a category this deck falls under. Now that I know what it really means I'm removing the tag, sorry for the confusion.
As for the other parts, I know that having something called tribal doesn't mean it has to only have that creature type, but I really want to stick to the theme at least in the way of creatures for the challenge, I find good stuff decks kind of boring to play so this is my way of challenging myself. I've found that the deck is good enough at removing creatures without having to include much mass removal or targeted removal, which is why little of that is in there. For card draw, I felt having Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence in there was good enough, though I'm probably going to add a Sign in Blood like you said.
And thanks for the advice on Sorin, I'll be putting him in when I get the chance to pick him up.
I think I didn't quite understand what the competitive tag meant, I thought it meant that the deck was created with the intention to win, a category this deck falls under.
You're right. If you want to be competitive, your design should be able to outpace your opponent like crazy and win. We just gave you some cheap cards that are being used commonly in a competitive setting... meaning you want your deck (in any shape, size, form or even design) can definitely beat a deck that's been shaping in the 1v1 community (annoying decks like Geist of Saint Traft, Zur the Enchanter, Maelstrom Wanderer, Edric, Spymaster of Trest, Krenko, Mob Boss, Ezuri, Renegade Leader, and many many more). I've faced Krenko using Maelstrom Wanderer (which usually has no problems with Krenko before) in the 2nd round of tourney... by turn 5 I'm down to 1 life with him leaving to 30 life which cost me the game.
As for the other parts, I know that having something called tribal doesn't mean it has to only have that creature type, but I really want to stick to the theme at least in the way of creatures for the challenge, I find good stuff decks kind of boring to play so this is my way of challenging myself. I've found that the deck is good enough at removing creatures without having to include much mass removal or targeted removal, which is why little of that is in there.
I would suggest that you take your deck online and face your deck against other decks that's designed to 1v1 ONLY (ie Cockatrice games that's isn't "for fun," "no infinite," "casual," "multiplayer," "ffa" and etc... and go to just plain "1v1" and "competitive" or my fav non-Duel... Mark-EDH Advisor's game). If your deck can survive for more than 5-8 turns, that means your deck can survive in your LGS. That's my personal experience when playtest my "real" deck against a deck that has access to everything.
In a 1v1 competitive setting, you'll be surprise how cards you want to replenish your hand. Heck, you don't even have Demonic Tutor (which is among the best tutors in Black decks) to find those cards. You don't even have Cavern of Souls against blue's counters.
And thanks for the advice on Sorin, I'll be putting him in when I get the chance to pick him up.
This is from my personal experience from having him in my Geth or Glissa deck.
--------------
ps
If you remove "Competitive" that means your deck is just for casual 1v1 with the purpose of fun or having an occasional win.
(and his band of merry vampires)
What is this deck?
This deck is mainly an agro deck, though its mid-game and late-game presence is quite scary as well. It also has quite a few devastating combos included that are guaranteed to ruin your opponent's day. I've tuned it to be a bit more focused on 1v1 because whenever I played multiplayer I was targeted pretty much right off the bat due to the sheer amount of screw-you cards I've included. Just having Anowon, The Ruin Sage in your commander area is enough to draw hate from most people (he doesn't play well with others).
Why play this deck?
Don't play this deck if you like:
Why Anowon?
BB3: At 5 CMC, he is beaten by Olivia Voldaren by 1 mana (but she’s part red and we don’t like red mana in a mono black deck) and tied with Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief. Overall though, he’s pretty cheap, and with only swamps and special lands in your deck, the two swamp part is a non-issue.
4 Power: Solidly meh. You shouldn’t be expecting to kill anyone with commander damage using this deck, but he can do a decent amount of damage, enough so it’s actually worth something to swing with him at least.
3 toughness: This is the part that is kind of sucky, at 3 toughness he is susceptible to removal—red mages I’m glaring at you—so it might be nice to find some way to give him hexproof or shroud. It also limits his blocking potential, which kind of sucks, but this is the price you pay for the lulziness of the next part of him.
Effect: “At the beginning of your upkeep, each player sacrifices a non-Vampire creature.” This is the big middle finger to everyone you play against, and the reason he is my favorite out of the mono-black vampire commanders (Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet comes in a close second though, more on that later) This effect is why you want to bust Anowon, The Ruin Sage out as soon as you can, preferably before they put their commander into play. Unfortunately the effect is not ‘every upkeep’ but if it was he would be one busted vampire. Forcing your opponent to sacrifice creatures is a great way past indestructibility, hexproof, shroud, and also a great way to trigger some of the nasty abilities of your other vampire buddies.
Now then, without further ado, the deck:
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Door of Destinies
1 Gilded Lotus
1 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Sol Ring
1 Gauntlet of Power
1 Anowon, The Ruin Sage
1 Ascendant Evincar
1 Baron Sengir
1 Blood Artist
1 Blood Seeker
1 Bloodhusk Ritualist
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Captivating Vampire
1 Chancellor of the Dross
1 Dark Impostor
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Fiend of the Shadows
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Kalastria Highborn
1 Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Mirri the Cursed
1 Necropolis Regent
1 Nirkana Cutthroat
1 Nirkana Revenant
1 Pulse Tracker
1 Sangromancer
1 Sengir Nosferatu
1 Skeletal Vampire
1 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Cover of Darkness
1 Exquisite Blood
1 Grave Pact
1 Gravestorm
1 Necropotence
1 No Mercy
1 Painful Quandary
1 Phyrexian Arena
1 Polluted Bonds
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Underworld Dreams
1 Wound Reflection
1 Tendrils of Corruption
1 Bojuka Bog
1 Bottomless Vault
1 Cabal Coffers
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Crypt of Agadeem
1 Shizo, Death’s Storehouse
31 Swamp
1 Thespian's Stage
1 Volrath's Stronghold
1 Choice of Damnations
1 Consuming Vapors
1 Curse of the Cabal
1 Decree of Pain
1 Diabolic Revelation
1 Exsanguinate
1 Sadistic Sacrament
1 Temporal Extortion
1 Victimize
Alright, now comes the fun part. I’m going to explain why each and every card is in this deck. Yes you heard me right. Every. Single. Card. Let’s get started shall we?
Artifacts:
Lightning Greaves: Great protection for Anowon, The Ruin Sage or any other creature you don’t want targeted, plus haste and a zero equip cost make it pretty much a staple.
Door of Destinies: 31 creatures of the same type? This one is a shoe-in, just casting 5 vampires with this beast out will give all of your creatures +5/+5, and that is damn scary.
Gilded Lotus: Mmm…mana. 3 black mana can do quite a bit in this deck, and giving yourself a 3 mana advantage is quite nice.
Sensei’s Divining Top: A staple for pretty much every commander deck, a great way to plan your next moves and make your deck operate the way you want, taking out some chance out of your deck, which is always nice.
Sol Ring: It's a staple for every commander deck just like the top, and it gives ridiculous mana advantage if it's in your opening hand.
Gauntlet of Power: Gives your creatures +1/+1 and essentially doubles your mana, this is a great card.
Creatures:
Anowon, The Ruin Sage: He’s the commander, and he really screws with the game plans of a lot of decks, especially voltron commanders.
Ascendant Evincar: A flying 3/3 body that gives your creatures +1/+1 and all creatures who don’t have the honor of being black -1/-1. There are better 6 casts in this deck, but he’s certainly worthy of a spot among the vampires.
Baron Sengir: He’s a 5/5 flyer which is already big enough to cause some damage, but if he kills a creature he gets +2/+2. He can explode pretty quickly and he can also be tapped to regenerate a target vampire (I.E any other creature in your deck).
Blood Artist: One of the more underestimated cards in this deck, but also one of the more dangerous. Any time any creature dies, you gain a life and your opponent loses a life. A great deterrence for board wipes, especially when there are a lot of creatures out. His 0/1 body makes some less experienced players overlook him, which can often be a fairly deadly mistake.
Blood Seeker: A solid card for its CMC, and the effect is particularly deadly against token decks, and synergises well with quite a few of the enchantments in this deck.
Bloodhusk Ritualist: If you have the mana for it, this nasty sucker can make someone discard their entire hand, which is great. After that though, it’s just a 2/2 body, which isn’t awesome but good for chump blocking.
Bloodline Keeper: This card is an absolute beast, and I’ve had quite a few people freak a bit when he’s flipped over. Not only does he pop out a chump blocker each turn with flying, but once he’s transformed he gives every vampire +2/+2. He’s great when combined with Captivating Vampire.
Bloodlord of Vaasgoth: bloodthirst 3 for every creature in the deck is pretty awesome because generally vampires aren’t the biggest creatures around.
Butcher of Malakir: The ultimate ‘do you really want to kill my creature’ test. At 5/4 he’s tough enough to handle his own, and he makes people terrified to hit you, especially with Anowon, The Ruin Sage already sacrificing one of their creatures on each of your upkeeps anyways. It makes your dinky little 1/1’s and 2/2’s a whole lot scarier.
Captivating Vampire: Not only does he give all of your vamps +1/+1, he can also steal away creatures given a big enough audience. He can be used in a variety of different combos, and for some reason people don’t seem to understand why he’s scary until their creature is suddenly yours.
Chancellor of the Dross: A 6/6 with flying and lifelink is scary, a 6/6 with flying and lifelink that can be revealed in your opening hand to automatically give you at least a 6 life advantage is awesome. The 7 CMC is kind of annoying, but once he’s out the game is nearing the end anyways, one of my favorite boomsticks in this deck.
Dark Impostor: Pay 6 mana to exile any creature and give him a +1/+1? Yes please. Also, if someone has another non-vampire black creature with an activated ability you want (Avatar of Woe anyone?), he’s a great way to get it.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: One of the boomier boomsticks in this deck. Given the mana, you can not only remove a large threat from the board, but pump her up to scary levels. She gets no boost to her defense though, so be a bit careful. She’s a great way to get rid of any fliers your opponent has to clear a path for your own.
Falkenrath Noble: Blood Artist’s tougher older brother, he does the same exact thing except he’s a 2/2 flier.
Fiend of the Shadows: Her effect is good no matter your opponent, but great if you’re playing someone using black mana. Discarding is one thing, exiling is another far better option.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Pay 3 mana and force them to sacrifice a creature, this is a great way to get rid of something troublesome, and most people don’t see it coming. Once it’s out it’s a 2/2 chump blocker, which can also be nasty with this deck.
Guul Draz Assassin: A great card to start the game out with, he’s a good place to dump mana if you drew big CMC cards. Once he’s fully leveled up he can be quite scary.
Kalastria Highborn: In the same vein as Blood Artist and Falkenrath Noble but not as good, she’s still nice to have out, though you have to keep mana open in order to use her.
Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet: One of my personal favorite cards and another boomstick of the deck. He used to be my commander for a bit but it just took too long to bring him out. His effect is awesome because it not only destroys creatures and brings them back to your side, but also turns them into vampires; and the more vampires you have, the happier you’ll be.
Malakir Bloodwitch: Devastating upon entry, especially combo’ed with exquisite blood or sanguine bond, plus protection from white and a 4/4 flier. Try not to play her unless you have 5 or more vamps for maximum effect. This card is where your token generators shine.
Mirri the Cursed: This card could be better (+1/+1 when dealing combat damage to a player instead of a creature) but as it stands it’s a pretty nasty blocker. First striking for 3 damage is enough to put quite a few cards out of misery, especially on turn 4.
Necropolis Regent: Want to make your boomsticks boomier? Here’s the card to do it with. This card will often win games once it’s out, especially with the sheer amount of fliers you have.
Nirkana Cutthroat: The only card with the capability to get first strike and deathtouch besides Glissa, The Traitor and istherefor one of the best blockers in this deck. Sure you have to pump a ton of mana into her, but it can be quite worth it.
Nirkana Revenant: Double mana all the way across the sky! She also can hurt a lot if you want her too, as you’re guaranteed to have at least 12 mana when she comes out.
Pulse Tracker: This little guy shines in early game, more so in multiplayer but he can do his fair share of damage in 1v1 games.
Sangromancer: Blood Artist on steroids minus the damage to your opponent, this chick is great, plus a 3/3 flier is always nice to have.
Sengir Nosferatu: A great way to ensure you have at least one creature left after a board wipe and a good way to reliably trigger some of your nasty sacrifice cards, he may not look like much but this guy can get dangerous.
Skeletal Vampire: This guy pumps out chump blockers/sac outlets better than any other vampire, and he can be regenerated as well.
Vampire Nighthawk: This little bugger is downright scary and is one of the meaner 3 CMC cards out there, especially for an uncommon.
Vampire Nocturnus: The ‘give ALL the vampires flying!’ card. This guy can ruin someone’s day and win the game all at once, plus with only 5 artifacts in the deck you’re pretty much guaranteed to always have +2/+1 and flying on all of your creatures.
Enchantments:
Black Market: Sweet mother of mana batman! This card is fantastic especially with all of the auto-sacrificing that will be going on because of Anowon.
Bloodchief Ascension: Yo dawg, I heard you like siphoning life, so I made it so whenever you siphon life you can siphon life so you can siphon life as you siphon life. This enchantment is great, especially with the 1 and 2 casts you have that can dish out damage early.
Cover of Darkness: Giving all of your vampires fear is pretty sexy, especially against non-black decks. Serves them right for not using the master color.
Exquisite Blood: Oh boy, this one is scary. It really shines in multiplayer, but unfortunately it is destroyed immediately almost every time because some people are lame and don’t like you gaining life like it’s going out of season. Oh yeah, and it’s part of a 2 card infinite lifegain, infinite damage combo, but that’s not too important.
Grave Pact: This one pretty much ensures your opponent will never attack you without having more creatures, which is kind of nice given the way you can pump them out.
Gravestorm: A great way to either get card advantage or make sure your opponents don’t have things in their graveyard they can revive in some way. Also the name is awesome. (graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaavestooooooooorm *lightning and thunder*)
Necropotence: One of the best black cards ever printed, this is a good way to put the ridiculous lifegain that goes on in this deck to good use, making sure you always have enough cards.
No Mercy: The ultimate in ‘come at me bro’ technology. Oh so you have a giant creature huh? Well if you attack me it dies, and if you don’t it gets sacrificed on my upkeep. One of my personal favorites.
Painful Quandary: Very good for when people just will not stop casting things. This enchantment really throws a wrench in the plans of some decks.
Phyrexian Arena: 1 life for 1 card, I consider that a win, especially with the ridiculous amount of lifegain this deck has.
Polluted Bonds: Absolutely great against any deck that uses lands (you know, all of them) especially ramp decks. If you’re playing anyone using green, this is the card to play.
Sanguine Bond: Not quite as scary as its counterpart Exquisite Blood in multiplayer, but way scarier in 1v1. This one is also a part of not one, but two auto-win combos (for the inner troll in all of us).
Underworld Dreams: Polluted Bonds screws with green, but this card is the one to play against blue, it really punishes card draw, and at a 3 cast it is especially deadly.
Wound Reflection: If this is allowed to resolve, it’s pretty much game over. Doubling life lost is absolutely brutal.
Instant:
Tendrils of Corruption: Yes, the only instant in this deck. It’s a very good card, especially late game when you’ve got more swamps than Florida.
Land:
Bojuka Bog: For those pesky reanimation decks. It’s a shame it comes in tapped, but oh well.
Bottomless Vault: A great first drop, storage lands are the jam. This is the card that will let you cast Anowon, The Ruin Sage on turn 3, which is very bad news for your opponent.
Cabal Coffers: Hnnnnnnnngh. This card is absolutely great and should be in every mono-black deck.
Cavern of Souls: Speaking of hnnnnnnnngh, this card is awesome because it allows you to play every one of your creatures without worrying about them being countered.
Shizo, Death’s Storehouse: Giving Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief fear after powering her up is a pretty sure-fire way to win a game. Besides that it’s an all-round solid card, utility lands are always useful to have around, plus it comes into play untapped.
Swamp: An absolute staple in every black deck. It’s your primary source for mana, need I say more?
Thespian's Stage: You know what's better than one Cabal Coffers? Two Cabal Coffers. One of the only ways to get two of them is through this card, and I like that a lot.
Volrath’s Stronghold: Aw man you killed my super strong creature, oh wait, I’m sorry. I can’t hear you over the sound of me putting it back on top of my library. This land is awesome, allowing for constant recycling of your boomstick creatures. It’s also nice because it makes board wipes and removal less of a threat.
Sorceries:
Blood Tribute: Is your opponent hoarding all his life and not letting you borrow any? Well here’s a great way to even the score. Both fantastic and hilarious when used against a lifegain deck and it can be combo’ed with quite a few cards for instant wins.
Choice of Damnations: My absolute favorite card in the game. I normally wait until my opponent’s life and the number of permanents they control are about equal and toss this sucker out, normally causing a forfeit.
Consuming Vapors: Force your opponent to sacrifice a creature, and then do it again, while gaining life! This one is pretty awesome, especially if they like playing huge creatures.
Curse of the Cabal: This card is guaranteed to ruin someone’s day, especially in mid-game. Most opponents will sacrifice 2 or 3 permanents before realizing how screwed they are, and by the time it comes out of suspend it will decimate them.
Decree of Pain: Every deck needs a sweeper, and this one even gives you a load of cards for using it. How nice of it! The 8 CMC may seem scary, but you'll have more than enough mana if you ever need to use this sucker.
Diabolic Revelation: A great tutor to get one of your combos into your hand, especially if you’ve got heaping piles of mana. Not as good as some other tutors but waaaaay cheaper in price.
Exsanguinate: This one will win a game pretty easily, especially if you have Nirkana Revenant and Gauntlet of Power out.
Sadistic Sacrament: That combo deck repeatedly kicking your ass? Well not anymore! It's so evil it's in the name of the damn card. There are few decks out there that can still pull off a win against you when you get rid of their 15 best cards.
Temporal Extortion: Sometimes an extra turn can mean the game, this one ensures that if you don’t get that turn your opponents pay the price.
Victimize: Sacrificing a chump blocker or token to bring back two boomsticks is hilarious and very deadly.
Whew that took a while, now that I’ve explaining why I have the cards, it’s time for everyone’s favorite section, the combos!
These are only the combos that guarantee a kill, there a plenty of lesser ones in this deck as well.
Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood = infinite lifegain, infinite damage
Sanguine Bond + Blood Tribute = Hit them for half health twice for an auto-kill
Blood Tribute + Wound Reflection = Auto-kill
Temporal Extortion + Wound Reflection = Auto-kill (if they’re dumb enough to fall for it)
Grave Pact or Butcher of Malakir + Sengir Nosferatu = Infinite Sacrificing (as long as you have the mana)
Just as an additional section, here’s a good idea of how to play this deck, also a summary of how it has been performing.
Your main goal with this deck is to get Anowon, The Ruin Sage out as early as possible and control the board that way. If No Mercy is in your hand always play it before any other 4 casts, it will give you protection for quite a while. Focus on playing cards that help clear the way for your creatures, that way when your creatures start coming in they can quickly rack up the damage or set up the opponent for a killing blow with Exsanguinate. Bloodline Keeper is another card that should get priority, his vampire tokens can be used to not only chump block and chip away at the opponent, but get enough vamps out to use Captivating Vampire’s ability. Don’t use the ability only for taking cards you want to use either, but also to ensure certain cards are sacrificed when Anowon, The Ruin Sage’s ability is triggered (because then you have the choice of which creature to sacrifice, not your opponent). This deck has a lot of incredibly nasty cards in it, but I like to hold off using them until I’m in danger of dying, otherwise you just look like a jerk when you hit someone with an infinite combo out of the blue.
I’ve had this deck for a solid three months now, and it has been doing fantastic in 1v1. In multiplayer it doesn’t really get a chance to shine because I’m focused immediately (the downside of Anowon, The Ruin Sage) but in 1v1 that doesn’t matter. It’s played against a huge assortment of commander deck, and the only one it really had trouble with was a mono-blue Talrand, Sky Summoner deck, but even then it was able to pull off a few wins. It’s an absolute blast to play, and even though it’s limited to the vampire-theme, it doesn’t feel lacking. The only thing I wish it had was enchantment hate, because the most reliable way I’ve seen to beat this deck is to play a monster enchantment (Assemble the Legion anyone?) Unfortunately black is lacking in that area, and the only way I can deal with it is through forcing them to sacrifice permanents.
And lastly, for those who are curious who I am:
I’ve only been playing MtG for a while (started just when Dark Ascension came out) but ever since it has become a huge part of my life. This vampire deck was the first commander deck I built from the ground up, and I figured I would share it with you guys because there hasn’t been a new Anowon deck in a while on this site.
EDIT 1: Here's a commentary on a few games to show how this deck plays:
Here’s a few playthroughs of the deck, just to give an idea of how it plays:
Game 1:
I played against my friends Mayeal, The Anima deck for this one. It’s a pretty standard Mayael, play commander and pull out cards that beat face. I’ll be going through a turn-by-turn of the game. Cards will be tagged when they enter play, not when they’re in the hand.
Turn 1:
Turn 2:
Turn 3:
Turn 4:
Turn 4:
Turn 5:
Turn 6:
Turn 7:
Turn 8:
Turn 9:
Turn 10:
Turn 11:
This game was played against another tribal deck, except this one is all elementals with Horde of Notions as the commander. It can explode out of nowhere and is a solid toolbox deck, though it can have problems with mana because it’s 5 color.
Turn 1:
Turn 2:
Turn 3:
Turn 4:
Turn 5:
Turn 6:
Turn 7:
Turn 8:
Turn 9:
Turn 1:
Turn 2:
Turn 3:
Turn 4:
Turn 5:
Turn 6:
Turn 7:
Turn 8:
EDIT 2: Spent all day today playing EDH and managed to try out the deck against a bunch of different deck types. It really showed exactly what the deck was weak at and how I could change it to make it better. Here's how I edited it, I’ll add why the new cards are in the deck in the section where I explain that:
Swamp -----> Thespian's Stage: Trading a swamp for something which can give me two cabal coffers is a great deal.
Krovikan Vampire ------> Skeletal Vampire: Krovikan kind of sucks, it’s not strong enough to bring over anything and if they have a really good creature they can just not block or make sure you can’t kill it. Skeletal Vampire not only is able to regenerate, but also pumps out tokens and sac outlets.
Swamp ------> Sol Ring: Sol Ring is kind of just flat-out awesome.
Feast of Blood -------> Sadistic Sacrament: Feast of Blood is a decent card, but Sadistic Sacrament effectively cripples any deck when kicked.
Pawn of Ulamog ---------> Black Market: Holy jesus dat mana! Also Pawn of Ulamog wasn’t producing nearly enough tokens to make him worth it.
Swamp ----------> Necropotence: With all of the open mana you have with all the mana doublers and generators, the more cards you can fit in your hand the better.
Swamp -----------> Decree Of Pain: I found that this deck really needs at least one sweeper, and card draw is always good too, especially since you'll definitely have enough mana to play this when you need to.
So that’s my take on a vampire tribal deck, I’m fairly new to MtG so I don’t know a lot of the cards so any suggestions would be awesome. Comments are also welcome and appreciated. If any of you decide to build this or a version of it let me know how it goes!
like Flux have mentioned, I'm not quite sure how would you approach it... even if you are doing Tribal deck (?), you shouldn't limit with just Vampires. You should also have quick and cheap removal (and not only in the hand). You don't even have enough removal (Damnation and friends) or even draw power (Phyrexian Arena, Sign in Blood, Night's Whisper and etc).
Competitive means your deck is prepared to outlast or give enough decent match against other competitive decks... Even if you're on a budget, there are other cards that could compensate it (like acquiring Bob).
PS
If you have enough mana... Sorin Markov should be in there. He's cheap and all. He's even a counter bait from blue players.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier
As for the other parts, I know that having something called tribal doesn't mean it has to only have that creature type, but I really want to stick to the theme at least in the way of creatures for the challenge, I find good stuff decks kind of boring to play so this is my way of challenging myself. I've found that the deck is good enough at removing creatures without having to include much mass removal or targeted removal, which is why little of that is in there. For card draw, I felt having Phyrexian Arena and Necropotence in there was good enough, though I'm probably going to add a Sign in Blood like you said.
And thanks for the advice on Sorin, I'll be putting him in when I get the chance to pick him up.
I would suggest that you take your deck online and face your deck against other decks that's designed to 1v1 ONLY (ie Cockatrice games that's isn't "for fun," "no infinite," "casual," "multiplayer," "ffa" and etc... and go to just plain "1v1" and "competitive" or my fav non-Duel... Mark-EDH Advisor's game). If your deck can survive for more than 5-8 turns, that means your deck can survive in your LGS. That's my personal experience when playtest my "real" deck against a deck that has access to everything.
In a 1v1 competitive setting, you'll be surprise how cards you want to replenish your hand. Heck, you don't even have Demonic Tutor (which is among the best tutors in Black decks) to find those cards. You don't even have Cavern of Souls against blue's counters.
This is from my personal experience from having him in my Geth or Glissa deck.
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ps
If you remove "Competitive" that means your deck is just for casual 1v1 with the purpose of fun or having an occasional win.
Duel Commander
URG [Primer] Maelstrom Wanderer [Primer] URG
Duel Commander Current Projects:
RGWMarath, Will of the WildRGW
BRXMogis, God of SlaughterBRX
RWxIoras, God of VictoryRWx
WBxAthreos, God of PassageWBx
Created By: DarkNightCavalier