My wifey is bored of her vampire deck, and I've been considering options.
It's currently mono-black for Vampire Nocturnus with the usual suspects like Tony Hawk, Pretty boy, 'ghast, Anowon, Bored, Tina etc.
It works, but it's also kind of boring to play, and the on/off nature of Nocturnus is frustrating.
SO I'm looking for potential change, but I'd like to know if you guys and gals think it's worth the cash and effort?
Is moving to a R/B, R/W or even a RWB deck a stronger option?
Are the options in these colours worth the extra coin and effort to support them?
I'm looking primarily at options like Olivia Voldaren, Olivia, Mobilized for War, Forerunner of the Legion, Legion Lieutenant and of course the support like Crackling Doom. But is it worth it?
I ask this, because for a bit of fun I chucked in Forgotten Ancient together with some Loxodon Warhammer (just because it's what I had spare). Needless to say, Tony Hawk with +20/+20 on it with trample was kinda silly. So it's made me re-think the whole need to keep it tribal.
So what direction do you think is the stronger option here?
Should I stay mono-black or try something else?
It's very fun and there's tons of ways to build it. Dusk Legion Zealot is fantastic for example and I tend to field copies of cards like Door of Destinies and Kindred Dominance as well. Oathsworn Vampire is "cast" from your GY which is insanely relevant for Door of Destinies so sometimes swapping 4x New Blood for 4x Door of Destinies is quite useful at times. If you do add Door of Destinies you'll also want to swap Indulgent Aristocrat for Viscera Seer since the free sac outlet becomes much more relevant at that point. Door becomes your pump spell of choice so you don't need the Aristocrat. If you own Bloodghast play that over Oathsworn Vampire because it's strictly better. I just like posting budget-minded alternatives as much as humanely possible.
My wifey is bored of her vampire deck, and I've been considering options.
It's currently mono-black for Vampire Nocturnus with the usual suspects like Tony Hawk, Pretty boy, 'ghast, Anowon, Bored, Tina etc.
It works, but it's also kind of boring to play, and the on/off nature of Nocturnus is frustrating.
SO I'm looking for potential change, but I'd like to know if you guys and gals think it's worth the cash and effort?
Is moving to a R/B, R/W or even a RWB deck a stronger option?
Are the options in these colours worth the extra coin and effort to support them?
I'm looking primarily at options like Olivia Voldaren, Olivia, Mobilized for War, Forerunner of the Legion, Legion Lieutenant and of course the support like Crackling Doom. But is it worth it?
I ask this, because for a bit of fun I chucked in Forgotten Ancient together with some Loxodon Warhammer (just because it's what I had spare). Needless to say, Tony Hawk with +20/+20 on it with trample was kinda silly. So it's made me re-think the whole need to keep it tribal.
So what direction do you think is the stronger option here?
Should I stay mono-black or try something else?
But it's a good idea :). Dusk Legion Zealot and Living Death getting reprinted both have made the deck significantly more powerful and affordable.
My version of the deck is:
20x Swamp
4x Leechridden Swamp
Creatures (28)
4x Viscera Seer
4x Dusk Legion Zealot
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Blood Artist
4x Pawn of Ulamog
4x Sengir Autocrat
4x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
4x Dark Prophecy
4x Living Death
Something close to this. You can also add Ophiomancer which is another card that I really enjoy playing with. You don't have to add Gray Merchant either. He can be removed for Reassembling Skeleton, Bloodghast, Ophiomancer, Phyrexian Rager, Grave Pact, Gonti, Lord of Luxury, Malakir Bloodwitch, etc.
If you want the full Vampire version just play Falkenrath Noble and Malakir Bloodwitch. You still have to keep Zulaport Cutthroat though :).
If you want the "all cantrip" version of the deck play cards like Dusk Legion Zealot, Phyrexian Rager and Gonti, Lord of Luxury.
If you want more aggro add 2-3x Smuggler's Copter or Grafted Wargear. Both cards are fantastic in the archetype.
Another option at 4 CMC is Cliffhaven Vampire since that card is bonkers. So something like:
11x Swamp
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Tainted Field
4x Orzhov Basilica
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Viscera Seer
4x Dusk Legion Zealot
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Tithe Drinker
4x Blood Artist
1x Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan
4x Cliffhaven Vampire
2x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
4x Dark Prophecy
4x Living Death
You can also play the Allies version of the deck:
11x Swamp
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Tainted Field
4x Orzhov Basilica
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Viscera Seer
4x Dusk Legion Zealot
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
4x Kalastria Healer
4x Blood Artist
4x Drana's Emissary
4x Cliffhaven Vampire
4x Dark Prophecy
4x Living Death
Just so we're clear, there's a million ways to build the deck but they all start with something close to:
24x Land
Creatures (24-28)
4x Viscera Seer
4x Dusk Legion Zealot
4x Zulaport Cutthroat
12x Flex Slots
4x Dark Prophecy
4x Living Death
4x Flex Slots
Other decks to consider might be:
11x Swamp
4x Dragonskull Summit
4x Rakdos Carnarium
4x Tainted Peak
1x Shivan Gorge
4x Vicious Conquistador
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Blood Artist
4x Captivating Vampire
4x Stromkirk Captain
2x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
4x Sanctum Seeker
4x Malakir Bloodwitch
4x Cut // Ribbons
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
I sometimes add cards like Impact Tremors, Shared Animosity and Purphoros, God of the Forge to this deck as well. If you can afford a real manabase Crackling Doom is also nuts in the archetype.
11x Swamp
4x Tainted Field
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Orzhov Basilica
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Indulgent Aristocrat
4x Oathsworn Vampire
4x Legion Lieutenant
4x Legion Conquistador
4x Captivating Vampire
2x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
2x Champion of Dusk
2x Patron of the Vein
2x Legion's Landing
4x Call to the Feast
4x New Blood
11x Swamp
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Tainted Field
4x Caves of Koilos
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Vicious Conquistador
4x Pulse Tracker
4x Tithe Drinker
2x Blood Artist
4x Drana's Emissary
4x Sanctum Seeker
4x Malakir Bloodwitch
4x Tyrant's Choice
2x Exsanguinate
2x Throne of the God-Pharaoh
2x Snuff Out
Of all of these the deck that I've personally been playing the most is:
11x Swamp
4x Tainted Field
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Orzhov Basilica
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Indulgent Aristocrat
4x Oathsworn Vampire
4x Legion Lieutenant
4x Legion Conquistador
4x Captivating Vampire
2x Elenda, the Dusk Rose
2x Champion of Dusk
2x Patron of the Vein
2x Legion's Landing
4x Call to the Feast
4x New Blood
It's very fun and there's tons of ways to build it. Dusk Legion Zealot is fantastic for example and I tend to field copies of cards like Door of Destinies and Kindred Dominance as well. Oathsworn Vampire is "cast" from your GY which is insanely relevant for Door of Destinies so sometimes swapping 4x New Blood for 4x Door of Destinies is quite useful at times. If you do add Door of Destinies you'll also want to swap Indulgent Aristocrat for Viscera Seer since the free sac outlet becomes much more relevant at that point. Door becomes your pump spell of choice so you don't need the Aristocrat. If you own Bloodghast play that over Oathsworn Vampire because it's strictly better. I just like posting budget-minded alternatives as much as humanely possible.
Another way to build it would be something like:
11x Swamp
4x Tainted Field
4x Caves of Koilos
4x Orzhov Basilica
1x Vault of the Archangel
4x Indulgent Aristocrat
4x Oathsworn Vampire
4x Dusk Legion Zealot
4x Legion Conquistador
4x Captivating Vampire
4x Champion of Dusk
2x Patron of the Vein
2x Legion's Landing
4x Urza's Incubator
4x Call to the Feast
That has more card draw and plenty of ways to abuse Urza's Incubator. After all, Legion Conquistador drops down to 1 mana if you have one in play and Oathsworn Vampire only costs 1 to recur. This enables you to rip through your deck with Champion of Dusk and eventually grind the table out with Indulgent Aristocrat.
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