MTG Salvation

Vampires are clearly pissed off this time around and, like many others, I started brewing a Vampire Madness deck focused on discarding madness spells and creatures to get them out there quicker or with added effects. This is my first foray into a more aggro style deck so feedback is always welcome.

If you're looking to get a land in the grave without taking the gamble on the Demon Evolving Wilds is an option, though it is a tempo hit. I think Inverter of Truth would be better off in the Demon's spot in your deck

I think you can go a couple ways with a B/R Madness deck, the fast aggro route with Alms of the Vein and/or Zurgo Bellstriker or the more midrange route with Avaricious Dragon, Call of the Bloodline and/or Mindwrack Demon. In either deck, though, I'd never run less than 4 Fiery Temper. It is one of the best reasons to run a madness deck, especially with Jace running the show.

Updated the decklist in the main post to the deck's current form. Debating adding Chandra to the deck because of her zero. Thoughts?

Here's my BR vampire brew:

Lightning Axe? Premium madness enabler and creature removal. Incorrigible Youths is a great card for a madness deck too (because a 4/3 with haste for 2R is powerful). I'm not sold on Ravenous Bloodseeker or Bloodmad Vampire. I'd much rather run Axe in the place of Bloodseeker and Youths over Bloodmad (it can survive a chump block).

EDIT: What about Tormenting Voice?

Here's a quick list I came up with tonight after doing a draft on MTGO. The goal is to make things dead quickly by abusing madness to push out instant speed and cheap vampires. The spells give you the reach needed to close out games and enable madness, or remove any pesky blockers that might get in your way. I know it doesn't have any fatties, and I thought about adding Guul Draz Overseer, but that seems to be taking this to a place I don't want it to go and late game he may not bring enough value to the table, although he could give you the extra little bit to push it home. Also only running 24-25 lands may make dropping him and getting any use out of him be a lot of miss.

I'm also only running two Asylum Visitor, although it seems good, I think that it is something that you would probably only want to see one of as being a /1 it will die to anything, and I see it as more of a draw engine that can get in their to close out games if necessary. I may be wrong though, and this could be a four of if it tests well. Drana, Liberator of Malakir might seem like a strange choice as I see no one mentioned here. She seems to reward the aggressive strategy though by pumping your team every time she connects. Four of Olivia as legendary may also seem strange, but given that you can discard any extras you might happen to draw, and being Olivia I suspect she will die frequently against any deck that has a way to kill her I wanted to start with four.

Insolent Neonate and Incorrigible Youths seem like they could possibly find a home in here as well, but giving all my vampires madness that don't already have it seems stronger than a 1/1 with menace that can draw a card. Stensia Masquerade could also possibly fit in here, but it seems to me like it might just be a bit too much good stuff and I'm not sure what I would cut for it.

This is a quick list, and I haven't played standard since the Theros block, so I appreciate any input you might have or recommendations for changes.

I think if you want to make a BR vamp deck, you really need to be lightning fast. I think that means loading up heavy on 1 drops, heavy on 2 drops, and the other drops need to be madness drops. In all of these decks, I think Asylum Visitor is a wasted slot. Don't get me wrong, this is a great card, but you either need to have an empty hand or make your opponent to have an empty hand to really get good use out of it. Tormenting Voice is going to be better in almost every deck that doesn't play with an empty hand or destroy your opponent's hands. This deck is just thrown together and theoretical, but I think it has some legs.



I think the biggest choice that will raise eyebrows is Senseless Rage. I think this will be a strong card in this deck. You can hard cast it on the 2nd turn on an Insolent Neonate, and it will work really well in the opening turns thanks to Menace. It also pairs well as an instant speed buff during combat with Ravenous Bloodseeker. After it's attached to the bloodseeker, it allows you to discard 2 without killing him.

I think Markov Dreadknight is a fine finisher for the deck. He's a vamp, he's a madness enabler. He has evasion. That's good enough for me!

I think this deck can support 21 lands. Except for the Dreadknight, all other cards should be cast for 3 or less mana. The only thing I don't really like about this list is the Stensia Masquerade. I mean, it seems like it could be decent if it came down early, but I could really only find 2 spots for it. If I spent more time, I'm sure I could find spots for it. At 2 spots though, it's likely that Avacyn's Judgment might be a better card, since it can be a late game finisher.

I had a long post written out, but apparently the internet ate it so here's round 2.

Senseless Rage is good, I missed it during my gatherer search, I will definitely include it most likely taking out Alms. Insolent neonate is good, I'll have to give it a try. I'm still not sold on Incorrigible Youths I feel Olivia, Mobilized for War since she gives all your vamps haste, enables your madness cards, and fits nicely at 3 cmc.

Markov Dreadknight just seems like it's a win more card. If you're ahead enough to be able to drop cards to pump this guy then you've probably already got the game in the bag, if you're behind though and you top deck this it comes down as a 3/3 for five that will cost you your next drop to pump and give the number of lands you're running it seems likely that the next drop would be something more useful than giving a dude +2/+2 assuming it lives that long. I'm feeling Drana, Liberator of Malkir Would be a better closer as you can drop it in buff your whole team with Olivia on the field.

Here's version 2.0

Guys, we already have a thread on this. Decks have been built. testing has been done. Please look through the catalog before you post. As I'm trying to push aggro, I really want to see everything in one place.

Quote from Red Shadows »

Guys, we already have a thread on this. Decks have been built. testing has been done. Please look through the catalog before you post. As I'm trying to push aggro, I really want to see everything in one place.

Are you referring to the R/B Maddness Aggro/Midrange thread? If so, there is one key difference between the threads. The other thread focuses on all flavors of R/B Madness decks while this thread is tribal focused. Also, both were posted one the same date almost a month ago.

Quote from Dusk707 »

Quote from Red Shadows »

Guys, we already have a thread on this. Decks have been built. testing has been done. Please look through the catalog before you post. As I'm trying to push aggro, I really want to see everything in one place.

Are you referring to the R/B Maddness Aggro/Midrange thread? If so, there is one key difference between the threads. The other thread focuses on all flavors of R/B Madness decks while this thread is tribal focused. Also, both were posted one the same date almost a month ago.

B/R aggro/midrange covers this entire subject, regardless of tribal focus.

I found this via the search for BR Vampires. I wasn't looking for BR Midrange, so that is why I probably didn't find it.

B/R aggro is not the same as midrange, and B/R midrange is not vampires. Having four different deck archetypes in one thread sounds like a mess. I was looking specifically for Rakdos Vampires. I'll look at the other thread and move my posts over if it is what I'm looking for, but it kinda sounds like a mess from what you're saying.

MODS, if you would like to merge the thread I created "R/B Maddness Aggro/Midrange" into this one, that's fine. My thread is completely aggro based. The B/R Control and B/R Dragon thread cover mid range well enough.

Red Shadows is right that the "R/B Maddness Aggro/Midrange" has alot of testing results to hopefully alleviate duplicate questions in this thread.

EDIT: I changed the title to my thread to only mention aggro, to avoid any confusion. Both this thread and my thread are basically the same topic, and were created the same day.

I can agree with Markov. I only took a cursory pass when I was putting that list together. You're totally right about him. I think I still like the Youths in the deck I threw together. Unlike Olivia, they're 4 damage attacking on turn 3. I'm not saying it's an either/or. they probably both belong in the deck.

Trying a splash of Blue for some counters and possible sideboard options. I like the Bloodseeker and Tormentor for the continous discard option, but I'm thinking 4 Tormenting Voice would keep the gas in my hand.

Ive been on the fence about Falkenrath Gorger, giving all the creatures madness is good but I'm thinking this is becoming more midrangeish.



Any thoughts or suggestions? Sideboard will be more burn and blue bounce spells.

I really like the idea of trying to splash blue with the deck. It could take away slightly from the idea of fast paced aggro if that's what someone is going for, but it does have some benefits. I played in a Shadows draft recently and ended up putting together a red blue deck with vampires and blue instants, sorceries, and enchantements. The deck did surprisingly well and one of the best combos was using Geistblast with other Madness cards. Also, having the option to sideboard Ghostly Wings could help get some damage through early on. With this said, I think I will try your idea of splashing blue in and see how it works out!

Ive been trying to make my own BR madness. Wut about Oliva mobilized for war? And i think your side board should be filled with more cards that answer other popular decks in the meta. But i like your deck!

Has anyone considered playing a discard outlet and then just playing the deck like a flash deck? Could play madness cards and instants and do everything on the opponent's turn. That would give the flexibility of deciding whether to burn/counter/whatever the opponent does or play a creature of your own. I Imagine a madness-"flash" deck could also be made with blue, either RU or BU for access to counterspells and bounce too. RBU could probably also work too, but it would also be much more unstable.

Either way, I think opponents could really be caught off guard having their creature stolen by Welcome to the Fold in a vampire deck (which btw is a great way to possibly steal an opponent's turn).