Unrecognized Genius1R
Creature - Human Artificer (R)
Haste
When Unrecognized Genius becomes tapped you may exile an artifact card in a graveyard. As long as Unrecognized Genius is on the battlefield, it has all activated abilities of all artifact cards in exile.
"The junkyard is full of failure. Failure of ingenuity."
So I have been quietly checking on the latest thoughts on B/R vampires in both this thread and another where you posted your first list on the archetype on while back. It got me interested in this whole vampire madness theme to begin with. I had previously read up on an older Tom Ross article of his aggro mono black vampires list and general philosophy on what he wants to accomplish with the deck. That being said, I am of the personal opinion that in order to be competitive, the tribal archetype needs to play to it's strengths and not try to be so much of a swiss army knife deck with ambitions of ever being able to compete with the efficiency of a Jund attrition style Midrange. I think any cards that contribute to this school of thought need to be heavily scrutinized before even considering them as additions and need to be bumped down if they aren't the strongest options we have to getting our opponents life to 0 quickly.
Hence, building on your current list you just posted I would immediately red flag the 4x Big Game Hunter, 2 x Weaponcraft Enthusiast, 1 x Stensia Masquerade, and 1 x Call the Bloodline. The 1 x Dakmor Salvage also doesn't contribute to applying pressure. Cavern of Souls seems powerful enough and when considering a very real need to have triple black on turn three for a possible Pariah drop only adds to its attractiveness. However I think Mutavaults are too strong of an option to pass up, provided you can support them with a decent arsenal of lords. Think of it this way; if paired in a control matchup, Cavern of Souls will let you resolve your threat. A threat that could be interchangeable if we included Mutavaults instead, but Mutavaults also have innate sorcery speed immunity which is relevant when facing Wrath of God, Damnation, or Anger of the Gods. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, although very slightly on the slower end of the spectrum is too powerful in regards to the current dredge meta and obvious synergies with Voldaren Pariah. Moving forward, in testing I find Olivia, Mobilized for War to be very effective, even if it is a 3 drop susceptible to Lightning Bolt. Olivia, Mobilized for War if allowed to survive a turn, contributes greatly at presenting pressure which your opponent can simply be overwhelmed by by turn 4. Another hidden effect about Olivia which other people may have overlooked is that like some of the most powerful planeswalkers, one of the best aspects of them is their ability to discard additional copies of themselves for some sort of value since you can only have one of each kind out at any given time(Liliana of the Veil, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Nahiri, the Harbinger, Jace, the Mind Sculptor). Olivia is Legendary but she can pitch extra copies of herself for added effect. Not to mention running 4 Olivia's will add more consistency and resilience to a hyper aggressive gameplan. Now I haven't tested out Drana, Liberator of Malakir but I bet it's strong so I simply won't comment on that.
With all said and done removing the cards I mentioned free's up 8 slots and retains 8 discard effects. By adding 4 x Olivia, Mobilized for War we increase our aggression, consistency, and augment our 8 discard effects to 12. If we consider swapping the 4 x Cavern of Souls for Mutavaults we continue to augment our gameplan (or at least MY aggressive gameplan), however we need a little more justification to include them. By adding perhaps 2 x or 4 x Vampire Nocturnus we now have access to 8 lords and increase our evasion. Please keep in mind if Nocturnus hits the board with a black card on top of library it is Lightning Bolt proof, and if utilized with Olivia, comes into play as a hasted 6/5 flying vampire that gives other vampires +2/+1 and flying measuring to be a potential turn four 29 evasive damage alpha strike swing. Truly a lord with the stature to reflect the power it represents. Another alteration I suggest is reflecting on the significance of Blackcleave Cliffs. A fantastic land no doubt, but would Polluted Deltas or another fetch work better in this situation, given we would still have access to the B/R mana we need turn 1 but also increase our synergies with both Bloodghast and Vampire Nocturnus. And if we were to only include 2 x Nocturnus, 2 x Viscera Seers could be considered to help our Nocturni and Bloodghast softness to Path to Exile or Anger of the Gods (all over current meta) as well as general scry. An Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would easily slip into the Dakmor Salvage slot (Might even need to add the full set of Urborg; -1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse -1 Swamp, -1 Mutavault, +1 Blood Crypt)and in the end we would have mitigated 5 potential tapped lands coming into play to help skew our mana base to suit our aggression. Finally, I find myself reaching hellbent rather quickly and as such to take advantage some cards to consider would be first Asylum Visitor and second Infernal Tutor.
I believe Liliana of the Veil has obvious synergy with the deck but doesn't really contribute to the gameplan. However it may be a top sideboard card when playing against heavy control and sweeper effects. As far as other notable cards to consider for sideboard: Collective Brutality, Searing Blaze, Sign in Blood. With respect to other sideboard's mentioned here I would also substitute Nihil Spellbomb for Tormod's Crypt again preserving our aggressive tilt and maybe even contributing to hellbent quicker.
Looking forward. I really like Phantasmal Image (the most efficient clone ever printed and can even be sac'ed in response to its on target sac trigger with Viscera Seer) on how it contributes to the package however I am stuck on where else to go if we were ever to include blue in here. Mutavaults can't be supported in Grixis builds.
I would love to hear the community's feedback on my thoughts and any aversion or embracement
Burricow, Thief Lord2RR
Legendary Creature - Mole
First Strike
When Burricow, Thief Lord enters the battlefield, gain control of target artifact.
When Burricow kills another creature in combat, gain control of target noncreature permanent. R: Burricow gains +1/+0 until end of turn.
3/3
Granted I'm no expert on moles, I was under the impression the animal doesn't actually have any theiving characteristics. They just ruin farmland with their digging. If however we were interpreting it as a spy stealing secrets then maybe a humanoid spy creature type is a better fit. Regardless thieves don't do much fighting. They steal things in hopes of remaining undetected. Which would fit the mole bill more accurately.
All being said perhaps this is better:
Burricow, Thief Lord2RR
Legendary Creature - Mole
Unblockable
When Burricow, Thief Lord becomes the target of a spell an opponent controls that player sacrifices a land.
When Burricow, Thief Lord enters the battlefield, gain control of target artifact for as long as Burricow, Thief Lord remains on the battlefield.
3/3
Anyways this might be too broken but creatures are so damn op lately, spells need some more flare. Let's give it a shot:
Sudden WithdrawalUB
Instant
Return target non-land permanent to its owner's hand, then that player discards a non-land card.
Or
Wailing EchoUB
Instant
Copy target triggered of activated ability, then destroy the source of that ability.
This fel;ls like a really Red removal spell. Good job!
Liliana Unchained2BB
Planeswalker - Liliana (MR) {0}: put a 2/2 blakc Zombie creature token onto the battlefield, then put a number of loyalty counters on Liliana equal to the number of Zombies you control.
{-x}: Return target creature from a creaveyard to the battlefield. IT's a black Zombie instead of ite normal type and color.
{-6}: You gain an emblem with, "Zombies you cast cost 1 less to cast. Zombies you control get +2/+1."
{-12}: Return all creatures from all graveyards to the battlefield under thier owner's control. Those creatures gain haste and are Zombies. At the baeginning of each end step, exile all creatures returned this way.
{3}
What a beautiful start. Very creative. I've noticed that recently the color pie "bleeding" has been so prolific, lots of new cards have lost their identity and as a result a key concept of the game has been abandoned. If i may, some alterations to your Liliana to follow what I consider should be canon to the black color pie.
Liliana, Profane Host1BB
Planeswalker - Liliana (MR)
{0}: Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield, then put a number of loyalty counters on Liliana, Profane Host equal to the number of Zombies you control.
{-3}: Place three -1/-1 counters on up to three target creatures. If a non-token creature dies this way, return it to the battlefield under your control. It's a black Zombie in addition to its other creature types.
{-x}: Each player discards X cards and gains X life.
{-13}: Each Zombie you control deals damage equal to their power to each player. Until the end of combat on your next turn, if you would lose the game you don't.
{3}
Although I like the OP's suggestion, its very similar to the original Olivia's design and simply becomes a much more powerful version. I think Wizards had the right idea behind changing her to avoid any redundancy or making the other obsolete.
Here is my idea. It's more in line with her original theme but makes it much more playable and even calls back to a powerful little goblin friend who's goals were similar.
Olivia, Mobilized for War 1BR (Sorry, I still haven't figured out how to make mana symbols properly)
Legendary Creature - Vampire Warrior (M)
Flying, Haste
When ~ deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker you may discard a card. If you do put a vampire creature card into play.
3/3
If my opponent has a kiln fiend attacking me and has 1 untapped mana for the bolt in his hand and I have no creatures on the board with the exception of my inkmoth that i can animate to block, can I animate the inkmoth during the beginning of my declare blockers step and declare it as a blocker before he bolts it to the afterlife? Or can he bolt it in response to me animating the inkmoth but before i officially declare blockers?
Is this a priority issue?
You need card tags in future posts. Read the Forum Guidelines. -Carsten
Creature - Human Artificer (R)
Haste
When Unrecognized Genius becomes tapped you may exile an artifact card in a graveyard. As long as Unrecognized Genius is on the battlefield, it has all activated abilities of all artifact cards in exile.
"The junkyard is full of failure. Failure of ingenuity."
2/1
So I have been quietly checking on the latest thoughts on B/R vampires in both this thread and another where you posted your first list on the archetype on while back. It got me interested in this whole vampire madness theme to begin with. I had previously read up on an older Tom Ross article of his aggro mono black vampires list and general philosophy on what he wants to accomplish with the deck. That being said, I am of the personal opinion that in order to be competitive, the tribal archetype needs to play to it's strengths and not try to be so much of a swiss army knife deck with ambitions of ever being able to compete with the efficiency of a Jund attrition style Midrange. I think any cards that contribute to this school of thought need to be heavily scrutinized before even considering them as additions and need to be bumped down if they aren't the strongest options we have to getting our opponents life to 0 quickly.
Hence, building on your current list you just posted I would immediately red flag the 4x Big Game Hunter, 2 x Weaponcraft Enthusiast, 1 x Stensia Masquerade, and 1 x Call the Bloodline. The 1 x Dakmor Salvage also doesn't contribute to applying pressure. Cavern of Souls seems powerful enough and when considering a very real need to have triple black on turn three for a possible Pariah drop only adds to its attractiveness. However I think Mutavaults are too strong of an option to pass up, provided you can support them with a decent arsenal of lords. Think of it this way; if paired in a control matchup, Cavern of Souls will let you resolve your threat. A threat that could be interchangeable if we included Mutavaults instead, but Mutavaults also have innate sorcery speed immunity which is relevant when facing Wrath of God, Damnation, or Anger of the Gods. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet, although very slightly on the slower end of the spectrum is too powerful in regards to the current dredge meta and obvious synergies with Voldaren Pariah. Moving forward, in testing I find Olivia, Mobilized for War to be very effective, even if it is a 3 drop susceptible to Lightning Bolt. Olivia, Mobilized for War if allowed to survive a turn, contributes greatly at presenting pressure which your opponent can simply be overwhelmed by by turn 4. Another hidden effect about Olivia which other people may have overlooked is that like some of the most powerful planeswalkers, one of the best aspects of them is their ability to discard additional copies of themselves for some sort of value since you can only have one of each kind out at any given time(Liliana of the Veil, Jace, Vryn's Prodigy, Nahiri, the Harbinger, Jace, the Mind Sculptor). Olivia is Legendary but she can pitch extra copies of herself for added effect. Not to mention running 4 Olivia's will add more consistency and resilience to a hyper aggressive gameplan. Now I haven't tested out Drana, Liberator of Malakir but I bet it's strong so I simply won't comment on that.
With all said and done removing the cards I mentioned free's up 8 slots and retains 8 discard effects. By adding 4 x Olivia, Mobilized for War we increase our aggression, consistency, and augment our 8 discard effects to 12. If we consider swapping the 4 x Cavern of Souls for Mutavaults we continue to augment our gameplan (or at least MY aggressive gameplan), however we need a little more justification to include them. By adding perhaps 2 x or 4 x Vampire Nocturnus we now have access to 8 lords and increase our evasion. Please keep in mind if Nocturnus hits the board with a black card on top of library it is Lightning Bolt proof, and if utilized with Olivia, comes into play as a hasted 6/5 flying vampire that gives other vampires +2/+1 and flying measuring to be a potential turn four 29 evasive damage alpha strike swing. Truly a lord with the stature to reflect the power it represents. Another alteration I suggest is reflecting on the significance of Blackcleave Cliffs. A fantastic land no doubt, but would Polluted Deltas or another fetch work better in this situation, given we would still have access to the B/R mana we need turn 1 but also increase our synergies with both Bloodghast and Vampire Nocturnus. And if we were to only include 2 x Nocturnus, 2 x Viscera Seers could be considered to help our Nocturni and Bloodghast softness to Path to Exile or Anger of the Gods (all over current meta) as well as general scry. An Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth would easily slip into the Dakmor Salvage slot (Might even need to add the full set of Urborg; -1 Shizo, Death's Storehouse -1 Swamp, -1 Mutavault, +1 Blood Crypt)and in the end we would have mitigated 5 potential tapped lands coming into play to help skew our mana base to suit our aggression. Finally, I find myself reaching hellbent rather quickly and as such to take advantage some cards to consider would be first Asylum Visitor and second Infernal Tutor.
I believe Liliana of the Veil has obvious synergy with the deck but doesn't really contribute to the gameplan. However it may be a top sideboard card when playing against heavy control and sweeper effects. As far as other notable cards to consider for sideboard: Collective Brutality, Searing Blaze, Sign in Blood. With respect to other sideboard's mentioned here I would also substitute Nihil Spellbomb for Tormod's Crypt again preserving our aggressive tilt and maybe even contributing to hellbent quicker.
Looking forward. I really like Phantasmal Image (the most efficient clone ever printed and can even be sac'ed in response to its on target sac trigger with Viscera Seer) on how it contributes to the package however I am stuck on where else to go if we were ever to include blue in here. Mutavaults can't be supported in Grixis builds.
I would love to hear the community's feedback on my thoughts and any aversion or embracement
Granted I'm no expert on moles, I was under the impression the animal doesn't actually have any theiving characteristics. They just ruin farmland with their digging. If however we were interpreting it as a spy stealing secrets then maybe a humanoid spy creature type is a better fit. Regardless thieves don't do much fighting. They steal things in hopes of remaining undetected. Which would fit the mole bill more accurately.
All being said perhaps this is better:
Burricow, Thief Lord 2RR
Legendary Creature - Mole
Unblockable
When Burricow, Thief Lord becomes the target of a spell an opponent controls that player sacrifices a land.
When Burricow, Thief Lord enters the battlefield, gain control of target artifact for as long as Burricow, Thief Lord remains on the battlefield.
3/3
Anyways this might be too broken but creatures are so damn op lately, spells need some more flare. Let's give it a shot:
Sudden Withdrawal UB
Instant
Return target non-land permanent to its owner's hand, then that player discards a non-land card.
Or
Wailing Echo UB
Instant
Copy target triggered of activated ability, then destroy the source of that ability.
Any thoughts?
The abilities feel more like white combat tricks. Probably needs to be 2WU. Lacking evasion severely hurts it as well.
What a beautiful start. Very creative. I've noticed that recently the color pie "bleeding" has been so prolific, lots of new cards have lost their identity and as a result a key concept of the game has been abandoned. If i may, some alterations to your Liliana to follow what I consider should be canon to the black color pie.
Liliana, Profane Host 1BB
Planeswalker - Liliana (MR)
{0}: Put a 2/2 black Zombie creature token onto the battlefield, then put a number of loyalty counters on Liliana, Profane Host equal to the number of Zombies you control.
{-3}: Place three -1/-1 counters on up to three target creatures. If a non-token creature dies this way, return it to the battlefield under your control. It's a black Zombie in addition to its other creature types.
{-x}: Each player discards X cards and gains X life.
{-13}: Each Zombie you control deals damage equal to their power to each player. Until the end of combat on your next turn, if you would lose the game you don't.
{3}
Any thoughts?
Here is my idea. It's more in line with her original theme but makes it much more playable and even calls back to a powerful little goblin friend who's goals were similar.
Olivia, Mobilized for War 1BR (Sorry, I still haven't figured out how to make mana symbols properly)
Legendary Creature - Vampire Warrior (M)
Flying, Haste
When ~ deals combat damage to a player or planeswalker you may discard a card. If you do put a vampire creature card into play.
3/3
Awakener of Souls [1 green][/1 black]
Creature - Horror Wizard
When you cast Awakener of Souls sacrifice a forest.
When Awakener of Souls enters the battlefield return target creature or planewalker from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Deathtouch
1/2
Is this a priority issue?
You need card tags in future posts. Read the Forum Guidelines. -Carsten