BR Vamp - Looking for help

[Tubbymonster]

Hi guys, first post here, very noob at this stage, but looking for a bit of critique. I was thinking of running

BR Vamp
By: Tubbymonster
Type II
Archive: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1034131

Main Deck:
4 Blood Artist
4 Bloodline Keeper
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

4 Go for the Throat
4 Thatcher Revolt
3 Tragic Slip

4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Mountain
14 Swamp



The idea is the thatchers are in there for Blood Artist and the sac to aristocrat. My intent is to play it as an aggro deck, as I dont really have many answers in it. Any input is appreciated, and if you could tell my why as well, it would really help me learn. I'm loving the deck building metagame at this stage, maybe even moreso than playing it

Thanks for your time!

[logant455]

i would possibly find a way to add in more kill instants in your deck, or side to help you against pod, i see problems against things like Wurmcoil Engine, and Sun Titan. Other than that looks good!!!

[Psyren]

i would suggest making the deck mono black with red splash for olivia voldarn to get the max effect of noctunus. and if ur budget allows it, cavern of soul is a must for this deck

[Tubbymonster]

Thanks for the super quick replies guys!
I've been looking at caverns, they look amazing for this deck, I'll be getting them as budget allows
I'd love more kill instants like Doom Blade or Murder, but which creatures could i afford to lose?
The noble is a great one drop, so cutting that back reduces its chance of dropping, nocturnus only really needs one on BF, but I need good odds of it showing up.. Tragic Slip has great synergy with thatcher, maybe i could drop 2 Go for the Throat for 2 Murder or doomblade?
Thanks again for the input guys, keep it coming, I'm loving the advice

[Psyren]

well i dont mean cut every red card out, just the minimum. in this case i would consider the thatchers revolt combo with aristocrat. theres just too many answers to stop it in standard.

this is a rough idea of what i was going to suggest

4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Blood Seeker
4 Blood Artist
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Vampire Nighthawk
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Olivia Voldaren
2 Vampire Nocturnus

2 Geth's Verdict
4 Tragic Slip
4 Go for the Throat
4 Sign in Blood

4 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 mountain
7 swamp
2 evolving wilds

[Tubbymonster]

That deck looks solid Psy. I'm a little concerned about having only one Olivia Voldaren.. wouldnt it make the chance of pulling her in a game rather slim? same with Bloodline Keeper.. his tap ability could spawn free buffed vampires, that is hard to overlook. Is Sign in Blood to get more cards in hand?
Additionally, with Geth's Verdict, because it is a sacrifice, would it work on a hexproof creature?
Sorry if I'm asking questions that are answered elsewhere!

[Psyren]

the reason Olivia Voldaren is a 1 of is that you are not totally dependent on her, with evolving wild and Sign in Blood to allow you dig deeper into the deck, your chance is slightly increase. think of olivia as a extra removal.

as for Bloodline Keeper, it was just because it was the only other card to cut since now nocturnus is part of the beat down strat. however, you can run 2 olivia or 2 keeper. it is up to you.

Sign in Blood is just a way to let you dig deeper for answer, burn your opponent, or shoot pass lands to hit something for nocturnus as well

geths verdict was just a cheap removal that deals with hexproof. if you want mass removal, you can also consider both Bonfire of the Damned or Black Sun's Zenith for this deck.

the Blood Seeker also force the life loss as your opponent tries to outrace you. for your original bersion, you can also consider bloodthrone vampire

[muaddib20]

@Tubbymonster:

I used to play vampires when Vampire Nocturnus was legal last time, and I've been thinking about building a version again. My views on the deck are as follows:

You need 22 or 23 lands, possibly 24 if you go for a lot of four drops.

Most of the smaller creatures pick themselves - Stromkirk Noble, Blood Artist, Stromkirk Captain, Vampire Nighthawk. These would all be 4 ofs, except maybe Blood Artist which is good in some situations, and probably not as good here as in Zombies, so it might be trimmed down to 3. Vampire Interloper isn't bad as a 2 power creature with evasion, but it isn't an automatic choice by any means.

The problem is the 4 drops, as there is a choice between Vampire Nocturnus, Olivia Voldaren, Bloodline Keeper and Falkenrath Aristocrat, and they are all good. If we limit the four drops to 5 or six, we need 3 or 4 Vampire Nocturnus, and 1 or 2 others. This is a difficult choice, and I would prefer something like 3 Vampire Nocturnus and 2 Falkenrath Aristocrat.

The rest needs to be 3 or 4 Sign in Blood, as Psyren says above, and a mixture of black removal spells (they need to be black because of Vampire Nocturnus). This unfortunately means we can't use Brimstone Volley, or other red removal spells, which is a pity. Sign in Blood can be used to kill someone on two life, again as Psyren says above.

I like the look of Psyren's list above very much, except I'm not so keen on Blood Seeker, and I would have a different selection of 4 drops. This is just a personal opinion - if you ask 10 people about the deck you will most likely get 10 different answers.

A final consideration might be Killing Wave, which is sometimes used in Zombie decks, and it works well with Blood Artist.

[Tubbymonster]

Thanks for the reply muaddib!
Blood Seeker seems a little stronger to me than Vampire Interloper, purely because its a penalty to my opponent when they bring out creatures, strong especially against token decks. The flying of interloper isnt going to be make or break, because i will wait for an "army" of vamps before attacking, and can use removals for any blockers. Falkenrath Aristocrat was an original pick for me when i was going to use thatcher's revolt, but i dont see it being very strong with no humans to sac to it. Olivia Voldaren offers me more removal, and a flyer. Bloodline Keeper is great once transformed, and getting 5 vamps should be easy. Killing Wave is a great board wipe, but i dont know if ill have room for it in an already tight deck. If only I had a card called "Atomics"

Edit: Updated deck plan -
BR Vamp
By: Tubbymonster
Type II
Archive: http://magic.tcgplayer.com/db/deck.asp?deck_id=1034131

Main Deck:
3 Blood Artist
4 Blood Seeker
2 Bloodline Keeper
1 Olivia Voldaren
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Vampire Nighthawk
3 Vampire Nocturnus

2 Geth's Verdict
4 Go for the Throat
3 Sign in Blood
4 Tragic Slip

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
2 Evolving Wilds
1 Mountain
7 Swamp

[muaddib20]

@Tubbymonster:

Different people have different points of view, as I said. I prefer Vampire Interloper, because it is more of a threat, and if you play Stromkirk Captain on turn 3, you can then attack for three in the air, and attack with your turn 1 play as well.

Blood Seeker is good against some decks that like to flood the board with creatures, but not so good against decks that only play a few creatures. Delver sometimes plays a couple of Delvers early on, and rides them for the whole game if possible. Wolf Run Ramp also plays only a few creatures, and Blood Seeker does not put any pressure on decks like that.

I also like Falkenrath Aristocrat because of the flying and haste, plus you can sacrifice any creature to make it indestructible. A Human is better, of course, but any creature will do.

I was a bit surprised by your "waiting for an army of vampires", as with this deck you need to attack early, and often. We want to get them down to about 10 life or so, then finish them off with Vampire Nocturnus / Falkenrath Aristocrat. That is how I see it anyway.

If you wait around, your vampires will die to Bonfire of the Damned, Day of Judgment, Black Sun's Zenith etc.

Best thing is to try the deck out, and see how it does, then modify it to suit.