Olivia's Vampire Brood

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) Tribal Vampires

l0gin4me

Land (38)

• 1x Arch of Orazca *f-pre*
• 1x Badlands
• 1x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 1x Blood Crypt
• 1x Bloodstained Mire
• 1x Cabal Coffers
• 1x Canyon Slough
• 1x Castle Locthwain
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dragonskull Summit *f-pre*
• 1x Field of Ruin
• 1x Foreboding Ruins *f-pre*
• 1x Graven Cairns
• 1x Lavaclaw Reaches
• 1x Luxury Suite
• 1x Maze of Ith
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Mountain
• 1x Myriad Landscape
• 1x Path of Ancestry
• 1x Reflecting Pool
• 1x Reliquary Tower
• 1x Shadowblood Ridge
• 1x Smoldering Marsh
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Swamp
• 1x Temple of Malice
• 1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Creature (31)

• 1x Adaptive Automaton
• 1x Anowon, the Ruin Sage
• 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip
• 1x Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
• 1x Captivating Vampire
• 1x Champion of Dusk *f-pre*
• 1x Cordial Vampire
• 1x Dark Impostor
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir *f-pre*
• 1x Drana, the Last Bloodchief
• 1x Falkenrath Aristocrat
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet *f-pre*
• 1x Knight of the Ebon Legion *f-pre*
• 1x Malakir Bloodwitch
• 1x Metallic Mimic *f-pre*
• 1x Necropolis Regent
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 1x Patron of the Vein
• 1x Rakish Heir
• 1x Sanctum Seeker *f-pre*
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Stromkirk Captain
• 1x The Haunt of Hightower
• 1x Thief of Blood
• 1x Twilight Prophet *f-pre*
• 1x Vampire Nocturnus
• 1x Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose *f-pre*
• 1x Yahenni, Undying Partisan *f-pre*
• 1x Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Footfall Crater
• 1x Necropotence
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Theater of Horrors *f-pre*

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord

Commander (1)

Artifact (16)

• 1x Coalition Relic
• 1x Door of Destinies
• 1x Icon of Ancestry
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Mind Stone
• 1x Rakdos Cluestone
• 1x Rakdos Locket
• 1x Rakdos Signet
• 1x Skyclave Relic
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Talisman of Indulgence
• 1x Treasure Map  ^Flip
• 1x Vanquisher's Banner
• 1x Wayfarer's Bauble
• 1x Whip of Erebos

Sorcery (5)

• 1x Agadeem's Awakening  ^Flip
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate

Instant (4)

• 1x Bedevil
• 1x Chaos Warp
• 1x Skeletal Scrying
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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Overview

A red black vampire deck that I put together long before Edgar Markov was released. While Olivia Voldaren is the commander, the focus of the deck is vampire tribal. Olivia Voldaren is just the best legendary Red/Black vampire to always have access to. I could have transitioned this to an Edgar Markov deck when he came out, but wanted to stick with the original commander. Also, I like interactive magic and eminence abilities can not be interacted with unless you cast the commander. It says something that I have toyed with the idea of just throwing Edgar Markov in front with no other changes (beyond replacing Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood with Olivia Voldaren in the 99). There are a couple of self-imposed rules I followed during deck construction:

• First, all creatures in the deck need to be vampires. The only exceptions are Metallic Mimic and Adaptive Automaton, which become vampires on their own once they enter the battlefield.

• Second, I should not include any cards just because they make Olivia Voldaren better. There are no copies of Illusionist's Bracers, Basilisk Collar, or other cards that make Olivia Voldaren do borderline broken things with her activated abilities. As I stated at the beginning, the focus of the deck is vampire tribal. There are some ramp artifacts and lands which do slightly synergize with Olivia Voldaren's ability to be a mana sink, but they also work with pumping out the rest of the cards in the deck. Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord does give Olivia Voldaren deathtouch, but fits so thematically I couldn't cut it. Also, the he provides a source of life gain the deck can lack when it likes to draw cards at the cost of life and cheating a 5+ CMC vampire on turn 3 can be incredibly powerful. Besides, creatures, which almost all decks should have, can always interact with planewalkers, where as artifacts often require specific cards.

• Third, I built this deck while trying to avoid "oops, I win" scenarios. This deck tries to win through creatures, combat and value brought about by tribal synergies. I might be able to use Exsanguinate to finish off a game, but that is a last finishing blow that requires damage to have already been dealt to my opponents. If my opponent has somehow gotten to 50-100 life, Exsanguinate won't be enough like an infinite combo (Sanguine Bond + Exquisite Blood is an example) that can win regardless of the opponents condition.

This is my oldest commander deck as well as my favorite. It is built to sit down and have a good time with friends. It can hold its own against most non-CEDH decks while not being too oppressive when playing against more casual decks. If you focus your play on using the 99 and not Olivia Voldaren, the deck loses a lot of its interaction and allows more casual deck time to try and do their thing. If you don't like intentionally playing sub-optimally to balance the match against a weaker deck, swap Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood in as the commander and put Olivia Voldaren into the 99.

Gameplay advice

• Do not just try to steal everything with Olivia Voldaren! Nothing will generate more hate than stealing someone's card. If you kill it by activating her first ability multiple times, people might get a little upset. They will eventually get past it. If you steal someone's creature (especially their commander), you will usually make an enemy for the rest of the game. This doesn't mean you should never use Olivia Voldaren's second ability. If someone plays Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or any card of a similar power level you could easily justify trying to take it. They brought a game warping card to the table, so you shouldn't feel the need to play nice. Also, the benefit you get from taking the card can justify the hate you will draw for that action.

• While the curve of the deck is rather low, that doesn't mean you have to play aggressively. A large number of the vampires in the deck have activated abilities that help control the board. With the right draw it may be correct to be aggressive, but usually you want to attack when you can safely do so and rely on your activated abilities to keep the board under control.

• This is a creature based deck, which leaves it vulnerable to board wipes. In the event that a board wipe leaves you unable to completely rebuild, don't be afraid to try going Voltron with Olivia Voldaren. This isn't plan A, but later in the game you may have a surplus of mana to pump into her making winning with commander damage a possibility.

Strengths

• As a creature based deck, it is hard to come across opponents playing hate cards that shut you down. Rest in Peace may be mildly irritating if you have Whip of Erebos out, but doesn't shut you down the way it shuts down a Meren of Clan Nel Toth deck. Similarly, Null Rod effects may stop your mana rocks, but you can still play while a Breya, Etherium Shaper deck will find it much harder to function. Board wipes are a problem that you will run into, but they are temporary effects. Rarely will you run into cards that completely hose all creature based strategies with a continuous effect.

• A number of vampires can incidentally act as hate cards for opponent strategies. Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet and Patron of the Vein can help provide roadblocks for graveyard decks. Thief of Blood can clear a board of planeswalkers single handed.

• Other than Olivia Voldaren, there are other vampires with single target creature removal abilities. Patron of the Vein is a single use enter the battlefield effect, while Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief, Kalitas, Bloodchief of Ghet, Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood, and Dark Impostor all have repeatable effects that can remove creatures.

• There are over 15 "lord" effects that in some way serve to buff your entire board. This makes it relatively easy to grow your vampire army to uncontested power levels.

Weaknesses

• Board wipes. This is a creature deck. Getting board wiped sucks, but rebuilding is possible. Damnable Pact and Skeletal Scrying can help refill after a board wipe. Yahenni, Undying Partisan and Falkenrath Aristocrat can survive most board wipes as long as they aren't alone on board.

• While there are multiple ways of dealing with creatures in the deck, there aren't as many way of dealing with artifacts, enchantments, lands, or planeswalkers. Chaos Warp serves a a catch all. Field of Ruin can deal with a land. Bedevil can deal with artifacts and planeswalkers (as well as cratures). All of these are single use as the deck has no way of recurring them. Vampiric Tutor and Demonic Tutor can help you find them more easily, but don't expect to be destroying multiple artifacts or enchantments in a single game. Hold onto these answers for the cards that really need to be answered.

Date added	6 years
Last updated	4 years
Exclude colors	WUG
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	21 - 0 Mythic Rares 45 - 0 Rares 13 - 0 Uncommons 6 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.40
Tokens	City's Blessing, Copy Clone, Treasure, Vampire 2/2 B, Zombie 2/2 B
Folders	Deck ideas