An aggro shaman tribal deck with some kinship and control.
Vampire Nighthawk being a shaman is sick, and really makes this deck. Burning-Tree Shaman is no slouch, either: although his ability usually gets most of the attention, a 3/4 body for 3 mana is solid in its own right.
The way this deck plays out is that you want to drop a Goblin Arsonist on the first turn, because the threat of two damage will usually hold off attacks for a round or two. Failing that, Ulvenwald Tracker is an okay first drop, but that one-drop doesn't pay off the way the others do. (Ulvenwald Tracker shines in mid-game, when this deck generally has mana and beats to spare.)
Turn 2, you're looking to drop Vampire Hexmage. Turn 3 and afterward, you're looking for Burning-Tree Shaman, Lightning Crafter, and Vampire Nighthawk to beat face.
Everything else in this deck is support. Rage Forger scores some +1/+1 counters and some direct damage.
Sakura-Tribe Elder
is for deck thinning and mana ramp, ensuring that the kinship triggers happen more often. Burning-Tree Emissary helps the tempo of the deck and can do some color-fixing in a pinch.
Wolf-Skull Shaman
generates chump blockers: get one or two of these out, and you'll quickly be hiding behind a wall of wolves. Vampire Hexmage works as an early-game wall, but also obliterates Planeswalkers and can respond to any maneuver based on piling up +1/+1 counters (eg: Arcbound Ravager).
Ulvenwald Tracker is a card that I don't want to like as much as I do. Its power is pretty expensive (compared to say, Prey Upon), but it's won me games before. It's good for picking off Signal Pest and Dark Confidant, as well as picking off a chump blocker before the main swing and getting two lifelinks a turn from Vampire Nighthawk.
The sideboard is to deal with specific decks which this particular deck is weak against.
(In the casual variant of this deck, run a set of Elvish Spirit Guide in place of
Wolf-Skull Shaman
, and Deathrite Shaman in place of Rage Forger and an Ulvenwald Tracker. That's a serious aggro deck.)
