"We’ve tired of these piteous nights… Share in Our plight, and take oath against the church. If thou wouldst this path walk… …I prithee partake of my rotted blood."
A deck I've been working on for a long time, and that I am still working towards making competitive. My dream for this deck is to do well in tournaments, while retaining a unique Vampire build.
I have had Vampire deck since the very beginning of my Magic playing career, and it is kind of a cool feeling to be able to stick with it, make it my own, and make it to the best of its abilities.
The principal of the deck is simple;Put early pressure on the board with a toolbox of creatures while building up to larger threats, and use a mix of hand disruption, creature destruction, and direct burn in order to keep the odds in your favor.
The Creatures:
Bloodghast
:The perfect thing to throw into the graveyard with Lili's +1, a good creature to sacrifice to
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
, also allows me to re-stabilize a bit in the event of a board wipe.
Stromkirk Captain
: A strong anthem effect on a 2/2 body. Makes my opponent think twice before blocking those ever present
Bloodghast
s, and makes for a mean combo when a few
Vampire Nighthawk
s are on the field.
Dusk Legion Zealot
: A great little 1/1 that benefits from
Stromkirk Captain
and replaces a card in my hand. Also works well with Kalitas.
Dark Confidant
:A Modern staple. Gives me card advantage and lets me draw into additional threats, all while beating face with a tiny 2/1 body. He gives me precious early game card advantage and helps retain steam if pushed into the late-game. If ever I feel I am losing too much life with him, I can target myself with a Gatekeeper, burn him away, or ping him with
Olivia Voldaren
.
Gatekeeper of Malakir
: Arguably the most powerful vampire in Modern. Gets around Hexproof by making the opponent sac, and all on a 2/2 little body. Yes please.
Vampire Nighthawk
:A Deathtouch, flying, lifelinker. This guy can stall out the opponent and make them think twice about attacking, gain me some life, and get in with some flying damage. I can't say enough good about this guy.
Also helps counterbalance life-loss from Confidant, Thoughtseizes, Fetches, and Shocks keeping me in the game for longer.
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
: A fantastic new addition. He took the place of
Falkenrath Aristocrat
as a 2-of and has been working quite well.
Bolt-proof, grants me an additional bonus of being able to create a zombie army when paired with my many bits of removal. Can abuse
Bloodghast
quite well. I couldn't be happier about this guy.
Olivia Voldaren
: A huge threat when she hits the board. Can ping smaller creatures to death, or take control of bigger baddies. All while getting more powerful.
The Support:
Thoughtseize
: Hits all targets except land, for B and 2 life. Get this off turn one and stifle the opponent's next move.
Inquisition of Kozilek
:Hits most targets in Modern, disrupts opponent's hand.. what more could you ask for?
Lightning Bolt
:Self explanatory.
The best burn spell in Modern, hits most targets in Modern as well, and you can always hit your opponent for 3 damage.. all at instant speed.
Terminate
:Kills any and all creature without question if they're not hiding under Shroud or Hexproof. Also deals well with Regeneration.
Kolaghan's Command
: Very versatile spell that allows me to have mainboarded artifact hate and gives me a ton of options. I am loving this card.
Fatal Push
: Great to hit most early game plays in Modern, also great with Fetchlands to hit something with a higher CMC. A bargain at B.
Liliana of the Veil
: A Modern staple for a reason, and a complete powerhouse. Her +1 allows me to throw my Ghasts into the graveyard, and disrupt by opponent's hand, her -2 thins the ranks of my opponent, which paired with the burn and removal in this deck makes for a scarce field on their part, and if the game drags on long enough to get off her ultimate..well.. that's pretty much game over.
Liliana, the Last Hope
: Her +1 helps stifle my opponent's offense and can get rid of pesky low toughness creatures, her -2 can give me a bit of card advantage and pairs especially well with
Bloodghast
.
The lands are fairly self explanatory, you've got your fast lands, your shocklands, some basics, and a few more than the average amount of fetchlands to help thin the deck, perfect your mana base and activate
Bloodghast
from the grave, and a single copy of
Cavern of Souls
to combat the rising trend of Control decks in Modern.
I have been playing Modern Vampires for a relatively long time now, and after many edits, and many bouts of trial-and-error I feel my deck is nearing completion.
But as always, comments, +1's and any advice is welcomed!
If you decide to give advice, please have a valid reason and an argument, chances are I have already tested the card in question, but there is always a chance that I may not have accounted for changes in the meta or something of that nature.
Additionally, the Sideboard could probably use some work, but I am in the process of playtesting my deck against decks that are running the meta at the moment to find my deck's strengths and weaknesses.