How does it work?
The combination of Mana Echoes + Phyrexian Altar + Skullclamp or Mana Echoes + Phyrexian Altar + Heirloom Blade This allows you to equip Heirloom Blade or Skullclamp and either sacrifice or kill the creature. This allows for 1 possible outcome with Heirloom Blade, and 6 possible outcomes with Skullclamp based upon the toughness of the vampire, and/or the token has 1 toughness. Namely, if the vampire has only 1 toughness you must choose between getting 2 cards or getting 1 colored mana as equipping skull clamp will immediately kill it due to state-based effects before you can sacrifice it.
(note for sake of not repeating for all of these combinations all combinations produce at least 1 colorless mana)
Optimally
-draw 4 cards/2 vampires put in hand, create 2 colored mana, (preferably black as it is the most common symbol needed)
Second Best Options
-draw 4 cards create 1 colored mana
-draw 2 cards, create 2 colored mana
Worst Possible Options
-draw 4 card/2 vampires put in hand
-draw 2 cards create 1 colored mana
-create 2 colored mana
Even the worst possible option almost guarantee's that you will win, and those potential paths to victory are noted in the storm win conditions and combos section. When picking between the sub-optimal and worst outcomes, if you already have many vampires in hand choose to go for the colored mana to keep the chain going and vis versa.
When should I try to storm off?
Opening Hand/opponents decks
Attempting to pull off the storming strategy is reasonable, possibly most effective, if your opening hand includes a combination of at least 2 of the aforementioned combo pieces and/or tutors. In terms of what you are playing against here are a few I would strongly recommend not bringing this strategy against decks you know have a lot of artifact and enchantment removal for your storm pieces. If you happen to naturally draw into the combo pieces then it's not a bad idea to still try and pull it off. However, using your valuable tutors when going against these decks is not advised, and will likely be better off going with the aggro or some of the combos within the deck. this is mainly due to the fact that mardu does not have the ability to effectively return non creature cards back to your hand so if one of your pieces you will not be able to pull the storming strategy off.
Early Game
In the early game, you do not necessarily hold back playing creatures as it will allow you to produce more mana for when you play Mana Echoes, however, if you are able to make the choice between a creature or mana ramp choose the ramp in order to more quickly get out your combo pieces in a timely matter as such they are not removed. When you are tutoring in the early game and wish to go for this strategy the priority of pieces you tutor for is Skullclamp then Mana Echoes then Phyrexian Altar. You go for Skullclamp first as it provides the card draw to likely draw into more tutors or the other combo piece. In an Edgar Markov deck how you use Skullclamp if you are unfamiliar is you cast a vampire the eminence ability of Edgar Markov triggers and you get a 1/1 vampire token which you equip with Skullclamp and draw 2 cards. (Note make sure if you are pursuing this strategy and are thinking of playing a vampire lord make sure you also have a sac outlet) An important thing to note when using Skullclamp as a draw outlet early is that it does limit your ability to pursue an aggressive strategy later if the flow of the game starts to favor an aggressive strategy. the reason for the ordering of Mana Echoes before Phyrexian Altar will be covered in the following section.
Mid Game
Due to the fact this deck is not very interactive, the mid-game for this deck is less so an objective and grounded state but rather based on the number of your storm pieces in play. If you happen to have attained all 3 of your combo pieces within a few vampires in play you will have already gone through the above mentioned storm cycle and won the game. Rather, this section will be focusing on the 3 possible combinations of 2 combo pieces in play as the mid-game.
This is the most ideal of the 3 scenarios and in my personal opinion one of the most exciting lines in the deck. After you have played your Mana Echoes sometime between turn 2-5 you will be tapped out and will have to wait until the next turn before you can attempt to storm off. I will use the most common scenario in which you played your Mana Echoes on turn 4 and you have 3 vampires in play. To begin storming off you will want to start with your cheapest vampire in hand in order to preserve your colored mana symbols which you will need later. Presuming I anticipated this scenario I play a one mana vampire which I saved to begin storming off with. The token will enter first giving you 3 colorless mana and then 4 for the vampire you cast entering for a total of 7 mana. from there you will start using Skullclamp on your one toughness vampires ideally making sure to always have 2 vampires in play at least but certainly no lower than one. When you are drawing what you are looking for is the specified storm combos below with this line, mana rocks, tutors, and Phyrexian Altar. you will want to skullclamp until you have a maximum of 2 creatures if possible before deciding what spells to cast. The mana rocks are important because you can cast them with the colorless mana and continue the chain if you haven't hit a combo, tutor, or Phyrexian Altar
I would not exactly recommend storming off with combination without a large number of creatures as you will likely run out of mana to complete the combination. This combination of cards is doable to storm off but is more tricky, as the ability to acquire much more colorless to cast mana rocks, more generically expensive vampire, and skullclamp triggers. If you are daring enough to try and storm off with this what you will want to do is to first use your mana from lands to save your creatures up for the next turn if you believe pulling the combo will be difficult. Ideally, you only will equip skullclamp to 2+ toughness creatures and sac them for mana looking for your combos. Once you reach 6 mana if you do not have a tutor for Mana Echoes or Mana Echoes itself it is recommended to continue going for it for this turn as you will not be able to pull the combination off and should reserve your creatures for the next turn to attempt it again.
Ideally, you are never in this scenario in fact you may even avoid playing phyrexian altar as it would leave yourself vulnerable to being blown out. If you are feeling risky however you can easily play out your entire hand and commander with this and hope for the best. If you have Teferi`s Protection in your hand you can play out both if there are not blue players there to counter it and protect your board state.
Late Game
The late-game will almost always be after turn 6, and you still do not have at the minimum Mana Echoes and Skullclamp in play with all of your lands untapped .the reasoning has nothing to do with your deck, as the strategy is always the same, but rather your opponents. For this phase of the game I will cover what you will want to do based upon which other players strategy has a dominant presence in the game creature-based battle-cruiser, control, Voltron, and Stax. (All 3 strategies assume you have Skullclamp in play
Creature based battle-cruiser
If this is the most dominant deck at the table it is strongly recommended you do not attempt to storm off with any of the 2 out of 3 combo piece combinations in play. If you have only have Skullclamp in play and have just drawn into recently one of the other two pieces do not play them until you have both and prioritize playing vampires. At this point you may want to switch into an aggressive strategy but that is only optional storming off is still reasonable. The reasoning is that you should have been using Skullclamp quite a few times by now and have amassed a reasonably large hand of cards with not too many vampires in play as you have been sacrificing them. You are almost certainly now the target of attacks from the creature-based deck and with his developed board, he will be able to end you swiftly if you do not defend yourself. playing vampire lords to boost your overall blocking power will provide the opportunity to prevent most of the damage or defer their attacks to others. Even if you are still not the most threatening player after them do not risk trying to combo off anyways as it is extremely likely they will turn their ire towards Even if there is a dominant control player in the game who likely can wipe their board and yours with it, still go for it as they may make an alliance to kill you, or he will refrain from using it if he does not think that he will be targeted before yourself. If however for whatever reason battle cruiser creature deck has evasion making it so you cannot block, ignore the advice to put down more creatures and simply try to storm off anyway as you may be dead anyway.
Control
If a control player is dominant in the late game and you still have some of the combo pieces for storm not yet in play, do not play any of them. If they counter your pieces you will not be able to complete storming off and you will have to switch to trying to combo off or go for an aggressive strategy. the key is to wait until they are tapped out and put all 3 pieces of the combo into play at the same time guaranteeing victory. keep in mind just playing Mana Echoes, even if the control player is tapped out, will not be sufficient to storm off the turn you play it without Phyrexian Altar. If you let a competent control player untap with your combo pieces in play they will destroy them and your chance of storming off will be ruined. An important note is that if you have Mana Echoes and Phyrexian Altar in hand and the control player is tapped out thus not interacting you will win. Simply play Mana Echoes onto a board with at least 2 vampires and Skullclamp, then cast your cheapest vampire in hand which will add a minimum of 5 colorless mana, and cast Phyrexian Altar leaving 2 colorless with the mana available from the altar you will win.
Voltron
This will be the hardest strategy to beat for this deck if they are the dominant force in the game as at this point they will very likely be an unblockable Voltron creature. The only thing you can do is try and make yourself look weak while waiting to acquire the 2 of the combo pieces in hand to do all at once. This will require playing minimal amounts of creatures while waiting as to not draw the Voltron players evil 1 to 2 shot ire.
Stax
It is possible because of the nature of stax you are in an unwinnable situation because of their pieces in play and this decks lack of removal for the pieces but this will not consider that possibility. In the case of stax everyone will be very far behind so unlikely that people will be destroying your storm pieces but rather the stax player's pieces. However, if there is a control player you have good reason to believe they have mass artifact or enchantment removal it is possible for them to cast, I would recommend refraining from casting your combo pieces until they do it to wipe out the Stax cards. If Null Rod, Karn, the Great Creator, Torpor Orb, and/or Hushwing Gryff you will not be able to complete this strategy and should switch to a new one
