I don't play competitive, so indestructible has worked for me so far, the biggest threat I have is Dismember . But the deck works very well without a Phylactery Lich , I can win with either of my flying lifelinkers and some equipment (looking at you Lashwrithe ). Swiftfoot Boots can go in the maybeboard, but I don't think it's quite good enough in my environment to be worth it.

I would go for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx because you get SOOO much devotion

There are several problems with that.

1. It costs too much money for me.

2. It produces no colored mana for actually playing down Phylactery Lich or Gatekeeper of Malakir , it just sits there until I actually get one out. Early game, it's not very good.

3. Late game, I don't have anything to do with all that mana. Just because I can get high devotion numbers doesn't make Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx good. Although I am considering adding Gray Merchant of Asphodel .

i recommend splashing white for a few things, Cloudshift being what i can think of off the top of my head, for Gatekeeper, also finding room for Geralf's Messenger and Gray Merchant of Asphodel for lots of guys with good ETB effects. take out Nighthawk and Imp for one. find room for Whip of Erebos cause that adds nice devotion, lifelink and is an artifact.

shinobigarth I don't think splashing whitening a good idea here, since I'm on a tight budget and don't think Cloudshift is that good anyway. Geralf's Messenger is very nice, I want to add one of them, but what should take out? I'm not sure what to think of Gray Merchant of Asphodel . I could try one. I don't think the Whip isn't good enough here. I already have several ways to gain life, and several of my creatures (Lichtenstein and Messenger) don't want to die. Thanks for your time!

Cloudshift is amazing in the right deck, like where your creatures have ETB effects you want to happen multiple times. it can also save a creature from dying in combat or if targeted by a removal spell. it was probably the best common in the Avacyn set.

if i was you i would replace the Vault Skirge with the Geralf's Messenger . i wouldnt want to put Voldemort's counter on a creature only to have him be destroyed by numerous spells (even if he never attacked) and lose 2 creatures with 1 shot.

I can see Cloudshift being good, just not good enough to risk not being able to cast Lich and Messenger.

I never put a phylactery counter of a Vault Skirge . Ever. They're in there to apply tons of early pressure. I've often done turn 1 skirge, turn 2 Darksteel Axe and swing (1 damage), turn 3 equip and swing (4 damage total), turn 4 Lashwrithe , equip and swing (11 total damage). That's hard to recover from, especially when I'm up 9 life. I think I'll take out a Vampire Nighthawk (Vault Skirge 's big brother) for the Geralf's Messenger for the time being, we'll see if I want those back.

LOL just looked through my last comment and saw what autocorrect did to it. Dug up such gems as "I don't think the Whip isn't good enough" and changing Lich to Lichenstein.

Anyway, do you have ideas for how to fit Gray Merchant of Asphodel in?

i dont think you need 4 Sign in Blood would be one option

It actually comes in really handy. I need to push my liches through, and the way I do that is with spot removal. So I need to keep up my card advantage. Plus it helps me dig to an artifact if I don't have one. But I'll look at them carefully while I play the deck. Thanks for all the help!

Hey i have rebuilded that deck (kinda) because it's really nice for budget.I have slightly altered it and i have found Essence Harvest to be a great to push even further while also keeping myself alive, since its almost 5 Lifeloss and 5 life for 3 mana

Interesting idea. My first reaction is that Phylactery Lich is a great push. With enough kill spells, the Lich will get through and win the game. It can almost always win a race, because it's huge. Without Phylactery Lich , Essence Harvest becomes pretty useless. If I don't have a creature, I'm behind, and Essence Harvest doesn't help at all with that. It only works when I'm already ahead. So I'll consider it, but I don't really intend to add it. I'd rather stick to lifelink creatures like Vault Skirge and Vampire Nighthawk with Equipment to gain life and kill spells to push them through.

just to let you know, my vamp deck went 2-0 against this deck despite your deck killing several of my dudes.

shinobigarth: OK, good to know. Did I just not have enough removal, or not race fast enough, or what? Is your vamp deck on the site?

it didnt have enough staying power or removal yeah. and i have 2 bleeder playsets (Blood Artist and Kalastria Highborn ) that made sure i usually got the better end of the deal whenever one of my vamps did die. i have like every vampire lord pretty much, and you have to either deal with vamps early on or have board wipe, otherwise you get overrun pretty quick.

its on the site, im having trouble getting it to link here, so just click my name and its at the top of my decklist called "There Will be Blood"

Hmm... so I need boardwipes? I do have the pair of Mutilate and the Drown in Sorrow in the side... do you think that would be enough?

Mutilate in the side for sure over the other. there's practically no time when Drown in Sorrow would be a better play, as Mutilate in this deck is always a guaranteed -4/-4. you dont really need to mainboard Mutilate though, just have it against the "im gonna play a million creatures" type decks.

If it belongs in the side, what would you suggest putting in to replace it? Would Gray or Messengers be a good idea?

well because you dont have any way to abuse Geralf's Messenger and you dont like my suggestion to splash white (Cloudshift ), replace Geralf's with Vampire Nighthawk cause he is just useful much more of the time, so that would be +3 Nighthawk. or you could go +2 Nighthawk and 1 Gary if you wanted, he might be a nice alternate WC but at 22 land you dont want to see him that often.

That's what I was thinking. The actual deck has Nighthawks rather than the Messenger. I didn't think about that land count, good point. Though I do have those Sign in Blood s that help he hit those land drops. But, yeah, Gary probably isn't the best here.

I have found Mutilate to be pretty effective, and I often play this casually which means that if it isn't in the main, you don't have it (nobody likes to see a sideboard at the kitchen table). I'll watch those closely but keep them in the main for now.

Thanks for all the help shinobigarth, appreciate it.

no prob. have you considered maybe Read the Bones instead of Sign in Blood cause it digs deeper? for 1 more mana you get scry 2 tacked onto Sign in Blood.

Definitely. I decided in Sign in Blood because I have a more clogged-up 3-drop slot than 2-drop. It doesn't really look like it on the chart, but here are the differences.

Gatekeeper of Malakir really costs 3.

Dismember and Victim of Night aren't things I curve out with, so they shouldn't be on the curve at all.

Vault Skirge is really a 1-drop early game.

Scepter of Fugue is mostly relevant lategame, unless I really need a phylactery.

All of that together means that I have a better chance of dropping a Sign in Blood on time than a Read the Bones . It might be best to split, though. Maybe a 3/1 split in favor of Sign? What do you think?

Excellent deck, +1!

1 or 2 Bones wouldnt go amiss.

Maybe consider darksteel citadel and/or consider splashing blue for ensoul artifact?