Vampires done right
Sideboarding, Strange Cards, and Why
|
Dimir Charm
| Removal (almost all meta creatures power <=2, Search for lands or answers or keep your opponent off lands if their are struggling, counter Terminus,
Pillar of Flame
, Planar Cleansing, or Mizzium Mortars. One of the best charms in the game IMO. |
|---|
| Blind Obedience | Sideboarded in against decks with haste creatures, such as
Hellrider
or control decks with Restoration Angel. |
|---|
| Boros Charm | Every function of this card is good in this deck, but its main use it to make your permanents indestructible until EOT to 'counter' Supreme Verdict. However, the four burn damage and giving Stromkirk Noble double strike when he swings on turn two is also very effective. |
|---|
| Cyclonic Rift | Rid you of those enchantments such as Sphere of Safety to let you kill them in one swing. Also massacres tokens or ends mid to late game creature stalls. Can also keep planes walkers from ulting. |
|---|
| Elixir of Immortality | An answer for mill decks. Might be switched out depending on what the current meta is. |
|---|
| Negate | Brought in against control decks to answer Terminus, Planar Cleansing, burn, ect. |
|---|
| Rest in Peace | Answer to graveyard based decks and Snapcaster Mage. |
|---|
| Sever the Bloodline | Slaughters tokens without mercy or cloning decks. Might be switched for a third Slaughter Games depending on your preference. |
|---|
| Slaughter Games | Can't be countered and cuts out key cards for their deck or hate cards against you. What more do you want? |
|---|
When I first started building this deck, it was a whole lot more red, and focused on building counters, such as with
Rakish Heir,
Markov Blademaster
, and
Necropolis Regent
. So
Vampire Nocturnus
wasn't a valid option. Now since the only maindeck card that isn't black is
Stromkirk Noble,
Vampire Nocturnus
has become a possibility. The only thing is that the three black is annoying to drop on turn four with four colours in the deck. Also, there is nothing I can drop for
Vampire Nocturnus
, the only possible option is
Blood Artist, and I cannot count the number of games I have won because of
Blood Artist triggers, especially with
Falkenrath Aristocrat on the field and tokens from
Bloodline Keeper
. Also, as soon as you sideboard,
Vampire Nocturnus
would loose a lot of its potential, so it would be the first thing to be side boarded out, and creatures need to stay in a creature power deck.
- Lifelink
- Is a vampire, so receives buffs, making him even better
- Immune to almost all removal except Mizzium Mortars, which with one buff, he is even outside of that.
- I hesitate to add in a card with a cmc of five.
- I don't have one :(
All in all, I really like the card, and would love to try him in the deck, but I don't have one, I just feel he might be a little slow to run. Maybe a one of instead of an
Falkenrath Aristocrat or a removal spell.
Arch-nemesis - Esper [Super Friends]
Esper Super Friends is the hardest match up to win with this deck. Game one is rough, and will be very difficult to pull our a win unless your hand is really aggressive. However, after sideboarding (leaving in
Dimir Charm
), you bring in
Negates,
Boros Charms,
Elixir of Immortality, and perhaps
Blind Obedience and
Rest in Peace (both of which depend on the specific match up and your opponent's play style whether or not you bring them in), game two will be much different. If you keep them from clearing the board, and save your answers wisely, you can keep your board presence...well, present. If it isn't super friends, just esper control (so they run
Planar Cleansing instead of
Supreme Verdict, then
Boros Charm,
Dimir Charm
, and
Negate all answer it.
Also, against Esper [Super Friends], be careful not to over extend. Taunt out their answers and then respond by refilling your field. Boros Charm's burn function is also a really nice finisher against control decks if you can't manage to get in those last few points of damage. Against control decks, play their game, slow and steady. Get where you are beating down on them so they have to provide an answer, but don't be greedy. If you are getting in constant damage, keep cards in your hand.
Overview
This was the first deck I built when I started playing just after Return to Ravnica came out. I am still missing a few lands for it and a Liliana, but I play at the Tower (Lawrenceville GA) and have won the last two FNM's I attended there with this deck (I don't attend very much). It's aggro enough to match aggro decks and to give control decks a run for their money and is extremely effective against Naya Blitz because first strike, nighthawks, and nobles crush Naya Blitz. After sideboarding, control decks loose most of their bite because you bring in counters and boros charms as 'counters' for supreme verdict. If you can get a board presence with this deck, it is nearly impossible for another deck to match it, and if you can't, the creatures are good enough (except Stromkirk Captin) to pose a threat by themselves.
It isn't the best deck, but it is competitive and a blast to play and nobody sees it coming.
