Midrange? No, midnight.

Modern* Budget Control Midrange Mono-Black Vampires

IlGuale

Creature (21)

• 2x Bloodghast
• 4x Gatekeeper of Malakir
• 4x Gifted Aetherborn
• 2x Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 1x Kalastria Highborn
• 4x Vampire Nighthawk
• 4x Vampire Nocturnus

Sorcery (8)

• 1x Drown in Sorrow
• 2x Duress
• 4x Inquisition of Kozilek
• 1x Wrench Mind

Instant (8)

• 2x Dismember
• 3x Fatal Push
• 3x Victim of Night

Land (21)

• 2x Ghost Quarter
• 18x Swamp
• 1x Verdant Catacombs

Artifact (2)

• 2x Nihil Spellbomb

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Sideboard

Creature (4)

• 1x Faerie Macabre
• 2x Fulminator Mage
• 1x Sanctum Seeker

Sorcery (4)

• 2x Drown in Sorrow
• 2x Duress

Artifact (3)

• 1x Sorcerous Spyglass
• 2x Whip of Erebos

Enchantment (1)

• 1x Contaminated Ground

Instant (3)

• 2x Sorin's Thirst
• 1x Surgical Extraction

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (10)

• 2x Cranial Extraction
• 2x Feast of Blood
• 3x Flaying Tendrils
• 2x Memoricide
• 1x Mutilate

Creature (6)

• 3x Asylum Visitor
• 3x Captivating Vampire

Land (1)

• 1x Bojuka Bog

Artifact (2)

• 2x Whip of Erebos

Instant (4)

• 2x Geth's Verdict
• 2x Ultimate Price

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Warning: this deck is tagged as budget, but contains Surgical Extraction, Bloodghasts and Fulminator Mage. I know they are not budget card, but i found them in booster packs, so i put them in. Replace them and the price will drop consequently.

Warning #2: this deck used to be a budget version of mono-B Devotion, but when Metroid_Hybrid pointed out that my original list was almost totally made of vampires, i thought to go all-in and added the lords: Vampire Nocturnus and Captivating Vampire (which later revealed to be a non relevant card and was removed). The first fits the spot on the curve which would belong to Phyrexian Obliterator; the latter is played over two Lashwrithes and a Grey Merchant of Asphodel.

Ok, let's break down the list, shall we?

Lands Show

- Swamp : in a budget build, they seems to be the logical choice.

-Ghost Quarter: we can afford to play a couple mainboard, but no more because the majority of this tribe requires at least .

Also, i am considering a some utility lands like Bojuka Bog, but i usually don't like lands that enters the battlefield tapped.

Drops Show

-Inquisition of Kozilek: thanks to MM3, now everyone can afford a playset of these beauties. In a metagame where everybody wants to play the cheapest spells, IoK can disrupt almost any hand for just a single

-Duress: without Thoughtseize, this is the best early disruption spell we can play. Even if it is just a cheap replacement, it usually isn't a bad card, dealing with what our removal package can't kill. Also, vampires lack a really good 1 CMC drop, so i am generally happy to see it in my opening hand.

Fatal Push would be nice, but it's still too expensive and i haven't way to trigger Revolt, anyway. Maybe Disfigure can be a nice replacement, but i suspect that it would end like a dead card most of the time. It isn't at instant speed, but Dead Weight can at least shrink what it doesn't kill.

Drops Show

-Gifted Aetherborn: my first "removal with legs". A 2/3 lifelinker with Deathtouch can attack through almost everything and keep us alive chumpblocking (acting like a removal) or draining the opponent.

-Bloodghast is the best recurring creature in the format, is a vampire and can gain haste. To be honest, i'm not very sure about its role here.

-Asylum Visitor: vampires' Bob. She was probably better in the old version of the deck, but i think i can make some use of a 3 power vampire, who gives me card advantage whenever a player (even if it's the opponent) remain with no cards in hand. Sign in Blood is a less aggressive, more reliable replacement as a draw engine.

-Victim of Night: in a Mono-B deck, this is the best removal i can think of. And it is terribly flavourful.

-Go for the Throat: the things i said of Victim of Night are mostly true for this one.

-Wrench Mind: a nice 1x, it's usually a modern legal Hymn to Tourach.

-Sign in Blood: i wanted the possibility to draw more than my opponent, and in mono-B this is better than Night's Whisper for the possibility to burn your opponent. Read the Bones and Phyrexian Arena are also possibilities.

Drops Show

- Gatekeeper of Malakir : You will usually want to pay to cast it and edict your opponent.

- Vampire Nighthawk : a flying Gifted Aetherborn and a personal favourite of mine.

- Dismember : its agree strenght and flexibility are enough to make me play three Dismembers mainboard.

-Hero's Downfall: a removal which can also deal with planeswalkers. There's just a single copy because of its cost.

- Drown in Sorrow : i always play a mainboard wipe to increase my chance of success against aggressive decks and Drown in Sorrow seems to be the right one. The first good reason to pick it is that it doesn't kill my precious Gifted Aetherborn and Vampire Nighthawk ; the second reason is its Scry 1. Actually it was my least favourite wipe in the beginning, but even if it is overall weaker than Mutilate or Flaying Tendrills, it is also more synergic with my creatures.

I used to run Captivating Vampire because he is one of the few mono-black lords vampires have and one of the many vampires with CMC=3. Plus, his second ability was rarely useful, so he got removed. Same happened to Flaying Tendrils . That this is one of my favourite wipes because it doesn't kill the majority of our creatures and doesn't simply destroy the creatures it destroys. It exiles them. So no more Kitchen fink, Voice of Resurgence, Narcomoeba, Haunted Dead , Relentless Dead, Bloodghast... Actually, the effect states that every creature which would die during the turn in which Flaying Tendrils is played is instead exiled: it's irrelevant what kills it. Sadly, it has a countersinergy with both Bloodghast (which get exiled) and Vampire Nocturnus (because it plays as colorless due to Devoid), so i had to replace it with Drown in Sorrow

Drops Show

-Vampire Nocturnus: finally, vampires' best lord. This big guy here is the perfect top of the curve and incredibly powerful in a deck with 37 black cards. With its bonus even a small army of vampires can become a terrifying swarm of flying death. The few downsides i can think of are that it relies on probability and one of my Nocturnus has the promo art.

Drops Show

-Murderous Cut: i don't particularly like having to rely on more than one mainboard Dismember and Cut is a good siver bullet against any creature, so...

Sideboard Show

-Duress: a couple more of Duress are useful during match-ups against combo or control.

-Sorcerous Spyglass: a useful silver bullet against things such as planeswalkers, fetches, manlands... its advantages over Pithing Needle are the opportunity to watch at your opponent's hand and the fact that i found one copy of this during Ixalan's prerelease.

-Nihil Spellbomb: blows up opponent's graveyard and can give you a nice +1 in hand

-Faerie Macabre: a card that will always catch opponents by surprise. You can keep it in your hand until your opponent plays a Snapcaster Mage, discard Faerie and ruin their party

- Drown in Sorrow : Two additional copies against faster deck like Elves, Tokens, Goblins, Affinity, Hatebears, Merfolks...

-Fulminator Mage and Contaminated Ground are my weapons of choice against decks that rely on a particular manabase like Valakut, Tron, Blue-Tron, GxTron... and do not forget about E-Tron!

-Sanctum Seeker: can be useful in certain match-ups, but she is here mostly because she were the promo i found in my Ixalan's prerelease. I finished 12th out of 32 players (losing last match against mirror) and even if it is not a big result, it's still a good memory.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	7 years
Legality	This deck is Modern legal.
Rarity (main - side)	4 - 0 Mythic Rares 4 - 6 Rares 25 - 1 Uncommons 9 - 8 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	2.26
Folders	libi, Vampires, Deck i own