Modern Vampire Control
Deck Summary
This deck wins by controlling the opponent's hand and destroying their creature base, in order to establish a battlefield of Vampires with a plethora of utility and evasive damage.
+1's are greatly appreciated!
Deck Break Down:
Click the white links for lengthy descriptions!
Creatures
HIDE Creatures:
Note: there are not a lot of single mana cost creatures in this deck, which is why it plays more like a mid-range deck. Not in the sense that you set your board up for some all powerful creature, but you set your board up to work as a whole.
Our preferable single drop. This guy does a ton of work. Did an opponent just target a creature of yours with removal? Well now you at least get a Scry 1 out of it! He synergizes with many cards in this deck, and is part of the setup your board needs to attain an efficient state. He provides Kalastria Highborn with the sacrifice (sac) outlet she needs to work on your terms. And Bloodghast is the Seer's favorite customer for some entrails to peer into. Viscera Seer also provides a hedge to Vampire Nocturnus' risky lord ability. If there is a colorless card on top of your deck it may be worth sacking a creature to put it on the bottom of the deck with Viscera Seer's scrying. At some junctures, it may even be okay to sac Viscera Seer himself in order to get Vampire Nocturnus online, as the proc may contribute more damage than Viscera Seer could himself.
Creatures:
Note: There are a lot of 2 drops in this deck, which is one way it can also feel like an aggro deck. However, many of them don't do a lot of work on their own, and synergize with other parts of the deck that need to come into play.
Ah, a card that never ceases to disappoint me. What utility! Even late game she is not a dead draw (provided there are some vampires on your board), because she provides reach. If you've come to a stand still with your opponent, given a Viscera Seer or some Bloodghasts for fodder, you can still get at your opponent's health. She has brought me to victory more games than I can count. Sometimes you can swing in the combat phase, and then in your second main phase sacrifice your board and do additional damage with Kalastria Highborn. This can turn a near lethal turn into lethal!
This guy. This guy! The oil on our gears that keeps the engine going. He is the key to your Kalastria Highborn + Viscera Seer
combo's effectiveness. Not to mention that once your opponent is at 10 health or below, he is coming back with haste. Which means there is absolutely no disadvantage to sacrificing him. A great card to discard, because of his recurrence. If an opponent forces you to discard (rather than your choice), or if you are above 7 cards in hand, always pick this fella'. He is also very effective against mill decks, as they build your board up for you, and all you have to do is play a land! (Muahahaha!)
Though he does have CMC of 2, I really consider this guy a drop for his kicker cost. Honestly, that's the only reason he's in here--the removal. Even to the extent that if I'm not at a point where I can kick him, I'll keep him in hand. The fact that it targets a player instead of creature gives it all the more value, as it can hit creatures with protection from black, or hexproof. After that, he is one of the first to chump block, or get sacrificed in lieu of a Bloodghast. With all of the colorless producing lands I have in here, you may not always get this guy on the battlefield turn 3. That being said, I love this card. It's an
Away
with a body on it! This bumps the amount of removal we have up to 9 cards.
Creatures:
Note: I do consider
Gatekeeper of Malakir
a 3 drop, which is why this section will appear so slim.
Yes! YES! ...did I say yes? Wow, sweet picture, awesome abilities, and decent stats. Such a value card. Throw a Blade of the Bloodchief on him and watch the tides turn. Has evasion, which is clutch--especially because our other sources of evasion aren't as reliable (Vampire Nocturnus, and Bloodline Keeper
). He will demand answers from you opponent, and deathtouch means he can trade for a lot of value. Although this creature doesn't synergize as much with other cards, he packs so much we can't afford not to include him.
Creatures:
Note: this is where we curve out. Makes the deck efficient and effective in Modern format.
Probably the most straight-forward win condition of this deck. Turn four all of our creatures get +2/+1 and flying? Yes please. This can often end games quickly, and multiples of him are a death sentence. He himself is vulnerable (dies to Lightning Bolt without his active), but the amount of value he brings to the board is immense. If there is a colorless card on top of the deck, (with roughly 24 colorless cards there is a 40% chance of it), you can always use Viscera Seer's scry ability to play deck roulette and hope for a black card. His in his CMC can be scary with Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx. He's included because there aren't very many Vampire Lords, few good ones in mono-black, and he is the most game changing when he hits the board.
Really just a 3-more-of a pseudo Vampire Nocturnus that doesn't provide flying (but is himself a beast flyer). Can be hard to trigger if opponent has a lot of removal, but Bloodghast and Mutavault will help with that. He helps the deck because only having 4 of a win-condition is weak, so he provides an alternate route and increases our chances of making our weenies into fatties. The token generation is clutch, because he alone allows you to hold up a large fattie from getting to you without having to chump block with Bloodline Keeper
himself. You may say that he doesn't really affect the board turn 4, especially if you hard cast him and pay the for transform, but as often as Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is out we can afford that amount of mana come turn 4. He regularly transforms when he hits the battlefield, and you probably shouldn't play him at a time when he won't. At the end of the day, though, he's a slightly worse Vampire Nocturnus. Sometimes I will play this guy before Vampire Nocturnus to bait out the better removal spells. Sorry bud!
Summary:
Basic "engine" you are looking for is a board of Viscera Seer, Bloodghast, and Kalastria Highborn in order to be able to kill your opponent regardless of what they play. A Vampire Nocturnus hits the field turn 4, and transforms those weenie Vampires into flying beaters.
Instants and Sorceries
HIDE Note: This is the part of the deck that is most flexible, and should be manipulated in order to play better against your opponents deck. My meta has a lot of creature decks, and some control. Thus I have a decent amount of removal (especially that which can target Indestructible--Bile Blight and Tragic Slip), and I have Thoughtseize against control.
Instants and Sorceries:
You were thinking it...I know you were! Of course, a mono-black control deck has to have some form of discard. In this deck, Thoughtseize takes that slot. It's really there to deal with late control/combo cards that can be taken out of hand around turn 3. Thoughtseize is a great discard spell because it hits higher CMC cards like Splintertwin, Scapeshift, and Wrath of God. The two life is relatively negligible, as this deck has enough life-gain from
Vampire Nighthawk
and Kalastria Highborn. It does add up against aggro and burn, however.
Inquisition of Kozilek constitutes the rest of our discard suite. This is in here to ease match-ups against aggro and burn by maintaining a presence of discard, but not at the cost of life (as with Thoughtseize).
I think this card has a good fit in this deck, because morbid will be triggered often enough with Viscera Seer's sac outlet, and all of the other removal in the deck. Essentially this turns into a kill spell. An alternate card for this slot could be Disfigure, and I am still trying to figure that out...no pun intended! But seriously, I find Disfigure less optimal, because early you want to be playing vampires, and Disfigure only hits early creatures. Tragic Slip can hit early and late creatures with morbid triggered.
Instants and Sorceries:
Muahahaha! This card is just evil. Nothing is more satisfying than taking out two birds (or infinite Pestermites) with one stone! I try to hold on to it to get two for my buck, but if you can open a window to do some decent damage then do so! Also, if you do send two creatures to the grave with this puppy, imagine how that helps your board when you've got a Blade of the Bloodchief equipped! Too much fun...Also great against token decks.
Perfect! Classic black removal spell, and at instant speed too. This spell will allow you to continue to control your opponents board via removing creatures. Good stuff!
Summary:
Basically we control their hand with Thoughtseize, and kill their creatures with cheap and efficient removal (Tragic Slip, Go for the Throat)
Artifacts and Enchantments
HIDE Note: Not too much going on in this category, but both of the choices are powerful.
Artifacts and Enchantments:
I view this card as a pseudo lord. Yes, it's different because it only targets one vampire, but it's super cheap to cast and equip ( all together), and once it is, because of
Gatekeeper of Malakir
, Viscera Seer, and all of our removal spells, creatures are constantly dying! This artifact is great to throw on a
Vampire Nighthawk
, as the lifelink and flying really maximizes it's potential.
Artifacts and Enchantments
Note: I thought I would just put the CMC of Phyrexian Arena cause it was more fun...
This shouldn't need much explanation. Card advantage = victory, in most cases. The life loss isn't a big deal once we draw a Kalastria Highborn. And as I read someone comment on this site, if Phyrexian Arena kills you you probably weren't going to win anyway! I agree. This enchantment also provides valuable devotion for Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx, which adds up very quickly! This allows you to play all of the cards you draw with Phyrexian Arena.
Summary:
Blade of the Bloodchief pumps us up while we destroy enemy creatures. Phyrexian Arena gives us draw while we discard our opponent's hand. It also let's us recover more easily from board wipes, and allows us to play a higher volume of Vampires.
Land Base
HIDE The Land. Oh yes, every deck brewers favorite part. What do I do with these 20 odd cards? Well I myself faced this very question, and would appreciate feedback on what I've done.
Really? Does this need an explanation? Well we gotta fetch something when we our Bloodstained Mire, so this card is a necessary evil. Also let's us get the uspide of Path to Exile, and Tectonic Edge.
More value than it looks like at first. Yes if we want we could splash red, so it's nice having the fetch. But this is here for deck-thinning, (removing two lands from your deck at the draw of one), and for landfall with Bloodghast. Honestly, the plays! You could sacrifice Bloodghast three times in a single turn by fetching. With Kalastria Highborn + Viscera Seer
on the board, that's Scry 3 (Kinda) and a life differential of 12 between you and your opponent!
This card is also self explanatory. Just say Vampires when you put it into play, and suddenly counter spells disappear! It's amazing what Vampires can do.
This card is great in this deck. I wouldn't run more than 2 of it though, mostly because it can only produce when you don't have the devotion threshold. Since you have so many hungry spells in your deck, this can be a problem. Also, it's legendary, so you can't have multiples out at the same time. But it's worth having 2 because you do want to see this card, as the mana ramp is surprising. When there's a good amount of devotion, It will allow you to drop 2 of your 4 CMC drops in a single turn. Did I hear double Vampire Nocturnus?
I'm only running 2 of this card, again because of the danger of only being able to produce , which this land can only do for mana. As a result, of all of the producing lands in this deck, this one worries me the most--however this one also has some of the best potential. Drop a Bloodline Keeper
, but only have a total of 4 Vampires? Mutavault and make it a tapped Vampire for that 5 threshold! Also, don't forget you can use him as an additional creature to sacrifice with vampire seer. Or even help swing on a turn with the Vampire Nocturnus' ability triggered...scary!
This guy's in here to help rectify all of the producing lands. Now they make !! It's magic....the..gathering? Buh-dum-tss! Sorry...Anyways, it sucks to draw 2 of these dudes, because they're legendary, but that's a pretty rare occurrence. Far more often this land is fixing our mana, rather than hurting it. So 2 of these it is.
Summary:
Bloodstained Mire works wonders with Bloodghast...maybe he lives there? It would be bloody enough...Anyways! Mutavault helps proc Bloodline Keeper
. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx mana ramps hard. Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth keeps all of these colorless lands from messing with our mana base.
That's my deck. I'd really like to read some comments and criticisms!
Flip
