Sadly Vampire Nighthawk is non-standard, otherwise he would be a definite 4 of.
May 31, 2012 8:09 p.m.
RemKarolus says... #3
Well I dont really like Child of Night and Markov Patrician because without the captain on the board they practically useless well you could try bring in cavern of soul and i would cut bloodgift demon, if you want a solid 5 drop you could try maybe bloodlord of vashgot or Falkenrath Marauder and don't bring sever the bloodline mainboard it's useless unless against token deck and you could change the diabolic tutor for more removal or another Olivia and rather than Body and Mind, Feast and Famine is better but if you cant afford it body and mine is good but better sideboard for delver or R/G aggro perhaps
May 31, 2012 8:40 p.m.
No Blackcleave Cliffs ? It's a must have to not get mana screwed. Ruthless Invasion , card:Apostle's Blessing , Infiltration Lens and card:Nightbird's Clutches does wonders for evasion, going for that route with 4 Rakish Heir and 3-4 Volt Charge can be really good.
If you go for the route 'counters+evasion+proliferate' etc, you can include Shrine of Burning Rage as a long game finish condition too.
Pyreheart Wolf is a good card but has no sinergy with your lords, sadly. Markov Patrician can be a sidedeck choice against Red deck wins, at best... it's just not a good card. Diabolic Tutor is a good card indeed, but specially in combo decks were you need an especific gear to make the machine keep working, I think that's not the kind of deck...
June 4, 2012 6:08 p.m.
+1 to your deck. Falkenrath Exterminator can be a great if he gets 2 counters or more, so I think you should run 4 of these, and also, while Bloodcrazed Neonate is usually a bad card, it has a lot of sinergy if you have the evasion or at least a Infiltration Lens
June 4, 2012 6:18 p.m.
Lots of great ideas guys, I'm sorta getting overwhelmed though. Also, did some changes, added the clutches and exterminators, also 2 arc trails, cut some of the pesky cards. The things I'm mostly worried about now is getting a few more draws, and 24 creatures seems lacking to me. Also, yay! I pulled a cavern of souls. All of your ideas seem great, can you suggest what to remove though?
June 4, 2012 11:37 p.m.
One more note: Vampire Nighthawk is being reprinted m13. Let us rejoice!
June 4, 2012 11:38 p.m.
hamstersar says... #9
I think a lot of people have really good suggestions for this deck, I do love the idea of Infiltration Lens and obviously run Vampire Nighthawk when M13 is released.
As for what to take out, I think Arc Trail , Doom Blade and Volt Charge are a little redundant. I'd probably get rid of the Arc Trail as the other ones do it's job just as well and Volt Charge proliferates.
Also, I have little love for Falkenrath Exterminator . I usually have a hard time getting counters onto him in the first place. If you can get him going then he's completely terrifying but overall I'd rather run maybe another blademaster and a sword?
On a related note, I've never been terribly impressed with card:Nightbird's Clutches though I can see how it could be useful here. I just can't help feeling that there's something else that could do that just as well if not better.
One last thing I'd recommend is running 4 Cavern of Souls , I realize you're probably only putting 1 down because you only have 1, but in theory, 4 of would be infinitely preferable.
June 28, 2012 9:05 p.m.
You bring up a lot of good ideas. I definitely need to pick up some lenses (somehow I never opened any). I've been torn on what to usefor removal for a while now. There are times when targeting two creatures or only needing 1-2 damage had been very nice. The only reason I have exterminator is because I desperately needed a decent 2 mana spot. I was advised against infiltrate and child of night, so it seemed to be the only decent one left. For some reason I go against werewolves a lot, and unless I can start extremely fast and get drops every turn I usually do poorly. To be honest blade master never impresses me much, she is near instantly removed and by the time I drop her a 1/1 isn't impressive. Nightbirds clutches can easily be replace by the lenses, I was really just searching for some cheap evasion to get my red vamps through. Like you said, I only have 1 cavern and it's a bit on the pricy side. Same with the swords ( I've just been lucky pulling my 2). I would definitely appreciate and suggestions for replacements for low cost creatures and removal, this deck always feels slow and fairly dependent on 3-4 drops
July 1, 2012 12:12 p.m.
Well, only 9 of your non-lands would keep Vampire Nocturnus turned off. I'd just take out the Rakish Heir s to add him in.
4x Cavern of Souls would also be nice.
September 13, 2012 7:34 p.m.
I can't really afford the Cavern of Souls . Nice call on the nocturnes, the deck used to have far too much red to run him. I also decided to cut back on the Pillar of Flame s, they don't impress me enough to be main board. They're Mizzium Mortars now for some spot removal or board wipe age.
September 13, 2012 7:57 p.m.
I will probably replace the Murder s with them. Too badf they're expected to be somewhat expensive. At least not as much as Abrupt Decay .
September 13, 2012 8:01 p.m.
I predict that Dreadbore will fall a week or two after release to $3-$4. It is, after all, a Sorcery-speed kill-spell.
September 13, 2012 8:05 p.m.
Sever the Bloodline you insult the deck name without it!
October 4, 2012 10:38 p.m.
I will probably have it sideboard. It used to be main, but as the deck progressed it grew faster, so now it'll most likely side in vs. tokens.
October 4, 2012 10:45 p.m.
You won't regret it! Probably the most useful card in standard right now
October 4, 2012 11:01 p.m.
I haven't had a chance to test this out vs. the new meta with RtR out yet.
October 5, 2012 12:10 a.m.
SilentNSly says... #21
I like it, except [Stromkirk Noble] seems to get block a lot more now as people move away from Human decks; plus he is not black.
October 6, 2012 2:06 a.m.
His 1-drop ness is enough for me, and being a vampire he still gets pumped a ton by my lords. Also, I've been seeing a ton of bant and azzorius humans popping up, and Naya Humans still has a presence, as well as selesnya humans. If only Rakdos Cackler were a vampire, I'd like to have 8 1-drops and make this more aggro.
October 9, 2012 8:26 p.m.
I would trade the Vampire Interloper for something like Markov Patrician . The lifelink is helpful, especially with the boost from Vampire Nocturnus .
October 10, 2012 10:40 p.m.
beaver2445 says... #24
I've been running a vampire deck for a while now and it is pretty similar to this. I agree that Stromkirk Noble needs to stay. Decks like these need an opportunity to have board presence on turn 1, and since there are no 1 drop vampires other than him that I can think of off the top of my head, he's a must whether Vampire Nocturnus activates or not (trust me it will be rare that a stromkirk noble ruins your game, it's usually the lands).
I'm not sure I like the 4 Bloodline Keeper Flip mainboard, if at all. I think of him as more of a sideboard card for games you think will take a while to win or matchups where you know they don't have much removal. Falkenrath Aristocrat is a beast in the 4 slot, and has never failed me. The haste and it's ability to dodge wraths and spot removal are key, and it flies. No more Gut Shot as well, they need to pay mana to kill it.
Never been a fan of mainboard Olivia Voldaren , though I don't know your meta. She's good, don't get me wrong, but she really only shines against weenies that you can pop, or fatties that you have two turns to convert (even then it seems like the 7 mana could be better used elsewhere).
I've tried Vampire Interloper , didn't work out so well. I usually find myself in that awkward position where if I attack with it it dies, but if I don't it can't block.
I don't know your meta, but in mine I have Mizzium Mortars sideboard for mirror or aggro in general.
October 14, 2012 4:05 p.m.
beaver2445 says... #25
On to suggestions for what to add
Falkenrath Aristocrat . Like I said above, she is beast and people hate seeing her, generally speaking. She is also Blood Artist 's best friend. 4 slot
Sign in Blood . Card draw is good, it's a black card, keeps the hand full of the much needed land and creature, it gives you another chance to activate nocturnus, and it's an alt win con (I got you to 2 life. I'll give you a chance to get out of it....oh wait.). Plus you run Blood Artist , so the life lost is generally gained back. 2 slot
Killing Wave . You run blood artist. Killing Wave + blood artist is a win condition, and if you have multiple blood artists on board, the life gets lost real quick, and you gain a ton. You can also win by only paying only the black and clearing your own board. Plus it's an answer for Entreat the Angels , the bane of this deck, and it's a black removal card. 1+ slot. Did I mention Lotleth Troll can't regenerate from this?
Bloodthrone Vampire . Again, you run blood artist. The more sac engines you have, the more win conditions you have. Plus it can get big if they decide not to block it and you have creatures that aren't doing anything anymore. 2 slot.
-- More Nocturnus. My suggestions are sculpting this to be a deck that gains most of its momentum starting turn 3 and exploding turn 4-5. You absolutely want to see this guy turn 4 or 5.
In the Mainboard: -4 Bloodline Keeper Flip for +4 Falkenrath Aristocrat , -2 Olivia Voldaren for +2 Vampire Nocturnus , -3 Vampire Interloper and -1 mountain for +4 Bloodthrone Vampire , -2 Mizzium Mortars and -3 Dreadbore and -1 Tragic Slip for +4 Sign in Blood and +2 Killing Wave , -2 mountain for +2 swamp. (Your land count with this is 23 instead of 24. In my opinion 23 is solid for this mana curve and 24 will flood.)
In the SideBoard: +2 Dreadbore , +2 Mizzium Mortars , +2 Bloodline Keeper Flip , +4 Pillar of Flame (zombies), + 2 Sever the Bloodline , +1 Necropolis Regent (bring him in for matchups that don't have the removal to deal with him), +2 Desecration Demon (sure he's not a vampire, but if they can't deal with him, he's a 6/6 for 4 mana).
That's my take on a Vampire Nocturnus themed deck. I took out a lot of the spot removal because your primary concern is making the opponent need the answers by overrunning him. Tragic slip can stay because it kills Lotleth Troll if you set it up properly. Other than that your spot removal is Vampire Nighthawk , and mass removal is Killing Wave . If you have the money you can even consider Bonfire of the Damned , as you won't really mind too often if it gets revealed. In my experience it generally means they have 1 turn to find a way to win, or they won't play a creature, or just general intimidation. Oh, and if you side in the red cards, take 1 or 2 nocturnus out (1 should actually be fine), as it will be less strong.
+1 from me.
gsnh says... #1
I would cut the Child of Night and Markov Patrician. Lifelink is nice, but they don't really have staying power. I just built a deck:red-black-vamp-edh deck where you might find some ideas.
Vampire Nighthawk is solid, as is Falkenrath Exterminator if you want 2 and 3 drops.
May 31, 2012 8:03 p.m.