This is a very powerful Black/Red Vampire deck with a splash of Rakdos. The idea is very simple: Vampires are already powerful, but not invincible. This is as close to invincible as I could make B/R Vamps by taking the best black vamps, the best red vamps, and utilize a combination of instants, sorceries, and enchantments to fill in the cracks. There will be very little your opponent can do but spam protection from black and red once they've seen what this deck can do.
These are your support creatures that most players will look past once they see what else you have in your arsenal.
Child of Night - Great turn two drop that can be blitz/sacrificed early game to get rid of any mana ramp, or pingers, to help you start gaining life; because you'll need it.
Vampire Nighthawk - Another great life link + flying + death touch. What more could you want? Use him as a defense against the beeferonies your opponent may or may not throw at you, or send him on the offense to gain more life.
Pulse Tracker
- Although he gains you no life, he's the best one drop vampire for this deck, though I did consider
Guul Draz Assassin
I ultimately decided his Creature Control is nice, but would only slow this deck down.
These are your heavy hitters, scape goats, and tanks. They will provide the most distraction for your win conditions, until your win conditions enter the game, and then everything becomes a win condition once your opponent realizes that every creature in this deck is both essential, yet expendable.
Falkenrath Exterminator
- The most amazing two drop ever. Remember how I said I don't like flat out Creature Control? Well, this is a creature who provides excellent CC. Too bad he'll get taken down fairly quickly.
Rakish Heir - One of the main distractions for your opponent. Fairly obvious, he stands there as your vampires attack and get bigger. Rakish Heir +
Falkenrath Exterminator
= Awesome CC.
Falkenrath Marauders
- More beefy distractions with a side order of hasty flying.
Markov Blademaster - The greatest beefy distraction coming at you. She also combos with a favored card of mine ->
Pain Magnification
.
These are your Win Conditions. Regardless of which one you get first, matters not. Might as well make a note of this now: I don't like running 4s of anything because I feel I can make more combinations of tricks that prevent my opponent from planning a defense against my decks. Throwing in curve balls that work regardless of the card combo gives me an advantage only if my opponent tries to predict what I'm about to do.
Vampire Nocturnus - Once he's out on the field, your opponent should be pooping bricks. If not, then you're already screwed. I know what you're thinking, why run this guy in a multicolored deck? The answer? Well, it's a give and take, really. Once you top deck any black card, you've probably already won with extreme amounts of damage, and I mean on average 16 (without
Vampiric Fury
. This is where
Pulse Tracker
really shines because your opponent probably forgot about him until he's swinging for 3 + 1 loss of life; unless you've got multiples of either
Pulse Tracker
and/or Vampire Nocturnus)
Olivia Voldaren - Don't expect to see her with much play time. If you're opponent is worth his or her salt, then he or she will get rid of Olivia asap. She's my favorite style of CC because she can kill, or control, and get beefy at the same time. Plus she's a flyer so there's that, also.
Stromkirk Captain - Awww yeah, Mr. Bad Ass breaking through the fourth wall. He's a minor win condition, but a win condition none the less. "All of your vampires now have first strike? Yea, No." - Your Opponent
These are the caulks that fill in the gaps. Yes, you heard correctly. Regardless of what your opponent decides to throw at you, these each provide a defense for you, assuming the deck loves you enough to grant you the right defense at the right time.
Vampiric Fury
- Because I'm a fan of buffs, and this is the best buff out there for Vampires because first strike. Use in moderation because a well time Vampiric Fury can win you the game in one fel swoop.
Rakdos Charm - Here's where Rakdos finally comes in!!!!! This is why I love Rakdos! His charm just fills in the gap PERFECTLY, because tokens. Or that one artifact. Or graveyards. Either way, this has won me several games against tokens on its own.
Rakdos's Return
- I usually like to wait until I have 5 mana on the field and combo with
Pain Magnification
to get rid of most of their hand and have my opponent hate me. This usually wins games too, and also provides direct damage. Something I'm a fan of, but only if it's creative.
Pain Magnification
- My favorite. I only run two, because it's just in there to mess with the mind of my opponent. If I manage to get this onto the field, my opponent is generally more concerned about not letting my creatures deal damage, and if Stromkirk Captain is out then generally my creatures will win the fight. If they have beeferonies, then I'll wait for Vampire Nocturnus and swing with Child of Night + Vampire Nighthawk to heal myself and save everyone else for the defense.
Feast of Blood - Spike healing and creature control, self-explanatory. Use with moderation.This particular CC tailors to vampires so it's the only one in this deck. Trust me, this is just the icing on the cake.
Sideboard Time.
1) Need More Life Gain?
1a) Swap out 2x
Falkenrath Exterminator
for 2x Exquisite Blood
2) They Have Too Much Life Gain?
2a) Swap out 3x Feast of Blood for 3x Urge to Feed
2b) Swap out 3x Rakdos Charm for 3x Curse of Stalked Prey
2c) Swap out 2x
Rakdos's Return
for 2x Curse of Bloodletting
3) Their Creatures Are Too Big?
3a) Swap out 3x
Falkenrath Marauders
for 3x Necropolis Regent
3b) Swap out 3x Feast of Blood for 3x Urge to Feed, as you may already know, this can be timed accordingly. Three scenarios come to mind, they have a "Bad Ass" whose Toughness is 3 or less, that happens to be intregal to their deck and needs to be taken down asap, they swing with a Big Bad that with a -3/-3 one of your creatures could block and survive, or the latter but your creature is on par with their Big Bad and will happily sacrifice itself for the greater good.
3c) Swap out 2x
Falkenrath Exterminator
for 1x Child of Night and 1x Vampire Nighthawk. You'll lose some CC, so with making this switch it would be wise to play more defensively.
4) Other Things
4a) The highest CMC card in the mainboard is
Falkenrath Marauders
, so if you want to just swap out some burst damage with more permanent, and long term, damage then I suggest ya swap 2x
Falkenrath Marauders
with 2x Curse of Bloodletting. This also combos deliciously with Exquisite Blood and either Child of Night or Vampire Nighthawk for simultaneous burst damage/healing.
Hope you enjoy it. Feel free to leave any suggestions, appraisals, and/or +1s! Or don't, if you really want to hurt me. =(
