The Vampire Ball

Commander / EDH BR (Rakdos) UBR (Grixis)

Mana4ever

Creature (27)

• 1x Anje Falkenrath
• 1x Anowon, the Ruin Sage
• 1x Ashenmoor Liege
• 1x Blood Artist
• 1x Blood Seeker
• 1x Bloodghast
• 1x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip
• 1x Captivating Vampire
• 1x Crypt Ghast
• 1x Dark Impostor
• 1x Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Falkenrath Noble
• 1x Guul Draz Assassin
• 1x Indulgent Aristocrat
• 1x Kalastria Highborn
• 1x Malakir Cullblade
• 1x Markov Patrician
• 1x Mirri the Cursed
• 1x Nirkana Cutthroat
• 1x Nirkana Revenant
• 1x Pulse Tracker
• 1x Sangromancer
• 1x Stromkirk Captain
• 1x Vampire Hexmage
• 1x Vampire Nighthawk
• 1x Vampire Nocturnus

Artifact (11)

• 1x Basilisk Collar
• 1x Blade of the Bloodchief
• 1x Caged Sun
• 1x Darksteel Plate
• 1x Gauntlet of Power
• 1x Gorgon Flail
• 1x Lightning Greaves
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Swiftfoot Boots
• 1x Whip of Erebos
• 1x Whispersilk Cloak

Land (36)

• 1x Bojuka Bog
• 1x Crypt of Agadeem
• 10x Mountain
• 1x Phyrexian Tower
• 1x Shizo, Death's Storehouse
• 21x Swamp
• 1x Volrath's Stronghold

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Eternal Thirst
• 1x Exquisite Blood
• 1x No Mercy
• 1x Phyrexian Reclamation
• 1x Sanguine Bond
• 1x Wound Reflection

Planeswalker (2)

• 1x Liliana of the Dark Realms
• 1x Sorin Markov

Commander (1)

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Blood Tribute
• 1x Bubbling Muck
• 1x Cruel Tutor
• 1x Damnation
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Diabolic Tutor
• 1x Exsanguinate
• 1x Feast of Blood
• 1x Mutilate
• 1x Profane Command
• 1x Temporal Extortion

Instant (6)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Darkness
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Tragic Slip
• 1x Vampiric Tutor

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After more than a decade away from Magic the Gathering, I gave Aaron $100 for a Vampire Deck to restart my collection. The Vampire Ball is the evolution of that first deck.

The Vampire tribe is not particularly powerful. They cannot stand toe to toe in combat with other tribes like Goblins, Elves and Zombies. Instead they rely on cunning and dark magic, cultured over undead centuries, to achieve victory. The aristocratic vampires have a few paths they can follow to success but draining an opponent's life (usually gaining life yourself in the process) is the most common.

Olivia Voldaren is somewhat of an independent commander. Although there are cards in the deck which certainly help her, she can function fine on her own and the deck can play without her. She can also refrain from combat and kill off enemy creature with her ability while increasing her power and toughness. Her second ability alows her to steal powerful and troublesome creatures from other players. She is only limited by the amount of mana available.

Because vampires and their abilities can be very expensive mana wise, this deck has quite a bit of mana ramp. Creatures like Crypt Ghast and Nirkana Revenant, artifacts like Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun as well as cards like Bubbling Muck and Liliana of the Dark Realms all help the vampire tribe amass the necessary mana.

With four tutors, the vampires are also very good at searching the deck for that particular card that will either secure victory or help escape a dangerous situation. Some cards that could be useful to tutor are:

Damnation - When you become outnumbered and need to clear the battlefield

Tragic Slip or Mutilate - to kill annoyingly indestructible creatures

Exsanguinate - could be instant victory with enough mana

No Mercy - some deterrent from other players attacking you

The vampires have some interesting combos, the first of which is automatic victory if it goes off. Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond is an automatic victory as long as you get the cycle going and nobody interupts it. Blood Artist + Damnation is also effective for not only clearing the battlefield but possibly doing large amounts of damage to your opponents while gaining mass life.

The evolution of this deck can be furthered by adding vampires whose abilities have better synergy and by researching more devious black spells. I feel the biggest potential is by bringing more red into the mix. Olivia Voldaren is a new commander and as such not much red has been included. Anowon, the Ruin Sage was the previous commander.

Date added	4 years
Last updated	3 years
Key combos	Exquisite Blood + Sanguine Bond Blood Artist + Damnation
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 0 Mythic Rares 35 - 0 Rares 19 - 0 Uncommons 8 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.02
Tokens	Emblem Liliana of the Dark Realms, Vampire 2/2 B