I would suggest to cut out those 1-2 timers and to raise the number of the really important cards like Vampire Nocturnus, Stromkirk Captain and Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip to 4.

I made a Vampire aggro deck some time ago and actualized it: Vampire aggro

You can fetch some ideas from it if you want.

Mainly you should try to focus a bit more and not to try to combine fast aggro with slow control. What of those do you want?

greets MA

Thanks for the pointers. I did remove some of those clutter up cards and added a few more of the big hitters.

if you can get Blood crypts and dragonskull summits you can cut down the red mana by alot would make it run a tad smoother

I would suggest to cut out the nonblack cards and to replace them with black or black-red ones to get a better use of Vampire Nocturnus.

Use Feast of Blood instead of Vampiric Fury to deal with nasty creatures. And Stromkirk Noble already gives your first strike.

Replace Wall of Fire with Gatekeeper of Malakir to shorten the numbers on your opponents side + having another vampire on your field.

Replace Daggerdrome Imp with Vampire Nighthawk. He's a vampire AND has lifelink AND deathtouch.

And put out the enchantments you have in here for 2 more Dreadbore and / or to highten the numbers of cards that cost less mana but deal with opponents creatures, or give your creatures boosts. Trusty Machete can be a good budget option in here. It provides fast and stable boost.

greets MA

If you are trying to keep it standard then use this as a reference Vampires Done Right. It's a vampire deck that I spent awhile getting down to my type of play style... It can keep up with the meta at my local FNM, which is full of fast aggro decks and control decks.

I'd go with 4x Vampire Nighthawk over the 4x Wall of Fire, he's just too insane with Stromkirk Captain to ignore. Then mana fix for the increased use of black. Could use some more focus on the support end; there are too many 1-of's for this to be consistent.

Would also add 2 to 4 Rakdos Guildgate in place of some Mountains.

To many three drops. The lack of a proper mana curve is going to wreck you.

Thanks MagnaLynx21 for pointing it out, until you did I was not really paying attention.

Those 1 timer artifacts you put in here for fixing the mana curve won't do a lot of impact. I would still suggest Trusty Machete, or Gatekeeper of Malakir instead.

The machete won't fix your mana curve at first but it gives your deck a good boost and the gatekeeper is good as a 2 drop if needed or a 3 drop.

Bloodghast would be a good 2 CMC card in here but I don't know your budget.

What you really SHOULD use is Sign in Blood. It can give you cards if needed or kill an opponent for the last 2 damage.

greets MA

Trusty Machete, Gatekeeper of Malakir, and Bloodghast are not legal on standard format, and I play standard. I consider Sign in Blood before but when against it, I've had it on other decks and never really proved to be an advantage. I will be playing this deck tonight. I'll be doing some changes based on that experience.

why Typhoid Rats? wouldn't more Vampire Nocturnus be better. and Chosen of Markov  ^Flip and Screeching Bat  ^Flip, wouldn't more Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip Dreadbore be better. if you don't like how Dreadbore is a sorcery, have you thought of Ultimate Price. what are your thoughts of Olivia Voldaren and Falkenrath Aristocrat

If this is no longer budget, 4 Cavern of Souls, 4 Dragonskull Summit, and 4 Blood Crypt would all really improve consistency.

There is a LOT that can be done to help this deck out...

First, Mutilate is counter-productive in a deck that is almost half creatures.

Second, Typhoid Rats has no place here. Whatsoever. If you are going tribal, you need to stick with the creature type unless absolutely necessary. Straying from your theme for a 1/1 chump blocker is not worth it. You'd be better off just putting in 4 kill spells.

Third, you have too much going on in general. Try to use 4 of each important card, rather than trying to be all over the board. Redundancy is the key to winning in Magic. The artifacts are useless, for example.

Lastly, you have FAR too many expensive cards. Whoever suggested Screeching Bat  ^Flip is a fool. 3 mana, THEN 4 mana, to get a 5/5 flier? Think of what else you could get for 7 mana in a red/black vapire deck. My first thought goes to a turn 3 Fervor followed by a turn 4 Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. Now you have hasty vampires, can immediately tap the keeper for a flier, who can also himself attack that turn. Also, Grave Betrayal and Exquisite Blood are too expensive for their worth.

Check out my deck, Classy Vampires to get a better idea. You'll notice that I have balanced out the higher number of 3+ costing creatures by keeping my support spells as cheap and to-the-point as I can. My deck can win by turn five on occasion, but almost always by turn six. Give it a playtest and try it out.

Sign in Blood should really only be played a vampire deck that has 4x Vampire Nocturnus gives you a second chance at that anthem, it is also a nice draw engine as well as a nice little 2 DMG finisher on your opponent.

I played tonight against various types of decks. The only time I found myself in the loosing end was against decks heavy on live gain. I think for now I'm going to keep it this way for another week, and then make adjustments based on what I see in regular game play.

You are lacking quick reactions Searing Spear, Tragic Slip or Vampiric Fury (which is must have in creature based vampires)

Also... I would remove Prophetic Prism, Typhoid Rats, Chosen of Markov  ^Flip and Screeching Bat  ^Flip. Those will only slow you down and they do not work well with other vampires.

Grave Betrayal is too slow, exchange it with Curse of Death's Hold if you really need advantage. And you are lacking stronger vampires: Olivia Voldaren or Falkenrath Aristocrat. If they are expansive for you try Rakish Heir he will do the job well.

Those cards in your sideboard should be mainboard. I'd take out 1x Exquisite Blood, 1x Grave Betrayal for 2x Vampire Nocturnus. With 22 land, the top of your curve should stay at 4. Then, I'd remove 2x Chosen of Markov  ^Flip and all of your artifacts for 4x Sign in Blood and 2x Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip. Screeching Bat  ^Flip should also come out, preferable for more kill spells like Ultimate Price, Victim of Night, or Tragic Slip This should make your deck more consistent and faster.

From my experience yesterday Typhoid Rats was pretty much the life saver. It kept most players from attacking early on, and later it help me to remove some larger creatrues from play.Sign in Blood remains an iffy card. Vampire Nocturnus is not that great of a help with red cards in the deck. If I was going to make this a mono-black deck thats the first card I x4. I agree with Prophetic Prism, that is pretty much there while I feel the deck out. Once I have some solid ideas on where to go form here I will be replacing that card with probably some destroy creatures, destroy artifacts. Almost in every game I played Grave Betrayal played off like a pro with Typhoid Rats. I'm not so sure why everyone dislikes Typhoid Rats, it's a cheap 1/1 with death touch. I did not get to play Exquisite Blood, and I'm considering removing Chosen of Markov  ^Flip but as far as I could see yesterday it played very well. Both Olivia Voldaren and Falkenrath Aristocrat Would destroy the very delicate mana curve for hardly any benefit.

I really appreciate the feedback guys, thanks and keep it coming.

"Both Olivia Voldaren and Falkenrath Aristocrat Would destroy the very delicate mana curve for hardly any benefit." wtf? :D

Both of them can win a game for you. Olivia Voldaren is not only a 3/3 flyer but also pumps itself and stands a constant threat for your opponent. Falkenrath Aristocrat is a turn four 4 (or 5 with captain) dmg into the head directly. And since you play more creatures than just her, you can make her indestructible every time someone wants to get rid of her.

As for Chosen of Markov  ^Flip it is an fourth turn 4/4 with nothing. And it is conditional. Vampire Nocturnus,Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip or two girls mentioned before should be the 4th mana drop killer.

As for Grave Betrayal... It is too damn expansive, I have no idea against what did you play... But with 22 lands in your deck, you have to draw out aprox 1/3 of your deck to play it. Might happen against control decks, but it won't happen against tempo, aggro or even midrange.

Blood Artist?

Check out my Blood of the Night for some ideas.

Cool deck though, although Vampire Nocturnus seems to do better in mono-black decks for obious reasons.

That's the reason why I would drop Stromkirk Noble for Vampire Lacerator and Searing Spear for Feast of Blood or 2 more Sign in Blood.