tribal vampire

Modern forum

Posted on Feb. 28, 2014, 7:16 a.m. by lord_of_the_snakes

Are there any good tribal vampire decks in modern? I'm not looking for something amazing, or expensive, for that matter, just a playable modern vampire deck.

DrFunk27 says... #2

This is a pretty good list. http://www.starcitygames.com/article/26798_Video-Vampire-Prophecy-In-Modern.html

Vampires could actually be quite strong.

February 28, 2014 7:25 a.m.

EddCrawley says... #3

You'll need to find a replacement for Deathrite Shaman

February 28, 2014 8:01 a.m.

The_Raven says... #4

Mono-Black Vampire Deck

Idk how good it is... Just a pure wamp deck :D

It is "not something amazing or expensive".

February 28, 2014 9:56 a.m.

Trollhoffer says... #5

Depends what you mean by "playable". You'll want to have interaction, at least, with the tier 1 strategies in Modern, and that means at least some level of optimisation and a solid strategy.

There's good news; vampires are on the stronger side of the tribal curve. They're not exactly goblins or elves, but I daresay you can throw your weight against soldiers, knights, and other "tier 2 tribal" type decks.

What makes helping you most difficult is knowing which direction you want to take. Some vampire decks will want a sacrifice theme and therefore some graveyard interaction, some will want to be control decks using powerful vampires as win conditions, and others still will want to be aggro decks that stack lord bonuses. You have to decide which direction you want to go before much help can be given, because the type of deck you're building will determine where you'll want your mana curve to top out and how you want to fill it.

All the same, for my money, these are probably the most solid vampires for vampire tribal:

That's a lot of vampires! Like I said, it really depends on the direction you want to go, because vampire tribal is capable of filling out any of the broad deck archetypes, perhaps apart from combo. But some Johnny can probably prove me wrong there, too.

Keep in mind that a rule of thumb for Modern is that you don't exceed a converted mana cost of 4 for your cards. Mind you, that's a rule of thumb -- it's meant to guide your deck building, not dominate it. You might find that a card somewhat higher on the curve is the perfect late-game drop, or you might find that your mana acceleration allows you to player more mana-intensive cards.

My advice for a vampire deck is to find balance between aggressive beats and controlling the board. I don't personally run a vampire deck, but Gatekeeper of Malakir seems really good to me, and Vampire Hexmage is a broadly loved black card for its versatility as a tool of control, combo and aggro (it can trade with the most efficient 2-drops in soldier and knight decks, for instance). Both Vampire Nocturnus and Bloodline Keeper  Flip are good lords that hit the 4-drop mark.

But my my! We're in black here, so let's draw some cards. And look at all those black symbols on those efficient vampires! Erebos, God of the Dead isn't strictly a vampire, but he's on theme, a respectable beater when activated, an excellent blocker, and can draw you cards at instant speed. You'll also shut down Soul Sisters pretty hard. And since we're in black, we may as well kill things, because why play black otherwise? Doom Blade is a decent stand in, but if you're willing to front the cash, Hero's Downfall is possibly the better removal. If you were to splash white for some of the Orzhov vampires from Ravnica, you could throw in Path to Exile , too. Or if you're going in a more Innistradian direction, the red can afford you Lightning Bolt . Just make sure you remember your removal and card draw, as well as your vampires.

'Cause you're in black and you can do that. Play efficient creatures, kill their creatures, draw cards. All good in the hood.

March 1, 2014 8:48 a.m.

lord_of_the_snakes says... #6

@Trollhoffer, I was planning on going mono-black, to minimize the cost of lands, and I have a lot of black vampires, but i quit during Innistrad, and didn't play Orzhov, and started during zendikar, so I have the black vampires.

March 1, 2014 11:55 a.m.

lord_of_the_snakes says... #7

here's a starting draft of the deck if you want to know what I'm using.

March 1, 2014 12:46 p.m.

Trollhoffer says... #8

Even within mono black, though, there are various directions you could go. Do you want to win quickly, using fast synergy strategies? Do you want to use a versatile deck that can apply pressure and respond to threats in equal measure? Or do you want to use a removal and discard strategy to disarm your opponent and strike when they're weakest?

Any of these approaches can be effective and any can be used in vampire tribal.

That said, I threw together a theoretically decent decklist for demonstration purposes. It follows an aggro strategy, but several of its creatures can act as mana sinks if the game becomes drawn out. If rushing down your opponent fails, then it's possible to attrition them out.

Damned If You Do

March 1, 2014 12:55 p.m.

Trollhoffer says... #9

Double-posting for great justice, and also because I missed your update.

Anyway, it looks as though we're thinking of a reasonably similar vampire tribal deck. That's good. The difference between yours and mine, however, is the average converted mana cost. It's often tempting to slam a bunch of powerful cards together in a deck, but if you weight yourself too heavily towards those higher-CMC cards, you might find your board developing too slowly. That's a stake to the heart in Modern, where speed is often the primary determining factor in victory.

If you look at the decklist I presented, you'll find it's more restrained -- but as a result, it'll come out of the gates more quickly more often. Of course, there's nothing determining that you use my exact list, and I encourage you to experiment. Just keep in mind that if you choose to use a swift, aggressive strategy, you'll want maximum mana efficiency, and that means playing more low-cost things. Basilisk Collar is particularly good, because it turns something like Vampire Hexmage into a one-vampire chainsaw machine cannon. First strike and deathtouch are mechanics that are just meant to go together.

From what I can gather, though, you have the right idea. Keep iterating and keep developing your ideas, and your deck will no doubt become as powerful as mono-black vampire tribal can be in Modern. Which is to say, less powerful than the super-optimised tier 1 strategies, but nothing to sniff at, either.

March 1, 2014 1:01 p.m.

lord_of_the_snakes says... #10

whoops, forgot to link deck, bloodless husk

March 1, 2014 1:05 p.m.

Dalektable says... #11

Funny, i just made a Mono Black Vampire deck last night. Here's the deck list i came up with

deck chart

Dracula's Dinner Party Playtest

Modern Dalektable

SCORE: 0 | 0 COMMENTS | 9 VIEWS

I've done a small amount of testing and for what it is it works well. If anyone would like to help or playtest this i wouldn't be opposed to that either.

March 1, 2014 5:56 p.m.

This discussion has been closed