It is not that really obvious that I am a fan of the Vampires deck as that tribe has given me my first Professional point in GP Singapore way back in 2011. I was happy to see them as a tribe and deck archetype in Ixalan, and even created possible builds. The printing of Goblin Chainwhirler, however, has completely blocked most of the 1-toughness creatures of this deck. Hence, it was forced to lie low in the Standard metagame in the past few months.

On this coming Guilds of Ravnica, I was hoping for the deck’s comeback even with Orzhov still to be released in January 2019 and so I have came up with the possible deck build with only utilizing the Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan cards in the creatures and spells lineup.

Here it is below.

Creatures
1 Bishop of Binding
4 Forerunner of the Legion
3 Dusk Legion Zealot
2 Duskborne Skymarcher
1 Bishop of the Bloodstained
3 Adanto Vanguard
3 Champion of Dusk
3 Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
4 Legion Lieutenant

Spells
3 Legion’s Landing/Adanto, the First Fort
4 Radiant Destiny
3 Vraska’s Contempt
4 Call to the Feast

Total Non-land Cards: 38
Lands: 22

They would still probably use the dual land Isolated Chapel and the tribal Unclaimed Territory for mana fixing. I have yet to wait for Godless Shrine in January so I might set aside this deck for now. Given if Dimir will have some Vampires in their guild, I might consider splashing Blue to access their colors. We will see once the full Guilds of Ravnica spoiler is out.

That is a wrap. Until the next blog post.

The complete Rivals of Ixalan is up at the mothership site and I was able to browse through the new cards and on the possible new deck archetypes to be created, not to mention deck upgrades of the current tribal in the set. I have mentioned before that Merfolks is going to be a thing in Standard with the completing card components here in RIX and now I am looking at a possible Black White Vampires build for the tribe.

The notable Vampires from the set are as follows:

White
Bishop of Binding
Famished Paladin
Forerunner of the Legion
Martyr of Dusk
Paladin of Atonement
Skymarcher Aspirant

Black
Oathsworn Vampire
Champion of Dusk

Multicolor
Elenda, the Dusk Rose
Legion Lieutenant

Spells
Radiant Destiny
Arterial Flow
Baffling End

Non-Vampire notables
Dire Fleet Poisoner
Ravenous Chupacabra

As based on the previous Ixalan set, Black and White are the primary colors of the tribe and that also Lifelink is the common ability.

Legion Lieutenant and Radiant Destiny will be your anthem effects to get you to deal more damage on your curve. I am noting at least twelve one-drops in the decklist.

Champion of Dusk is already a solid 4/4 for five, plus the card draw etb effect is a bonus to replenish your hand after your first wave of Vampires. I do also take note of Elenda, the Dusk Rose, but with 1/1 for four mana, I do not think she will fit in the slot as there better and more aggressive four-drop Vampires available.

With those in mind, here is my first version of the deck B/W Vampires for Standard:

Creatures
3 Adanto Vanguard
2 Champion of Dusk
2 Duskborne Skymarcher
2 Forerunner of the Legion
3 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Legion Lieutenant
3 Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
4 Sanctum Seeker
4 Skymarcher Aspirant
4 Vicious Conquistador
1 Yahenni, Undying Partisan

Spells
2 Legion’s Landing
3 Radiant Destiny

Lands
4 Unclaimed Territory
4 Concealed Courtyard
2 Forsaken Sanctuary
2 Shefet Dunes
1 Ifnir Deadlands
4 Plains
6 Swamp

It is the first week of Eldritch Moon card previews and for tonight, (in PH time) we have a preview from the mothership website is a Vampire which I think will fit in today’s title for this blog post. The card is named Bloodhall Priest. Here it is below:

It looks like a regular 4-drop 4/4 creature and does not even have evasion like Flying and the trigger works only on Hellbent or no cards in your hand. While I am not really a fan of having no hands in Magic matches, I think her ability will work well with certain cards in the format.

My initial build for this is obviously, Black-Red Vampires that abuses the Madness ability. My reference was my Standard Pauper matchup last Sunday wherein I faced a Black-Red Madness deck. It looked consistent with gas cards like Tormenting Voice as well as other spot removals like Fiery Temper.

My aim now is to build a Standard version of the deck. The initial list will include cards like these:

Black
Asylum Visitor
Call the Bloodline
Heir of Falkenrath
Macabre Waltz
Murderous Compulsion
Pale Rider of Trostad

Red
Fiery Temper
Incorrigible Youths
Bloodmad Vampire
Falkenrath Gorger

I will come up with a version one of the deck once the Eldritch Moon spoiler is complete. That is a wrap for now. Until the next blog post.

It is pretty obvious that the Vampire deck archetype will have a comeback in Standard in Shadows over Innistrad. As a tribute, I am recalling and sharing the decklist that I loved which gave me my first professional point in Magic in my first-ever Grand Prix

tournament. The event was GP Singapore way back in June 2011 and I finished in 54th place out of the 600+ participants.

Here is the BR Vampires that I played:

Maindeck
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Vampire Lacerator
3 Pulse Tracker
2 Viscera Seer
2 Hero of Oxid Ridge
2 Manic Vandal

2 Arc Trail
4 Go for the Throat
4 Lightning Bolt
1 Dismember
1 Dark Tutelage

4 Blackcleave Cliffs
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs
6 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Manic Vandal
1 Arc Trail
1 Dark Tutelage
1 Dismember
2 Act of Aggression
1 Batterskull
1 Doom Blade
4 Duress
2 Skinrender
1 Shatter

The GP Singapore 2011 Coverage can be found here.

I am looking forward to play this archetype again in Shadows over Innistrad Standard with the new creatures and spells to utilize. I can already foresee the look of the deck given the card spoilers that I have checked. Speaking of which, I think the full SOI card spoiler is already out so I might check that one in detail and come up with a draft decklist so stay tuned for that one.

That is about it for this Flashback Friday post. Until the next one and thanks for reading.

While thinking of a deck feature for the week, I was browsing through some old pics on my personal computer and came upon the Magic days’ album in the past years. As I browsed through the pics, I saw a screenshot of a deck list. The list was the BR Vampires which I played in Grand Prix Singapore 2011. I then remembered that Vampire Nocturnus was reprinted and decided to check on probable Vampires to include in the Standard version of the deck.

Falkenrath Aristocrat, Stromkirk Noble & Vampire Nighthawk are good inclusions in the deck, and I also considered Stromkirk Captain as the other critter anthem. Here is the list I’ve came up with:

Lands
4 Blood Crypt
4 Cavern of Souls
4 Dragonskull Summit
3 Godless Shrine
1 Rakdos Guildgate
8 Swamp

Creatures
1 Bloodline Keeper/Lord of Lineage
2 Blood Artist
3 Falkenrath Aristocrat
1 Olivia Voldaren
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Stromkirk Noble
4 Vampire Interloper
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus

Spells
2 Dreadbore
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Tragic Slip
1 Undying Evil
2 Victim of Night

Note that this is again an untested list as I am trying to balance the mana curve of the creature spells given the limited choice of critters. There are a few one-of for the four drops slot for varied purposes and I don’t want to clog most of creature spells there.

The two-drop count is only six with a set of Vampire Interloper and two of Blood Artist. Interloper is obviously subpar second turn drop but follow it up with the captain or Nocturnus and you get a fast clock flyer. Stromkirk Noble is the only one drop of the deck which can grow & provide early clock and also won’t be a bad top deck late game with the eight anthem critters.

I’ve packaged the best removals from the Rakdos colors and also based it from the current metagame. Dealing with Aristocrats (both on the BRW and Junk colors) is the major concern here. It is usually a race game but with Nighthawks you can assure that life will be at your favor. You just have to get a good timing on killing their relevant creatures, like preventing them to Reckoner-Act kill you. Tragic Slip is your trump for their Falkenrath Aristocrat and Pillar for the Voice.

The sideboard I’ve listed reinforce more on the Aristocrats matchup, but with a twist in which the Godless shrines will prove useful.

Sideboard
3 Blood Baron of Vizkopa
2 Curse of Death’s Hold
2 Devour Flesh
1 Dreadbore
3 Duress
2 Pillar of Flame
2 Tormod’s Crypt

Blood Baron of Vizkopa is your weapon of choice against midrange & control decks. This is mainly your added threat as you board out irrelevant critters that are weak to spot removal. The set of Cavern of Souls make sure that it hits the board on your fifth turn, which your opponent should answer with Supreme Verdict or sacrifice spells. Duress helps protect you from these removals.

As mentioned earlier, your support card versus Aristocrats is the Curse of Death’s Hold. Additional Dreadbore is for relevant creature threats and planeswalker shenanigans while Devour Flesh obviously is for Bant Hexproof. The two copies of Pillar of Flame are boarded either against Voice or for fast Red decks.

As for Reanimator, I only included Tormod’s Crypt for board as you can outpower them before they ramp into Angel of Serenity. Just make sure it’s always ‘full moon’ for the Nocturnus and you kill their relevant creature. Curse can also be boarded in if they utilize Lingering Souls.

That’s about it for the Vampires Return deck suggestion.

Until next time.

@zeichen95 on Twitter

Hi all, here is a recent update of our build on Mono Black Vampires in Standard. For your info, Vampires has done pretty well in the recent Magic: The Gathering Worlds championship. It finished undefeated (6-0) on Day 1 of that event despite being less popular with only 4 players piloting the deck.

The deck’s build varies mainly based on the meta. Well, we can say that today’s meta is still infested with variations of Jund which is still the best deck of choice. The deck will be adjusted to go anti to that. We’ve done a few playtests and tweaks to the list and here are my observations:

1. Mind Sludge on Turn 5 is mostly good game. It seems just every deck is devastated by this.

2. Evasion and life gain is very essential. This is achieved by your Nighthawks, Tendrils and Bloodwitch.

3. Malakir Bloodwitch is a bomb. Yeah well not that good in Jund but most decks with white, esp. Naya Lightsaber and Boros will literally have a bad time dealing with this vampire.

4. Mass removal should be in the sideboard. I’m referring to Marsh Casualties and Infest. The deck can control the post sideboard.

With these in mind, here’s our recent decklist for Mono Black Vampires:

Maindeck
3 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Hexmage
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Malakir Bloodwitch
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

2 Disfigure
3 Mind Sludge
4 Sign in Blood
4 Tendrils of Corruption

18 Swamp
4 Marsh Flats
2 Verdant Catacombs

Sideboard
4 Black Knight
4 Deathmark
2 Infest
2 Marsh Casualties
1 Mind Sludge
2 Rise from the Grave

We just have 6 fetches in order not to miss any land drops until turn 5 and to achieve an early sludge. The sideboard focused beating white and Naya decks with the set of Black Knights and Deathmarks. Also, Rise from the Grave is our twist which can be pretty good with Mind Sludge. I was thinking of fatties like Iona, Baneslayer, Sphinx of the Steel Wind, etc. Lol.

I hope this list inspires your build on the Mono Black Vampires. Until the next post if I ain’t busy.