Been messing with this deck, it performs pretty decent. I think that the strength that vampires has over other tribal decks is that it can bounce back from disruption pretty easily. Kolaghan's Command and Liliana, the Last Hope help get stuff back from the graveyard, Sorin puts tokens out consistently, and Vampire Nocturnus can just make so much power out of nowhere. Thoughts on the list?
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It's flavor-tastic
Sig made by Tiiratore. PM him if you want one.
Disappointing avatar made by Mirror Entity at Disappointing Signets Inc.
My Decks:
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
I still like the idea of B/W control. Here's a new deck along the same lines as I mentioned previously on this page. We play all of the best spot removal and discard B/W has to offer. A small madness package and Dark Confidant alongside Smuggler's Copter rounds it out. Tithe drinker is a forgotten options from magic days gone by. I think it could work here with all of the card filtering and 1 cost spells.
The deck is crammed full of the best cards from b/w. I think our problem in deck construction is looking for vampire synergy first, rather than playing the best cards the colors have to offer first. This build remedies that mindset, and fills in the remaining slots with good vampire synergy. Also note that this deck really keeps confidant playable through life gain, low cmc and a relatively easy mana base. The fact that confidant can crew copter only makes hi that much better.
This deck can answer just about anything in the meta in some way or another to the best of my limited knowledge. Anguished unmaking and more discard could be in the sideboard for really troublesome permanents.
Seems we all agree Legion Lieutenant is the reason to start brewing with vamps. again. Interesting brews y'all! The sorin's both look interesting. With white in our deck, we can start to play a better mid/late game via path to exile. This might allow us to make better use of 4 cost spells without dying before we can play them.
I wrote an article on the state of vampires in Modern. I’m thinking Mardu Vampires (with a low curve and a smaller splash for white) is the way to go in the future.
Interesting read though I disagree with some of your assesments.
Bloodghast is probably the single best vampire ever printed so not playing it is just wrong, especially with Viscera Seer and Blood Artist/Kalastria Highborn (which I don't really like in a tribal deck as compared to an aristocrats build).
An interaction that you haven't mentioned is Stromkirk Condemned with Falkenrath Gorger on the board to essentially give all your vampires "flash" (once a turn). Stromkirk Condemned is also fairly effective as a pseudo-lord and turns dead cards (like extra Vials) into pump spells.
When a new deck becomes a tier 1/2? what does it needs to archive in order to get there?
Any forum has a sticky closed thread at the top of the forum that describes the qualifications necessary to be in that forum. Check out tier 2 modern. We might be able to make it there at least!
First of all, Unclaimed territory is an incredible card, definitely needed in a Mardu build if Cavern of Souls is out of the $ range. I could even see one of these alongside 4 cavern of souls in the right build.
I really like this build. I agree with dropping Vampire Nocturnus due to legion's lieutenant and stromkirk captain.
There are some things I'd like to point out in a Mardu build this deck covers nicely. Gifted Aetherborn is already a great card that only gets better with a two cost lord. It trades with tarmogoyf, death's shadow and many others. With legion's lieutenant and stromkirk captain, and stromkirk condemned, we can put this guy out of lightning bolt range. I think this card may become an auto include in a lord deck.
Bloodghast becomes much better with a two cost lord. A 3/2 or 4/3 haste when an opponent is at 10 life or less is much more significant than the 2/1 we were used to without an extra lord. He's fine on his own, but being able to discard him for value makes it incredible. It's so good, that it's worth building the deck around to accommodate.
Stromkirk condemned can fill our lord gap when we don't draw lieutenant or captain on time. Getting a free blooghast play on turn 3 is something that can help make this deck more aggro and this guy does it. The ability to pump the team for a win at the end is not to be overlooked.
All of the 1 drop vampires just got better in my opinion. Falkenrath gorger also shines as a 2/1 for 1 plus card advantage later in a madness build. Also good with Stromkirk condemned.
I only have 1 copy of Aether vial, otherwise this deck may have been constructed differently. Regardless, Smuggler's Copter is something we should all be looking at. Our vamps lack evasion, card draw, and decent graveyard value outlets. This fills all the roles.
Legion's lieutenant seems to have a cascading effect of awesomeness upon the deck. It makes our 1 drop creatures better, and we have more of them than ever before. Having more one drops makes Smuggler's copter even more effective, and it was already good. Having a solid 2 drop lord makes stromkirk noble a better card as we can start to have a more reliable aggro strategy.
I think we should be considering Zealous persecution heavily, at least for the sideboard. This is like a one time lord effect with removal attached in the right circumstance. Again, this card gets better with an aggro plan.
Other cards worth looking at again are Olivia's Bloodsworn, Urge to feed and Claim // Fame. These cards all get better with more vamps. and lower cmc on average. Even Insolent Neonate and all other evasive vamps are better with a two cost lord.
Anyway, here's my Mardu aggro take inspired by Dennis's list
Without thinking about it too much, I'd say your top end of the mana curve is a bit heavy for 20 lands and no card draw. Bontu's doesn't look good enough. It's a bad top deck and basically no cards in modern can be a bad top deck. I agree with 4 Push and 3-4 Path to exile. Doesn't look like you have much madness stuff to discard to collective brutality. You certainly shouldn't be discarding lands to it considering the curve. That might be a bit out of place.
It seems like your list goes more controlling than other vampire lists. I made a couple of b/w control vampire mock ups in this and the last page or two. Check those out for inspiration. If you do try a more controlling route, play some inquisition of kozilek and thoughtseize. Even 1 or 2 of those mb are good in an aggro list.
I appreciate the effort with Oathsworn vampire. I think there could be some kind of crazy madness/recursion/lifelink theme to be found between it and Bloodghast. Gifted aetherborn is already an amazing card for lifelink. I agree with vampire cutthroat being a decent choice. Even if it has 2 power from a lord, that can be enough to be evasive.
I feel like it's almost criminal to play without Vampire Nocturnus, with him you can go from a pretty underwhelming board state and suddenly you have lethal. It DOES mean you have to change the way you build you deck some, but I'm not really sure how many non-black cards you want to play anyways tbh. Dusk Legion Zealot is a great addition to the deck. Vampire Lacerator is another card that almost seems like an essential. He comes down the first turn, and can sometimes start swinging in for three damage on turn two.
Here's my current list, having a lot of success in testing.
3 color is hard for me to evaluate in modern. You could check out DesolatorMagic's youtube channel. He's got a video on how to use an online hyper-geometric calculator to determine how much many you will need to play. Maybe even a search for hypergeometric magic will pull you up other videos.
I'd work on lowering your mana curve. I'd ditch underworld connections, it's too slow. Sign in blood if you want card draw. Start putting in modern format staples for removal like Fatal Push, Inquisition of Kozilek, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize. You'll also want to get fetchlands and shocklands.
If you want a fun casual deck, the above doesn't matter. If you want to be somewhat viable against competitive modern decks you'll have to get those staples. You can't have lands that come into play tapped. I'd look at the past decklists for more inspiration. Lowering the mana curve is something you can do even if it is just a super casual deck.
Modern is a crazy format, that deck is too underpowered even for LGS modern play. Modern is a format where people strive to win on turn 4.
Well I got some more exposure with this deck and it worked surprisingly well. One card that essentially single-handedly shut me down was spreading seas
My first game thoughtseize grabbed master of waves instead of the spreading seas because I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. But with 21 lands I typically see 3 to 4 lands max in a game.
That game I got "spread" both turn 2 and 3 essentially dropping me down to a single land. Needless to say the merfolk had no trouble walking right over me in that situation. With this deck if the land doesn't produce a black it might as well not even be there.
So I went shopping for enchantment destruction since I didn't want to look at land destruction. Not only would it take away from my black availability but it would likely drop me by two lands to kill my own. I came up with the following options.
I think the last one will likely be the best choice as I would be able to kill an enchantment or an artifact or both if it came down to it. Considering dropping my surgical extraction leaving me empty vs graveyard decks but I didn't see any of those at my shop last week.
Hey guys, been following for a little bit and wanted to take the list below for a spin at my LGS last night. Definitely not a great run, but I figured I'd share anyway.
Round one I lost 1-2 to amulet Titan. Game 1 was was pretty uneventful as he just had a T3 kill. T2 engineer e explosives put in work on setting me back with all my 2 drops. Game 2 I brought in the dismember, and thoughtsieze s and took out the both copters and 1 nocturnous. We got there shortly after. Game 3 I stripped his walking ballista and then died to a very timely Titan afterwards. Didn't see gifted aetherborn at all, which wa rough.
Match 2 was a dude on mono black vampires, won the match 2-1. Was a good round and lots of back and forth. He had 4 gatekeepers and disfigures. Much more interactive than me. I got there off lords while at one life for exactsies in the last game.
Round 3 was storm, and I lost 1-2. He won the die roll and got me one the turn before lethal game 1. Game 2 he kept a one lander and promptly lost to T1 vial into t2 double thoughtsieze. Game 3 I died on turn 3 lol.
Match 4 I crushed the bye.
So al in all pretty lack luster. I thought I'd see lots of bloodbraid elf, Jace and goyf. They were there, I just got the combo half of the room trying to go under Jace. Aetherborn lines up very well vs goyf, captain lines up well vs the elf, and the vial helps vs control. I think if I played those decks it would have been a better night. Was a fun experiment.
Most busted line I took was T1 vial, turn 2 condemned pass and vial in gorger on opponents eot, T3 vial in condemned pitch bloodghast to condemned a to pump then land drop trigger bloodghast pitch a captain to condemned b and madness it in, bash for 10 first strike damage T3. Was the nut 9, but felt great.
Any reason you don't play Bolts ?
I find that having the early game interaction and late game reach very important for the deck.
I'd trimm on cards like Gatekeeper of Malakir and Kalastria Highborn to fit it in.
How has Asylum Visitor been for you ?
I used to play it in the deck but it has never drew me any cards and died quickly so I replaced it with Gifted Aetherborn and more interaction and haven't gone back to it ever since.
Lliliana is a very powerful card but doesn't seem to fit the deck (especailly with only 19x lands and no real card draw).
I didn't miss bolt honestly. It felt so so when I was testing and wouldn't have done much to protect me from the cards I was targeting (except BBE after it resolves). In the matches I played it wouldn't have done me much good anyway. This is a very small sample run though, so if I see more things like counters company then it's probably right.
Between the copters looting and the 4 visitors I was able to smooth out my draws for lili. Nocturnous felt worse, but the effect is powerful enough to chance it. I cast most of my nocturnouses off vials anyway.
I wanted lili as a catch all card to switch between combo and removing larger threats without just bricking g1. I was happy to see her in everything but storm because I was just straight dead on his T3 on the play. Even if I had removal for the reducer, he had a second in hand.
I found a new card that is really underappreciated for vampires Adanto Vanguard Swings for 3 minimum and can be made indestructible by paying life. Seriously a very very good threat that helps a ton with the aggro tempo of my deck. Also decided to main-deck the Gifted Aetherborn since I typically sided them in every chance I could anyway.
Lastly ignore the Leylines and gravestone in the sideboard. I do not currently have the surgical extraction that I would like to have in their place.
I found a new card that is really underappreciated for vampires Adanto Vanguard Swings for 3 minimum and can be made indestructible by paying life. Seriously a very very good threat that helps a ton with the aggro tempo of my deck. Also decided to main-deck the Gifted Aetherborn since I typically sided them in every chance I could anyway.
Lastly ignore the Leylines and gravestone in the sideboard. I do not currently have the surgical extraction that I would like to have in their place.
[quote from="squeaks5635 »" url="/forums/the-game/modern/deck-creation-modern/221659-br-vampires?comment=697"]
Is Magma Jet really better than fatal Push, Path to exile, or Lightning Bolt as a removal spot?
It is not in there so much as a removal spell as it is for the scry, especially since i took out the viscera seer and kalastria highborn
I already have 8 removal main-deck with gatekeeper, both thoughtseize and magma jet fill out a different purpose which is why i main-deck 2 of each. I considered sign in blood as you can target your opponent for the final two damage, but to have an INSTANT with both removal and draw adjustment I found it gave a much better position. You can see in the sideboard i round out to a 4 of for each bolt and discard and bump path to 3 to be adjusted for whichever is most effective. Again why surgical extraction should be in there because depending on opponent it may be better than any removal especially on spell combo decks. I would like to consider main-deck a surgical extraction instead of one of the main magma jet.
You really shouldn't need too much more creature specific removal especially since captain giving first strike could also be considered removal, the same with the indestructibility of 8 of your creatures.
Biggest threats are to the manabase, or artifacts and enchantments that lock you down.
Has anyone tried playing Vampires as a slightly more midrange deck taking advantage of cards like Blood Baron of Vizkopa, Champion of Dusk or the sorin planeswalkers sorin, solemn visitor and Sorin, Lord of Innistrad. They fill up the board themselves, but I guess the issue with them is that they do too little too late. The deck is slower than other aggro decks already without interuption. I'm just finding that while the lords are great, it's very hard to keep them alive. I wondered if upping the disruption and the curve a little for power might help with that. After turn 3 cards like Vampire cutthroat and Vampire lacerator are basically dead cards unless you're playing against a creatureless deck with no answers in hand. Love to know any vampire veterans' thoughts.
Is this a list that you've played yourself? I'm surprised you wouldn't have bloodghasts in there especially with all the discard effects. I'm not really sold on the Haakon, Stromgald Scourge strategy. I don't think recursion that you have to pay for every time is really what the deck needs.
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2 Viscera Seer
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Legion Lieutenant
2 Vampire Nocturnus
Land
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
2 Blood Crypt
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Isolated Chapel
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Fatal Push
Sorcery
3 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
Planeswalker
3 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Damnation
1 Slaughter Games
1 Thoughtseize
Been messing with this deck, it performs pretty decent. I think that the strength that vampires has over other tribal decks is that it can bounce back from disruption pretty easily. Kolaghan's Command and Liliana, the Last Hope help get stuff back from the graveyard, Sorin puts tokens out consistently, and Vampire Nocturnus can just make so much power out of nowhere. Thoughts on the list?
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Legacy:
(paper)The Gate
(paper)Dream Halls
The deck is crammed full of the best cards from b/w. I think our problem in deck construction is looking for vampire synergy first, rather than playing the best cards the colors have to offer first. This build remedies that mindset, and fills in the remaining slots with good vampire synergy. Also note that this deck really keeps confidant playable through life gain, low cmc and a relatively easy mana base. The fact that confidant can crew copter only makes hi that much better.
This deck can answer just about anything in the meta in some way or another to the best of my limited knowledge. Anguished unmaking and more discard could be in the sideboard for really troublesome permanents.
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Legion Lieutenant
2x Tithe Drinker
4x Bloodghast
3x Asylum Visitor
4x Dark confidant
4x Smuggler's Copter
4x Inquisition of Kozilek
1x Thoughtseize
1x Collective Brutality
1x Liliana of the Veil
4x Fatal Push
3x Path to Exile
2x Godless Shrine
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
4x Isolated Chapel
1x Urborg Tomb of Yawgmoth
6x Swamp
Unfortunately, I'm in a brew only state right now. Not much modern to be had around here. I'll try to rustle up some games soon
4x Falkenrath Gorger
4x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Bloodghast
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Stromkirk Condemned
4x Legion Lieutenant
4x Stromkirk Captain
Instant (7)
4x Lightning Bolt
3x Fatal Push
4x Aether Vial
Land (21)
4x Cavern of Souls
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Marsh Flats
2x Blood Crypt
2x Godless Shrine
1x Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2x Swamp
1x Mountain
1x Plains
2x Stony Silence
1x Kambal, Consul of Allocation
2x Path to Exile
2x Nihil Spellbomb
2x Wear // Tear
2x Inquisition of Kozilek
4x Thoughtseize
#I've basically tweaked my previous BR version by replacing 2x Vampire Nocturnus and 2x Captivating Vampire with Legion Lieutenant and also Vampire Lacerator with Skymarcher Aspirant (saves some life and might get flying in rare occasions, but blocks worse especially with a lord out).
#In the 2-drop slot besides the obvious options like: Bloodghast and Legion Lieutenant I went with Stromkirk Condemned (pseudo-lord) and Gifted Aetherborn leaving out Asylum Visitor which might be a good option as well especially for the card draw.
Here's a new w/b vampire build youtube video with game play. Looks decent. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ9UUbTITuc
Hope this helps!
http://sylvanstudies.com/2018/01/08/mardu-vampires-in-modern-rivals-of-ixalan-spoilers/
Bloodghast is probably the single best vampire ever printed so not playing it is just wrong, especially with Viscera Seer and Blood Artist/Kalastria Highborn (which I don't really like in a tribal deck as compared to an aristocrats build).
Paladin of Atonement (good synergy with Vampire Lacerator) is too cute/slow to be really effective as a weak (reverse) Ajani's Pridemate.
Bloodghast and Gifted Aetherborn are better 2-drops for vampires (and Asylum Visitor too) imho.
I also consider cards like Liliana of the Veil and Kolaghan's Command too slow for the maindeck and prefer Fatal Push to Terminate
(or Path to Exile in the SB).
I think that vampires should play the full 8x aggro 1-drops be it:
Vampire Lacerator, Falkenrath Gorger, Skymarcher Aspirant or Vicious Conquistador.
Playing 12x can also be an option to help turn on Captivating Vampire's ability and make him a more viable option for the deck.
An interaction that you haven't mentioned is Stromkirk Condemned with Falkenrath Gorger on the board to essentially give all your vampires "flash" (once a turn).
Stromkirk Condemned is also fairly effective as a pseudo-lord and turns dead cards (like extra Vials) into pump spells.
http://modernnexus.com/army-of-the-night-brewing-vampire-tribal/
Personnaly, I want to play a Mardu version but still based on Vampire Nocturnus.
3 Swamp
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Blood Crypt
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cavern of Souls
1 Concealed Courtyard
1 Godless Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
2 Mutavault
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
Creatures
3 Viscera Seer
4 Asylum Visitor
4 Dusk Legion Zealot
4 Bloodghast
2 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Legion Lieutenant
2 Captivating Vampire
4 Stromkirk Captain
3 Vampire Nocturnus
4 Aether Vial
Instants
3 Fatal Push
3 Terminate
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
2 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Rest in Peace
2 Stony Silence
1 Wear / Tear
4 Thoughtseize
2 Collective Brutality
1 Crumble to Dust
Just wondering about Viscera Seer instead of Vampire Lacerator or Vicious Conquistador in an agressive build like this one ?
Any thoughts ?
Gus
Any forum has a sticky closed thread at the top of the forum that describes the qualifications necessary to be in that forum. Check out tier 2 modern. We might be able to make it there at least!
There are some things I'd like to point out in a Mardu build this deck covers nicely.
Gifted Aetherborn is already a great card that only gets better with a two cost lord. It trades with tarmogoyf, death's shadow and many others. With legion's lieutenant and stromkirk captain, and stromkirk condemned, we can put this guy out of lightning bolt range. I think this card may become an auto include in a lord deck.
Bloodghast becomes much better with a two cost lord. A 3/2 or 4/3 haste when an opponent is at 10 life or less is much more significant than the 2/1 we were used to without an extra lord. He's fine on his own, but being able to discard him for value makes it incredible. It's so good, that it's worth building the deck around to accommodate.
Stromkirk condemned can fill our lord gap when we don't draw lieutenant or captain on time. Getting a free blooghast play on turn 3 is something that can help make this deck more aggro and this guy does it. The ability to pump the team for a win at the end is not to be overlooked.
All of the 1 drop vampires just got better in my opinion. Falkenrath gorger also shines as a 2/1 for 1 plus card advantage later in a madness build. Also good with Stromkirk condemned.
I only have 1 copy of Aether vial, otherwise this deck may have been constructed differently. Regardless, Smuggler's Copter is something we should all be looking at. Our vamps lack evasion, card draw, and decent graveyard value outlets. This fills all the roles.
Legion's lieutenant seems to have a cascading effect of awesomeness upon the deck. It makes our 1 drop creatures better, and we have more of them than ever before. Having more one drops makes Smuggler's copter even more effective, and it was already good. Having a solid 2 drop lord makes stromkirk noble a better card as we can start to have a more reliable aggro strategy.
I think we should be considering Zealous persecution heavily, at least for the sideboard. This is like a one time lord effect with removal attached in the right circumstance. Again, this card gets better with an aggro plan.
Other cards worth looking at again are Olivia's Bloodsworn, Urge to feed and Claim // Fame. These cards all get better with more vamps. and lower cmc on average. Even Insolent Neonate and all other evasive vamps are better with a two cost lord.
Anyway, here's my Mardu aggro take inspired by Dennis's list
2x Vampire Lacerator
2x Vampire Cutthroat
2x Skymarcher Aspirant
4x Falkenrath gorger
4x Bloodghast
4x Gifted Aetherborn
4x Legion Lieutenant
3x Stromkirk Condemned
3x Stromkirk Captain
3x Smuggler's Copter
1x Aether vial
1x Collective Brutality
3x Lightning Bolt
3x Fatal Push
Land 21
4x Unclaimed Territory
4x Bloodstained Mire
4x Polluted Delta
2x blackcleave cliffs
2x Blood Crypt
1x Godless Shrine
2x concealed courtyard
2x Swamp
It seems like your list goes more controlling than other vampire lists. I made a couple of b/w control vampire mock ups in this and the last page or two. Check those out for inspiration. If you do try a more controlling route, play some inquisition of kozilek and thoughtseize. Even 1 or 2 of those mb are good in an aggro list.
Remember that path to exile doesn't activate Kalitas. I'm not sure kalitas belongs. I'd rather have captivating vampire or Kalastria highborn.
I appreciate the effort with Oathsworn vampire. I think there could be some kind of crazy madness/recursion/lifelink theme to be found between it and Bloodghast. Gifted aetherborn is already an amazing card for lifelink. I agree with vampire cutthroat being a decent choice. Even if it has 2 power from a lord, that can be enough to be evasive.
Here's my current list, having a lot of success in testing.
4 Dusk Legion Zealot
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Legion Lieutenant
2 Vampire Nocturnus
Land
1 Mountain
1 Plains
3 Swamp
1 Godless Shrine
2 Blood Crypt
2 Dragonskull Summit
4 Marsh Flats
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Isolated Chapel
3 Cavern of Souls
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Terminate
2 Kolaghan's Command
1 Anguished Unmaking
2 Fatal Push
Sorcery
2 Thoughtseize
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Collective Brutality
Planeswalker
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Liliana, the Last Hope
2 Fulminator Mage
2 Vampire Nighthawk
2 Kambal, Consul of Allocation
4 Leyline of the Void
1 Rakdos Charm
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Damnation
1 Slaughter Games
1 Thoughtseize
I'm kind of wondering if I could afford to go down to 22 lands, what do you guys think?
Modern:
(online)Enduring Ideal
(online)BUG
(paper)Mono White Control
Standard:
(paper) Whatever I can throw together
(online) UWR Control
Legacy:
(paper)The Gate
(paper)Dream Halls
3 Guul Draz Assassin
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Bloodline Keeper
2 Vampire Nocturnus
2 Olivia Voldaren
Enchantment
2 Underworld Connections
Land
4 Graven Cairns
3 Caves of Koilos
4 Nomad Outpost
2 Vault of the Archangel
7 Swamp
3 Blade of the Bloodchief
Instant
2 Sudden Spoiling
3 Go for the Throat
3 Tragic Slip
4 Terminate
Planeswalker
2 Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
2 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sudden Spoiling
3 Rakdos Charm
3 Apostle's Blessing
3 Slaughter Games
Also found that including even 1 basic other than swamp is a bad idea. Blood Moon doesn't really hurt after fetching the two swamps
the Lavaclaw Reaches have only been good on occasion and I will likely swap them out for 2 more Cavern of Souls
Appears to be light on non-creature spells but Gatekeeper of Malakir is really both, so that brings my non-creature spell count to 12
4 Vampire Lacerator
3 Viscera Seer
4 Kalastria Highborn
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Legion Lieutenant
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
Instants - 6
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Jet
1 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
Lands - 21
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
2 Cavern of Souls
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Godless Shrine
2 Lavaclaw Reaches
3 Marsh Flats
1 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
3 Gifted Aetherborn
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Jet
2 Path to Exile
2 Shattering Spree
3 Surgical Extraction
I'd work on lowering your mana curve. I'd ditch underworld connections, it's too slow. Sign in blood if you want card draw. Start putting in modern format staples for removal like Fatal Push, Inquisition of Kozilek, Lightning Bolt, Thoughtseize. You'll also want to get fetchlands and shocklands.
If you want a fun casual deck, the above doesn't matter. If you want to be somewhat viable against competitive modern decks you'll have to get those staples. You can't have lands that come into play tapped. I'd look at the past decklists for more inspiration. Lowering the mana curve is something you can do even if it is just a super casual deck.
Modern is a crazy format, that deck is too underpowered even for LGS modern play. Modern is a format where people strive to win on turn 4.
My first game thoughtseize grabbed master of waves instead of the spreading seas because I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. But with 21 lands I typically see 3 to 4 lands max in a game.
Went in to game two and I should have sided in the inquisition of kozilek but I didn't.
That game I got "spread" both turn 2 and 3 essentially dropping me down to a single land. Needless to say the merfolk had no trouble walking right over me in that situation. With this deck if the land doesn't produce a black it might as well not even be there.
So I went shopping for enchantment destruction since I didn't want to look at land destruction. Not only would it take away from my black availability but it would likely drop me by two lands to kill my own. I came up with the following options.
echoing calm
leave no trace
wear // tear
I think the last one will likely be the best choice as I would be able to kill an enchantment or an artifact or both if it came down to it. Considering dropping my surgical extraction leaving me empty vs graveyard decks but I didn't see any of those at my shop last week.
gifted aetherborn were a great swap for viscera seer against both red and aggro decks.
3 graven cairns
4 bloodstained mire
2 blood crypt
6 swamps
1 urborg, tomb of yawgmoth
4 falkemrath gorger
4 gifted aetherborn
4 bloodghast
4 stormkirk condemned
4 asylum visitor
2 kalastria highborne
2 gatekeeper of malakir
4 stormkirk captain
2 vampire nocturnous
1 fatal push
4 aether vial
2 smugglers copter
2 liliana of the veil
2 leyline of the void
2 thoughtsieze
2 inquisition of kozilek
2 liliana, the last hope
1 dismember
1 falkenrath aristocrat
1 liliana of the veil
2 kolaghan's command
2 alms of the vein
Round one I lost 1-2 to amulet Titan. Game 1 was was pretty uneventful as he just had a T3 kill. T2 engineer e explosives put in work on setting me back with all my 2 drops. Game 2 I brought in the dismember, and thoughtsieze s and took out the both copters and 1 nocturnous. We got there shortly after. Game 3 I stripped his walking ballista and then died to a very timely Titan afterwards. Didn't see gifted aetherborn at all, which wa rough.
Match 2 was a dude on mono black vampires, won the match 2-1. Was a good round and lots of back and forth. He had 4 gatekeepers and disfigures. Much more interactive than me. I got there off lords while at one life for exactsies in the last game.
Round 3 was storm, and I lost 1-2. He won the die roll and got me one the turn before lethal game 1. Game 2 he kept a one lander and promptly lost to T1 vial into t2 double thoughtsieze. Game 3 I died on turn 3 lol.
Match 4 I crushed the bye.
So al in all pretty lack luster. I thought I'd see lots of bloodbraid elf, Jace and goyf. They were there, I just got the combo half of the room trying to go under Jace. Aetherborn lines up very well vs goyf, captain lines up well vs the elf, and the vial helps vs control. I think if I played those decks it would have been a better night. Was a fun experiment.
Most busted line I took was T1 vial, turn 2 condemned pass and vial in gorger on opponents eot, T3 vial in condemned pitch bloodghast to condemned a to pump then land drop trigger bloodghast pitch a captain to condemned b and madness it in, bash for 10 first strike damage T3. Was the nut 9, but felt great.
I find that having the early game interaction and late game reach very important for the deck.
I'd trimm on cards like Gatekeeper of Malakir and Kalastria Highborn to fit it in.
How has Asylum Visitor been for you ?
I used to play it in the deck but it has never drew me any cards and died quickly so I replaced it with Gifted Aetherborn and more interaction and haven't gone back to it ever since.
Lliliana is a very powerful card but doesn't seem to fit the deck (especailly with only 19x lands and no real card draw).
Between the copters looting and the 4 visitors I was able to smooth out my draws for lili. Nocturnous felt worse, but the effect is powerful enough to chance it. I cast most of my nocturnouses off vials anyway.
I wanted lili as a catch all card to switch between combo and removing larger threats without just bricking g1. I was happy to see her in everything but storm because I was just straight dead on his T3 on the play. Even if I had removal for the reducer, he had a second in hand.
3 Vampire Lacerator
4 Adanto Vanguard
4 Gifted Aetherborn
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Legion Lieutenant
4 Stromkirk Captain
4 Falkenrath Aristocrat
Instants - 6
3 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Jet
1 Path to Exile
2 Thoughtseize
Lands - 21
3 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Blood Crypt
2 Bloodstained Mire
4 Cavern of Souls
2 Dragonskull Summit
2 Godless Shrine
2 Marsh Flats
2 Polluted Delta
2 Swamp
3 Wear // Tear
2 Inquisition of Kozilek
1 Lightning Bolt
2 Magma Jet
2 Path to Exile
2 Shattering Spree
1 Silent Gravestone
1 Leyline of the Void
1 Leyline of Sanctity
I found a new card that is really underappreciated for vampires Adanto Vanguard Swings for 3 minimum and can be made indestructible by paying life. Seriously a very very good threat that helps a ton with the aggro tempo of my deck. Also decided to main-deck the Gifted Aetherborn since I typically sided them in every chance I could anyway.
Lastly ignore the Leylines and gravestone in the sideboard. I do not currently have the surgical extraction that I would like to have in their place.
Is Magma Jet really better than fatal Push, Path to exile, or Lightning Bolt as a removal spot?
It is not in there so much as a removal spell as it is for the scry, especially since i took out the viscera seer and kalastria highborn
I already have 8 removal main-deck with gatekeeper, both thoughtseize and magma jet fill out a different purpose which is why i main-deck 2 of each. I considered sign in blood as you can target your opponent for the final two damage, but to have an INSTANT with both removal and draw adjustment I found it gave a much better position. You can see in the sideboard i round out to a 4 of for each bolt and discard and bump path to 3 to be adjusted for whichever is most effective. Again why surgical extraction should be in there because depending on opponent it may be better than any removal especially on spell combo decks. I would like to consider main-deck a surgical extraction instead of one of the main magma jet.
You really shouldn't need too much more creature specific removal especially since captain giving first strike could also be considered removal, the same with the indestructibility of 8 of your creatures.
Biggest threats are to the manabase, or artifacts and enchantments that lock you down.