I use him in my Mindshrieker deck. Not so much for getting him out there, as much as feeding the bird. With a discarded Jin, Noxious Revival, feed Mindshrieker, second Noxious, feed again and you have a 21/21 flying bird.
Other ideas, if I was to splash red, then Kessig Wolf Run is interesting. Often, your 15/15 Mindshriek just get blocked by a mana bird. That starts to be a lot of splashing though, I already run black, blue, green and white! Also, Fling would be quite good.
I've been experimenting with a new idea based on Mindshrieker. Mindshrieker is fantastic, except that it is a bit random. So, we need to take the random element out of it. We can do this by using Ponder. The first and second card that you put on top of your library is going to feed Mindshrieker.
So, turn 2, you cast Mindshrieker. Turn 3, ponder to put your highest mana-costing card on the second slot (Ponder also draws a card), shriek yourself, and attack for 1 + that cards mana cost.
Another good card with synergy is Noxious Revival. If you have a high-mana card in your graveyard, target it and then pump up Mindshrieker.
Obviously, you want high-mana costing spells to feed Mindshrieker, so why not go bananas? I've put in Jin-Gitaxias (cmc 10), Sheoldred (cmc 7), Rune-Scarred Demon (cmc 7). Also, Vengeful Pharaoh (cmc 5) has synergy since it bounces between graveyard and the top of your library. With Unburial Rights, you can cast creatures for cheap from the graveyard, and if you get Sheoldred out, then fetching other scary cards is easy.
While your opponent is busy with trying to answer your Mindshrieker, you need to focus on your other creatures. The shriek can net you the game, but I see it more like a distraction. The other creatures should be good ones to defend your board position.
The Satchel can be used too, since it reveals your top card. With Ponder, it is extra useful. Say you see two land cards and one card you need. Instead of shuffling your library, you take one, play it - open the Satchel and get two land drops, your turn.
Let me know what you think! It's a lot of fun playing this deck.
Well, it didn't lose to all the different types - I did win a few. It could have been the luck of the draw. If you get off to a flying start and control/combo can't find their pieces right, then this deck has a chance. Not that I disagree with you - the synergy between cards in the Elves deck is just scary... Compared to that, or even Merfolk - not quite up to snuff, as they say.
Oh, and Tarmogoyf? Really - that's just insane. Why not give us a vampire card that is automatically 1/2 on round 1, 2/3 on round 2, 3/4 on round 3 up to 5/6 on round 5 and onwards? For 1B. Because that's really what Tarm is (plus/minus). From a game design perspective, this card is just fundamentally broken.
I'm starting to think that Vampire Nocturnus is too situational, even in mono-black. Whenever you have a land on top of your library, all your land-based vampires will fall down and their lord is within Lightning Bolt range. If you plan on using him, you have to have access to scry. An obvious choice there is Magma Jet.
More than anything, in Modern - you will have to have good answers to Tarmogoyf. Leyline of the Void in the start combined with Bojuka Bog (targeting your own graveyard) brings them down to 0/1, and hilarities ensue! Unfortunately, there's a down-side to that. Since your vampiries will die often, you'd rather want to get them back using Disentomb.
We've only got two lords, Captivating Vampire and Vampire Nocturnus. Against other non-blacks, I side-board Bad Moon.
An oft-forgotten vampire is Mirri the Cursed. Just as the Hero of Oxid Ridge was marvelous in Zendikar Standard, she can be a great weapon of surprise. I back her up using Shizo, Death's Storehouse.
Also, don't underestimate the power of Sangromancer. Creatures will die a lot, giving you 3 life every time. Combine that with Sanguine Bond and you have an insane amount of drain going on.
Against white, Malakir Bloodwitch is fantastic, and remember that she also drains life and thus curves nicely from the previous Bond/Sangromancer.
If you are playing Bloodghast, do remember to use fetch lands! This has double purpose. In addition to fetching ghasts, remember that you reshuffle the library, so you'll get another chance to get a black card if the top Nocturnus card is land or red.
Modern is fast, really fast - if you have played against Elves or the like. I therefore use Aether Vial to speed it up a little. Unfortunately, I tend to run out of cards quickly, and vamps have no way of drawing extras. Therefore, you have to run Dark Confidant, or if you are cheap like me, Phyrexian Arena.
I stop the count at 2 until I have two running, then curve it upwards. Against control and counter spells this is very effective.
Against Affinity, you need artifact hate. I find Shattering Spree to be fantastic, though the new Innistrad card Ancient Grudge is good too if you are able to splash a little green. I have found that the tempo loss for this is too much handle, so I've stayed black/red.
All in all, you probably won't win competitively with this in Modern, but I find the deck a lot of fun to play.
// 10 creatures
3 Snapcaster Mage
3 Olivia Voldaren
2 Precursor Golems
1 Wormcoil Engine
1 Inferno Titan
// 21 spells
3 Mana Leak
2 Galvanic Blasts
1 Go for the Throat
2 Doom Blade
1 Ratchet Bomb
3 Slagstorm
1 Devil's Play
4 Forbidden Alchemy
4 Desperate Ravings
// 3 planeswalkers
3 Liliana Vess
// 26 lands, 10 untapped lands, 9 fast lands, 7 slow lands.
5 Mountain
3 Swamp
1 Island
1 Shimmering Grotto
4 Sulfur Falls
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Blackcleave Cliffs
2 Drowned Catacombs
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Copperline Gorge
// 15 Sideboard
1 Mimic Vat
2 Surgical Extraction
2 Curse at Death's Hold
1 Wormcoil Engine
1 Flashfreeze
1 Mana Leak
1 Dispell
1 Dissipate
1 Galvanic Blast
1 Slagstorm
1 Geistflame
2 Ancient Grudge
1 Druidic Satchel
2 Manalith
2 Swiftfoot Boots
Creatures (15)
4 Mindshrieker
1 Ambush Viper
2 Snapcaster Mage
1 Cryptoplasm
1 Evil Twin
2 Vengeful Pharaoh
1 Grave Titan
1 Rune-Scarred Demon
1 Sheoldred, Whispering One
1 Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
Instants (10)
1 Forbidden Alchemy
2 Mana Leak
2 Noxious Revival
3 Think Twice
2 Victim of Night
1 Zombie Infestation
3 Ponder
3 Unburial Rites
Land (24)
4 Island
1 Plains
6 Swamp
2 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
1 Glacial Fortress
3 Hinterland Harbor
1 Isolated Chapel
2 Nephalia Drownyard
2 Black Sun's Zenith
2 Doom Blade
2 Go for the Throat
3 Naturalize
3 Negate
3 Nihil Spellbomb
So, turn 2, you cast Mindshrieker. Turn 3, ponder to put your highest mana-costing card on the second slot (Ponder also draws a card), shriek yourself, and attack for 1 + that cards mana cost.
Another good card with synergy is Noxious Revival. If you have a high-mana card in your graveyard, target it and then pump up Mindshrieker.
Obviously, you want high-mana costing spells to feed Mindshrieker, so why not go bananas? I've put in Jin-Gitaxias (cmc 10), Sheoldred (cmc 7), Rune-Scarred Demon (cmc 7). Also, Vengeful Pharaoh (cmc 5) has synergy since it bounces between graveyard and the top of your library. With Unburial Rights, you can cast creatures for cheap from the graveyard, and if you get Sheoldred out, then fetching other scary cards is easy.
While your opponent is busy with trying to answer your Mindshrieker, you need to focus on your other creatures. The shriek can net you the game, but I see it more like a distraction. The other creatures should be good ones to defend your board position.
The Satchel can be used too, since it reveals your top card. With Ponder, it is extra useful. Say you see two land cards and one card you need. Instead of shuffling your library, you take one, play it - open the Satchel and get two land drops, your turn.
Let me know what you think! It's a lot of fun playing this deck.
Oh, and Tarmogoyf? Really - that's just insane. Why not give us a vampire card that is automatically 1/2 on round 1, 2/3 on round 2, 3/4 on round 3 up to 5/6 on round 5 and onwards? For 1B. Because that's really what Tarm is (plus/minus). From a game design perspective, this card is just fundamentally broken.
More than anything, in Modern - you will have to have good answers to Tarmogoyf. Leyline of the Void in the start combined with Bojuka Bog (targeting your own graveyard) brings them down to 0/1, and hilarities ensue!
We've only got two lords, Captivating Vampire and Vampire Nocturnus. Against other non-blacks, I side-board Bad Moon.
An oft-forgotten vampire is Mirri the Cursed. Just as the Hero of Oxid Ridge was marvelous in Zendikar Standard, she can be a great weapon of surprise. I back her up using Shizo, Death's Storehouse.
Also, don't underestimate the power of Sangromancer. Creatures will die a lot, giving you 3 life every time. Combine that with Sanguine Bond and you have an insane amount of drain going on.
Against white, Malakir Bloodwitch is fantastic, and remember that she also drains life and thus curves nicely from the previous Bond/Sangromancer.
If you are playing Bloodghast, do remember to use fetch lands! This has double purpose. In addition to fetching ghasts, remember that you reshuffle the library, so you'll get another chance to get a black card if the top Nocturnus card is land or red.
Modern is fast, really fast - if you have played against Elves or the like. I therefore use Aether Vial to speed it up a little. Unfortunately, I tend to run out of cards quickly, and vamps have no way of drawing extras. Therefore, you have to run Dark Confidant, or if you are cheap like me, Phyrexian Arena.
I stop the count at 2 until I have two running, then curve it upwards. Against control and counter spells this is very effective.
Against Affinity, you need artifact hate. I find Shattering Spree to be fantastic, though the new Innistrad card Ancient Grudge is good too if you are able to splash a little green. I have found that the tempo loss for this is too much handle, so I've stayed black/red.
All in all, you probably won't win competitively with this in Modern, but I find the deck a lot of fun to play.