Falkenrath Reaver

Creature — Vampire

Legality

Format	Legality
1v1 Commander	Legal
Archenemy	Legal
Arena	Legal
Block Constructed	Legal
Canadian Highlander	Legal
Casual	Legal
Commander / EDH	Legal
Commander: Rule 0	Legal
Custom	Legal
Duel Commander	Legal
Gladiator	Legal
Highlander	Legal
Historic	Legal
Legacy	Legal
Leviathan	Legal
Limited	Legal
Modern	Legal
Oathbreaker	Legal
Pauper	Legal
Pauper Duel Commander	Legal
Pauper EDH	Legal
Pioneer	Legal
Planechase	Legal
Quest Magic	Legal
Tiny Leaders	Legal
Vanguard	Legal
Vintage	Legal

Discussion (19)

FSims81 on Pattern Recognition #158 - Colour …

3 years ago

Just for the sake of my own confusion - what makes Balduvian Barbarians to Python an example of a colour shifted creature but not something like the other example of Falkenrath Reaver to Grizzly Bears

LordBlackblade on

4 years ago

Alright, let's get down to it! Anje Falkenrath is relatively new and I'm not yet sold on her validity as a vampire commander. My primary hang up is the overall weakness of madness as a mechanic. It is still critically underrepresented on cards, and of those that do exist only a handful are actually any good. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I am skeptical that it can compete with existing vampire archetypes.

Mana Base Show

I like to start with the mana base in any deck I look at as it is (in my opinion) most crucial in the smooth operation of a deck. To start, your land count looks good, right about the sweet spot for a deck of this type. That said, there are a few sub-optimal choices in lands I would like to point out.

Cut

• Bloodfell Caves
• Cinder Barrens
• Great Furnace
• Vault of Whispers

I try and avoid tap lands at all costs if possible. When running a low-to-the-ground deck like this, the loss of tempo from a tap land can be more damaging than the loss of color availability. In addition, I would discourage the use of artifact lands unless you are going for a specific artifact theme. This is simply because artifact lands are easier to destroy than regular lands and aren't worth the risk with literally no benefit in this particular list.

Add

• Ancient Ziggurat
• Blood Crypt
• Bloodstained Mire
• Graven Cairns
• Luxury Suite
• Path of Ancestry
• Unclaimed Territory
• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

I feel that any of these lands would be strong adds to your list. While some of the cards are a bit on the pricey side, I do feel they would improve the flow and power level of the deck.

Creatures Show

Vampires are usually pretty aggressively costed and there are a literal bevy of them to choose from. The key is choosing the cream of the crop to run in a singleton format.

Cut

• Bloodcrazed Neonate
• Bloodhall Priest
• Bloodsworn Steward
• Erdwal Ripper
• Falkenrath Reaver
• Heir of Falkenrath  ^Flip
• Incorrigible Youths
• Markov Crusader
• Stromkirk Mentor

Many of these creatures are either too costly or too under-powered for this format. It is important to remember that in EDH, efficiency is key. I would discourage playing any creature that falls short of the formula (Power+Toughness)/2=Converted Mana Cost (e.g. A 2/2 for two mana or better) unless it is especially crucial for your deck to function.

In addition impact is crucial. Bloodhall Priest for example is fairly costed, but doesn't do enough to advance your board state for the cost.

In

• Champion of Dusk
• Cordial Vampire
• Dusk Legion Zealot
• Malakir Bloodwitch
• Stromkirk Occultist
• Twilight Prophet
• Vicious Conquistador

These creatures are all what I would describe as impactful or highly efficient. When I mean impactful, cards like Malakir Bloodwitch make a big splash when they hit and are still relevant after the fact due to their efficient bodies. In terms of efficiency, Vicious Conquistador can put in a lot of work in the early game as a cheap, go-wide card.

Instants Show

In general 1-1 removal and "small" damage are not that great in EDH. Shoot for cards that are either modal a la Rakdos Charm or hit multiple targets such as Anger of the Gods or any board wipe (obviously most of these effects are sorceries rather than instants). Vampiric Fury seems just okay. Again in EDH these are just okay and are usually superseded by repeatable and/or static effects.

Out

• Fatal Push
• Fiery Temper
• Lightning Axe
• Lightning Bolt
• Sorin's Thirst

I don't have any good tips for adds here, but I would encourage you to look for modal or mass effect type cards for this category.

Sorceries Show

Honestly, these seem fine. I would urge you to add some more card draw. Things like Night's Whisper and Read the Bones are pretty solid choices.

In

• Burning Inquiry
• Cathartic Reunion
• Night's Whisper
• Read the Bones
• Tormenting Voice

These all seem like good choices to me and many of them double as potential madness triggers essentially negating their downsides.

Artifacts Show

Most of these are pretty standard; however, there are a couple that don't really fit your plan that I would personally cut.

Out

• Basilisk Collar
• Eldrazi Monument
• Rakdos Cluestone

Basilisk Collar is a solid equipment, but this is neither a voltron nor combo build that can effectively utilize it. I like Eldrazi Monument for its power; however, you lack the ability to produce enough fodder to sustain it long-term. Finally, Rakdos Cluestone is simply outclassed by other mana rocks, most notably my suggestion Talisman of Indulgence .

In

• Herald's Horn
• Talisman of Indulgence

Herald's Horn is just a good card in any tribal deck and I would highly recommend it!

My overall impression is that you've got a decent base here, but have made several choices that I see a lot of new EDH players make in their early decks. In general, you could use more card draw and I would encourage you to take a look at EDHREC or other vampire decks on here for inspiration in terms of what kinds of effects truly shine in EDH versus other formats.

MunchingAberration on

6 years ago

Upvoted, cool deck :D

For my suggestions, I'd run more of the lords/tribal effects (vampires have a ton), and cut some of the more vanilla vampires. I'd search gatherer for any card containing the rule text "vampire" (and limiting to your colors).

Also, EDH is all about huge effects, and Stensia Innkeeper or Night Revelers are going to have a tough time keeping up. I like to imagine the worst case scenario, and see how the creature would do. For instance, your opponent has a Followed Footsteps on a Grave Titan. Something like Bloodline Keeper might stall a bit, but Falkenrath Reaver is just going to get overrun.

My friend has a vampire deck, and some effective bombs that I'd suggest are Anowon, the Ruin Sage, Malakir Bloodwitch, and Patron of the Vein.You could also run more solid, supporty cards like Rakish Heir, Stensia Masquerade, Stromkirk Captain, and Aphetto Dredging. Also, Basilisk Collar, Lightning Greaves, and Swiftfoot Boots are nice for your commander.

Ixalan also gave you a couple more draining cards: Bishop of the Bloodstained, Sanctum Seeker

IMO, burn spells are generally not as good as the straight removal some of the other people suggested. My suggestions would be Sudden Death, Sudden Spoiling, and Urge to Feed, or, if you want a burn package to finish out opponents, Burn from Within, Fall of the Titans, Devil's Play, or Banefire (all of which have some sort of utility/reusability).

Finally, more draw spells make your deck much more consistent. Greed, Arguel's Blood Fast, Toil / Trouble, and Wretched Confluence. Again, the more utility/reusability the card has, the better.

Decisive on

6 years ago

Dusk isn't really useful here, Dawn is, but you can get cheaper cards that have just the Dawn effect. Since you're placing a ton of counters on your stuff, Dusk will become a wrath of God, or in some cases, a one-sided board wipe only affecting you. ('Cause y'know [Primer] Doran the Unstoppable exists)

Maybe remove the "vanilla" vampires, primarily Falkenrath Reaver. I also don't feel as though you should run anything but Vampires, as Markov prefers vampires over anything, so Pious Evangel and Mentor of the Meek might be worth taking another look at. (Evangel might work, but I don't think you can make enough mana for Mentor to be that useful)

On to card suggestions!

Legion's Landing  ^Flip

Rootborn Defenses

Cathars' Crusade

Teferi's Protection

Kindred Charge

Blasphemous Act

Eldrazi Monument

Impact Tremors/Goblin Bombardment/Raid Bombardment/Pandemonium

Skullclamp

(I can't actually suggest any of these cards, 'cause according to tapped out, everything but basic lands in banned in Leviathan. I swing at you for lethal with 3 mountains and a swamp, lol)

WindowGreen on Edgar Lifegain

6 years ago

Would definitely recommend adding more red Vampires to this deck. Since this deck is built around having many vampires and life gain would recommend a few vampires that grow and to throw at your opponent to keep them more worried about defense rather then attacking, and also helping out with the whole mana base thing being a tiny bit difficult to work on. For the Vampires I would recommend going with the cheap vampires to just basically throw them at the opponent as a distration while you are building up your massive Vampire army, For example...Falkenrath Reaver, Bloodcrazed Neonate, Bloodmad Vampire, Bloodsworn Steward, Falkenrath Marauders, Havengul Vampire, Heirs of Stromkirk, Insolent Neonate,Markov Blademaster, Rakish Heir, Stromkirk Noble

Tomcatt on not a noob. but... i …

6 years ago

landMountain x9
Swamp x9Cinder Barrens x2

Creatures Nettle Drone x3Falkenrath Reaver x1Valakut Predator x1Pyre Hound x1Shivan Dragon x1Makindi Sliderunner x1Embodiment of Fury x1Cinder Hellion x 1Markov Crusader x1Sanitarium Skeleton x2Walking Corpse x1Vampire Noble x1Ghoulcaller's Accomplice x1Fourth Bridge Prowler x1Bane of Bala Ged x1Emrakul, the Promised End x1Void Winnower x1

sorceryShamble Back x1Ruinous Path x1Dark Salvation x1Mire's Malice x1Liliana's Indignation x1Bone Splinters x1Collective Defiance x1Sparkmage's Gambit x1Chandra's Revolution x1Cone of Flame x2Incendiary Flow x1Magmatic Chasm x1instantsMurder x1Borrowed Malevolence x1Fiery Temper x1Stonefury x1Essence Extraction x1EnchantmentsConsecrated by Blood x1

TyroMaven on

7 years ago

Falkenrath Reavers are bland and have no abilities. Trade them out for a card you're using by itself. I'd add another Sanguinary Mage and another Collective Brutality. In fact, Collective Brutality is bonkers in a Madness deck, so you might even adjust your deck so you'll be packing a set of 4.

Lapshaman on B/R Gearhulk & Creepy Stuff

7 years ago

I like the idea, but you need more duplicates of cards such as Cryptbreaker and Haunted Dead for consistency. Also, I'm seeing some cards that you really don't need because they don't add anything to the deck, like Vampire Cutthroat and Falkenrath Reaver. Also unless you are going to get the red gearhulk, you might want to consider going mono-black. This would probably help your deck because you don't have to deal with getting the wrong color (obviously) and cards like Gray Merchant of Asphodel get a significant buff. Also, Stensia Banquet is absolute garbage in this deck, considering you have 5 vammpires, and 4 copies of this card. I would recommend removing this from the deck, and if you do, also remove Stensia Masquerade, because that is also mainly for vampires. I hope this helps you with your deck, if you have any questions, I would be happy to help. -Lapshaman

P.S. if you remove Smelt, Gray Merchant of Asphodel, and Tormenting Voice you will have a standard deck you can bring to Friday Night Magic.