WB Control

Unknown* Control Lifegain Vampires WB (Orzhov)

Cipher_8

Enchantment (15)

• 4x Bound by Moonsilver
• 2x Call the Bloodline
• 2x Pacifism
• 2x Starfield of Nyx
• 2x Stasis Snare
• 3x Suppression Bonds

Instant (1)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking

Creature (13)

• 3x Accursed Witch  ^Flip
• 3x Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim
• 3x Cliffhaven Vampire
• 4x Drana's Emissary

Planeswalker (4)

• 1x Ob Nixilis Reignited
• 3x Sorin, Grim Nemesis

Land (24)

• 1x Ally Encampment
• 14x Plains
• 3x Shambling Vent
• 6x Swamp

Sorcery (3)

• 3x Angelic Purge

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Sideboard

Sorcery (11)

• 1x Biting Rain
• 3x Chaplain's Blessing
• 3x Declaration in Stone
• 1x Flaying Tendrils
• 3x Tormented Thoughts

Instant (2)

• 1x Anguished Unmaking
• 1x Foul-Tongue Invocation

Creature (2)

• 1x Blood-Cursed Knight
• 1x Ruin Processor

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Maybeboard

Sorcery (9)

• 1x Alms of the Vein
• 1x Behold the Beyond
• 1x Declaration in Stone
• 1x Descend upon the Sinful
• 1x Healing Hands
• 1x Infinite Obliteration
• 1x March from the Tomb
• 1x Oblivion Strike
• 1x Witness the End

Land (4)

• 1x Caves of Koilos
• 1x Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1x Mortuary Mire
• 1x Westvale Abbey  ^Flip

Creature (9)

• 1x Angel of Deliverance
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Graveblade Marauder
• 2x Hixus, Prison Warden
• 1x Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
• 1x Ojutai Exemplars
• 1x Ruin Processor
• 1x Sidisi, Undead Vizier

Planeswalker (1)

• 1x Liliana, Defiant Necromancer  ^Flip

Instant (5)

• 1x Celestial Flare
• 1x Complete Disregard
• 1x Grip of Desolation
• 1x Radiant Purge
• 1x Ultimate Price

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Grasp of the Hieromancer
• 1x Isolation Zone
• 1x Quarantine Field
• 1x Silkwrap

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While at it's core it's a Control deck there is a strong Lifegain influence/presence. This along with not taking much combat damage allows us enough time to assemble the series of plays to get the "pingers" going to deal enough damage. So stick around for a while and enjoy watching the opponent struggle as you slowly drain their life.

Click the Show buttons and Spoiler clickable text for better/more descriptions.

Control

Sorcery/Instants

Anguished Unmaking

A new card that is reason enough to play .

Angelic Purge

Show

Declaration in Stone

Right now we got it in the Sideboard to bring in vs token themed decks because it absolutely destroys tokens. But really should have it in the mainboard. It's probably the best removal spell in Standard being fairly efficient and having only a medium drawback. Giving your opponents Clues is certainly relevant, but if they are under pressure, it is incredibly unlikely that they will have time or mana to pay to draw a card before deploying the rest of their hand. You can even use it to your advantage and tag your own creature(s) with the Declaration in order to get some card draws. It can be sneaky valuable at times similarly to how Path to Exile was for this same type of effect.

Ultimate Price/ Radiant Purge

Fairly cheap removal spells, probably not mainboard material but cheaper than other options that can be sideboarded in if you notice they don't run many dual colored creatures or if they run too many perhaps.

Enchantments

Our Control is achieved through mainly Enchantment cards that prevent damage or prevent them from ever attacking. A few exile them which can work in conjunction with other cards (Eldrazi Processors like Ruin Processor in maybeboard).

Pacifism

Bound by Moonsilver Show

The newest card that is fantastic in any control shell.

This is mad crazy powerful in this deck because it's like a super pacify with the ability to change who it's enchanted on later.

Pacifism is good but without the added late game upside of Bound by Moonsilver. What happens after they drop their bomb and you regret having put Pacifism on a weaker target? It's useless to you. But Bound by Moonsilver allows you to change your mind by a simple sacrifice. Your 1/1 Vampire Knight or Accursed Witch   are perfect choices either easy to replace or actually want you to kill them off to serve their purpose by rewarding you with the Infectious Curse  

That makes all the difference. It's like control cancer it just spreads to whatever needs it's attention.

It gets around Hexproof with Starfield. Use Starfield of Nyx and get it on something with Hexproof when you bring it back from grave. You don't target when your not casting the spell your putting it onto the battlefield another way.

Suppression Bonds

It can enchant non-creature permanents like Planeswalkers and blocks their activated abilities as well.

Stasis Snare

Other options available to us Show

Silkwrap

Quarantine Field

I not sure if this is includable or too costly. At 4 mana you can exile one which basically makes it a scalable Suppression Bonds because at 6 mana you can do 2 and 8 mana 3. My guess is most of the time you'll never cast it for more than 4. Plus like Suppression Bonds it can deal with non-creatures just as well as creatures.

I'm delegating it to the side board for now. I'm sure if facing a particular deck that plays multiple creatures in quick succession it could come in handy. Any deck where creatures that ETB and bring creature tokens along with them it could be pretty good.

However, any deck that spawns tokens I would rather just sideboard in a different card entirely as too many creatures could give us trouble. If it's tokens that your facing I would just look to sideboard in a card like Flaying Tendrils that gives them -X/-X or something instead. Killing tokens off works just as good as exiling them. Only problem is outside of Ally Encampment how do you protect your own creatures from the exile of Flaying Tendrils? Biting Rain is always another option available and you could even tandem it with Call the Bloodline when you discard it but cast it with Madness to put another 1/1 Vampire Knight into play after it resolves on the stack giving all their tokens -2/-2 you'll get your 1/1 Lifelink 1/1 Vampire Knight giving you a replacement in case anything of yours did die.

Isolation Zone

Another option we have. It can deal with Creatures or Enchantments.

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Such a heavy Enchantment focus means we should be involving Starfield of Nyx.

Starfield of Nyx Show

Starfield of Nyx bringing any enchantments back from the graveyard means there is little they can do to slow us down. They can remove one and it'll come right back.

Plus once you get five it'll make most of them enchantments into creatures either for blockers to extend your protection even further or for attackers to all swing in and end the game swiftly after that.

Also do not forget that Infectious Curse   does count towards the 5 Enchantments. However, it's an Aura so it won't become a creature. You still are in control of it though so it'll count towards the 5 when referring to Starfield's ability.

Creatures

Accursed Witch   Show

Accursed Witch   at 4 power can actually be a pretty efficient attacker when all their blockers are enchanted with our control spells. It can make short work of their life total and if it dies it only serves us as another purpose.

The main purpose of this card is to have a sacrificial offering to Bound by Moonsilver or Angelic Purge.

You want it to die to get the curse(s) on the opponent to start slowly gaining life and whittling away theirs. Remember they can have more than one on them too.

We utterly ignore that it cheapens spells that target that player by but if you wanted to you could adapt the deck around spells that do target player or opponents.

First ones that comes to mind are Tormented Thoughts , To the Slaughter , and Diplomacy of the Wastes .

Tormented Thoughts actually combos really well with Accursed Witch   giving us the ability to sac it and make them discard 4 cards. Diplomacy of the Wastes at 2 CMC is good especially since you have Warriors in Cliffhaven Vampire. To the Slaughter is okay forcing them to sac a creature but you likely already have their creatures controlled so attacking their hand is better.

Nightsnare Transgress the Mind which is cheapened to only with the curse.

A 2 CMC Mind Rot

A 2 CMC Pick the Brain

Stuff like Remorseless Punishment , Liliana's Indignation , or Damnable Pact?

Foul-Tongue Invocation could warrant consideration since it could also be used to as a sac outlet to kill Accursed Witch   in order to curse them.

You could sideboard in a Self-Inflicted Wound if they are playing or Golgari, Abzan, Sultai, Simic, Temur, Gruul, Selesnya, Bant, and more this covers a lot of decks actually. And it makes it castable for with the curse.

You could run a costing Fleshbag Marauder and use it to sac another Accursed Witch giving you two curses on the opponent. It'll also force them to sac something when it ETB's. 2 CMC 3/1 isnt bad at all.

Infinite Obliteration cheapened to

Shambling Vent

This land can turn into a creature with Lifelink. If you don't want to run many creatures this is a good option to run in a deck based around mainly control enchantments. Combos with Cliffhaven Vampire.

Drana's Emissary

As a 2/2 flyer it isn't that bad for 3 CMC. Add in it's effect and it becomes a key card to this deck. Every turn you ping them for damage and gain a life which can trigger other effects from cards that'll in turn deal more damage to them again.

Cliffhaven Vampire

Turns this whole focus on gaining life into dealing damage. Those Lifelink creatures will all ping them for 1 damage and all your other "Lose 1, Gain 1" effects from Drana's Emissary and Infectious Curse   turn into 2 damage pings every time, but clearly the most important card to run along with this Vampire is the new Sorin himself. It makes his second ability read "*Deal X damage to target player and target creature, gain X life*". You -1 him and deal 1 damage to a creature and gain 1 life which triggers the Cliffhaven Vampire to deal 1 dmg to player.

(Sidenote: Our land Ally Encampment can return the Cliffhaven Vampire or Drana's Emisarry to hand if they get targeted with removal but it can also be used to tap for either color to cast them in the first place.)

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim Show

Ayli gives us so many options. It works wonders with all the Lifegain thematics in this deck.

First it lets you Pay and sac a creature to gain life. Cliffhaven Vampire will love these little lifegains and turn them into damage. The obvious choices to sac to it are the 1/1 tokens from Call the Bloodline or the Accursed Witch   so as to curse the opponent.

It's second ability take a little bit to get set up because it requires that you be above 30 life, which shouldn't be hard if your controlling the board and shutting them down properly all while gaining life here and there.

(Sidenote: A Chaplain's Blessing is one of the cheapest and earliest ways to gain life. 5 for 1 mana. Works great alongside Cliffhaven Vampire and goes a long way in being able to activate Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim's second ability.)

It lets you Pay and Sac a creature Exile target *nonland* permanent. This gives us a great answer to non-creature focused decks but also can be used on creatures if you have no other options in hand.

From there you could even potentially use Eldrazi Processor cards that let you use them exiled permanents if you wanted. Things like Wasteland Strangler, Mind Raker , and Ulamog's Despoiler but probably the only one who fits the theme is Ruin Processor and it's likely too high of a cost.

1/1 Vampire Knight Show

Call the Bloodline

An Enchantment that lets us discard a card and put a 1/1 Lifelink creature into play.

Now, you'll want to discard an Enchantment because the Starfield will bring it back. This is especially powerful if it's one of your control Auras because it doesn't target when it comes back via Starfield so you can enchant a Pacifism or Bound by Moonsilver or the like onto a creature with Hexproof even. You need them to be in graveyard first though so this is a nice little discard outlet.

With all their creatures controlled ( read: enchanted) your little 1/1's tokens can swing in dealing damage and gaining you life. With multiple tokens out as well as a Infectious Curse   or two as well you'll ping them to death as you slowly climb in life. And if you got Clifhaven Vampire every life gain event (from every token that deals damage) is 1 more damage to the opponent.

And if you need to sac a permanent to something like Angelic Purge or Bound by Moonsilver to change what it's enchanted on these little guys make perfect sacrifices.

Eventually this Enchantment will become a creature itself through Starfield.

Blood-Cursed Knight

Takes advantage of your enchantments focus and also contributes to the lifegain.

Planeswalkers

Ob Nixilis Reignited

The traditional White-Black control deck Planeswalker. This isn't the first deck to run him.

Sorin, Grim Nemesis

Sorin in a control deck is pretty powerful. If he cost any less he would be broken but once you get the lands you need to cast him it's pretty much over.

All you need is that +1 ability to win. Youll get plenty of card advantage from him and dealing damage according to each's CMC will shorten the game.

He's like another Ob Nixilis, Reignited that doesnt charge you life to draw cards and which isnt also an Ob Nixilis which of course means you can have more than 4 in a deck. I don't choose to run full playsets of both but if you wanted to for sure draw them that is an option. You can always discard duplicates with Call the Bloodline after all.

The second (-X) ability is your protection guarantee as if the control in this deck wasn't enough. This also kind of mirrors Ob Nix's second ability except it deals damage and gains you life. The more toughness the better Ob Nix is but with such a heavy focus on lifegain in this deck you can simply -1 Sorin to trigger 1 lifegain and deal 1 damage through his Cliffhaven Vampire cohort. It also means you can even target your own creatures dealing them damage as another Sac Outlet. Especially useful for the 2 toughness Accursed Witch. You can -2 Sorin to take out the Accursed Witch if you have no other sacrifice outlets so you can put that curse on them.

If you manage to build up his loyalty, and you should because his +1 is his most important ability and their creatures will likely be locked down so Sorin won't be taking damage, once you get him there definitely use his Ultimate. If you do you're flooding the board with creatures and shortly afterwords ending the game. Even if you don't have 20+ health left somehow, say you only have 14 health. You put 14 1/1's with Lifelink. Each of them deals dmg and gains you a life gain event. Aside from gaining 14 life your triggering Cliffhaven Vampire 14 times dealing another 14 damage to the opponent if he didn't already take the previous 14 combat damage to face he will now. The Ultimate is a finisher in this deck whether your creatures get through or not.

How it Works

You lock em down with control, keep em in control until you can whittle them away one by one. With the Infectious Curse   as well as Drana's Emissary you'll ping them to death as you slowly climb in life. If you get a Cliffhaven Vampire into play and start gaining life every turn it only speeds things up. If you get Sorin, Grim Nemesis out you only need to +1 him a couple times to deal enough damage likely to kill them and if not after 3 you can definitely finish them with his Ultimate.

If you manage to get out a Starfield of Nyx they basically are not able to fight back.It lets you return any Enchantment they destroy bringing any control card they remove to free up their creatures right back to play the turn after. And with 4 other enchantments it helps make short work of their remaining life total making some of those Enchantments creatures to help attack/block. You'll really enjoy Starfield up and running with a Call the Bloodline now you can discard any of the Aura's and return them to play for free without paying to cast them, and they can even enchant hexproof creatures so this is really the ultimate control deck. Hexproof and Indestructible are not safe vs this deck at all.

Idea with Starfield Show

Starfield of Nyx makes all enchantments (except Auras) creatures after you have 5 in play, this could work in conjunction with Westvale Abbey  . Just control em with Enchantments until you got the land out and keep playing lands. Later in the game you can sac the 5 creatures//enchantments bringing Ormendahl out and beating face on anything that remains/comes back in after enchantments left. A 9/7 with Flying, Haste, Lifelink, and Indestructible. If they don't have a flyer the game is over in a couple of turns. If they do you'll go right through them and it'll only be one more turn.

Combo's and Synergies

Accursed Witch + Angelic Purge

Accursed Witch + Bound by Moonsilver

Accursed Witch + Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim A third sac outlet

Call the Bloodline + Cliffhaven Vampire

Cliffhaven Vampire + Infectious Curse

Cliffhaven Vampire + Drana's Emissary

Any creature with Lifelink + Cliffhaven Vampire

Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim + Cliffhaven Vampire for lifegain event = triggers Cliffhaven damage.

Cliffhaven Vampire + Sorin, Grim Nemesis Sorin's ultimate after 3 turns of +1 combos with his vampire cohort.

Call the Bloodline discarding Aura Bound by Moonsilver , Pacifism , or Suppression Bonds + Starfield of Nyx

Starfield of Nyx + Any Enchantment.

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One of my favorite combos to get set up in this deck revolves around three cards. You first need three creatures in play, Accursed Witch   , Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim , and Cliffhaven Vampire. Now if you have the opponent locked down and all their creatures are enchanted and cannot block just simply attack in for 8. They cannot do nothing about it. But you can also sac the Accursed Witch to Ayli paying and trigger the 2 life gain event which in turn triggers Cliffhaven to deal 1 damage to them. You also flip the Accursed Witch and enchant the opponent with Infectious Curse   and on their upkeep you gain a life which triggers Cliffhaven Vampire to deal 1 damage to them and they also take 1 damage from the curse. That'll leave your creatures up as blockers because remember Ayli has Deathtouch and Cliffhaven you don't want to die to one of their blockers even though it does have flying so it'll probably get through if you did attack.

Lastly, watch out for Tainted Remedy. That'll kick this deck in the balls for sure.

I was surprised to see that there's only 7 dual colored cards in Standard right now, good thing is most work together and have good synergies. It'll be interesting to see what other Dual Colored cards or even what new Mono-White or Mono-Black cards will come in the next set that we could add or switch in for something else. I'm particularly interested in seeing what more Curses, if any, we get from out of the new set.

And if I'm missing anything already in Standard, please let me know!

Any comments or criticisms are welcome, any criticism is taken as positive feedback that helps me make my decks better so please leave a comment and if you like upvotes are appreciated. Thanks.

Date added	8 years
Last updated	4 years
Key combos	Cliffhaven Vampire + Drana's Emissary Accursed Witch + Angelic Purge Accursed Witch + Bound by Moonsilver Accursed Witch + Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim Call the Bloodline + Cliffhaven Vampire Cliffhaven Vampire + Infectious Curse Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim + Cliffhaven Vampire Cliffhaven Vampire + Sorin, Grim Nemesis
Legality	This deck is Unknown legal.
Rarity (main - side)	7 - 1 Mythic Rares 7 - 3 Rares 18 - 6 Uncommons 8 - 5 Commons
Cards	60
Avg. CMC	3.47
Tokens	Clue, Emblem Ob Nixilis Reignited, Vampire Knight 1/1 B