Hello, Nocturnus. Meet Rakdos.
Modern
SCORE: 25 | 51 COMMENTS | 9087 VIEWS | IN 24 FOLDERS
2nd Place in Standard! —Nov. 13, 2012
Today, I played the deck for the first time in a standard event. It's taken me about five weeks to think about the deck and put it all together. I tried it out at a standard event and went 3-1, winning second place. My only loss was to the player who won first place.
Round 1: Here I played a rogue Golgari deck. I say rogue because even the cards I saw aren't likely to be staples. I won this match easily, 2-0.
Round 2: I played against a four-color or five-color deck (not sure) which feature a lot of removal and was geared towards establishing a tempo. This deck featured cards like Desecration Demon and Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. My opponent had mana issues in both the games I won, but I played slowly, so as to draw all the removal out until I dropped Nocturnus. I won 2-1.
Round 3: I played against an Unburial Rites deck that combo'd out with Fiend Hunter, Angel of Glory's Rise and Falkenrath Aristocrat. There's not a lot of instant-speed removal that helps, and I didn't draw my Crypt in game two. When I did draw it in game three, it didn't make a significant difference for me as my opponent was able to beat me down and force me into unfavorable trades. My luck ran out with Nocturnus so I lost 1-2.
Round 4: I played a very aggressive Epic Experiment deck that featured green for some incredible ramp. Only, my opponent decked himself! The second game, he couldn't draw anything of significance and whiffed on an experiment for seven. I won 2-0.
Second place at 3-1 is not a bad place to be. :)
http404error says... #2
I... I honestly don't know. That is a very good question.
October 12, 2012 11:34 p.m.
http404error says... #3
Ah, it must be because the 3-drop slot is way overcrowded and there aren't enough good 2- and 1-cost black vampires.
October 12, 2012 11:37 p.m.
Most decks probably won't run the Impostor. You could run Blood Artist instead, but I can't think of a way to make it work in vampire tribal.
October 12, 2012 11:40 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #5
I would run it B/R because then it would give all your vamps a boost and first strike. I actuall had a similar idea:
[http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/br-vampires-12-10-12-1/
and I think that it could be pretty strong
October 13, 2012 12:25 a.m.
It's now splashing red for Stromkirk Captain. Dreadbore is better than Murder anyway. :)
October 13, 2012 6:32 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #7
may I suggest Olivia Voldaren over Necropolis Regent ? he seems like his ability is slightly useless late game. Falkenrath Aristocrat would fit well too. I personally think that 4 Bloodline Keeper Flip is a little much. Blood Artist is another card that you could consider.
October 13, 2012 11:22 p.m.
I've played extensively with Bloodline Keeper and he is really good against control and white weenie. I might use Olivia if my removal turns out not to be enough. I really want Blood Artist to work, but I think he fits better with card:Geralf's Messenger and Gravecrawler ;
October 13, 2012 11:52 p.m.
How about a card:Rakdos's Return for a little mid-game "you just lost" surprise?
October 16, 2012 8:26 a.m.
As http404error says, there are not good 1 or 2 cost good black vampires, you can still count the Blood Artist, but most of the time, the Vampires unfortunately are overrun by others decks. I know because I have one as well. I still think is a good deck, am I was waiting for RtR to make it better, if possible I would recommended to include 2 Falkenrath Aristocrat and 2 Olivia Voldaren . I think as well that card:Rakdos's Return is good for this deck. A very good addition that I discard when I added the Vampire Nocturnus was the Stromkirk Noble because is red, but is a good card.
October 16, 2012 9:16 a.m.
MklEstevan says... #11
i used to play a vampire deck similar to this when M13 first came out. Vampires have pretty good synergy, but if you only got one on the field late game then you might as well fold. I've won plenty of casual games, but standard is a different story. Bottom line, Vampires are just too SLOW for standard, especially against Delver and Zombies. thats why nobody plays them
October 16, 2012 12:05 p.m.
Bloody-surgeon says... #12
Why not include Stromkirk Noble as a one-drop?
October 16, 2012 12:37 p.m.
bagthesnoot says... #13
I'd add the Blood Artist /Killing Wave package, maybe instead of Tragic Slip and Ultimate Price . Also, Dreadbore is a great card, and if you can afford it I suggest going to a playset of it.
October 16, 2012 5:25 p.m.
Ah yes, I hadn't thought of Killing Wave together with Blood Artist, that's a really good idea. :)
October 16, 2012 7:40 p.m.
nice deck i love the build. i kinda run this build even before i seen it.then again i run Falknerwrath aristocrat for the haste and of course dread bore who wouldn't. i like bloodline but he seemed a bit slow against people around my area. also i run more creature hate because of the people in my area run fatties. overall love your build. And yeah points on the KILLING WAVE XD
October 19, 2012 11:46 p.m.
Wizard of the Damned says... #16
Really have to agree with the Falkenrath Aristocrat . WIth Vampire Nocturnus T4 drop, it's going to be a 6/3 flyer with haste on T5 if you drop it. It really puts a lot of pressure on your opponent
October 21, 2012 5:33 p.m.
SquidMonk3y says... #17
For one-drops I would suggest Viscera Seer or Vampire Lacerator , Seer because he is a 1/1 for one, and later on you can sac him or others for a small scry, and Lacerator because 2/2 for one is great, and I men, the lifeloss should easily be compensated for with some lifelink here and there. Overall great deck; so +1 from me :D Check out my vampire deck on my profile if you want to ;D
October 23, 2012 6:13 a.m.
SquidMonk3y says... #19
Oh crap! I didn't see that it was Standard o_o My bad :P
October 24, 2012 2:31 a.m.
CallMeCrazy says... #20
this thing looks amazing but what are you pulling out for the dreabores?
October 27, 2012 12:25 a.m.
I can't afford Dreadbore (for now). I'd also like to see what the standard metagame looks like to see if card:Rakdos's Return wouldn't be better than Killing Wave. I suspect it might be.
October 27, 2012 12:32 a.m.
Sure. This is my sideboard for now. :)
Tomod's Crypt: Slightly better than card:Grafdigger's Cage in case you run into card:Runechanter's Pike. Grafdigger's was better with Birthing Pod in standard, but now that's not a concern.
Stromkirk Noble . Two in the sideboard for early game presence against aggro decks. Against slower decks, I won't need him. In those cases, I can just rely on Nocturnus.
Ultimate Price . It's never a good idea to maindeck four removal spells with a drawback like this. If your opponent is playing mono-black zombies or delver, this is a good card to have. If you see a lot of things like Loxodon Smiter , though, you may want to put all four in the sideboard. This evill eventually be replaced by Dreadbore .
Mutilate . Should be mainboard since Killing Wave is an ineffective board nuke. Cards like these are essential in case your deck stalls or in case you run into a removal-heavy deck that only plays it creatures once yours are gone. By then, you should have lots of swamps.
Duress 3 Duress mainboard, one in the sideboard. Against Izzet-type decks that focus on spells, I would side out Liliana for Duress.
card:Curse of Death's Hold. Lingering Souls isn't as strong as it once was with Mana Leak rotating. This deck has to work harder to maintain board position and while I don't have enchantment removal, one of my curses nullifies one of their Intangible Virtue s.
Killing Wave . What is Killing Wave good for? I'm still not sure myself. I don't want to give up on the card until I've played a bit more, though.
October 28, 2012 1:58 a.m.
CallMeCrazy says... #24
What about Cavern of Souls really good against control
Geoxis says... #1
this deck is sexy
October 12, 2012 11:27 p.m.