This was made with cards I'm not using in any of my other decks, mainly to make a deck I can afford to take wherever, and if something happens to it it's not a big deal. It is thus pretty budget, and is designed around being fast and hitting fairly hard. It is pretty fun to play with or against, which is nice, since it isn't too interaction heavy unless I can set up a Brooch. If I can though, it turns into a bit of a lockdown strategy, and you might not need to play another new card once you get Brooch and Strands up and running with 4 mana. Reanimate a Nighthawk or Nightwalk, kill their critter while recovering the lost life, use the brooch to block any attempts to disrupt your board, and slowly kill them. It's nowhere near a hard lock, but if a deck can't stop you from setting up, it will be in trouble usually. I'm constantly surprised at what this deck can do on a budget, but it's pretty slow for legacy.
I've made some changes to the deck, mainly trying to remove anti-synergy cards.
Null Brooch
is being tried out to add some stability later game, when the deck tends to be vulnerable to things like board sweeps and counters, or even simple annoying removal, and the Brooch can keep the opponent from getting out of their corner long enough to get swamped. The 2
Clackbridge Troll
are their to also help with a paucity of options later game, and is more a card advantage engine than anything else.
Gifted Aetherborn
was added because it just seemed too good to ignore. I might some day throw in some Vampire synergy cards, but not yet. I will likely add
Vampire of the Dire Moon
soon, since it's very on-theme, and would likely open the door wide open to a vampire theme. If anyone has any suggestions of very useful Vampire support cards, I'd love to hear them. With all the life gain kicking around, a couple of those 'you lose life when I gain life' cards could work, but I can't see situations coming up when I could be dealing damage consistently with my life-linkers and not win very quickly anyways, and those are a high CMC card. I'd have to remove the Troll I'd wager, and that would leave me without card advantage. The life gain isn't half bad either. It's a janky card, but they have almost no choice but to give you life and cards for 5 mana... I mean, I'd play an EDH enchantment that costs 5 black and gives you 3 life and 1 card every turn, I think most would, and the Troll plays an awful lot like that, and if they can't pay him off, he hits as an 8/8 trample!
I've got a playset of brand new
Bitterblossom
, and I'm seriously considering putting it in and just abandoning the budget aspect, because this deck seems to play very well vs more decks than my other decks, mainly because it's very consistent, able to screw over a number of decks with the Brooch. I might switch in
Indulgent Aristocrat
to pump up my team, and I might even go nuts and sideboard some
Gate to Phyrexia
to add some options vs artifact heavy decks that might out perform me, or gain an early advantage. The Gate only needs 2 mana to set up, but eats a critter each time, but it's the best mono-black gets vs artifacts I think. I'm not 100% on the Aristocrat, because I've got so much deathtouch that I don't need to worry as much about making my creatures big, and I've also got reanimation somewhat. Still, trading a Faerie for a +1/+1 buff to my vamps is nice, and a 1/1 lifelink isn't exactly garbage in a deck that uses life a bit.
Would a couple
Phyrexian Arena
help this deck out? I feel with the lifelink kicking around I can afford it, and it'd get out earlier than the Troll.
