Deck Conceit
This deck is for a casual Halloween themed tribal tournament in which each of the traditionally 'spooky' MTG tribes are competing to see which tribe is supreme. All decks must be under $200 on TCGPlayer at time of posting and be based around a "spooky" tribe. In addition to a creature-type tribe, each deck may include a locale to help round out the spells available to that tribe. The theme for this deck is Vampires within their spooky castle. This deck is still being built so any and all recommendations are welcome so long as they fit within the above guidelines.
Mechanical Goal
Mechanically this deck aims to go wide using [Edgar Markov] 's Eminence ability to generate lots of small vampires and then buff them up by swinging them at open players to generate +1/+1 counters. Given that this deck will be played in a six person meta it is reasonable to assume that on any given turn there should be a decent chance of dealing combat damage to a player and racking up counters.
Creatures
All of the creatures in this deck are vampires thus fulfilling the vampiric theme of the deck as far as creatures are concerned. Effort was put in to ensure that most of the vampires used have aristocratic/noble art or text, but that constraint was sometimes overruled in favor of mechanical value like in the case of [Mephidross Vampire]. He isn't the sort of vampire that seems like it'd live in a rad castle full of vampires, but he's absolutely loaded with +1/+1 counter fun so he makes the cut. The only vampire creature type exception is Crashing Drawbridge who is both covered under the castle theme.
Artifacts
Almost the entirety of the artifacts in this deck are equipment. This is to help build the theme of vampires within the castle using the weapons in their armory to cement their supremacy in the competition to come. Some, like [Blade of the Bloodchief] have additional vampiric synergy, but that's just a nice bonus. Non-creature anthem effects are generally discouraged, however Coat of Arms has been included as it is castle themed, generally symmetrical-ish, and will make for crazy combats for all players--especially the shapeshifter player.
Lands
In order to fit other cards into the budget, I've irresponsibly skimped on my lands. All four nonbasics do however fit within the theme of either vampires or castles.
Sorcery and Instants
I'm running a bit of a gamble with my removal package. The hope is that the other players will expend resources removing each others threats while I just hurl vampires at the board until enough stick that I can swing for lethal. Each card in the set of Sorcery and Instant cards is on theme with the exception of Sign in Blood which makes the grade by virtue of being blood-based and bringing with it some much needed card draw.
Enchantments
My enchantments are generally off-theme. This will be covered down below in the off-theme card section. [Sanguine Bond] has been deliberately excluded from this deck due to a rule preventing infinite combos from firing in-game.
Off-Theme Cards
Each deck is allowed to have a total of seven off-theme cards. These are cards that do not augment the flavor of tribe plus location, but do help grease the wheels mechanically to help the deck run. I currently am running five outright non-themed cards listed below.
- 1. [Hammer of Purphoros] (Need haste)
- 2. [Anointed Procession] (Too much value)
- 3. [Emblem of the Warmind] (Need haste)
- 4. [Fervor] (Need haste)
- 5. [Mass Hysteria] (Need haste)
I would like to run [Cathars' Crusade] but I have yet to decide if it is too much of a flavor-fail to include.
General concerns
With a real lack of card draw and ramp, there's a decent chance this deck may just stall out after 1-2 enemy boardwipes. Short of cutting some vampire chaff and running off-theme card draw I'm currently looking for on-theme card draw suggestions.
