This deck has been extremely solid for me even in it's initial tourneys. Tonight a first game against the stock Temur list at LGS I went down 20-12 on turn 2 (on purpose, see Adanto Vanguard), and by combat on 6th turn I was up 28-4, through Longtusk Cub, 2 Rogue Refiners, Bristling Hydra, and an exerted Glorybringer no problem. When this deck hits it's been bonkers so far.
In additional testing I've curved out and killed an opponent on turn 4 once!
Adanto Vanguard is broken as hell in Standard, I honestly believe is comparable with the top 2-drops in the format, as long as it is supported by the deck with life gain (which could also be said for All-Stars like Longtusk Cub). It would sound insane to pitch a 2-drop that fizzles all cheap removal in Standard, like Fatal Push and all burn spells, especially one that could swing for 3 damage each turn. With the incidental life gain of this deck life can be used as a proper resource, like it is in the modern Death's Shadow deck. The first game in the first match I ever played at my LGS with this deck featured my turn-2 Adanto Vanguard dealing 18 damage to my opponent in the win, despite Fatal Push resolving on it twice. Wtf! :D
Adanto Vanguard is joined by the other low drops (Vicious Conquistador, Duskborne Skymarcher) in representing consistent attackers with perks as the crux of the deck is having attackers that are chipping away, will very likely stay alive to trigger our other vampires' abilities over the course of multiple turns (Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle, Sanctum Seeker, Bishop of the Bloodstained) all while being difficult for opponents to commit their crucial removal spells to killing.
The fast wins come from a few turns of hitting for 1 each with flyers, or an attack or two from Adanto Vanguard that opponents don't want to sacrifice creatures to, maybe early drain from Vicious, then from hitting on 3-6 Sanctum Seeker and/or Bishop of the Bloodstained triggers in consecutive turns, or Vanquisher's Banner which can be sustained because opponents have such a hard time commiting removal on our 1/1, 1/2, 1/1, 2/2 and 2/1 creatures, which can get wide. Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle's ability is wildly better than I expected it to be, and swinging out little dorks or Skymarch Bloodletter for seemingly insignificant amounts of damage that opponents can't block and don't want to waste removal spells on is often the lead into our Seeker and Bishop blowouts.
Metallic Mimic is worthwhile but not part of the ideal curve. Throne of the God-Pharaoh is GAS.
I swear, and it's hard to explain, that yes I have tested out Gifted Aetherborn in the deck, and they do not work for the strange approach this deck takes to lining up wins, unfortunately.
I play a couple Call to the Feast. It's been excellent when it shows up, while the best draws the deck has shown so far do not feature it. I am not sure if it's the right number, but our goal isn't max tokens for certain, and we need nontokens to trigger Mavren. There seems to be a really nice balance between not raising red flags to opponents that it matters a ton that we're making a few tokens and how surprisingly valuable each token can end up being between attack, damage, and Throne drain triggers and the incidental life gain.
The removal suite is a lot of fun is simply 4 Fatal Push and 2 Settle the Wreckage. The Settles have been absolute blowouts on almost every occasion I've cast one. With the way our deck is constantly derp-attacking, I've found opponents get more and more compelled to make big swings back, as they can't/shouldn't block a number of our creatures and we start draining their life and gaining life, and they feel they need to respond. Fatal Push is just what it is, awesome (except a waste of 1-mana against an Adanto Vanguard haha). Sometimes with Seeker we have a board of tokens that would get eaten up by blocks, and Settle allows us to act like we're hanging back and goad attacks from opponents to clear way for drain kills.
Legion's Landing
has been excellent. I once played it turn 1, then two 1-drops turn 2, then flipped it and cast Call to the Feast on turn 3 before op even got a creature out. The desert lands have been so-so, I'm still deciding about them. I know the tapped lands look crappy, but they make the mana infinitely smoother.
Sideboard: Duress, Arguel's Blood Fast for UB control, Duress, Gideon of the Trials, Lost Legacy for Approach control, Solemnity for Temur or Snek, Forsake the Worldly for Mardu, Tokens, Gearhulks/Azcanta, Make Obsolete I'm giving a try because I know there are token decks in my Meta, and Vraska's Contempt and Never / Return in case Planeswalkers in particular are getting me. Had janky sideboard first couple tourneys but working on it, needs lots more testing.
NOTE By coincidence I have yet to be matched up with any UB control or other control variations yet, so I will update when I have some results regarding that! So basically board wipes and what our potential responses are to them. Honestly so far, it seems like Temur is the best match up for this deck, but I've played most of my matches against Temur so I dunno how some of the other match ups even look yet.
Please! Let me know if you have any thoughts/opinions/ideas about the deck or like/dislike parts, I'd love to hear em! Upvote if you're diggin the Vamps, I'd appreciate it! :D
