Cordial Vampire

Creature — Vampire

Whenever Cordial Vampire or another creature is put into the graveyard from the battlefield, put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire you control.

Discussion (31)

lagotripha on Sorin to victory (orzhov vampires)

1 month ago

I've played a lot of modern vamps. Some of the best options are dirt cheap, so it makes for a great budget list to take to FNM. Most of the time I've been in mono black, but splashing for lietennant is fairly low-cost and low-risk for a great card.

For this list, Vampire of the Dire Moon , Vampire Cutthroat , Indulgent Aristocrat will do an amazing job filling out the one-drop slots. They are the 'best' budget setup I've found- great burn matchup and evasion/great deathtouch trades into bigger threats. They also play nice with Lashwrithe and Blade of the Bloodchief .

If your budget is tight enought that filling out with $1 1 drops seems rough, look at Guul Draz Vampire , Shadow Alley Denizen and Pulse Tracker alongside Stromkirk Condemned , Urge to Feed and direct damage like Gonti's Machinations and Bump in the Night . Playing a lot of 1 mana creatures that get pumped is really good, and evasion like intimidate makes something like mono-red burn but with hand disruption.

Two mana stronger options is Legion Lieutenant and Cordial Vampire (you can run Stromkirk Condemned , Dusk Legion Zealot or Cruel Celebrant ), and three is Vampire Nighthawk and Bloodthirsty Aerialist since you have them and want those slots for budget removal/carddraw. Gifted Aetherborn deserves a mention as it used to be cheap, but dire moon is frankly better and in print.

Next we come to the thing that makes budget mono-black king of the budget lists- cheap, effective spells. Sign in Blood is playable card-draw. Underworld Connections while far, far worse than Phyrexian Arena , and worse than bob still performs admirably. Delirium Skeins & Mind Rake devastates control players. Duress successfully hates out combo players. Standard cards like Mire's Toll & Drill Bit perform miracles. Cards like Flaying Tendrils can play at being one-sided boardwipes, and your sideboard has access to all manner of oddball cards that had too many copies to get expensive for modern- from Shadowfeed to Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage .

Grab some playtest tools and muck about- you will find a great deck within your budget that you can muck about with to perform well in your local meta.

Nemesis on R/B/W Vampires

1 month ago

Heyo! I've been working on a B/W/R vamp list for a little bit, so it's interesting seeing the direction you're taking it. I haven't really considered Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle for my list so I think I'll give him a whirl.

Have you considered Legion Lieutenant and Cordial Vampire ? I'd consider them over Rakish Heir and Blood Artist .

zephyr_chang on vampires

1 month ago

Vampires can actually be quite competitive, especially with the printing of Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord . But you are right, it won't be cheap to build the best version of the deck.

You could play some Viscera Seer in the deck. It gives you late game reach together with Kalastria Highborn . The ability to instantly grow your entire team with Cordial Vampire is also not bad. If nothing else, he allows you to at least get a scry off opponent's removal, and switch off Path to Exile so you can get your creatures back from the graveyard. Seer is often used with Bloodghast to great effect in typical Vampires builds.

Knight of the Ebon Legion is a great addition to the archetype from the latest set as well. Other cards you can consider are Stromkirk Condemned and Asylum Visitor . They work well together. Visitor has 3 power and represents card advantage, which is always useful.

LordBlackblade on

1 month ago

Alright, let's get down to it! Anje Falkenrath is relatively new and I'm not yet sold on her validity as a vampire commander. My primary hang up is the overall weakness of madness as a mechanic. It is still critically underrepresented on cards, and of those that do exist only a handful are actually any good. I'm not saying it can't be done, just that I am skeptical that it can compete with existing vampire archetypes.

Mana Base Show

I like to start with the mana base in any deck I look at as it is (in my opinion) most crucial in the smooth operation of a deck. To start, your land count looks good, right about the sweet spot for a deck of this type. That said, there are a few sub-optimal choices in lands I would like to point out.

Cut

• Bloodfell Caves
• Cinder Barrens
• Great Furnace
• Vault of Whispers

I try and avoid tap lands at all costs if possible. When running a low-to-the-ground deck like this, the loss of tempo from a tap land can be more damaging than the loss of color availability. In addition, I would discourage the use of artifact lands unless you are going for a specific artifact theme. This is simply because artifact lands are easier to destroy than regular lands and aren't worth the risk with literally no benefit in this particular list.

Add

• Ancient Ziggurat
• Blood Crypt
• Bloodstained Mire
• Graven Cairns
• Luxury Suite
• Path of Ancestry
• Unclaimed Territory
• Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

I feel that any of these lands would be strong adds to your list. While some of the cards are a bit on the pricey side, I do feel they would improve the flow and power level of the deck.

Creatures Show

Vampires are usually pretty aggressively costed and there are a literal bevy of them to choose from. The key is choosing the cream of the crop to run in a singleton format.

Cut

• Bloodcrazed Neonate
• Bloodhall Priest
• Bloodsworn Steward
• Erdwal Ripper
• Falkenrath Reaver
• Heir of Falkenrath  ^Flip
• Incorrigible Youths
• Markov Crusader
• Stromkirk Mentor

Many of these creatures are either too costly or too under-powered for this format. It is important to remember that in EDH, efficiency is key. I would discourage playing any creature that falls short of the formula (Power+Toughness)/2=Converted Mana Cost (e.g. A 2/2 for two mana or better) unless it is especially crucial for your deck to function.

In addition impact is crucial. Bloodhall Priest for example is fairly costed, but doesn't do enough to advance your board state for the cost.

In

• Champion of Dusk
• Cordial Vampire
• Dusk Legion Zealot
• Malakir Bloodwitch
• Stromkirk Occultist
• Twilight Prophet
• Vicious Conquistador

These creatures are all what I would describe as impactful or highly efficient. When I mean impactful, cards like Malakir Bloodwitch make a big splash when they hit and are still relevant after the fact due to their efficient bodies. In terms of efficiency, Vicious Conquistador can put in a lot of work in the early game as a cheap, go-wide card.

Instants Show

In general 1-1 removal and "small" damage are not that great in EDH. Shoot for cards that are either modal a la Rakdos Charm or hit multiple targets such as Anger of the Gods or any board wipe (obviously most of these effects are sorceries rather than instants). Vampiric Fury seems just okay. Again in EDH these are just okay and are usually superseded by repeatable and/or static effects.

Out

• Fatal Push
• Fiery Temper
• Lightning Axe
• Lightning Bolt
• Sorin's Thirst

I don't have any good tips for adds here, but I would encourage you to look for modal or mass effect type cards for this category.

Sorceries Show

Honestly, these seem fine. I would urge you to add some more card draw. Things like Night's Whisper and Read the Bones are pretty solid choices.

In

• Burning Inquiry
• Cathartic Reunion
• Night's Whisper
• Read the Bones
• Tormenting Voice

These all seem like good choices to me and many of them double as potential madness triggers essentially negating their downsides.

Artifacts Show

Most of these are pretty standard; however, there are a couple that don't really fit your plan that I would personally cut.

Out

• Basilisk Collar
• Eldrazi Monument
• Rakdos Cluestone

Basilisk Collar is a solid equipment, but this is neither a voltron nor combo build that can effectively utilize it. I like Eldrazi Monument for its power; however, you lack the ability to produce enough fodder to sustain it long-term. Finally, Rakdos Cluestone is simply outclassed by other mana rocks, most notably my suggestion Talisman of Indulgence .

In

• Herald's Horn
• Talisman of Indulgence

Herald's Horn is just a good card in any tribal deck and I would highly recommend it!

My overall impression is that you've got a decent base here, but have made several choices that I see a lot of new EDH players make in their early decks. In general, you could use more card draw and I would encourage you to take a look at EDHREC or other vampire decks on here for inspiration in terms of what kinds of effects truly shine in EDH versus other formats.

CrimsonChaos on More cards being flagged

1 month ago

In my decks I'm showing Darkwater Catacombs , Boros Garrison , Cavern of Souls , Caves of Koilos , Dragonskull Summit , Evolving Wilds , Rakdos Carnarium , Sunbaked Canyon , Vault of the Archangel , Chromatic Lantern , Anointed Procession , Butcher of Malakir , and Cordial Vampire all as illegal in EDH. Also, the new cards from C19 have not yet been updated for legality, but since the official release is today that isn't terribly surprising.

SideBae on Edgar Markov and his Jacked Up Family

2 months ago

Ok. So, here're my suggestions; feel free to ignore any or all of them, if you so choose:

CARD DRAW/SELECTION: This is a big part of EDH.

• Twilight Prophet : This is similar to Dark Confidant , though better with your curve. It's also a vampire, so... yeah.

• Painful Truths : I've been very impressed with this card in my Tasigur, the Golden Fang deck. It's a great three-mana draw-three.

• Night's Whisper : Similar to Painful Truths .

• Phyrexian Arena : This is similar to Twilight Prophet , but slightly cheaper and harder to remove.

• Faithless Looting : This is a powerhouse in Modern, and it's pretty good in EDH too. It makes a lot of one-land sevens or land-heavy sevens into keepable opening hands.

• Sorin, Grim Nemesis : He's good.

• Champion of Dusk : This card can easily be a mass-draw spell, depending on your board, and his body isn't insignificant.

• Throne of the High City : Using the monarch mechanic in an aggro deck is pretty good. Since you're running Anowon, the Ruin Sage , you don't want to run any of the monarch-making creatures, as none of them are vampires. Marchesa's Decree is also worth considering.

TUTORS: These will make your deck more consistent.

• Gamble : A lot of people call this the red Entomb , but it's great if you have four or more cards in hand.

• Demonic Tutor / Vampiric Tutor : These are the gold-standard for tutors, but they're rather expensive and therefore hard to get.

• Mastermind's Acquisition / Diabolic Tutor : These are good subs for Demonic Tutor .

RAMP: I think you're running too many lands for an aggro deck; also, your ramp package has room for improvement. Replacing a few lands with rocks and potentially some more creatures can make the deck a lot better.

• Talisman of Conviction / Talisman of Hierarchy / Talisman of Indulgence : These are better signets. You probably want to keep at least two signets in with these two, at least.

• Mana Crypt / Mox Diamond / Mana Vault / Grim Monolith : These cards are expensive AF, but good. If you can use them, you should.

• Ancient Tomb : This is a great piece of land-ramp and can land a signet or talisman on turn one.

REMOVAL: You have a lot of good removal spells, mainly because a lot of your removal is more than a one-for-one (see Fell the Mighty , Crackling Doom and Return to Dust ). In a format with three opponents, you typically want to be doing more than trading one-for-ones, a notable exception being Swords to Plowshares , which is an absurdly powerful card. I suggest running some of the following:

• Fire Covenant : This is EXCELLENT spot removal, as it differentially kills what you need to kill.

• Wear / Tear : Usually a two-for-one. Any red-white deck in EDH should run this.

• Toxic Deluge : This is a great board-wipe, especially for decks with a lot of counters that get your own creatures' toughnesses up. As an added bonus, you can cast it while Gaddock Teeg is down.

• Pestilence / Pyrohemia : These are sorta like permanent-based Toxic Deluge s.

• Reckless Spite : Costing five life isn't a big deal, especially if you have life-linking vampires.

• Liliana's Triumph / Innocent Blood : If you have a token on the field, Innocent Blood is pure profit. Liliana's Triumph is just regular profit.

• Despark : I know I just said one-for-one's aren't typically good, but I've been very impressed with this one. At instant-speed, it's a powerful effect. Worth considering.

• Grasp of Fate / Oblivion Ring : I'd take one of these over Luminous Bonds any day.

MANA BASE: Untapped lands are the best lands, but once you hit three colors, it can be tough to make your mana work while coming in untapped. Consider the following:

• Mana Confluence / City of Brass : Worth running in any deck over two colors.

• Blood Crypt / Godless Shrine / Sacred Foundry : Due to the recent reprints, these are unusually cheap right now. I suggest running them if possible.

• Prismatic Vista : It's a better Evolving Wilds , though it is around $20 these days.

• Battlefield Forge / Sulfurous Springs / Caves of Koilos : These ETB untapped and only hurt if you need the colors.

• Sunbaked Canyon / Silent Clearing : A little on the pricy side, but these ETB untapped and can cycle if you're flooded.

• Unclaimed Territory / Cavern of Souls : These are chromatic for your vampires, and Cavern of Souls can hose pesky blue decks.

• Dragonskull Summit / Isolated Chapel / Clifftop Retreat : These'll almost always ETB untapped, if you craft your landbase right and play carefully.

CREATURES: There're some creatures I think you should upgrade from the Maybeboard:

• Drana, Liberator of Malakir : This puts down a hell of a clock. I think she's better than Deathless Ancient .

• Bloodline Keeper  ^Flip: This is a GREAT card. I think it should replace Paladin of the Bloodstained .

• Cordial Vampire : This is probably a good bit better than Legion Lieutenant .

MISCELLANEOUS: There're some other cards you might like. Consider the following:

• Shared Animosity : One time, many moons ago, I built a modern goblins deck with this. It was alright/terrible in Modern, but in a relatively slow-moving format like EDH it can be a real powerhouse.

• Smallpox / Pox : Smallpox is easily one of my favorite cards in EDH, and may be good with your high land count, even if you choose to cut three or four lands. It'll depend on your meta and your final deck list. It could be awful, but it could be good. Pox is much more likely to be terrible, but is worth having on your radar.

• Suppression Field : You're running very few planeswalkers, fetches, and with a little crafting, you can have very few creatures and/or artifacts with activated abilities. In my meta, this card is absurd. Especially against me.

• Price of Glory : This discourages instant-speed interaction. In a deck like this, it's very likely to hose blue-players without really touching you.

• Necrogen Mists : This is a good way to limit your opponents' ability to oppose you, especially if you choose to run Falkenrath Gorger off your Maybeboard.

• Armageddon : Speaking of limiting your opponents' ability to stop you... Just make sure you cast it while you're ahead. Decree of Annihilation is good for this at instant-speed.

• Stranglehold : Everyone searches. Make 'em stop.

• Aura of Silence : This is good in most metas. The tax effect is brutal, and the sacrifice has the ability to break a combo in a pinch.

• Rule of Law : This'll hose pretty much any combo deck. I hate playing against this card. (I play Storm.)

• Authority of the Consuls : This is a good way to make sure opponents can't poop out blockers too quick.

KabsBUB on

2 months ago

Here are some tips:

1) Try to keep deck size down to 60

2) Similar to #1, increase the number of four-ofs to increase consistency between games. (Generally, singles are for decks with tutors/heavy card draw. Your deck has neither so it relies the most on your starting hand). I'd consider cards like Cruel Celebrant , Blood Artist , Cordial Vampire

3) Cards like Call to the Feast shouldn't be 4-ofs because of the mana cost. 4-ofs should be cards that are great both early game and late game, and are part of your core strategy. Remember that high CMC cost cards don't need as many copies. For example, a 5 mana card can only be cast as early as turn 5 (fair decks). Therefore by then you'd have gone through 7+5 (Starting hand+5 draws) cards in your deck to have found it.

5) Your deck has a sort of "you kill my creatures, I drain you" sort of thing. So drop the protection on creatures ( Emerge Unscathed / Adanto Vanguard ). You already have deterrence.

6) Increase the number of Champion of Dusk . This is because card draw in black/white is very rare and as a 5-mana cost creature, very good to your mana curve. By the time you amass 5 mana you can cast it, hopefully with quite a few vampires on the field. I'd use 3 of them.

6) Drop Ashes of the Abhorrent , it's not good enough. Enchantments/Artifacts here should buff up your creatures or generate creature tokens. (Creature-focused deck)

7) Remove Cliffhaven Vampire . This is because it's a "win-more" card. Here, it requires you to have a certain board state (aka ability to gain life) for it to be useful. As a general rule, higher mana cost investments should be able to turn around a bad situation (board wipe/etc) or require no boardstate when you cast it (aka "good on its own")

8) Remove Kambal, Consul of Allocation . This is because you don't want your strategy to be dependent on your opponent's (unless this is in your sideboard). What if the opponent is playing a creature deck? It'd be pretty useless.

9) Sanguine Bond 's effect is a little redundant here, we already have enough of this effect on the board

10) I'd consider removing Orzhov Basilica because most of the time you're going to need mana on turn two. I'd hate for your lands to be tapped when they come into play.

hungry000 on Karlove One Another

2 months ago

Hmm... the only clear cuts I would make are

Cordial Vampire --> Skirsdag High Priest

Sheoldred, Whispering One --> Demon of Dark Schemes

Orzhov Charm --> Dictate of Erebos

Black Sun's Zenith --> Massacre Girl

Dross Harvester might be better than Deathgreeter , as well. Sacrificing 3 creatures with Teysa out gains you 6 life with Deathgreeter and 12-4=8 life with Harvester. Though since their cmcs are different and I don't really have a grasp of how fast EDH is it's hard for me to say without testing.