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One of the strongest decks in standard lately has been the mono-black tribal Vampires. Derided on one hand because it can't beat format bogeyman Jund, and on the other because it virtually builds itself - there were virtually no tournament playable standard vampires before Zendikar, and only just enough to make up the 60 cards after it. Now with Worldwake's release the deck has a whole bunch more options. But which ones cut the mustard, and which should be left in the land of forty card decks?
You can have any colour as long as it's black
Setting aside the odd variant splashing red, let's consider a recent list from a big standard tournament. Fourteen year old Eric Palmerduca won the Dallas SCG $5k with this bog standard list:
Vampires is based on a very solid curve of creatures, but it isn't an aggro deck. Creatures like Bloodghast and Vampire Nighthawk are very strong but they don't compare on the early turns to the likes of Steppe Lynx or Hellspark Elemental. To make up for this shortfall in playing the aggro game, the vampire deck has some useful tools against both aggressive and controlling decks. Tendrils of Corruption is one of the best removal spells in the format, and Marsh Casualties out of the sideboard is a real one-sided beating. If Vampires holds on against the aggro assault, the card advantage it is capable of generating combined with its beefy end-game threats should be enough to ensure the win. Against control decks the many cheap creatures – especially Bloodghast – can pile on overwhelming pressure, and Mind Sludge is crushing in if resolved. Vampires is thus able to compete with both aggressive and controlling opponents in standard, and as you can see in Eric's list above he has a selection of tools for both matchups main deck and in the sideboard.
All of this is immaterial, of course, if Worldwake can't deliver some tools for the deck to fight Jund or strengthen other decks sufficiently that Jund is not such a prevalent metagame choice. Jund seems like it was pre-built to destroy Vampires. Nearly every creature Jund plays brings with it some card advantage, and it makes the single target removal of Vamps look silly. Meanwhile Sign in Blood can't keep up with the devastating combination of Blightning and cascade, and Jund's endgame Double Dragons are an excellent trump for Bloodwitch and Nocturnus. Cedric Phillips, a recent advocate of Vampires, admits that Jund is basically an auto-loss but feels that the mono-black dudes have good enough matchups elsewhere that the deck is a good choice if you can dodge Jund. With that brief understanding of Vampires place in the current metagame, let's see what Worldwake brings to the table.
Back in Black
There are seven actual vampire creatures in Worldwake, and they are the obvious place to start. In alphabetical order:
A one sided The Abyss is seriously good for a controlling vampires deck, and Anowon can beat for 4 on top of that. At 5 mana he is contending with the amazing Malakir Bloodwitch though, which is probably the best weapon Vampires has. Toughness 3 is very vulnerable in this format also, and unlike The Abyss you have to wait until it gets back to your own upkeep until your opponent has to sacrifice a creature. It will be a rare vampire deck that will prefer Anowon to Malakir Bloodwitch, I think. He will certainly be strong in casual vampire decks though, and he makes a pretty thematic EDH general.
Vampires is not averse to playing 2/2 creatures but it wants more out of them than this, I think. Playing this you will want to spend at least 4 mana on it, at which point it is a 4 mana, 2/2 Rotting Rats. At 5 mana Mind Sludge will make your opponent discard 5 cards, while the Ritualist will only force the discarding of 2 cards. Ritualist is definitely not unplayable, but vampires just has better options available.
7 mana is normally beyond what constructed decks are willing to spend on a single card, unless it is incredibly game-altering like Cruel Ultimatum. The high mana cost will keep the Butcher out of competitive constructed despite his awesome Grave Pact-like ability and 5 power flying body. When your opponent trades his Path to Exile for your Butcher of Malakir and has 6 mana left to play some removal-resistant threat of his own, you will understand why.
Vampire Hexmage has never seemed quite up to snuff next to Bloodghast in my vampires deck – it is great against planeswalkers, but it is quickly outclassed against the beefy early drops floating around in other decks. Kalastria Highborn looks like an exciting replacement in this slot, especially paired with Bloodghast. It may also be worth considering Vampire Aristocrat in a combo-ish vampires deck, sacrificing multiple Bloodghasts, popping fetchlands to bring them back, and paying B each time in a manner reminiscent of Arcbound Ravager and Disciple of the Vault in the old, broken, banned versions of Affinity. The only issue with the Highborn is that you often don't want to hold mana open with Vampires, as you have plenty of 2 drops, 3 drops, 4 drops and 5 drops that you want to put into play on schedule. I will definitely be testing this as soon as possible.
If Vampire Lacerator is not good enough, then Pulse Tracker certainly isn't. The art also doesn't work too well on a magic card, especially a black one.
Despite the many swamps going around in standard these days, I don't think swampwalk is an exciting enough ability to make up for Quag Vampires' mediocre stats. Moving on...
A 4/2 for 2 mana is very efficient, no doubt, but it suffers from the same problem as Guul Draz Vampire – it has a low casting cost, but it's really poor on the early turns. By the time your opponent is at 10, you probably have 3 or 4 lands out at least and can drop serious creatures like Vampire Nighthawk or Nocturnus.
Once you go Black...
So Kalastria Highborn is the only vampire creature that really jumps out at me as worth testing, but there are plenty of other goodies amongst Worldwake's black cards. I won't be addressing each one, only the ones worthy of consideration. If I don't mention a particular card that you think is worth looking at for vampires, let me know your thoughts in the comments!
One of the two mega-hyped cards of the set along with Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Abyssal Persecutor has been talked about in just about every deck sporting black. I hope I don't have to explain why, as a 6/6 flying trampler for 4 with a drawback that can be worked around. Vampires is possibly one of the better homes as it has plenty of ways to get rid of him when the opponent is at negative life between Gatekeeper and Tendrils, and the easy possibility of accommodating more removal like Bone Splinters. If you want to go for a less tribal-centric build and drop Nocturnus it is definitely worth trying Persecutor, if you can find any at a reasonable price.
This removal spell seems deceptively strong. Killing an opponent's creature and getting back a Nocturnus or Bloodwitch sounds good. Unfortunately most of the creatures in vampires have a low power, relying on Nocturnus to buff it up when in play, but I definitely think this card is constructed-worthy somewhere.
The most disappointing card of the set for some people, I'm sure – the 13/13 for 1 that can never actually be a 13/13 for 1 in normal circumstances. It has a lot of negative synergy with vampire cards like Bloodwitch, Tendrils and Kalastria Highborn so I don't think it is even close to worth a slot in this deck. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes a splash somewhere, especially with the "new design space" wizards were aching to explore with the removal of manaburn.
Wow, is there any better way to answer Baneslayer Angel? Exile one for BB, and get your own temporarily to block and kill whatever other creature your opponent may be attacking with. Definitely worth considering for vampire sideboards, in the place currently filled by Deathmark.
This card just answers so many questions your opponent can pose – Knight of the Reliquary, Plated Geopede, Lotus Cobra, and Vampire Nighthawk to name a few. There are so many removal spells to choose from for black now, it will be difficult to find the right mix.
One that will definitely claim a place though is this card. Nameless Inversion was always good enough in Lorwyn standard, and this is that again with a big upside. Not so good if you're on the attack every turn, Urge to Feed is a fantastic way to turn the game around if you have a few blockers but your opponent is gaining the upper hand. Also keep in mind that your summoning-sickness affected creatures can be tapped for Urge to Feed which is bound to be relevant. Even if you can't take advantage of its vampire-pumping bonus this is still an efficient, instant speed removal spell.
Gotta Heart Full of Black
Vampires has gotten some great support tools in Worldwake and with the apparent death of Boros Bushwhacker it will almost certainly be my choice for the next standard FNM. Let me know in the comments what vampires you want to test out for standard, block or casual constructed, and if you have any vampire-related stories from your prerelease!
