So I pulled a foil Olivia and some assorted money rares at the MTGO pre-release for Innistrad. I'm going to take this as the EDH gods telling me to build an Olivia Voldaren deck.
Olivia Voldaren is one of four legends in the new Innistrad set, and one of the most fun EDH generals. She's in a highly relevant tribe going all the way back in the history of Magic, she has two awesome abilities (Repeatedly killing or stealing creatures are both useful, especially when it helps pump your general) and her mana cost is surprisingly aggressive. There's already a primer for a BR deck using Olivia as the general, but I decided a primer for the tribal version of the deck would be fun to have, too.
Why tribal? Vampires are an interesting Magic tribe. Historically, prior to Zendikar block, vampires were the iconic race in Black. What this means is that they were like dragons in Red and angels in White; they were the colour of big, splashy rare creatures and legends, including classics like Crovax the Cursed and Baron Sengir. In Zendikar block, though, Wizards decided zombies didn't really exemplify Black's philosophy; they also decided that, well, vampires are way cooler. And so vampires are now the characteristic tribe in Black, the same way goblins are for Red and elves are for Green. This has brought a slew of vampires, some of them pretty powerful, and in their new status as a supported tribe, vampires now get a bunch of vampire lords from Magic 2012 onwards. This means that vampires are pretty unique, in that they're a tribe with a long historical supply of fatties and splashy cards, but which can also fill out the lower end of a mana curve; you get the best of both worlds. Vampires also have a long list of tribal cards, and of course we have a vampire Planeswalker. All that within the span of a couple years. Take that, elves.
Why play Olivia Voldaren?
You'd think about playing the tribal version of the Olivia Voldaren deck if you:
Like playing big creatures, specially ones that get bigger, and turning them sideways.
Like impersonating Bela Lugosi, Count von Count, and/or Nicholas Cage during games.
This is an unashamedly Johnny-Timmy take on it. It has a few cutesy but not game-winning combos, a "theme," and a bunch of tribal synergies. If you enjoy proliferating six different targets or building up an 8/8 flyer, this deck is for you.
How do I win?
You play giant vampires, including vampire lords that buff your other giant vampires, then you beat face. When they die, you bring them back from the dead or just draw more giant vampires, and beat more face. Meanwhile your opponents are tied up by a combination of cards like Butcher of Malakir, Sangromancer and Olivia herself.
This deck has three overarching themes running through it: Vampire tribal synergies, repeatable creature kill, and "vampiric" life gain effects. It plays as many lords as possible to create big, sometimes undercosted, usually flying beaters, many of them with useful effects. It kills creatures all the time and reaps the benefits with cards like Sangromancer and Blade of the Bloodchief. And it drains its opponents to gain life. The result is a surprisingly solid midrange deck that's not explosive, but can maintain a reasonable board presence most of the time. The vampire deck is like a conspiracy: A mounting threat that increases gradually but surely. Your creatures are constantly getting bigger, and you're constantly putting more of them into play. This is the sort of deck that puts pressure on the table and makes it so degenerate combo decks can't just sit and tutor all game long.
The Cards
The deck's backbone are the vampire lords. Ideally you want to run every one of those. Most of them are actually fairly playable on their own, even.
Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Not exactly a "lord," but he might just be the strongest tribal card in the deck. One-sided The Abyss on a stick is good, period. This guy is your best friend.
Ascendant Evincar: A vampire and a lord, although not a vampire lord. His ability isn't as ridiculous as Elesh Norn's, and sometimes it'll make you some undesirable friends, but he's a classic. If there's a lord that you might consider not running, this is it.
Bloodline Keeper / Lord of Lineage: A vampire lord that makes more vampires, flies, gets huge, and pumps your vampires to absurd size. Yes, very much yes.
Bloodlord of Vasgoth: A flying 6/6 for 5 mana seems good. When he pumps all your other vampires, he's insane, especially because his bonus sticks around after he dies. Activating bloodthirst is usually simple in a table full of people, especially when we have so many fliers to count on.
Captivating Vampire: Your classic lord. His first ability is a little underwhelming, but you get to cast him fairly early and his second ability, if you ever actually get to use it, is fantastic and complements Olivia very nicely.
Malakir Bloodwitch: Not exactly a lord but still: Exsanguinate on a stick, especially if you have a ton of vampires in play.
Rakish Heir: Deceptively powerful. He gives every vampire you have the new Innistrad vampire mechanic. He's one of the major reasons why you want proliferate in this deck.
This is a creature deck. You want to run plenty of them - as many as 30 even, although I run a more modest 26.
Baron Sengir: A classic, and probably the best thing to come out of Homelands. His ability uses the elusive +2/+2 counter, which makes it even more ridiculous with Proliferate.
Blood Seeker: Anti-Soul Warden, this guy is deceptively powerful. He can easily net you 10 life across all other players, which is pretty good for a little two-mana dork. Plus, he makes Storm Herd cry.
Bloodhusk Ritualist: The body is nothing to speak of, but making someone drop their hand (Courtesy of dumb black mana acceleration like Cabal Coffers) is always good.
Butcher of Malakir: Grave Pact on a stick. Granted, not as great as Grave Pact, but drop greaves on this guy and watch everybody else squirm. A 5/4 flier is also well into the range for relevance in the format.
Chancellor of the Dross: A 6/6 flier with lifelink, what's not to like? Plus, in the 7% or so of cases, he gives you a huge leg up - and makes you a target. Always fun.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Repeatable creature kill is good, especially when you can kill multiple creatures in one turn, and even more so when it pumps your creature in the process. Drana can even kill indestructible or regenerating creatures. Zero toughness means to the graveyard with you, no buts. You can also use her ability sneakily to "help" some damaged creature die.
Falkenrath Marauders: Flying and haste are both very relevant, since creatures don't tend to stick around for long.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Diabolic Edict on a stick in a relevant creature type? Yes please.
Guul Draz Assassin: Okay, so the mana investment is a little huge, but he's a very good early drop and can easily control the board for several turns.
Mephidross Vampire: Mostly, he's cool in a deck that doesn't run all vampires, but he does give the Sengir ability to everybody, which can quickly become absurd if you stack it with enough other lords. Especially funny is having Baron Sengir with both +1/+1 and +2/+2 counters on him.
Mirri the Cursed: Flying, first strike, haste, AND a pretty mean ability. She can block and eat most bears for breakfast, growing bigger in the process.
Pawn of Ulamog: Combine this guy with Butcher of Malakir for "fun" and "games." He's in a relevant creature type, and he gives you value for all those creatures that die, allowing you to recycle them into giant Exsanguinates or other crazy schemes.
Sangromancer: I think I see a theme emerging! Killing creatures is something this deck is good at, and having a reverse triple Soul Warden to go with it is good, never mind how crazily she can interact with discard.
Sengir Vampire: The vampire that started it all. Can't have a vampire deck without him. Bonus points if you use one from Alpha.
Vampiric Dragon: It's a vampire, it's a dragon, it grows, it kills creatures - what's not to like?
Vein Drinker: Vampiric Dragon's cousin. It kills creatures by remote control and grows.
If you really want style points, you should play some vampire-related spells along with all the vampires. I'm including both spells with mechanic connections to vampires and spells with flavour fitting the vampire theme, which in practice also means I include anything relating to blood. It's actually fully possible to have all your nonland cards be vampire-related in some way, if not exactly advisable. Some of these are even actually good. I'm skipping over the abjectly bad ones, like the sad joke that is Taste of Blood
Blade of the Bloodchief: A must have. This will quickly grow your vampires to unreasonable size, and since the bonus stays on them permanently, you can switch the blade around between your creatures to spread the love. It in practice triples the Sengir Vampire ability, and in effect you don't really have to do anything for this to work - creatures die all the time. Especially fun when combined with selective mass creature kill, such as Consume the Meek and Contagion Engine.
Blood Tribute: This is just cruel. Using this too often might look and feel like griefing. You'll almost always have a vampire to tap for the kicker cost; this is a big swing, and it can be played much earlier than a giant Exsanguinate.
Exsanguinate: Swingy as all hell. Like Blood Tribute, this can feel like griefing. Red/black has access to quite a bit of fast mana, which can be used to power this.
Feast of Blood: Unreliable, but if you can cast it this is a better kill spell than Terminate.
Sanguine Bond: There's enough life gain in the deck to make this relevant, and you can add more to make this card a great passive killer. It's hard to deal with for a lot of decks, and it combos with Blood Tribute and a random vampire to kill someone outright. You can also use it alongside a creature with lifelink to effectively attack two opponents at once, make Sangromancer really hurt, cast Exsanguinate for 10 and kill a player outright, and so on.
Sign in Blood: Okay, so this is more of a demon thing than a vampire thing, but I thought I'd mention this fairly popular card.
Sorin Markov: Just his second ability is worth the price of admission alone, never mind having yet another way of killing creatures repeatedly. Plus, he's the iconic vampire Planeswalker.
Urge to Feed: This doesn't kill that many creatures, but it does kill indestructible or regenerating critters, and getting that first +1/+1 token on your vampires, that you can proliferate later, is a bonus. Still, this is a bit of a stretch.
Vampire's Bite and Vampiric Fury: Do you like pump spells? They're generally weak in EDH, but lifelink is good (Especially on a giant vampire) and first strike on a combat trick can be used to trigger many a Sengir Vampire.
Vampiric Tutor: One of the best tutors in the format. The only reason not to run this is that it's pretty pricy, especially on MTGO (Where is costs more than in paper).
Certain spells are just so good you want to run them in almost every black deck, and many have special synergy with what's already going on in the vampire deck.
Enchantments: Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Phyrexian Arena and Greed can go quite a long way, especially considering the various ways this deck has of gaining unreasonable amounts of life. Grave Pact not only acts as a harder to kill Butcher of Malakir without a body, it's positively psychotic to have both on the table at the same time. And don't forget to pack Stranglehold. No Mercy is also nice, both as a second Dread and if you really want to stay on theme and not run any non-vampire creatures.
Mana ramp: Braid of Fire, Mana Flare, Black Market, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Might, Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun all help you ramp. Olivia is actually a lot like Memnarch in that she lets you gain control of any creature for seven mana, and so one direction you can go with her is a "big mana" package that lets her bite a lot of victims, and bring them into the fold. This also helps with casting the larger vampires in the deck, powering giant Exsanguinates, or paying Bloodhusk Ritualist's kicker seven times.
Equipment: The usual package of Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and perhaps Darksteel Plate applies to any deck that wants to have its general stick. The deck doesn't have a "weenie package" to go with Skullclamp, but it can play a few token making effects such as Pawn of Ulamog and Kher Keep that go with it. It also fits in with the theme of punishing your opponents for killing your creatures, and is just an all-around great card. Basilisk Collar, besides making your giant evasive creatures even better, turns Olivia's love bites into the kiss of death and is yet another source of life gain. Quietus Spike is another way of giving Olivia deathtouch.
Tutors: You're in black, so you have access to a very solid package of arbitrary tutors, demonic, diabolic, grim and vampiric alike. Don't forget Beseech the Queen, too.
Useful multi-color cards: Being in black/red gives you access to Terminate, its versatile cousin Wrecking Ball, the always fun Bituminous Blast, the potentially hilarious Cauldron Dance, the absolutely filthy Pain Magnification, and the versatile permanent killer that is Void. Torrent of Souls is one of the best reanimators in the format, bringing a creature back with a vengeance. Again: Haste makes a real difference in a format where creatures don't stick around very long.
Artifacts: Akroma's Memorial is a little redundant in a deck full of fliers, but it still really delivers in a lot of ways in any creature deck. Steel Hellkite and Spine of Ish Sah give the deck some ways of dealing with pesky permanents.
Since vampires have only just started moving into red and this is a creature deck, this deck is practically mono-black and can justify running Cabal Coffers and Urborg, tomb of Yawgmoth with a mostly straight face, although this may change as Dark Ascension and the third set in Innistrad block bring more red vampires to the table. In addition to those, you also want your typical package of mana-fixing dual lands, plenty of swamps, your typical utility lands, sacrifice outlets like High Market and Miren, the Moaning Well, and Kher Keep. Kher Keep loves being in a deck with Skullclamp and two different Grave Pact effects, and the brave little kobolds can chump block like a champ, allowing you to laugh at that 16/16 skullbriar while leaving your fliers open to go forth and beat face. At the very worse, you can feed the kobolds to Olivia to make her bigger without provoking anyone (Or if no opponent is making a creature stick). And, 0/1 or no, the little Kobolds of Kher Keep can still carry the Blade of the Bloodchief and grow, even if not as huge as your actual vampires (Pro tip: You can make them vampires).
Decklists
Cassidy Silver's Voldaren's Coven deck, which helped guide a lot of card choices in this deck.
When running Olivia, Wooden Stake and Blazing Torch should at the very least be concidered, since she can turn opposing creatures into vampires. Those fledgeling vampires have and their vulnerability to rotschrek from your your torch, or the pointy end of a stake make them good (or at least cheap) tools in a vampire deck. Just watch out for people trying to steal these.
Arkham, the 1920's. Investigators battle horrors from beyond time and space, risking life and sanity while conspiracies of cultists and malign servitors seek gateways for their outer gods to return...
Soon, the stars will be right! Great Cthulhu shall rise!
Ack, my bad. I missed that; I don't run it, I run Necropotence instead now...
Which I guess makes me question why Yawgbargain is banned.
I also love the idea of using Olivia's ability to abuse Wooden Stake and Blazing Torch, though I think they're a little too weak to actually include.
Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned because it gives you the cards right away, usually making this a one-card combo. Necropotence is legal as even if you Necro for everything, you still have to wait until your end step to get the cards. Which if you take too many, instead of discarding you have to exile them.
Sean McKeown has an SCG article on an Olivia Voldaren EDH deck today and is probably worth a look for anyone thinking of building with this commander ( http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/commander/23217_Azami_Dear_Olivia.html ), but I honestly like the flavor of your tribal list better. I'll probably use it as a starting point for my own list.
Patriarch's Bidding seems like a good choice here. Also, i'm really surprised that Bloodghast isn't making an appearance. As far as bang for your buck he goes along way...And i'm Sad Vampire Noctournus isn't in this deck too. I know he held more utility in sealed or even FNM... but he's a house for a Lord.
I do think i want to start a vamp tribal...gona be a slow build
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Patriarch's Bidding seems like a good choice here. Also, i'm really surprised that Bloodghast isn't making an appearance. As far as bang for your buck he goes along way...And i'm Sad Vampire Noctournus isn't in this deck too. I know he held more utility in sealed or even FNM... but he's a house for a Lord.
I do think i want to start a vamp tribal...gona be a slow build
Bloodghast also pairs well with Skullclamp!
As you can see in my sig, I'm working on this. Your thread gave me a lot of ideas, thanks!
Painful Quandary: The name says it all. In a life drain deck, which vamps clearly are, opponents must weigh heavily the consequences of the decision they make whenever they cast a spell...
Wound Reflection: Maybe overkill, but vamps are all about overkill. Drain them, and then drain them some more. Let them fight amongst themselves and that drains them too. Fantastic card.
I assume you'll be putting in Stromkirk Captain after it's released, right? Also, what do you think of the new aristocrat mythic rare from Dark Ascension? How would one get a human into a vampire tribal deck?
you wouldnt have too olivia just has to steal them witch she would already be doing if your running a tribal correct. i mean im not an expert by no means but doesnt it state that the creature she hits becomes a vampire along with its other creature types i would just keep it in the side deck and run when you encounter humans steal sac them make your vamps bigger
I'm really impressed. I also build a Olivia Voldaren deck and asked looked for an improvement which in summary is pretty much this deck!
Vampiric Dragon seems to underperform in actual gameplay can you confirm that?
A 5/5 flyer for 8 is an expensive price to pay. The only way it's worthwhile is if you can abuse his ping dmg....which I believe is a very plausible manasink.
Olivia Voldaren: Interplanar Lady of Mystery
So I pulled a foil Olivia and some assorted money rares at the MTGO pre-release for Innistrad. I'm going to take this as the EDH gods telling me to build an Olivia Voldaren deck.
Olivia Voldaren is one of four legends in the new Innistrad set, and one of the most fun EDH generals. She's in a highly relevant tribe going all the way back in the history of Magic, she has two awesome abilities (Repeatedly killing or stealing creatures are both useful, especially when it helps pump your general) and her mana cost is surprisingly aggressive. There's already a primer for a BR deck using Olivia as the general, but I decided a primer for the tribal version of the deck would be fun to have, too.
Why tribal? Vampires are an interesting Magic tribe. Historically, prior to Zendikar block, vampires were the iconic race in Black. What this means is that they were like dragons in Red and angels in White; they were the colour of big, splashy rare creatures and legends, including classics like Crovax the Cursed and Baron Sengir. In Zendikar block, though, Wizards decided zombies didn't really exemplify Black's philosophy; they also decided that, well, vampires are way cooler. And so vampires are now the characteristic tribe in Black, the same way goblins are for Red and elves are for Green. This has brought a slew of vampires, some of them pretty powerful, and in their new status as a supported tribe, vampires now get a bunch of vampire lords from Magic 2012 onwards. This means that vampires are pretty unique, in that they're a tribe with a long historical supply of fatties and splashy cards, but which can also fill out the lower end of a mana curve; you get the best of both worlds. Vampires also have a long list of tribal cards, and of course we have a vampire Planeswalker. All that within the span of a couple years. Take that, elves.
Why play Olivia Voldaren?
You'd think about playing the tribal version of the Olivia Voldaren deck if you:
This is an unashamedly Johnny-Timmy take on it. It has a few cutesy but not game-winning combos, a "theme," and a bunch of tribal synergies. If you enjoy proliferating six different targets or building up an 8/8 flyer, this deck is for you.
How do I win?
You play giant vampires, including vampire lords that buff your other giant vampires, then you beat face. When they die, you bring them back from the dead or just draw more giant vampires, and beat more face. Meanwhile your opponents are tied up by a combination of cards like Butcher of Malakir, Sangromancer and Olivia herself.
This deck has three overarching themes running through it: Vampire tribal synergies, repeatable creature kill, and "vampiric" life gain effects. It plays as many lords as possible to create big, sometimes undercosted, usually flying beaters, many of them with useful effects. It kills creatures all the time and reaps the benefits with cards like Sangromancer and Blade of the Bloodchief. And it drains its opponents to gain life. The result is a surprisingly solid midrange deck that's not explosive, but can maintain a reasonable board presence most of the time. The vampire deck is like a conspiracy: A mounting threat that increases gradually but surely. Your creatures are constantly getting bigger, and you're constantly putting more of them into play. This is the sort of deck that puts pressure on the table and makes it so degenerate combo decks can't just sit and tutor all game long.
The Cards
The deck's backbone are the vampire lords. Ideally you want to run every one of those. Most of them are actually fairly playable on their own, even.
Anowon, the Ruin Sage: Not exactly a "lord," but he might just be the strongest tribal card in the deck. One-sided The Abyss on a stick is good, period. This guy is your best friend.
Ascendant Evincar: A vampire and a lord, although not a vampire lord. His ability isn't as ridiculous as Elesh Norn's, and sometimes it'll make you some undesirable friends, but he's a classic. If there's a lord that you might consider not running, this is it.
Bloodline Keeper / Lord of Lineage: A vampire lord that makes more vampires, flies, gets huge, and pumps your vampires to absurd size. Yes, very much yes.
Bloodlord of Vasgoth: A flying 6/6 for 5 mana seems good. When he pumps all your other vampires, he's insane, especially because his bonus sticks around after he dies. Activating bloodthirst is usually simple in a table full of people, especially when we have so many fliers to count on.
Captivating Vampire: Your classic lord. His first ability is a little underwhelming, but you get to cast him fairly early and his second ability, if you ever actually get to use it, is fantastic and complements Olivia very nicely.
Malakir Bloodwitch: Not exactly a lord but still: Exsanguinate on a stick, especially if you have a ton of vampires in play.
Rakish Heir: Deceptively powerful. He gives every vampire you have the new Innistrad vampire mechanic. He's one of the major reasons why you want proliferate in this deck.
This is a creature deck. You want to run plenty of them - as many as 30 even, although I run a more modest 26.
Baron Sengir: A classic, and probably the best thing to come out of Homelands. His ability uses the elusive +2/+2 counter, which makes it even more ridiculous with Proliferate.
Blood Seeker: Anti-Soul Warden, this guy is deceptively powerful. He can easily net you 10 life across all other players, which is pretty good for a little two-mana dork. Plus, he makes Storm Herd cry.
Bloodhusk Ritualist: The body is nothing to speak of, but making someone drop their hand (Courtesy of dumb black mana acceleration like Cabal Coffers) is always good.
Butcher of Malakir: Grave Pact on a stick. Granted, not as great as Grave Pact, but drop greaves on this guy and watch everybody else squirm. A 5/4 flier is also well into the range for relevance in the format.
Chancellor of the Dross: A 6/6 flier with lifelink, what's not to like? Plus, in the 7% or so of cases, he gives you a huge leg up - and makes you a target. Always fun.
Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief: Repeatable creature kill is good, especially when you can kill multiple creatures in one turn, and even more so when it pumps your creature in the process. Drana can even kill indestructible or regenerating creatures. Zero toughness means to the graveyard with you, no buts. You can also use her ability sneakily to "help" some damaged creature die.
Falkenrath Marauders: Flying and haste are both very relevant, since creatures don't tend to stick around for long.
Gatekeeper of Malakir: Diabolic Edict on a stick in a relevant creature type? Yes please.
Guul Draz Assassin: Okay, so the mana investment is a little huge, but he's a very good early drop and can easily control the board for several turns.
Mephidross Vampire: Mostly, he's cool in a deck that doesn't run all vampires, but he does give the Sengir ability to everybody, which can quickly become absurd if you stack it with enough other lords. Especially funny is having Baron Sengir with both +1/+1 and +2/+2 counters on him.
Mirri the Cursed: Flying, first strike, haste, AND a pretty mean ability. She can block and eat most bears for breakfast, growing bigger in the process.
Nirkana Revenant: Caged Sun on a stick is good, especially when it can attack as a 12/12 easily.
Pawn of Ulamog: Combine this guy with Butcher of Malakir for "fun" and "games." He's in a relevant creature type, and he gives you value for all those creatures that die, allowing you to recycle them into giant Exsanguinates or other crazy schemes.
Sangromancer: I think I see a theme emerging! Killing creatures is something this deck is good at, and having a reverse triple Soul Warden to go with it is good, never mind how crazily she can interact with discard.
Sengir Vampire: The vampire that started it all. Can't have a vampire deck without him. Bonus points if you use one from Alpha.
Vampire Hexmage: Destroys Planeswalkers. Is also part of a sick degenerate combo with Dark Depths.
Vampiric Dragon: It's a vampire, it's a dragon, it grows, it kills creatures - what's not to like?
Vein Drinker: Vampiric Dragon's cousin. It kills creatures by remote control and grows.
If you really want style points, you should play some vampire-related spells along with all the vampires. I'm including both spells with mechanic connections to vampires and spells with flavour fitting the vampire theme, which in practice also means I include anything relating to blood. It's actually fully possible to have all your nonland cards be vampire-related in some way, if not exactly advisable. Some of these are even actually good. I'm skipping over the abjectly bad ones, like the sad joke that is Taste of Blood
Blade of the Bloodchief: A must have. This will quickly grow your vampires to unreasonable size, and since the bonus stays on them permanently, you can switch the blade around between your creatures to spread the love. It in practice triples the Sengir Vampire ability, and in effect you don't really have to do anything for this to work - creatures die all the time. Especially fun when combined with selective mass creature kill, such as Consume the Meek and Contagion Engine.
Blood Tribute: This is just cruel. Using this too often might look and feel like griefing. You'll almost always have a vampire to tap for the kicker cost; this is a big swing, and it can be played much earlier than a giant Exsanguinate.
Exsanguinate: Swingy as all hell. Like Blood Tribute, this can feel like griefing. Red/black has access to quite a bit of fast mana, which can be used to power this.
Feast of Blood: Unreliable, but if you can cast it this is a better kill spell than Terminate.
Sanguine Bond: There's enough life gain in the deck to make this relevant, and you can add more to make this card a great passive killer. It's hard to deal with for a lot of decks, and it combos with Blood Tribute and a random vampire to kill someone outright. You can also use it alongside a creature with lifelink to effectively attack two opponents at once, make Sangromancer really hurt, cast Exsanguinate for 10 and kill a player outright, and so on.
Sign in Blood: Okay, so this is more of a demon thing than a vampire thing, but I thought I'd mention this fairly popular card.
Sorin Markov: Just his second ability is worth the price of admission alone, never mind having yet another way of killing creatures repeatedly. Plus, he's the iconic vampire Planeswalker.
Urge to Feed: This doesn't kill that many creatures, but it does kill indestructible or regenerating critters, and getting that first +1/+1 token on your vampires, that you can proliferate later, is a bonus. Still, this is a bit of a stretch.
Vampire's Bite and Vampiric Fury: Do you like pump spells? They're generally weak in EDH, but lifelink is good (Especially on a giant vampire) and first strike on a combat trick can be used to trigger many a Sengir Vampire.
Vampiric Tutor: One of the best tutors in the format. The only reason not to run this is that it's pretty pricy, especially on MTGO (Where is costs more than in paper).
Victim of Night: A worse Terminate with better art. I would run this instead of Doom Blade, but not instead of Terminate.
Certain spells are just so good you want to run them in almost every black deck, and many have special synergy with what's already going on in the vampire deck.
Enchantments: Necropotence, Yawgmoth's Bargain, Phyrexian Arena and Greed can go quite a long way, especially considering the various ways this deck has of gaining unreasonable amounts of life. Grave Pact not only acts as a harder to kill Butcher of Malakir without a body, it's positively psychotic to have both on the table at the same time. And don't forget to pack Stranglehold. No Mercy is also nice, both as a second Dread and if you really want to stay on theme and not run any non-vampire creatures.
Mana ramp: Braid of Fire, Mana Flare, Black Market, Extraplanar Lens, Gauntlet of Might, Gauntlet of Power and Caged Sun all help you ramp. Olivia is actually a lot like Memnarch in that she lets you gain control of any creature for seven mana, and so one direction you can go with her is a "big mana" package that lets her bite a lot of victims, and bring them into the fold. This also helps with casting the larger vampires in the deck, powering giant Exsanguinates, or paying Bloodhusk Ritualist's kicker seven times.
Equipment: The usual package of Lightning Greaves, Swiftfoot Boots, and perhaps Darksteel Plate applies to any deck that wants to have its general stick. The deck doesn't have a "weenie package" to go with Skullclamp, but it can play a few token making effects such as Pawn of Ulamog and Kher Keep that go with it. It also fits in with the theme of punishing your opponents for killing your creatures, and is just an all-around great card. Basilisk Collar, besides making your giant evasive creatures even better, turns Olivia's love bites into the kiss of death and is yet another source of life gain. Quietus Spike is another way of giving Olivia deathtouch.
Tutors: You're in black, so you have access to a very solid package of arbitrary tutors, demonic, diabolic, grim and vampiric alike. Don't forget Beseech the Queen, too.
Useful multi-color cards: Being in black/red gives you access to Terminate, its versatile cousin Wrecking Ball, the always fun Bituminous Blast, the potentially hilarious Cauldron Dance, the absolutely filthy Pain Magnification, and the versatile permanent killer that is Void. Torrent of Souls is one of the best reanimators in the format, bringing a creature back with a vengeance. Again: Haste makes a real difference in a format where creatures don't stick around very long.
Artifacts: Akroma's Memorial is a little redundant in a deck full of fliers, but it still really delivers in a lot of ways in any creature deck. Steel Hellkite and Spine of Ish Sah give the deck some ways of dealing with pesky permanents.
Since vampires have only just started moving into red and this is a creature deck, this deck is practically mono-black and can justify running Cabal Coffers and Urborg, tomb of Yawgmoth with a mostly straight face, although this may change as Dark Ascension and the third set in Innistrad block bring more red vampires to the table. In addition to those, you also want your typical package of mana-fixing dual lands, plenty of swamps, your typical utility lands, sacrifice outlets like High Market and Miren, the Moaning Well, and Kher Keep. Kher Keep loves being in a deck with Skullclamp and two different Grave Pact effects, and the brave little kobolds can chump block like a champ, allowing you to laugh at that 16/16 skullbriar while leaving your fliers open to go forth and beat face. At the very worse, you can feed the kobolds to Olivia to make her bigger without provoking anyone (Or if no opponent is making a creature stick). And, 0/1 or no, the little Kobolds of Kher Keep can still carry the Blade of the Bloodchief and grow, even if not as huge as your actual vampires (Pro tip: You can make them vampires).
Decklists
1 Olivia Voldaren
Vampire Lords
1 Anowon, the Ruin Sage
1 Ascendant Evincar
1 Baron Sengir
1 Bloodline Keeper
1 Bloodlord of Vaasgoth
1 Captivating Vampire
1 Rakish Heir
Utility Vampires
1 Bloodhusk Ritualist
1 Butcher of Malakir
1 Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief
1 Falkenrath Noble
1 Guul Draz Assassin
1 Malakir Bloodwitch
1 Pawn of Ulamog
1 Sangromancer
Vampire Beaters
1 Chancellor of the Dross
1 Falkenrath Marauders
1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
1 Mirri the Cursed
1 Sengir Vampire
1 Vampiric Dragon
Honorary Members of the Vampire Club
1 Bloodgift Demon
1 Dread
Planeswalker
1 Sorin Markov
Enchantments
1 Bloodchief Ascension
1 Greed
1 Necropotence
1 Pain Magnification
1 Sanguine Bond
1 Pithing Needle
1 Relic of Progenitus
Mana
1 Caged Sun
1 Coldsteel Heart
1 Extraplanar Lens
1 Rakdos Signet
1 Sol Ring
Utility
1 Contagion Engine
1 Rings of Brighthearth
1 Skullclamp
1 Soul Conduit
1 Venser's Journal
Equipment
1 Blade of the Bloodchief
1 Basilisk Collar
1 Lightning Greaves
1 Swiftfoot Boots
Removal
1 Terminate
1 Shattering Pulse
1 Void
1 Wrecking Ball
Sweepers
1 Blasphemous Act
1 Chain Reaction
1 Life's Finale
Utility
1 Beseech the Queen
1 Diabolic Tutor
1 Mana Geyser
1 Torrent of Souls
1 Stitch Together
1 Syphon Mind
1 Blood Tribute
1 Exsanguinate
1 Sorin's Vengeance
6 Snow-Covered Mountain
12 Snow-Covered Swamp
Mana Fixing
1 Blackcleave Cliffs
1 Command Tower
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Evolving Wilds
1 Rakdos Carnarium
1 Terramorphic Expanse
1 Thawing Glaciers
1 Tresserhorn Sinks
1 Vivid Crag
1 Vivid Marsh
Utility
1 Barren Moor
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Kher Keep
1 Lavaclaw Reaches
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
1 Molten Slagheap
1 Reliquary Tower
1 Scrying Sheets
1 Temple of the False God
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Which I guess makes me question why Yawgbargain is banned.
I also love the idea of using Olivia's ability to abuse Wooden Stake and Blazing Torch, though I think they're a little too weak to actually include.
Yawgmoth's Bargain is banned because it gives you the cards right away, usually making this a one-card combo. Necropotence is legal as even if you Necro for everything, you still have to wait until your end step to get the cards. Which if you take too many, instead of discarding you have to exile them.
Steel Sabotage'ng Orbs of Mellowness since 2011.
You should put your decklist in the op so people don't have to look at a second page to see it.
Banner by Nakamura, Thanks!
EDH Math
EDH Decks:
Ghost Council: The Magic Mafia of Orzhova
BB Drana: Down with the Sickness
Rasputin: Reality is Broken
Vish Kal Bleeder: Bloody Kisses
Teysa, Orzhov Dominatrix
Stonebrow: Breaking Things
BWR Kaalia Punisher: Heaven's on Fire
Grimgrin: Dead Reckoning
Why did you choose Beseech the Queen and Diabolic Tutor over Demonic Tutor though? Just a price/availability thing or something else that I am not aware of?
I do think i want to start a vamp tribal...gona be a slow build
EDH:
Currently Piloting:
Dama, Sage of Stone | Karador, Ghost Chieftan | Sigarda, Host of Herons | Elbrus, the Binding Blade / Withengar Unbound | Grand Arbiter Augustin IV | Genju of the Realm | Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
Bloodghast also pairs well with Skullclamp!
As you can see in my sig, I'm working on this. Your thread gave me a lot of ideas, thanks!
Painful Quandary: The name says it all. In a life drain deck, which vamps clearly are, opponents must weigh heavily the consequences of the decision they make whenever they cast a spell...
Wound Reflection: Maybe overkill, but vamps are all about overkill. Drain them, and then drain them some more. Let them fight amongst themselves and that drains them too. Fantastic card.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU
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Commandercast on Tumblr!
My EDH/Commander List:
Wedges:
Numot, the Devastator RWU
Damia, Sage of Stone GUB
Niv-Mizzet, Dracogenius
Olivia Voldaren
Vampiric Dragon seems to underperform in actual gameplay can you confirm that?
A 5/5 flyer for 8 is an expensive price to pay. The only way it's worthwhile is if you can abuse his ping dmg....which I believe is a very plausible manasink.
| B Erebos, God of VampiresB | GYeva SmashG | RBosh ArtifactsR | GURAnimar +1 BeatsGUR | RBVial's Secret Hot SauceRB | UBRNekusar, Draw if you DareUBR | RGBDarigaaz'z DragonsRGB | GBSlimeFEETGB | UBOn-Hit LazavUB | URBrudiclad's Artificer InventionsUR | GUBMuldrotha's ElementalsGUB | WUGKestia's EnchantmentsWUG | GUTatyova - Draw, Land, Go!GU | WGArahbo's EquipmentWG | BUWVarina's ZOMBIE HORDESBUW | WLyra's Angelic SalvationW | WBChurch of TeysaWB | UAzami...WizardsU