The Vampire deck has been hyped ever since the spoilers for Zendikar were released. It is easy to see why since the deck finally establishes vampires as a coherent tribe by giving players quick and efficient creatures. Yet, is the deck competitive enough to stand up against Jund, mono-red, or any control deck? In my opinion, the answer is no. The vampire deck has a good curve and a good creature, but it lacks the versatility, disruption, and the ability to create card advantage that other decks offer. Additionally, the vampire tribe tends to have a difficult time against sweepers like Volcanic Fallout or Jund Charm because of their lackluster toughness. All of this combined with a situational lord in Vampire Nocturnus means that the vampire deck looks flashy, but just cannot compete in the current metagame. Even so, Vampires remain a popular deck choice. With the releases of each new set, the vampire tribe may very well become the best deck in standard. I will analyze the problems of the vampire deck and discuss the cards it needs to become more efficient. An example of what a standard legal and competitive vampire deck looks like is listed at the end of the article.

When you take a look at the vampire deck you might notice that it suffers from identity confusion. It desperately wants to be an agro deck, but it is better geared towards being a midrange deck because of cards like Malakir Bloodwitch, Vampire Nocturnus, Mind Sludge, Sorin Markov, and Tendrils of Corruption. Yet, the deck also runs cards like Vampire Lacerator and Bloodghast which promotes winning as quickly as possible. This is a contradiction. If the goal of a vampire deck is to drop the opponent’s life to ten or below as quickly as possible, then running a bunch of cards with a converted mana cost of four or greater will slow the deck down significantly. I would not want to run vampires without using a full play set of Vampire Nocturnus and a couple of Malakir Bloodwitch for the simple fact that these cards offer a huge incentive for running the tribe. Of course, I would never think to remove Vampire Lacerator or Bloodghast either. Also, I cannot understand why Tendrils of Corruption is so heavily favored over the cheaper Doom Blade or why Sorin Markov sees play over Lillianna Vess.

The vampire deck also suffers from an inability to create as much card advantage and board advantage as other decks. The only cards that supply hand advantage are Sign in Blood and Mind Sludge. Sign in Blood is a good card, but the vampire deck already has to sacrifice a large amount of life for Vampire Lacerator and the fetch lands. Mind Sludge is extremely useful against combo decks and control decks not playing Swerve, but is simply much less effective against other aggro decks. In terms of creating card advantage, Jund is far out in front with Blightning and Jund Charm.

The vampire deck does have an excellent ability to control creatures. Gatekeeper of Malakir, Disfigure, Tendrils of Corruption, and Vampire Nighthawk will keep your opponent’s creatures in check. Marsh Casualties can also be brought out of the sideboard to sweep when needed. However, once again, Jund provides greater board presence with Sprouting Thrinax, Broodmate Dragon, and Cascade cards. Even the new goblin deck that is popping up can create massive board advantage with Warren Instigator and Siege-gang Commander. Also, black struggles to deal with artifacts and enchantments which could be a serious problem. Furthermore, vampires can be easily swept by a simple Pyroclasm. Bloodghast can recur, but you are still left with a 2/1 with the inability to block and situational haste. Vampire Nocturnus can usually survive a sweep and will prevent your other vampires from falling prey to a sweep, but only when its ability is active. Otherwise, it will fall to a simple Lightning Bolt.

Another problem with the vampire deck is its inability to splash for another color. This gives it a lack of versatility that other decks have. I have seen vampire decks try to splash red or green to try to fix this problem, but this is difficult because cards in a vampire deck force a heavy black commitment. Most vampire cards have two or three black mana symbols in their casting cost and vampire Nocturnus needs black cards on the top of the deck. Also, running anything other than Swamps reduces the potency of Tendrils of Corruption and Mind Sludge. The vampire deck simply does not offer the kind of options that a simple Jund Charm does. This makes it predictable and easy to handle.

The vampire deck does have potential and I am sure that Worldwake will provide the deck with much more options. Vampires really only need a couple of more cards and options to be truly competitive. Reprinting Bad Moon would definitely put vampires over the top, but that card will never be reprinted because universal creature pump is a white ability now. I would settle for a more consistent lord in the two drop or three drop slot, but I doubt that the vampire deck will get multiple lords so soon.

It would be nice to see Dash Hopes or a similar card that counters spells unless your opponent pays life. This would fit well into with the vampire's theme of reducing your opponent's life as quickly as possible while also adding some much needed control to the deck. A black counter spell would also offer a black deck an answer to artifacts and enchantments.

However, what a vampire deck really needs is a powerful way to accelerate mana. There is no chance that Dark Ritual will get reprinted, but perhaps a card like Cabal Coffers could bridge the gap between the early game and the midgame. Crypt of Agadeem is a possible option, but I do not like the fact that its ability is based on the number of creatures in your graveyard. It is way easier to hit land drops, especially in a set with a landfall mechanic.

If Vampire decks receive some of the above support then they very well could become the deck to beat. This is certainly possible once Jund decks rotate out of standard. Only time will tell if these creatures of the night will cast a large enough shadow on the metagame to make a serious impact. Now here is an example of a competitive vampire deck in the current standard environment:

[deck title="Vampires" author="Jeremy Class" align="center"]Lands

16 Swamps

4 Marsh Flats

4 Verdant Catacombs

Creatures

4 Vampire Lacerator

4 Bloodghast

2 Vampire Hexmage

4 Gatekeeper of Malakir

3 Vampire Nighthawk

4 Vampire Nocturnus

3 Malakir Bloodwitch

Other Spells

2 Disfigure

3 Duress

3 Sign in Blood

4 Tendrils of Corruption

1 Mind Sludge

Sideboard

1 Disfigure

1 Quest for the Graveyard

2 Doom Blade

1 Sign in Blood

2 Vampire Hexmage

3 Marsh Casualties

1 Vampire Nighthawk

1 Sorin Markov

1 Lilianna Vess

1 Mind Sludge

1 Malakir Bloodwitch[/deck]