FNM Vampires

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Happy Tuesday MTG peeps,

As we indicated in our Friday post here on MTG Realm, we took our Township Tokens deck for a spin at our local store. It provided some decent results and surprised us by doing not too shabby against an explosive red deck. As for the other games, let's just say we need to tweak our sideboard against the local metagame.

Anywhoos - back on track and the subject of this post's title, FNM Vampires. This loose tribe in the new Innistrad set provides some very decent cards and has some support in the M12 core set. Almost all new Innistrad vampire builds we've seen are constructed in black and red, which is for the best as one could now really take advantage certain new red Innistrad cards with the 'bloodthirst' mechanic from M12 (Bloodthirst 'N' means "If an opponent was dealt damage this turn, this creature enters the battlefield with N +1/+1 counters on it).


Most new vampire builds attempt to build up vampires which grow larger upon dealing combat damage to opponent. Some examples - Bloodcrazed Neonate, Stromkirk Noble, Bloodcrazed Neonate, and Falkenrath Marauders all collect additional +1/+1 counters upon dealing combat damage to a player. Rakish Heir goes a step beyond and provides a +1/+1 counter to any and all vampires who deal this damage. The aura, Curse of Stalked Prey, which enchants your opponent provides this similar effect more braodly. M12 vampires such as Vampire Outcasts and Bloodlord of Vaasgoth provide big bonuses bia +1/+1 counters with their bloodthirst tech.

Given the huge potential with all these counters, we suggest players consider the New Phyrexia common burn 'n' proliferate spell, Volt Charge not only for spot removal but also assisting Bloodthirst and piling additional counters on critters. Other spells to consider are Dismember and Incinerate, which are some very economical emoval spells in Standard.


We were able to get one of the fellas from the game store to give us a show 'n' tell tour of a similar build. To protect his privacy, we'll simply call him 'That Guy with the black and red vampire deck'. Anywhoos, Guy was in the process of constructing and take it for a spin against other players at Friday Night Magic. Guy was on the right track and had most the cards he needed . . .


Stromkirk Noble, Furor of the Bitten, Gruesome Deformity, Bloodcrazed Neonate, Curse of Stalked Prey, Go for the Throat, Doom Blade, Rakish Heir, Traitorous Blood, Vampire Outcasts, Bloodlord of Vaasgoth, Falkenrath Mauraders, Fireball. Mana base included the requisite Dragonskull Summit, along with the appropriate swamps, and mountains.

Looks good - all we can suggest is that players consider the amazing Bloodline Keeper / Lord of Lineage to generate 2/2 vampire tokens. We've seen some players drop Curse of Stalked Prey, calling it just a bit too slow with the tempo of their particular build. We also have not seen much love for Bump in the Night which is surprising as it provides a decent inexpensive enabler for the bloodthirst tech. (Edit - Korwinga caught my typo - use M12 Shock or another). Anywhoos - pipe in below with your comments - where is your vampire build at or what have you seen which impresses you.

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Lastly,
speaking of looking good - here's a random assortment of images taken at last Friday's game night at OMG! Games. Clockwise from top left - an English bloke making a bad trade, Batman, J-Osh, and M-Atty.

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