Magic: the Gathering‘s newest expansion, Innistrad: Crimson Vow has just released on Magic Arena. The main theme of this set is Vampires, and just as we did with Midnight Hunt for Werewolves, we have to build a deck around the theme. Today we’re going to have a look at a take on Vampires in Historic that looks to leverage some new Vampires from Crimson Vow.
CoCo Vampires
The deck that we’ll be checking out today is
Collected Company
Collected Company
Look at the top six cards of your library. Put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Vampires. This is a very aggressive deck that looks to flood the board out with creatures. There’s a couple new cards in this deck that are really cool.
The first new card that we’re looking to play is
Welcoming Vampire
Welcoming Vampire
Flying
Whenever one or more other creatures you control with power 2 or less enter, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn.
. Nearly our entire deck are creatures that are power 2 or less, so we should always be drawing cards with this. This is also a flyer, so we have some evasion. This is our main source of card advantage.
Our second new card from Crimson Vow that we’re using is
Edgar, Charmed Groom
Edgar, Charmed Groom
Other Vampires you control get +1/+1.
When Edgar dies, return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control.
. Edgar is one of our vampire lords, while also being a solid body. Additionally, when Edgar dies, it’s transformed into his coffin, and it can help us keep a board presence, even if it’s a token a turn.
The Team
The squad has quite a few strong players.
Knight of the Ebon Legion
Knight of the Ebon Legion
{2}{B}: This creature gets +3/+3 and gains deathtouch until end of turn.
At the beginning of your end step, if a player lost 4 or more life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. (Damage causes loss of life.)
is one of the best 1 drops that black has in general, and it’s perfect for this deck. Another great 1 drop for the deck since it has deathtouch so it’s likely to get in damage, but it also has lifelink to help us stabilize if needed.
Our 2 drop slot has a quite a few great cards in it as well.
Legion Lieutenant
Legion Lieutenant
Other Vampires you control get +1/+1.
is another lord for our deck, plain and simple.
Dusk Legion Zealot
Dusk Legion Zealot
When this creature enters, you draw a card and you lose 1 life.
is another source of card draw.
Adanto Vanguard
Adanto Vanguard
As long as this creature is attacking, it gets +2/+0.
Pay 4 life: This creature gains indestructible until end of turn. (Damage and effects that say "destroy" don't destroy it.)
is a sticky threat that is fantastic against control, and we can trigger our Knight of the Ebon Legion as well.
Cordial Vampire
Cordial Vampire
Whenever this creature or another creature dies, put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire you control.
ties everything together. This basically lets us attack or block in combat with very little fear as this can help pump our team up.
To top everything off,
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord
+1: Target creature you control gains deathtouch and lifelink until end of turn. If it's a Vampire, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
+1: You may sacrifice a Vampire. When you do, Sorin deals 3 damage to any target and you gain 3 life.
−3: You may put a Vampire creature card from your hand onto the battlefield.
is a great option for tempo plays. We can cheat in an additional vampire like Edgar, we can trigger our Cordial Vampire with his second +1, or just pump the team if we need to.
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Summoning the Squad
I’ve chosen to include
Collected Company
Collected Company
Look at the top six cards of your library. Put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
in the deck because one problem that the deck does have is playing from behind. Since we have a ton of creatures, and not a ton of card advantage engines, CoCo is that solution. In Historic, it isn’t a hard to make this work, since we have a great mana base.
Our other way to help us play from behind a bit is
Agadeem’s Awakening
Agadeem’s Awakening
Return from your graveyard to the battlefield any number of target creature cards that each have a different mana value X or less.
. This gives us a little bit of recursion from our graveyard, and considering that we have a high density of 1’s and 2’s we can often get back a full blown board.
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Sideboard Choices
I haven’t put a sideboard together for this deck but I’d imagine that some cards like Thoughtsieze,
Duress
Duress
Target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a noncreature, nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
and removal would make sense to have. I think that it also makes sense to have
Soul-Guide Lantern
Soul-Guide Lantern
When this artifact enters, exile target card from a graveyard.
{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile each opponent's graveyard.
{1}, {T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Draw a card.
to deal with opposing graveyards.
The other card that I might think about would be some way to protect our creatures. I’m going to throw a spicy option out there, but
Teferi’s Protection
Teferi’s Protection
Until your next turn, your life total can't change and you gain protection from everything. All permanents you control phase out. (While they're phased out, they're treated as though they don't exist. They phase in before you untap during your untap step.)
Exile Teferi's Protection.
is a card that could help us out a ton in the event of a board wipe. I would also think about
Heroic Intervention
Heroic Intervention
Permanents you control gain hexproof and indestructible until end of turn.
. Since we’re playing 7 Green sources in the deck, we can probably fit it in the sideboard.
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I think that there’s a place for this deck to shine in the format. Having some new toys to play with in the deck thanks to Crimson Vow really gives us the needed push to make this deck a bit more viable. Definitely give this one a shot if you’re into Vamps!