Initial Technology – Zendikar’s First Blood
Posted by Luis Scott-Vargas
September 13, 2009 | 
26 comments
Looks like I was pretty far off when I speculated about Zendikar's impact in my last article. I was going to say "last week", but I did take a little break, which amusingly enough some people seemed to begrudge me. In any case, Zendikar is going to make a bigger impact on Extended than any set in recent memory, and we don't even have half the cards yet! Between enemy color fetchlands, interesting traps, and some nice combo enablers, I expect interesting things come Austin.
Standard is going to be completely different of course, but that's no surprise. Every October brings a new format, even if some rotations have more impact than others. Shards didn't bring an incredible amount to the table, but that was more due to the incredible depth of Lorwyn/Shadowmoor Block. Now that the oppressive boot on Standard's neck is about to vanish, we should see a pretty big explosion of new decks, as well as some modifications to current favorites.
First, some general observations:
Fetchlands are awesome, but I kind of wish they didn't print them. I don't want to go too in-depth about why, since we will be talking about it on MTV this week, so let's concentrate on how good they are instead. They obviously work quite well with M10 duals and Landfall, and will be the Constructed powerhouses they were the first time around. I look forward to putting a Basic Forest in my Vintage deck, since the idea of drawing a hand with Mana Drain and Forest is hilarious. Jokes aside, being able to play Tarmogoyf without walking into Wasteland is really good. I imagine it's even better in Legacy!
Landfall is going to add some complexity in Limited, which I like. Normally, you just play all your lands save one or two automatically, since that is the best play. You might draw a card draw spell (you do have card draw in all your Limited decks, right?), and having your lands in play is going to be best. Now, you have to think about purposely missing even your fourth land drop. If you have a ton of Landfall, you can't afford to waste land drops for nothing, as that is almost like missing out on a free spell. If Landfall is that good, you will definitely be playing more than 17 or even 18 lands in some decks, which sounds excellent to me. Lessening the chance of mana screw without getting flooded is always a good thing.
Alright, it's time for some unfounded speculation! (Really, who doesn't love spoiler reviews?)
Vampires!
It will be awesome if Vampires becomes a playable tribe, since, well, they are kinda cool. A few interesting cards look like they might push the bloodsuckers into the limelight (or perhaps moonlight would be more appropriate). I’m not going to lie; part of the reason I wanted to make a Vampire deck is so I could sink my teeth into all the awesome puns that go along with it.
Bloodghast BB
Creature – Vampire Spirit
Bloodghast can’t block.
Bloodghast has haste as long as an opponent has 10 life or less.
Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return Bloodghast from your graveyard to the battlefield.
2/1
Although primarily garnering attention because of his Dredge-based applications, Bloodghast is a pretty annoying little beater. Non-Path to Exile removal does little to stop him, and even suicide attacks when you have multiple Bloodghasts will cost you little. Imagine if he could block"¦
Vampire Lacerator B
Creature – Vampire Warrior
At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life unless an opponent has 10 or less life.
2/2
Ten seems like a big deal now, but even without that clause, Vampire Lacerator is a pretty efficient beater. Carnophage hasn't seen print in a long time, and even though creatures are better than they used to be, the Lacerator having the Vampire creature type might push it into playability. It very well might be fine in a non-Vampire deck, but that seems less likely. After all, why not pay a Green mana extra and get basically two Lacerators for the price of [card Putrid Leech]one[/card]?
Gatekeeper of Malakir BB
Creature – Vampire Warrior
Kicker B (You may pay an additional {B} as you cast this spell.)
When Gatekeeper of Malakir enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, target player sacrifices a creature.
2/2
Now we are talking! A three mana Shriekmaw (well, kinda) is a beating, and the severe mana requirement is a non-issue in a Mono-Black deck. Never has two for one'ing been so easy as now, since this guy gets even Mono-Black decks. Very few Standard decks can avoid playing a substantial number of creatures, so unless you are battling Time Seive, the Gatekeeper should be pretty sick. He even is a passable two-drop when needed! If the [card Sunken Ruins]filter lands[/card] were around, I imagine the Gatekeeper would have seen widespread play, but it probably won't see the light of day outside of Mono-Black decks.
Vampire Nighthawk 1BB
Creature – Vampire Shaman
Flying
Deathtouch
Lifelink
2/3
Three mana 2/3's don't often make a big splash in Constructed, but adding three pretty relevant abilities certainly helps. The kicker for me is Deathtouch, as it makes the Nighthawk into a pretty good fighter if all else fails. You might not be able to get Baneslayer, but just about everything else will at least trade for this particular Undead. Lifelink is also sweet, especially if Vampire Nocturnus is active.
Hideous End 1BB
Instant
Destroy target nonblack creature. Its controller loses 2 life.
With full sets of Tendrils of Corruption and Gatekeeper of Malakir, I don't think there is room for another removal spell maindeck. Hideous End is pretty sweet though, since in a Black aggro deck it seems like a reasonable way to get their guy and still keep the pressure on. Red/Black would have loved this when Graven Cairns was still around.
Ob Nixilis, the Fallen 3BB
Legendary Creature – Demon
Landfall – Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may have target player lose 3 life. If you do, put three +1/+1 counters on Ob Nixilis, the Fallen.
3/3
This guy does a ton of damage, but is pretty slow. I could definitely see running one, possibly a second. Even though we are Mono-Black, we will definitely be running fetchlands, which I will explain shortly.
Now for some old cards that may have suddenly become relevant:
Vampire Nocturnus
Nocturnus is the only actual tribal card, but he is definitely enough of a reason to try and make sure the majority of our creatures are vampires. If night is falling, he is a beating, and luckily we have some tools to help make night fall more often. A full set of eight Black fetchlands should be excellent in conjunction with Nocturnus. They give you more chances to hit a Black card on top, and allow some free library manipulation, even if it is a bit crude. Those advantages more than outweigh the life loss we will suffer from playing eight fetches.
Tendrils of Corruption
I can't say I have ever played Tendrils without [card Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth]Urborg[/card] to accompany it, but since all of our lands will be Swamps, it seems pretty sick. Mono-Black hasn't been good in years and years, and to be honest it very well might not be now, but if it does become viable it will feature a bunch of Tendrils.
Twilight
That is probably a terrible name, since all evidence points to all things named Twilight being awful, but it will work for now.
4 Bloodghast
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
1 Ob Nilixis, the Fallen
4 Tendrils of Corruption
4 Sign in Blood
3 Duress
16 Swamp
8 Black fetchlands
This is obviously a pretty rough list (look at all those fours!), but I think the idea might have merit. Duress is an unknown quantity, since there might be enough decks that are so creature-heavy that Duress isn't a great maindeck choice. Hypnotic Specter also might be sketchy, but it certainly seems to fit in a Black Aggro shell. Child of Night just seems too sketchy. It might be nice when pumped by Nocturnus, but it seems like going a bit too far to play Vampires.
Hopefully the Black rare land with Landfall (assuming it's a cycle) will be sick, but I don't think it will be. Urborg makes such shenanigans too easy, which limits how good it can really be.
Mind Sludge is another interesting reprint, and a great reason to play all Swamps. It seems a bit slow and out of theme for the maindeck, but it should be a great sideboard card for this sort of deck. If Mono-Black Control is viable, Mind Sludge isn't going to be far behind.
If the format gets to the point where Duress isn’t a good maindeck choice, Hideous End should most certainly be.
This deck has a ton of powerful cards, but might have too many weak ones in order to keep on theme. Cutting the Lacerator and Bloodghast would weaken the Vampire deal, but they are by far the worst cards in the deck, so it might be better to make a (gasp) midrange sorta thing with some of the heavy hitters and two for one’s. Gatekeeper, Nighthawk, Nocturnus, Tendrils, and Ob Nilixis are all pretty strong, so they might do better paired with more powerful companions.
These weeks are both the most interesting, since we are seeing the cards that will define the next year’s worth of formats, and the hardest to write for, since we don’t have all the information and our current environment is obsolete. I will be focusing on Standard and Limited once Zendikar is released, since it would be hard for me to balance writing relevant articles about Extended without giving up valuable information before PT Austin.
LSV
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About This Author
Luis Scott-Vargas
LSV is the current record holder for most wins in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour after his perfect 16-0 run at Pro Tour San Diego 2010, and has the highest lifetime match win percentage among all current pro-level players. His other accomplishments include a win at Pro Tour&hellip
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Enzo Capone says: September 13, 2009 @ 9:14 pm
There seems to be a notable lack of doom blades in this deck.
Nestico says: September 13, 2009 @ 9:22 pm
you just wrote a vampire article…
Matt T says: September 13, 2009 @ 9:26 pm
No love for Vampire Aristocrat + Blade of the Bloodchief? Seems pretty good…
Actually, the Blade seems good enough to run in a myriad of decks, Vampire or otherwise. I’m pretty sure it’s not on the same level as Clamp or Jitte, but I suspect it may be something Wizards intentionally undercosted with enough foresight to predict its value.
Kenseiden says: September 13, 2009 @ 9:46 pm
wb!
mr mage says: September 13, 2009 @ 9:50 pm
These mono-black cards are cool, but just don’t seem like they will cut it in competitive standard. Mono white seems much more plausible with baneslayer (arguably the best creature in standard), day of judgement (soon to be arguably the best sweeper in standard), path (arguably the best spot removal in standard), and recurring baneslayers with emeria (or whatever that white ZEN land is) seems rediculous. Sure, those are just a few cards, but it just seems like whatever black can do, white can do better and bombier.
lsv says: September 13, 2009 @ 10:34 pm
I don’t really see that equipment making the cut. It takes alot of work for little reward, and just isn’t Constructed material.
Doom Blade seems like it battles with Hideous End for space, and with 4 Tendrils and 4 Edict guys already, I’m not sure how much removal is really warranted. Some decks just don’t have that many creatures, and what creatures do you really need to kill. You have 8 ways to kill Baneslayer, particularly since Edict is generally going to hit the Angel right away due to the creature-light nature of Baneslayer decks. I would certainly like some removal in the SB, but I don;t know how much you can fit MD.
pt3 says: September 13, 2009 @ 10:41 pm
I just scribbled down a rough list of vampires tonight to see if it may have any hope, and it looks pretty classy. This is what I came up with
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Bloodghast
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Vampire Nocturnus
3 Quest for the Gravelord
4 Tendrils of Agony
4 Sign in Blood
4 Doom Blade
3 Blade of the Bloodchief
8 Black Fetchlands
14 Swamps
Quest for the Gravelord seems kind of insane here as this deck will either kill enough creatures to activate it, or should apply enough pressure to control decks to warrant a sweeper. Also, works nice with continuously dying Bloodghasts.
Should this archetype become popular maybe fleshbag marauders, bone splinters or some other removal could replace doom blade. Also, those options would work well with the Quest and the Vampire Blade. I think it has a pretty scary clock, for instance.
Turn 1: swamp, Vampire Lacerator
T2:attack, swamp Bloodghast or Gatekeeper of Malakir (opponent at 18)
T3:attack, swamp kick Gatekeeper or cast Nighthawk (opponent at 14)
T4: swamp, play Nocturnus, if the top card is black, attack for 12 (opp. at 2)
T5: if they Wrath, you have a Bloodghast, if you don’t, Sign in Blood them or alpha strike
This seems strictly better than the aggro clock I’ve tried to come up with for Goblins that isn’t just living the dream with double striking into 2 SGC’s (less fallout-proof as well). Also, there seems like there is more resilience from sweepers and overall reach in Vampires with Sign in Blood and Bloodghast. Get yer Nocturnus playset now, Suicide Black may be back.
KillerB says: September 13, 2009 @ 11:14 pm
this deck would need to be hyper aggressive to be anything bordering on competitive as i see it, and i think both Hyppy and Nighthawk or w/e are well under par. Especially the latter.
All in all, as awesome as a vampire deck would be, i think it will just be a black aggro deck with Black Knight and his awesomeness.
Jonas says: September 14, 2009 @ 2:10 am
Two newly spoiled cards that I would definitely try to add: Crypt of Agadeem and Needlebite Trap.
eidolon says: September 14, 2009 @ 2:36 am
“That is probably a terrible name, since all evidence points to all things named Twilight being awful, but it will work for now.”
-> Don’t forget Twilight Mire.
Jake says: September 14, 2009 @ 4:00 am
Crypt of Agadeem and Consume Spirit seems vital in the Black deck.
Ultima says: September 14, 2009 @ 6:34 am
What about Child of Night?
Lpettro says: September 14, 2009 @ 8:25 am
I am sad to hear that we won’t be hearing about extended. During standard season we read about standard and during extended season we read about standard. Given the new standard will probably be more fun than the last but still.
dowjonzechemical says: September 14, 2009 @ 9:09 am
he’s working with the information he has. Writers hate lame duck periods when all of the cards haven’t been spoiled yet because there is almost nothing to write about.
He wrote about a deck that has been spoiled at this point. Whether or not it will “cut it” we have yet to see. However, for the naysayers saying it won’t, I’ll be there laughing if it becomes tier 1.
james wheeler says: September 14, 2009 @ 12:22 pm
hey luis, thoughts on playing a few of those lands that pump out black mana for the number of a creatures in graveyards to power some really big late game drain life
Daniel says: September 14, 2009 @ 12:40 pm
I’m just happy that the Gatekeeper serves as an answer to Great Sable Stag. The Stag was my main worry about mono-black’s viability, but a maindeck out against it makes me want to play this deck like, now.
Kevin says: September 14, 2009 @ 12:51 pm
my best landfall build (based on spoiled cards) has been green & Black [and splash white is nice too]
Why Green? Landfall combos with: Fetchlands, Harrow, Oracle of Mul-daya… Also landfall makes you want to hold your lands so you need something like BOP, Noble Heirarch, or Garruk. And enormous baloth isn’t bad eiter…
Blazingbeamer says: September 14, 2009 @ 1:00 pm
Quest for the gravelord seems too good not to play; a 5/5 for one mana at instant speed if they sweep and also makes trading more profitable is insane. Also, mind sludge is supposedly in the set, great way to cap off the curve!
(could u really wrath now?)
t1 lacerator
t2 ghast
t3 gatekeeper
t4 whatever, hopefully including quest
t5 mind twist u ggs
c_money says: September 14, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
I would like to think that Luis used his head just a little more, instead of life-costing fetchlands x8, how about 4xfetch and 4 terramorphic expanse…?
Lenney says: September 14, 2009 @ 5:23 pm
Thanks for the great article on Vampires, but I kind of agree with the idea of using Vampire Aristocrat to get rid of the Lacerators that are killing you and the Hasty’s… That new equipment should also see a little play in the Tribal deck.
nelson says: September 14, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
have you even considered either consume spirit or sanguine bond as 2 ofs or something because i think they would fit in very well the the decks theme and yoou could even run a 1of blood tribute to combo with sanguine bond
and what about sorin markov or liliana vess
they seem to be good in any/most monoblack decks for standard coming up
J Renteria says: September 14, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
Good article LSV! I appreciate you stepping out and coming up with a list or two despite the lack of total info!
I’ve been messing with the following version…
4 Nighthawk
4 Lacerator
4 Bloodghast
4 Nocturnus
4 Gatekeeper
4 Tendrils
3 Blade of the Bloodchief
3 Duress
2 Doomblade (I’ll try dropping them for something else)
1 Mind Shatter (soon to be Sludge)
4 Sign in Blood
24 Swamps
The Blade is testing surprisingly well and can get your critters out of hand fast due to removal and Bloodghast. I’m using Ob Nixilis and Hyppies in my Post MBC build.
tony says: September 14, 2009 @ 7:17 pm
Ooh people throwing out ihastily made Vampire tribal decklists can I play?
Spells
4 Quest for the Gravelord
4 Soul Stare Expedition
Monsters
4 Vampire Lacerator
4 Bloodghast
4 Black Knight
4 Gatekeeper of Malakir
4 Vampire Aristocrat
4 Fleshbag Marauder
4 Vampire Nocturnus
Land
8 Fetchland
14 Swamp
2 Terramorphic Expanse
This deck aims for more unchecked rampant aggression and does away with things like non creature spells almost altogether. The 8
edicts on legs fuel out fast 5/5 zombie giants and the symetrical affect from Fleshbag Marauder should either not hurt you at all or only very slightly Bloodghasts or a soul stair expeidition out. Plus all the edicts should make things like Baneslayer Control decks cry.
Speaking of which I feel like soul stare expidition is sick. You know your stupid vampire nocturnus is just going to eat bolts all day long, why not run a way to get him back? 1 Mana 2 for 1s, with extremely slight drawbacks seem too good to not run. It is almost like a black reveillark for 1 mana but without the body. I think people will realize how good it is. If you get back 2 edict dudes it is like a 4 for 1.
Vampire Aristocrat seems really sick now. You sac a bloodghast, play a fechland (recover bloodghast) sack bloodghast a second time, crack the fetchland (recover bloodghast) sack blood ghast a third time swing for 8. Next turn do it all over again!
10 Fetchlands to fuel Bloodghast shenanigans, power up soul stare expedition and to shuffle your library if needed when you have an active vampire nocturnus.
And as much as LSV is a genius, I have to say that Hyppie is terrible and always will be. Except in legacy. (But even there he is overrated.)
Salad Shooter says: September 14, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
“I have to say that Hyppie is terrible and always will be.”
??
Is Finkletrator terrible?
FoamyDog says: September 15, 2009 @ 11:14 am
The blade is disgusting with Aristocrat and Bloodghast. Aristocrat or whoever you have the blade equipped on gets 2 counters when you sac ghast, drop a land and do it again. Aristocrat is a 6/6 and which ever vampire was equipped gets 4 1/1 counters. Pretty sweet!
Matthew says: September 16, 2009 @ 9:20 am
You guys have some terrible math and 4th dimensional thinking abilities:)
How do sac lands improve Bloodghast? You gonna need to sac those lands early game to play your cards. So, if you lucky, you’ll get just one activation. Now, on top of that, every sac land counts as two lands drawn from your deck… That in itself means each sac land actually effects your landfall triggers for bloodghast.
Note that bloodghasts landfall is very different to the others. Its only works when he’s dead. Hence, you don’t want the sac land route, unlike with the Rampaging Baloths etc where it helps alot, but aren’t nearly as effective with Bloodghasts.