If you hunger for the blood of your enemies and like to go frenzy with vampiric supernatural power, then Vampire Tribal is the right deck for you! Let’s see how we can summon the vampiric horde and overwelm our opponents!
I love tribal decks because they combine synergy and flavor and of course power. On top of that you can find many unique cards that support a tribe and can be great budget options as those cards work only on a specific tribal deck and are bad to unplayable to any other deck. That’s why I will try building and presenting a series of decks for all those who share the love for tribal decks.
Vampire is a creature type. The first card with the subtype was Sengir Vampire in Alpha. Like Zombie, Vampire is a characteristic race for the color black. Vampires are a bloodthirsty species. The most defining characteristic of vampirism is their hunger for the blood and/or life forces of others. Other traits of vampires can include unnatural physical strength, enhanced healing powers, and/or the ability to fly, with their methods being through either natural or supernatural means.(source MTG Wiki)
Edgar Markov is the founder of the Markov bloodline, and the first vampire of Innistrad. He is more than 7000 years old. (source MTG Wiki)
Back to 2017, with the release of Vampiric Bloodlust, Edgar Markov came to MtG, offering us the ultimate Vampire Tribal commander. Although his ability that trigger whenever he attacks and let us put a +1/+1 counter on each Vampire we control is powerful, his true power comes from his Eminence ability : Whenever we cast another Vampire spell, we create a 1/1 black Vampire creature token. That makes him the ultimate Vampire token generator card and considering that Vampire Tribe is well supported, makes him one of the strongest commanders overall for going wide.
Although you can call it a precon upgrade, my build is more a precon remake than an upgrade so you can start from zero and buy singles. The optimal building option depends on the price and availability of the cards.
Synergy Diagram
I always like to make a simple synergy diagram in order to deeply comprehend the potential and the strategy areas that are supported by the commander when I choose top-down building. But in some cases, I do a mix of top-down and bottom-up building.
Let’s analyze the main goals of the deck:
- Add the best Vampires. Our priority is to add the ones that have synergy with the Vampire Tribe.
- Add Vampire Tribal Support. Cards that create Vampire tokens or have Vampire Tribal synergy are great additions for our build.
- Add cards that support “going wide” strategy. Cards that buff our Vampires horizontally are very powerful since with Edgar Markov we will flood the board with our Vampire legions.
- Add cards that synergize with our strategies. To make the best out of our strategies, we can further amplify them by adding cards that support many of our strategies.
For the sake of flavor some of the choices are not optimal, but are (usually budget friendly) alternatives that greatly fit the Vampire Tribal theme.
The deck:
Vampire Tribal
Comparative Analysis
Let’s see how the deck compares to the general ratios of my deckbuilding guide.
35 Lands
10 Ramp: Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord , Patchwork Banner , Arcane Signet , Sol Ring , Master of Dark Rites , Orzhov Signet , Rakdos Signet , Boros Signet , Black Market , Pillar of Origins
12 Target Removal: Butcher of Malakir (kinda), Sorin, Grim Nemesis , Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord , Ruthless Lawbringer , Vona, Butcher of Magan , Voldaren Pariah , Patron of the Vein , Anowon, the Ruin Sage , Captivating Vampire , Mortify, Olivia Voldaren, Swords to Plowshares
2 Board Wipes: Olivia’s Wrath , Merciless Eviction
2 Graveyard Recursion: Queen’s Bay Paladin , Bloodline Necromancer
2 Graveyard Hate: Bojuka Bog , Patron of the Vein (kinda)
1 Tutors: Forerunner of the Legion
3 Protection: Etchings of the Chosen , Teferi’s Protection , Yahenni, Undying Partisan (self-protection)
10 Card Draw: Vampire Gourmand , Sorin, Grim Nemesis (kinda), Crossway Troublemakers , Skullclamp , Baron Bertram Graywater , Clavileño, First of the Blessed , Bloodtracker , Champion of Dusk , Welcoming Vampire , Voldaren Estate
4 Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions: Malakir Bloodwitch , Cathars’ Crusade , Door of Destinies , Sanctum Seeker
As we see from the comparative analysis, the rates per category are good. There is no score below the optimal low average and two categories are above the optimal max average.
Deck Highlights, synergy and flavor options:
Ramp
Master of Dark Rites is a great ramp source for Vampire, Cleric and Demon spells, but works better in our Vampire Tribal where our build provides us with numerous Vampire tokens. By 
and sacrificing a creature, it works like a repetitive Dark Ritual (referenced in its name) at our disposal, providing us 
. A top pick for our build!
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is by far the best Sorin and a top addition to our Vampire Tribal as it works either as an amazing Vampire specific ramp source by -3 (letting us put a Vampire from our hand onto the battlefield), or as a repetitve target removal with +1 (by sacrificing a Vampire it deals 3 tamage to any target and gives us 3 life). Moreover, with +1 he can buff target Vampire with a +1/+1 conuter and give it Deathtouch and Lifelink until end of turn which is a great bonus.
Patchwork Banner is one of the best cards for Tribal builds as it combines ramp and tribal support. Being both a mana rock and a Tribal Anthem gives us amazing value for its mana cost. Of course it is a top pick for our Vampire Tribal!
Black Market costs a lot but works as a great backup plan in case someone wipes the board as we will be able to ramp hard, considering our going wide strategy. In our build we have strong target removal too, so we can also greatly benefit from removing enemy threats.
Target Removal
Ruthless Lawbringer on ETB let us sacrifice another creature to destroy target nonland permanent. Works great with Edgar Markov as it will always have a sacrifice target, becoming super consistent. Great synergy with our Vampire Trbal!
Butcher of Malakir has great synergy with our Vampire Tribal as we can easily and repeatedly produce 1/1 Vampires that are disposable either in combat, or as sacrifice targets. That can result in amazing mass removal in a four player table. In addition it is a Vampire, so it can become a menace when buffed, because it has Flying.
Sorin, Grim Nemesis with -X deals X damage to target creature or planeswalker and we gain X life. Not the best removal option, but his power lies in flexibility as he can be used for card draw (kinda) and has an ultimate that cause some crazy Vampire Knight token creation.
Vona, Butcher of Magan by and paying 7 life, let us destroy target nonland permanent on our turn. A powerful repetitive ability that comes with a price. It needs caution, but our Vampires with Lifelink can help us remain healthy.
Voldaren Pariah seems below average for its mana cost, but when transformed into Abolisher of Bloodlines, it becomes a true Vampire Horror making target opponent sacrifice three creatures. The exta cost for the transformation is sacrificing three other creatures, which is not hard our Vampire Tribal with our going wide strategy.
Patron of the Vein destroys target creature on ETB and also works both as a graveyard hate card (as on death trigger of an opponent creature, it exiles it) and as a Vampire support card, buffing all our Vampires with a +1/+1 counter. Great utility card for our Vampire Tribal.
Anowon, the Ruin Sage can be a great repetitive removal tool as at the beginning of our upkeep, each player sacrifices a non-Vampire creature. Works like a charm in Vampire Tribal where all our creatures are Vampires.
Captivating Vampire works wonders in our Vampire Tribal. It is both a Vampire Lord buffing other Vampires with +1/+1 and a master in stealing creatures from our opponents and turning them into Vampires that work for our side. All we need is to tap five Vampires and we can take control of the best creatures of our opponents. A must-have pick for our build.
Olivia Voldaren is another capable creature stealer. By paying 
at instant speed, she deals 1 damage to another target creature, makes it a Vampire and buffs herself with a +1/+1 counter. By paying 
at instant speed we gain control of target Vampire for as long as we control Olivia Voldaren. Although mana greedy, the latter effect is quite powerful.
Board Wipes
Olivia’s Wrath is a top board wipe for Vampire Tribal since we can remove all non-Vampire creatures, leaving our board intact. All we need is a good amount of Vampires on our board and that can easily be the norm with our build.
Graveyard Recursion
Bloodline Necromancer on ETB let us return a Vampire or Wizard creature from our graveyard to the battlefield. A useful recursion tool for both Wizard and Vampire Tribal.
Queen’s Bay Paladin is another Vampire Tribal specific recursion tool, but works both on ETB and on attack trigger with the disadvantage of returning the creatures with a finality counter on them. His ability can be repetitive so that makes it up for it.
Graveyard Hate
Bojuka Bog is a staple for graveyard hate.
Tutors
Forerunner of the Legion is a great Vampire Tribal tutor and on top of that on Vampire ETB, it buffs target creature with a +1/+1 counter. One of the best cards for our build.
Protection
Teferi’s Protection is an iconic protection spell that was introduced in Vampiric Bloodlust precon and it is one of the most popular and sought-after protection spells since then. With our going wide strategy, such a protection is very powerful.
Etchings of the Chosen is a nice utility card for black and white Tribal decks so it greatly fits our Vampire Tribal. It supports our going wide strategy by buffing our Vampires by +1/+1 and let us pay and sacrifice a Vampire to make an other creature we control indestructible until end of turn.
Yahenni, Undying Partisan can easily grow into a big threat as it grows whenever an opponent creature dies. Moreover, it has self-protection as we can sacrifice another creature at instant speed to get indestructible until end of turn.
Card Draw
Skullclamp is a card draw staple for decks with 1/1 creatures/tokens so it works wonders in our Vampire Tribal build since most Vampire tokens are 1/1’s. A must-have card.
Crossway Troublemakers cost a lot, but works both as a great Vampire Tribal support cart (giving our attacking Vampires Deathtouch and Lifelink) and a draw engine, as on Vampire death trigger it let us pay 2 life to draw a card.
Baron Bertram Graywater is a great Vampire token generator, even with the limit of one trigger per turn. In addition, by paying and sacrificing another creature or artifact, it let us draw a card at instant speed. Great synergy with our Vampire Tribal build.
Vampire Gourmand can also help us with card draw, as on attack trigger it let us sacrifice a creature to draw a card and become unblockable until end of turn. With Edgar Markov he will always have sacrifice targets so it may be better than it seems.
Sorin, Grim Nemesis with +1 lets us reveal the top card of your library and put that card into our hand while at the same time each opponent loose life equal to it mana value. He’s expensive for its mana cost but as we have already analized before in this article, his power lies in flexibility.
Clavileño, First of the Blessed does not offer us direct card draw and needs some setup, but the reward is most tempting. Whenever we attack target attacking Vampire that isn’t a Demon becomes a Demon and gains “When this creature dies, draw a card and create a tapped 4/3 white and black Vampire Demon creature token with flying.” We can use our sacrifice enablers to get earlier the bonuses if needed. A nice depth and flavor for our Vampire Trial.
Bloodtracker is a great source of draw as we can dump enough and buff it with +1/+1 counters making him a serious threat, that once it dies will draw us a card for each +1/+1 counter on it.
Champion of Dusk on ETB make us draw X cards and lose X life, where X is the number of Vampires we control. It needs proper timing to be optimal, but it can net us a great amount of cards. A great card for Vampire Tribal.
Welcoming Vampire works wonders in creature decks with low power and is optimal in our Vampire Tribal that is one of the best decks in going wide and producing 1/1 Vampire tokens. A top pick for our build!
Voldaren Estate apart from being a great color fixing Land for Vampire Tribal, it can be a Blood token generator so it can help us with card draw. It greatly synergizes with our going wide strategy as it can reduce the cost of that ability by for each Vampire we control.
Finishers/ Surprise /Alternate win conditions
Cathars’ Crusade and Door of Destinies can quickly buff our Vampires to the point where our attacks will be lethal. Cathars’ Crusade is insane because it triggers in creature ETB (including tokens), while Door of Destinies needs the creatures to be cast. Both are excellent ways to finish our opponents.
Malakir Bloodwitch on ETB causes each opponent to loose life equal to the number of Vampires we control, which can be a finishing move concerning our going wide strategy. We also gain life equal to the life lost this way which is a cool bonus. A nice addition for our Vampire Tribal.
Sanctum Seeker has a powerful ability for our Vampire Tribal: “Whenever a Vampire you control attacks, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.” With our going wide strategy it can result in a finishing move, before we even apply combat damage.
Other synergy pieces
Great Vampires
Blood Artist is a staple for draining opponents and works great in Vampire Tribal as it is a Vampire itself and fits our creature-heavy and token-heavy strategies.
Nighthawk Scavenger is a powerful vampire with great keywords (Flying, Deathtouch, Lifelink) that gets stronger the more filled there are our opponents’ graveyards. Almost strictly better than Vampire Nighthawk which was a Vampire Tribal staple for years.
Rakish Heir is a powerful Vampire that work wonders in Vampire Tribal as it rewards aggro strategy by buffing our Vampires with a +1/+1 counter each time they deal damage to a player. Necropolis Regent is like a more powerful version of Rakish Heir according to its mana cost. It has a similar effect but gives a number of counters to our Vampires equal to the damage dealt. Great picks for our build.
Drana, Liberator of Malakir is a powerful Vampire that buffs horizontal our Vampires with a +1/+1 counter each time she deals damage to a player. Another great pick for our Vampire Tribal.
Bloodlord of Vaasgoth is a powerful Vampire that supports our aggro strategy by giving our Vampires Bloodlust 3 as long as we deal damage to an opponent the same turn. That is a powerful buff of 3 +1/+1 counters and can be gained easy with our going wide strategy. A great pick for our Vampire Tribal.
Order of Sacred Dusk has high synergy with our Vampire Tribal build as with our going wide strategy we should easily be able to cast it with the help of Convoke at an early turn. The Exalted part is not fitting our build, but it causes us no problem anyway.
Other
Blade of the Bloodchief is a powerful equipment that has Vampire Tribal synergy and can easily buff with many +1/+1 counters the equipped creature because it triggers on death trigger of any creature. Ideal weapon for our commander Edgar Markov because of the commander damage and the fact that we need him to be attacking to be optimal, but it can work with every Vampire with Flying making it a big threat.
Stensia Masquerade is an enchantment with an effect similar to Rakish Heir, but in addition it provides our attaking creatures with First Stike so it turns extra powerful. A top pick for our Vampire Tribal.
Vampire Token Producers : 13 cards
Legion’s Landing transforms into a Legendary Land so we have an extra Land available which is also able to produce 1/1 Vampire tokens with Lifelink.
Vampire Tribal Lord effects / buffs : 13 cards
Indulgent Aristocrat and Cordial Vampire can provide multiple times the horizontal buff of +1/+1 counters so they are very strong. Stromkirk Captain also gives our Vampires First Strike so he is an amazing Lord. Bloodline Keeper need to be transformed to give other Vampires +2/+2.
Sacrifice synergy : 11 cards
Although we do not build our deck around a sacrifice strategy, sacrifice is a strategy that needs sacrifice targets and our going wide strategy contributes to that to a great point, so we have synergy.
Let’s see some more statistics about our deck. Some important info to care about is the mana curve and the card type distribution, as it can help us understand better our deck and may indicate where there is space for improving it.
Mana Curve
The mana curve seems close to average. There are some more drops at positions 5-6 and a few less drops at positions 2-3. In addition there is a small spike at position 3 but nothing out of the ordinary.
Card Type Distribution
The Vampire Tribal Card Type Distribution shows the dominant creature-heavy theme with 40 creatures. All other categories have a much smaller presence with Instants at 3, Enchantments at 6, Sorceries at 2, Artifacts at 10 and Planeswalkers at 4. No Battles are present for the time.
Of course statistics and comparative analysis are great tools but they don’t always tell the whole truth, since many factors like synergy and combo pieces are hard to be measured numerically. For example in this deck, with our commander Edgar Markov, and his powerful Eminence ability that is always available, the overall Vampire token production is much higher than the one the numbers show. In turn, that empowers various aspects of our build that are affected by token creation and that makes Edgar one of the most powerful commanders out there.
Now you can buy the whole deck list with a click of a button!
Great news! Now you can buy the best custom Vampire tokens made by Mystic Tokens to accompany your Vampire Tribal deck! Buy now on Cardmarket at a special price!
If you liked the deck, don’t forget to revisit the article after every major new release as I will try to keep my decks updated and examine any potential upgrades. If you want to keep being updated, you can follow mtgbudgetcommander.com on social media (facebook, twitter, instagram, pinterest, linkedin, reddit, tumblr, medium).
If you like my tribal series, you can check my other tribal decks.
