Postby Volafortis » 18 Jun 2012, 21:06
Alright, well, another Stromkirk Noble is definitely good, and if you're set on nothing outside of Innistrad block, I'd make the following changes.
The deck is currently really light on removal, your best options in Innistrad are Pillar of Flame and Victim of Night. I'd also recommend tossing some Brimstone Volleys into your sideboard (for matchups when you can't use Victim of Night.) Tragic Slip may work better than Victim of Night for you. It all depends on what kind of decks/card see play against you. If you find you're up against a lot of 1-toughness cards, replace Victim of Night with Tragic Slip in the list below.
(Note: Victim of Night will play somewhat poorly without dual lands. If you're willing to break into the core set, I'd at least supplement Evolving Wilds with Dragonskull Summit.)
I'd take out 4 basic lands, and put 4 evolving wilds in. The mana fixing is really good.
Vampire cards are naturally high power/low toughness in Innistrad, so first strike is really good. I'd recommend Hanweir Lancer. It plays into a strong ISD block B/R vampire curve, acting as additional Stromkirk Captains.
Lightning Mauler is a decent 2-drop as well, Falkernath Aristocrat (recommended below) already has haste, but it plays well, and can pump Falkenrath Aristocrat.
Now you want some aggressive bodies to flesh out the curve. Bloodcrazed Neonate is great if you can consistently give it first strike.
Falkenrath Aristocrat is a great 4 drop that will work wonders here, it's a mythic, but it only costs 3-4 bucks. It also protects itself well, and with the few soulbond humans I'm recommending, you can even pump it on occasion.
The curve is pretty light on one-drops. You don't have too many great options in vamps, but Diregraf Ghoul is quite aggresive, but without any dual lands or manafixing coming in untapped turn one, it's tough to recommend this, when Noble is so much better turn one. Still, it's not bad to consider, and I'd also play a couple Stonewright, as firebreathing can be quite potent.
In the end, I'd probably end up with a deck like
4x Stromkirk Noble
3x Diregraf Ghoul
2x Stonewright
3x Bloodcrazed Neonate
3x Vampire Interloper
2x Lightning Mauler
4x Stromkirk Captain
3x Hanweir Lancer
2x Hellrider
3x Falkenrath Aristocrat
4x Pillar of Flame
2x Victim of Night
2x Brimstone Volley
1x Stensia Bloodhall
4x Evolving Wilds
9x Mountain
9x Swamp
Sideboard:
2x Brimstone Volley (to replace Victim of Night when it doesn't work)
2x Curse of Death's Hold (when you're up against any deck running Lingering Souls.
3x Blood Artist (if you're in a matchup against Zombies, or some other aggro deck, this will help you come out ahead)
2x Demolish (Core set options, like Shatter or Manic Vandal are better, but in Innistrad block, this is decent, as it hit utility lands and artifacts)
2x Sever the Bloodline (kills tokens, as well as being a catch all spot removal. Good against decks where it's good, you'll just have to do some playtesting to see when the time comes to put it in)
3x Torch Fiend (A much more synergistic option to remove artifacts than Demolish.)
2x Zealous Conscripts (Great against control, can steal planeswalkers or Titans.)
The main deck is the main chunk I'd work on getting. If you need to cut some cards for budget, cut them from the sideboard, because the sideboard options you get by limiting to Innistrad block are mediocre, in general.
While you could certainly find better cards for certain spots by branching into different sets, this should treat you reasonably well as a budget Vampire list.
