Date: Wed, 12 Nov 1997 11:39:03 -0700 From: Sean Cooper Subject: [Deck] Ertog's Vampire On Sat, 8 Nov 1997 Andre Oentoro posted his new Vampire-Tog.. (or maybe AngelTog ?) deck. I have revised it adding some of the features from the original B/U MiViWl Ertog deck as follows :- Total 36 creatures ..... Creature Eaters (9) (3) Barrow Ghoul (3) Necratog (3) Skyshroud Vampire Other creatures (27) (3) Nekrataal (4) Ertai's Familiar (4) Man-o'-War (4) Fallen Askari (2) Skulking Ghost (4) Sage Owl (4) Shadow Guildmage (2) Shaper Guildmage (Considering changing these ?) Land (24) (2) Bad River (4) Gemstone Mine (4) Island (1) Mountain (1) Rocky Tar Pit (9) Swamp (3) Undiscovered Paradise Sideboard (15) (2) Bubble Matrix (2) Serrated Biskelion (2) Chill (2) Mind Harness (2) Propaganda (vs Orb and Weenie decks) (3) City of Solitude (2) Disenchant Casting cost Black Blue Total 5 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 4 7 2 9 8 17 1 4 2 6 Total 22 14 36 Average 2.6 2.1 2.4 IRC APPR32 play tests so far include 1-0 Lobotomy/Abandon Hope, 2-1 Sligh (Loss was a Incinerate/double Fireblast the turn before I killed him), 2-1 Sliver/Overrun, 2-0 against a UG deck I never really saw anything of and a disappointing 0-2 against a mono-blue deck. One game he was at 3 life the other 2 but I guess that doesn't matter. Obviously the deck is very low casting cost and one of my problems is that by the time I cast the Vampire I have very few cards left in hand to discard to him. But as a rule the extra creatures work better than putting Impulses or other blue drawing cards in, although I am toying with adding 2 or 3 Meditates back in ? Other options are to remove the Vampires possibly for Circling Vultures or to add the Dark Rituals back in again but I don't like this option. For creature optimization I am considering removing the 2 Shaper Guildmages. Possible additions include Blood Pets or Intitias of the Ebon Hand in the 1cc category. I've shied away from using Ophidian's due to the 3cc but given that I need card drawing engines maybe I should add them back in again ? If I do add 3 Mediates and 3 Ophidians, replacing 2 Shaper Guildmages and what (?, I've assumed four 2cc's) It increases my casting cost to Casting cost Black Blue Total 5 3 3 4 3 3 3 3 10 13 2 7 6 13 1 4 4 Total 20 16 36 Average 2.7 2.6 2.7 The deck now has substantially less swarm ability which has won most of my games as the 'tog or Barrow Ghoul strategy is amazingly not normally what kills. People are so paranoid about that 'tog combination that they spend all the resources stopping that and then get flattened by the creature horde they over looked ! Any and all thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Sean.