[EDH / Commander] Vampires are alive! Need some help to cut cards and refine my deck

[steehill]

Vampires are alive! Need some help to cut cards and refine my deck

I need to cut 50 cards from my new deck idea and need some advice, my deck ethos is Vampire tribal with a focus on token spam and buffing them up

Ignore the sideboard and maybe board as these are cards I've already removed.

Mechanics used:
Sacrifice own creatures to avoid spot exile which my opponents love
Life gain with life damage to opponents
Buffs and opponent punishments when creatures die

My opponent has Shalai, voice of plenty as a commander usually wearing lightning greaves and Avacyn, angel of hope as his favoured tutored card which is why I have 'each oppenent sacrifice' cards rather than spot destroy creature cards like doomblade

[ApothecaryGeist]

50 cards is a lot to cut.  I'm not going to address that build problem at this time.

But you mentioned specific problems you are having when you face down your opponent.  I will address those.

To deal with Lightning Greaves, run some artifact hate, like Vandalblast, Shattering Blow, and/or Return to Dust.
You can use some spot removal (exile type) to deal with Avacyn.  I suggest Swords to Plowshares, Path to Exile, Crib Swap, Gild, and/or Unmake.  You said your opponent is in white/green.  Those are the best colors at enchantment removal, so you Oblivion Ring-type of removal effects will not be very effective for you.

Hope this helps

Happy Brewing

[monader]

i dont like BONTU and VONA but is my opinion , and u work with 3 colors try put chromatic lantern

[Siberian89]

Hi,

here's my opinion about what to cut:

Stoneforge Masterwork - opens to spot removal and helps little to none

Retreat to Hagra - does almost nothing

Shadows of the Past - does almost nothing

Underworld Connections - slow... you can use Phyrexian Arena for something better and faster

Graceful Reprieve - not much useful... you can use Unburial Rites, Faith's Reward or Rootborn Defenses

Touch of Moonglove - does almost nothing

Aphetto Dredging - not much useful... you can use Patriach's Bidding

Feast of Blood - if you are playin it for the life gain, don't. At this point would be better Terminate or Doom Blade-like

Bloodline Necromancer - slow

Cliffhaven Vampire - slow and does almost nothing

Gifted Aetherborn - useless

Mephidross Vampire - almost useless

Stromkirk Condemned - almost useless and little to none sinergy with the deck

Vampire Nighthawk - useless

Generally speaking, all the cards that let you take creature in your hand from your graveyard are slow or almost useless. I understand that you want to play a sacrifice deck, but it's better sacrifice token instead of creature so it's better embrace the token aspect of the deck instead of a sudo-reanimator.

Last note: i see a lot of heavy mana cards but you are running a low number of lands and little to none mana rocks (or sacrifice altar). Can I suggest to play at least 37 lands and ten mana rocks/altar? A sacrifice/aggro deck without Phyrexian Altar and Ashnod's Altar it's strange, and playing more arount sacrifice you can add Altar of Dementia, Dictate of Erebos and Grave Pact for more removal effects.

I hope my opinion would be useful to you

[Morganator 2.0]

Instead of trying to remove 50 cards from your deck, I'm going to give some tips on how you can remove the cards yourself.

• Stick to one theme. If you're doing tribal vampire, stay with tribal vampire. Don't try to do recursion (Wander in Death, Sigil of the New Dawn) or a +1/+1 counter theme (Feast on the Fallen, Ajani Steadfast)
• Eliminate bad creatures. Just because it is a vampire, doesn't mean it's good. Vampire Nighthawk, Vampire Aristocrat, and Gifted Aetherborn are prime examples of garbage vampires.
• Eliminate cards that aren't relevant to your deck. Campaign of Vengeance is not worth 5 mana, Retreat to Hagra does hardly anything, and Touch of Moonglove is a useless combat trick.
• You typically want 8 to 12 forms of mana ramp, 3-5 creature removal, and 3-5 artifact removal. Speaking of mana ramp, where's Sol Ring?

So because I'm feeling lazy, I'm gonna let EDHREC decide the top 50 cards you should eliminate.

Grim Discovery
Necromantic Thirst
Proper Burial
Touch of Moonglove
Call to the Netherworld
Graceful Reprieve
Raise Dead
Sigil of the New Dawn
Fanatical Devotion
Wander in Death
Feast on the Fallen
Bontu the Glorified
Cauldron Haze
Haunted Fengraf
Shadows of the Past
Death Denied
Ajani Steadfast
Innocent Blood
Glorious Anthem
Aphetto Dredging
Retreat to Hagra
Dawn Charm
Radiant Fountain
Plague Wind
Soul Salvage
Orzhov Charm
Deathrender
Banishing Light
Profane Command
Together Forever
Wretched Confluence
Gift of Immortality
Vampire Aristocrat
Dictate of Heliod
Yawgmoth's Vile Offering
Sudden Spoiling
Victim of Night
Brave the Sands
Virtus's Maneuver
Bloodflow Connoisseur
Stoneforge Masterwork
Oblivion Ring
Attrition
Arcane Lighthouse
Liliana Vess
Dark Prophecy
Vampiric Fury
Campaign of Vengeance
Palace Siege
Vish Kal, Blood Arbiter

[steehill]

Revision 2

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Bontu the Glorified
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Feast on the Fallen
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Mephidross Vampire
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Necromantic Thirst
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Oblivion Ring
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Retreat to Hagra
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Stoneforge Masterwork
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Touch of Moonglove
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Vampire Aristocrat

[steehill]

Revision 5

Changed amounts:
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Dawn Charm
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Grim Discovery
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Kindred Charge
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Kindred Dominance
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Palace Siege
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Phyrexian Reclamation
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Proper Burial
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Shadows of the Past
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Shared Animosity
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Swords to Plowshares
-1 (Main) +1 (SB) Whip of Erebos