[Pioneer] Vamp it Up Buttercup

[Drebble]

Vamp it Up Buttercup

Would welcome thoughts on my first Pioneer Deck?

[kleer001]

I like it, I'd play it. 
I like the variation. Personally I'm not a huge fan of token creatures, but with the vampire tribe synergy I bet they're deadly in force.

That said I'd try to squeeze in more vampire synergy like with Stromkirk Condemned or Indulgent Aristocrat .

I see Mastermind's Acquisition and Forerunner of the Legion so, you are able to have a bit of card draw. But I would possibly swap out something with something else with cycling or straight card draw.

With Opaline Unicorn and Pillar of Origins you've got some extra mana lined up. But I also see your curve is a bit more midrange so I suspect it'll be a bit slower to get up and running.
A wall or two might be nice, something to defend against the turn three super aggro win conditions 
I'd consider adding a wall like black's Barrier of Bones because it's a one drop. Then again there's a few white walls with reach and those sound good too.

[Drebble]

Thanks Kleer001

Played it last night in FNM Pioneer.
7 matches - 1 win

I had either too much mana or not enough!

[kleer001]

Where did you find you were stalling out?

What kind of decks were you playing against?

[Drebble]

Just drawing mana. One game I had 17 mana pool. Another game only 5.

[kleer001]

Hmm, maybe more card draw would have helped you out? With too many lands you probably needed to get to those more expensive spells. And with not enough land you wanted more land.

Looking now... Yup, no real draw in your deck. Lots of buffs though, good lord. Ah, and your highest cost cards are 5 drops.

There's artifacts and spells a plenty to choose from. Just no Vampire tribal creatures

[Warden of Silence]

I'm a big fan of Vampires, and Pioneer has a number of strong cards for the tribe (and with a return to Innistrad next year and Zendikar soon, the tribe will have plenty of new toys to look at).

So I think we can streamline the deck a good bit. Your deck size, at 79 cards, makes it rather hard to draw the exact card you need in any given situation. This is only increased by your many one-off cards. By having the max 4 copies of a card, you increase the likelihood of drawing that card. You also don't appear to have a means of digging through your deck, having to rely on your draw step. I would focus on cutting the deck size to 60, consider getting full playsets of cards, and adding card advantage. If possible, the overall mana curve could be lowered as well.

You have a number of mana acceleration cards. I would consider removing them, as you don't have much means of capitalizing on them and can be dead draws a lot of the time. These are Opaline Unicorn and your mana producing artifacts, a total of 9 cards. I also think both Liliana's, Grim Tutor, Mastermind's Acquisition, The Eldest Reborn, Mark of the Vampire, and Vanquisher's Banner could go. They are either too expensive, don't do enough for their cost, or can't be capitalized in this deck. Taking all of those would would bring the deck to 60 cards.

You appear to have a swarm strategy going on, so I think we should play into that. Getting more Legion's Landing will help get that solid turn one play and let you flip into token producing lands.

Knight of the Ebon Legion is the best one-mana turn one play this deck can have (and scales well late game too), and possibly the best one-mana Black creature in Pioneer. I would get three more copies as soon as you are able, as it is a powerhouse of a card. The ability to pump and deal more damage or trade with larger creatures is excellent. For two drops, Gifted Aetherborn is similar. It has a lot of value as an anti-aggro card and would do well with more copies in the deck. Adanto Vanguard is quite aggressive, and should you have remaining life to spare, can be protected from removal. Cruel Celebrant makes removal hurt and can be quite annoying with multiple out. It fits best in Aristocrat type strategies, but you could have it here just for value and keeping your life total healthy. If that's the case, more copies would help. Dusk Legion Zealot, while not the most impressive, does draw you a card, and can be blocker or sacrifice fodder later on.

Champion of Dusk is a powerful card. A 4/4 is rather strong, and drawing you a number of cards when it enters can refill your hand. Blood Baren of Vizkopa won't draw you cards, but it has a good body with some protection, and should you be at 30 or more life, it can end games by itself.

Elenda, the Dusk Rose is powerful. It pairs especially well with aristocrat strategies, and with Cruel Celebrant out, the two can be quite the pair. You might not want a full playset, but three copies could be strong.

When it comes to Planeswalkers, Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is made for Vampires. All of his abilities are powerful and do things you'll want to do anyway. The first will make everything bigger and gain you some life while making blocking difficult. The second ability will let you do more direct damage with some healing, and trigger Cruel Celebrant and Elenda. The third ability can be used to save mana by cheating something in (Champion of Dusk is an excellent target here).

For utility, Fatal Push is the best removal spell in the format. If you often play against a lot of creature heavy decks, you should consider using it. If want an Aura similar to Mark of the Vampire, consider Demonic Embrace. It's cheaper to cast, gives more power, gives evasion through flying, and can be recast should it go to the graveyard.

I think the deck has serious potential, it just needs some cleanup to make it more potent. I did introduce a few different ideas (along with some pricy suggestions that may not be viable for you at the moment), but hopefully, some of them speak to you.