So I built a Vampire deck that is particularly cheap to just play some casual standard games with. It's nothing flashy, but it might work well.

What do you guys think? Again trying to keep this relatively inexpensive until I can build my card base back up.

Land [24][/24]
9 Mountain
15 Swamp

Sorcery [4][/4]
4 Bone Splinters

Instant [11][/11]
4 Murder
3 Vampiric Fury
4 Rush of Blood

Creature [21][/21]
4 Vampire Interloper
3 Rakish Heir
4 Vampire Nighthawk
4 Falkenrath Noble
4 Heirs of Stromkirk
2 Stromkirk Patrol

stromkirk captain would help +1/+1 to all vamps in play

Here's a link to the deck being discussed here: http://deckbox.org/sets/290394.

I like the Vampire-tribal concept. I've been toying with one myself.

As it stands, you have nothing you can play on T1 (Bone Splinters requires you to sacrifice a creature).

Bone Splinters is Murder, but with the additional cost of sacrificing a creature. I can see why you'd want eight removal spells since your only two-drop creature, Vampire Interloper, can't block.

If you stick with Bone Splinters, consider adding some expendable one-drops that you won't mind sacrificing. Options I see from your inventory would be a combinations of Bellows Lizard, Forge Devil, Tormented Soul, and/or Typhoid Rats. Another option would be some red burn spells that affect creature or player. While they won't get rid of any big creatures, they'd give you the option of doing direct damage. If you want to try that route, I'd swap in the burn spells for the Bone splinters. I see you have Pillar of Flame and Searing Spear. They are options to consider.

Let me know if your wishlist is current, as I have everything (or just about everything) you want available for trade.

Keep us posted on the deck development.

guess the reason I chose bone splinters over murder is to synergize with Falkenrath Noble. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how it works. If a creature dies, the target loses 1 life and I gain 1 life. If I use bone splinters and sacrifice a creature, and destroy a creature does that count at -2 for him and +2 for me?

Or am I completely off base in assuming that destroying a creature via a spell or instant counts towards the ability of Falkenrath Noble. Noob question I know.

Speeker wrote:guess the reason I chose bone splinters over murder is to synergize with Falkenrath Noble. Maybe I’m misunderstanding how it works. If a creature dies, the target loses 1 life and I gain 1 life. If I use bone splinters and sacrifice a creature, and destroy a creature does that count at -2 for him and +2 for me?

Or am I completely off base in assuming that destroying a creature via a spell or instant counts towards the ability of Falkenrath Noble. Noob question I know.

No. I completely missed that mechanic in your deck. It looks reasonable to me. In that case, which vampires do you anticipate sacrificing?

The plan was to use the Vampire Interlopers as the sac cards.

Then be sure to let us know how it plays!

I'm actually in the process of piecing together a vampire tribal deck myself. (You can see the list at: http://deckbox.org/sets/279257). Admittedly mine is a bit more expensive than what you're running here... but not too many of the big pieces are absolutely necessary. You're welcome to take or leave any of my thoughts there, but it might give you some ideas.

To start off, I agree with everything HikingStick is suggesting. The captains are essential and should be a 4x. More burn would definitely be a welcome sight.

Now for some more pointed suggestions.

First, while it might not fit the tribal theme, I would suggest some sort of a one-drop. I know you're going for casual play but I cannot stress enough how useful that first turn play is. Even something like Rakdos Cackler immediately puts the onus on your opponent to respond. Obviously the ideal one-drop for a vampire deck would be Stromkirk Noble but a playset of those will run you roughly $10 while the Cacklers will likely run you $0.50.

Second, one card you should DEFINITELY spend the 50 cents to get two of is Rogue's Passage. As I'm sure you're aware, this deck will sink or swim based on whether you're able to actually land some hits on your opponent early game to make the vampires grow. Without those hits, well, none of the vampires are all that threatening on their own. The passage will make them unblockable to guarantee they will grow (especially with one or two Rakish Heirs in play to compound the growing effects).

Third, if you're going for flavor, I would suggest tossing in Bump in the Night and/or Exquisite Blood. The former lets you smack the opponent for three early and possibly another three later in the game (which can often be a game breaker). Exquisite Blood can be a monster as it almost gives all your creatures lifelink (not quite, but about as close to as you're going to get here). Another option would be Mark of the Vampire - why not pump and give lifelink? That alone can be a game winner in the right circumstances.

Fourth, while I know triggering Falkenrath Noble was a perk to Bone Splinters, most of the time you really won't want to sack your board presence, especially if your position will improve with a free swing as much as it will (given the vampire +1/+1 counters). Thus, I would suggest Tragic Slip, Victim of Night, Ultimate Price, or even Brimstone Volley. You'll be killing THEIR creatures without costing your own. Not as many triggers for the noble, but still, more creatures on your side will work in your favor.

Lastly, I can see where Sign in Blood needs to be in here. The last thing any deck wants is to be topdecking, thus, any added drawing can decide the game. Sure you lose two life, but that's a single hit from a Vampire Nighthawk to replace.

Anyway, best of luck to you with it.

[Update]

So I ended up modifying the deck just before I played my first FNM event at the local comic shop. I have linked the deck that I played with below. I scrimmaged against a Rakdos deck of similar ability, if you will. It wasn't a stacked deck and I won 2 out of 3 games with it. I was pretty happy. The first actual match of the night I played a much better Rakdos and got murdered. I had some fairly unfortunate luck, not pulling enough lands or not pulling low mana cost creatures. I still believe I would have been stomped either way. The final match I played against a very good, completely stacked vampire deck. I had no chance. Mirror type match with a deck that was far superior to mine.

http://deckbox.org/sets/290394 (link to the deck I played)

Since then I have picked up a few more cards and have modified my deck from Friday night. I believe that it will be better next week (linked below). It still needs tweaking a little bit. I need 2 more Dragonskull Summit, 3 Blood Crypt, and 2 more Stromkirk Noble.

I also am thinking about dropping the 2 Murder in favor of 2 more Tragic Slip. But let me know what you guys think.

http://deckbox.org/sets/293049 (modified deck)[/Update]

There's definitely a trade-off between Murder and Tragic Slip. Personally I'm a fan of keeping some number of both as both could easily come in handy in various scenarios. For instance, you said you ran into a more polished vampire deck. In said deck I'm guessing you encountered Falkenrath Aristocrats in some quantity. In this scenario, Murder is useless. You cast it, they sack a creature and make it indestructible, well, that's that. However, Tragic Slip is totally different. You cast it to kill the aristocrat and even if they sack something for the indestructibility, the FA still dies, because Morbid triggers are looked at when a spell resolves as opposed to when it's cast, meaning it would get -13/-13 and still be placed in the 'yard.

That aside, if you're looking to dump anything for the added slips, I'd go with Ultimate Price. Sure, it's one less CMC than Murder; BUT, given the multi-colored emphasis of the current block, it'll be useless in a pretty large number of scenarios.

Could you explain a little more how tragic slip bypasses indestructibility. Thanks a lot.

Indestructible makes the creature immune to "destory" effects and lethal combat damage. Even Indestructible creatures like Falkenrath Aristocrat, Stuffy Doll, and Predator Ooze, however, can accumulate -1/-1 counters. Any time a creature's toughness is reduced to zero, that creature goes to the graveyard, so when Falkenrath Aristocrat accumulates 13 -1/-1 counters, that's where it goes.

Here's a page that provides a bit more detail.

EDIT: word choice