“A challenge, huh?”
Art:Wispdrinker Vampire
by Zara Alfonso
Table of Contents
Today’s Featured Commander Is:
Welcome to MKM Week! This is just entry one in a week of decks featuring MKM commanders. Wispdrinker Vampire is a very cool commander and a very strong commander for a token strategy, essentially allowing us to extort each opponent every time a creature ETBs for us. When combined with all of our creatures plus a ton of token generation, we can put immense pressure on our opponents. We are in Orzhov, which gives us access to strong removal and helps us take out big threats from our opponents. I am very excited to be starting off MKM week with a bang. If you love tokens or Orzhov, I think you may enjoy this one. Without further adieu, let’s get it!
The Deck:
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Why Wispdrinker Vampire?
Wispdrinker Vampire is a key part of the deck as, over the course of the game, they deal a ton of damage to opponents and allow us to gain a ton of life. They are a little expensive, and we don’t have really much ramp, but either way, Wispdrinker Vampire makes an impact quite quickly after coming down. Wispdrinker’s second ability is quite expensive, but it should be activated if we have the mana. The deathtouch is huge and makes even our 1/1 tokens threats in combat, and the lifelink makes us even stronger against aggressive or any creature strategies. Wispdrinker Vampire is a key part of our deck and a card I always cast as soon as possible.
Deck Overview:
This section contains information about cards in the deck and how they function within the deck! I also highlighted some of my favorite cards in the deck!
Creatures:
Creeping Bloodsucker
is one of my favorite creatures since it has the ability of our commander, and more damage and life is always welcome. We also have some strong extort creatures who do the same thing, like Tithe Drinker
, Basilica Guards
, and Basilica Screecher
. We produce a ton of tokens throughout the deck, so Mirkwood Bats
and Nadier's Nightblade
are both great ways to get some additional damage and life going. Now, I know I’m being redundant with all this gaining and draining, but there are a ton of ways to do it in this deck. We are running a few MKM cards in the deck, with my favorite being Snarling Gorehound
, which allows us to surveil an absolute ton, and that can be great if we have Death Denied
in our hand or are looking for specific cards. Now let’s discuss some of our token producers like Icatian Crier
, Soul of Migration
and Stonybrook Schoolmaster
. I like Siege Zombie
since before it rolls back to our turn and we untap, we can tap a ton of our creatures and do additional damage. A card nobody plays in PEDH is Aegis Automaton
, and in this deck, it is very strong and a great way to retrigger Wispdrinker Vampire.
Instants:
We do have some instant speed token producers, which can be great for gaining life or damaging an opponent in a pinch, and having additional blockers is strong as well. We have Raise the Alarm
and Charge of the Mites
. Because we typically carry a high creature count, we can use Harsh Sustenance
to deal a ton of damage to a creature or player, and in my testing, I was able to take out an opponent with this multiple times. Mob
works really well with the deck. Since we have a high creature count, it can be a free-kill spell. We are not light on kill spells but also packing Go for the Throat
, Doom Blade
, and Cast Down
, just to name a few. Death Denied is a huge piece of mass recursion for the deck and can be perfect if we run into something like Evincar's Justice
.
Sorceries:
We have a ton of very strong token production at sorcery speed, with the best of the best being Battle Screech
since we can often cast it and flash it back in the same turn and with our commander out, this represents four damage and four creatures for a four mana card. We also have Call to the Feast
and Sworn Companions
. Beyond that, we have some strong buffs for the deck in Silverflame Ritual
and Inspiring Roar
, which helps buff up our small board, and for a lot of the deck, we can still meet the threshold for Wispdrinker’s ability. To end it out, we have some strong draws like Read the Bones
and Sign in Blood
. The life loss from these is negated because of all the life gain throughout the deck.
Artifacts:
We are only two colors, so we have rocks, but there aren’t a ton of them. Orzhov Signet
and Arcane Signet
are nothing more than mana ramp for the deck and can come down early. Bonder's Ornament
is a little more expensive, but since it can be a source of supplemental card draw, it is absolutely worth the additional cost. Tinker's Tote
is a great way to get some additional creatures to trigger our commander, and if needed in a pinch, we can gain three life. One of my favorite cards in the format is Wedding Invitation
because it does so much for only two mana, an unblockable creature for a turn and supplemental card draw, and in this deck, we absolutely have a few vampires we can use to also get the lifelink. Tithing Blade // Consuming Sepulcher
is a card I think I overlooked for a while, but it is essentially a Diabolic Edict
with upside, and once we craft it, we can continue gaining life and draining our opponents.
Enchantments:
Pillory of the Sleepless
is one of my favorite enchantments in the deck since it not only effectively stops a creature/commander from attacking but drains their owner for one every turn when combined with all of our other drain effects this can certainly add up. The same is true for Ill-Gotten Inheritance
, which is very strong, and if it faces removal, we can pay and sac it to deal big damage to an opponent. Omen of the Sun
is a great token producer for the deck and gets even better when combined with our commander’s three mana, two creatures, and a Shock
is a deal we will take every time. Our enchantment package is rounded out by Oubliette
, Oblivion Ring
, and Journey to Nowhere
, which are all strong and cheap ways to take out an opponents threat.
Land Base:
Our land base has little excitement, just a simple two-color land base. I really like The Dross Pits
and The Fair Basilica
, which are strong pieces of supplemental card draw for the deck, and who can say no to more cards. We also have some strong “fetches” in Evolving Wilds
and Terramorphic Expanse
, which are great ways to get our colors established. We are mostly basics in the land base, and since we are in two colors, there is no reason to have a ton of glitz and glam within our land base. I find the thirty-five count is sufficient for the deck and very strong.
Strengths of the Deck:
- Every time a creature ETB’s under our control, we extort our opponents, which can get out of hand very quickly and helps us put a ton of pressure on each of our opponents.
- We gain a ton of life in the deck, which positions us very well against aggressive strategies or any type of high-damage creature deck.
- Being in Orzhov allows us to have a good mix of removal and various forms of it that allow us to take out a wide variety of targets our opponents may have.
Weaknesses of the Deck:
- We can be a little slow to kill opponents if trying to go through combat, especially since a good majority of our deck is 1/1’s, and even when we hit, we just don’t do a ton of damage.
- We are generally weak to creature hate and don’t have a ton of recursion in the deck.
- We can be a little slow to start, and beyond a few mana rocks, we don’t have a ton of ramp present within the deck.
Deck Stats:
Sample Hands:
Main Win Conditions:
There are no infinite combos or loops within the deck; we are a combat deck through and through, and since we are all in on tokens and generally small creatures, we can deal a ton of chip damage through our commander’s ability and also gain a ton of life. Even though almost all of our creatures are decently small, if we keep attacking with a large number of them, we can continue to damage our opponents and eventually, slowly but surely, end the game.
Conclusion:
What a great commander to start off MKM week with, I am so excited for this week as there are a ton of awesome cards and commanders for the set. Wispdrinker Vampire is a very interesting commander that allows us to play a token strategy with ease and basically gives us a free extort effect for most of our creatures/tokens. I have been having a blast with this one, and I hope you enjoyed it; stay tuned for the rest of the week for a whole week of MKM commanders! Thanks for reading to the end and for all of your support!