4. Out for Blood

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's this deck's ender of a game!

Out for Blood is next with a winrate of 46.6%. Its strategy is to hunker down behind a deathtouch creature and then build up an insane amount of value through buffing Bloodthirsty Aerialist or Knight of the Ebon Legion. Of the starter decks, this deck also comes with plenty of removal so you can keep stalling your opponent’s plans pretty easily. 

What is Great About This Deck

• Has hard removal, so you can delete any threats at any point in the game
• Gravewaker can close out games by itself
• Great defensive play through Vampire of the Diremoon and Dark Remedy

How This Deck is Played

• Turn 1, play Knight of the Ebon Legion or Vampire of the Diremoon.

  • Knight of the Ebon Legion’s stats makes him better if you’re playing against a deck that likes to create multiple 1/1s. If you don’t see any obvious plays for Turn 3, then Knight of the Ebon Legion will be better since he becomes a nasty threat when you have 3 mana.
  • Vampire of the Dire Moon is better in every other situation since a 1/1 Deathtouch/Lifelink will usually deter most people from attacking you. 
• Turn 2, playing Child of the Night sets up for a Turn 3 Bloodthirsty Aerialist. But there’s also nothing wrong with holding mana for a tricky Dark Remedy or Disfigure. I recommend holding Sorin’s Thirst unless you really need to remove a creature - it’ll be better to use that once Aerialist is on the board.
• Turn 3, playing Bloodthirsty Aerialist is the ideal play here. If you think the opponent needs their creatures, then you can play Aerialist and then swing with Vampire of the DIre Moon to buff the Aerialist.

  • If you suspect your opponent has removal they’ve been itching to use, then you can play Spinal Centipede instead of Aerialist. If you follow this route, I recommend playing Aerialist on Turn 5 so you can play Sorin’s Thirst immediately afterward.
  • Alternatively, if Knight of the Ebon Legion is on the board, you could play nothing and just keep the mana to buff the Knight. After all, a 4 / 5 Deathtouch creature that can grow is a massive threat to your opponent 
• Turn 4, either spend this turn controlling the board through Bone Splinters, Murder, Disfigure, or Sorin’s Thirst. Otherwise, you could play Vindictive Vampire so you can gain more life for Aerialist and dissuade your opponent from attacking you.
• Turn 5, will usually be where you play two-card combos. You could play Vindictive then immediately follow with Bone Splinters. More commonly, you can play Aerialist or Knight of the Ebon Legion’s ability, then Sorin’s Thirst. All of these options will help you control your opponent’s side of the board while also building up your own.
• Gravewaker and Vampire Opportunist will be your ways to close out the game.

  • Gravewaker is a 5/5 flyer that can also recur any of the creatures you’ve had to sacrifice. This works out great if Spinal Centipede or Meteor Golem is in the graveyard when you hit 7 mana.
  • Vampire Opportunist is the slow and grindy way to end the game. If you’ve successfully created a board stall, then Opportunist will be the best way to win the game or force your opponent to do something. Just make sure you use the Opportunist’s ability on your opponent’s end step so you can keep up mana for a Murder, Sorin’s Thirst, or Dark Remedy.   

Cards

Creatures (21):

3 Child of Night
3 Spinal Centipede
3 Vindictive Vampire
2 Bloodthirsty Aerialist
1 Knight of the Ebon Legion
4 Vampire of the Dire Moon
1 Meteor Golem
1 Gravewaker
3 Vampire Opportunist

Spells (14):

2 Bone Splinters
2 Disfigure
3 Murder
3 Dark Remedy
4 Sorin's Thirst

Lands (25):
25 Swamp