Stromkirk Condemned

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Format Legality
1v1 Commander Legal
Block Constructed Legal
Canadian Highlander Legal
Casual Legal
Commander / EDH Legal
Commander: Rule 0 Legal
Custom Legal
Duel Commander Legal
Highlander Legal
Legacy Legal
Leviathan Legal
Limited Legal
Modern Legal
Oathbreaker Legal
Pioneer Legal
Tiny Leaders Legal
Vintage Legal

Rules Q&A

Stromkirk Condemned

Creature — Vampire

Discard a card: Vampires you control get +1/+1 until end of turn. Activate this ability only once each turn.

Dazard on Daddy Eddy

3 months ago

Thank you for your feedback!

I finally had the time to play with this within a 4 player group and i managed to place a good 2nd. i got boardwiped three times and always clawed my way back into having the most dominant army on the table rather fast thanks to card draw. But after quickly amassing a horde of vampires i fell really short in the politics department, where i seemed to be "the bad guy" from round one. And it's hard to argue with that, if you have a bunch of guys out who are basically all about "killing stuff" and "getting stronger". :D Nevertheless, i had a blast with this deck, always being a deadly threat to my opponents. i guess i takes some practice as well in negotiating on the table just like you need to know your cards.

i took out Door of Destinies and replaced it with Shared Animosity. the door is just to slow for this deck, while shared animosity can instantly boost your vamps as soon it hits the table.

I also took out Falkenrath Gorger and Stromkirk Condemned, i am not down the discard/madness road, so these two won't really support my general strategy. Instead i added Skymarcher Aspirant, which is just another one drop with flying and Pitiless Pontiff to give me another sacrificer, especially to guarantee to get some use out of Skullclamp, just in case my vampire tokens are being buffed by some other effects.

And Bolas's Citadel is now in, just to see how it will turn out. I figured that with so many low mana spells in this deck, paying some life here and there in order to cast them won't be a big deal for my lief counter, especially in a deck that has lifelink.

Still not sure which one of the "big guys" i should be running constantly and which ones belong to the sideboard.

VampRamped on Hyper Markov

9 months ago

Very good list if you can check out my list A Vampire Storm *Primer*, and let me know what you think.

For your discussion of the new Cards from what came out in the Midnight Hunt, I think that Vampire Socialite is basically just a two mana vampire lord which is very good and especially ideal for an aggro deck. Voldaren Ambusher is great and maybe even the all-star of the set as normally you don't want to play removal in Edgar Markov because it hurts the deck's momentum but this lets you have creature removal, and tempo. Falkenrath Pit Fighter has rather good stats and a good-enough ability for a 1 drop.

As for the new cards, I will just discuss the ones that seem worth that time. Voldaren Estate looks like a no-brainer include as it gives all colors of mana in addition to card cycling which is nice. Dominating Vampire looks pretty sweet for aggressive tempo and is also removal if you have a sac outlet which is not too difficult for vampires. Voldaren Bloodcaster looks like a pretty decent card overall, and am interesting to see how it actually plays. The new Olivia could be pretty good value, overall a decent option for inclusion. Bloodtithe Harvester seems not quite as good as Voldaren Ambusher, but still nice to see more removal vampires but the 3/2 statline is pretty nice for 2 mana. Lastly, the new Edgar, Charmed Groom is a bit underwhelming but overall a pretty decent card

As for your deck, it looks good just would make a few minor tweaks in card choices for the aggro deck, but overall the deck looks to have very good synergy for the most part and cohesion towards its goal as an aggro deck. Phyrexian Arena is a slow card advantage engine that is more suited towards midrange Edgar Markov decks. Nighthawk Scavenger is pretty much a strict upgrade over Vampire Nighthawk as just having an opponent crack a fetch land means that Nighthawk Scavenger is just as good with even more potential upside. Bloodhusk Ritualist has an ok multikicker effect but the main issue is the atrocious statline of a 2/2 for three mana. Universal Automaton is just a 1/1 for 1 so pretty much any 1 drop vampire is an improvement, ie Viscera Seer Insolent Neonate, Stromkirk Noble. Also your deck noticeably has no removal which I agree for the most part with the sentiment but would strongly recommend at least 1 card for mass enchantment removal, as one of the biggest weaknesses of an aggro Edgar Markov deck is enchantress decks with propaganda type effects so it is very valuable to have those effects if you need them. Lastly just want to throw in Stromkirk Condemned as a vampire lord that is decent.

VampRamped on What is a Man? (a hyper aggro Edgar Markov EDH)

1 year ago


Very Nice Aggro Edgar Markov list especially for a deck that is your first foray into commander. The Main problem I see you running into with this deck is that it is very soft to board wipes, and you will almost certainly lose the game if one resolves. I would recommend including Teferi's Protection , Flawless Maneuver , Boros Charm , Make a Stand , Unbreakable Formation , and Patriarch's Bidding . While these cards are skillful to utilize and require an understanding of your opponent's decks to know when to leave up mana to utilize them you will find you will be grateful to have them and win more often because of them.

Necropotence is an insanely strong card advantage engine especially in Edgar Markov that I would highly recommend as it allows the deck to continue to have the steam it needs going into midgame and mid-late game. In fact, when I am going for the aggressive strategy in my own deck it is the first card I tutor for if I can. Champion of Dusk , Pact of the Serpent , and Stinging Study are almost as good and serves the same purpose.

Stromkirk Condemned Is a pretty strong lord that most games you should have the land to pitch to it to boost your board, especially if you include some of the card advantage I recommended.

Reconnaissance Is also an amazing card for an aggressive strategy as it essentially gives all your creatures vigilance and you can remove any unfavorable blocks in combat.

For cards to remove to play them I will suggest cutting cards in different area's that I think have their advantages but probably benefit your decks aggro plan the least

Zealous Persecution and Vampiric Fury are not very necessary for yours deck. If you have not seen it already in time you will find that your anthem affects lords Shared Animosity , and Sanctum Seeker will be more than sufficient to win the game. Additionally, the card is quite soft to fog effects which are not too uncommon in commanders.

Anointed Procession is simply a card that is too slow for what an aggressive Edgar Markov deck wants to be doing and is much more suited to midrange aristocrat lists. Spending 4 mana for an effect that does not do anything is too slow and you would much rather want to be playing things like Sanctum Seeker , Vampire Nocturnus , and Bloodline Keeper  Flip

Abrade , Dismember , and Nameless Inversion have two main problems. For one when you are playing an aggressive Edgar Markov deck you are committing to winning the early mid-game so spending the time you need to kill your opponents interacting with their board states is not doing you any favors. Secondly, as an aggro deck the only permanents that are outright going to stop you are Magus of the Tabernacle , Windborn Muse , Propaganda , Ghostly Prison , Collective Restraint , Sphere of Safety , and Humility so if your going to play removal spells in your aggro deck the spell at a minimum should target enchantments though creatures as well can be valuable.

Obelisk of Urd Is ok but is probably to expensive on mana and you would rather be punching with creatures than using them to convoke this spell out.

Bloodcrazed Paladin is really only good when there is a board wipe and that is the last thing you want to happen to your board so would not recommend playing a creature that's only strength is to give you a measly benefit in the worst-case scenario.

Bloodthrone Vampire is not very good in aggro since you want to have as many creatures around as possible for all of your tribal payoffs and since your deck is not particularly geared towards and Edgar Markov Aristocrats Strat.

Stoneforge Mystic and Steelshaper's Gift help you get Skullclamp but you probably don't want to be looking for that card too hard especially if you play Necropotence , or Champion of Dusk as I recommended as you don't have to sacrifice your board state to get card advantage when a wide board state is exactly what you are looking for. Additionally, you are not playing too many sacrifice effects anyway so when you play a lord it effectively turns off your Skullclamp .

Those would be my additions and removals for your removals but your the one who gets to play the deck so make adjustments to suit your playgroup and what you want to get out of the deck. Feel free to check out my own Edgar Markov Deck A Vampire Storm *Primer*, not the exact same strategy as your deck, but you may find some useful advice in my section on my mindset of how I play Edgar Markov aggressively. Would be happy to hear your thoughts on my suggestions as well as what you think of my own deck.

lagotripha on budget mono-black aggro/devotion

1 year ago

I've played a bunch of mono black in modern. It is great for FNM, but will probs never put up tournament results.

The deck lives on sideboarding and the sheer variety of options available - your opponent has no idea if you are aggro, midrange grindy or combo until turn three or four. This means that published decklists and scouting in major tournaments strips away its biggest advantage.

Cards to mess around with;

Duress (and the million variants) - hitting a Life Goes On can be 'more damage' than any 1 drop.

Gifted Aetherborn - it completes the dire moon / nighthawk trio, and helps with tribal vampire options like Stromkirk Condemned or Captivating Vampire

Stromkirk Condemned and stuff like Zombie Infestation lets you play with discard synergies - pitching your hand then casting symetrical discard, or getting back demigod.

Lashwrithe If you want an equip in mono black on a budget, it is this. Its scary on its own, strapped to a nighthawk it boosts your life total to massive levels.

Ratchet Bomb used to be the only enchantment answer, but Feed the Swarm has really patched that hole and made the deck a lot more solid.

Sign in Blood - draw two is good. Two damage is good to finish an opponent sometimes too.

There are a bunch of 'return to the battlefield' 1 drops that can help create tempo by flooding the board and provide fodder for sacrifice effects - Bloodsoaked Champion , Dread Wanderer , Tenacious Dead etc.

If you want to do it the other way, effects like Unearth let you keep key creatures on the battlefield, while synergysing neatly with stuff like Profane Command to hit face.

Finally, play to mono-black's biggest advantage, reliability. Lots of decks focus on hands that can 'just win the game', mono black does an amazing job at getting a hand that is 'better than the opponent'. Not an incredible hand, but a little disruption and a lot of 'good cards', no chance of getting mana screwed, and far less need to mulligan.

Apollo_Paladin on Ultra-Budget Speed Dredge (2x 5-Card "Gold Hands")

1 year ago

@ darkbuff

This is a budget build as a concept deck, so I intentionally stayed away from high-dollar cards. In actual practice, I don't see many high-dollar cards that offer as good or as reliable an option as my current selections - with the exemption of Entomb . Entomb would be a stupid good fit here, but ordering a playset of those is easily equal (if not more) than the entire cost of the rest of the deck. Reanimate could fall into the same category, if you're not playing in a group where Mill decks or Discard decks are common, you might see better use out of this in place of Dread Return , but my main consideration with it is the budget not its functionality. Functionally it's beautiful, I just feel it opens the deck up to a wider audience using budget cards, and with Dread Return usable for zero mana from the GY (can discard it via a discard outlet creature, then sacrifice 3x low-mana weenie creatures to cast it). This can sometimes be useful if you want to say, pump up your vampires with Stromkirk Condemned , attack, and end the turn by sacrificing the vamps and pulling an Annihilator from the GY to set up the next turn.

As for the creatures, there's a lot of high-power creatures you can pick from if budget is no issue. Honestly though even something like Iona doesn't seem as reliable to me (not to suggest it's a bad choice either). Some of it is playgroup dependent, but in Legacy especially with a lot of the newer sets, Colorless stuff isn't unheard of. There's really no workaround an opponent can muster for Annihilator creatures, since even if something on their side has protection, it's a sacrifice not a targeted ability -- and also the main consideration for early board control, those other creatures cannot affect Lands.

These Annihilator creatures can usually cause an opponent to start losing at LEAST 1 land per attack phase, especially if you get them out early enough before they can cast too many things. There's not much coming back from a deck that's causing you to sacrifice your own lands on Turn 3 or 4 - hell, forced land sacrifice is even a workaround for high-dollar stuff like Cascading Cataracts and Lotus Field since the Indestructible/Hexproof effects are worthless against sacrifice.

CaptainCSMcK on Copilul Noptii

1 year ago


Thanks again for your help. When I first started with this deck I wanted something aggressive and ended up playing my hand very quickly, which is why I needed Asylum Visitor and then Stromkirk Condemned to capitalize on that. But I'm not sure if it's working as well as it could, so I will definitely try out some cards you suggested!

I want to avoid an aristocrats type deck, and I didn't want a deck that only plays small creatures and then buffs, I wanted a little more variety but still competitive.

I'd love to include Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet but unfortunately, he breaks my budget. I'm only hesitant with Indulgent Aristocrat because I never really find the creatures I want to sacrifice besides Bloodghast...


1 year ago

@ joe_mama_joe

Hey, thanks for the suggestion and for taking a peek at the deck. However, none of the annihilators in this deck are set up to be hand-cast. It's actually much quicker and reliable to dredge them out using this deck's mechanic; and colorless mana doesn't do a whole lot for any of my quick-play combos. Dread Return is the only creature dredge it could trigger, with Exhume still requiring a Black despite being only 2 CMC.

Purely colorless mana also completely prevents me from casting some of my key early-play Combo cards in the deck such as Putrid Imp and Culling the Weak, as well as some key Support/Backup options such as Unearth and Stromkirk Condemned. For that reason alone I'm not a fan since it could throw off Land ratios too much (I was already apprehensive about Dakmor Salvage going in just because it enters tapped; not having a Black option seems really limiting here)

Not saying they wouldn't help at all, but apart from being more of a mid-game focus (which this deck doesn't really need since it tends to have games in the bag by turn 4 or 5 at the latest) this is also something of a budget deck as a concept so singles like Ancient Tomb are definitely out for me unfortunately. Especially, since as you pointed out, you really want multiples in a deck which runs & relies on them).

If you end up doing a clone build of this deck to playtest and toss some in, I'd still be interested to hear how they work in conjunction with the strategies outlined in the deck description.


Undead_Assassin on The Vampire Mechanic

2 years ago

I'm not sure if the following cards are remotely playable in constructed.

Butcher's Glee



There are simply better options in these slots, Urge to Feed, Feast of Blood, Victim of Night, Go for the Throat, Duress, Vampire Hexmage, Indulgent Aristocrat, Stromkirk Condemned all would have better utility in the modern format and are all very budget friendly.

Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord, Thoughtseize, Champion of Dusk more copies of Captivating Vampire, would be the $$$$$$ upgrades I would suggest.

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