Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Power level

6
avatar

Sami Lindqvist

Tue Jan 25 2022

mono Blacklifegaindraintribalvampiresmono color

Mono black commander: Vito, lifegain and vampire tribal

Next up in my mono colored decks is black. As black can do literally (maybe not ramp?) everything by paying life or sacrificing creatures and has the best tutors in the format I wanted to restrict my options by having a strict tribal deck.

Table of contents

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Commander

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose: Illustrated by Lie Setiawan

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose


Deck list

View this Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose Vampire and Lifegain tribal in Archidekt


Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Vito is Sanguine Bond with a body and apparently is a friend of Elenda, the Dusk Rose.

Vito's ability is very straight forward and this deck is very combat heavy with secondary wincons in massive lifegain bursts. Unfortunately Vito doesn't give any synergies to vampires so the tribal theme is completely optional and works as a artificial restriction for the deck.

Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose in EDHREC

In EDHREC Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose has a bit over a thousand decks, 1099. Most of the decks are lifegain decks (1000+) and vampire tribals (~500 decks).

Possible themes for Vito

Full Lifegain theme

This specific deck tech is intentionally watered down in power level by having only vampire creatures and focusing on vampires in combat. Having only lifegain as a theme instead will make the deck a lot more powerful with new wincons like Gray Merchant of Asphodel, Kokusho, the Evening Star and K'rrik, Son of Yawgmoth. Also card draw is more feasible with creatures like Disciple of Bolas and get more recursion with Witch of the Moors.

Strategy

Early game and mulligans

I was surprised how weak mono black is in the early ramp and I've come to the conclusion that black is the weakest color to ramp in commander as the artifacts bring close to zero synergies compared to blue. Black does have some rituals like Dark Ritual and Cabal Ritual but in the singleton format it is not enough. As a balance to the early ramping black does have the best mana duplicators like Crypt Ghast and Nirkana Revenant. And without doubt the most removals and the best graveyard shenanigans in the format.

Knowing blacks weak early ramp the deck relies solely on the usual colorless artifacts Sol Ring, Arcane Signet and Commander Sphere for ramping. Having 3 lands is solid starting hand and 2 works if you have a card draw spell like Sign in Blood available. Also look out for any <3CMC lifegain creatures, and the best ones are Indulgent Aristocrat, Vampire Cutthroat and Vampire of the Dire Moon. Other great plays include Expedition Map, Prism Ring and Pristine Talisman.

Do remember, Vito is completely useless in the deck unless you get life, so try to avoid playing Vito if you don't have any lifegain creatures to take advantage of.

Mid game

T4 to T6 are mid game where you eat away the strongest players life by tiny cuts you get from lifegain creatures and from tax effects like Trespasser's Curse, Blood Artist and Bastion of Remembrance. As the decks idea is to gain as much life as possible it is not a bad idea to kill your own creatures in combat and gain life, if you are still able to take out opponents creatures.

The deck runs a fair amount of removals to balance the weak early ramp so use them to guide your opponents at each others by making deals and providing free real estate by opening ways to other opponents.

Great mid game plays include Marauding Blight-Priest, Pawn of Ulamog, Silversmote Ghoul, Veinwitch Coven, Bloodtracker, Kamber, the Plunderer and Well of Lost Dreams.

Late game

T6+ are the late game and you should have been draining you opponents equally to avoid being targeted. Preparing for closing the game you should have some kind of interaction and some of the wincons or even multiple ones. The deck gets fair amount of life so don't be afraid to tank the hits to avoid losing creatures with blocking.

Winning the game

This Vito deck is surprisingly strong creating value and keeping you alive with the lifegain. This allows you to stay in the game even though your deck is actually quite bad at ending the games. Strong wincon is the Vito + Exquisite Blood combo and then massive Exsanquinate with the help of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or Cabal Coffers. Other strong game enders are Malakir Bloodwitch, Sanctum Seeker and Coat of Arms with Vitos lifegain effect.

Who is the deck for

If you enjoy janky tribal decks and have a tooth for lifegain and enjoy mono decks then I can warmly recommend you Vito vampire tribal with lifegain deck. But if you are looking for a stronger version of a lifegain vampire tribal I would recommend looking into Licia, Sanguine Tribune as you have over 40 creatures available and you don't have to rely on vampires like Blood Burglar or Child of Night to get the needed creatures for the deck.

I'd say the Power level is max 6 due to the color and tribal restrictions (unless you go for the Vito + Exquisite Blood combo only).

avatar
Sami Lindqvist

Hi everybody, I'm Sami, the creator of EDH Chamber. I've played MTG from 2020 now, mostly Commander but I have a little bit of experience of pre-MH2 modern too. My goal is to build new, interesting and challenging decks. Really hope to find new out-of-color-pie commander decks like Dimir dragons!

Card highlights

Wincon

Malakir Bloodwitch

Malakir Bloodwitch

4 / 5

Malakir Bloodwitch is a strong game ender in the deck and provides easily 15 HP and drains the same amount with Vito.

Coat of Arms

Coat of Arms

4 / 5

Coat of Arms is usually a tricky card as it most likely boosts your opponents creatures too, but it does not matter in lifegain deck as you actually kill your opponents with Vito's ability.

Predators' Hour

Predators' Hour

5 / 5

Predators' Hour is an interesting card and provides multiple synergies in the deck: great evasion and card advantage. The evasion works as a wincon as it can provide double life loss to an opponent.

Exquisite Blood

Exquisite Blood

5 / 5

Exquisite Blood is a combo with Vito so it is a bit of a tricky card for some pods. Tread carefully with this one as you are easily a target if others know this or you just get a boring game.

Synergy

Sanctum Seeker

Sanctum Seeker

4 / 5

Sanctum Seeker provides multiple lifegain triggers in the game and works with every creature in the deck. Great value with 4 mana!

Crypt Incursion

Crypt Incursion

4 / 5

Crypt Incursion is a interesting graveyard card with a possibility to work as a wincon.

Falkenrath Noble

Falkenrath Noble

3 / 5

Falkenrath Noble is a bad version of Zulaport Cutthroat but it is a vampire!

Marauding Blight-Priest

Marauding Blight-Priest

4 / 5

Marauding Blight-Priest does not provide life but wreaks havoc with Sanctum Seeker and Trespasser's Curse.

Removal

Feed the Swarm

Feed the Swarm

4 / 5

Feed the Swarm is the only enchantment removal in mono black so you need this in every mono black deck. Also the art has a vampire I guess, so cool.

Olivia's Wrath

Olivia's Wrath

3 / 5

Olivia's Wrath is a new wipe from Crimson Vow. Works as a single sided board wipe.

Vona's Hunger

Vona's Hunger

4 / 5

Vona's Hunger is really good instant speed board wipe. In Ixalan Vona is also a Vampire so it fits the theme wonderfully.

Ramp

Bontu's Monument

Bontu's Monument

4 / 5

All the legendary monuments are great in creature heavy decks but Bontu's Monument is most likely the best of the cycle due to the strong effect.

Pristine Talisman

Pristine Talisman

2 / 5

Pristine Talisman is bad mana rock in other decks but has the upside of giving you life so it is actually a mana rock and a burn effect in Vito Deck.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

4 / 5

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is a land every mono colored deck wants.

Cabal Coffers

Cabal Coffers

4 / 5

Cabal Coffers is a tricky card. It is completely dead if played before T3, and starts to have positive effect only if you have multiple swamps.

Full Decklist

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