Welcome to the Nitpicking Nerds Precon Upgrade Guide for the Vampiric Bloodline deck, where we remove the suboptimal cards and replace them with synergy, power, and consistency in order for this deck to turn into an unstoppable Blood factory!

When upgrading any Commander precon, it’s important to stick pretty closely to this basic checklist:

• Focus on the strengths of your commander.
• Stick to one main strategy to avoid having an unfocused final product.
• Cut the cards that belong to other strategies altogether.
• Increase the deck’s overall power by including win conditions that don’t rely solely on combat.

This deck is all about damaging each player to stock up on Blood, so it can use them for Madness synergies or to cheat out expensive Vampires with Strefan’s ability! Once we have enough Vampires in play, we will be able to dominate the game.

The first thing to do with all of these precons is to cut all of the cards that don’t fit our main strategy.

• Mob RuleMob Rule is a massive ThreatenThreaten effect, but serves almost no purpose in Vampire tribal.
• Imposing GrandeurImposing Grandeur is a cool card, but is almost useless when our commander’s mana value is 4.
• Predators’ HourPredators’ Hour is interesting, but too finicky to justify keeping. Cutting it will just help the deck run more smoothly.
• Sinister WaltzSinister Waltz is close to our theme, since we are discarding cards from Blood tokens, but we’d rather be in control of what we return.

The Blood theme in this deck is extremely shallow; we are going to be taking full advantage of Blood tokens with our upgraded deck, but some of the worse payoffs need to come out in order to make space.

• Below average Madness cards, while decent with Blood tokens, need to come out in favor of better cards. Stromkirk OccultistStromkirk Occultist, Anje’s RavagerAnje’s Ravager, Avacyn’s JudgmentAvacyn’s Judgment, and Stensia MasqueradeStensia Masquerade just don’t provide enough value.
• Bloodtithe HarvesterBloodtithe Harvester and Arterial AlchemyArterial Alchemy are sources of Blood, but they won’t pull their weight otherwise, and we have a reliable Blood generator in the command zone in the form of Strefan already, so we aren’t hurting too bad for Blood each game.

The next things to trim are the Vampires. We want a critical mass in play, but we can certainly do better than what the precon offers initially.

• Stromkirk CaptainStromkirk Captain, Stromkirk CondemnedStromkirk Condemned, Bloodlord of VaasgothBloodlord of Vaasgoth, Necropolis RegentNecropolis Regent, and Rakish HeirRakish Heir all pump Vampires, but are generally all over the place in terms of what they want us to do. We’re not going wide enough to profit off of a single anthem effect, and Bloodlord of VaasgothBloodlord of Vaasgoth might make the cut in some decks, but we’re often making opponents lose life without dealing actual damage. 
• Bloodsworn StewardBloodsworn Steward, Vampiric DragonVampiric Dragon, Crimson Honor GuardCrimson Honor Guard, and Vampire NighthawkVampire Nighthawk fall into the category of seemingly random Vampires that don’t support almost any theme, and can pretty easily be trimmed from the precon.
• Molten EchoesMolten Echoes also falls into the tribal support category, but it has poor synergy with Strefan’s trigger, and other than that, we aren’t super interested, even though it can be a huge overperformer in other tribal decks.

With the Vampires and Blood synergy finished, it’s time to examine the ramp, removal, and card draw.

• Charcoal DiamondCharcoal Diamond, Fire DiamondFire Diamond, and Unstable ObeliskUnstable Obelisk are the rocks getting cut from this deck. They’re all slower than other non-budget options.
• Dark ImpostorDark Impostor offers a horrendous rate, and Midnight ArsonistMidnight Arsonist looks decent, except: how many artifacts won’t have mana abilities? It just seems like a restriction that isn’t worth risking. Laurine, the DiversionLaurine, the Diversion kind of falls into a removal category, and is too lackluster, even when her partner, Kamber, the PlundererKamber, the Plunderer, still remains in the deck.
• Damnable PactDamnable Pact, Ancient CravingAncient Craving, and Underworld ConnectionsUnderworld Connections all have the right idea with lowering our own life total for that extra Blood token with Strefan, but they are all highly overcosted.

Finally, the last thing to do is to get rid of a solid chunk of the lands.

• As with all bounce lands, Rakdos CarnariumRakdos Carnarium needs synergy to avoid being cut from a Nitpicking Nerds deck.
• Temple of the False GodTemple of the False God remains a Commander trap, and Unclaimed TerritoryUnclaimed Territory won’t perform any better than a regular dual land, and stinks for fixing if you want to cast non-Vampire spells.
• As for basic lands, we’ve cut 7 SwampSwamps and 5 MountainMountains to make room for all the goodies we’re looking to add to help fuel our Blood-making.

After all of those cuts comes the best part: adding in the synergistic and powerful cards! We’re going to start by introducing a much more robust Blood package.

• We’re going to have an abundance of Blood tokens, and will have plenty in our reserve to cheat Vampires into play with Strefan, with lots left over to crack for ourselves. When cracking Blood, we can use Call to the NetherworldCall to the Netherworld and Edgar’s AwakeningEdgar’s Awakening to get some nice “free” value. Deathless AncientDeathless Ancient is amazing tech for this strategy as well, and works perfectly with Vampires and Blood. It exists solely to be discarded to Blood over and over, and essentially gives you an emblem with “1, Tap 3 untapped Vampires you control: draw a card.” 
• A chunk of our Vampires are going to be amazing at creating Blood, either by doing it directly or by dishing out life loss. They are: Anje, Maid of DishonorAnje, Maid of Dishonor, Falkenrath ForebearFalkenrath Forebear, Voldaren BloodcasterVoldaren Bloodcaster, Vindictive VampireVindictive Vampire, Voldaren EpicureVoldaren Epicure, Florian, Voldaren ScionFlorian, Voldaren Scion, Vermin GorgerVermin Gorger, and finally Olivia’s AttendantsOlivia’s Attendants, which works wonders when brought out via Strefan’s ability.
• There is also a trio of cards that can serve as win conditions when we create all of these Blood tokens: Reckless FireweaverReckless Fireweaver, Marionette MasterMarionette Master, and Faith of the DevotedFaith of the Devoted. The best part with these is that at the end step, they’ll be giving us even more Blood with Strefan out!

As for other Vampires and Vampire tribal synergies, we have a few additions in that category as well.

• Captivating VampireCaptivating Vampire functions as amazing removal and a Vampire buff as a bonus, and Olivia, Crimson BrideOlivia, Crimson Bride will reanimate our useful Vampires, with her legendary clause easily met, between her and Strefan. Bloodline KeeperBloodline Keeper can repeatedly churn out useful Vampire tokens.
• Viscera SeerViscera Seer and Yahenni, Undying PartisanYahenni, Undying Partisan will provide some nice utility, being able to power up cards that remain from the initial precon, like Blood ArtistBlood Artist, Falkenrath NobleFalkenrath Noble, Cordial VampireCordial Vampire, and Crossway TroublemakersCrossway Troublemakers. They also work well with another card we added, BloodghastBloodghast, which can score repeated triggers from our effects.
• Arterial FlowArterial Flow is sort of a Vampire payoff, but it triggers Strefan nicely while actually obtaining solid card advantage. Not many Mind RotMind Rot variants hit each opponent.

Let’s now look at which ramp, removal, and card draw we’ve added to replace those previous underwhelming inclusions.

• Our new suite of mana rocks involves Mind StoneMind Stone, Talisman of IndulgenceTalisman of Indulgence, and Cryptolith FragmentCryptolith Fragment, and the latter two both provide Blood tokens for us!
• Chaos WarpChaos Warp and Kolaghan’s CommandKolaghan’s Command will be solid spot removal in addition to what this deck already had.
• SkullclampSkullclamp will work wonders in here, as will Commander staple and continuous overperformer NecropotenceNecropotence, but the Vampire tribal card draw we added, Pact of the SerpentPact of the Serpent, is a really efficient way to take advantage of our critical mass of Vampires.

Finally, the land upgrades:

• Agadeem’s AwakeningAgadeem’s Awakening, Shatterskull SmashingShatterskull Smashing, and Hagra MaulingHagra Mauling are staples of any two-color Nitpicking Nerds deck, and this one is no exception. These cards are phenomenal.
• As for fixing, we have the usual suspects in Bloodstained MireBloodstained Mire, Blood CryptBlood Crypt, Luxury SuiteLuxury Suite, Dragonskull SummitDragonskull Summit, Haunted RidgeHaunted Ridge, and Canyon SloughCanyon Slough.
• We also have plenty of lands that can ping us for damage to score extra Blood from our commander: Leechridden SwampLeechridden Swamp, Ifnir DeadlandsIfnir Deadlands, Ramunap RuinsRamunap Ruins, City of BrassCity of Brass, Mana ConfluenceMana Confluence, and Voldaren EstateVoldaren Estate. This batch of lands really adds consistency to the deck, while taking away very little. Many of them are strict upgrades over basic MountainMountains and SwampSwamps.

That does it for this deck upgrade of Vampiric Bloodline; once you remove the extra fluff and power up those Blood synergies, you’ll be due for plenty of Victories!

Nitpicking Nerds

The Nitpicking Nerds are two Commander-loving best friends who make awesome Youtube videos. Every fiber of their being is committed to helping people power up their decks, gain percentage points, and have more fun playing the best format in the world!