Dracula’s Descent

"Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!"

This Esper deck showcases the stunning Dracula Art styles, while also being as competitive as I could make it with the limitation in place. I have poured a lot of thought and effort into perfecting it while keeping the Brom Stoker's story in mind, and although there may still be room for some tweaking, I believe it to be a solid and efficient deck. It is truly a feast for the eyes, combining both form and function in harmony.

The Creatures:

Jacob Hauken, Inspector // Hauken's Insight > “Jonathan Harker” is a cunning card that rewards careful play, often catching opponents off guard. Its value becomes more apparent when played alongside other threatening creatures.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben > “Mina Harker” is an excellent card with first strike and a tax ability that can slow your opponent down in the early game. However, its abilities often make it a priority target for your opponent.

Voldaren Bloodcaster // Bloodbat Summoner > “Dracula, Lord of Blood” is a dependable flyer that generates the blood tokens needed for the next creature on our list.

Falkenrath Forebear > “Dracula, Blood Immortal” cannot block, but its attacking prowess is not to be underestimated. Its ability to return to the field, using blood tokens, is a valuable perk especially on your opponents endstep. It also generates blood tokens when dealing damage, which allows for multiple activations.

Savior of Ollenbock > “Abraham Van Helsing” is a constant threat, exiling target creature cards as it clears a path towards your opponent's life points.

Edgar, Charmed Groom // Edgar Markov's Coffin > “Dracula the Voyager” is a powerful hitter whose temporary loss is not a concern since it eventually returns to the field. In the meantime, it generates tokens to assist the rest of the team.

Henrika Domnathi // Henrika, Infernal Seer > “The Three Weird Sisters” provides a variety of options, including drawing a card, sacrificing a creature to force your opponent to do the same, or transforming into a monster that can smash through defenses.

The Spells:

Thirst for Discovery > “Search the Count’s Castle” offers a great way to replenish your hand with new cards.

Fateful Absence is an excellent instant-speed spot removal spell that we definitely need to get rid of big threats. While it was intially in the sideboard, I believe it's crucial to make our deck optimal and is now included in the main deck.

The Other Stuff:

Circle of Confinement > “Van Helsing’s Holy Ward” is a valuable piece of removal that you should use strategically, particularly in the early game when it can help you deal with problematic creatures. 

Investigator's Journal > “Harker’s Journal” is a valuable source of late-game card draw, but can also be easily discarded when necessary. Have now move this into the sideboard for the time being.

Sorin the Mirthless > "Count Dracula" is a crucial card in this deck, serving as the embodiment of Count Dracula himself. He provides powerful creatures with lifelink to bolster your defenses and can dig deep into your deck for the cards you need. His ultimate ability is the ultimate goal, as it can easily secure the win for you. With Sorin on your side, you'll be able to strike fear into the hearts of your opponents and reign as the true master of darkness.

The Gameplan:

At the beginning of the game, the deck may seem a little slow as the first turn has no plays, so it's best to play a tap land and set up your mana. Once you get going, your two-drop creatures offer plenty of options. The Harkers are great for the long game, while Dracula can deal some solid damage. Continue the assault with Van Helsing or more Draculas, or search for more cards to add to your hand. It's important to keep the mana drops consistent each turn to set up for your four-drop options. All the four-drop creatures are good choices, but your planeswalker works best as it applies pressure on your opponent and takes it off of you. Currently, the deck is running at 50/50, but it could use more removal.

Unfortunately, your visual choices are limited, and the other officail options are only viable for the Maybeboard. If there are any other art styles that could work, please let me know below. (Note: The Secret Lair versions don't seem to fit well, unfortunately.)

Feel free to comment if you would like to see more my decks and please link here and give me a shout out if you used this deck and had fun.

The Secret Lair Extras for refrence

Exquisite Blood as “Hunger of the Ancient One” 
Night's Whisper as “Nightfeeder’s Visitation” 
Phyrexian Tower as “Dracula’s Tomb” 

Bonus Thoughts

Some of you might be wondering, "SV, if Secret Lair were to release more versions, what cards would you like to see?" Well, I'm glad you asked. Here are my top three "card type" choices:

• Renaming Go for the Throat or Fateful Absence based on Bram Stoker's novel to "The Vampire's Kiss" would be an excellent addition to the deck. Alternatively, Bloodchief Thirst could also work.
  
  
• Renfield is a character who deserves a better card in my opinion. While I initially wanted to include Shambling Ghast, he was merely a human depicted as mentally unstable and under the influence of Dracula in the novel with a habbit of eating small vermin in order to absorb their "life force". So Sedgemoor Witch for the pest generation would be an excellent choice, although I would prefer Valentin, Dean of the Vein but his flip side makes little sense. Alternatively, Vengeful Strangler // Strangling Grasp could be an option as it would fit well with the theme of "Renfield, the Mad Servant" under "the influence of the Master".
  
  
• Since Secret Lair has already done Exquisite Blood as "Hunger of the Ancient One," it would be great to have the infinite combo to go with it. This could be achieved by printing either Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose or Cruel Celebrant as maybe another version of Dracula. However, it would be nice to have a cheaper version of Lucy Westenra, especially if going with the latter card.
  
  

Update 1: Added a sideboard, removal is really needed so I'm just going to main board them for a while to test it out,

Fateful Absence x3 in place of the x2 Investigator's Journal and x1 of the Jacob Hauken, Inspector // Hauken's Insight. As a side note Fierce Retribution has a card style on MTG arena as well and fits in visually theme better artwise, but Fateful Absence is the better card so up to you.

Bloodline Culling i'm not a sold on just yet, but am toying with adding x2 in place of x1 Savior of Ollenbock and x1 Thirst for Discovery

Update 2: Fateful Absence x4 now, reducing Circle of Confinement by x1, the stronger removal gives us a fighting chance!