I added in rhystic study, some graveyard tutors to make the deck more efficient like entomb, final parting and buried alive, also added in demonic tutor and some lifelink to the deck with cards like whip of erebos/blood artist because this deck has none out of the box and it’s a major issue. I also added in black market connections and dark ritual for some extra ramp, on top of upgrading the mana/land base and swapping out all the crappy lands that enter tapped. The sword of once and future was a great add too. It gives whatever it’s equipped plus 2/2 and lets you surveil 2 anytime you attack with them, while also letting you play any instant or sorcery card with mana value 2 or less in your graveyard for free. Then I added a few more card draw spells like windfall and frantic search, some extra/better counter spells and removal spells such as mana drain, swan song, deadly rollick and damnation/cyclonic rift, and added in a few cards to remove the finality counters like soul diviner, fain the broker and a way to blink them off with thassa deep dwelling. I took out some of the big creatures and swapped them with better ones. I changed grave titan and that big demon forget the name, with sheoldred and the new vein ripper vampire. It’s a flying 6/5 that’s a better version of blood artist. Gives you 2 life and makes an opponent lose 2 life anytime a creature dies, it also has a good ward ability. If anyone wants to remove it they have to sacrifice a creature. Last but not least, I added in a few small creatures that give good benefits such as likeness looter and obsessive stitcher. Likeness looter lets you draw/discard for free every-turn and it can become a clone of any card in your graveyard. Obsessive stitcher also lets you draw/discard each turn for free, and if you sac it, it lets you reanimate anything for free onto the battlefield. I swapped massacre worm with these.
I know this is a $300 upgrade but I don’t think the amount of money you spend on a deck necessarily represents how good it is. most of the times I watch these upgrade videos. I feel like they just choose the most expensive cards and most of the stuff that they swap out is either a side grade or a downgrade
You are absolutely right that price doesn't make the deck good. That said, it is nice to see suggestions for cards to add. With the higher budgets, they're generally able to grab the good cards that are popular, which makes them cost more. I just got this deck myself and upgraded it for a bit under 80 bucks including price of the precon.
I pretty much gutted the precon of the surveil theme and instead decided to do draw + looting, that way I can sculp my hand and plop exactly the creatures I want into my yard. I have some wheels to further load my yard quickly. I have some equipment to pump him, but my main target are going to be small stats with good ETBs, so he only really needs to have 2-3 power. I plan to use my reanimation spells to get back the big beaters like Sheoldred and Co. to cause threats, while I control the board with plenty of wipes, counters, and removal.
Nice, I did the $100 upgrade. Might pick up a few from this one as well. Just out of curiosity have you guys seen Commander Quarters take on this deck? I thought they did a very interesting style leaning more into equipment and blink style and less reliant on the surveil effect. One equipment that really stood out to me was Blade of the Bloodchief. Only 1 cost to play 1 cost to equip and everytime a creature dies put a +1/+1 on equipped creature and put 2 +1/+1 counters on it if it's a vampire. Seems like super good bang for the buck.
