Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose is a unique card. It doesn't see nearly as much play as you'd expect it to see, unfortunately. In Arena, Vito decks are still holding on to their popularity, even though rotation is right around the corner. There have been some relatively exciting uses of the card. From cleric tribal, to lifegain, and even mono-black devotion (who knew devotion was still a thing in this iteration of Standard?) Vito sees quite a lot of play. Here are a few of the more interesting Vito decks I've run into through my time on Arena.

1.    BW Vito Drain

Vito's ability says that whenever you gain life, the target opponent loses that much life. The first use of this you'll find is in life gain decks, and there is no shortage of them in Standard at the moment. The catch is that most of these lifegain decks are mono-white weenie decks. They have life gain as an aside to ensure they have the legs to close the game out. Vito doesn't see play in these (obviously) because he's a black card. However, this list demonstrates that, in the right life gain pile, he can be a formidable card to tangle with.

What's Good About This Deck

• Vito is one of the major drivers of victory.
• It's life gain, so you're in for a wild ride.
• It has a straightforward curve to get used to.
• Creatures that get bigger make for a powerful board presence.
• If you manage to resolve a blade historian, double strike can close out the turn before Vito's lifegain.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• Try to ensure you hit a land drop every turn. For this to happen, you have Guiding Light to allow you to Learn for Environmental Sciences.
• The life gain from Environmental Sciences also triggers Vito.
• If you have a choice of three-drops, go for Kor Celebrant first. The single point of life gain from casting Vito will drain your opponent.
• Don't be afraid to cast Vito, but be wary of removal. Unfortunately, your deck doesn't have any way to bring back a Vito if it dies.
• This deck tops out at four mana, so try to resolve as many threats as possible and keep swinging in for value.
• If you got a Speaker of the Heavens out early, keep an eye on your life total so you can use the ability to maximum effect.
• Your opponents will have hard decisions as to what they should remove. Keep them on the back foot by jamming more threats on board. Be wary of board wipes because they will hose your deck.

Decklist:

• 3 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 4 Luminarch Aspirant
• 16 Snow-Covered Plains
• 3 Maul of the Skyclaves
• 4 Guiding Voice
• 3 Castle Ardenvale
• 4 Speaker of the Heavens
• 3 Cleric of Life's Bond
• 3 Sparring Regimen
• 4 Kor Celebrant
• 1 Mavinda, Students' Advocate
• 4 Righteous Valkyrie
• 2 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 2 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
• 1 Faceless Haven
• 3 Blade Historian

Sideboard

• 4 Introduction to Prophecy
• 3 Environmental Sciences

2.    Vampire's Vicious Thirst

A Mardu vampires list might not see much play in Standard since the initial Innistrad release, but this one has the goods. What better tribe to consult than the original bloodsuckers themselves if you want to do some life-draining? This vampire list has a built-in combo that uses the only non-vampire card in the pile, Radiant Scrollwielder. It's also got more than enough power on board to wipe out the opponent's field, and the icing on the cake is that you can easily get legs to clean up with Vito and Radiant Scrollwielder.

What's Good About This Deck

• No one will see it coming. Most people are well aware of the BW cleric lists in Standard at the moment, but few have ever seen Vampires.
• The list runs enough removal to deal with the creature-heavy format
• It has favorable matchups against both aggro and midrange, although it may struggle if the game goes too long
• It can take a game by storm out of nowhere
• Radiant Scrollwielder and Crush the Weak on a full board is a sight that will make any life gain deck sit up and take notice.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• The curve on this deck is strange but not terrible. In the early part of the game, deal with threats and keep your life-total up. Slam your threats on-curve, and don't let up when you're attacking.
• Scrollwielder has lots of toughness, so it won't get hit by a shock and removed. Use that to your advantage to block favorably.
• Your ideal curve would see Vito hit the field on turn three with Scrollwielder on turn four. However, this isn't Magical Christmas Land, and most times, you'll have to make do with Vampire Nighthawk. Luckily, he also has lifelink, which trigger's Vito's drain just as quickly.
• Malakir Cullblade can get REALLY big in this deck. Keep it alive long enough, and your opponents won't know how to deal with it.
• Zagras is a good card that allows you to block favorably, but he's a blow-out against decks that depend heavily on planeswalkers.
• If you have a creature attacking and doesn't have lifelink, drop an Eternal Thirst on it to fix that problem.

Decklist:

• 2 Fabled Passage
• 4 Serrated Scorpion
• 4 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 4 Shock
• 2 Eternal Thirst
• 4 Malakir Cullblade
• 4 Nighthawk Scavenger
• 4 Thundering Rebuke
• 2 Zagras, Thief of Heartbeats
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway
• 4 Needleverge Pathway
• 2 Crush the Weak
• 3 Blightstep Pathway
• 4 Radiant Scrollwielder
• 4 Rip Apart
• 3 Plains
• 3 Swamp
• 3 Mountain

3.    BW Life's Blood

When you're trying to get the most efficient list to run, you don't really care about tribes. If you have a few clerics here, a vampire there, and maybe an...Eye Bat? I dunno man, the Eye-Bat seems sketchy. In any case, this deck goes all in for the lifegain but also uses its life as a resource. Vito combos well with the Pest mechanic from Strixhaven that allows you to gain a life every time it dies. Even on blocks, you can do some severe damage to your opponent if you have enough pests. The ingenuity of this deck is pretty neat, especially if you've seen the typical Golgari/Witherbloom deck in action. This deck does the same thing that one does but in black and white.

What's Good About This Deck

• Card draw is impressive for a BW deck.
• Pest token generation ensures you always have a board presence.
• Life gain combos with life loss from Bastion and Vito
• You get to use that Pseudo-storm card, Plumb the Forbidden to sacrifice creatures to copy it
• You get reanimation through Lurrus of the Dream Den

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• You have a lot of early life gain, and Eyetwitch gives you options for Learning out of your sideboard. You want it to die, so block aggressively.
• Use Revitalize and Village Rites to your benefit to get card advantage. If you're in combat and blocking with a creature, you can sacrifice it before damage is dealt. The enemy's creature still gets blocked, and you get to cast a Village Rites without technically losing a creature.
• Don't use Plumb the Forbidden until you have enough of a board with your pests. When you do, if you have Vito on the field, you don't end up losing any life.
• The deck is susceptible to board wipes, so be wary of that. Lurrus will help you rebuild your board, but that takes time and gives your opponent a reprieve.
• Bastion of Remembrance turns your Vito into another double-drain menace with pests. For each pest that dies, you'll gain a life, meaning Vito triggers to drain one point of life, AND Bastion will drain another point of life.

Decklist:

• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 4 Bastion of Remembrance
• 1 Call of the Death-Dweller
• 1 Extinction Event
• 1 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
• 3 Speaker of the Heavens
• 4 Archfiend's Vessel
• 2 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 2 Bloodchief's Thirst
• 3 Brightclimb Pathway
• 4 Righteous Valkyrie
• 6 Snow-Covered Plains
• 12 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 2 Hunt for Specimens
• 4 Plumb the Forbidden
• 3 Revitalize
• 2 Village Rites

Sideboard

• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Introduction to Prophecy
• 2 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Inkling Summoning
• 2 Pest Summoning

4.    Mono-Black Devotion

Compared to when they were in the original Theros standard, mono-black devotion decks have died off in popularity as their set gets older. However, devotion is still a pretty powerful mechanic. Until cards like Ayara, First of Locthwain cycles, it'll remain a pretty hard deck to fight against. This version of the deck uses Vito as a finisher alongside everyone's favorite mono-black devotion all-star Gray Merchant of Asphodel, fondly known as Gary to long-time players.

What's Good About This Deck

• This deck typically comes out of left-field. Most players aren't even aware that it exists.
• You can swing a game in your favor without a whole lot of effort. Once you set up, you can quickly drain an opponent for ten life on the turn Gary comes down.
• Life swings mean that you can play fast and loose with your life-total early on.
• You get to cast an 11/10 demon on turn four.
• If you like seeing your opponents suffer, you'll love this deck.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• This deck focuses on nullifying the opponent's threats. Timely uses of Cling to Dust and Lithoform Blight will blank most of the early problems you'll run into.
• Life drain and slow chipping damage set up an easy kill. Ayara, First of Locthwain and Vito are a deadly combination. Underworld Dreams turns each draw your opponents take into a ping.
• Woe Strider allows you to streamline your draws. For example, you can sac smaller, much less valuable creatures like Eyetwitch and Serrated Scorpion and get a death trigger as well as the scry.
• Agadeem's Awakening allows you to reanimate a lot of your creatures to reuse them. For example, a typical line of play is to cast a Gary, sacrifice it to Ayara, then use Agadeem's Awakening to bring him back. Usually, that's enough to stop your opponent in their tracks if not win the game outright.
• Daemogoth Titan just needs to get in for a little bit of damage, but even if you keep it as a blocker, the four black mana symbols make a world of difference to Gary’s trigger.

Decklist:

• 2 Ayara, First of Locthwain
• 2 Castle Locthwain
• 2 Cling to Dust
• 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 2 Tymaret, Chosen from Death
• 2 Underworld Dreams
• 2 Woe Strider
• 3 Bastion of Remembrance
• 4 Serrated Scorpion
• 2 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 3 Lithoform Blight
• 2 Agadeem's Awakening
• 2 Eyetwitch
• 4 Daemogoth Titan
• 19 Swamp
• 4 Village Rites
• 2 Eliminate

Sideboard

• 2 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Introduction to Annihilation
• 1 Introduction to Prophecy
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 2 Necrotic Fumes

5.    Blackest Faith

What happens when you combine angels, demons, and clerics (Oh My!) into a deck? Well, this pile of desecration here does just that with some surprisingly effective outcomes. Each of the cards in this deck by themselves can be useful, but combining them gives you a dangerous pile that usually leaves opponents wondering how they could even compete. Between the massive flying threats and constant lifegain triggers, Vito feels right at home in this deck as one of its finishers.

What's Good About This Deck

• Everyone likes angels, demons, and clerics (Oh My!).
• When your life total goes above 27, the deck starts looking a lot more formidable.
• You usually have multiple lines of play that could guarantee you a win
• Reanimation, tutors, and flying lifelinkers form the core of this deck's philosophy, with a splash of Foretell.

How To Play This Deck Effectively

• This deck cares deeply about its mana curve. So you want to hit your one-drops in your opening hand and start chipping away at the opponent for as much damage as you can.
• Using your Demonic Gifts on Archfiend's Vessel turns it into a demon out of the graveyard. Of course, everyone likes 5/5 flying demons on turn 2, right?
• Pyre of Heroes is a resilient tutor that allows you to get clerics at will at the cost of sacrificing one you already have on the field.
• Orah, Skyclave Hierophant is another reanimation engine.
• This deck could be tweaked further by increasing or reducing numbers.
• Vito is one of the ways that you can win. life gain from Righteous Valkyrie triggers with each cleric, so it sees Vito as he enters the battlefield. Each cleric casts gains you life and drains your opponent. One massive aerial swing is usually all it needs to clean up.
• Skemfar Shadowsage alongside Vito is another viable line of play for victory. Shadowsage can gain life equal to the number of creatures of a particular type. Add Vito to the mix, and your opponent's life total starts looking very small.

Decklist:

• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 2 Light of Hope
• 4 Speaker of the Heavens
• 4 Archfiend's Vessel
• 3 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 2 Luminarch Aspirant
• 2 Taborax, Hope's Demise
• 3 Cleric of Life's Bond
• 2 Orah, Skyclave Hierophant
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway
• 4 Righteous Valkyrie
• 4 Demonic Gifts
• 3 Dream Devourer
• 2 Skemfar Shadowsage
• 2 Vengeful Reaper
• 2 Pyre of Heroes
• 8 Plains
• 8 Swamp

If you like gaining loads of life AND love burning your opponents out while doing so, Vito's precisely the kind of card you need. During his stay in Standard, he's caused waves in the format, and he's had his share of success in Historic as well, although in a more limited fashion. Chances are we'll see more people embracing his life gain ways in the older formats as time goes by. For now, he's still a formidable card to deal with in the Standard rotation. A lot of people will be grateful to see him rotate out.

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