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Hello Dakka, ever since the new codex came out for blood angels I have been crafting all sorts of lists and one thing that I keep trying to sort out in my mind is DC vs SG. The death company have the benefit of having more attacks, built in feel no pain, and come in cheaper than SG. SG on the other hand all come with PW's, have access to the chapter banner, have master-crafted (more on that later), and have artificer armor, but they are more expensive base and in my opinion should always be run with a priest which hikes up the price more. After speaking to a friend about SG he brought up the point that they might be TOO killy (kind of eliminating the usefulness for master crafted past round 1) and end up being shot to death because they will wipe out units pretty easily, leaving them open to shooting (for which my counter argument is they have a 2+ and FNP which is good against most things). With the points I save from not taking SG I could pick up another squad DC and have plenty of points to spare. I am looking to the more experienced players than I with actual experience for this question. For reference the list that these units are contesting for goes something like this:

HQ- Mephy (with DC) Priest (if i take it it goes with SG)

Troops- 2x tacticals in pods

Elites- DC in pod with meph, SG(possibly) or another DC or another elite choice

Heavy- Storm Raven

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure what kind of unit you would need to hit with SG to be honest.

SG are indeed very killy. Multi assault with them if at all possible so that you can stay stuck in combat for the enemy shooting phase. (Unless you're assaulting something very high threat like an enemy deathstar.)

With their points change Dante dropping with SG and a Priest will ERASE units with little effort.

Of course, DC do that without the extra character and priest, so that might be the argument by itself.

If taking DC, it makes no sense to take them without jps now. DC get +2a, +1s and +1i (latter from formation) on the charge. They NEED the charge. On foot (from a pod) you can never guarantee the charge, with jp you come close to a guarantee.
DC do indeed look a better option due to their price, but will have just as much an issue as the SG with overkill. Personally I think they will work better in conjunction with each other and a distraction target, such as a vindi, flamestorm baals or a knight. The distractor/s take the ap2/1 firepower usually, whilst the opponent usually has to decide which unit between the SG and DC to focus upon. Neither unit being particularly susceptible to small arms. This is all conjecture as I have not played a game with the new dex yet and I very rarely would play SG and jp DC in the same game in the past due to the excessive cost.

I say, is it too much to ask for both?

Use them in tandem is really the way forward, I think, complimenting each other and getting the best from both. See that enemy unit with the AP3 that will tear up the Death Co? Send them a SangGuard squad that doesn't care, leaving your DC to take out those 2+ save units with volume of attacks that the SG can't match. Death Company are a blunt force instrument, and their strength comes from just bludgoening the enemy enough that their saves and wound count don't matter. SangGuard, on the other hand, are a scalpel, used for targeting specific threats that the DC would either overkill (if it's too small a squad) or take serious damage against (high Init targets, AP3-heavy units).

Both are excellent units, and work together well. This, as mentioned above, also throws up a lot of target priority issues for the opponent.

Thank you all for bringing up good points! This list was originally created with both units so I wont have to change if I keep the Sanguard. I guess one last question is 10 SG overkill? I feel that 5 is too little and could die to small arms fire at that point. Regarding jp for the DC maybe I can replace drop pod with jp and throw meph with a tactical squad (which are being podded anyway) and then add one body to DC for maximum amount of threats.

I personally wouldn't run DC with less than 10 unless I'm running 3 or more units of them. Sang guard can survive at 5, it's all about giving your opponent something bigger to shoot at.