Vintage 101: Beseeched
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of Vintage 101! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be taking a look at Beseech Storm and how that deck has shaped up in recent weeks. In addition, we're going to be looking at Challenges from the past week including the Showcase Qualifier.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Beseeching the Mirror
Vintage has had some interesting developments since the introduction of Stock Up to the format, but one that's very interesting is the revival of a deck that had been somewhat missing from the format for a little bit, Beseech Storm.
The card quality of Stock Up allows decks like this to find pieces it needs. This isn't quite an A+B combo deck like Oath of Druids is, so finding a specific A+B combo is not what this card is doing here, but its overall card quality allows Beseech to find specific cards to execute its game plan.
Beseech needs a fairly critical mass of cards to combo off, and having a card that sees so many cards is very strong for this deck. It also helps clear cards you don't need off the top of your library, for example putting a Bolas's Citadel back in the deck where you can Tinker for it.
This is a solid deck right now, and while the format is reacting to it actively, I think it's a great deck to jump into if someone is looking for a fun spell-based combo deck that isn't playing anything like Lurrus. It's a Tinker deck while also being a Dark Ritual deck that isn't Doomsday, and it has a lot of really fun and interesting gameplay to it. Keep an eye out for this deck, because it's quite good, and if you're on the other side of the table, watch out for those Stock Ups!
Vintage Showcase Qualifier 4/5/2025
This past weekend was the culmination of the Premier Play season, the first of the year. At the end of the Premier Play season, all players who have either Top 8'ed a Showcase Challenge that season or won a Last Chance Qualifier (LCQ) event are invited to play in the Showcase Qualifier. The winner of the Showcase Qualifier receives an invitation to the Magic Online Champions Showcase (otherwise known as the MOCS) and an upcoming tabletop Pro Tour. This event had 30 qualified players, according to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Because of the nature of these kinds of events, being invitation only, the metagames for them often tend to be quite different than more open events. Players tend to metagame towards the specific field in general, since the list of qualified players is publicly available, players can glean information based on what players qualified with in the first place or what they might play. This often leads to a weird skew of metagame for these events for sure. As seen, Esper Lurrus was the most popular deck, and it definitely seemed good. Oath was great here, but it had one pilot exactly. Beseech Storm had two pilots but they both went 0-X.
In fact, the skewed metagame aspect here led to Lurrus decks being over half the field at 53.3%. We can't infer much out of this since it's one event, but whew that is a lot of Lurrus.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Lurrus | 1st | WingedHussar |
| Oath | 2nd | Matti |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | CrazyMorango |
| Lurrus Breach | 4th | desolutionist |
| Esper Lurrus | 5th | PierreePoilievre2025 |
| Esper Lurrus | 6th | cicciogire |
| Dredge | 7th | Munchlax446 |
| Initiative | 8th | bernardocssa |
Quite a bit of Lurrus, but not surprising given how much Lurrus made up the entire event. At the end of the event it was Esper Lurrus that won.
Serenity attacking the artifact matchups especially with Lurrus in play to recur it is so absurdly gross. It's certainly very powerful to just stop your opponent from playing the game. Thankfully it takes a whole turn cycle so decks can easily find paths like Argentum Masticore, but if your Lurrus opponent can get this on board and just keep putting it into play, it's going to be very hard to come back from.
In Second Place we had Oath.
I find it interesting cutting down on Show and Tell here. Not sure if I overly agree, but again as we noted, people will tend to skew lists to the specific metagame. Unable to Scream is cool as a card that can deal with things like Containment Priest, etc. by making it a 0/2. This is important for the Lurrus matchups very specifically because if you destroy the Priest, it doesn't matter, they can Lurrus it back into play. Making it a 0/2 with no abilities keeps it in play but takes away its effect. I think I still prefer Utter Insignificance because of the flash speed aspect though.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/3/2025
The first regular Challenge of the weekend was the Thursday event. This event had 55 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Beseech Storm was the most popular deck of the entire event. Despite a Top 8 appearance, it's overall win rate was less than 50%. Dimir Lurrus and Jewel Shops both looked great, as did Esper Lurrus.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Lurrus | 1st | O_danielakos |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | Capitano_CL |
| Lurrus Breach | 3rd | Killah_SUV |
| Beseech Storm | 4th | Diem4x |
| Raker Shops | 5th | Marcuzinho |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | wongdeck |
| Esper Lurrus | 7th | MafiaDoSplit |
| Dimir Lurrus | 8th | _Batutinha_ |
Fair amount of Lurrus in this Top 8, sprinkled in with some Shops and Beseech. At the end of the event it was Dimir Lurrus that won.
Fairly standard looking list here. I will note that this list has moved two Null Rod into the main deck. I think this is a definite response to stuff like Raker Shops and Jewel to try to combat them more game one, which is interesting.
In Second Place we had Esper Lurrus.
This is another fairly standard looking Esper list. Not much frills here, although there is one main deck Null Rod.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/4/2025
The second regular Challenge of the weekend was the Friday event. This event had 42 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Esper Lurrus was the most played deck of the event, but it's win rate was not very good. Raker shops, Initiative, and Doomsday all looked great here. Jewel Shops seemed to be pretty bad as was Countervine.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus PO | 1st | unluckymonkey |
| Initiative | 2nd | LasVegasChaos |
| Raker Shops | 3rd | Caleb_Yetman |
| Dredge | 4th | Lollopollo2001 |
| Raker Shops | 5th | Mogged |
| Doomsday | 6th | revenantkioku |
| Initiative | 7th | VitorCarvalho01 |
| Dimir Lurrus | 8th | _Batutinha_ |
Fair spread of Initiative, Raker, Lurrus. At the end of the event it was Lurrus PO that won.
I will admit, it's pretty cool that Thundertrap Trainer is a Vintage card, even if it is just because Lurrus enables it to be good because it can be recurred from the graveyard.
In Second Place we had Initiative.
Very solid looking list here. I like some of the unique sideboard choices. Stonecoil Serpent as a big scalable threat is neat, and Phyrexian Censor is sweet.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/5/2025
The third regular Challenge of the weekend was the Saturday event. This event had 53 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Raker Shops was the most popular deck but it's win rate was pretty good. Dredge also looked great, as did Dimir Lurrus and Lurrus Breach. Lurrus PO and Jewel Shops both looked poor here. Beseech Storm had a less than 50% win rate, but it did have a Top 8 finish.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dredge | 1st | Lord_Beerus |
| Dimir Lurrus | 2nd | O_danielakos |
| Beseech Storm | 3rd | wiky |
| Raker Shops | 4th | _Chamytinho_ |
| Dimir Lurrus | 5th | GengsKhan |
| Raker Shops | 6th | _Shatun_ |
| Sphere Shops | 7th | ice_nine_BIGFAN |
| Hermit Druid | 8th | Schiaveto |
Definitely an interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Dredge that won.
Silversmote Ghoul showing back up is interesting for sure. This is a fairly straightforward list and more aggressive than controlling.
In Second Place we had Dimir Lurrus.
Another fairly standard stock list here. The two Null Rod are still here, though!
Vintage Challenge 32 4/6/2025
The final regular Challenge of the weekend was the Sunday event. This event had 40 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Raker Shops was the most popular deck of the event, and it's win rate was right on the middle of the line. Lurrus Breach and Dredge both looked good here. Oath and Esper Lurrus did worse than 50% win rate.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dredge | 1st | oosunq |
| Initiative | 2nd | LasVegasChaos |
| Lurrus Breach | 3rd | GigaChadSigmaMale |
| Beseech Storm | 4th | Bezerra_da_Silva |
| Raker Shops | 5th | crK |
| Dimir Lurrus | 6th | Mogged |
| Lurrus Breach | 7th | discoverN |
| Dimir Lurrus | 8th | CrazyMorango |
Lot of Lurrus here. However, at the end of the event it was Dredge that won.
This list is a bit more controlling side of things with more Forces and MBT. I like it.
In Second Place we had Initiative.
A very similar list to what did well in another event this weekend. Damping Sphere is a neat addition to the sideboard, especially when you consider Beseech is doing much better right now.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari always has some videos here:
- FiretruckModo has a Raker Shops list. Check it out here.
- DB3MTG is playing some Oath. Check it out here.
- Kindamtg is doing some AggroVine with Wight of the Reliquary. Check it out here.
- BoshNRoll is Wizarding with Otters and Cats. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
The DRUID COMETH.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for your continued support of the column and join me next week as we continue our journey into Vintage!
As always you can reach me at my Link Tree! In addition you can always reach me on the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the Vintage Streamers Discord.
Until next time!
