Vintage 101: Calamitous!
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 diving into Bloomburrow and if there's anything that might see play from that set. In addition we have a few Challenges to discuss as well as the results of the ManaTraders Series which was Vintage this past month. The Swiss/Top 8 of that took place over the weekend.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Fuzzy and Scary! Bloomburrow for Vintage
Bloomburrow and its associated Commander products have been finally fully spoiled so we can start taking a look to see if there's anything in this set for Vintage. This set has a bunch of different mechanics in it, but awkwardly enough I found very few cards in this set for Vintage in general. If you think I missed something, please let me know but there wasn't much in this set at all.
Fell
This card is interesting enough, but I don't know how much it makes the cut. Simple two mana destroy a creature is cool even at Sorcery speed, maybe? I'm not really sure.
Ral, Crackling Wit
Four mana Planeswalkers are hard to stomach in current Vintage, but I do think Ral is cute and fuzzy. I also think the card may be interesting enough especially given the number of noncreature spells that get cast in the format, that ultimating it might not take too long and then suddenly your Ancestrals have Storm.
Karn, the Great Creator
I am pretty sure this is the best reprint of Karn, the Great Creator ever.
ManaTrader Series 7/20-7/21
This past month's ManaTraders Series was Vintage, with the Swiss rounds/Top 8 coming to fruition this past weekend. The swiss portion of this month had 265 players in it thanks to data collected by our good friend Justin Gennari.
You can find all of the decklists on the ManaTraders website (By selecting "July 2024 | vintage" from the drop down) and the data sheet here.
Initiative was quite popular here overall while having a pretty decent win rate. Dredge, Lurrus DRS decks, and Initiative Tinker all looked good. Breach, CounterVine, and other Blue Tempo variants didn't look too good. Even Jewel Shops had a below 50% win rate.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus DRS | 1st | musasabi |
| Dredge | 2nd | Oestrus |
| Dredge | 3rd | Lordegg |
| Dredge | 4th | nebman227 |
| Sphere Shops | 5th | Wizard_2002 |
| Lurrus Saga | 6th | Schiaveto |
| Initiative | 7th | ModiSapiras |
| Initiative | 8th | VictorCarvalho01 |
Dredge did very well for itself here, rising to the top to put 3 of them in the Top 4. At the end of the event overall it was Lurrus DRS by musasabi that won.
I really like Psychic Frog here. We talked about this card quite a bit last week and it's so strong overall. Multiple Spell Pierce is really interesting too.
The Second Place finalist of this event was Dredge by Oestrus.
This is a solid looking list. We get some of the bits of Bridge from Below and Therapy and the normal suite of disruption this deck can boast thanks to Bazaar making it easier to push through the deck. Very clean and no frills.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/18
The first Challenge of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 54 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.
Both Lurrus Saga and Jewel were popular enough here, but their win rates were fairly medium at best. Initiative had a really strong showing here as did Doomsday.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative | 1st | _Shatun_ |
| Doomsday | 2nd | ecobaronen |
| BUG Bazaar | 3rd | jben |
| Lurrus Saga | 4th | holkkarit |
| Lurrus Saga | 5th | bless_von |
| Initiative | 6th | Sommertroll |
| Initiative | 7th | Cabezadebolo |
| Lurrus Saga | 8th | albertoSD |
Initiative had a super strong Top 8 presence here overall, as did Lurrus Saga despite the medium win rate. At the end of the event it was Initiative that won.
I still don't know if I agree with main deck Vexing Bauble in this deck, but it's clearly working for a number of folks on this deck. This is a solid list for sure.
In Second Place we had Doomsday.
Very clean looking list overall here. Focusing on the important part of Doomsday, which is ABCD (Always Be Casting Doomsday!)
Also in this Top 8 we had BUG Bazaar.
I played a little bit of this deck myself on stream (unfortunately that league was not keepable because of opponent's timing out so that is not getting posted to YT) and it was super fun and had a lot of really interesting tension to it. I'd like to dive into it a little more for sure as it seems fun.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/19
The second Challenge event 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.
Jewel and Initiative both were very popular, with both having a fairly middle of the road win rate. Lurrus Saga did very well here, while BUG suffered.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Saga | 1st | FranMtg |
| Lurrus Saga | 2nd | albertoSD |
| Initiative | 3rd | _Batutinha_ |
| Initiative Tinker | 4th | Tunaktunak |
| Doomsday | 5th | ecobaronen |
| Initiative | 6th | ModiSapiras |
| Lurrus Saga | 7th | jessy_samek |
| Jewel Shops | 8th | _J0SE_ |
Interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was a pair of Lurrus Saga decks that won.
Both of these look very similar in nature, with really only the major differences being it seems snow-covered versus regular basics. Multiple Spell Pierce continues to look quite good here.
Also in this Top 8 we had Initiative Tinker.
It's interesting seeing this list come back up to fruition after Lurrus has ruled the format for so long. People returning to try to play MV 3 permanents or higher is interesting for sure.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/20
The third Challenge was the mid afternoon Saturday event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There was no data for this event. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jewel Shops | 1st | bennybo |
| Oath of Druids | 2nd | rdfi |
| Oops! All Spells | 3rd | Unifro |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | ice_nine_BIGFAN |
| Lurrus Saga | 5th | Miharu_Fuyumiya |
| Oath of Druids | 6th | Devouring Commander |
| Oath of Druids | 7th | Bear Named Snuffy |
| Initiative | 8th | Grills96 |
Lot of Oath in this Top 8 here, but the end of the event was eventually decided by Jewel Shops.
Sink into Stupor continues to look like a legitimately insane card in these lists. Definitely feels like a very strong inclusion here.
In Second Place we had Oath of Druids.
I like the Karn angle here of having access to some sideboard material if need be. Long Goodbye has also been very good in these decks.
Further down the Top 8 we had Oops! All Spells.
Oops gaining access to a number of new mono color MDFC lands is so huge for sure. Allowing the deck the ability to play some actual interaction is insane.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/21
The final Challenge event of the weekend was the early morning Sunday event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. There was no data for this event. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Doomsday | 1st | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Lurrus DRS | 2nd | musasabi |
| Lurrus Saga | 3rd | John1111 |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | _J0SE_ |
| Uba Stax | 5th | desolutionist |
| Merfolk | 6th | SingPanMan |
| Dreadnought Tinker | 7th | Sommertroll |
| Initiative Tinker | 8th | vwxyza648204 |
Quite a cool Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Doomsday that won.
Psychic Frog seems like a cool sideboard juke for Doomsday, even as a one-of. Neat idea.
In Second Place we had Lurrus DRS.
DRS and Psychic Frog seem like great best friends here, honestly. It's also insane to instant speed pitch a Life from the Loam and dredge it back with the Frog trigger.
Also in this Top 8 we had Uba STAX?!
Oh man. Uba Mask. What a super sick card. This list is amazing and sweet.
Around the Web
- Shir Kahn wrote a great sideboard guide on Sphere Shops. Check it out here.
- Justin Gennari has at least one video for us. Check them out below:
- Montolio has a video on Cradlevine. Check it out here.
- Brian Coval has a video on NYSE. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Let's find some spice!
Scam is a thing.
BRIAN KELLY.
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!
