Vintage 101 - Stifle-NOT!
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 some recent developments with Phyrexian Dreadnought decks in Vintage! In addition we've got some Challenges to look at from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Dreadnought Let's Go!
It's always cool seeing decks cross over from other formats and sensibilities into Vintage. The most recent of these that has been poking its head up here or there (and not only that, doing well too) is Phyrexian Dreadnought decks. These decks are commonly referred to as "Stiflenought" even if the deck itself isn't exactly playing copies of the card Stifle.
The name of the game here is pretty simple. Figure out how to get a Dreadnought into play without having to sacrifice it. There's a number of ways to do this these days, as generally almost every modern set comes with something that makes it easy to put a Dreadnought into play. One of the most common ways these days is to prevent its ETB entirely with something like Doorkeeper Thrull (which turns off all ETB triggers) or Dress Down (which also technically turns off all ETB triggers and also draws a card). From that point, having a 12/12 trample is a surefire way to just win the game.
Let's look at a list.
This deck definitely does some things. Dreadnought is super powerful, but Doorkeeper Thrull shuts off a fair amount of things. The real winner for this kind of deck is Stock Up, the card that has continually given so much to Vintage overall, as well as cards like Clarion Conqueror shutting off opposing decks' artifacts, creatures, and planeswalkers.
I am pretty excited to see this be a deck in Vintage. It looks incredibly fun, and it's something to watch for because it is doing quite well at the moment and showing up even in the Challenges. If you're looking for something a little different, check this deck out!
Vintage Challenge 32 4/24/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 43 players thanks to the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck of the event, with a slightly over 50% win rate. Dimir Lurrus looked great as did Lurrus Breach. Oath and Beseech both looked rather poor.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Lurrus | 1st | MackSmith |
| Sphere Shops | 2nd | Illao1 |
| Lurrus Breach | 3rd | thedeck84 |
| Countervine | 4th | haveaboavida |
| Stiflenought | 5th | Ark4n |
| Initiative | 6th | patrick50 |
| Initiative | 7th | death_grips |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | Scooby_Snacks |
Fairly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event, it was Dimir Lurrus that won.
Very straightforward list here. Not much to say. The Watery Grave in the main deck is certainly exciting for sure.
In Second Place we had Sphere Shops.
I do really like Scrawling Crawler for Shops decks. It's such a super fun card to play with for sure.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/25/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 33 players thanks to the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was again very popular and its overall win rate was very good. Both Esper and Dimir Lurrus looked great, as did Dredge. Despite having a Top 8 appearance, Oath's win rate was really bad.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Lurrus | 1st | albertoSD |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | WingedHussar |
| Lurrus PO | 3rd | YoungToast |
| Dimir Lurrus | 4th | O_danielakos |
| Dimir Lurrus | 5th | B-Carp |
| Initiative | 6th | Andy_Over |
| Oath | 7th | Magic_Dads71522 |
| Initiative | 8th | AFX |
So much Lurrus here (5/8 of the Top 8 is a Lurrus deck). At the end of the event it was two Esper Lurrus decks that sat in the finals.
Voice of Victory here acting as a "don't interact with me" piece is pretty sick. In a race situation, the card also presents some damage and can be replayed with Lurrus. Momentum Breaker is also just incredibly good in this list.
Let's look at the Second Place list.
Still seeing some Null Rod in the main deck. I think it still makes quite a bit of sense at the moment.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/26/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 45 players thanks to the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was again the most popular deck of the event. It's win rate here was less than 50% despite a Top 8 finish. Doomsday and Lurrus PO both looked super solid, as did Dimir Lurrus. Raker Shops definitely did not look good here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Doomsday | 1st | ecobaronen |
| Dimir Lurrus | 2nd | B-Carp |
| Stiflenought | 3rd | Ark4n |
| Initiative | 4th | Shuichi_Saito |
| Lurrus Breach | 5th | Diem4x |
| Lurrus PO | 6th | unluckymonkey |
| Esper Lurrus | 7th | Jujkata |
| Doomsday | 8th | Terribad |
Still a fair amount of Lurrus but at the end of the event it was Doomsday that won.
Pretty straightforward Doomsday list here. There isn't a ton of frills here, and realistically... it's Doomsday. There doesn't really need to be.
In Second Place we had Dimir Lurrus.
This is also a pretty straightforward-looking stock list. Not really anything too crazy going on here.
Vintage Challenge 32 4/27/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 32 players thanks to the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck yet again, and despite two Top 8 finishes its overall win rate was less than 50%. Dredge, Sphere Shops, Doomsday, and even Countervine all had very positive win rates. Oath did not.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dredge | 1st | PS17 |
| Doomsday | 2nd | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | _Batutinha_ |
| Initiative | 4th | AFX |
| Jewel Shops | 5th | Hampuse1 |
| Dredge | 6th | satu2112 |
| Initiative | 7th | medvedev |
| Esper Lurrus | 8th | albertoSD |
Small spread of various decks. At the end of the event it was Dredge that won.
More aggressive-looking build than we usually see. I think it works. Mindbreak Trap feels like it's on the outs at the moment, so going deeper into a more "gotta-go-fast' build makes sense.
In Second Place, we had Doomsday.
Opposition Agent in the sideboard is kind of sweet, not going to lie.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari always has sweet stuff for us.
- Three For One Trading has an article on the cost of paper Vintage. Check it out here.
- Revenantkioku has a Vintage Moon Stompy video. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
SCAM
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!
