Vintage 101: The Tarkir Throwdown, Part 1
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 first part look at the set Tarkir: Dragonstorm and what it might mean for Vintage. In addition we've got some Challenge data to look at.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Storms of Tarkir
We're in the midst of another Standard set spoiler season, and this time we're going back to the plane of Tarkir! Tarkir: Dragonstorm is on its way and Tarkir is definitely a plane that has previously caused a bit of upheaval in formats, especially eternal formats. The original Khans block had a bunch of cards that are now just straight restricted in Vintage, such as Treasure Cruise, Dig Through Time, and Monastery Mentor.
Does Tarkir: Dragonstorm live up to that legacy? Let's find out what cards might see play. This is a Part one of two so if I miss a card here just feel free to let me know and I'll get it into next week's article.
Clarion Conqueror
Mono White Initiative certainly isn't going anywhere and holy cow this is a solid and interesting card. The stats on this thing are already very good, being a 3/3 flier for 2W, but the fact that it's a Null Rod and Cursed Totem at the same time, but it also shuts off Planeswalkers. This is very good, and I expect people to definitely try this out. It's worth noting that the effect here also shuts down all of Psychic Frog's activated abilities, which is great. It's worth noting that this is functionally a Null Rod that you can use with Cavern of Souls.
Voice of Victory
There's a number of comparisons for this card, the closest actually being Defense Grid since it basically tends to do a very similar job. Another firm comparison is Grand Abolisher, but the 1W for this vs WW there makes this a little more splashable. Is this good? I'm not sure. I don't think this is firmly an Initiative card, because this effect really wants to be backed up by some form of combo that is protected by it. The fact that it does get to attack for three a turn is reasonable enough. This might be more of a cEDH card though.
Taigam, Master Opportunist
This is a neat little card. You can cast this guy and then cast Ancestral Recall and get it copied, and then get Ancestral later on off suspend. Kind of neat. This also works with ANY SECOND SPELL, so not just Instants or Sorceries. You could theoretically cast this and then cast Orcish Bowmasters and get a second Bowmasters some turns later.
Stormscale Scion
I doubt this ever sees play, but having a Storm spell in Standard again? Neat.
Tersa Lightshatter
Red Prison variants do have a bit of a minute presence in Vintage, and they've previously done well in Eternal Weekend events. This is some square stats at a 3/3 for three with haste even, but also has some card selection stapled to it. The other effect is interesting because I think between this and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker you can definitely hit that threshold.
Heritage Reclamation
While Force of Vigor is certainly the best artifact/enchantment destroying card in Vintage, sometimes having a targeted destruction spell that's flexible can be interesting. At the bare minimum this is better than something like Wilt, since you can always tag a card in the graveyard to draw a card.
Auroral Procession
Regrowth doesn't see a ton of play, but Regrowth at instant speed that's also blue? Who knows?!
Rakshasa's Bargain
This is cool, and it's close to Stock Up, and might be reasonable in some BUG shells where it can be cast flexibly. However, I do think Stock Up's ability to see one more card and is better on the mana.
Mistrise Village
Oh heck, this card is something. I don't know if this sees play or not, but if I had to guess someplace like Oath of Druids would be interesting. There's certainly ways to make it ETB untapped, but the fact that it turns any spell uncounterable is pretty potent. This is 100% a dark horse because I don't think anyone knows what it will do, but I have to imagine someone will try it.
Teval, Arbiter of Virtue
When I read through Maro's spoilers and I saw "Spells you control have delve." I definitely was worried. It seems like they did everything in their power to make this not playable.
Vintage Challenge 32 3/20/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 43 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 here, boasting a 54.7% win rate to boot. Beseech Storm looked great here, fueled by Stock Up. Jewel and Initiative also looked good, while Dredge and Countervine seemed to suffer.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Raker Shops | 1st | Erik157751 |
| Lurrus PO | 2nd | unluckymonkey |
| Esper Lurrus | 3rd | ziofrancone |
| Raker Shops | 4th | Nammersquats |
| Oops! All Spells | 5th | medvedev |
| Beseech Storm | 6th | musasabi |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | wongdeck |
| Initiative | 8th | Andy_Over |
This actually seems a pretty diverse Top 8, with a fair amount of representation amongst the various current pillars of the format. At the end of the event it was Raker Shops that won.
This deck is continually pushing on the format, and it's very good. I think the biggest thing about this deck that it really leverages is The One Ring. That card, combined with all the keys in the deck really allow it to go ham on all the card draw and power out its game plan.
In Second Place we had Lurrus PO.
Not gonna lie I love the fact that just because Snapcaster and Otter are Wizards you get to just freely play Flame of Anor. That's so incredible.
Vintage Challenge 32 3/21/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 35 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 again very popular, but its win rate this go-around was not as good despite at least one Top 8 finish. Esper Lurrus seemed to take that top spot of best win rate, while Lurrus PO and Oath also looked good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Lurrus | 1st | EVhuner |
| Lurrus PO | 2nd | Bezerra_da_Silva |
| Jewel Shops | 3rd | _Chamytinho_ |
| Esper Lurrus | 4th | 416FrowningTable |
| Dredge | 5th | Munchlax446 |
| Lurrus PO | 6th | unluckymonkey |
| Raker Shops | 7th | Koby |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | _Shatun_ |
Lot of Lurrus here, combined with Shops. At the end of the event, Esper Lurrus won.
Main deck Seal of Cleansing is super adorable. I do enjoy often when these decks have very natural responses to popular decks like Raker Shops. You can obviously recur the Seal over and over each turn with Lurrus' ability. In the sideboard, they've even gone deeper and are playing Serenity which is wild (hilariously you can just recur this with Lurrus as well).
In Second Place we had Lurrus PO.
Very much the same deck that finished in Second Place. What's the saying? Always a bridesmaid? I jest. This deck is interesting for sure. Forth Eorlingas! as a win condition always gets me interested.
Vintage Challenge 32 3/22/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 51 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 popular deck here, and it's win rate looked great. Raker Shops had one Top 8 appearance, but it's overall win rate was dragged down hard. Dredge looked exceedingly well as did Jewel.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dredge | 1st | Munchlax446 |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | _Batutinha_ |
| Lurrus Breach | 3rd | discoverN |
| Lurrus PO | 4th | holkkarit |
| Raker Shops | 5th | mRichi |
| Lurrus Breach | 6th | Kenzaburo |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | _Chamytinho_ |
| Beseech Storm | 8th | Beekeeper |
4x Lurrus decks overall, alongside some Shops, Combo, and Dredge as the winner of the event.
Very straightforward list, honestly. The big aspect of this is just getting to play four each of the Forces/Mindbreak Trap. I know it seems weird but Bazaar really changes the math of sources for Force of Will because of how quickly you churn through your deck with it. One REALLY interesting aspect of this variant is that instead of just playing four Hollow One main, the pilot opted to split two/two for main and sideboard. Very intriguing.
In Second Place we had Esper Lurrus.
Again we see the same sort of game plans that this deck is taking against the presence of Raker Shops. Tabernacle too seems quite good versus that deck if you can cut off their mana sources it's basically impossible for Raker to be able to pay for it with just Mishra's Workshop
Vintage Challenge 32 3/23/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 39 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 again but it's win rate was definitely dragged down, as was Dredge's. Lurrus Breach and Esper Lurrus both looked great, as did Jewel Shops.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Breach | 1st | discoverN |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | Add1ct3d |
| Sphere Shops | 3rd | LORiWWA |
| Lurrus Breach | 4th | desolutionist |
| Esper Lurrus | 5th | mashirorc |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | Cachorrowo |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | Hampuse1 |
| Oath | 8th | Wesal |
Mostly Shops and Lurrus here. At the end of the event it was Lurrus Breach that won.
I do think that no matter what happens, even if Wizards does decide to manage Lurrus in a fashion like banning it, that Stock Up will just continue to be a very very good card in Vintage. It's extremely powerful. I don't think we're in a place where it's going to be restricted yet, but it is very solid.
In Second Place we had Esper Lurrus.
The most interesting thing about this variant is how absolutely gone Lavinia, Azorius Renegade is, and honestly it makes sense. One of the more popular decks right now is Raker Shops, which wants to get some creatures on board and then it doesn't really care if Lavinia is countering its Moxen, it's getting to generate creatures and mana for Fleshraker to do its thing. Lavinia is definitely a hard sell at the moment, but could swing back around in at any given time (she's fancy like that).
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari always has some good things for us:
- FiretruckModo is playing some Dredge. Check it out here.
- DB3MTG has a video on BUG. Check it out here.
- Three For One Trading has an article on the history of Doomsday. Check it out here.
- Kindamtg has a video on Bazaar Shops. Check it out here.
- TonyScapone is perfecting the Storm. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Fleshraker has adopted Blue Cards, we're all dead!
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!
