Vintage 101: The Top 5 Vintage Cards of 2025
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 the Top 5 Vintage cards of 2025! In addition to that we have Challenges from last week to take a look at. This is our last Vintage article of 2025! Insane to think about.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Top 5 Vintage Cards of 2025
2025 was a very interesting year for Magic, filled with a lot of Standard sets primarily as there seemed to be a lot less direct to eternal sets like Horizons sets from last year. This year we had more impact from those same Standard sets than most sets have had in a long time. Those specific sets were Aetherdrift, Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Final Fantasy, Edge of Eternities, Marvel's Spider-Man (Through the Omenpaths), and Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I did however, have a hard time finding more than five cards that really hit Vintage pretty hard this year, which is why this is a Top 5 as opposed to a Top 10. I could certainly make up a Top 10, but it really wouldn't hit as good as the cards that really changed Vintage this year.
So, without further ado let's talk about the Top 5 Vintage cards of 2025.
#5 - Wan Shi Tong, Librarian
This is a relatively recent addition to the format, but already it has had an impact on the format, primarily in the Dimir/Esper Lurrus decks. While its true that you can't cast this thing for anything X>0 when you cast it from the graveyard with Lurrus, but this thing at the right moment in a match can certainly swing the game. There are also a lot of search effects from fetchlands to tutor effects, so you can definitely capitalize on this card's secondary trigger.
Plus, giant bird.
#4 - Mai, Scornful Striker
Another recent addition to the format, but a very impactful one nonetheless. We've had this effect before on cards in the past, like Kambal, Consul of Allocation, but this is the first time we've seen it on a permanent that's so cost-effective and splashable. Being 1B is huge, not just because of the implications of being able to play this card in Lurrus decks, but also just how easy it is to make the black mana for it in a format like Vintage. This is beyond easy to cast, and it's also helped influence other strategies as well. I've seen not just Lurrus decks, but Mono Black and Rakdos Scam decks using this card as well.
There are a lot of decks that play a lot of noncreature spells in Vintage, and this kind of effect is strong, so it's no surprise to see Mai making waves.
#3 - Clarion Conqueror
As far as creatures go, this is by far the most single impactful creature Vintage has had in a while. A long time ago with Modern Horizons we got Collector Ouphe as a Null Rod type effect, but now we have a Null Rod/Cursed Totem that flies and is a 3/3 for three. The stats on rate already for this guy are really good, and it absolutely bolstered the power level of the Initiative deck by quite a bit, while also seeing play in a number of other shells.
#2 - Tezzeret, Cruel Captain
Tezzeret is impactful primarily because its yet another three mana value permanent that incentivises playing other decks that aren't Lurrus based, but also helped breathe life into a deck that initially was kind of a curiosity prior to its existence in Raker Shops. Raker grew more in popularity over time, but Tezzeret really pushed the deck into a much more powerful territory, giving it a Planeswalker that's not only hard to remove, but also doubles as untap effects for Time Vault and all the mana rocks plus The One Ring, but also a tutor effect for anything you really absolutely needed at mana value 1 or less.
Tezzeret is absolutely one of those cards that also screams potential to be more broken in the future as well, as they keep printing cards to tutor with it and better things to untap.
#1 - Stock Up
Y'all knew this one was coming, right? I don't think there was a single card this year that redefined Vintage in the way Stock Up did. This card is beyond everything else on this list because of how it influenced literally every major blue archetype in the format. Lurrus decks, Non Lurrus decks, literally if you played something with blue, this has become an instant staple card in those decks, and it's not hard to see why. The rate of this card is astronomical when it comes to a format like Vintage. It's easy to cast with Vintage's wide array of mana rocks, and getting to see five cards and get 2/5 of them even at Sorcery speed is absolutely absurd.
It is even more impressive to me that when it comes to sets overall this year, a lot of folks absolutely loathed Aetherdrift, but yet it landed us with one of the best card selection tools to come to the format in a very long time. And honestly, the card has been more than fine, and not just more than fine... it feels like the card was always meant to be here and that it should have always existed.
I don't know what it would take to dethrone this card, but absolutely continue to expect that Stock Up is a card we will see in Vintage for a very, very long time.
Vintage Challenge 32 12/18/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 41 players in it thanks to the MTGO Vintage Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Raker Shops was the most played deck of the event, but its overall win rate wasn't great (lower than 40%). Jewel Shops and Esper Lurrus both looked solid here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jewel Shops | 1st | wongdeck |
| Oath | 2nd | Esocuro |
| Lurrus Breach | 3rd | DethFrmAbove |
| Esper Lurrus | 4th | lordoflifegain |
| Jewel Shops | 5th | Ignotus97 |
| Sphere Shops | 6th | Scooby_Snacks |
| Dimir Lurrus | 7th | O_danielakos |
| Lurrus Breach | 8th | DrPP |
Good amount of Shops, but also some Oath and Lurrus. At the end of the event, it was Jewel Shops that won.
Pretty straightforward-looking list here. Tezzeret looks quite good here, but I don't think you need a full four of it with all the other stuff like PO and Jewel (you just naturally draw a ton of cards with this deck to see things).
In Second Place, we had Oath.
This is also fairly straightforward, and honestly, this looks like a list I would play. It's very powerful and fun.
Vintage Challenge 32 12/19/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 40 players in it thanks to the MTGO Vintage Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck, but its overall win rate was pretty bad. Lurrus Doomsday looked very solid here, boasting the highest win rate (by putting 2/3 of its pilots into the Top 8) across the board here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Doomsday | 1st | IamActuallyLvl1 |
| Dredge | 2nd | blackdecks99 |
| Lurrus Doomsday | 3rd | Univerce |
| Oath | 4th | Esocuro |
| Sphere Shops | 5th | _Shatun_ |
| Doomsday | 6th | ecobaronen |
| Raker Shops | 7th | HoldTheElle |
| Eldrazi | 8th | juan89888 |
This is a pretty reasonable Top 8, but quite a bit of Doomsday. At the end of the event, it was our good friend Justin Gennari on Lurrus Doomsday.
This is a pretty cool list. Just having Psychic Frog as a powerful tempo-esque card is strong. I also really like the playset of Unable to Scream in the sideboard. The card seems quite good.
In Second Place, we had Dredge.
This is super clean, honestly. The only cards here that aren't four-ofs are Restricted cards in the main deck.
Vintage Challenge 32 12/20/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 54 players in it thanks to the MTGO Vintage Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Lurrus was the most played deck, and its overall win rate was just above 50%. Esper Lurrus also looked great, while Initiative tanked hard despite putting one copy in the Top 8.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Dimir Lurrus | 1st | Montolio |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | lordoflifegain |
| Lurrus DRS | 3rd | Billbuscus |
| Doomsday | 4th | Jujkata |
| Esper Lurrus | 5th | GodOfSlaughter |
| Raker Shops | 6th | adm29 |
| Initiative | 7th | Shuichi_Saito |
| Dredge | 8th | Wizard_2002 |
Fair bit of Lurrus here, sprinkled in with Doomsday and Raker among other things. At the end of the event, it was Dimir Lurrus that won.
Montolio is not only an awesome player but an awesome person, so congrats to him on this win. Very cool stuff.
In Second Place, we had Esper Lurrus.
White does give you some tools that you don't quite have in other builds, primarily Swords to Plowshares, but also some cool sideboard stuff. Prismatic Ending is a pretty sweet inclusion there.
Vintage Challenge 32 12/21/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 42 players in it thanks to the MTGO Vintage Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck by a lot, but its win rate was less than 50%. Dimir Lurrus, PO, and Jewel all did very well here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Breach | 1st | discoverN |
| Merfolk | 2nd | SingPanMan |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | O_danielakos |
| PO | 4th | mei0024 |
| Dimir Lurrus | 5th | albertoSD |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | Ignotus97 |
| Esper Lurrus | 7th | John1111 |
| Lurrus Breach | 8th | MultiformatSuperstar |
Fairly reasonable spread of decks. At the end of the event, it was Lurrus Breach that won.
Lot going on here, but this is a nice-looking list overall. I do love Thundertrap Trainer quite a bit. There's also some Shenanigans going on in the sideboard.
In Second Place, we had Merfolk.
Pretty sweet list. I think Merfolk is one of those creature types that just continually keeps getting more and more impactful cards. We are going back to Lorwyn pretty imminently here, so the possibility of more Merfolk is there.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari has stuff for us this week!
- Kindamtg has some AggroVine with Mai. Check it out here.
- Revenantkioku has a Mono Blue PO league. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Azorius Lurrus!
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!
