Vintage 101: Birding in Vintage
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of Vintage 101! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we are back from our week break to talk about Nadu, Modern Horizons 3, and so much more!
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
There's a Bird in my Vintage!
Modern Horizons 3 is here now, and while much of the Vintage player base is combing over the card Vexing Bauble over and over and over and over to see just how good the card is, we're starting to also see some more interesting developments right out of the bat with cards that weren't named Vexing Bauble.
Oh right. THIS GUY. This card has been pretty contentious in every format it exists in sofar, shaking up Modern, even pushing hard in Legacy, and destroying in cEDH circles. But in Vintage? It's more likely than you think. The power level of this card is certainly there, and the cards to support it that also exist in Legacy are also there, between Saga and Shuko and Nomads en-Kor. There's a number of different ways to approach this card, such as a straight Bant list.
The thing I don't like about this list is actually no Saga to abuse Shuko interactions with (and no Shuko anyways), but it's a clever way to approach it. We're also seeing variants of Tinker decks with the card (as we will see later on in this article, one of those did very well this weekend).
New card Springheart Nantuko also shows up here, and looks quite legitimate as a way to generate more creatures to tag with Shuko to keep triggering the ability granted by Nadu (TWICE PER CREATURE).
I can't say that this isn't a honeymoon period though, because it absolutely is, but it does look like Nadu is the real deal in every format he touches, and that does include Vintage. The card is exceedingly powerful, and it's kind of nice to have a three mana value permanent that will give pause to whether to play Lurrus or not.
Vintage Challenge 32 6/13
The first Challenge of the week was the 6/13 event, and the first event with Modern Horizons 3 legal. This event had 48 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.
Jewel Shops was the most popular deck of the event, followed not so closely by Lurrus Saga. Jewel had a good event here, while Lurrus seemed to suffer. BUG also did very well.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| BUG | 1st | keiesu |
| Dredge | 2nd | _J0SE_ |
| Yorion BUG | 3rd | JustABee5 |
| Doomsday | 4th | Jujkata |
| Jewel Shops | 5th | Killah_SUV |
| Sphere Shops | 6th | ARCII |
| Breach | 7th | Eonwe7 |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | Mogged |
Wildly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was BUG that won.
New Goyf variant Barrowgoyf seeing play here, which is really very interesting. It's interesting also seeing the Vexing Bauble in the sideboard as well. I'm still rather on the fence on the card so it will be curious to follow it along.
In Second Place we had Dredge.
Everyone is trying new cards? Dredge em out. Seems like a solid plan.
I don't normally look at the same archetype in the same Top 8 unless it's in the finals, but this one is special. Yorion BUG?!
Yorion is a very unknown quantity in Vintage because it generally doesn't see much play, and making Top 8 at the same time? This is really neat. New cards abound here with Psychic Frog and Wight of the Reliquary.
Vintage Challenge 32 6/14
The second Challenge event of the week 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 all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dredge was super popular just above Lurrus Saga, and while Dredge didn't do so hot despite a Top 8 finish, Lurrus rode the middle of the line. Doomsday and Jewel both performed well here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Jewel Shops | 1st | _J0SE_ |
| Nadu Tinker | 2nd | karatedom |
| Lurrus Saga | 3rd | unluckymonkey |
| Lurrus Saga | 4th | Mogged |
| Doomsday | 5th | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | Jumba |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | EnihcamAmgine |
| Dredge | 8th | Lord_Beerus |
Lot of Jewel here. It won the event.
Not much newness here outside of the expected gameplay of copies of Vexing Bauble as people attempt to really figure out that card.
In Second Place we had... Nadu Tinker?
This list is super cool. Being able to combo off with Nadu or hit Citadel is super duper sweet. This looks like something I would play.
Also in this Top 8 we had Azorius Lurrus Saga with a bunch of new cards.
Tamiyo, Vexing Bauble, and even Brainsurge?! This is pretty neat to see. Curious to see how this shell pays off in the end and whether Tamiyo is good enough for the format.
Vintage Challenge 32 6/15
The third Challenge was the Saturday event. This event had 44 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.
Jewel Shops and Dredge both looked very popular, but Jewel's win rate was much better. Initiative also did exceedingly well as did Doomsday.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative | 1st | Munchlax446 |
| Jewel Shops | 2nd | kasa |
| BUG | 3rd | lordoflifegain |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | Amiracle |
| Doomsday | 5th | CrazyDiamond513 |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | MarcusMPV |
| Doomsday | 7th | discoverN |
| Golos Shops | 8th | Cuikui |
Fair amount of Jewel in this Top 8, but at the end of the event it was Initiative that won.
Not a huge surprise seeing Witch Enchanter here. That card seems tailor-made for this deck. Not sure how I feel about Vexing Bauble in this deck though. It feels very opposed to how fast the deck wants to get on the board with its threats and the kinds of Turn 1s it wants to have.
In Second Place we had Jewel Shops.
Another new MH3 card here in the form of Sink into Stupor. Having a land and a bounce spell at the same time seems really strong, plus it pitches to Force.
At the bottom of the Top 8 we had Golos Shops.
A straight swap of Spheres for Vexing Bauble is interesting enough. I'm not sure I like it. Disruptor Flute on the other hand, is a really sweet card and one I expect to see leveraged more in the future in these Shops based decks.
Vintage Challenge 32 6/16
The final Challenge event of the weekend was the Sunday event. This event had 44 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.
Jewel Shops was super popular and it's win rate was very reasonable. Lurrus Saga also looked great, as did Doomsday. Dredge didn't fare too well here, neither did BUG.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Saga | 1st | musasabi |
| Doomsday | 2nd | discoverN |
| Jewel Shops | 3rd | zzh |
| Initiative | 4th | choutin |
| Sphere Shops | 5th | shir kahn |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | EiJunCHN |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | ElfKid |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | Sommertroll |
Lot of Jewel yet again, but at the end of the event it was Lurrus Saga that won.
Psychic Frog seems like a sweet card tailor made for these lists, but also a copy of Nethergoyf is really sweet here. I like this one a lot.
In Second Place we had Doomsday.
Very straightforward discoverN list right here. They certainly know their way around a Doomsday.
Also in this Top 8 we had Initiative.
Again I feel rather conflicted about Vexing Bauble in these shells, especially with a copy of Thalia in the mix. The chances of having both in play are a lot lower than normal, but I still don't like it.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari has some sweet MH3 videos for us.
The Spice Corner
Now that Leagues are throughout the week, let's find some spice!
FASTBOND SIGHTING.
Absorbenthree doing Absorbenthree things.
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!
