Joe Dyer hosts Vintage 101: The Ten Rings?! this week, and he is wondering whether a meme card can actually be a real target for a combo deck. The question is simple: is The Ten Rings good enough to bring the Tinker package back into Oath of Druids?
Dyer opens by noting that meme cards are usually just jokes. But when a card can be fetched with Tinker, the joke stops being funny. The Ten Rings draws up to ten cards on the turn you cast it, which is an immediate impact. That is the pitch.
The catch is the Orcish Bowmasters problem. Dyer points out that drawing extra cards can be dangerous if you lack a way to handle them. He also asks whether The Ten Rings is better than Bolas’s Citadel, the usual Tinker target for Oath. His answer is cautious: there is one deck where he thinks the card might work better than Citadel, and that deck is Oath itself.
Oath is a weird fit for Tinker. Casting Atraxa costs seven life off Citadel, which hurts. Many cards on the top of Citadel are not things you want to cast. The package often works best for sideboard tricks like Portal to Phyrexia or Sphinx of the Steel Wind. But The Ten Rings keeps cards flowing, matches your opponent’s pace, and still leaves room for those fun sideboard cards.
Dyer admits he is curious. He wants to try a build with The Ten Rings and see if it pushes Tinker back into Oath decks. He is not sure it will work, but he is open to finding out.
MTGO Recap Numbers
Justin Gennari provided the data for this week’s recap. There were 188 decklist entries across the events. Initiative and Dimir Lurrus tied for the top spot with 23 copies each.
Initiative had a poor go of it, with a 47.4% non-mirror win rate. Dimir Lurrus did much better, at 61.3%. Dyer thinks Initiative is just getting punched back down, cycling through the metagame as usual. Dimir doing well is the same thing, just regular metagame churn.
Oath took third place at 21 copies. It did well with a 53% non-mirror win rate. Dyer calls it a sweet Vintage deck and one of his favorites. Raker Shops came fourth at 16 copies, with a 49.4% win rate. That is not terrible, but it is not great either. Dyer sees it as cycling along the metagame like normal.
Lurrus Vault Key and Lurrus PO tied for fifth and sixth at 14 copies each. Lurrus PO had a strong 61.4% win rate, while Vault Key managed 57.2%. Both decks seem well positioned.
Dyer’s verdict is that Vintage looks good this week. The format is returning to a cyclical pattern, and he likes that. He asks readers in the comments whether they are having fun with the format.
Challenge Events Breakdown
The first Challenge event covered was the 9/3 event, with 48 players thanks to the MTGO Vintage Discord. Initiative was the most played deck, and Oath did super well alongside “Other Lurrus” decks. Oath won the event.
Dyer is not usually a fan of Tinker in Oath lists. He says the deck often is not the best Tinker deck due to high mana costs. The Top 8 included Initiative, Raker Shops, and Azorius splash black Lurrus.
The Raker Shops list went light on creatures, running four Manifold Key and main-deck Pithing Needle. Bilbo was the only creature outside Lurrus main, providing value from Flow State and Stock Up alongside removal.
The second Challenge event was the 9/6 event, with 59 players. Lurrus PO led the field, followed by Dimir Lurrus. Lurrus PO won the event.
Dyer describes the list as standard with a split of Flow State and Stock Up. Second place went to Dredge, with Cabal Therapy appearing again. Initiative rounded out the Top 8.
What The Ten Rings Changes
The Ten Rings is a different kind of Tinker target. Most targets have an immediate effect, like a creature or a spell that resolves. The Ten Rings draws cards instead. That is the whole thing.
Dyer’s concern is the Orcish Bowmasters issue. Drawing extra cards is fine when you control what comes next. It is less fine when your opponent controls what you draw. That is the trade-off with The Ten Rings: you get card advantage, but you take on risk.
The comparison to Bolas’s Citadel is instructive. Citadel casts Atraxa for seven life, which is a real cost. It also puts expensive spells on top, which Oath struggles with. The Ten Rings avoids both problems.
Dyer’s tentative conclusion is that The Ten Rings might be the better option in Oath. He is not committing to it, but he is interested. He wants to test it.
The Bottom Line On Vintage
The format is stable. Initiative is down, Dimir is up, and Oath is holding its own. The data shows a healthy spread of decks, with no clear dominant force.
The Ten Rings is the wild card. It is a meme card that can be fetched with Tinker. That makes it a real question. Dyer is right to be curious. Testing it is the only way to know.
The key facts from this week’s report:
- 188 decklist entries for the week
- 23 copies each of Initiative and Dimir Lurrus, tied for top spot
- 21 copies of Oath, third place
- 16 copies of Raker Shops, fourth place
- 14 copies each of Lurrus Vault Key and Lurrus PO, fifth and sixth
- 48 players at the 9/3 Challenge event
- 59 players at the 9/6 Challenge event
- 61.3% non-mirror win rate for Dimir Lurrus
- 53% non-mirror win rate for Oath
- 47.4% non-mirror win rate for Initiative
The format is healthy. The decks are competitive. The Ten Rings is a question mark. Dyer is asking it, and he is willing to find out.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.