Tarkir: Dragonstorm has been gracing our collective tabletops for nearly two weeks now. In that short time, it’s made one hell of an impression. Big hits in multiple formats, from Cori-Steel Cutter to Ugin, Eye of the Storms, have secured the set high-value status within the Magic: The Gathering community. Things don’t appear to be slowing down, either. This week, Clarion Conqueror has put a serious shift in in the toughest MTG format: Vintage.
It’s rare that Vintage players get any new toys to play with, so this is big news. Many players expected Conqueror to be a great Commander card, and it is, but the fact that it’s doing so well in older formats to boot is surprising. Factor in a healthy sprinkling of Modern play, and Conqueror could be the next big thing from a set already packed with them.
Clarion Conqueror In MTG Vintage
Over in Vintage, Clarion Conqueror is seeing play in a relatively new MTG archetype: Mono-White Initiative. The list above, from Carneage, secured a 5-0 finish in yesterday’s MTGO Vintage League. The deck runs the full four copies of Conqueror, and plenty of other lists are doing the same.
For those unaware, Mono-White Initiative is a Death and Taxes variant built around using the Initiative mechanic to generate advantage. You grab the Initiative early, secure the game with a Stax piece, then ride the value train to victory. The deck was also very popular in Legacy for a time, until the White Plume Adventurer ban in 2023 took the wind out of its sails.
Clarion Conqueror is a great Stax piece for the controlling side of this archetype. In fact, it may be one of the best Stax pieces in the context of Vintage. When everyone is relying on fast mana from Moxen, Sol Ring, etc., having one card that shuts all of that off is a huge deal. If you’re on the play and power out Conqueror turn one, there’s a very real chance your opponent’s opener will be totally bricked.
On top of that, Conqueror is an evasive body on the board. This makes it easy to grind out a win once you’ve locked things down, even if your opponent sticks a ground creature. Archon of Emeria is a staple in the deck for similar reasons.
Put it all together, and it’s not surprising that Clarion Conqueror is seeing play in the deck. It’s not just a one or two-of splash, either: most players are running Conqueror as a full playset. This is impressive for a new card in any format, but doubly so in Vintage.
Modern Mastery
Vintage isn’t the only MTG format where Clarion Conqueror is currently taking names. It’s also seeing a good chunk of Modern play, in the most popular and powerful deck in the format, no less.
Boros Energy was quick to resume its position at the top of Modern after the latest bans, and it’s currently the most-played deck in the format by a significant margin. In order to maintain its dominant position, the deck naturally has to evolve. In the majority of 5-0 lists in recent Leagues, players have been running two Clarion Conqueror out of the sideboard.
Unlike Vintage, where Conqueror is guaranteed to have a huge impact in every matchup, Modern isn’t quite as stacked with powerful activated abilities. Before the banning of The One Ring, this would’ve been a different story, but nowadays, the lockdown effect is more niche. This means Conqueror is more of a situational silver bullet here, rather than a catch-all answer. Against decks like Affinity, Belcher, and Yawgmoth, the card is fantastic. In the latter two cases, the card just straight-up shuts down their win conditions.
Conqueror certainly looked like a powerful sideboard piece during preview season, and it’s proving to be an effective one now. While Boros Energy is its most common home in Modern so far, due to being a well-statted threat that also supports the deck’s aggressive gameplan, it’s seeing use in Living End sideboards too. There’s no particular synergy there, the card is just a great answer to a lot of problems in the format. Unlike Stony Silence and other similar Stax pieces, Conqueror is also a creature that can very easily win you the game. I’d expect to see more decks, Affinity, Domain Zoo, etc., adopt the card before too long.
Command And Conquer
Not satisfied with putting in work in both Vintage and Modern, Clarion Conqueror is also making a name for itself in the MTG Commander format. At the time of writing, EDHRec notes that over 3,000 decks are currently running the card. That doesn’t put it on par with the most popular Commander cards in the set overall, but it’s still very impressive.
Looking at the data, this makes total sense. For starters, Conqueror is a powerful low-cost Dragon. Dragon Typal decks are very popular in the format, with The Ur-Dragon and Tiamat consistently ranking among the most-played Commanders. Most Dragons are prohibitively expensive mana-wise, so getting access to a cheap one that can actually impact the game is huge. Naturally, most of Conqueror’s play so far is in Dragon decks like these.
Additionally, Conqueror’s ability is just as good in Commander as it is in Vintage. While every game is different, chances are, most opponents you come up against will run a good number of mana rocks in their deck. Shutting these off with Conqueror can leave players stranded for turns at a time, letting you pull ahead with ease. There are also countless examples of powerful utility artifacts and planeswalkers it helps deal with, from Oko to Phyrexian Altar.
That cEDH-level Commanders like Winota and Ellivere are running Conqueror is a testament to how powerful that effect is in the format. Even with no additional Dragon synergy, it’s worth running just to turn off the table’s busted abilities.
With so much eternal play under its belt already, Clarion Conqueror looks like another cross-format all-star from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. If things continue at this rate, the set will surpass its huge initial success in no time.