Today marks the full release of Magic: The Gathering’s latest expansion, Aetherdrift. Now, we should start getting a full idea of how impactful the new cards will be on each MTG format. That said, we have already had a premonition of this via digital platforms like MTG Arena and MTGO. New God Ketramose is cropping up all over the place, for example, from Standard to Modern. Even more impressively, the new draw spell Stock Up has made an appearance in the harshest MTG format: Vintage.
This was one of the last cards revealed during preview season. As a result, most paid it little mind as they focused on building around spicy rares instead. As is often the case, Stock Up is now wildly exceeding expectations out in the real world. Just yesterday, a full playset of the card showed up in one of the top decks in Vintage. This is an honor few cards in Magic history can ever claim.
Stock Up In MTG Vintage?!
- Mana Value: 2U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Sorcery
- Card Text: Look at the top five cards of your library. Put two of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
Stock Up is seeing play in MTG Vintage In Paradoxical Outcome, one of the most popular decks in the format. IamActuallyLvL1 piloted a new list running a full playset of the card to a 5-0 finish in an MTGO Vintage League just yesterday. This is a pretty stellar debut for a new card, especially an uncommon.
For the uninitiated, Paradoxical Outcome is a combo deck revolving around the titular instant. With all of the cheap mana rocks in Vintage, it becomes a terrifying instant-speed draw spell that you can easily power out early. Bouncing your Moxen isn’t an issue, since you can just replay them right after.
With this huge draw power, the deck aims to assemble the Time Vault/Manifold Key combo and take infinite turns. It then establishes an unassailable position via countermagic and wins a slow victory via Snapcaster Mage. Other versions of the deck run a Tinker/Blightsteel Colossus package instead, but IamActuallyLvL1 didn’t go in for that.
Stock Up supports this strategy by offering a huge amount of extra consistency. Paradoxical Outcome is, ultimately, a combo deck. It needs to assemble its key pieces in order to win, hence the inclusion of Outcome itself. Stock Up digs you five cards deep, which is often enough to find either one of your pieces or an Outcome to dig deeper still. It also lets you ditch cards you don’t want to the bottom, which can be crucial. With all of the fast mana in the deck, it’s easy to cast Stock Up early and draw into more gas. Simple as that, really.
Stocking Up For Standard
Of course, if a Magic: The Gathering card is good enough for Vintage, it’s probably good enough for other formats too. So far Stock Up hasn’t seen a huge amount of play elsewhere in MTG, but there are signs that it may be good in Standard.
Some Control decks, specifically Azorius and Dimir, have been taking the card for a spin in the last few days. As a deckbuilding move, this makes total sense. Control decks live and die on their ability to stay ahead of their opponents card advantage-wise. Card draw spells like this tend to be perfect fits as a result. Stock Up also has the benefit of offering great card selection. Control decks need the right answers at the right time to survive, and this can get you them.
That said numbers are low so far, and we haven’t seen any real Standard results like the Vintage ones above. There are a couple of key factors likely playing into this. First of all, Control simply isn’t very good in Standard right now. Gruul Aggro and Dimir Midrange rule the roost, with the best Control options languishing in the lower tiers. This immediately reduces the card’s scope for impact.
Second, Stock Up is sorcery speed. Control decks tend to prefer their draw pieces at instant speed since they can then hold them up alongside countermagic and disruption. Playing Stock Up proactively gives your opponent free rein to develop on the following turn, which can be a death sentence in such a fast format.
In Standard specifically, I think Stock Up may need a meta shift before it can really shine. If Control decks manage to claw back some of the format, or a new blue Combo deck rises to prominence, then the card will almost certainly see play.
Part Of The Pantheon?
Standard aside, Stock Up actually feels like a bit of a milestone in MTG card draw for blue. There are countless examples of this kind of card to reference, and players have been comparing Stock Up favorably to some serious heavy hitters.
In the card’s main discussion thread on r/Magic TCG, Brooksey31310 called it “the best Divination I’ve ever seen.” Not exactly the highest bar, but it does put things into perspective a bit. Divination used to be a go-to draw spell for new Magic: The Gathering sets, after all.
Further down the thread, more powerful comparisons started creeping in. A lengthy debate on whether the card was better than Brainsurge was a highlight. This is another ‘draw two with extra spice’ card, from the notorious Modern Horizons 3. While most opted for Brainsurge as the better three mana draw spell due to its instant speed, the fact that Stock Up is even in the conversation is impressive. Brainsurge sees play in Modern, Legacy, and Vintage, and from many angles, Stock Up is actually a better card.
Some even compared the card to some absolute card draw legends. Imaginary-Escape-299 added, “I’m not saying this is the second coming of Fact or Fiction buuuuuut…” Klaykl called it a “Dig Through Time at home,” too. These are some of the best draw spells Magic has ever seen, and Stock Up is holding its own in conversations alongside them.
Ultimately, time will tell if the current hype is justified. Strong Vintage results right out of the gate are encouraging, but we’ll have to give things a chance to settle to know for sure. In any case, Stock Up is a remarkable card for an uncommon and a perfect case study in power creep.