Raker Shops took 35.6% of the field across three Challenges and climbed nine places to the top of the Power Index, rewriting the Vintage meta in a single week.
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Raker Shops did not nudge the Vintage meta this week — it restructured it. Across three Challenges and four Vintage Leagues, the archetype placed pilots in the Top 8 of every event, won two of the three Challenges outright, and swelled to 35.6% of the 146-deck combined field, up 23.4 points from its 12.2% share across the trailing 30 days. The 90-day Power Index responded in kind: Raker Shops climbed nine places to #1.
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Friday's Challenge (42 players) was the week's most complete Shops performance: Univerce won on Raker Shops, with five of the eight Top 8 spots going to the archetype. Sphere Shops took second (_Shikamaru_), Raker Shops placed third and fourth (karatedom and jake-upLVT), Countervine held fifth, Raker Shops took sixth and seventh (MonstrousRage and IamActuallyLvL1), and Jewel Shops rounded out 8th (Aced5).
Thursday's Challenge (44 players): zippzipp_ won on Raker Shops, Ark4n took second on the same archetype, Montolio placed third on UB Lurrus Control, _Chamytinho_ fourth on Sphere Shops, and Raker Shops filled three more slots at 5th, 6th, and 8th (LegacyGrinder, IHateJAJAJA, DethFrmAbove). Initiative placed 7th via lsznpa.
Saturday's Challenge (55 players): albertoSD won first place on Blue Control, with zippzipp_ on Raker Shops finishing second and the rest of the Top 8 split among Lurrus DRS, Jewel Shops, Beseech Storm, Esper Lurrus Control, and Doomsday.
Four pilots — MayhemDJ, crK, AFX, and discoverN — each went 5-0 in Vintage Leagues on Raker Shops, all sharing a 63-card core built around Ancient Tomb, Glaring Fleshraker, Grim Monolith, Mishra's Workshop, Sensei's Divining Top, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain, The Fantasticar
Oath pilots also shifted. PsiVen dropped four Stock Up, adding Consign to Memory, Demonic Tutor, Lotus Petal, Mana Crypt, Mindbreak Trap, and Underground Sea, with Null Rod moving into the sideboard in place of Veil of Summer. Wesal's Oath update added Mindbreak Trap (two copies), Brainstorm, Spell Pierce
blackdecks99 leads the 30-day player form table: four Top 8s across 12 events, capped by a third place finish in Saturday's Challenge. Ark4n matches that Top 8 count — four finishes in 10 events — and took second on Thursday. zippzipp_ has three Top 8s in 11 events, including two Challenge wins this week (Thursday first place, Saturday second place). Aced5 and IamActuallyLvL1 each hold two Top 8s in the 30-day window, Aced5 across five events and IamActuallyLvL1 across six.
Among the week's ranking climbers, TaJoordan made the sharpest move: up 590 places to #100 in the player points ranking. LegacyGrinder climbed 458 places to #103, capping a 5th place finish on Thursday.
The open question is whether the field's response — in sideboard construction and archetype selection — narrows that 35.6% share or leaves it intact. Watch Null Rod and Mindbreak Trap counts across the archetypes built to contest Raker Shops as the next data arrives.
Several pilots updated their Raker Shops lists between events. zippzipp_ and IamActuallyLvL1 made identical main-deck changes — in came City of Traitors, Engineered Explosives, Mental Misstep, and Mox Opal; out went two Defense Grid and two Talon Gates of Madara — shifting those cards into the sideboard while trimming one each of Argentum Masticore, Mycosynth Lattice, and Wurmcoil Engine. Ark4n moved Mindbreak Trap to the main deck (two copies in, two Defense Grid out) and reshuffled the sideboard toward Talon Gates of Madara and Portable Hole.
Beyond Raker Shops, the week's field compression is stark. Oath fell 7.3 points to 2.7% of the field, Sphere Shops dropped 4.5 points to 3.4%, and Tinker slipped 4.3 points to 3.4%. Dredge held 6.2% but gave up 3.7 points from its 30-day base and slipped 10 places to #17 on the 90-day Power Index (tier B). Lurrus DRS moved the other direction, gaining 3.3 points to reach 4.1% of the field. Countervine gained 1.6 points to 2.7%.
On the 90-day Power Index, the steepest falls belong to PO (down 13 places to #15, tier A) and Doomsday (down 11 places to #12, tier A). Lurrus Vault Key ran counter to the week's trend, climbing 12 places to #9 in tier A.