Spoiler Hightlight: Clarion Conqueror in Legacy and Vintage!

Greetings, Legacy and Vintage community! We're moving on with our Tarkir: Dragonstorm spoilers. Today, we have another card that should heavily impact these two ancient Magic: The Gathering formats: Clarion Conqueror!

Hatebears (creatures that lock down or disrupt certain game mechanics) usually see play in these formats, or at least are considered when we build decks for these formats. This time, however, we might have gotten the king of all Hatebears.

As I said above, many Hatebears see play in Legacy and Vintage.

Because of the color pie, most of them are white: Archon of Emeria, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Anointed Peacekeeper, Kataki, War’s Wage, Leonin Arbiter, Containment Priest, Drannith Magistrate, Ethersworn Canonist, Elite Spellbinder, Doorkeeper Thrull, Tomik, Distinguished Advokist, Hushbringer, Spirit of the Labyrinth, Boromir, Warden of the Tower, Phyrexian Censor, and Sanctum Prelate, to name a few.

If we look at other colors and artifacts, there's Magus of the Moon, Collector Ouphe, Gaddock Teeg, Lavinia, Azorius Renegade, Phyrexian Revoker, Soulless Jailer, Yixlid Jailer, Meddling Mage, Kudo, King Among Bears, and many others. This extensive list shows us that the meta usually forms around these creatures, and, usually, the broader their effect, the bigger their impact. In that sense, we can say Clarion Conqueror definitely hits a huge number of cards.

Cards like Null Rod and Cursed Totem have space because they stop many activated abilities that demand answers, but they only hit certain cards. Damping Matrix, which is more versatile, hits two types of permanents, but also states: "…unless they're mana abilities". Clarion Conqueror doesn't have this restriction. Once it is in play, activated abilities, either from artifacts, creatures, or even planeswalkers, can't be activated. It is quite simple, in fact: it is a hammer, and everything else really is a nail.

Many artifacts with activated abilities see play both in Legacy and in Vintage, which explains why cards like Null Rod, Collector Ouphe, and Stony Silence show up frequently.

Recently, a few creatures with activated abilities became relevant: Broadside Bombardiers, Nomads en-Kor, Goblin Welder, Stoneforge Mystic and the many mana dorks in the meta – Noble Hierarch, Ignoble Hierarch, Delighted Halfling, and Birds of Paradise. Finally, Clarion Conqueror also disables planeswalkers, so Tamiyo, Seasoned Scholar, Karn, the Great Creator, Teferi, Time Raveler, Narset, Parter of Veils, Ajani, Nacatl Avenger, Grist, the Hunger Tide, among many others, can't be activated if it is in play.

To sum up, Clarion Conqueror is one of the broadest tools we've ever had to close game angles because it affects many decks significantly. It will be a headache for both Forge Combo and Cephalid Breakfast, should lock Painter's main combo as well as main enabler (Goblin Welder), prevent Broadside Bombardiers from becoming a death machine, and, at the same time, make Chrome Mox and Treasure tokens in Red Stompy useless.

In Vintage, basically any deck that doesn't play Bazaar of Baghdad plays a good number of mana artifacts that will all be disabled by Clarion.

That being said, there is still a good number of decks both in Legacy (blue Tempo decks, Reanimator, and Sneak & Show) and Vintage (Dredge and Bazaar Aggro) that don't care about this effect or will just be slightly impacted by it. Their position in the meta could determine if Clarion Conqueror will become a main deck card in many archetypes, or if it will mostly show up in sideboards. In any case, even as a backup option, Conqueror is a great addition to these two formats and could save you some slots in your sideboard, considering it hits so many different archetypes.

Let's discuss Legacy first. Basically, any deck with white can use this new Dragon friend at least as a sideboard option. One particular archetype stood out to me considering the space and sacrifice we'll need to play Clarion Conqueror:

We've already seen a few Orzhov Flicker lists without Aether Vial, so this archetype won't be that impacted by Clarion Conqueror if you play it.

It also disables Relic of Progenitus, but, as this artifact is in the main deck and is more effective precisely against decks that aren't that vulnerable to Clarion Conqueror (Reanimator and Delver), it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Another deck I believe should be interested in Clarion Conqueror, and this time in the main deck, is Monowhite Initiative. This deck lost some space after White Plume Adventurer was banned, but it still shows up occasionally, and seems like the perfect home for Clarion.

We could already kind of see this card's potential in Legacy, and the decks it will see play in, but, in Vintage, it's another story altogether: Mono White Initiative is already one of the main decks in the format, and already uses Null Rod in the sideboard. It is only natural that Clarion Conqueror should find space in its main deck, where it will most likely steal many matches for you.

Though we'll mainly use it to disable artifacts, it also hits many creatures and planeswalkers in this format, like Psychic Frog, Oko, Thief of Crowns, Deathrite Shaman, and Karn, the Great Creator. To me, it is an auto-include in this list, though we might have to change the mana base a bit so you don't shoot yourself in the foot with it.

Clarion Conqueror seems made for older formats, considering how many cards it hits. Compared to other Hatebears, it is extremely effective.

I confess I was surprised when I saw it impacts mana abilities, as WotC usually avoids releasing these types of effects. This single fact makes it a lot more disruptive than other Hatebears.

What did you think of this card? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!