This Week in Legacy: Eternal Weekend Asia 2024
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of This Week in Legacy! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be diving hard into the results from our first of three Eternal Weekend events with Eternal Weekend Asia! In addition to that I've got two other paper Legacy events to cover AND Challenges to cover! Since there is so much to cover, we will only be covering the winning lists from the Challenges.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Eternal Weekend Asia 2024
The very first of this year's Eternal Weekend events for 2024 has come and gone. Eternal Weekend Asia 2024 was this past weekend, organized by BIG MAGIC and held in Shizuoka, Japan. This year's Legacy Championship event at this Eternal Weekend event had 614 players in it, which is incredible! This is such an amazing turnout for an event and I'm so thrilled to see it. As we are looking ahead to other events, the Pittsburgh event upcoming already has 593 registered for it, so these are going to be some big events this year, and it's so cool to see this happen.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
This data for this event was quite staggering, and I also threw in some additional pieces of data into this spreadsheet which I found to be interesting, namely most popular cards in the event overall. A very interesting aspect of this was to see what the most popular card from newer sets like Modern Horizons 3 and Duskmourn were, especially with the very recent printing of Metamorphosis Fanatic. In fact the most popular MH3 card was quite unexpected, but not wholly unsurprising. And no, it wasn't Psychic Frog (it was #2 in that capacity).
There were a whopping 921 copies of Consign to Memory in decks at this event. This card is so extremely flexible that it's just not super surprising to see how much it's seeing play. As we noted, Frog came in at number in this list in the capacity of just MH3 cards with 827 copies overall.
As far as win rates are concerned, I think everyone came into this event understanding that the deck to beat was UB Reanimator. This deck not only drew the most metagame share at a whopping 21.17% of the metagame, but it also had an incredibly strong non-mirror win rate of 56.23%. This deck is the deck everyone was gunning for all event, and not only did it have the highest share but it had one of the better win rates in the event. It will be interesting to see what happens at the other two Eternal Weekend Champs events with this (and I will likely do an aggregate of all three events once done) but holy cow this is an insane performance for this deck.
The next most played deck of the event at a staggering drop down to 8% was Eldrazi and even it had a strong 54.25% non-mirror win rate.
With all that in mind, let's look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Red Stompy | 1st | Shigeki Takano |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | Yidong Wang |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 3rd | Tachibana Kentaro |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | ronomjr |
| UB Reanimator | 5th | Takuya Iwasaki |
| Eldrazi | 6th | JoeRicci |
| Beantstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 7th | Hiroki Endoh |
| Bant Nadu | 8th | Rodrigo Togores |
So we definitely expected to see some Reanimator, some Eldrazi, maybe even some Painter. Still, it is refreshing to see Cephalid Breakfast, Nadu, and even Beans do well here. Still, the end of the event was decided by none other than Red Stompy (with most assuredly one of its better matchups in Eldrazi in the finals) in the hands of Shigeki Takano.
What I think sets this deck apart and has made it so good in the current metagame is how it attacks many of the top decks of the format. Vexing Bauble and Blood Moon seem very potent against things like Reanimator and Eldrazi respectively, in addition to just being very strong versus decks like Painter. Despite the fact that Painter sometimes plays Blood Moon in the sideboard, that game one Moon versus Sagas and stuff can be quite rough for them.
Really the big star of the deck however is Pyrogoyf. This card can be exceptionally underestimated because it just simply does a boatload of damage with each new one that enters the battlefield. Since this triggers for each new one you play, playing two of them will net you two triggers, and so forth, which is insane if you can boost your Goyf up to a 4/5 or higher. Getting multiple instances of 4-5 damage in a single turn is threatening on its own, but then toss in Broadside Bombardiers to just also toss the Goyf at your opponent's face, and you are cooking with gas.
This is a strong deck, and it stands to benefit the most from the current metagame and even a metagame where Frog ends up being banned. I don't think this is a hint that Frog is fine, and I want to clarify that. Decks that either play Frog or beat Frog isn't exactly extremely healthy place to be overall, and despite winning this event, the win rate of the Red Stompy deck was just a slight 52.52% non-mirror win rate overall.
In the end it will be interesting to see what happens with the format with this new information, but I do expect we'll continue to see UB Reanimator be one of the better options in the format for events, but for as long as it is, there are certainly decks that can attack it, and this is definitely one of them.
Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy 17
This past weekend up at the Warp Gate in Columbus, OH was yet another Buffalo Chicken Dip Legacy event. I could not make it to this one due in part to the fact that I was out camping, but it certainly looked like a ton of fun. This event looked to have 42 players overall, which is pretty amazing. You can find all of the info on BCDL over here.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
UB Reanimator was the most popular deck, and it's win rate did look quite good. Cephalid Breakfast looked insanely good, while Eldrazi seemed to suffer.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| UB Reanimator | 1st | Chris Schiber |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 2nd | Josh Engle |
| UB Reanimator | 3rd | John Hata |
| Cephalid Breakfast | 4th | Christopher R Ward |
| Grixis Delver | 5th | Mark Neal |
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 6th | Quentin Sharp |
| Beantstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 7th | Andrew Bailey |
| Lands | 8th | Cole Gabel |
Very reasonable diversity in this Top 8 honestly. At the end of the event though it was a good friend of mine that won on UB Reanimator, Chris Schiber!
This list has some incredibly interesting tech in it. Main deck copies of threats like Barrowgoyf and Emperor of Bones are really wild, and sideboarding stuff like Atraxa, Grand Unifier?! ALSO SIDEBOARD COPY OF Entomb?!?! Deck gets wilder every time I look at it, but I like it. Barrowgoyf is an incredibly reasonable threat and does a lot of things for the main game plan of having threats in the graveyard to get back with Fanatic, especially if that threat is Troll. In addition, stuff like a main deck copy of Nihil Spellbomb really puts this deck on the offensive in a lot of Legacy matchups at the moment.
A card that also really impresses me here is Emperor of Bones. It being able to adapt back a Fanatic seems quite insane since you're getting your 4/4 for the turn but then getting back another creature at the same time which makes the equity of Emperor so much better. Suffice to say this is a sweet, sweet list.
DMV Legacy League Invitational
This past weekend up at Level Up Games in Maryland was the culmination of the DMV Legacy League's efforts to drive an ongoing yearly league with an invitation only tournament for the top players of that league. This event had 43 players who came to give it their all for a grand prize of $1,000 plus an automatic invite to the Season 2 Invitational AND a trophy. All players also received a super sweet exclusive playmat. This effort by the DC area folks is superb and really showcases how much community building matters for Legacy as a format. You can find all of the info about the DMV Legacy League here.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
UB Reanimator was the most popular deck of the event, but it's win rate was definitely a bit below 50%. Red Painter looked great here as did Esper Vial and Stiflenought.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Bant Nadu | 1st | Brady Munroe |
| Red Painter | 2nd | Jack Yudt |
| Beanstalk Control (Non-Yorion) | 3rd | Cass Lynn |
| Red Painter | 4th | Eric Farmer |
| Jeskai Control | 5th | Morgan Kain |
| Grixis Delver | 6th | Jay Wojciechowski |
| Red Stompy | 7th | Stefan Vastek |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | Thomas Keating |
Honestly this is a super sweet Top 8. At the end of the event it was none other than Brady Munroe who took down the event on BANT NADU.
I very much think this is a deck to keep an eye on in Legacy, especially going into Eternal Weekend NA. The power level of this deck is incredibly high, and the GSZ angle really makes Nadu sing. One of my favorite new cards from this deck has to be Keen-Eyed Curator. It's like a Scavenging Ooze but at some point it turns into a 7/7 with trample instead of just being big with no evasion, and is able to deal with more than just creatures to get to that bonus as well.
One really interesting change to this list that I'm seeing is the removal of Springheart Nantuko from the list. I find this interesting but I can also understand the change, as removing it allows you to also remove Dryad Arbor, and I think what a lot of people don't really realize about Nadu is that the combo "loop" aspect isn't the end-all be-all of the deck. This deck can also just put the combo on board, and then outpace their opponent by having more answers and more cards in hand, quickly converting that it into a win by several turns (or just one turn with Bristly Bill, Spine Sower) by just sheer combat damage.
This deck feels massively underplayed and it's very powerful, so I wouldn't be surprised by some dark horse doing well in Pittsburgh with it.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/9
The first Challenge of the week was the Wednesday event. This event had 39 players in it according to the MTGO website. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Stiflenought | 1st | Villela |
| UB Reanimator | 2nd | AFX |
| Mono Black Reanimator | 3rd | Roodslay |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | LAURI_PROTOUR |
| Eldrazi | 5th | Ti0Patinhas |
| Sneak and Show | 6th | DelverFofoqueiro |
| Cradle Control | 7th | lazerbeam |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | Sven745 |
Kind of an interesting Top 8 here. Lot of Reanimator for sure. At the end of the event it was Stiflenought that won.
Tamiyo seems like an incredibly powerful card for this deck, since it's an additional threat that costs one mana and can close games out very quickly via its ultimate. I think having these sorts of backup game plans that also enforce your main game plan (keeping opponent's creatures on lock, getting back copies of Consign, etc) is really strong overall, and the card draw that Tamiyo's front half can produce is quite good for a deck like this. The sideboard has some very interesting options including a copy of Court of Cunning which I can see being very good in much slower control oriented matchups.
It's also funny to note that this deck no longer really can be called Stiflenought because well, there's no Stifles in the deck at all (Consignnought doesn't really have the same ring to it though).
Legacy Challenge 32 10/11
The second Challenge of the week was the Friday night event. This event had 35 players in it according to the MTGO website. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mystic Forge Combo | 1st | Srogers90 |
| Red Painter | 2nd | Betrix2688 |
| ANT | 3rd | DemonicTutors |
| Eldrazi | 4th | _J0SE_ |
| Red Stompy | 5th | jade-venus |
| Eldrazi | 6th | Ti0Patinhas |
| UB Reanimator | 7th | Ozymandias17 |
| Red Painter | 8th | yapperdoodle |
Very interesting split of various decks here from Eldrazi, Painter, etc. At the end of the event it was Mystic Forge that won.
It's incredibly wild that all it really took for this deck to rise up to the power level it's at now is a few key Modern Horizons 3 cards, very specifically Glaring Fleshraker, Kozilek's Command, and Vexing Bauble. Bauble is a weird one here, because it often feels like a deck that plays Mox Opal and Lotus Petal wouldn't want this card, but it's the fact that this deck only plays four zero drops main deck that makes Bauble so attractive. You don't really want to pop a bunch of zero drops turn 1, you want to Sol land into Grim Monolith and convert that mana into keys and other powerful haymaker cards. Even under a Bauble, a 0 drop can still be okay to cast if you have Fleshraker in play to convert it to damage and an actual mana.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/12
The third Challenge of the week was the Saturday morning event. This event had 34 players in it according to the MTGO website. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Eldrazi | 1st | Nanovo |
| The EPIC Storm | 2nd | hugofreitas1 |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 3rd | _Joseba_ |
| UB Reanimator | 4th | Ailien02 |
| UB Reanimator | 5th | DInglis |
| Riddlesmith Combo | 6th | Killabee |
| Dimir Tempo | 7th | habsburger |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | Kuranari-Jackpa |
Lot of Reanimator here, but also some Riddlesmith and Mystic Forge. At the end of the event, however, it was Eldrazi that won.
There's certainly still some wiggle room in these decks it seems. I think having The One Ring here is very good, simply because top-decking can be one this deck's worst feelings if you're drawing one of the twenty-five lands in the deck and not the cards you want to cast (have had this exact experience). The Ring just breaks you out of these situations very well, and while the damage can add up, you're really just hoping to have the game over before that matters. If you don't, then you've probably lost that game anyways.
Legacy Challenge 32 10/13
The fourth Challenge of the week was the Sunday 32 player event. This event had 37 players in it according to the data collected by the Legacy Data Collection Project.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Eldrazi was the most popular deck of this event by one deck, and it's win rate was really high. Dimir Tempo also looked good as did UB Reanimator. Red Stompy seemed to suffer in this event.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| UB Reanimator | 1st | Kuranari-Jackpa |
| Eldrazi | 2nd | _J0SE_ |
| Eldrazi | 3rd | Nanovo |
| Worldgorger | 4th | Roodslay |
| Mystic Forge Combo | 5th | Capriccioso |
| Eldrazi | 6th | _Batutinha_ |
| The EPIC Storm | 7th | hugofreitas1 |
| Mono Blue Delver | 8th | yushi013 |
Honestly this is a pretty cool Top 8. At the end of the event it was UB Reanimator that won.
The impact that Metamorphosis Fanatic has had on this deck can't be overstated. It has proven to be a very powerful card and slots so easily into this deck. It is worth noting that the sweet spot for this card seems to be three copies, despite how strong it really is, because four copies can lead to situations of having it in your opening hand a bit too much (where it is easily at its weakest unless you have a Frog). What's truly wild is just how easily Tamiyo was power crept out of this deck, because Fanatic just plays so well with everything this deck wants to do.
Legacy Challenge 64 10/13
The final Challenge of the week was the Sunday 64 player event. This event had 68 players in it according to the MTGO website. There was no data for this event.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here. The Top 8 is below.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Mono Green Cloudpost | 1st | TrueFuturism |
| Red Stompy | 2nd | Munchlax446 |
| Doomsday | 3rd | wonderPreaux |
| Dimir Tempo | 4th | ThiGuyAgain465164 |
| Red Stompy | 5th | JuanmaAT |
| UB Reanimator | 6th | oosunq |
| Nadu Elves | 7th | Jadisouzaft |
| UB Reanimator | 8th | ecobaronen |
Another pretty interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Mono Green Cloudpost that won.
While regular Eldrazi may have it pretty good with Sowing Mycospawn, this deck being able to use it very quickly as both ramp and land destruction is a very powerful place to be. Being able to fetch a silver bullet land like Tabernacle or Glimmerpost in a pinch to gain some life is strong, but also being able to exile another land as well is very good.
It's also nice to see cards like Disruptor Flute have a home in the format. It's wild to consider that Pithing Needle has been power crept out of Post, but Flute is so much better in so many ways due to its reactive nature.
Around the Web
- ecobaronen has a video on UB Reanimator. Check it out here.
- Eternal Durdles has John Li on talking about Fanatic! Check it out here.
- StrassDaddy is playing a sweet list to a 5-0. Check it out here.
- STORMING TO THE DARK DEPTHS!
- Maxtortion made Ninjas better by cutting the bad cards and playing the good ones. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
I'll be pulling this week's Spice Corner exclusively from Eternal Weekend Asia 2024! Let's go!
A very very interesting take on Elves at 26th!
Jeskai Vial is always cool, but also have you considered Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury?
Esper Vial is also cool, but this version is neat because it's playing four copies of Overlord of the Balemurk.
HARDENED SCALES
This deck is GOOFY.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for continuing to support the column and join us next week as we continue our journey into Legacy!
As always you can reach me at all my associated links via my Link Tree! In addition I'm always around the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the MTGLegacy Discord Server.
Until next time!
