Vintage 101: Eternal Weekend Asia 2024
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of Vintage 101! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're going to be diving into the data and look at Eternal Weekend Vintage Championships! In addition to that we've also got Challenges to look at. With all of this going on, I'm going to be pulling back a little on the decklists I show for the Challenges and focus more specifically on the finalist ones.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Eternal Weekend 2024 Vintage Championships
This past weekend in Shizouka, Japan was ETERNAL WEEKEND! The very first of Eternal Weekend events took place and we have our results for our first Vintage Champs event of the three major events. The next one of these will be the Pittsburgh NA event on November 21-24.
This particular Champs event in Japan had 194 players come out to battle with Vintage for supremacy as the best of the best Vintage player, the Vintage CHAMPION. This is a great turnout for an event like this, and hopefully we can continue this momentum into the next two events. Big thanks to Justin Gennari for all his help with the data for this event.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Esper Lurrus was the most predominant of Lurrus builds, which is interesting due in part to the fact that Dimir Lurrus is often equally represented on MTGO, but Dimir only had 8 decks, while Esper had 26 making it 13.4% of the metagame. Esper's win rate was also just way better at a 56.8% win rate overall in the event. Dredge came in second in popularity, which is to be rather expected in paper events, but it's overall win rate was less than ideal at 47.4%.
In addition as expected the rest of the Top 5 decks in popularity were Jewel, Oath, and Initiative. These have been floating around that popularity metric for some time, so it's not super surprising to see. Jewel didn't do super hot in terms of win rate, and while Oath also didn't, it did put one deck into the Top 8. Initiative appeared to have a solid win rate as well.
Overall this event looked pretty good for a paper event. There was a reasonably large spread of decks, but at the end of it, around 55.7% of the event was overtaken by Lurrus. I'm not sure what needs to happen if anything here, but having this much of the format be devoted to a Companion deck feels problematic overall to me, and very much is approaching the same issue we had with Lurrus originally. Lurrus decks continuing to just be very good despite the restriction of Saga is quite incredible. I don't think Wizards would go back to banning Lurrus, but it's the only way to deal with the card.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Lurrus | 1st | Yuta Yokokawa |
| Esper Lurrus | 2nd | Tsubasa Sekikawa |
| Jewel Shops | 3rd | Masataka Hori |
| Doomsday | 4th | Hiroki Ito |
| Lurrus DRS | 5th | Kazuma Matsumoto |
| Oath | 6th | Daisuke Hirasawa |
| Oops All Spells | 7th | Yassy |
| PO | 8th | kyohei hosomi |
Despite the overpowering presence of Lurrus in the main event, the Top 8 did only have a few Lurrus decks in it. The event was however won by Esper Lurrus in the hands of Yuta Yokokawa.
This deck has so much velocity to it now. Being able to splash in colors freely and not having to run eight colorless lands also let it shave down on Lorien Revealed a bit, which in turn gave it some better mana overall and the ability to have these color splashes for relevant white spells. The amount of interaction this deck packs is quite high as well, given things like Spell Pierce, Consign to Memory, and even Daze. It's certainly a very strong archetype and I can see a lot of reasons why someone would want to play it.
I don't think having a fair deck at the top of the format overall is a bad thing for sure. Most metagames with fair decks at the top are generally okay. I do think having that fair deck homogenized in deckbuilding by what Lurrus imposes can be rather unhealthy, and I'm not sure if anything will actually change for a while given how Wizards chooses to manage Vintage overall. I'll be curious to see how the other two Eternal Weekend events pan out in this regard.
Vintage Challenge 32 10/10
The first Challenge of the week was the Thursday night event. This event had 37 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Lurrus was very popular here and had a strong win rate overall. Doomsday also looked great as did Oath. Dredge and Initiative didn't do too hot.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oath | 1st | Arca_de_Karn |
| Breach | 2nd | TrueHero |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | _Batutinha_ |
| Dimir Lurrus | 4th | _Shatun_ |
| Dimir Lurrus | 5th | wiky |
| Doomsday | 6th | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Dimir Lurrus | 7th | O_danielakos |
| Jewel Shops | 8th | Ignotus97 |
Half of the Top 8 was Dimir Lurrus here. At the end of the event though it was Oath that won.
I continue to find it interesting how this deck has evolved over time. I know that there's some contention over Tinker in the deck for sure, but while Oath isn't the best Citadel deck out there, I think it's still a great backup plan for this deck to have. Being able to Vamp Tutor up an Atraxa or just getting to cast a bunch of powerful spells off the top is still a good way to win. Memory's Journey is also a really sweet addition to this deck that lets you push some stuff back into your library in case you go too deep on Oath (something I think happens a lot less with four Atraxa for sure but can still happen) or in response to something like Surgical. Also, Into the Flood Maw continues to be an incredibly interesting card because you get to bounce something PLUS give them a creature for purposes of Oath.
It's also easy to see what this deck is prioritizing at the moment in its sideboard and that's Dredge for sure, with Trap + Leyline and Tabernacle. Definitely trying to hedge against that matchup, which makes sense. The deck is quite popular still at the moment.
In Second Place we had Breach.
Non-Lurrus Breach is not something we see too much of, so it's really cool to see it here. The Hullbreachers here are also superb, and I genuinely love me some Dack Fayden action (just one of my favorite Vintage-y Planeswalkers ever). One big thing we're seeing here too is new card Waterlogged Teachings from Modern Horizons 3.
The big upside here is that it's able to nab a card with Flash, which means it can either get your Hullbreacher to jam into play in response to an Ancestral, or it can get you a Brain Freeze you needed for Breach lines. The versatility is nice and while four mana seems like a lot, it seem like it's working well, and on the back half it is a land if you need it.
Vintage Challenge 32 10/11
The second Challenge of the week was the Friday night event. This event had 39 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the datasheet here.
Oath was very popular and yet despite the overall win, it's win rate was dragged down below 50%. Dimir Lurrus fared only slightly better here, while Dredge looked good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Oath | 1st | frostyyy_ |
| Jewel Shops | 2nd | Ignotus97 |
| Dredge | 3rd | Lord_Beerus |
| Merfolk | 4th | SingPanMan |
| Oath | 5th | PsiVen |
| Oath | 6th | _J0SE_ |
| Dimir Lurrus | 7th | wiky |
| Dimir Lurrus | 8th | Jpsn54 |
As noted, it's really the overall wins and losses of the other Oath decks besides these three that dragged down the win rate. Same with Dimir Lurrus here. In fact the event was won by Oath.
As we talked about in the other list, Tinker is certainly contentious and this list makes a point of that by cutting that package entirely. In return it gets more cards like Thoughtseize and Spell Pierce to be able to further interact with what the opponent is doing. The Dredge interaction is a little higher here with four Leyline, three Trap, and Tabernacle in the sideboard. It feels warranted really with how much Dredge can just dominate a game and also interact post-board.
In Second Place we had Jewel Shops.
This deck definitely is making good use of one primary thing in MH3, and that's Sink into Stupor. This card gives this deck a land and a card that pitches to Force while also being a bounce spell and that level of versatility cannot be understated. Allowing a deck that absolutely wants to be able to execute its game plan every game access to a bounce spell this versatile is incredible, but it doesn't make Jewel unbeatable. Sometimes they don't have the mana to cast this card, or they can be cut off with Ouphe/Null Rod. The ability to pivot to cards that don't care about Null Rod is what's important for this deck out of the sideboard, like Argentum Masticore and Wurmcoil Engine since this deck no longer has four Saga to use as its backup plan.
Vintage Challenge 32 10/12
The third Challenge of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 38 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Lurrus was popular and its win rate was quite good, as was Jewel Shops. Initiative also seemed to do well here. Oath did not do so well, neither did Breach.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Esper Lurrus | 1st | alkachaz_01 |
| Dimir Lurrus | 2nd | B-Carp |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | Bezerra_da_Silva |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | oosunq |
| Dimir Lurrus | 5th | bless_von |
| Dredge | 6th | Lord_Beerus |
| Fastbond Combo | 7th | V4nquish |
| Jewel Shops | 8th | _dr4gun0v_ |
Again just a lot of Lurrus decks in this Top 8. At the end of the event it was Esper Lurrus that won.
The white splash of the base Dimir deck does carry with it some pretty solid benefits. Primarily those benefits are rooted in gaining access to effects like Lavinia and Swords to Plowshares, but also having effects like Containment Priest in the sideboard really helps with things like the Oath matchup (which can have its moments). I also like the Snapcaster Mage in this list. Being able to Snap back Time Walk seems so very very good.
In Second Place we had Dimir Lurrus.
The other half of this coin is that the Esper version does have over this Dimir build is that Plow is very efficient at dealing with another Lurrus deck's threats, especially when those threats are only Frog and Bowmasters. It seems quite good to have that kind of removal versus this variant.
Vintage Challenge 32 10/13
The final Challenge of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 32 players in it thanks to the data collected by the Vintage Streamer's Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Dimir Lurrus was the most played deck, and it's win rate did look good. BUG had a sick run in this event as a one of, and variants of Shops, Breach, and Initiative all did rather poorly.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| BUG | 1st | crK |
| Doomsday | 2nd | discoverN |
| Dimir Lurrus | 3rd | _Joseba_ |
| Dimir Lurrus | 4th | Mogged |
| Jewel Shops | 5th | NathanLipetz |
| Esper Lurrus | 6th | burrarun |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | John1111 |
| Jewel Shops | 8th | AJV20 |
Lot of Lurrus and Jewel Shops, but that BUG deck went all the way to the top!
Psychic Frog seems like one of the best threats for a deck that is playing Deathrite Shaman, not going to lie. It can feed your DRS if you need it to, and you can continue to draw more off of it while growing it at the same time. It seems like a card really well suited for the BUG decks and the other cards that this deck wants to get into play. Leovold, Bowmasters, and Ouphe are all strong punishing effects and being able to back them up with a threat that accrues cards + grows is much better than the poor Tarmogoyfs this deck used to play.
In Second Place we had Doomsday.
discoverN is frankly the gold standard of deckbuilding for Doomsday in Vintage. If you are wanting to get your feet wet with this deck, then this is the best place to start is to just follow their decklists and how they evolve over time.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari is back off a hiatus due to a PC issue with his streaming setup. Check out what he's got for us.
- FiretruckModo has a video on Standstill. Check it out here.
- BIG MAGIC has some videos from Eternal Weekend. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
Fastbond Lands? Let's go.
Mono White Initiative got 15th at EW Asia without POWER!
Speaking of POWER-LESS, SquidOdoom also got 32nd at EW Asia with Power-Less Red Prison, featuring Pyrogoyf and Broadside Bombardiers.
Wrapping Up
That's all the time we have this week folks! Thanks for your continued support of the column and join me next week as we continue our journey into Vintage!
As always you can reach me at my Link Tree! In addition you can always reach me on the MTGGoldfish Discord Server and the Vintage Streamers Discord.
Until next time!
