Vintage 101: The Look Ahead to Eternal Weekend
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 seeing what in Vintage is good for Eternal Weekend this year, at the very least the North America Eternal Weekend since it is the first one. We've also got some Challenges to look at from last week.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
The Road to NA Eternal Weekend
North America Eternal Weekend is literally only two weeks away! October 9-12 in Pittsburgh is quickly approaching, and while I'm sure many have been thinking about what they're already playing, it is definitely time to think about what Vintage is going to look like at this event. Let's talk about the big important decks and also what you might see from an approach in paper Vintage as well.
So, let's talk Eternal Weekend.
#1 - Fair Lurrus Decks are going to be popular
These decks are going to be among some of the most popular at Eternal Weekend. Fair Lurrus decks are popular because they make for a good way for players who primarily play Legacy or Modern or the like a much more streamlined way to understand Vintage gameplay. Dimir and Esper Lurrus decks both play a lot of similar cards to cards that see play in other formats such as Orcish Bowmasters. Psychic Frog (in Modern at least), and other fair Magic cards.
These decks appeal to folks in a lot of ways because they reinforce play patterns that players already are going to know. Fair decks make up a lot of fundamentals of Magic gameplay, and the amount of Power required to actually play these decks in paper is minimal enough for players to borrow/have that they are easy to pick up and play. There's also a lot of resources on these decks that helps players get into playing them easily, and they make for strong decks to learn on Magic Online.
#2 - Dredge will be popular
Bazaar of Baghdad is one of those cards that a lot of old school Vintage players just kind of tend to own, and in general unless you are a hardcore Dredge/Bazaar player likely they're being lent out. Dredge tends to be a bit more popular in sanctioned events like Eternal Weekend because Dredge is simply one of those decks that doesn't play Power. It's relatively easy to learn and pick up, and it is extremely proactive and powerful.
That being said, because the deck is heavily popular does mean that it is going in with a target on its back. The majority of decks in the format already pack a lot of graveyard hate in their sideboards, and in the case of the aforementioned Lurrus fair decks they are packing graveyard hate main deck as well, primarily because many of them are one-sided and can be rebought with Lurrus. Still, Dredge is a deck that if you really know how best to play it, you can do well with it. It takes a lot of games off even experienced players due to how aggressive and explosive it can be.
#3 - Initiative and Oath
Two other decks that are going to definitely be popular for NA Eternal Weekend are Initiative and Oath. Initiative is a heavily played deck on MTGO at the moment, and is often the most played deck in many Challenge events. It's a deck with a pretty strong backbone and has done well in Eternal Weekend before. The deck has its moments and can do well in larger events, but overall its well prepared for.
I also do believe that people will always attempt to force this deck as a "Power-less" option without full Power. I personally believe this is a bit of a mistake, as Initiative as a deck really wants to try to get on the board Turn 1 with a powerful play, and not having all of the Moxen for acceleration really cuts down on this decks ability to leverage that kind of gameplay. Still, expect to see both of these types of Powered and Un-Powered versions of this deck. It's a real banger when it wants to be.
In addition, Oath decks tends to be exceedingly popular at Eternal Weekend especially for a good number of reasons. First, Oath is a very proactive "Vintagre experience" deck. It wants to resolve a key spell and win the game quickly, and that kind of gameplay tends to be very fun for people who are mainly attending Eternal Weekend to play some Vintage and have some Vintage experiences.
Oath has a lot of fun gameplay and it tends to trend a lot higher than it normally does online because of this. Even then, it's actually also a pretty reasonable deck at the moment and can produce some strong free wins.
#4 - Power-Less Decks
NA Eternal Weekend usually has a bit of a thing for people who play Power-Less decks (Decks not playing Power Nine, Bazaar/Workshop, or Library of Alexandria typically) that results in some prizing based on the highest placing Power-Less deck. Because of this, and also because people can't either borrow or secure Power for this event you can definitely expect a number of Power-Less decks to appear. While there are a number of different possible things you could do Power-Less, the best of these tends to be Mono Red Prison at the moment.
Thanks to cards like Broadside Bombardiers, the explosive nature of a deck like this allows it to not only get off the ground quickly, but it can also kill very quickly too. In addition, despite being restricted, you are still getting a huge benefit from Urza's Saga and Blood Moon effects thanks to that recent rules change for Sagas. This really makes Mono Red Prison a truly powerful Unpowered option for Vintage, because it is already playing a bunch of cards that players from Legacy will already be familiar with in the Red Stompy/Prison shells.
In addition, players have also often looked decks like Lands thanks to cards like Fastbond being unrestricted. Newer technology for that deck also may prove to be good, but I think more than anything restricted Urza's Saga actually hurts those decks more than hinders them.
Looking Ahead and Beyond
Eternal Weekend is just around the corner really, and it already is looking like it's going to be a pretty stellar time. Vintage is at least for the moment, stable enough to give this event an interesting showing. Whether anything from this event will result in any BnR changes in the BnR before the next two Eternal Weekend events is unsure.
Still, if you are specifically looking to win this event, you cannot go wrong with playing a Lurrus deck at the moment. One of the many different builds is good, but I do think either Dimir or Esper will prove to be very strong thanks to how much that shell reinforces fundamental gameplay in Magic. I would be very surprised to see a deck that isn't a Lurrus deck win this event honestly, and that does say a lot about where Vintage is right now, but I think that's the reality of things and we must adapt to it or be left for the Nightmare Cat to devour.
Either way, we'll be covering this event and rooting on our friends from the sidelines. I can't make it to this event this year, but maybe next year!
Vintage Challenge 32 9/25/2025
The first Challenge event of the week was the Thursday event. This event had 50 players in it thanks to the data provided by the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck of the event here, but its overall win rate was less than 50%. Esper Lurrus, Doomsday, and Sphere Shops all looked pretty good here.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Doomsday | 1st | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Dimir Lurrus | 2nd | lordoflifegain |
| Esper Lurrus | 3rd | Ale_Mtg |
| Oath | 4th | jibeta |
| Raker Shops | 5th | musasabi |
| Esper Lurrus | 6th | wiky |
| Lurrus Breach | 7th | CrazyDiamond513 |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | Montolio |
Half the Top 8 here was Lurrus. The winner of the event though was Doomsday.
Unable to Scream is a sweet sideboard card for dealing with various creatures that make it hard for Doomsday to win the game.
In Second Place we had Dimir Lurrus.
Caustic Bronco is super cool here, given that many of the cards are low cost for it to be able to reap the reward of its trigger. Snake Horses are awesome for sure.
Vintage Challenge 32 9/26/2025
The second Challenge event of the week was the Friday event. This event had 43 players in it thanks to the data provided by the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Both Initiative and Dimir Lurrus were the most played, and while Initiative had a strong win rate, Dimir did not. Raker Shops looked great here, as did Oath.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Raker Shops | 1st | musasabi |
| PO | 2nd | Aigis |
| Sphere Shops | 3rd | IamActuallyLvl1 |
| Lurrus PO | 4th | reojund |
| Oath | 5th | Arca_de_Karn |
| Oath | 6th | jibeta |
| Initiative | 7th | GoblinElder |
| Initiative | 8th | kokoko098 |
Both Initiative and Oath were pretty popular here, but the winner was Raker Shops.
This list is hyper focused on Glaring Fleshraker and isn't trying to be cute with some of its other inclusions, thanks to the power of Tezzeret. I also like that there's multiple copies of Talon Gates of Madara. That card really does some powerful things in this type of deck.
In Second Place we had PO.
What a very interesting list. Wild to see a Karn, the Great Creator in the sideboard of all things.
Vintage Challenge 32 9/27/2025
The third Challenge event of the week was the Saturday event. This event had 53 players in it thanks to the data provided by the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find the Top 32 decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck here, and it had a pretty solid win rate overall. Dredge and Raker Shops both looked great here, as did Lurrus DRS.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Breach | 1st | thedeck84 |
| Dredge | 2nd | Lord_Beerus |
| Doomsday | 3rd | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Dimir Control | 4th | _bwonsamdi_ |
| Dredge | 5th | Fantaman95 |
| Initiative | 6th | SuperCow12653 |
| Raker Shops | 7th | LucasG1ggs |
| Initiative | 8th | bgoose321 |
This is a rather solid looking Top 8, with the winner being Lurrus Breach.
Oh yes, the Mana Drain and Gifts Ungiven version of this deck. It is definitely super interesting and very powerful. Stock Up enabling lots of these powerful plays is really where it is at.
In Second Place we had Dredge.
This version of the deck is much more aggressive than is typical of controlling variants in the past. Anytime you see Silversmote Ghoul you know that it's going to be super aggressive.
Vintage Challenge 32 9/28/2025
The final Challenge event of the week was the Sunday event. This event had 32 players in it thanks to the data provided by the Vintage MTGO Discord.
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Initiative was the most played deck here, with a solid enough win rate. Dimir Lurrus, Esper Lurrus, and Lurrus Breach all looked good.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | MTGO Username |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative | 1st | Jinjaa |
| Lurrus Breach | 2nd | desolutionist |
| Lurrus DRS | 3rd | RatherBplayingMTG |
| Esper Lurrus | 4th | wiky |
| Esper Lurrus | 5th | The_shallow_grave |
| Dimir Lurrus | 6th | albertoSD |
| Doomsday | 7th | Tsubasa_Cat |
| BUG | 8th | AIRO |
So much Lurrus here, but at the end it was Initiative that won.
This is a very straightforward and clean looking list. Clarion Conqueror is such a strong card in these shells for sure.
In Second Place we had Lurrus Breach.
Very similar list to the other one that won the previous event. It's definitely a powerful list and has a lot of strong gameplay to it.
Around the Web
- kindamtg has some Tentacle Shops. Check it out here.
- FiretruckModo has some Spider cards in Vintage. Check it out here.
- Montolio has a video on Shops. Check it out here.
- Justin Gennari always has some stuff for us:
The Spice Corner
Scamming it up.
Energy.deck
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!
