Vintage 101: Without a Painting to Care For
Howdy folks! It's time yet again for another edition of Vintage 101! I'm your host, Joe Dyer, and this week we're talking all about the Eternal Weekend 2024 announcement that came out this past week. In addition to that we've got some info on a great paper event out in Oklahoma, and a bunch of Challenges.
Without further ado, let's dive right in!
Eternal Weekend 2024 Formally Announced
We have an official announcement of Eternal Weekend 2024 out this past week. Eternal Weekend 2024 is indeed returning this year to the US, EU, and Asia. The dates for those weekends is as follows:
- October 12-13 - Shizuoka, Japan (Hosted by BIG MAGIC)
- November 21-24 - Pittsburgh, PA (Hosted by Card Titan)
- December 6-8 - Prague, Czech Republic (Hosted by JK Entertainment)
This year however, there are some changes to these events, some good and one pretty importantly bad change that we'll talk about in a second. Let's focus on the good part first.
In the past few years, Wizards has begun giving out promos to these events for the Top 8 competitors for each Championship event, usually a staple card of some sort for that format. This year, the non foil versions of those promos have been extended down to the Top 32 players of the event, with the Top 8 competitors receiving a foil copy of that card. This year's promo for the Vintage Championships event is Tinker.
I think this is a great change and opens up these promos to more people, while preserving the special nature of the foil versions for those who make Top 8 of this incredibly prestigious once a year event.
That being said, the bad change for these events this year is that currently as of this writing there are no prize paintings for any of the Championship events this year.
The prize paintings for these events is something a long standing tradition that makes Eternal Weekend feel like Eternal Weekend. This is a once in a year event for many folks who play these formats, and the paintings have been there for a very long time. You can actually find a page on these over here explaining their history.
I am not a big fan of this change, and I'm even more upset that there is virtually no explanation in this article as to why there are no paintings this year. I am good friends with a number of different people who won these in these events, and at the end of the day, it isn't about the money they could get for selling the painting (something I see a lot obviously), it's about the feeling and the stories behind how they got there and how they won it.
Rajah James - 2022 Vintage Champion
The excitement and amazement at holding one of these for a winner of these events is a once in a liftetime experience. For me, seeing images like the one above, evokes the memory of watching how this person made it across the finish line. For my friend Rajah there, it's me recalling the fact that Initiative was such a new deck to the Vintage format at the time, and the offhand suggestion that he play it for this event and then going on to watch him crush every game he played with it.
It's the stories, the prestige, and the feeling of accomplishment that makes these things so very special to the climate of Eternal Weekend. I would absolutely implore Wizards of the Coast to reconsider this decision, as it means so much to a lot of people, and seeing the chatter about this continues to bring up so many stories from the past about these things. It's almost nostalgic.
In the long run, I recommend directly supporting the TOs of these events, as it is clear they weren't involved in this decision, as these paintings are prizes commissioned and provided by Wizards. And if you do decide to attend one of these events (or even all three LOOKING AT YOU BRIAN COVAL I SEE YOU <3 <3) good luck and have fun and always remember the Gathering is the best part of this game.
Oklahoma Land Run Vintage Open 2024
This past weekend was a super duper sweet event, the Oklahoma Land Run Vintage Open put on by our good friends over at Red Dirt Gaming. Officially this event had 82 players show up and the proxy policy of the event was strictly for things on the Reserved List. This is an awesome turnout for this event for sure. The first place prize of this event was a Time Walk!!
You can find all of the decklists for this event here and the data sheet here.
Oath was super popular in this event, with a fairly medium win rate overall. Both Jewel and Lurrus however looked great, as did Dredge. Sphere Shops and Other DRS variants (which mainly included the BUGZaar deck) didn't look so hot.
Let's take a look at the Top 8.
| Deck Name | Placing | Player Name |
|---|---|---|
| Lurrus Saga | 1st | Chase Hoppe |
| Dredge | 2nd | Gabe Hoppe |
| Lurrus PO | 3rd | Tyler Ragels |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | Andrew Higganbotham |
| Jewel Shops | 5th | Awepp |
| Breach PO | 6th | Spencer Warburton |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | Joe Holland |
| Oath | 8th | Edward Bonar II |
This is an interesting Top 8, quite a bit of Jewel here. The real story of this event though is about our finalists. Both of the finalists in this event are actually brothers! While they technically show as Chase being first and Gabe being second per the MTGMelee event, the word is that Chase actually conceded to Gabe in the finals of this event because Chase already owned a Time Walk and wanted his brother to own one. What an incredibly wholesome and heartwarming story!
As we will see throughout this weekend, Psychic Frog is gaining lots of adoption in Vintage. It's great to see.
Being able to Dread Return a Griselbrand is so very wild and real. Love it!
This looked like a sweet event and showcases what Vintage events are truly about - the Gathering and the stories behind the cards.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/25
The first Challenge of the week was the Thursday event. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sphere Shops | 1st | Munchlax446 |
| Initiative | 2nd | RowdyGainz |
| Eldrazi Aggro | 3rd | helvetti |
| Jewel Shops | 4th | Jumba |
| Lurrus DRS | 5th | KingHairy |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | _Mago_ |
| Sphere Shops | 7th | Edraros3 |
| Lurrus DRS | 8th | Navas |
Fairly interesting Top 8 here. At the end of the event it was Sphere Shops that won.
Much more traditional Sphere list overall here, in fact only one Vexing Bauble which I think makes a lot of sense given how much Bauble is a nonbo with Spheres. I love Disruptor Flute in the sideboard.
In Second Place we had Initiative.
This deck has solidified so much since Witch Enchanter became a so much better MDFC card than Emeria's Call (I had to actually look it up because I actually just forgot the name of it). This is an excellent place to be with this deck.
Also in this Top 8 we had ELDRAZI.
Oh this list is sweet. Eldrazi is currently tearing it up in Legacy, so seeing that it can work in Vintage too is superb. Glaring Fleshraker is such a powerful card overall, that I find it hard to imagine it not finding a home in Vintage long term.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/26
The second Challenge of the week was the Friday event. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sphere Shops | 1st | Montolio |
| Lurrus Saga | 2nd | Schiaveto |
| Lurrus Saga | 3rd | HermonHero |
| Lurrus Saga | 4th | Mogged |
| Initiative | 5th | _Shatun_ |
| Jewel Shops | 6th | _J0SE_ |
| Jewel Shops | 7th | s063 |
| Lurrus Saga | 8th | duke12 |
Tons of Lurrus Saga here in this Top 8, but at the end of the event it was a more aggro-focused Sphere Shops list that won in the hands of Montolio.
This list is quite interesting. Leaning hard on the aggressive cards like Stonecoil Serpent and Patchwork Automaton is neat for sure. You can even spend future zero MV spells under a Bauble here with Automatons in play and not feel too bad about it.
In Second Place we had Lurrus Saga.
Psychic Frog and Tamiyo are certainly showcasing how strong they are in these decks, to the point of pushing out Bowmasters. It's wild how much another two-drop eclipses a two-drop printed a year before honestly. Tamiyo I'm less sure on but I would love to play it to see how it does.
Also in this Top 8 we had Jewel Shops.
Very strong looking list overall here. Hullbreacher is a nice addition to the deck, especially with people playing Frogs and such. Punishing extra draws by removing them in the first place seems quite good right now.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/27
The third Challenge was the mid-afternoon Saturday event. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sphere Shops | 1st | medvedev |
| Oath | 2nd | musasabi |
| Dredge | 3rd | Lord_Beerus |
| Lurrus Saga | 4th | Navas |
| Lurrus Saga | 5th | joaobelo92 |
| Lurrus Saga | 6th | Schiaveto |
| Lurrus Doomsday | 7th | CrazyDiamond513 |
| Doomsday | 8th | ecobaronen |
More Lurrus Saga here, but the end of the event was won by the same type of Shops list that won the day before.
Revoker is also kind of nice here, as there are a lot of things to shut off at the moment. Main deck Needle being a good way of handling Bazaar is nice too.
In Second Place we had Oath.
This is a solid list. I like the addition of Abrupt Decay in the sideboard being able to deal with things like Frogs and the like. Thoughtseize is also nice in the main deck.
Further down the Top 8 we had Lurrus DOOMSDAY.
It's quite interesting really since Doomsday often wants cards like Street Wraith, but Psychic Frog as a sort of main deck juke to also lull the opponent into a false sense of security than WHAM DOOMSDAY seems like a great play.
Vintage Challenge 32 7/28
The final Challenge event of the weekend was the early morning Sunday event. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Initiative Tinker | 1st | TrueHero |
| Lurrus PO | 2nd | unluckymonkey |
| Doomsday | 3rd | Tsubasa_Cat |
| Sphere Shops | 4th | TVigs |
| BUG | 5th | crK |
| Sphere Shops | 6th | Munchlax446 |
| BUG | 7th | yoshiwata |
| Sphere Shops | 8th | LasVegasChaos |
Good amount of Sphere Shops here this go around and some BUG. At the end of the event it was Initiative Tinker that won.
Again, Hullbreacher seems quite good right now. Especially with a Timetwister in the deck. I'm digging it.
In Second Place we had Lurrus PO with a twist.
Tamiyo and Questing Druid are pretty sweet here. Giving this deck a Quirion Dryad win condition on a Lurrus level is kind of cool.
Further down the Top 8 we had BUG.
Compressing down to cards like Frog, Outland Liberator and the like is very powerful for sure. Frog in general is continuing to prove just how insanely good it is.
Around the Web
- Justin Gennari has a video on the ManaTraders event. Check it out here.
- FiretruckModo has a video on Dredge. Check it out here.
The Spice Corner
I'm just going to eventually call this the Brian Kelly section, right?
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!
