Eternal Weekend 2023

It's been a busy holiday season, but I've finally found time to finish the report from Eternal Weekend 2023. This happened December 7-10 in Pittsburgh. I drove six hours from New Jersey to play in several events. I really love events where I can play in a different tournament every day.

Thursday - Old School

Atog Shops

I played Atog Shops. The event was Eternal Central rules, and I hadn't played Workshops in a 4-strip format before. I played Atog because I wanted a cheaper threat than Juggernaut and I also wanted to have Red sideboard cards instead of White.

Round 1 - Brian Vesgo - Atog

Game one he has multiple Black Vise and Timetwister. Game two I have turn one Chaos Orb for his Orb. I follow up with multiple Icy Manipulator for his Serendib Efreet and City of Brass. I eventually kill him with Atog and Fireball. Game three have two Su-Chi and he only has Hurkyl's Recall to delay the beatdown. Instead of replaying a Su-Chi, I play Atog and Chaos Orb to stay under Vise. He Timewisters at some point and played Library of Alexandria. He was never able to activate it though due to my pressure and never used the mana. He died to Atog when he didn't have colored mana up.

1-0

Round 2 - Ward Crane - Esper shops with Hymn and Jade Statue

Game one my Icy and Su-Chi beat his Su-Chi.  Game two I have Strip Mine for his turn one Library and follow up with my own Library on turn two. He has Strip Mine for it, but I do get one activation. However, he has another Strip Mine and I never draw a fourth land. He draws enough lands to kill me with a couple of Su-Chi.  Game three I have Library again but he has turn two Hymn. I build back up to seven cards in hand but then he has Balance. I draw a bunch of mana after the Balance and he draws all removal. It takes him a long time to kill me because he doesn't have extra mana to activate Jade Statue but eventually he draws out of it.

1-1

Round 3 - Brendan McBain - 12 bolt 

Game one I Mind Twist for two turn one and Strip Mine his next land. He never recovers. Game two he has turn one Library. I play two Atog turn one and then Demonic Tutor for City in a Bottle to shut off his Library. I draw Workshop and kill him exactly with Triskelion plus Copy plus Atog.

2-1

Round 4 - Thomas Swindell - RUG

Game one I have a turn one Icy which I use to disrupt his turn one Library. I activate in upkeep a few times to keep him from having the extra cards. I have Atog doing some beatdown against his two Kird Ape but he has no Forest. I then stick Triskelion to take out both Apes and win easily from there. I think on the critical turn I even Icy his Library in his draw step. Game two I have Ancestral and Mind Twist early, but he topdecks Timetwister to get back in it. I find City in a Bottle of the Twister though and win with Triskelion and Copy Artifact.

3-1 

Round 5 - Evan DeWitt - Grixis Hymn

Game one I have early Icy and Trike. I'm pretty far ahead so I don't cast the Wheel in my hand. He does find Hymn to take out my Wheel and then answers for both Icy and Trike. Now that we are at parity, I cast the Timetwister I draw and find Trikselion to kill him.. Game two he Hymns into Hyppie and Troll and I die without colored mana. Game three I Lotus into Su-Chi turn one and Copy Artifact on turn two. He is too far behind and two Strip Mine seal the game.

4-1

Round 6 Daniel Mowaf - The Deck / Some type of Tome Control

Game one I have a turn one Triskelion. He has turn one Chaos Orb but misses his flip. He draws three City of Brass takes too much damage. Game two he has Disenchant for first two Su-Chi and then I resolve Blood Moon. We play draw go for several turns. Eventually he finds Pearl and casts a third Disenchant on Moon. Now with white mana, he can Divine Offering on Trike. I have Mind Twist with double REB backup at this point and win from there.

5-1

I finish in 3rd Place and got this prize cards:

Friday - Vintage

I've always wanted to play in the Vintage Championships and this was finally my first time. I played UW Lurrus and went 2-3 before dropping to find food. I didn't really take any notes on the rounds. I think failing to eat breakfast contributed to dropping early because I would have liked to play all the rounds. Vintage is always fun when I get a chance to play it. I did manage to win game three of round one despite missing three Bauble triggers. I'm really not on top of my game outside of Old School anymore.

Saturday - Middle School World Championships

This was the event I was most looking forward to, and it delivered on the hype. For those that aren't aware, Middle School is a format covering the cards released in the years between Old School and Modern. The card pool is similar to Premodern, but the ban list has some major differences. Its only played in a few local pockets of America, but also Japan. The events are sporadic so still a lot of discovery and a more casual atmosphere.

About twenty people showed up to the Sly Fox brewery south of downtown Pittsburgh. It was a lot of people in town from Austin and Cleveland. I got to meet several people I'd only ever played against in the online leagues. The vibes were reminiscent of my first Old School event. 

I played what I believe to be the strongest deck in the format:

4 Worldgorger Dragon

1 Ambassador Laquatas

4 Animate Dead

4 Dance of the Dead

4 Entomb

4 Intuition

4 Careful Study

4 Whispers of the Muse

4 Frantic Search

3 Abeyance

2 Cunning Wish

4 Gemstone Mine

2 Undiscovered Paradise

4 Polluted Delta

1 Swamp

2 Island

4 Ancient Tomb

1 Underground River

2 Dromar's Cavern

1 Caves of Koilos

1 Adarkar Wastes

Sideboard

1 Capsize

1 Chain of Vapor

4 Swords to Plowshares

1 Abeyance

1 Enlightened Tutor

2 Duress

1 Disenchant

1 Stroke of Genius

2 Necromancy

1 Funeral Charm

I made some changes since the last time I played this deck. Because you need both a creature and an enchantment to combo, this deck is susceptible to all forms of interaction: graveyard hate, creature removal, enchantment removal. I could not find a good way to counteract all of these at first, and had cards like Null Rod that don't even do anything. However, Abeyance stops all the reactive cards nicely while also being able to be cycled when you don't need it. The major issue would be getting enough white sources in the deck. I think I managed to do it though. Moving them to the main over Duress or Force of Will worked out even better than I was hoping. Adding white also gives access to Swords to Plowshares as a good answer for Meddling Mage (I even considered playing my own Mages but couldn't come up with a reason why I'd want to).

The tournament was going to be five rounds of swiss, no cuts. That meant I would need to 5-0 to be the Middle School World Champion.

Round One - Steve M on UWG Survival

Game one I play like eight or nine turns without finding a Dragon or Entomb and die without my opponent even knowing what I'm playing. Game two I probably misplay by wish for Funeral Charm but immediately draw two discard outlets and only one Animate and it gets countered. Wishing for Abeyance would have won easily. After he counters I draw nothing but land and he had all spells and I die.

0-1

Round Two - Eric on RG Oath (Firecats and Ball Lightnings I think)

Game one I win on turn two. Game two goes long but he let's an Intuition resolve and I get Abeyance so his Pyroblast, Furnace, and Naturalize are all stopped.

1-1

Round Three - Angelo on Fires

Game one I win on turn two. Game two I win on turn four with Abeyance protection.

2-1

Round Four - Stu on RDW

Game one I mulligan to four and don't draw second land for the turn two kill. He has Wasteland and I never draw more land to get back in. Game two I draw the game on turn two. Game three I win on turn two. Game four I draw the game on turn three. Game five I play three Frantic Search in a turn and just need to draw a colored mana source to win the game but miss. I took too much damage from Ancient Tomb and die. 

2-2

Round Five - Patrick on Landstill

Deck performs great. Win with Abeyance backup pretty early both games, maybe turn four game one and turn six through a Seal of Cleansing game two. Abeyance is great.

3-2

I think this record got me a back door Top 8, but the results truly didn't matter. Everyone at the event was there because they loved the format. Most people skipped playing Legacy Champs or other events at the actual EW site to be there. The vibes were great, the beer was great, the food was pretty good. 

All the Middle School World Championship Competitors

Props:

Jimmy for running the OS Event on Thursday.

Collin for sharing room and meals

Eric for putting on MS Worlds

Pittsburgh seems like a nice town

My wife for all the love and support

Bryan for winning MS Worlds and 2nd at Vintage Champs

Slops:

Pittsburgh traffic. Guess when the roads are just bottlenecked by bridges everywhere you can't expect much better. The train was not running on the weekend for construction. 

Weather on Sunday.

TwiddleVault at the Stream of Life Tournament *1st Place*

Sunday November 12th I played in the Stream of Life tournament put on by Phil and Sunny of the Sisters of the Flame at the Endless Life Brewery in Brooklyn. I played Twiddle Vault and went undefeated to win the event. The event was a blast and I wanted to share my experience here.

The Deck

I picked up two CE Time Vault a few months back and I have been looking for an excuse to try them out. I played a couple of games at a local meetup against David Third and quickly realized this is not the deck to bring to a casual hangout. The deck was far stronger than I imagined and disproportionately wastes your opponents time as they watch you combo off. I decided to relegate it to only tournament play after that. The question was, which tournament?

I considered playing it for Spike Summit back in September, but realized it would probably not be very good against what I expected people to show up with. When the Stream of Life event was announced, I decided it would be the perfect time to play it. The tournament was low enough stakes that if I crash and burn spectacularly, I wouldn't be too upset. The player base was expected to mostly be NYC locals. I knew most of them and figured they wouldn't complain about it too much. They are already expecting me to show up with something extremely Spikey anyway. 

As for the specifics of the list, there isn't much to talk about. I copied some lists from Danny Friedman and Jim Allen Wallace and picked what I liked about both. A few comments on some card choices:

Mana Short - I don't think this card is needed in the main if you are playing Mind Twist. Really just want one effect to either set up the combo or stop their interaction in the middle of comboing. Two was overkill, and obviously Mind Twist is the stronger card on its own.

 

Strip Mine - I was able to use this as a pseudo Mana Short in a few games and kept people honest with their Libraries. There is enough generic mana costs in this deck I don't see a good reason for not playing it.

Fireball kill - I considered the main deck Erhnams, but wanted to play them along side Fireball for winning fair games anyway. So with Fireball in the deck, I think it's just better to leave them with dead cards in the first game and possible make the Erhnams stronger after sideboarding when they take out their creature removal.

Erhnam Djinn - Pretty much the perfect creature for this transformational plan. Cheapest threat that kills in the fastest number of turns balanced with how hard it is to kill with the direct damage that players more likely to leave in. Does make you a bit more susceptible to City in a Bottle, but not enough to where I'd want to play Shivan Dragon or Mahamoti Djinn. 

Glasses of Urza - What happens when you tap to look at their hand and they have the answer? Now what? I'll pass. 

The Event

Mano picked me up on his way to Brooklyn Sunday morning. We were excited about the tournament, but the real priority was the cheeseburger.

We got to Emily at 11:45 with plans to get the first burgers we could when they opened at noon. Luckily it was only 4 minutes from the tournament location. The wait time was only 10 minutes after we ordered.

The burger was solid. Mano liked it more than I did. I thought the meat was a bit too salty, which made the rest of the burger bland by comparisons. The bites from the inner part of the sandwich were less salty, but I still feel the flavor was too concentrated in the meat and not distributed throughout the onions, cheese, and bun. Fries and fry sauce were very good. Overall I'd rate it 7.5/10.

Definitely the best burger I've had from a pizza restaurant.

The beer at Endless Life was pretty good. They made a special sour for the event. I don't normally like sours, but I enjoyed that one. I had a couple of the dark beers before switching to the tap old fashions. Each drink would get a stamp on your Stream of Life and the person with the most at the end of the day would win a prize. 

No pictures of the beer, but this cocktail was nice.

5 drinks for 5 stamps. 

The Games

Round 1 - Noah Keating - Guardian Beast

I didn't see much of Noah's deck in game one. We both exchanged small Mind Twists for two. His mana was just Volcanic and Tundra so when I countered his Balance, I used Strip Mine on his Volcanic to prevent him from Lightning Bolt while I combo. This let me use Sylvan and City of Brass more freely. Game two he had several Factory and Sage beats, but I drew two Erhnam Djinn which I cast off City of Brass so I didn't have a Forest. He tried to push through enough damage but eventually I found enough extra turns to swing back for the win.

1-0

Round 2 - Claudia du Lac - UR Burn

Game one was wild. She plays first and has a Mox plus a land but no other play. I use Strip Mine and Black Lotus to Timetwister but don't have a follow up. She has Blood Moon, Ironclaw Orcs, and Time Walk. She follows up with another Orcs and a Serendib. I just play out some Mox and Mana Vault and my only blue is Sapphire. I use Recall to get back Timewister. She attacks for 7 to put me to 11 and after combat plays Chain Lightning. I copy it back on an Orc, she copies back to my face, and I copy to the other Orc. She's out of red mana so I'm now at 5 life.  On my turn, I cast Timetwister. I don't find anything useful so I have to Fireball the Serendib. The following turn she plays another Serendib. I'm forced to play Recall for Timetwister and Fireball. She counters the Fireball and attacks me down to 2 life. Another Serendib means I need to answer both, or win the game. I can Recall for Fireball and cast it on both, but I don't think that gets me anywhere closer to winning, so instead I play Timetwister yet again. Yet again, she does not draw any instant speed burn or countermagic. I find Time Walk and some Islands, so I start trying to combo. I'm worried I'm going to have to use Timetwister one more time, but I manage to chain together enough turns and finally find Black and Green Mox to Demonic for Regrowth and set up two Fireballs to kill. Game two I get an early Erhnam and take just enough turns to win.

2-0

Round 3 - Jelani Johnson - 4 Color Hymn

This one was on stream (shout out to Andy Baquero). Game one he hit me with two Hymns and three Disenchants to keep me from doing anything relevant. Game two he's stuck without White mana and I manage to win easily. Game three I have a turn one Sylvan, and then have the perfect cards on top to pay 8 life and go for turn "two" kill. Several untaps later, I'm successful.

3-0

My only picture from the games.

Round 4 - Matt Marmorato - Serra/Moti Deck

Game one there is a lot of draw go. Eventually he uses Recall to get back Counterspell with one other card in hand. I cast Mind Twist, forcing him to tap out of his Black Lotus to counter. After that, I'm free to combo that turn. Game two he has Counterspell for my turn two Howling Mine, but my turn three Erhnam resolves. He doesn't have any creature removal left in the deck. I manage to Twiddle to block a Factory along the way, but easily win after a few attacks.

4-0

Round 5 - Shaun Cole - The Deck

I don't recall much from game one, but I won through not much resistance. Maybe I had Mind Twist or Library. Game two I mulligan to six and keep Tropical, Lotus, Ruby, Sapphire, Mana Drain, Erhnam. Erhnam resolves and he reacts the way someone without any creature removal left in the deck would. He does have Chaos Orb, but I have the Mana Drain and he concedes. He shows me he boarded out not only Swords to Plowshares, but also Wrath of God, Maze of Ith, and Preacher.

5-0

The Aftermath

Final Standings

My first place prizes:

It feels good to win an event again after all of the 2nds and 3rds in the past two years of Old School. I'm ready to play the next one.

Props:

Phil and Sunny for organizing everything.

Endless Life for hosting.

Paul for helping run the show.

Jared and Andy for making the stream happen.
Mano for driving, being a burger buddy, and a great finish with extra spicy deck.

All my opponents for being good sports while I took all the turns.

Everyone that came out. Great to see familiar faces and meet new ones.

My wife for all the love and support.