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.