Eternal Weekend Asia 2019 was held this past weekend in Yokohama (Japan). With 128 registered players and 125 players actually playing Vintage, attendance was slightly down from the previous year’s highwater mark of 154.
There was no official coverage in English of the event, so most of this is derived from the Japanese coverage of Eternal Weekend Asia here, as well as some informal Twitter coverage, and adapted here with our analysis for digestion by English speaking audiences.
Picking up where the NYSE 6 and recent Magic Online Vintage Challenges have left off, this year’s Asia Vintage Championship was peppered with the latest usual suspects in Vintage: BUG Control, Karn Forge Workshop, Dredge, Paradoxical Outcome, Survival, Jeskai, Oath, and so on. But aside from the “new standbys” of the format, by looking closely at some of the decklists we see some very interesting choices, and very creative decks!
In sixth place we see an astonishingly greedy and astonishingly awesome Paradoxical Outcome deck sporting all five colors, including some interesting main deck choices like Leovold, Emissary of Trest, and Teferi, Time Reveler. Mox Opal is doing even more work than normal in this deck to sport such an aggressive mix of colors, which is also no doubt aided by fewer Wastelands present in the current Vintage metagame (outside of BUG).
Takatoshi Kitano brought a clever Karn Petition Storm deck that is a feast for the mind, body, and soul. Sporting a Dark Petition Storm shell, and then maxing out on Karn, the Great Creator as another roadblock for the opponent, mixed with a powerful tutoring ability (fetching up bombs like Aetherflux Reservoir, Bolas’s Citadel, and Mycosynth Lattice), this is truly a mind melting work of art that took Kitano to the finals.
Speaking of the finals, this year’s Asia Vintage Champion was Futa Tanigawa, rocking a Pitch Dredge deck with all of the normal technology (the sole Dredge deck in the Top 16).
Image courtesy of WotC JP
Last year’s reigning Asia Vintage Champion returned this year with a narrowly focused and tailored Karn Forge Workshop combo deck, and once again reached the Top 8 elimination rounds, but this time fell in the semifinals.
In the Top 16 there were two copies of Black-Green TurboDepths imports from Legacy, but the most interesting one was a Depths-Hogaak fusion that melded the explosive power of Stitcher’s Supplier-fueled Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis with the Depths-Stage-Hexmage package. It is a unique brew borrowing concepts from Vintage, Legacy, and Modern, so be sure to check out Ryo Takahashi’s 14th place deck below.
The Top 16 decks indicate a varied field, but one where BUG is the de facto blue aggro control strategy, neutralizing the seemingly alarming threat of Karn Forge Workshop domination just a few weeks ago. Dredge lurks nearby as always, grabbing victories here and there, while other interesting strategies keep mutating and bubbling to the surface in an undoubtedly crazy Vintage environment. Be sure to check out all of the sweet decklists and coverage videos and links below. Vintage is an explosive and constantly changing place right now.
Top 8 Playoff Bracket
Quarterfinals
1 Naoto Kusagawa (BUGR) vs. 8 Jumonji Ryo (Karn Forge Workshop) – Ryo wins
2 Hiroki Kato (BUG) vs. 7 Cheson Yip (KarnDrazi) – Kato wins
3 Kohei Takatori (Outcome 5C) vs. 6 Futa Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge) – Tanikawa wins
4 Takatoshi Kitano (Karn Petition Storm) vs. 5 Sotaro Shinbo (BUG) – Kitano wins
Semifinals
4 Takatoshi Kitano (Karn Petition Storm) vs. 8 Jumonji Ryo (Karn Forge Workshop) – Kitano wins 2-1
2 Hiroki Kato (BUG) vs. 6 Futa Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge) – Tanikawa wins
Finals
4 Takatoshi Kitano (Karn Petition Storm) vs. 6 Futa Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge) – Tanikwa wins 2-1!
Image courtesy of WotC JP
Top 16 Decklists
We do not have access to every physical decklist from this event like we sometimes have for other large events, but due to the tireless efforts of the Japanese coverage team, we do have the Top 16 decklists, presented in order of finish below. Note here that a few of the decklists from the original coverage are incorrect (such as Putrid Imp instead of Stinkweed Imp, and Ancient Grudge instead of Ancient Tomb in some lists, for example). We believe these are the corrected final lists below. For any further corrections please email us at eternal.central@gmail.com.
Dredge (Pitch Dredge), by Futa Tanigawa – 1st Place
Karn Petition Storm, by Takatoshi Kitano – 2nd Place
BUG, by Hiroki Kato – 3rd Place
Karn Forge Workshop, by Jumonji Ryo – 4th Place
BUGR, by Naoto Kusagawa – 5th Place
Outcome 5C, by Kohei Takatori – 6th Place
BUG, by Sotaro Shinbo – 7th Place
KarnDrazi, by Cheson Yip – 8th Place
Survival GBUW, by Kenji Yoshida – 9th Place
BUG, by Masayoshi Watanabe – 10th Place
Karn Forge Workshop, by Chisato Narita – 11th Place
TurboDepth BG, by Sho Ogasawara – 12th Place
Mono Red Prison, by Yoshiharu Furuyama – 13th Place
Hogaak TurboDepths BG, by Ryo Takahashi – 14th Place
Dreadhorde Arcanist Jeskai, by Naoaki Oka – 15th Place
Oath, by Fumiya Kondo – 16th Place
| Business (39) 4 Force of Will 4 Mental Misstep 2 Flusterstorm 2 Spell Snare 3 Pyroblast 3 Abrade 1 Gitaxian Probe 4 Preordain 1 Ponder 1 Brainstorm 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Time Walk 4 Narset, Parter of Veils 1 Dig Through Time 1 Gaea’s Blessing 4 Oath of Druids 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun 1 Griselbrand Mana Sources (21) 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Emerald 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Pearl 1 Mox Ruby 1 Mox Sapphire 4 Forbidden Orchard 2 Polluted Delta 1 Flooded Strand 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Misty Rainforest 3 Volcanic Island 2 Tropical Island 1 Island | Sideboard (15) 2 Blazing Archon 2 Surgical Extraction 3 Nature’s Claim 1 Pyroblast 3 Null Rod 4 Ravenous Trap |
Video Coverage Roundup
Here are the round by round feature matches on YouTube that you can watch, starting with Round 3 and going through the Finals.
Round 3 Feature Match, Meguro (Jeskai) vs. Suzuike (TurboDepths BG)
Round 4 Feature Match, ? (Survival GUW) vs. Ryo (Karn Forge Workshop)
Round 5 Feature Match, Oka (Dreadhorde Arcanist Jeskai) vs. Kato (BUG)
Round 6 Feature Match, Yip (KarnDrazi) vs. ? (Mono Red Prison)
Round 7 Feature Match, Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge) vs. ? (Mono Red Prison)
Round 8 Feature Match, ? (BUGR) vs. Ryo (Karn Forge Workshop)
Quarterfinals, Shinbo (BUG) vs. Ryo (Karn Forge Workshop)
Semifinals, Kato (BUG) vs. Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge)
Finals, Kitano (Karn Petition Storm) vs. Tanigawa (Pitch Dredge)
Tournament and Coverage Report Roundup
As tournament reports from the event slowly filter in around the web, we’ll add links to them below.
– Jumonji Ryo with Karn Forge Workshop (4th)
– Round 1 written coverage, Naruki Takano vs. Jumonji Ryo
– Round 5 written coverage, Uehara Ko vs. Sado Umi
– Round 8 written coverage, Naoto Kusagawa vs. Kenji Yoshida
– Finals written coverage, Futa Tanigawa vs. Takatoshi Kitano
– Vintage Metagame Breakdown
– Top 8 Player Profiles written coverage
– BigMagic Asia Eternal Weekend coverage
For any corrections, comments, follow up, or to send us any action shots to add to this report (or to submit your own written tournament report for publication), please email