Vintage Doomsday Analysis for Eternal Weekend 2020
- Eric
- 0
- on Oct 29, 2020
Wizards gave us the top sixteen deck lists for the three Eternal Weekend tournaments held on Magic Online this year. While more data would be lovely, here is a comparison of the five Doomsday lists that made the top 16 in all five tournaments. Worth noting is that four of them were Top 8, one Top 16 and one the winner.
First, let's take a look at the lists.
Main Decks
EW Academy - WORLDGORGER974 (3RD PLACE)
Creatures (5) 3 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (13) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 1 Duress 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk Instants (24) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Dark Ritual 2 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 3 Flusterstorm 1 Force of Negation 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Peek 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (14) 2 Flooded Strand 2 Island 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Polluted Delta 2 Scalding Tarn 4 Underground Sea Artifacts (3) 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (15) 1 Duress 1 Eliminate 3 Hurkyl's Recall 4 Leyline of the Void 1 Mindbreak Trap 2 Steel Sabotage 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
EW Academy - CHERRYXMAN (6TH PLACE)
Creatures (6) 4 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (14) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 1 Duress 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise Instants (22) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Dark Ritual 2 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 2 Flusterstorm 1 Force of Negation 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (14) 3 Flooded Strand 1 Island 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Polluted Delta 2 Scalding Tarn 4 Underground Sea Artifacts (3) 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (15) 1 Island 1 Duress 1 Flusterstorm 1 Feed the Swarm 3 Leyline of the Void 4 Steel Sabotage 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
EW Alexandria - GERSCHI (2ND PLACE)
Creatures (5) 3 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (14) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 2 Duress 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk Instants (22) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Dark Ritual 2 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 3 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (14) 2 Flooded Strand 1 Misty Rainforest 4 Polluted Delta 1 Scalding Tarn 1 Snow-Covered Island 1 Snow-Covered Swamp 4 Underground Sea Artifacts (4) 1 Black Lotus 1 Lotus Petal 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (15) 1 Flusterstorm 1 Cavern of Souls 2 Eliminate 1 Gurmag Angler 2 Hurkyl's Recall 2 Leyline of the Void 1 Mindbreak Trap 3 Steel Sabotage 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
EW Workshop - ECOBARONEN (1ST PLACE)
Creatures (4) 2 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (13) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise Instants (24) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 4 Dark Ritual 3 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 4 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Peek 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (14) 2 Flooded Strand 1 Island 2 Misty Rainforest 2 Polluted Delta 2 Scalding Tarn 4 Underground Sea 1 Watery Grave Artifacts (4) 1 Black Lotus 1 Lotus Petal 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (15) 1 Island 2 Fatal Push 1 Hurkyl's Recall 2 Mystical Dispute 4 Steel Sabotage 2 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 3 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
EW Workshop - THIIM (9TH PLACE)
Creatures (5) 3 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (16) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 2 Duress 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Merchant Scroll 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk 1 Treasure Cruise Instants (22) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 1 Chain of Vapor 4 Dark Ritual 1 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 2 Flusterstorm 1 Force of Negation 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Dispute 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (12) 1 Island 1 Misty Rainforest 4 Polluted Delta 1 Scalding Tarn 4 Underground Sea 1 Verdant Catacombs Artifacts (4) 1 Black Lotus 1 Lotus Petal 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (15) 1 Bloodchief's Thirst 1 Fatal Push 1 Gurmag Angler 2 Hurkyl's Recall 1 Karakas 2 Leyline of the Void 2 Steel Sabotage 1 Surgical Extraction 1 Swamp 1 Tasigur, the Golden Fang 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
Vintage means lots of one-of, and with a combo deck like Doomsday we tend to have a fairly solidified core. Let's take a look at this "core" of the main decks. That is, any card that was at least a one-of in all of them.
The Core
Creatures (4) 2 Street Wraith 2 Thassa's Oracle Sorceries (12) 1 Demonic Tutor 4 Doomsday 1 Gitaxian Probe 1 Ponder 4 Preordain 1 Time Walk Instants (19) 1 Ancestral Recall 1 Brainstorm 4 Dark Ritual 1 Daze 1 Demonic Consultation 1 Dig Through Time 2 Flusterstorm 4 Force of Will 1 Gush 1 Mental Misstep 1 Mystical Tutor 1 Vampiric Tutor | Lands (12) 7 Fetch Lands 1 Island (Snow) 4 Underground Sea Artifacts (3) 1 Black Lotus 1 Mox Jet 1 Mox Sapphire Enchantments (1) 1 Necropotence Sideboard (4) 2 Steel Sabotage 2 The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale |
Fifty-one cards are core to these decks, giving about nine flex slots. Fetches were grouped together and Snow or not doesn't matter for Doomsday. It is worth noting Thiim ran one Verdant Catacombs but interestingly it was Gerschi with the Snow-Covered Swamp. Thiim did have a Swamp in their sideboard, but we'll get to those later. Thiim's list throws this off a bit because of their running of 12 lands main.
Anyway, let's look at these nine flex slots.
Cherryxman's Flex Slots
Draw (3) 2 Street Wraith 1 Treasure Cruise Discard (1) 1 Duress Bounce (1) 1 Chain of Vapor Counter (2) 1 Daze 1 Force of Negation Mana (2) 2 Fetch Lands |
Worldgorger974's Flex Slots
Draw (2) 1 Street Wraith 1 Peek Discard (1) 1 Duress Bounce (1) 1 Chain of Vapor Counter (3) 1 Daze 1 Flusterstorm 1 Force of Negation Mana (2) 1 Island 1 Fetch Land |
Gerschi's Flex Slots
Draw (1) 1 Street Wraith Discard (2) 2 Duress Bounce (1) 1 Chain of Vapor Counter (2) 1 Daze 1 Flusterstorm Mana (3) 1 Lotus Petal 1 Snow-Covered Swamp 1 Fetch Land |
ecobaronen's Flex Slots
Draw (2) 1 Treasure Cruise 1 Peek Counter (4) 2 Daze 2 Flusterstorm Mana (3) 1 Lotus Petal 1 Watery Grave 1 Fetch Land |
Thiim's Flex Slots
Draw (2) 1 Street Wraith 1 Treasure Cruise Discard (2) 2 Duress Bounce (1) 1 Chain of Vapor Search (1) 1 Merchant Scroll Counter (2) 1 Force of Negation 1 Mystical Dispute Mana (1) 1 Lotus Petal |
Let's take a look at what kind of flex slots we encountered here. I think breaking them down into six slots (Draw, Discard, Bounce, Search, Counter and Mana) is fair. Street Wraith beats are not unheard of but I still think it's fair to put in in place with Peek and Treasure Cruise.
Type | Cherryxman | Worldgorger974 | Gerschi | ecobaronen | Thiim |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Draw | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Search | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Discard | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Bounce | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Counter | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
Mana | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
If we think of Discard, Bounce and Counter as forms of interaction we see almost everyone with 4 pieces of interaction. Lumping Search with Draw would give us a about 2 or 3 except for Gerschi, who was on an extra piece of interaction and mana. Thiim's deck seems to be the most different from the rest.
Sideboards
Sideboarding comes down a lot to personal preference and what the expected meta is. That said, in Vintage it is fair to assume Bazaar, Shops, Xerox, DRS, and Combo matchups. (Wasteland/Hatebears might also be a solid consideration as well.) Here's how I'd consider each piece.
Bazaar
Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Bloodchief's Thirst, Feed the Swarm, Fatal Push, Surgical Extraction, Leyline of the Void, The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale
Shops
Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Bloodchief's Thirst, Duress, Feed the Swarm, Eliminate, Hurkyl's Recall, Steel Sabotage, Island, Karakas, Swamp
Xerox
Bloodchief's Thirst, Duress, Feed the Swarm, Eliminate, Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, Mystical Dispute, Fatal Push, Cavern of Souls, Karakas
DRS
Gurmag Angler, Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Bloodchief's Thirst, Duress, Feed the Swarm, Eliminate, Flusterstorm, Mystical Dispute, Fatal Push, Cavern of Souls, Island, Karakas, Swamp
Combo
Duress, Feed the Swarm, Flusterstorm, Mindbreak Trap, Mystical Dispute, Surgical Extraction, Cavern of Souls
Type | Cherryxman | Worldgorger974 | Gerschi | ecobaronen | Thiim |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bazaar | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
Shops | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 8 |
Xerox | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
DRS | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
Combo | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
This is obviously a contestable part of the data, entirely based on what you count as what for what. That's a sentence. Still, it seems even using these standards most players had about the same range of cards. Plenty for Bazaar and Shops with a fair amount of cards for the rest, making sure to do double (or triple) duty where possible.
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