Vintage Doomsday Analysis for Eternal Weekend 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)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (13)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Duress
Gitaxian Probe
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk

Instants (24)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Chain of Vapor
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Negation
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Tutor
Peek
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (14)
Flooded Strand
Island
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Underground Sea

Artifacts (3)
Black Lotus
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (15)
Duress
Eliminate
Hurkyl's Recall
Leyline of the Void
Mindbreak Trap
Steel Sabotage
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

EW Academy - CHERRYXMAN (6TH PLACE)

Creatures (6)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (14)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Duress
Gitaxian Probe
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk
Treasure Cruise

Instants (22)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Chain of Vapor
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Negation
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (14)
Flooded Strand
Island
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Underground Sea

Artifacts (3)
Black Lotus
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (15)
Island
Duress
Flusterstorm
Feed the Swarm
Leyline of the Void
Steel Sabotage
Surgical Extraction
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

EW Alexandria - GERSCHI (2ND PLACE)

Creatures (5)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (14)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Duress
Gitaxian Probe
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk

Instants (22)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Chain of Vapor
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (14)
Flooded Strand
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Snow-Covered Island
Snow-Covered Swamp
Underground Sea

Artifacts (4)
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (15)
Flusterstorm
Cavern of Souls
Eliminate
Gurmag Angler
Hurkyl's Recall
Leyline of the Void
Mindbreak Trap
Steel Sabotage
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

EW Workshop - ECOBARONEN (1ST PLACE)

Creatures (4)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (13)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Gitaxian Probe
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk
Treasure Cruise

Instants (24)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Tutor
Peek
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (14)
Flooded Strand
Island
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Underground Sea
Watery Grave

Artifacts (4)
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (15)
Island
Fatal Push
Hurkyl's Recall
Mystical Dispute
Steel Sabotage
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale

EW Workshop - THIIM (9TH PLACE)

Creatures (5)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (16)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Duress
Gitaxian Probe
Merchant Scroll
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk
Treasure Cruise

Instants (22)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Chain of Vapor
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Negation
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Dispute
Mystical Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (12)
Island
Misty Rainforest
Polluted Delta
Scalding Tarn
Underground Sea
Verdant Catacombs

Artifacts (4)
Black Lotus
Lotus Petal
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (15)
Bloodchief's Thirst
Fatal Push
Gurmag Angler
Hurkyl's Recall
Karakas
Leyline of the Void
Steel Sabotage
Surgical Extraction
Swamp
Tasigur, the Golden Fang
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)
Street Wraith
Thassa's Oracle

Sorceries (12)
Demonic Tutor
Doomsday
Gitaxian Probe
Ponder
Preordain
Time Walk

Instants (19)
Ancestral Recall
Brainstorm
Dark Ritual
Daze
Demonic Consultation
Dig Through Time
Flusterstorm
Force of Will
Gush
Mental Misstep
Mystical Tutor
Vampiric Tutor
Lands (12)
Fetch Lands
Island (Snow)
Underground Sea

Artifacts (3)
Black Lotus
Mox Jet
Mox Sapphire

Enchantments (1)
Necropotence

Sideboard (4)
Steel Sabotage
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)
Street Wraith
Treasure Cruise

Discard (1)
Duress

Bounce (1)
Chain of Vapor

Counter (2)
Daze
Force of Negation

Mana (2)
Fetch Lands

Worldgorger974's Flex Slots

Draw (2)
Street Wraith
Peek

Discard (1)
Duress

Bounce (1)
Chain of Vapor

Counter (3)
Daze
Flusterstorm
Force of Negation

Mana (2)
Island
Fetch Land

Gerschi's Flex Slots

Draw (1)
Street Wraith

Discard (2)
Duress

Bounce (1)
Chain of Vapor

Counter (2)
Daze
Flusterstorm

Mana (3)
Lotus Petal
Snow-Covered Swamp
Fetch Land

ecobaronen's Flex Slots

Draw (2)
Treasure Cruise
Peek

Counter (4)
Daze
Flusterstorm

Mana (3)
Lotus Petal
Watery Grave
Fetch Land

Thiim's Flex Slots

Draw (2)
Street Wraith
Treasure Cruise

Discard (2)
Duress

Bounce (1)
Chain of Vapor

Search (1)
Merchant Scroll

Counter (2)
Force of Negation
Mystical Dispute

Mana (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.

TypeCherryxmanWorldgorger974GerschiecobaronenThiim
Draw32122
Search00001
Discard11202
Bounce11101
Counter23242
Mana22331

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

TypeCherryxmanWorldgorger974GerschiecobaronenThiim
Bazaar76558
Shops77868
Xerox33543
DRS42555
Combo42321

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.

Questions, comments, insults? Send all but the latter to me on Twitter.

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