Wandering Into Success and Winning 5 Promos at Eternals Weekend 2025
Written by Eric Ratkowski
For the past several years, I have attended Eternal Weekend (EW) North America (NA), registered Doomsday in Legacy, and had a good time playing competitive Magic with mediocre results. In 2025, I went to Pittsburgh and had the run of a lifetime.
As I’ve previously written, I felt a heavy dose of imposter syndrome later in the tournament — I wasn’t sure I was good enough to compete at that level. Beyond that, I didn’t understand how anyone could weather the storm of variance, watching incredible players losing early or petering out in the middle of the seemingly endless event.
In early 2025, Zac and Phil of Eternal Durdles began discussing a trip to Europe (EU) for EW. I can’t remember whether I invited myself or just joined the conversation, but when we started talking about lodging, it was intriguingly reasonable. Eventually, I committed. A trip to Italy was already part of my plans for the autumn, even as it was discovered that my partner was pregnant with twins and that we were buying and selling houses.
In the Magic world, Entomb and Nadu, Winged Wisdom were banned, and I received a generous offer to borrow Power to play Vintage in Europe. Nothing we do exists in a vacuum. Our community supports and nurtures us. This event, and my life, are no different.
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My partner, Isabel, in hiding due to my mention of her in my previous article, is a saint. Zac and Phil put this trip together, and their partners, Victoria and Mikayla, were welcoming and supportive of my presence on their European vacation. My friends Matt, Greg, Stephen, Andrew, Mike, and Paul proxied Vintage and helped me test at our local Pauper league. Gabe and Dave played Vintage games in a desperate attempt to give me a tiny bit of familiarity with the format. Thank you all, and a hundred others, who talked Magic or played games in the interim.
In Italy, gratitude to all the compatriots near and far who offered kind words and banter; most of all Paolo, and also Sahar, Parker, Callum, Andreas, Johan, Elmar, Lorenzo, James the Judge, Hans, Justin, Will, David, Runkor, and again, one hundred others. My opponents were universally skilled and polite; it was a privilege to compete with and against them.
The inimitable Maxtortion said something sagacious on a podcast after EW NA 2025: When thinking about outcomes and preparing mentally, he simply says, “I can win.” Not deserves, not should, not will — and also not won’t, can’t, or shouldn’t. This was my mantra as I headed to Europe. Following my success in North America, I felt Italy was somewhat of a freeroll. I expected nothing in Vintage, a format I play sparingly. With my trick deck banned, Legacy felt like the Wild West (Spaghetti Western reference intentional).
What to Play?
There was limited time to prepare for EW EU after Pittsburgh. I planned to play Doomsday in Vintage. The only Vintage events I’ve ever played were with the deck.
While the Vintage version of Doomsday gains access to many powerful cards, the fundamental heuristics hold true. There was a brief foray into Dimir Lurrus, but the tiny voice in the back of my head reminded me that I didn’t want to grind.
I have repeatedly seen the advantages of going quickly in long tournaments. This runs hand in hand with my self-perception as a player. I know I am not skilled at infinitely branching decision trees or playing for tiny edges over long resource battles. On the other hand, my strength lies in quick, intuitive decisions and precise execution. I knew in Vintage, every deck was capable of stupendously unfair openings, and it was essential to take advantage of a deck that could high-roll into that.
I’m no historical expert on Vintage Doomsday. Still, I watch decklists closely enough to have a comprehensive idea of their construction. Vintage decks are curious in that a high number of the cards are pretty much auto-includes: for non-Lurrus Doomsday, around 40.
Some orthodox ideas are solid: the second Thassa’s Oracle, several Street Wraiths, more cantrips, and parts of the disruption suite. I played Necropotence, which is not in every Doomsday deck. It was relevant once in the tournament — most often sacrificed to a counter-war to protect a future Doomsday. I played four Ponder and one Consider.
Other versions vary in the number of Ponder, Preordain, and Consider. With fetchlands, it is conventional wisdom that Ponder is the most effective. Needing a fifth, Consider offers minor utility against Orcish Bowmasters and Scrawling Crawler, as an instant.
I played a Lotus Petal to go faster and three Flusterstorm to counter opposing combos and the high number of pitch counters from Lurrus Control. I deviated from common lists in two small ways:
- I played three Street Wraith and one Edge of Autumn.
- Finally, I played three maindeck discard spells: two Thoughtseize and one Duress.
- These spells were spectacular throughout the tournament. Perhaps a crutch, they nonetheless helped me build piles and navigate a difficult format.
The sideboard was more conventional, with Hurkyl’s Recall for Prison Shops and Mystical Dispute as additional anti-control. Without much SqueeVine, I ditched The Tabernacle at Pendrell Vale. It’s really cool that Unable to Scream is a Vintage playable card, and they were the removal spell of choice, with one Snuff Out for Initiative.
As in Pittsburgh, I had no idea what I would play in Legacy. In the weeks leading up to EW EU, I played Turbo Doomsday, Tempo Doomsday, UB Post, and Golgari Pox. Since I had to travel with limited options, I left the country with Vintage Doomsday and Legacy Pox in my deck boxes. A small binder had the cards needed for Post and several variations of Doomsday, including a white splash for Teferi, Time Raveler, Swords to Plowshares, and fringe-playable Plains.
Across the Ocean
On Wednesday morning, I departed for Newark Airport. Anticipating long lines on the busiest travel day of the year in the US, I arrived at the airport five hours early. When I walked up to security, I was the only passenger in the room. First win!
I told the bored TSA agent, “This backpack has fragile trading cards in it; if you need to look inside, I’d be grateful if I could at least advise on the best way to open them.” The TSA agent replied, “What, like Yu-Gi-Oh?” I took my first loss.
The less said about the flight, the better. I hurriedly transferred in Vienna and landed in Florence in good order. With a few hours before I was set to meet the Eternal Durdles crew and an easy tram ride to the train station, I walked quickly to Il Duomo — just as impressive as my first visit in 2004.
Around noon, I found the American friends at the train station. We settled in for the lovely ride to Lucca. Eventually, Zac and I went to the hall to get the lay of the land, and Victoria, Mikayla, and Phil shopped and prepared Thanksgiving dinner. The food was fantastic, and again I am unbelievably grateful for the holiday meal. Exhausted from the travel, I crashed early.
Almost everything about EW EU was top-notch. I’ll lodge only two minor complaints in this report (I cannot stress the minor part enough): it was difficult to get transport to the venue from our Airbnb. On Friday morning, I walked briskly; it took about 40 minutes. The fresh air was good, though the roads were uncomfortable.
Once at the hall, my patron handed me some costly Magic cards. I clutched them protectively as I moved through the Paupergeddon crowd of 1,012 players. The sheer volume of eternal players was impressive all weekend. I sleeved up the Power and prepared to stumble my way through a Vintage tournament. The final count for players in the tournament was 236.
Round 1 — WW | Timo (Dredge)
On the play, my opponent revealed their strategy immediately with a Serum Powder. They played a Bazaar of Baghdad and activated it. On my turn, I cast Black Lotus, played Underground Sea, cast Dark Ritual, then Doomsday. I had Flusterstorm as well, and to cast it, I would need to crack Lotus. That would have prevented me from winning on the spot, but they had no interaction, and I won.
In game two