Eternal Weekend is one of the most exciting weekends of the Magic year. The overwhelming majority of large events throughout the rest of the year highlight the exciement of newer cards in formats like Standard, Limited, and even Modern. Eternal Weekend, on the other hand, is a chance for us to see just how deep the game of Magic is, and what kind of things can happen when you push the limits of efficiency and degeneracy as far as they can go. With the big shakeups to the Banned and Restricted list just a few weeks ago, this particular event is even more exciting than usual. What was somewhat surprising is just how dominant Mishra's Workshop decks were, despite the recent restriction of Thorn of Amethyst:

Ravager Shops - Vintage | Rich Shay, Top 8 Eternal Weekend

• Creatures (27)
• 1 Lodestone Golem
• 3 Hangarback Walker
• 3 Phyrexian Metamorph
• 4 Arcbound Ravager
• 4 Foundry Inspector
• 4 Phyrexian Revoker
• 4 Steel Overseer
• 4 Walking Ballista

• Spells (15)
• 1 Black Lotus
• 1 Chalice of the Void
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mox Emerald
• 1 Mox Jet
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Ruby
• 1 Mox Sapphire
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Thorn of Amethyst
• 1 Trinisphere
• 4 Sphere of Resistance

• Lands (18)
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Tolarian Academy
• 4 Ancient Tomb
• 4 Mishra's Factory
• 4 Mishra's Workshop
• 4 Wasteland

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Dismember
• 4 Grafdigger’s Cage
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
• 3 Tormod’s Crypt
• 1 Witchbane Orb
• 3 Wurmcoil Engine

Buy This Deck

The big difference over the last couple of years has been that more powerful artifact creatures have been printed, allowing the deck to transition from a lockdown deck to a more aggressive deck. You don’t see nearly as many copies of Tangle Wire, Smokestack, Crucible of Worlds, and Uba Mask as you once did. Instead, you have a cohesive beatdown shell, featuring Foundry Inspector to help you get on the board quickly, as well as Hangarback Walker, Walking Ballista, and Steel Overseer. These cards team up to function as both mana sinks and synergistic engines that give you both aggressive pressure and resiliency to spot removal, sweepers, targeted removal, and reach.

When you combine this kind of powerful, flexible gameplan with the fact that, on the play, you can easily string together enough prison pieces to stop your opponent from ever casting a meaningful spell, you’ve got the recipe for a top tier deck.