Much has been made of Magic's 30th anniversary over the past year and change. And for good reason of course—Magic's rich history makes the game what it is, and I believe that's especially true for the Pro Tour and other high-level competitive events.

Speaking of which, it was an incredible year for us on the Pro Tour, which returned to those historical roots last year in a way that felt half like a reunion as the world's best celebrated a return to the PT stage—and it all culminated in a storybook ending for World Champion Jean-Emmanuel Depraz.

It's going to be a busy 2024 for competitive Magic. We made our way through a three-month Regional Championship season to close out 2023, and now we're just a month out from Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor at MagicCon: Chicago. We've been deeply invested in the wild gyrations of the Pioneer format while crowning 12 Regional Champions in 12 weeks (we barely knew you, Geological Appraiser); but for those playing the qualifier circuit, attention now turns to Standard and the impact of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

Things have changed quite a bit since we saw midrange decks battle against Domain Ramp builds at the World Championship. Mono-Red Aggro has emerged as it always somehow does, and the addition of viable aggro decks has sent things into disarray—even Toxic decks featuring Crawling Chorus are making waves right now. With a proven sweeper in Sunfall and a finisher in Atraxa, Grand Unifier, the Domain decks are where Standard starts but far from where the story ends.

On that note, make sure you check out my column mate (and Pro Tour Hall of Famer) Frank Karsten's Metagame Mentor. This week's edition has all the latest details you need to jump ahead of the Standard curve. You can expect to find the latest metagame developments alongside The Week That Was every week here on the mothership.

It's undoubtedly an exciting time as Magic moves fully into its third decade and we look toward its future. But even as Magic grows, evolves, and we slam The One Ring into Orcish Bowmasters, Magic's past is always woven into the game. And for at least one memorable weekend every year, that past is on full display.

The Magic of Eternal Weekend

"I've loved Legacy for as long as I can remember, there's something alluring about wielding the strongest cards and the most refined strategies," format enthusiast Cass Lynn explained. "Eternal Weekend was always a big part of that."

It seems fitting that Magic's 30th year wrapped up with the one tournament every year in Europe and North America where you can play with cards printed in any one of those 30 years—including the fabled Power 9. If you walked up and down the aisles at Eternal Weekend last month, you'd see Black Lotus run into Tolarian Academy and Force of Will fight Grindstone (and even a few Comet, Stellar Pup). The event comes with unique versions of popular cards, and it's a calendar date to circle every year for dedicated fans like Lynn, whose hard work paid off with a Top 8 appearance with Cradle Control in the Legacy main event.

Fourth seed into top 8!
Top 8ing an eternal weekend with my pet deck is a dream come true.
Three more matches.

— Cass (@DevotedDruid) December 10, 2023

"A full weekend showcasing the coolest stuff Magic has to offer and crowning two champions, what more could we ask for?" Lynn explained. "My area, the DMV [DC, Maryland and Virginia], has a super strong Legacy scene, and I had spent the last six months testing at my local shop with the Eternal Weekend 2022 champion Jay Wojciechowski and the entirety of the northern Virginia Legacy scene. I felt more prepared for this event than I had ever been before. I firmly believe that nobody wins a tournament by themselves, and the people you surround yourself with are just as important as the work you put in."

Lynn's hard work paid off with a semifinal's appearance on the self-described pet deck of Cradle Control. And Lynn wasn't the only Virginia-area competitor who benefitted from the vigorous testing regimen—half of the Legacy Top 8 hailed from the region, including champion TK Strachan.

While the Legacy Top 8 was filled with familiar faces, the decks themselves had some completely unexpected card choices. To wit, Strachan's Beanstalk Control featured a full set of Up the Beanstalk alongside Leyline Binding and Triumph of Saint Katherine to easily trigger it.

Strachan's deck is a wonderful blend of Magic's history and its most recent additions. I don't think anyone had Up the Beanstalk on their list of most impactful Legacy cards just a few months ago. Strachan proved that even as we enter year 31, things at the highest levels of play fundamentally haven't changed: those who can best adapt will succeed. That's what we saw when we watched teams pilot Legacy decks at Pro Tour 25th Anniversary six years ago, and Strachan's victory in Pittsburgh proved that the more eternal Magic changes, the more it stays the same.

Congrats to your 2023 NA Legacy Champion, TK Strachan!#eternalweekend pic.twitter.com/I5lBkTt1en

— CardTitan.com (@Card_Titan) December 11, 2023

Eternal Weekend didn't stop there. Sure, casting a Swords to Plowshares feels great. But how about casting a Mox Pearl?

That's exactly what Anthony Valentine did en route to the title on the Vintage side of things.

Displacer Kitten meets Time Walk; there's absolutely nothing in Magic like watching Vintage decks go head-to-head, and Eternal Weekend is the event that brings that community together.

Congrats to your 2023 NA Vintage Champion, Anthony Valentine!#eternalweekend pic.twitter.com/0vUsXwqpzQ

— CardTitan.com (@Card_Titan) December 11, 2023

Valentine's run to the title came against a gauntlet of the most iconic decks in Vintage: he dropped just one match all weekend, to Peter Coloyan's Paradoxical Outcome combo draw—a loss he went on to avenge in the semifinals. Along the way, he knocked off Mono-White Initiative featuring White Plume Adventurer and Seasoned Dungeoneer from Commander Legends: Battle for Baldur's Gate, Hollow One/Vengevine, the classic Oath of Druids, and the not-as-classic Bolas's Citadel combo.

With nearly 1,500 competitors between just the main Legacy and Vintage events, Eternal Weekend 2023 showcased a vibrant community embracing Magic in the many ways it is played.

Looking Ahead

The next way Pro Tour competitors will play Magic is in Pioneer, with the release of Murders at Karlov Manor next month. That will set the final stage for the PT field at MagicCon: Chicago on Feb. 23-25.

And competitors are going to need the next six weeks to figure out Pioneer—the format proved unsolvable outside of perhaps the release weekend of The Lost Caverns of Ixalan. Now the best teams in the world are going to put Pioneer through its paces, and I think there's a pretty good chance that whatever metagame emerges at the Pro Tour will look much different than what we saw at the nearly 1,400-person Regional Championship in Atlanta last month.

The countdown to the first Pro Tour of 2024 and the future of Magic is on—and so is the countdown to the next Eternal Weekend.