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By: Pyrosin, Matt Rossi
Jan 24 2009 9:22am
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2008 Year in Review

Shuuhei Nakamura's Road to Victory

The 2008 Season is finished.  But before we move on to 2009, I thought it might be fun to look back on the year of competitive Magic and follow Shuuhei Nakamura's path to his Player of the Year title.

A harbinger of things to come.

Grand Prix Stuttgart

The 2008 season started in 2007, a week after Worlds at GP Stuttgart, where things couldn't have started any better for Shuuhei.  This was a Lorwyn limited event, and Shuuhei was the last person to sneak into the Top 8 by having the best tiebreakers out of the 3 players on 37 points.  He then proceeded to draft a  Treefolk/Merfolk deck splashing for both Eyeblight's Ending and Oblivion Ring that took him all the way to the finals where he defeated Robert van Medevoort and captured the first GP title of the year.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 8
Total Pro Points to date: 8
1st Place, +2 to Robert van Medevoort

 Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur

There were no events in January as it was time for the release of Morningtide, where class mattered.  But Moringtide really didn't get its day in the Sun until the middle of February when PT Kuala Lumpur rolled around.  That's where we got to see 15 rounds of LLM booster draft.  Nakamura stumbled out of the gates with a 5-4 record to begin the tournament before going 5-1 in the last two drafts to finish in 41st.

But of course, the story of this the tournament was Jon Finkel, who used his Hall of Famer exemption to take a little trip to Malaysia, where he made his 12th Pro Tour Top 8 and has his third win with a tight Kithkin deck featuring 4 Kinsbaile Skirmishers and some all-important  removal spells from the new set.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 5
Total Pro Points to date: 13
6th Place, -12 to Jon Finkel

 
Kinsbaile Skirmisher

 
Sensei

 Grand Prix Vancouver

This is where the Road Warrior in Shuuhei Nakamura started to come out as he crossed an ocean to get to Vancouver, Canada for the next Extended GP on the schedule.  Sitting in 5th after Day One, Nakamura faded to a 29th place finish, picking up 2 more points in the process.

In the end, this GP was all about Paul Cheon and his Next Level Blue deck with Sensei's Diving Top and Counterbalance.  The consensus best deck in the format was believed to be Dredge, but everyone had hated it out of existence with Tormod's Crypt and Leyline of the Void.  The masses had yet to fully figure out the power of Bitterblossom, which meant that the best two drop in the format was still Tarmogoyf.  And so it was that the 6/7 for 1 backed up with counter magic was good enough for Cheon to defeat Ben Lundquist in the finals who had a  Tron deck that featured Gifts Ungiven to get a Mindslaver lock with Academy Ruins.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 2
Total Pro Points to date: 15
6th Place, -10 to Jon Finkel

 Grand Prix Shizuoka

GP Shizuoka was the first Standard event to take place since the release of Morningtide.  Nakamura didn't have such a good Day One, going 5-3 (2-3 excluding byes), missing Day Two, and finishing in 233rd.

Instead it was Olivier Ruel that made it all the way to the finals before losing to Yuuta Takahashi.  While the talk going in was about the crazy combos with Reveillark and Body Double, it was the tribal enchantment and Faeries that stole the show.  Takahashi and Ruel's builds were still clunky, sporty cards like Pestermite and Notorious Throng, but people quickly learned that turn two Bitterblossom could just win a lot of games on its own.  Fun fact:  this was Olivier Ruel's 22nd GP Top 8 making him the all time leader in this category. 

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 15
6th Place, -10 to Jon Finkel

 
Bitterblossom

 
Golgari Grave-Troll

 Grand Prix Vienna and Grand Prix Philadelphia

There were two Extended GPs on this weekend, one in Vienna and the other Philadelphia.  Shuuhei was in Austria, where he was playing a combo deck with Balancing Act, Erratic Explosion, and Draco.  He went 6-3 and missed out again on Day Two. 

The focal point of these two tournaments was Dredge.  After Vancouver, the metagames at both tournaments had decided to stop filling half their sideboards with graveyard hate, which was fine for Philly, since hardly anyone played Dredge and we had a very diverse Top 8 with 8 different archetypes, of which Gerard Fabiano came out on top of with his  Rock deck.  But in Vienna, they came packing the Dredge.  It made up 17% of the Day Two field and half of the Top 8 slots.  But in the end it was Mateusz Kopec with his version of the Next Level Blue deck (still with a sideboard chock-full of graveyard hate) that ruled the day.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 15
6th Place, -10 to Jon Finkel

 Grand Prix Brussels

This was the tournament where we got our first look at Shadowmoor limited; the set that showed us how much fun hybrid mana really is.  It's also the set that showed us that people will play creature enchantments if you make them ridiculous enough.  Yeah, remember that first time you got Silkbind Faerie with Steel of the Godhead in play?... good times.

So Nakamura went 7-2 on Day One with his sealed pool and missed Day Two on tiebreakers.  No points for you.  In the Top 8 we had an impressive group of French players including Gab Nassif, Raph Levy, and Antoine Ruel, but they were all defeated by Kamiel Cornelissen, who was able to successfully defend the home turf.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 15
7th Place, -10 to Jon Finkel

 

Steel of the Godhead

Pro Tour Hollywood Champion, Charles Gindy

 Pro Tour Hollywood

Pro Tour Hollywood was where the season really took off for Shuuhei Nakamura.  Piloting the Lorwyn-based  Elves deck, Nakamura made it all the way into the Top 8 where in the quarterfinals he defeated Paulo Vitor Dama da Rosa playing the only Faeries deck to make Top 8.  But the real star of the show was the other player in the Top 8 with Elves; Charles Gindy, who defeated Jan Ruess in the final to win PT Hollywood, giving the USA its second straight PT win.

Before we move on, I just wanted remind you of one of the diamonds in the rough of the event coverage: a deck tech with Hall of Famer Alan Comer and his Elf Grenade deck that would, unbeknownst to us, set the stage for the next PT in Berlin.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 16
Total Pro Points to date: 31
1st Place, +3 to Jon Finkel

 Grand Prix Birmingham

A week after seeing one tournament metagame dominated by Faeries, we had another metagame dominated by Faeries.  Only this time it was Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block constructed.  And a week after making Top 8 at the PT, Shuuehi Nakamura followed that up with a near miss, finishing 10th with said deck of the Fae.  Nakamura missed out on Top 8 this week due to a couple loses to the breakout deck of the tournament; Kithkin.

That's right, this tournament was White Weenie's coming out party where the world got its first true test of Spectral Procession into Windbrisk Heights, and found out that white decks could have card advantage too.  On this weekend it was Lee Shi Tian taking the little white guys all the way for the win. 

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 3
Total Pro Points to date: 34
1st Place, +6 to Jon Finkel

Spectral Procession
 

 
Silkbind Faerie

 Grand Prix Indianapolis

The next event on the schedule was the first among the GP Summer Series, which were Grand Prix events that paid out more money and more pro points in an attempt to compensate for the removal of a fourth PT event.  This was another Shadowmoor limited tournament, and for Shuuhei Nakamura it wasn't a very good one.  He went 6-3, missed Day Two and finished 141st.

The big prize went to Jelger Wiegersma, who steamrolled the Top 8 with his double Silkbind Faerie, double Power of Fire deck.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 34
1st Place, +6 to Jon Finkel

 Grand Prix Buenos Aires

GP Buenos Aires was the tournament where Shuuhei Nakamura and his buddy Tomoharu Saito busted out the new mono red deck that would later come to be known as Demigod Aggro.  The power of the big hasty flyer with Magus of the Moon put a hurt on a field of  Faeries and  Elves decks filled with tribal and man-lands as both players made Top 32. 

Olivier Ruel made his second Top 8 of the year, but at the end of the day it was Brazilian Fransico Braga that took home the trophy with his  Elves deck defeating Felipe Alves Pellegrini's Pyromancer's Swath deck in the finals.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 2
Total Pro Points to date: 36
1st Place, +8 to Jon Finkel

Demigod of Revenge
 

 

 Grand Prix Madrid

GP Madrid marked the release of Eventide with a limited event.  Nakamura hadn't figured out the enemy hybrids yet as he missed Day Two finishing in 357th.  On this weekend, the winner was Lasse Nørgaard with a devastating  deck full of nasty removal like Incremental Blight and Gloomlance

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 36
1st Place, +7 to Mario Pascoli

 Grand Prix Kobe

This was the tournament where Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block constructed met the little one-drop Kithkin that could.  There was so much excitement for Figure of Destiny that it actually overtook Faeries as the most popular deck of the tournament.  But nothing could stop Yuuta Takahashi from taking his second GP of the year, once again with Faeries.

Shuuhei Nakamura brought a whole new concoction with a deck I like to refer to as his "Wizards" build.  This was one of only a handful of successful tribal decks that focused its synergy more around a class instead of a creature type.  On this its debut weekend, Nakamura finished 56th, earning himself 1 point.  But on the same weekend, Oliver Ruel finished 2nd in the France National Championship closing the gap in the PotY race down to 3 Points. 

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 1
Total Pro Points to date: 37
1st Place, +3 to Oliver Ruel

 
Figure of Destiny

Next on the schedule was Grand Prix Denver, which amazingly Nakamura did not play in.  The winner of this Lowryn-Shadowmoor Block constructed event was Gerry Thomspon with a Quick'n Toast control deck, not Kithkin or Faeries.

 

Nakamura, relieved to reach the Semis.

 Grand Prix Copenhagen

GP Copenhagen once again found Shuuhei Nakamura in the Top 8 of a Standard event with  Elves where he defeated Guillaume Wafo-Tapa in the Quarterfinals before losing to eventual winner David Larsson and Demigod Aggro deck.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 6
Total Pro Points to date: 43
1st Place, +9 to Olivier Ruel

 Grand Prix Manila

It was back to Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block, which meant it was back to "Wizards" for Shuuhei, with the deck now splashing  for everyone's favorite "Wizard" Chameleon Colossus.  This iteration did even better for him, as Nakamura got another Top 16, in 13th, extending his lead over the field.

The Top 8 came down to a battle between Faerie and Kithkin decks, and on this occasion it was Kithkin's turn with Sugaya Hironobu being the last one standing.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 3
Total Pro Points to date: 46
1st Place, +12 to Olivier Ruel

 
Chameleon Colossus

 

He may have not won the GP, but this runner-up finish all but wrapped up the PotY

 Grand Prix Rimini

Continuing his trend of improving with the "Wizards" deck at each turn, Nakamura made yet another Top 8, this time making it all the way to the finals before losing to Emanuele Giusti and his Kithkin. 

Being the final Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block event, this was also the last hurrah for Nakamura's Wizards deck, which never caught on in the format, even though in his three tournaments with it, he went 56th, 13th, & 2nd, earning 10 Pro points and all but clinching the PotY.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 6
Total Pro Points to date: 52
1st Place, +16 to Olivier Ruel

 Japan Nationals

At Japan Nationals, Shuuhei was looking to make his Nationals team in order to match his closest competitor, Olivier Ruel.  Nakamura went with his tried and true  Elves for the Standard portion of the event.  He was able to hang near the top for most of the event, but ended up 18th, which at a Nationals events gets you nothing in terms of Pro Points.  That meant once they got to Worlds, Ruel would have a chance to pick up points in the team competition and Shuuhei would not.

As would be expected, the resulting Japanese National Team was a very strong one; featuring Takakuwa Akihiro, reigning Rookie of the Year Yuuta Watanabe, and a man with 5 PT Top 8's Masahi Oiso.  Folks would be anticipating big things from this group once they reached Memphis.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 0
Total Pro Points to date: 52
1st Place, +16 to Olivier Ruel

 

 

 Grand Prix Paris and Grand Prix Kansas City

It was release weekend for Shards of Alara, which meant simultaneous Limited GPs in Europe and North America, where in Paris a record setting 1839 people showed up to play.  One of those 1839 was Shuuhei Nakamura, who was near the top of the standings the entire weekend but finished 19th, one position in front of Olivier Ruel.  At the final tables,on this the first weekend of Shards, both titles were captured by Jund decks in the hands of Arjan van Leeuwen and Tim Landale.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 2
Total Pro Points to date: 54
1st Place, +16 to Olivier Ruel

 

 Pro Tour Berlin

With the additions of Wild Nacatl and Figure of Destiny everyone was expecting Zoo to dominate the new Extended format.  That is until they ran into the power of Nettle Sentinel.  This untapping one drop, when combined with Alan Comer's Elf Grenade engine from PT Hollywood, made possible one of the silliest combo decks we've seen come along in some time; with many games ending in a Turn 2 or Turn 3 kill. 

Nakamura and Ruel once again had decent finishes of 42nd and 44th, but the big gainers on this weekend were Tomoharu Saito and Luis Scott-Vargas, who both made Top 8 with their versions of the Elves! combo deck.  In fact, the Elves! deck took up 6 of the spots in the Top 8, with 4 in the Top 4.  But among all those Elves! decks, only LSV's was set up for the mirror, allowing him to win the first Pro Tour event of his career.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 5
Total Pro Points to date: 59
1st Place, +15 to Tomoharu Saito

 
Nettle Sentinel

 

Grand Prix Atlanta, Grand Prix Okayama, Grand Prix Taipei, and Grand Prix Auckland

Between PT Berlin and Worlds, there were four Grand Prixs, all of which were Shards of Alara Limited.  By this time everyone had figured out that  was getting overdrafted at almost every table, and so we saw a string of Epser and Bant decks taking charge at the Top 8 tables.  LSV backed up his PT Berlin win in Extended with a Limited title the next week in Atlanta playing Esper.  Former World Champ Makihito Mihara won the following week in Okayama also with Esper.  Then it was Shu Komura  in Taipei, and Dominic Lo in Auckland both with Bant that took the titles. 

Olivier Ruel made Top 8 in two of the last four events, but exits in the Quarters of both meant he was unable to made up any major ground on Nakamura, who had two Top 16s and one Top 32 and picked up 8 points along the same stretch.

Nakamura's Tournament Pro Points: 2, 3, 0, & 3
Total Pro Points to date: 67
1st Place, +14 to Olivier Ruel

Worlds

So it all came down to this.  Shuuhei Nakamura's 14 point lead meant that the only way he could lose the PotY was for Ruel, LSV, or Saito to win Worlds.  Both Ruel and LSV had nice runs through parts of Day Three that gave them a chance at Top 8, but Ruel faded away and LSV finished 11th, one point away, thereby cementing the title for Shuuhei Nakamura.  As for Nakamura, he had a mediocre Day One with Standard that left him in a hole for the tournament that he couldn't dig himself out of.  But in the end, the 114th place finish didn't matter, because Shuuhei Nakamura was the 2008 Magic the Gathering Player of the Year. 

At that point the focus shifted squarely toward the individual and team championships, where there was an epic match between Team USA and Team Japan in the Semifinals, ending in a US win.  Then in the finals, Team USA defeated Australia, giving the USA 3 Pro Tour and 1 Team championship for the year.  There was also an improbable run by Jamie Parke in the individual Top 8 where he took a Cruel Control deck that only went 2-4 on Day One of the tournament and made it all the way to finals before losing to Antti Malin playing of course... Faeries.

Tournament Pro Points: 3
Total Pro Points: 70
1st Place
Final Margin: +12
over Olivier Ruel
& Luis Scott-Vargas

 
 

So there it is... 21 GPs, 3 PTs, 1 National Championship, and 1 World Championship.  Of all of them, Shuuhei Nakamura only missed three North American GPs, and on two of those weekends he was at European ones instead.  Out of those 20 GPs he attended, Nakamura earned 41 points, or about 2 points per GP.  That would mean he averaged better than a Top 32 every week in fields that normally ranged anywhere between 600 to 1400 participants.  He had 3 Grand Prix and 1 Pro Tour Top 8 in total (1 Limited, 1 Block Constructed, & 2 Standard).  Impressive, most impressive. 

2 Comments

What does this have to do by Anonymous (not verified) at Mon, 01/26/2009 - 11:54
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What does this have to do with mtgo?

My Guess by Rerepete at Tue, 01/27/2009 - 00:41
Rerepete's picture
4

I would guess that anything in the paper world will have an effect on the meta game online as well, albeit to a different degree.