Welcome to our final instalment of the Shuuhei Nakamura story. As 2005 began, for the first time Shuuhei was firmly established on the Pro Tour, and could look forward to appearances in Nagoya, Philadelphia, London, Atlanta and Los Angeles, and probably Worlds in Yokohama. The first of these was Pro Tour: Nagoya, where a 10-5 record sounds good , but was actually pretty frustrating. First he started out 4-0, and then, once all chance had gone at 6-5, reeled off another four wins to end the tournament. In Constructed, Grand Prix: Boston didn’t see him reach Day 2, although 2 of his 3 losses were to Antonino da Rosa and Josh Ravitz, no mugs. This event was significant, as it was the first time Shuuhei had moved outside his own Asia-Pacific area for Grand Prix, and that decision would ultimately lead to him attending more tournaments than any of his rivals en route to his 2008 Player of the Year. He did much better at the following North American Grand Prix, in Seattle, the home of Wizards of the Coast. With his now automatic three Byes, he accumulated a 12-2 record, good enough to make his 5th GP Top 8. Although American Ryan Cimura wasn’t a well-known name at the time, he was headed for a monumental fun at the forthcoming Pro Tour: Philadelphia. Shuuhei dispatched him in the Quarters, but couldn’t get past Taylor Putnam in the Semis, making it two losses on the weekend to Putnam, who defeated him in Round 5 the previous day. Grand Prix: Singapore rounded out the preparations for Philadelphia with a poor 1-3 record.
Pro Tour: Philadelphia was unique in the history of the PT for being a Skins tournament, where the money went up for every round that you won, but three losses was the end of the road. This was Kamigawa Block Constructed, and Shuuhei brought this:
Pro Tour: Philadelphia 2005
Shuuhei Nakamura
9 Forest
3 Island
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
3 Mountain
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
4 Tendo Ice Bridge
4 Godo, Bandit Warlord
3 Jugan, the Rising Star
4 Keiga, the Tide Star
4 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
2 Orochi Sustainer
4 Sakura-Tribe Elder
4 Honor-Worn Shaku
4 Kodama’s Reach
1 Konda’s Banner
3 Sensei’s Divining Top
1 Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang
4 Umezawa’s Jitte
Sideboard:
4 Glacial Ray
3 Hisoka’s Defiance
4 Kodama of the North Tree
4 Mindblaze
This was the infamous deck that featured Godo, Bandit Warlord and Tatsumasa, the Dragon’s Fang, a deck that had only come to prominence days before the event. Shuuhei piloted his way to 9 wins with the deck, which is impressive considering he started 1-2, where a single loss would eliminate him. Josh Ravitz, Eugene Levin and Akira Asahara were among the eight players he successively eliminated from the tournament, until finally he ran into a Round 12 opponent he couldn’t get past, Kenji Tsumura. 9-3 is a decent record at any time, but those 8 wins on the bounce, all Elimination matches, showed one of Nakamura’s greatest qualities, something he shares with Olivier Ruel, the ability to win and win and win again when Must Win is all that counts.
He continued his good run of form at the Limited GP Matsuyama. 11-2-1 put him into the Top 8 for the second time that year. In an amazing Top 8 Draft that featured Akira Asahara, Tomaharu Saitou, Osamu Fujita and Masashi Oiso, Shuuhei compiled a decent-looking Black-White deck:
Grand Prix: Matsuyama 2005
Shuuhei Nakamura
7 Plains
10 Swamp
1 Ashen-Skin Zubera
1 Cursed Ronin
1 Devoted Retainer
1 Hundred-Talon Kami
1 Indebted Samurai
1 Kami of False Hope
1 Nezumi Cutthroat
2 Nezumi Ronin
1 Okiba-Gang Shinobi
1 Skullsnatcher
2 Thief of Hope
1 Waxmane Baku
1 Blessed Breath
1 Horobi’s Whisper
1 Hundred-Talon Strike
1 Nine-Ringed Bo
1 Otherworldly Journey
1 Pull Under
1 Rend Spirit
1 Sickening Shoal
1 Soulless Revival
He managed to avoid all the big names in the Quarter Final, facing instead Kentarou Nonaka with a similar Black-White deck, widely considered to be the best Draft archetype of the time. Although Shuuhei had decent removal, it turned out Nonaka had even more, and that was the edge. Still, two Top 8s in four outings boded well for the rest of the season.
The terrorist-affected Pro Tour: London came next, but in an event that still topped 300 players, Shuuhei couldn’t get going. He made Day 2, but lost twice to Tim Aten on his way to a 9-6 record, which left him in 54th place, still good enough for a nice chunk of change at $600. The following Pro Tour was in Atlanta, and the format was Teams. Shuuhei came to game with Ryuichi Arita and Masami Ibamoto, using their second name initials to come up with the riveting team name ‘N.A.I.’ Awesome. Unfortunately their play was less so, and 60th place was well down the field.
Two Constructed Grand Prix followed, in Niigata and Taipei. Shuuhei came close to his 7th Top 8 in Niigata, but 10-3-1 wasn’t quite enough, leaving him 16th. He didn’t get close in Taipei, with only two wins before three losses eliminated him from Day 2. That brought him to Nationals, where he was looking to make Top 8 for the second year in succession. At Draft he was almost unbeatable, posting 6-1 across two Drafts, but this time it was Constructed that let him down, with 3-4 not enough to extend his part in proceedings. He showed his stature on home turf with a follow-up 8-1-1 in Japanese Champs. Since this was Constructed, it’s fair to say he would happily have swapped that success for a couple more wins in the one that really mattered. Champs set him in good stead for Pro Tour: Los Angeles. His deck was a real mix of fast creatures, burn, and land destruction, that looked like this:
Pro Tour: Los Angeles 2005
Shuuhei Nakamura
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Eiganjo Castle
4 Mountain
1 Plains
4 Sacred Foundry
1 Shinka, the Bloodsoaked Keep
2 Windswept Heath
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Goblin Legionnaire
4 Grim Lavamancer
3 Isamaru, Hound of Konda
3 Kataki, War’s Wage
4 Savannah Lions
4 Firebolt
4 Lava Dart
4 Lightning Helix
3 Molten Rain
4 Pillage
2 Pithing Needle
Sideboard:
3 Blood Moon
2 Disenchant
3 Flametongue Kavu
3 Fledgling Dragon
2 Reprisal
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
Kataki was a concession to the likelihood of Affinity in numbers, and I guess losing a Pro Tour final to Canali playing the artifacts the previous year would kind of remind you about the potency of that particular deck! Day 1 was nearly immaculate, and Shuuhei closed at 7-1, having lost his opening match. He was on the tear once again, and opened the second day with a win over Go Anan. From 8-1 however, the wheels came well and truly off, as the remaining seven Rounds saw only two victories, leaving him at a positive but seriously disappointing 10-6. Once again it was Kenji Tsumura who started the rot, but adding Chris McDaniel, Craig Jones, Stewart Shinkins, and Erik Groendahl to the list of his Day 2 losses reminds us how powerful the top tables at a PT are. How many of those five would you expect to beat?
Neither Grand Prix: Kitakyuushu (4-3) nor Grand Prix: Beijing (8-4-1), both with three Byes, ever threatened to get off the ground, and that brought us to Worlds. The tournament began with six Rounds of Standard:
Worlds 2005 Standard
Shuuhei Nakamura
4 Brushland
1 Eiganjo Castle
5 Forest
1 Miren, the Moaning Well
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
4 Temple Garden
4 Vitu-Ghazi, the City-Tree
3 Arashi, the Sky Asunder
3 Kodama of the North Tree
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Loxodon Hierarch
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Wood Elves
3 Yosei, the Morning Star
1 Congregation at Dawn
3 Glare of Subdual
3 Pithing Needle
2 Seed Spark
3 Umezawa’s Jitte
Sideboard:
2 Faith’s Fetters
3 Greater Good
2 Hokori, Dust Drinker
1 Kodama of the North Tree
2 Naturalize
1 Seed Spark
3 Wrath of God
1 Yosei, the Morning Star
On home soil, the Japanese had produced a blockbuster of a deck, based around Glare of Subdual and Vitu-Ghazi, The City Tree. Shuuhei piloted this to a 5-1 record, and knew that he would be in good shape if he could make the Top 8. The chances of that improved markedly as another 5-1 record was compiled in Draft, meaning that he potentially only needed three Extended wins to make it in. He got there, by the skin of his teeth, and joined a Top 8 that we would now regard as massively strong: Marcio Carvalho, Tomohiro Kaji, Katsuhiro Mori (the creator of the Glare deck), Ding Leong, Frank Karsten, Andre Coimbra, and Akira Asahara. One of the problems with being as good at the game as these guys is that there’s very few ways to lie to yourself about your chances. A bad matchup genuinely is a bad matchup, and facing Katsuhiro Mori on Super Sunday, Shuuhei felt that the sideboard would swing the match crucially away from him. That was even more problematic with the matches being best 3 out of 5, so potentially Mori would have four chances to wreck him. Mori didn’t need that many chances, although Shuuhei did at least avoid the sweep. Now at this point we get to one of my two favorite Nakamura stories. So you’ve played 18 Rounds, and now just lost your Quarter Final. What do you do? If you’re thinking ‘play Side Events’ you’re on the right lines, but Shuuhei didn’t sit down to some random 8-mans. Instead, he took part in a gruelling 10 Round Constructed marathon, and his loss to Tomaharu Saitou in Round 4 was his only slip of the day, winning the event at 9-1. That’s the kind of focus, determination, will to win, and sheer bloody-mindedness that champions need. Me, I’d have been in bits in a corner somewhere having been dumped out of the Top 8. Shuuhei goes and annihilates the world. Again. Special.
In his final event of the year, The Finals in Japan, he very nearly ended 2005 on a winning note, since 7-2-1 was enough to make the Top 8. Akira Asahara fell in the Quarters, Dai Satou couldn’t stop him in the Semis, but Masashiro Kuroda finally (and Final-ly) took him down. All in all it had been an excellent year, highlighted by two Grand Prix Top 8s and that coveted berth on the final day of Worlds. The next step was to turn Top 8s into victories…
Grand Prix 2005 36-25-3 (%56.25)
Lifetime GP 155-89-9 (60.9%)
Pro Tour 2005 51-25-1 (66.23%)
Lifetime Pro Tour 90-54-4 (60.8%)
2006
This was the year that things truly began to happen, and much of it was down to the conscious decision to ‘turn Pro’ in a way that he hadn’t before. That meant becoming a genuine globetrotter and embracing the Pro lifestyle in the way that Olivier Ruel had in 2005, becoming the Invitational Road Warrior in the process. The year began with a 9-4-1 record at Grand Prix: Richmond and 5-3 at Grand Prix: Dortmund. Although neither of these results garnered much in the way of results, they signalled his intent to the rest of the world. Wherever there was game to be had, there he would be. Pro Tour: Honolulu was the glamorous location to kick off the PT season, and this featured the extremely unusual Owling Mine deck, so named after the combination of Ebony Owl Netsuke and Howling Mine:
Pro Tour: Honolulu 2006
Shuuhei Nakamura
12 Island
1 Mikokoro, Centre of the Sea
1 Minamo, School at Water’s Edge
1 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef
4 Steam Vents
2 Drift of Phantasms
4 Kami of the Crescent Moon
1 Blood Moon
4 Boomerang
2 Cerebral Vortex
1 Ebony Owl Netsuke
4 Exhaustion
4 Howling Mine
2 Muddle the Mixture
3 Pyroclasm
4 Remand
3 Sudden Impact
3 Twincast
Sideboard:
2 Blood Moon
2 Ebony Owl Netsuke
3 Meloku the Clouded Mirror
2 Mimeofacture
1 Muddle the Mixture
1 Pyroclasm
4 Threads of Disloyalty
The Owl punished players for having a ton of cards in hand, and Howling Mine helped ensure that they did. A bunch of bounce spells added to the fun, and Sudden Impact with Twincast could end games very quickly. All in all, this was a real Metagame deck, positioned to prey on the unwary, but with some seriously unfriendly matchups. Tiago Chan and Antoine Ruel both navigated their way to the Top 8 of this one, with Ruel losing to Craig Jones in one of the most one-sided matches ever seen on Super Sunday. For Shuuhei, the bad matchups came earlier. At 6-2 overnight, he couldn’t accelerate, and finished 9-6-1. At the next Pro Tour, in Prague, 6-2 was again his overnight record, but this time he was able to push the button on Day 2, beating Terry Soh, Olivier Ruel and Antonino da Rosa in the final three rounds to secure his 3rd PT Top 8 on his 14th appearance with a 13-3 record. The Format was Ravnica Block Draft, with Dissension fresh out of the wrappers. Here’s Shuuhei’s Super Sunday Draft deck:
Pro Tour: Prague 2006
Shuuhei Nakamura
8 Mountain
1 Orzhov Basilica
5 Plains
3 Swamps
1 Conclave Equenaut
1 Enigma Eidolon
1 Freewind Equenaut
1 Gruul Guildmage
2 Minister of Impediments
1 Mourning Thrull
2 Ordruun Commando
1 Ostiary Thrull
1 Sabertooth Alley Cat
1 Sadistic Augermage
1 Sandstorm Eidolon
1 Shrieking Grotesque
1 Squealing Devil
1 Thundersong Trumpeter
1 Tin Street Hooligan
1 Brightflame
1 Darkblast
1 Fiery Conclusion
1 Kindle the Carnage
1 Lightning Helix
1 Rally the Righteous
The deck was, by general consensus, not one of the best at the table, but Shuuhei managed to eliminate Antonino da Rosa in the Quarters, defeating him for the second time in 24 hours. That left him facing fellow Japanese Takuya Oosawa, and Oosawa’s deck was one of the best at the table. Comedy rare Brightflame gave Shuuhei the opener, but card quality counted in the next three, and Oosawa would go on to win the title.
By and large, the Pro year was dominated by Limited events, and that Top 8 was a good sign that Nakamura was well positioned to exploit the Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension Format that had debuted in Prague. At Grand Prix: Kuala Lumpur he couldn’t advance, but that was the prelude to an amazing run. What’s so spectacular about this run is that it came across three continents, taking on the best that each had to offer, and coming out ahead every time. Our trilogy starts at Grand Prix: Toulouse. 11-1 meant that Shuuhei could afford to offer two IDs in the last rounds, before Drafting this:
Grand Prix: Toulouse 2006
Shuuhei Nakamura
6 Island
6 Plains
5 Swamp
1 Belltower Sphinx
1 Benevolent Ancestor
1 Blind Hunter
1 Enemy of the Guildpact
1 Freewind Equenaut
1 Ghost Warden
1 Grand Arbiter Augustin IV
1 Minister of Impediments
2 Ostiary Thrull
1 Shrieking Grotesque
1 Silkwing Scout
1 Terraformer
1 Veteran Armorer
1 Compulsive Research
1 Debtors’ Knell
1 Induce Paranoia
1 Ocular Halo
2 Pillory of the Sleepless
1 Spell Snare
1 To Arms!
1 Vacuumelt
Stars of this particular show were Grand Arbiter Augustin IV and, should it become necessary, Debtors’ Knell, a real kicking if the game went long. Shouta Yasooka fell in the Quarter Final, but once again Kenji Tsumura was waiting to end things. The 2005 Player of the Year, who was looking for his second successive Grand Prix title, having won in Kuala Lumpur three weeks earlier, went on to defeat unheralded Belgian Marijn Lybaert in the Final, who himself would go on to become one of the leading Pros of his generation. So Shuuhei ends up losing the Semis. Incredibly, that was the worst performance of the three!
Next up was Grand Prix: St. Louis. 12-2 put him into the final Draft once more, and this time he came up with:
Grand Prix: St. Louis 2006
Shuuhei Nakamura
1 Frost Marsh
5 Island
1 Scrying Sheets
1 Snow-Covered Island
1 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
6 Swamp
2 Blizzard Specter
1 Chilling Shade
1 Frost Raptor
1 Gutless Ghoul
2 Heidar, Rimewind Master
1 Krovikan Scoundrel
1 Phyrexian Ironfoot
1 Rimebound Dead
1 Stromgald Crusader
3 Zombie Musher
1 Deathmark
1 Feast of Flesh
1 Grim Harvest
2 Krovikan Whispers
1 Rime Transfusion
1 Rune Snag
2 Surging Aether
That’s right, Coldsnap was in the house. Critical to this deck was the powerhouse Scrying Sheets, a source of massive card advantage. Blizzard Specter at uncommon was also likely to swing things his way, and double Heidar, Rimewind Master meant it was going to be tough for opponents to make their permanents, well, permanent. He faced a Top 8 short on experienced Pros, and defeated Alex Kim and Chris Fennell before facing American Zac Hill in the Final. One of the features of the Coldsnap format was the ability to Draft a foolish number of copies of particular commons. In Hill’s case, that meant Surging Sentinels, of which he had six, making a Ripple 4 effect rather potent. That Ripple won him the middle game of the final, but the card advantage of the Blizzard Specter was enough to take Shuuhei over the line as the Grand Prix: St. Louis Champion.
Now Magic is spotted with examples of players who simply get to know a Format better than everybody else — I mean EVERYBODY else — and proceed to do something about it. Luis Scott-Vargas over the last 4 months in Extended is the most recent example that also includes Raphael Levy Gaea’s Might Get There back-to-back Grand Prix, Kenji Tsumura doubleheader in 2006, and Nicolai Herzog with his two Limited Pro Tour wins in 2004. It seemed that Shuuhei knew Coldsnap, because he made his third straight GP Top 8, and his ninth overall, with 11-2-1 at Grand Prix: Hiroshima, finally back on home turf. Would he stick with Blue-Black for the final Draft…?
Grand Prix: Hiroshima 2006
Shuuhei Nakamura
5 Island
1 Plains
1 Scrying Sheets
2 Snow-Covered Island
2 Snow-Covered Plains
2 Snow-Covered Swamp
4 Swamp
1 Tresserhorn Sinks
2 Chilling Shade
1 Frost Raptor
1 Gutless Ghoul
1 Haidar, Rimewind Master
1 Kjeldorian Gargoyle
1 Phyrexian Ironfoot
1 Rimebound Dead
2 Rimewind Taskmage
2 Ronom Serpent
1 Zombie Musher
1 Chill to the Bone
1 Frozen Solid
1 Gelid Shackles
1 Grim Harvest
1 Krovikan Rot
3 Rune Snag
1 Vanish into Memory
That’ll be a yes. Having dispatched Yuusuke Wakisaka and Takahiro Suzuki, Andre Coimbra of Portugal awaited Shuuhei in the Final. It wasn’t a classic by any means, but 2-0 was the precious score that elevated Nakamura to elite status within the game as a back-to-back Grand Prix winner. His run across those three Grand Prix was 41-6-3. That’s over 80% return. Quite extraordinary.
Of course, that kind of form happens to one in a million once in a blue moon, so it couldn’t last. After 4-4 at Nationals, the next three Grand Prix (Phoenix 10-5, Sydney 8-5 and Athens 11-3) all saw him play on Day 2 but never threatening to send his Top 8s into double figures. At Pro Tour: Kobe he could only go 3-3, and that eliminated him from the third Draft. Never seemingly a great fan of Teams play, Pro Tour: Charleston saw him team up with Ichirou Shimura and Shuu Komuro, and although 19th saw them in the money, they were never going to reach the sharp end. Neither Osaka Champs (7-2) nor Grand Prix: New Jersey (6-3) were especially productive, but he warmed up for Worlds in Paris with a decent run at Grand Prix: Yamagata, posting 11-3. Largely due to that superb mid-season run of 4 Top 8s in five starts, Shuuhei came to Paris with a shot at Player of the Year, needing the favorite Shouta Yasooka to stumble. Playing the imaginatively-titled TriscuitTron deck, Shuuhei opened up 4-2, but stumbled to an unspectacular 3-3 in Draft, which effectively left him out of contention. 4-2 in Extended was nowhere near enough, although once again the quality of the field was huge. Nakamura’s seven losses reads like a Magic Greatest Hits collection, including Jon Sonne, Raphael Levy, Makahito Mihara, Sebastian Thaler, Kamiel Cornelissen and Olle Rade (which by my reckoning is two Hall of Famers, a World Champion, a Rookie of the Year, and arguably the best Dutch player ever.) With Yasooka surviving the final day scare to be crowned POY, Shuuhei ended 2006 in quieter fashion, with 6-4 in The Finals.
Grand Prix 2006 79-37-5 (65.2%)
Lifetime GP 155-89-9 (60.9%)
Pro Tour 2006 51-25-1 (66.23%)
Lifetime PT 90-54-4 (60.8%)
2007
The contrast between 2007 and 2008 could hardly have been starker. We’ve established that players need things to go their way at crucial moments to get over the hump, and in 2007 that didn’t happen for Shuuhei as often as he would have liked, or even as often as he could reasonably expect. 3-3 in Pro Tour: Geneva was an unexceptional start, and things didn’t get better at Pro Tour: Yokohama, where Tomaharu Saitou and Shuu Komuro were among the four players taking points away, leaving him adrift at 4-4. In between, the Grand Prix season had begun promisingly. Grand Prix: Dallas saw an 11th place finish on 11-2-2, while Grand Prix: Singapore saw him in contention again at 11-3, although he missed out at Grand Prix: Kyoto on 6-3. On the European circuit, 11-4 was enough for Day 2 but no more at Grand Prix: Stockholm, while 6-2-1 wasn’t quite enough to sneak into Day 2 at Grand Prix: Strasbourg. Perhaps North America would be a happier hunting ground? Not really, as a combined 5 wins and 6 losses made visits to both Montreal and San Francisco a bust. Pro Tour: San Diego saw him paired with Yuuya Watanabe, the forthcoming Rookie of the Year, and together they managed a strong-ish 22nd place. An upturn looked to be on the way at Japanese Nationals, as Shuuhei began with 5 straight wins. That was followed by 5 straight defeats. Back to the drawing board.
The arrival of Lorwyn allowed him to return home to get some kinks out of his system, as he unloaded on a variety of Prerelease and Release opponents, only losing 3 out of 19 starts. Whether that prepared him for the mental weirdness that was Pro Tour: Valencia is unknown. Extended is always a beating on the brain, with so many powerful decks and interactions to master, but with the first day literally washed away in the well-documented flash flooding, the all-new Day 1 on the Saturday was going to be a massive 10 Round meltdown. At 8-2 overnight, Shuuhei needed two wins on the Sunday morning to advance to his 4th PT Top 8. No disrespect to either of them, but Carlos Santiago and Thomas Refsdal would have been among the more preferred options for Must Win matchups at the back end of a PT. An ID with Andre Mueller of Germany cemented the Top 8 slot. Shuuhei took his Blue-White Urzatron deck to face the Domain Zoo of compatriot Takayuki Koike. He dismantled Koike 3-1 without breaking sweat, thanks in part to some very poor opening hands for Koike. In the semis though, he faced Mueller, and Mueller was running Enduring Ideal. At 1-1, the following games were machine-gun Magic. First, Mueller went all-in, only to find Shuuhei holding a key Disenchant that won him the game on the spot, and then Mueller cast Enduring Ideal as early as Turn 2 in the fourth game, and Shuuhei swept soon after. A convoluted decider hinged on Mueller’s Dovescape and, ultimately, Solitary Confinement, enough to finally take Nakamura down. Reaching the Top 8 one time out of every five is an outstanding Pro Tour record, but Nakamura now had losses in one Quarter, two Semis, and one Final. He had one more chance to get his first victory in 2007 with Worlds in New York. Between the two, a succession of Grand Prix had come and gone with only minor success. He had failed to make Day 2 at Grand Prix: Bangkok (5-3) and Grand Prix: Kitakyuushu (5-2-1), while decent positions had been squandered at Grand Prix: Krakow (9-5-1) and Grand Prix: Daytona Beach (10-5). In both cases, three straight defeats on Day 2 dropped Shuuhei from the reckoning. Worlds didn’t provide a much-needed boost as the season came to a close. After two days of 3-3 parity, an opening loss in the final third was enough to end Shuuhei’s interest in the event. It had been a miserable season, with strong positions coming to nothing, regularly missing Day 2, and just the one bright spot of that Pro Tour: Valencia Top 8. It might have been a miserable Season, but that didn’t mean it had to be a miserable Year….
Grand Prix 2007 53-37-6 (55.2%)
Lifetime GP 287-163-20 (60.89%)
Pro Tour 2007 24-21-1 (52.17%)
Lifetime PT 150-95-6 (59.7%)
2008 (and a bit of 2007)
Okay, so we made it, all the way from Sanctioned Match number one in the Future Bee Cup in Osaka to Sanctioned Match number two thousand seven hundred and sixty-six, the first match of the 2008 season, which happened to take place at the back end of 2007. Here’s the complete record of the 2008 Player of the Year:
Grand Prix: Stuttgart. Limited. 3 Byes. 12-2-1. Champion.
Wins: Jan De Coster, Anthony Dorle, Mathias Wigge, Daniel Grafensteiner, Andrej Farkas, Arved Bartuska, Daniel Grafensteiner, Rich Hoaen, Vasicek Martin.
Losses: Olivier Ruel, Kenny Oberg.
Ties: Tomaharu Saitou.
QF win over Joel Calafell.
SF win over Jonathan Bergstroem.
Final win over Robert van Medevoort.
Comment: An awesome start to the season, where everything that hadn’t gone his way, did.
Top 8 Deck:
Grand Prix: Stuttgart 2007
Shuuhei Nakamura
6 Forest
1 Gilt-Leaf Palace
8 Island
1 Shimmering Grotto
1 Swamp
1 Amoeboid Changeling
1 Black Poplar Shaman
1 Changeling Titan
1 Cloudcrown Oak
1 Deeptread Merrow
1 Fallowsage
1 Inkfathom Divers
1 Merrow Harbinger
1 Merrow Reejerey
1 Pestermite
1 Sentinels of Glen Elendra
1 Silvergill Douser
1 Sower of Temptation
1 Stonybrook Angler
1 Thorntooth Witch
1 Broken Ambitions
1 Eyeblight’s Ending
1 Fertile Ground
1 Fistful of Force
1 Gilt-Leaf Ambush
1 Oblivion Ring
1 Runed Stalactite
1 Springleaf Drum
Pro Tour: Kuala Lumpur. Limited. 9-5-1. 41st
Wins: Robert Jacko, Steven Tan, Kyle Miller, David Besso, Bin Jia, Pierre Baussaron, Jun Young Park, Antoine Menard, Conan Blackwell.
Losses: David Derrickson, Shuu Komuro, Matej Zatlkaj, Junyang Ang, Matej Zaltkaj.
Tie: Tu Nan.
Comment: 4-1 became 4-4 before 5 straight wins. Defeating Shuuhei twice was an indicator of Matej Zatlkaj prowess.
Grand Prix: Vancouver. Constructed. 3 Byes. 9-4-1. 29th
Wins: David Irvine, Ken Mei, William Dooley, Taylor Webb, Doug Potter, Greg Hastain.
Losses: Ben Lundquist, Zack Hall, Darrin Eide, Hunter Coale.
Tie: Brandon Scheel.
Comment: From 7-0 to 9-4-1 was disappointing, especially as the quality of opposition wasn’t huge coming down the stretch.
Grand Prix: Shizuoka. Constructed. 3 Byes. 5-4. 233rd
Wins: Norikazu Ichikawa, Masakuzu Ikedo.
Losses: David Orihara, Shun’ichi Yabuki, Takeshi Eda, Takuya Fujioka.
Comment: No joy at all.
Grand Prix: Vienna. Constructed. 3 Byes. 6-3. 201st
Wins: Martin Meureiter, Vardzik Tomas, Sven Tintor.
Losses: Stewart Shinkins, Simon Ritter, Alvise Gorghetto.
Comment: A gigantic Extended bunfight, Dredge galore, and no progression to Day 2.
Grand Prix: Brussels. Limited. 3 Byes. 7-2. 75th
Wins: Sebastian Mattes, Mark Wallemans, Jordy van der Gaag, Bert Sels.
Losses: Aleksander Lipinski, Jelle Lauwers.
Comment: Limited events weren’t spectacular in 2008, and this was another ‘just miss the cut’.
Pro Tour: Hollywood. Constructed. 14-1-1. 3rd
Wins: Ian Woodley, Owen Turtenwald, Matt Hansen, Mark Conkle, Eric Neilson, Rob Dougherty, Jeremy Neeman, Osamu Fujita, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa, Jan Ruess, Thomas Enevoldsen, Robert van Medevoort, Mateusz Kopec.
Losses: Jim Herold, Makahito Mihara.
Tie: Marijn Lybaert.
Quarter Final win over Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. Semi Final loss to Jan Ruess.
Comment: From 3-1, Shuuhei rattled off 10 wins on the bounce, taking out a string of big names along the way. The Quarter Final with Paulo was a classic, full of skill, flair, competition, and respect. Given his run to that point, the victory of Ruess in their Semi is even more remarkable, reflecting great credit on the quiet German.
Pro Tour Hollywood 2008
Shuuhei Nakamura
3 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
4 Llanowar Wastes
4 Mutavault
2 Pendelhaven
2 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth
2 Boreal Druid
3 Civic Wayfinder
4 Imperious Perfect
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
4 Garruk Wildspeaker
3 Nameless Inversion
4 Profane Command
4 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:
4 Bitterblossom
2 Incremental Blight
3 Primal Command
4 Shriekmaw
2 Terror
Grand Prix: Birmingham. Constructed. 3 Byes. 11-3. 10th
Wins: Ivan Stanoev, Robert van Medevoort, Thomas Reeve, Eduardo Sajgalik, Gavin Goh, Omar Sagol, Eugeni Sanchez, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa.
Losses: Michael Duke, Phil Scott, Rasmus Sibast.
Comment: This new Block Constructed Format was all about Kithkin and Faeries for the most part. After three successive losses, Robert van Medevoort must have been dreading their next meeting, while Shuuhei beat Wafo-Tapa for the second week running.
Grand Prix: Indianapolis. Limited. 3 Byes. 6-3. 141st
Wins: Robert Berni, Andy Jacks, Forrest Mead.
Losses: Jamie Parke, James Beltz, Allan Zabrecky.
Comment: Against two Amateurs, this was an opportunity missed to advance to Day 2.
Grand Prix: Buenos Aires. Constructed. 3 Byes. 10-4. 28th
Wins: Rodrigo Nogueira, Joaquin Larrosa, Alejandro Ramirez, Felipe Suarez, Felipe Tapia, Felipe Bustamente, Paulo Cortez.
Losses: Dionisio Ugalde, Alejandro Gimena, Luiz Guilherme de Michieli, Joaquin Rivera.
Comment: This should have been one of the weaker GP fields, but Brazilian Michieli effectively put Shuuhei out of the Top 8, despite 4 wins late in the day.
Grand Prix: Madrid. Limited. 3 Byes. 5-3. 357th
Wins: Gerrard Rue, Pau Moreira
Losses: Adam Koska, Guillaume Perbet, Thierry Ramboa.
Comment: A poor Sealed pool, and it was quickly over.
Grand Prix: Kobe. Constructed. 3 Byes. 10-5. 56th
Wins: Tatsuya Kashiwa, Yousuke Taniguchi, Takehiko Matsumara, Kouichi Tashiro, Shougo Itou, Kouta Tozuka, Junpei Kawate.
Losses: Toshiyuki Kadooka, Shingou Kurihara, Takayuki Takagi, Takayuki Nagaoka, Junnosuke Tamaki.
Comment: At 8-1 he seemed to be cruising, but Shingou Kurihara won Round 10, and the rot set in.
Grand Prix: Copenhagen. Constructed. 3 Byes. 12-3. 4th
Wins: Peter Bokor, David Besso, Gabriel Nassif, Olivier Ruel, William Cavaglieri, Stan van der Velden, Jan Doise, Dominik Piatkowski, Grgur Petric Maretic.
Losses: Tomaharu Saitou, Csaba Racz, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa.
Quarter Final win over Guillaume Wafo-Tapa. Semi-Final loss to David Larsson.
Comment: This has to be one of the toughest schedules seen on a Grand Prix start list. To face Besso, Nassif, Ruel, Cavaglieri, and Saitou and end 4-1 against those five is outstanding. He lost to Wafo-Tapa in the Swiss, but not when it mattered in the Top 8.
Grand Prix Copenhagen 2008
Shuuhei Nakamura
4 Forest
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
3 Llanowar Wastes
3 Mutavault
2 Pendelhaven
3 Swamp
4 Treetop Village
1 Twilight Mire
3 Chameleon Colossus
3 Civic Wayfinder
3 Kitchen Finks
4 Llanowar Elves
3 Murderous Redcap
4 Tarmogoyf
4 Wren’s Run Vanquisher
3 Eyeblight’s Ending
1 Nameless Inversion
4 Profane Command
4 Thoughtseize
Sideboard:
3 Bitterblossom
1 Cloudthresher
2 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Mind Shatter
3 Primal Command
3 Shriekmaw
2 Slaughter Pact
Grand Prix: Manila. Constructed. 3 Byes. 10-3-1. 13th
Wins: Bayani Manansala, Ian Gutierrez, Dindo Malanao, Rico Perez, Ogie Jaro, Elliot Que, Terry Soh.
Losses: Michael Batac, Mark Lahip, Hironobu Sugaya.
Tie: Marvin Reyes.
Comment: A massive contrast with the opposition from Copenhagen, but this time he couldn’t quite make Top 8.
Grand Prix: Rimini. Constructed. 3 Byes. 12-3. 2nd
Wins: Mitja Bosnic, Marcello Calvetto, Eric Prod hom, Christophe Peyronnel, Ashraf Omar, Luca Clemente, Robert Darnhofer, Gennaro Mango, Tommaso Magnoli.
Losses: Kevin Rossi, Mario Pascoli, Emanuele Giusti.
Quarter Final win over Rodrigo Renedo, Semi-Final win over Claudio Salemi. Final loss to Emanuele Giusti.
Comment: With Italian Magic on the rise, this wasn’t an easy event, and in fact Shuuhei lost only to Italians, defeating all non-hometeam opponents.
Grand Prix: Rimini 2008
Shuuhei Nakamura
4 Flooded Grove
2 Mutavault
3 Reflecting Pool
4 Secluded Glen
4 Vivid Creek
3 Vivid Grove
4 Wanderwine Hub
4 Chameleon Colossus
2 Oona, Queen of the Fae
4 Silvergill Adept
3 Sower of Temptation
4 Stonybrook Banneret
2 Sygg, River Guide
1 Crib Swap
4 Cryptic Command
3 Firespout
3 Jace Beleren
4 Nameless Inversion
2 Sage’s Dousing
Sideboard:
3 Cloudthresher
2 Crib Swap
2 Hallowed Burial
2 Puppeteer Clique
3 Recumbent Bliss
3 Wispmare
Japanese Nationals. Mixed Formats. 9-5. 18th
Wins: Kenji Tsumura, Masashiro Kuroda, Yuuki Yamazaki, Masataka Satou, Yasuaki Isozaki, Kei Suzuki, Takuto Kimura, Hayato Ishii, Jun’ya Iyanaga.
Losses: Yoshitaka Nakano, Makahito Mihara, Kanta Koyama, Yoshitaka Nakano.
Comment: With Pro Points on the line, a spectacular 6-0 start fell away, doubly disappointing after that amazing start, beating Tsumura and Kuroda in the first two Rounds.
Grand Prix: Paris. Limited. 3 Byes.12-3. 19th
Wins: Benjamin Boell, Eric Varlet, Lois Jacquet, Maxime Lemaitre, Klaus Joens, Henk van der Vaart, Manuel Godineau, Raphael Levy, Antoine Ruel.
Losses: Philippe Massart, Christian Gruenenwald, Arjan van Leeuwen.
Comment: In the largest Grand Prix ever held at over 1800 players, Shuuhei reached 10-1 before falling short. Arjan van Leeuwen, his last Round opponent, went on to win the ensuing Top 8 Draft.
Pro Tour: Berlin. Constructed. 10-6. 44th
Wins: Niko Bacic, Rashad Miller, Robert Darnhofer, Marcio Carvalho, Marco Orsini Jones, Ben Lundquist, Artie Heinrich, Kazuya Mitamura, Ricky Sidher, Tom Keren.
Losses: Makoto Nagashima, Oliver Polak-Rottman, Martin Juza, Jan Doise, Gabrile Nassif, Nikolaus Eigner.
Comment: 6-2 overnight became 10-2, and he had a massive chance of making Sunday once again. Strong though they undoubtedly are, losing the last four against Juza, Doise, Nassif and Eigner must have really hurt.
Pro Tour: Berlin 2008
Shuuhei Nakamura
16 Forest
1 Pendelhaven
4 Birchlore Rangers
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Heritage Druid
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Nettle Sentinel
1 Predator Dragon
1 Regal Force
1 Viridian Shaman
4 Wirewood Hivemaster
4 Wirewood Symbiote
4 Chord of Calling
4 Glimpse of Nature
4 Summoner’s Pact
Sideboard:
1 Ethersworn Canonist
3 Fecundity
2 Gleeful Sabotage
1 Goblin Sharpshooter
1 Orzhov Pontiff
1 Tar Fiend
3 Thorn of Amethyst
2 Umezawa’s Jitte
1 Viridian Shaman
Grand Prix: Atlanta. Limited. 3 Byes. 11-4. 22nd
Wins: Alex Hon, John Mahon, Todd Anderson, Michael Scheffenacker, Mat Feerando, Osyp Lebedowicz, Morgan Chang, Scott Bielick.
Losses: Gerard Fabiano, Brian Heine, Tom Ross, Sam Black.
Comment: The steamroller could never get going, with periodic losses always making Top 8 unlikely.
Grand Prix: Okayama. Limited. 3 Byes. 9-4-1. 13th
Wins: Kazuya Furukawa, Genki Taru, Hisaya Tanaka, Shougo Kadowaki, Jun’ya Takahashi, Akira Asahara, Yasuhito Maehata.
Losses: Daisuke Muramata, Ryuuchi Arita, Chikara Nakajima, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa.
Tie: Ryuuichi Arita.
Comment: In a developing rivalry that looks certain to continue, Guillaume Wafo-Tapa eliminated Shuuhei in the penultimate round.
Grand Prix: Taipei. Limited. 3 Byes. 5-4. 84th
Wins: Kazuya Hirabayashi, Tey Thye Sheng.
Losses: Tzu Ching Kuo, Ming Hsien Lin, Min-Young Park.
Comment: One of his worst starts of the year.
Grand Prix: Auckland. Limited. 3 Byes. 10-3. 9th
Wins: Michael Tan, Grant Anderson, Andrew Plinston, Luis Scott-Vargas, Shaun Hayward, Dominic Lo, Max Botkov.
Losses: Max Botkov, Olivier Ruel, Justin Cheung.
Comment: Another solid finish heading into Worlds.
Worlds: Memphis. Mixed Format. 10-8. 114th
Wins: Alejandro van Mourik, John Sittner, Fabio Reinhardt, Gabriel Nassif, Quentin Martin, Sacha Bonroy, Estratti Samuele, Vagner Casatti, Jose Echeverria Parredes.
Losses: Eduardo Sajgalik, Wai Kin Au yong, Frank Karsten, Pascal Vieren, Mario Pascoli, Charlie Rue, Richard Hornansky, Adam Yurchick.
Comment: At 5-7 after two days, Shuuhei came roaring back with 5-1 in Extended. Although that was never going to get him serious points, his last remaining rival Olivier Ruel couldn’t quite make Top 8, and the Player of the Year title was his.
Grand Prix 2008 115-61-4 (63.8%)
Lifetime GP 402-224-24 (61.7%)
Pro Tour 2008 44-21-2 (65.6%)
Lifetime PT 194-116-8 (61.00%)
And so, as we head into the 2009 Pro Tour season, Shuuhei Nakamura stands atop the world game. Magic is no respecter of reputations however, and already the buzz is that Luis Scott-Vargas is the greatest player in the game right now. Can Shuuhei trot his way around the globe once again? With every Grand Prix now on a different weekend in 2009, it’s possible that Shuuhei may be the first player ever to attend every single Premier event in the calendar year. In my view (and given that LSV has indicated an unlikely year-round travel schedule), Shuuhei is uniquely positioned to make a run at retaining his title. And for those who may be heading for their first ever Sanctioned Match at the Conflux Pre-Release this coming weekend, just a mere three thousand two hundred and thirty-seven matches fewer than the reigning Player of the Year, next week we’ll take a look at how to read your Conflux spoiler for fun and profit.
Until then, as ever, thanks for reading.
R.
Editor’s Section – Vote For Richard!
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