Kenta Masukado (1st after Swiss rounds)
Kenta Masukado, 25, Niigata Prefecture, Architect
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Team Curry, CarPara [Cards of Paradise]
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Grand Prix Kobe 2014 – 14th place
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Esper Mentor, 7-0, Mentor has a high ceiling
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Shardless BUG, 5-1-1, expected a lot of fair decks
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Tense events
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
Get better than this year
Yuta Takahashi (2nd after Swiss rounds)
Yuta Takahashi, 29, Tokyo, Hareruya Staffer
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Hareruya
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Various
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Dark Jeskai, 5-2, it’s strong against Abzan
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
ANT, 6-0-1, advantaged over everything but Miracles
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Playing against strong players. It’s like every drop of blood tingles with excitement
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
Win a Pro Tour
Nobuo Saitou (3rd after Swiss rounds)
Nobuo Saitou, 27, Tokyo, office worker
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Hareruya
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Like, 5th BIG MAGIC Sunday Legacy Champion [Japanese coverage only], 4th Age Kami Challenger Showdown Champion [Japanese coverage only].
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Jeskai Black Control, 5-2, it’s Legacy-ish.
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Miracles, 5-1-1, it’s well-rounded
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Runs smoothly / high level / prize support
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
I want to continue contributing to Legacy. Please check out my column, Nobuo’s Room [only available in Japanese]!
Chisato Narita (4th after Swiss rounds)
Narita Chisato, 17 years old and 18 years old and 0 days (birthday’s today), Saitama Prefecture, customer engineer
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Hobby Shop Lotus – Kotesashi, Hareruya
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Lotus – Kotesashi’s Working Professionals’ Tournament Champion, Legacy Championship – 3rd place, GP Nagoya Vintage Side Event Champion, Grand Prix Shizuoka 2014 – 93rd place.
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Abzan, 5-2, Abzan is the best
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Sneak and Show, 5-1-1, it’s simple enough, it’s a Nobu [Nobuo Saitou] list
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
When they’re fun
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
I want to reliably Day-Two GPs.
Yuki Matsumoto (5th after Swiss rounds)
Yuki Matsumoto, 24, Tokyo, office worker
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
BIG MAGIC
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Grand Prix Chiba 2015 Champion, Pro Tour Magic Origins – 23rd place.
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Mardu Ignition 6-1, this is probably my last major Standard tournament, so I wanted to use Chandra’s Ignition.
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Jeskai Mentor, 4-2-1, it works overtime to maximize the power of any cards you could use when you do use them.
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Having a lot of people come together to play a fun game. It’s great when events run smoothly and there isn’t a lot of waiting between rounds.
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
I hope to maintain Silver level and earn qualification for all of the next year.
Tango Nakagawa (6th after Swiss rounds)
Tango Nakagawa, 21, Tokyo, university student
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Card Shop Ogre – Ikebukuro
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
[Blank]
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Black-White splash-Blue Tokens, 5-2, I borrowed this deck the other day and it was pretty much all I had.
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Lands, 5-2, because I qualified with this deck.
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
When the seating is comfortable, it’s easy to call a judge, and everybody’s smiling.
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
To destroy a lot of lands.
Katsuhiro Mori (7th after Swiss rounds)
Katsuhiro Mori, owner of Card Shop Kateruya
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
MODO
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
Worlds 2005 Champion
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Abzan 6-1
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Sneak and Show 4-3 it’s for beginners (don’t play Legacy much)
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Pro Tour
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
Kateruya
Shota Yasooka (8th after Swiss rounds)
Shota Yasooka, 30 more or less, Tokyo, Pro Player?
Q2. Please tell us your community affiliation and the local game store you frequent.
Hareruya Pros, don’t go to shops
Q3. Please tell us any previous accomplishments (for example, 3-0ing FNM or winning a Game Day, anything is ok.)
1st Age Standard Kami Showdown [Japanese article only] finals-loser, etc.
Q4. Please tell us your Standard deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
Esper Dragons, 6-1, it was on top of my desk.
Q5. Please tell us your Legacy deck, its Swiss results, and your reasons for selecting it.
ANT, 4-3, I wanted to use a combo deck
Q6. Please tell us what you think makes a compelling Magic tournament or event.
Air’s good, prize money’s high.
Q7. Please tell us your Magic ambitions for 2016.
Play at Worlds