Magic players from throughout the Japan and Korea region gathered in the Aichi Sky Expo, just south of Nagoya, Japan, to do battle in the Champions Cup - the Regional Championship for Japan and Korea. With $30,000 in prize money on offer in addition to invitations to both the Pro Tour and next year's World Championship, it was a hard-fought Pioneer tournament across two days. Ultimately, however, one player rose above all others to claim the trophy: Kenta Masukado, with his extremely sweet Jund Transmogrify list!
The new decks enabled by cards The Lost Caverns of Ixalan were the talk of the weekend, with a huge amount of speculation on how well archetypes powered by the new discover mechanic would do in a format like Pioneer. In the end, while one Geological Appraiser list made it to the Top 8, it didn't make it much further, and the finals were played between eventual champion Kenta Masukado's Jund Transmogrify, and a rock-solid Azorius Control deck in the hands of finalist Yuya Hosokawa.
The Top 8 reflected the diversity of competitive Pioneer, with seven different archetypes represented. We had an old stalwart in Rakdos Midrange, two Boros Convoke decks, an Azorius Lotus Field list, the aforementioned Geological Appraiser deck, as well as the two archetypes in the final, Jund Transmogrify and Azorius Control. Finally, a spicy 68-card Rona Lukka Combo list made it all the way to the semis!
The day one metagame had people sitting up and taking notice, as brand-new, LCI-powered discover decks were extremely well-represented amongst those playing in the tournament. Quintorius Combo was 15.5% of the field, while Geological Appraiser made up just under 12%. With over a quarter of the tournament playing with the new discover mechanic, are we looking at an all-new, all-different Pioneer format?
No. We're not. Quintorius decks crashed and burned, with only two of them making the cut to day two, while Geological Appraiser decks fared a little better, demonstrating that the Temur build is probably the way to go. In any case, people came prepared: 10 of the 13 Azorius Control players made day two, an arsenal of disruptive countermagic serving these players very well in keeping discover decks at bay. It will be interesting to see how discover decks develop in the coming weeks, as people iron out the kinks and find improved ways to put these lists together.
Regional Championships are held all across the world, and are one of the best ways not only to test your skill against the best players in your region, but also connect with your wider Magic community and build memories with people who share your passion for and love of the best game in the world. If you want to contest your next Regional Championship, the first step is to play in a qualifier happening near you, and see if you've got what it takes to hoist a trophy of your own!
