It's the rush that keeps Noah Ma coming back.
"I think the rush of excitement after a win keeps me playing Magic," Ma explained. His connection to Magic has kept him coming back through years of Top Finishes, a Rivals League, Pro Tour appearances, and now Regional Championship runs. "I'm always chasing that next rush. I tried other TCGs before Magic, but as soon as I tried Magic, I knew right away that it was the most fun TCG for me. That's why I started competitive Magic."
Fast forward a little more than a decade. Ma is now a veteran of just about every level of Magic there is, and he's found some success every step of the way. Ma's picked up the game in 2014 and started playing competitive Magic soon after. After a few years of dedication, the Seoul, South Korea, native was leveling up in the game. In fact, he qualified for the Magic Rivals League, signifying that he wasone of the top players in the world that season. It was an incredible accomplishment at the time, and it catapulted Ma to a new level.
Over the last several years, Ma has again risen to the top as tabletop play returned and flourished along with Ma's résumé. His big breakthrough came at Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 in 2024, where he advanced to the Top 8 as one of two representatives of Mono-Black Necro, at the time a bit of a bold choice considering how much of the field ended up on the soon-to-be-banned
That takes us to a few weeks ago. At the spring 2026 Champions Cup Final, this time in Kyoto, Ma went looking for a strong finish after a pedestrian year (by his standards) on the Pro Tour.
"My Regional Championship results have always been either a total bust or a huge hit. And on the Pro Tour, things have been pretty quiet for me over the past year," Ma lamented. "At Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed, I remember the average win rate for Bant Rhythm was about 35% ... and I'm the one who created that disastrous win rate by going 2-3 in Standard."
But Ma did feel he had some things working in his favor to convert the finish he needed. He spent his time before the tournament testing with members of Team TCGplayer with the deck they played at the Pro Tour, and as well as a local friend, Kong. With dozens of hours on MTG Arena playing with Bant Rhythm, Ma was confident he could improve upon his performance from the Pro Tour.
"I've always thought of myself as a slow starter; unlike the Pro Tour, the Regional Championship takes place after the meta has already settled, which I think helped me this time," he explained. "I started with World Champion Seth Manfield's Lessons deck, which was still very strong. In my heart, I wanted to play a
"Our team's brain, Matt Nass, showed me a new and interesting decklist. I liked the deck, so I tuned it a bit and enjoyed playing it until a week before the Regional Championship. But looking at the Regional Championship meta a week before the Regional Championship for South Korea and Japan, it seemed like the Cub deck could be good in the meta again if tuned well. Through one-on-one games with Kong, I learned how the matchups flow, and after going 15-0 on MTG Arena, I gained a lot of confidence. So, instead of a new deck, I chose the safe deck. Tuning a deck to fit the meta is one of my strengths, and I think it worked out well in this event."
Nature's Rhythm
Craterhoof Behemoth [5X8gqdP9fA9hccLXqxuX9e]
That's the ideal flow of Standard. Ma followed the week-to-week developments that unfolded across the globe at the Regional Championship level and used that information to make the right changes for this weekend's tournament.
The 33-year-old's updated Bant Rhythm deck dropped only a single game in the Top 8 en route to his second career Regional Championship victory.
🏆Congratulations to Ma Noah, who took down the Champions Cup Final in Kyoto Japan with Bant Rhythm!🏆
— PlayMTG (@PlayMTG) March 15, 2026
After finishing first in the Swiss rounds, he blazed through the Top 8 to win the entire tournament - well done Noah! pic.twitter.com/buTcQ4lUOf
It's another title, another piece of hardware for the mantle, and another set of invites to the Pro Tour and World Championship. But for Ma, this win didn't feel like any of the other major accomplishments in his career.
"When I first started playing Magic, my goal was simply to do well at the Pro Tour. And when I made my Pro Tour debut, became a Rivals League member, and performed well at major events, I was incredibly thrilled," he elaborated. "But winning this time felt quite different from before, and even thinking about it now, it still feels different. Now, my dream is to do well at the World Championship. Maybe that's why my attitude toward this Regional Championship win feels a bit different than it would have in the past."
Let's be clear: winning a major Magic event never gets old. But at the same time, Ma has sat on the Sunday stage at the Pro Tour and competed at the pinnacle of competition at the World Championship. Having checked a great many things off his Magic list, Ma has a few goals he's still chasing in the game that have never been far from his heart.
"Magic has become my life. Magic has taken up such a large part of my life for a long time that I don't even know how I'm enjoying it anymore," he marveled. "I know it won't be an easy challenge, but my goal is to achieve good results in the remaining Pro Tours and at Worlds. Especially for the next Pro Tour, players I really like—Mike Sigrist, Andrew Cuneo, and Nathan Steuer—are coming back, and I think the battle between these strong returning players and the new rising talents will make the next Pro Tour much more fun."
Noah is awesome. Tested with him in the CFB/TCG testing house for Philly. He came into the house with 2 massive suitcases he could barely carry. Day two he comes down with one of the suitcases, opens it, reveals the entire thing is filled with Korean snacks for the team.
— Michael Sigrist (@MSigrist83) March 15, 2026
The next chance for Ma to start on those goals? Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven, to be held on May 1–3 at MagicCon: Las Vegas.