Update: Watch our recaps of Day 1 and Day 2 of the Magic World Cup.
On Today’s Minute: The star-studded Japanese team overcame their historical underperformance to win the 2017 World Magic Cup.
Japan, lead by Hall of Famer Shota Yasooka, dominated Sunday’s Top 8 and defeated Poland 2 matches to 1 to win the 2017 World Magic Cup.
“Control Master” Shota Yasooka had been playing the very aggressive Ramunap Red deck all weekend, but the semifinals and finals showed that Yasooka is as much an “Aggro Master” as “Control Master.” In the semis, Yasooka was matched up against last year’s World Magic Cup semifinalist Mattia Rizzi of Italy, who was playing UB Control. In the deciding Game 3, Yasooka looked to be playing both sides of the matchup and effectively denied Rizzi any chance at card advantage, overpowering him to put Japan in the finals.
And in the finals, Yasooka faced Piotr Glogowski of Poland on UW Cycling. Yasooka continued to play circles around the entire Top 8 and out card-advantaged Glogowski’s cycling deck, including drawing seven cards off his Turn 1 Bomat Courier in the deciding game of the finals, allowing Yasooka to refill his hand in the mid-game and overpower Glogowski, winning the Magic World Cup for Japan.
Japan was one of the favorites coming into the weekend, featuring Hall of Famers Shota Yasooka and Yuuya Watanabe, as well has Japanese National Champion Kenta Harane. However, Japan has historically underperformed at the World Magic Cup, having previously made Day 2 only once since the tournament’s inception in 2012. But these Japanese superstars quickly quieted all of the doubters, defeating Austria, Italy, and Poland to become the 2017 World Magic Cup champions.
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