Kenta Harane won Players Tour Nagoya on Sunday evening with Bant Spirits, defeating Magic Pro League member Ken Yukihiro on Sram Auras 2-1 in the finals.

Don’t miss our coverage of Day 1, Day 2, and the Top 8 of PT Brussels, Day 1 of PT Nagoya, or Day 1, Day 2, and the Top 8 of PT Phoenix.

Harane had to make his way through a Top 8 bracket packed with five UB Inverter of Truth decks to win the tournament. The Inverter of Truth/Thassa’s Oracle combo took Pioneer by storm this week and became the most popular archetype at Players Tour Nagoya, where it made up 19% of the field. He was joined in the Top 8 by Magic Pro League members Ken Yukihiro, Shota Yasooka, and Lee, Shi Tian, plus two-time Magic Online Championship Series champion Dmitriy Butakov, as well as Shintaro Ishimura, Yuta Takahashi, and Akira Asahara.

After 15 rounds of swiss, Harane had a 11-4-1 record and was in fifth place, which pit him against the fourth seed, Shota Yasooka (UB Inverter of Truth). Harane defeated Yasooka 2-1, advancing to face the one seed Shintaro Ishimura (UB Inverter of Truth), whom he defeated 2-0 to make it to the finals of Players Tour Nagoya.

On the other side of the bracket, Ken Yukuhiro’s 11-4-1 record with his Sram Auras deck in the swiss rounds earned him the third seed. He defeated six seed Akira Asahara (UB Inverter of Truth) in the semifinals 2-1 and two seed Yuta Takahashi (UB Inverter) to advance to the finals and face Kenta Harane.

The Finals

In Game 1 of the finals of Players Tour Nagoya, Yukuhiro found himself stuck on one land but was able to make a giant Favored Hoplite with Ethereal Armor and Sentinel’s Eyes. He finally drew a second land to play Sram, Senior Edificer and enchanted it with with Sentinel’s Eyes and Gryff’s Boon on his next turn, making two giant threats and drawing two cards. Harane could only chump so many times with his much smaller Spirits and conceded the game.

Yukuhiro began Game 2 with an excellent opening as well with a Turn 2 Sram, Turn 3 Gryff’s Boon (which Harane countered with Spell Queller) and Cartouche of Solidarity, drawing two cards and putting a Soldier token onto the battlefield, plus an Alseid of Life’s Bounty for good measure.

Harane also had a good start, curving a Turn 1 Permeating Mass, into a Turn 2 Supreme Phantom, into a Turn 3 Spell Queller that ate Yukuhiro’s Gryff’s Boon.

Yukuhiro looked to close out the game on Turn 4 with an All that Glitters targeting the Solider token and drawing a card, then followed that up with a Gryff’s Boon on the token, which prompted a Collected Company from Harane. He found two Deputy of Detentions to exile the Sram and the token, though Yukuhiro sacrificed the Alseid to save the enchanted token. But this exchange left Yukuhiro with one creature while Harane had assembled an imposing board that quickly reduced Yukuhiro to zero life.

In the deciding Game 3, Yukuhiro had something close to a dream start with Alseid of Life’s Bounty into Ethereal Armor and Gryff’s Boon to attack for five on Turn 2. But Harane had the Petty Theft side of Brazen Borrower to bounce the Alseid and reset the board.

Yukuhiro redeployed the Alseid with two Cartouche of Solidaritys, creating two Soldier tokens, while Harane an Empyrean Eagle into combat step Collected Company, which found a Spell Queller (for no value) and a Deputy of Detention. The Deputy targeted the Alseid, which Yukuhiro saved with a Karametra’s Blessing, allowing an attack for five putting Harane down to seven life.

Yukuhiro continued to build up his Alseid by Escaping a Sentinel’s Eyes, but Harane tapped it down with a precombat Nebelgast Herald, which Harane then used to start working on Yukuhiro’s rather high life total through the air. A precombat Rattlechains from Harane on Yukuhiro’s next turn triggered Nebelgast Herald, tapping the Alseid once again, after which Harane to played Selfless Spirit into Supreme Phantom on successive turns, allowing Harane to attack for lethal and win the game, match, and Players Tour Nagoya.

This was Harane’s first Pro Tour/Mythic Championship/Players Tour Top 8. He has five Grand Prix Top 8s and won 2017 Japanese Nationals to join Yuuya Watanabe and Shota Yasooka on Team Japan at the 2017 Magic World Cup, where they defeated Poland in the final.

Players Tour Nagoya Top 8 Deck Lists

Pioneer Bant Spirits by Kenta Harane (1st Place)

Creatures (32)
Brazen Borrower
Empyrean Eagle
Mausoleum Wanderer
Nebelgast Herald
Rattlechains
Selfless Spirit
Spectral Sailor
Spell Queller
Supreme Phantom

Spells (4)
Collected Company
Lands (24)
Island
Plains
Botanical Sanctum
Breeding Pool
Glacial Fortress
Hallowed Fountain
Temple Garden

Sideboard (15)
Archangel Avacyn
Deputy of Detention
Permeating Mass
Rest in Peace
Disdainful Stroke
Mystical Dispute
Settle the Wreckage

Pioneer Sram Auras by Ken Yukuhiro (2nd Place)

Creatures (17)
Favored Hoplite
Sram, Senior Edificer
Alseid of Life’s Bounty
Aphemia, the Cacophony
Hateful Eidolon

Spells (4)
Karametra’s Blessing

Enchantments (19)
All That Glitters
Cartouche of Solidarity
Ethereal Armor
Gryff’s Boon
Sentinel’s Eyes
Lands (20)
Plains
Swamp
Caves of Koilos
Concealed Courtyard
Godless Shrine
Mana Confluence

Sideboard (15)
Apostle of Purifying Light
Grafdigger’s Cage
Baffling End
Brain Maggot
Dead Weight
Gideon of the Trials
Thoughtseize

Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Shintaro Ishimura (3rd Place)

Creatures (24)
Brazen Borrower
Gadwick, the Wizened
Harbinger of the Tides
Inverter of Truth
Merfolk Trickster
Thassa’s Oracle

Planeswalkers (3)
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Spells (2)
Wizard’s Retort

Enchantments (4)
Leyline of Anticipation
Lands (27)
Island
Castle Vantress
Drowned Catacomb
Fetid Pools
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Temple of Deceit
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Ratchet Bomb
Aether Gust
Annul
Dispel
Mystical Dispute
Entrancing Melody
Thoughtseize
Unmoored Ego

Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Yuta Takahashi (4th Place)

Creatures (8)
Inverter of Truth
Thassa’s Oracle

Planeswalkers (3)
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Spells (22)
Thought Erasure
Thoughtseize
Censor
Dig Through Time
Drown in the Loch
Fatal Push
Opt

Enchantments (2)
Omen of the Sea
Lands (25)
Island
Swamp
Choked Estuary
Drowned Catacomb
Fabled Passage
Fetid Pools
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Thief of Sanity
Damping Sphere
Grafdigger’s Cage
Cast Down
Mystical Dispute
Ultimate Price
Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
Liliana, the Last Hope
Languish
Legion’s End

Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Shota Yasooka (5th Place)

Creatures (7)
Inverter of Truth
Thassa’s Oracle
The Scarab God

Planeswalkers (4)
Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Spells (24)
Languish
Thought Erasure
Thoughtseize
Censor
Dig Through Time
Drown in the Loch
Fatal Push
Hero’s Downfall
Mystical Dispute
Opt
Sinister Sabotage
Lands (25)
Island
Swamp
Castle Locthwain
Castle Vantress
Drowned Catacomb
Fabled Passage
Fetid Pools
Field of Ruin
Temple of Deceit
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Mystical Dispute
Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Doom Blade
Negate
Ashiok, Dream Render
Liliana, the Last Hope
Cry of the Carnarium
Duress

Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Akira Asahara (6th Place)

Creatures (8)
Inverter of Truth
Thassa’s Oracle

Planeswalkers (4)
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries
Liliana, the Last Hope

Spells (23)
Thoughtseize
Censor
Dig Through Time
Fatal Push
Opt
Tyrant’s Scorn
Lands (25)
Island
Swamp
Castle Locthwain
Castle Vantress
Drowned Catacomb
Fabled Passage
Fetid Pools
Temple of Deceit
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
The Scarab God
Arguel’s Blood Fast
Cast Down
Hero’s Downfall
Mystical Dispute
Negate
Ultimate Price
Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Legion’s End
Thought Distortion

Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Lee Shi Tian (7th Place)

Creatures (8)
Inverter of Truth
Thassa’s Oracle

Planeswalkers (3)
Jace, Wielder of Mysteries

Spells (20)
Languish
Thoughtseize
Censor
Dig Through Time
Fatal Push
Opt
Tyrant’s Scorn

Enchantments (4)
Omen of the Sea
Lands (25)
Island
Swamp
Choked Estuary
Drowned Catacomb
Fetid Pools
Watery Grave

Sideboard (15)
Murderous Rider
Damping Sphere
Treasure Map
Drown in the Loch
Grasp of Darkness
Mystical Dispute
Noxious Grasp
Coax from the Blind Eternities
Duress
Thought Erasure

Pioneer Mono-Black Vampires by Dmitriy Butakov (8th Place)

Creatures (21)
Champion of Dusk
Dusk Legion Zealot
Gifted Aetherborn
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Knight of the Ebon Legion
Murderous Rider

Planeswalkers (4)
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord

Spells (10)
Thoughtseize
Fatal Push
Grasp of Darkness
Lands (25)
14 Swamp
Castle Locthwain
Mutavault
Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx
Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Sideboard (15)
Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet
Grasp of Darkness
Blightbeetle
Rankle, Master of Pranks
Drag to the Underworld
Liliana, the Last Hope
Drill Bit
Epic Downfall
Lost Legacy

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