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) 2 Brazen Borrower 4 Empyrean Eagle 4 Mausoleum Wanderer 4 Nebelgast Herald 4 Rattlechains 4 Selfless Spirit 2 Spectral Sailor 4 Spell Queller 4 Supreme Phantom Spells (4) 4 Collected Company | Lands (24) 2 Island 2 Plains 4 Botanical Sanctum 4 Breeding Pool 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 4 Temple Garden Sideboard (15) 1 Archangel Avacyn 4 Deputy of Detention 2 Permeating Mass 2 Rest in Peace 1 Disdainful Stroke 4 Mystical Dispute 1 Settle the Wreckage |
Pioneer Sram Auras by Ken Yukuhiro (2nd Place)
| Creatures (17) 2 Favored Hoplite 4 Sram, Senior Edificer 4 Alseid of Life’s Bounty 3 Aphemia, the Cacophony 4 Hateful Eidolon Spells (4) 4 Karametra’s Blessing Enchantments (19) 4 All That Glitters 4 Cartouche of Solidarity 4 Ethereal Armor 3 Gryff’s Boon 4 Sentinel’s Eyes | Lands (20) 6 Plains 1 Swamp 4 Caves of Koilos 4 Concealed Courtyard 4 Godless Shrine 1 Mana Confluence Sideboard (15) 3 Apostle of Purifying Light 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 2 Baffling End 3 Brain Maggot 2 Dead Weight 2 Gideon of the Trials 2 Thoughtseize |
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Shintaro Ishimura (3rd Place)
| Creatures (24) 4 Brazen Borrower 4 Gadwick, the Wizened 4 Harbinger of the Tides 4 Inverter of Truth 4 Merfolk Trickster 4 Thassa’s Oracle Planeswalkers (3) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (2) 2 Wizard’s Retort Enchantments (4) 4 Leyline of Anticipation | Lands (27) 7 Island 2 Castle Vantress 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Fetid Pools 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 2 Temple of Deceit 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 1 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries 2 Ratchet Bomb 2 Aether Gust 1 Annul 1 Dispel 4 Mystical Dispute 1 Entrancing Melody 2 Thoughtseize 1 Unmoored Ego |
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Yuta Takahashi (4th Place)
| Creatures (8) 4 Inverter of Truth 4 Thassa’s Oracle Planeswalkers (3) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (22) 2 Thought Erasure 4 Thoughtseize 2 Censor 4 Dig Through Time 2 Drown in the Loch 4 Fatal Push 4 Opt Enchantments (2) 2 Omen of the Sea | Lands (25) 6 Island 3 Swamp 2 Choked Estuary 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Fabled Passage 2 Fetid Pools 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 1 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 1 Thief of Sanity 1 Damping Sphere 1 Grafdigger’s Cage 1 Cast Down 3 Mystical Dispute 1 Ultimate Price 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse 1 Liliana, the Last Hope 2 Languish 1 Legion’s End |
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Shota Yasooka (5th Place)
| Creatures (7) 4 Inverter of Truth 2 Thassa’s Oracle 1 The Scarab God Planeswalkers (4) 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (24) 1 Languish 1 Thought Erasure 4 Thoughtseize 3 Censor 3 Dig Through Time 1 Drown in the Loch 4 Fatal Push 1 Hero’s Downfall 1 Mystical Dispute 4 Opt 1 Sinister Sabotage | Lands (25) 4 Island 2 Swamp 1 Castle Locthwain 1 Castle Vantress 4 Drowned Catacomb 3 Fabled Passage 3 Fetid Pools 2 Field of Ruin 2 Temple of Deceit 3 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 2 Mystical Dispute 2 Jace, Vryn’s Prodigy 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 2 Doom Blade 2 Negate 1 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Liliana, the Last Hope 2 Cry of the Carnarium 1 Duress |
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Akira Asahara (6th Place)
| Creatures (8) 4 Inverter of Truth 4 Thassa’s Oracle Planeswalkers (4) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries 1 Liliana, the Last Hope Spells (23) 4 Thoughtseize 4 Censor 4 Dig Through Time 4 Fatal Push 4 Opt 3 Tyrant’s Scorn | Lands (25) 5 Island 2 Swamp 1 Castle Locthwain 1 Castle Vantress 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Fabled Passage 2 Fetid Pools 2 Temple of Deceit 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 1 The Scarab God 1 Arguel’s Blood Fast 1 Cast Down 1 Hero’s Downfall 4 Mystical Dispute 1 Negate 1 Ultimate Price 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver 1 Legion’s End 1 Thought Distortion |
Pioneer UB Inverter of Truth by Lee Shi Tian (7th Place)
| Creatures (8) 4 Inverter of Truth 4 Thassa’s Oracle Planeswalkers (3) 3 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries Spells (20) 1 Languish 4 Thoughtseize 3 Censor 2 Dig Through Time 4 Fatal Push 4 Opt 2 Tyrant’s Scorn Enchantments (4) 4 Omen of the Sea | Lands (25) 5 Island 4 Swamp 4 Choked Estuary 4 Drowned Catacomb 4 Fetid Pools 4 Watery Grave Sideboard (15) 1 Murderous Rider 2 Damping Sphere 2 Treasure Map 1 Drown in the Loch 2 Grasp of Darkness 3 Mystical Dispute 1 Noxious Grasp 1 Coax from the Blind Eternities 1 Duress 1 Thought Erasure |
Pioneer Mono-Black Vampires by Dmitriy Butakov (8th Place)
| Creatures (21) 4 Champion of Dusk 4 Dusk Legion Zealot 4 Gifted Aetherborn 2 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion 3 Murderous Rider Planeswalkers (4) 4 Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord Spells (10) 4 Thoughtseize 4 Fatal Push 2 Grasp of Darkness | Lands (25) 14 Swamp 4 Castle Locthwain 4 Mutavault 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth Sideboard (15) 1 Kalitas, Traitor of Ghet 1 Grasp of Darkness 2 Blightbeetle 2 Rankle, Master of Pranks 1 Drag to the Underworld 2 Liliana, the Last Hope 2 Drill Bit 1 Epic Downfall 3 Lost Legacy |