Akira Asahara won Players Tour Online 4 Sunday afternoon with Temur Reclamation, defeating Thomas White on Azorius Control in the finals two games to one.
Temur Reclamation dominated Players Tour Online 1 and 2 last weekend with Fires of Invention and Agent of Treachery banned in Standard, winning both events and making up over over 40.5% and and 38.5% of the metagame, respectively. But the deck dropped in popularity—to slightly less eye popping numbers—at Players Tour Online 4 with 26.40% of the field registering Temur Reclamation, as well as 23.8% of players at Players Tour Online 3. 16.7% of the field played Bant Ramp at Players Tour Online 4, while 24.5% played Bant Ramp at Players Tour Online 3, making it the most popular deck in that event.
The Standard metagame at Players Tour 4.
Asahara finished as the fifth seed with an 11-3-1 record and faced two Temur Reclamation mirrors in the quarter and semifinals, defeating Magic Rivals League member Alexander Hayne and Arne Huschenbeth. He advanced to the finals where he proceeded to beat Thomas White on Azorius Control in three games to win Players Tour Online 4.
This was Asahara’s fifth top finish, including Top 8’ing Players Tour Nagoya in February, two Worlds Top 8s in 2005 and 2008, and finishing second in the 2010 Magic Online Championship Series. He also has 10 Grand Prix Top 8s, all coming between 2003 and 2011.
Standard Temur Reclamation by Akira Asahara
| Creatures (7) 3 Nightpack Ambusher 3 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath 1 Brazen Borrower Spells (17) 4 Expansion // Explosion 4 Growth Spiral 4 Mystical Dispute 3 Aether Gust 2 Negate Enchantments (7) 4 Wilderness Reclamation 3 Shark Typhoon | Lands (29) 4 Breeding Pool 4 Ketria Triome 4 Steam Vents 3 Castle Vantress 3 Fabled Passage 3 Stomping Ground 2 Blast Zone 2 Forest 2 Island 1 Mountain 1 Temple of Mystery Sideboard (15) 3 Flame Sweep 3 Scorching Dragonfire 2 Bonecrusher Giant 2 Narset’s Reversal 1 Brazen Borrower 1 Commence the Endgame 1 Chemister’s Insight 1 Negate 1 Shark Typhoon |