2012 Players Championship Finals: Shouta Yasooka vs. Yuuya Watanabe

Watch Shouta Yasooka and Yuuya Watanabe, two titans of Magic, battle for the Player of the Year title at the 2012 Players Championship in Seattle, Washington.
Find complete coverage of the Magic Players Championship here:
www.wizards.com...

[@renatobotao2785]

Best Magic the Gathering match I have ever seen. One of the reasons I fell in love with Jund.

[@TheVnholy]

agree been playing magic since beta and ive watched every bit of footage on youtube, i always come back to this tournament. Shouta's deck is so ahead of the pack. His match with Finkel is also great from this event.

[@alessiofedi5462]

Before Modern Horizon’s set this format was such a good magic to play…

[@tttyyy949]

this dude knows stuff.

[@aochv1]

I always look back at this match with sadness as if watanabe cheated during the event Shouta was robbed of a world championship title.

[@nathana5718]

Definitely. Hard to say, but it does bring all of his past accomplishments into question.

[@skylar5257]

@@nathana5718I always looked up to him as a Magic player, I was killed when I found out he had cheated because it makes me wonder if he earned his title of “Best Player in the World” during his early 2000’s run without cheating.

[@nathana5718]

@@skylar5257 Yeah man I was gutted too. Was an absolutely huge Watanabe stan during that era. Was hard not to be with his record.

[@umberto.mucelli]

Best all time mtg modern match ever played, to me. I watched it so many times I basically remember all the game moves.

[@Iggyboyblue]

My type of modern, grindy decks trying to out value the other

[@WelcomeFellow]

i totaly love it aswell its so entertaining.

[@ichweissnichtgenau92]

When magic was still nice! Not that op power creep today. Companion smh

[@reslime]

this was a great format

[@M0mentum11]

I don't find Rich Hagon's analysis annoying at all really. Sometimes the things he say are a bit brash but he just commentates the matches and he's really passionate about the game, he also does a fantastic job of leading commentary and keeping the analysis going which is quite difficult.

[@jonc3519]

How is he brash, though?

[@M0mentum11]

+Yosef Estill he does tend to hype up some players to the point that it seems like he's undervaluing or even insulting their opponents skill. Could be considered brash in my opinion.

[@jonc3519]

Yeah, I guess can see that.Condoriano

[@jonc3519]

Condoriano I guess I see that as more lame and annoying than anything else.

[@M0mentum11]

+Yosef Estill that's fair.

[@Aassymcass]

"What a match! What a week! What a nabay!"

[@Drecon84]

Wow. Some of the best magic I've ever seen played. Thanks Wizards for uploading these. It really made my week.

[@172rkgk]

LOL All the Bloodbraid Elf comments aged well.

[@dizzyfish1380]

ik

[@GarciaCornbread]

Apparently Yasooka built this deck on Wednesday before the tournament. WOW.

[@Drecon84]

Also, I was really sad when the Invitational was discontinued. In my opinion this tournament has everything that made the invitational worth following. Love the new tournament structure.

[@hp5310]

When magic was still magic. RIP

[@TheInvisibleKev]

best commentary team, only marshall is missing to complete the perfect trio

[@gentlevader]

Agreed

[@MrGarruk123]

Nah that would be Cedrick and Patrick

[@supaaznjigga]

Very tight match from start to finish

[@matthewpeters5353]

Watching this in 2021 and this is so entertaining. Love both the decks and the gameplay

[@jamesmartin4843]

magic the gathering rocks

[@dimitri13]

+Jeff Morse King Autismo.

[@ukaszkonopko3263]

Wizards, you should back to this setup.

[@aposto94]

who came here after the disappointing Watanabe news?

[@jldrums]

makes you wonder how much he cheated up until the point of no return. pretty much invalidates his entire time playing magic competitively.

[@juanrhinehart9256]

He Did not cheat he is a good man and It was confirmed only a couple cards were bent but the were all different cards and he has a different shuffle style

[@Bluequaz]

@@juanrhinehart9256 where did you get that information? The information I saw was several marks on several cards investigated by several judges and staff conclusively resulted in a ban

[@juanrhinehart9256]

C Q I thought you were talking about pro tour amonkhet

[@Bluequaz]

@@juanrhinehart9256 ah gotcha, gotcha. ok i was wondering if you had info i didnt!

[@s13dmcgovern]

Wow! That has always been one of my favorite matches in mtg

[@umberto.mucelli]

One..?

[@garagavia]

I totally agree. This is how magic should be, dynamic and paced, while every move gets the time for concidderation it needs.

[@Goblin_Wizard]

shame yuuya is a cheater :// was one of my favs 10-5 years ago.

[@PwnforceFrank]

A friend at work mentioned that he played MTG a lot, so I figured I'd check it out. Just ordered the 2014 fat pack, Chandra starter deck, and the 2014 deck builder. I'm seriously excited to get started! I've known about MTG since I was a kid, but never played for some reason.

[@rockdeworld]

You guys are great commentators so far (the first game), and, maybe in part because the players are going so fast, this is exciting to watch!

[@lqdreality]

Game 1: 2:34 Game 2: 27:10 Game 3: 42:29 Game 4: 1:12:30 Game 5: 1:23:48

[@lukawalli]

I've never played or watched a game of Magic before...just imagine how i feel watching this :)

[@prosperwaldmann6954]

What a match what a week WATANABE

[@yohanesparuntu4980]

this deserves more likes.

[@LordDolan6]

Best of the Best.That was epic,easly the best final match of the last two years.Cant wait for the 2013 championship.

[@ohiowildchild8797]

bring pack table top magic, I can't stand online arena anymore

[@Darkpawra]

At 6:50, if you look closely, he does three shuffles and each time he cuts exactly to a Dark Confidant and puts it on the bottom. Not saying it's cheating, just a crazy odds.

[@Ravenamps]

If still find my comments insulting, then I compliment you for your incredible moral upstanding, you are a better man than I.

[@Mangolite]

My buddy Josh got me into Magic The Gathering and now I'm hooked. God help me.

[@LilMotegi]

Should have someone look over the final product of these videos. The audio is always very low and often one second behind.

[@bak2grave4u]

its 2022 and these decks still look solid

[@david1913]

god i miss good magic, arena sucks

[@MrMalvurious]

Whats the sound range on everyone else's computers? I turn my volume up a little bit and its completely fine...

[@Jerias12345]

This isn't on television. This is on an internet stream.

[@PHemidall]

I think that they will fix te volume soon,they are posting without corrections to keep the videos fresh(edit the sound and renderize consumes a lot of time)

[@befreud]

PLEASE PLEASE turn the volume up!!!!

[@GeorgewhoGen]

Stop at 42:20 to see Aurelia, The Warleader back at the big screen, unfortunate the camera view is not complete, but still it worth it.. Spectacular view.

[@jared1932]

This is the Next level play of Magic that I like

[@Aassymcass]

Thank you!

[@Ox5f3759df]

You have to be of a special breed to be this good at Magic

[@cornxx3]

that banter at about the 22:00 mark about "huntmaster of the fails" was funny AF haha. too good.

[@DanWinkel517]

I've never played before... But I felt the tension right in my seat. This is great!

[@ArmorOfGod7]

Drives me crazy how much they fidget with their hands, cycling through their cards and what-not.

[@TheHirmas]

Hello MrMtggamer. I have a question i hope you can help me out. I live in Chile so there is not much of a MTG culture here, but i have a few friends that play and i go to a couple of little tournaments. Could you advise me what is the best way to beat a red/black deck. Everybody down here is playing with does decks!

[@josspider100]

A friend at church introduced me to this game, NOW I REALLY WANT TO GET A STARTER DECK AND START PLAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@Theheartslove]

And now Blood Braid Elf is banned. Nice.

[@fabiogarzaro8272]

Larone13 lol

[@grahamdrake7941]

like fuck it is if your reading this in 2020

[@Eversca]

Why is this so quiet?

[@Silv3rfoxFoxy]

Vissna Voss they are always so damn quite!! lol

[@Ijilif]

This video is a bit too loud, could you please lower the volume the next time you record? My ear drums will never be the same, thank you.

[@Rouricht]

Sadly it seems like Watanabe often cheated back the days with marked sleeves.. Even got removed from Hall of fame.. Still a nice game to watch here! :D

[@skylar5257]

Well “back then” was never verified if he cheated, he’s only been caught once and that was a couple years ago THEN he was removed. Unfortunately we won’t know how long he cheated if he did back then, but it does put into perspective his explosive entrance and instant fame in the MTG Pro scene and makes me wonder how much of it was helped from cheating if any.

[@ishboh]

start with something like frank lepore's videos maybe? its pretty rough to try and follow without being able to read the cards as they play them.

[@n3rdm4n36]

The days of Bloodbraid Elf in Modern lol

[@robhunter1765]

hehehehehehehe

[@MegaLaban12345]

HOLLA AT YA BOY

[@THEMithrandir09]

haha

[@gg_simida]

it's back! yeah

[@daltonwakeup9537]

lol

[@dragonistear]

1. Drawing Cards=more access to spells to answer with anything the opponent throws down. 2. Its not used in EVERY black deck, just the ones that need the extra boost. 3. In endgame situations, it prevents you from drawing lands (or at least you kill off two at one time). 4. A few damage is really insignificant and if its going to cost you, 1 toughness creatures aren't hard to get rid of. 5. It's still a 2 for a 2/1 which is good.

[@NeroNeverCried]

Does Rakdos GulildGate or any card that says "add a card to your mana pool" mean from your hand or your deck?

[@davidpearlman6631]

You can look up the decks that the players used. I googled "2012 players championship decklists" and found good links that youtube doesn't want me posting. You can also look up any specific cards that you're not familiar with by typing some of the card name into google along with "mtg," and you'll get an image of the card. That should help you keep up.

[@Jaryism]

When Aether Vial drops Turn 1.... you can't help but feel a little uneasy as an opponent lol, as a Legacy player from like 2003-2013 that's what it always felt like for me in tourneys >.>

[@FlockofSmeagles]

I started playing MTG after I blew out my knee 2 years ago. I couldn't skate, or play ball any more so I began to enter my more "nerdier" side as an outlet of productivity. As I progressed I began to find that about half of my friends played magic growing up, but never said anything about it because it is "nerdy", and didn't consider me to be someone who would be interested. However the more, and more I played my friends all started playing again, and now I have weekly tournaments at my house.

[@clashroyalecontrols-me6938]

19:45 I don't know Japanese but I thought he sighed "finally" at the end of that round.

[@27AC35]

Noob question, planeswalker are used in championships? Playing magic for fun after i quit the game in Urza´s destiny hehe

[@adammarquardt7995]

A lot of what they're saying is advanced terminology for pro players that most of us casual players just ignore. These things will make more sense in time.

[@iBenedetto]

you came to the video, solely to insult the people in it... tell me how fulfilling YOUR life is...

[@theoriginaldmac]

I love that they put images of the sanctuary cat up on the side

[@TheTomAbz]

i though the commentator was gonna make it so lame but that intro is quite epic got me pumped

[@JesperJotun]

What cracks me up about the volume, is that you can barely hear the commentators yet you can hear every click or snap from the players flicking their cards (O.o)p figure THAT out!

[@Rakadis]

Volume is way to low. Please do something about this.

[@barlen84]

Welcome to magic ive been playing for 2 years and i miss half of modern

[@soccer1421rocks]

Don't worry man I had to wait a month and a half to fully understand this video... I feel your pain

[@MakinUsernamesSuck]

If you're talking about when they play a spell, but do not tap mana for it, that is because their mana would untap soon anyway. Like when the Dark Confidant gets Bolted at Yuuya's endstep. Sense Yasokas mana would of untapped in literally seconds, he didn't bother tapping it.

[@thepekay]

Liliana sitting right there with 4 counters, commentator mentioning "Doesn't want to cast Clique-yet to dodge the Maelstrom pulse; Doesn't want to cast it despite the vial to dodge a potential second pulse" ...Good job.

[@adamw86]

It would be awesome if you periodically showed the enlarged view of cards in play of each player (like when you show the single card to be played on the right), you could even just list regular lands as a table of counts to save space. It is not optimal to watch a board of cards that cannot even be read for the majority of the match. For newer players like myself, there is no way to follow these casts. Players sometimes stack their cards and hide the card images/text, so helping the audience out would be very beneficial.

[@The__Leo]

It's tough if you aren't familiar with the cards, but this is a good way to learn them. I'll admit I've watched this a few times before I even knew what was going in order to figure it out. Now I basically know what every play is (not that I could actually play these decks). This is my favorite match I've ever watched.

[@antonwiderin5820]

i dont get Shouta Yasookas deck, 13 creatures in main and vial? also snapy and the faries with flash....? to know the meta would have been interessting...

[@swordofthelord2605]

Can anyone tell me what decks they are running? Decklists? thanks

[@garagavia]

This is a complicated format to try to get into in the first place. It is called the modern format, and consists of cards, all the way back from eight edition (2003). The amount of knowlege you would need to fully understand this format is breathtakin, and at this level, with this pace... It is no wonder you are getting confused by it, i know i would, back in 2003.

[@icedsilverdragon]

Quick question, are they allowed to use cards from any set? i thought they were only allowed to use the last core set and the last 2 blocks

[@dkoldt]

Why is there some cards that has golden border or silver border or like just a different coloured / symbol on borders??? and can you get those cards ?

[@ramblinchap]

And for some reason KZbin is censoring the contraction "did not"

[@GeekNamedCj]

What sleeves did yuuya watanabe use in this match? I need real answers please

[@nihantganta5545]

+Cj Apale theyre doubles sleeved hyper mattes, i think

[@anstytroll11]

kmc hyper matts with kmc perfect fits

[@mylifeatscho0l]

+Cj Apale +Andrew Fackenthall these are the bestttttttttttttttt

[@CreeperGuyOnWeb]

I wonder if he was cheating here, too.

[@gamewhizjo]

also another thing what is the fastest possible way to play allot of land fast. JW

[@araen11]

Why didn't yasuoka in the last match use his aether vial to put tharmogoyf and block watanabe's goyf?? Why did he take it in the face? I don't get it!

[@Sofakingbadz]

I'm assuming this is modern?

[@MrFutius]

I'm glad my rants are as entertaining to other people as they are ti me :D

[@gamewhizjo]

can somone answer this i feel dumb asking but i was playing my friend and he said that he was allowed to play drowned catacomb and a basic land in the same turn is that really allowed.

[@MartinThorning]

That Watanabe guy sure looks happy.

[@capcomfreak2k]

You should give it a go someday. It's a lot of fun. Start with the video games first if you don't want to fork out much money or have anyone to play with.

[@Thyeggman]

Now you only have to watch one of them :)

[@TCraats]

Congratulations to Watanabe! Well played, I must say!

[@richarddavis3110]

Jeroen Katgert has a point with Yasooka not bolting the Treetop Village until after it dealt damage to him in the same turn in G1. Also, around 12:20 Yasooka swung with a Snapcaster while Watanabe had Treetop Village on field, bolt in hand, and enough mana for both. Instead of trying to block with the Village, he just bolted Snappy right away. Are these misplays or am I crazy?

[@atherion31]

Yasooka didn't bolt the treetop in combat because he wanted to hold snapcaster-mana leak or snapcaster-cryptic for a possible tarmogoyf/liliana/confidant that Watanabe could play after combat. At 12:20 there was no treetop village in Watanabe's side of the board.

[@MrE903]

these players are fricking scary good

[@aliendragon17]

I hate always going away in September... Means I miss the best prereleases... :/

[@YojimboOdin]

Modern is 60 card decks, correct? Their decks look huge unless its the sleeves making it look like that

[@Rain-fe2mm]

newbie here. why theiy are not using land/mana card?? plss answer thanks

[@chproductions9162]

what do you mean?

[@wojtekszemik3178]

they are using non basic lands :)

[@TJ-xf2sd]

those land are called fetch land, shock land, man land, and filter land. They are way better than basic because each of them give them 2 color choice to fix mana problem so as a result it is way more expensive than basic. www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/537316-non-basic-lands-with-basic-land-types go check this out

[@AsianxGirl13]

God, they are scary good. Intense play and was very interesting to watch.

[@spartenskillers]

I love modern and (maybe) legacy. My aether vial might make my simic merfolk deck unstoppable.

[@DeanWinchesterTheMan]

One of the greatest MTG matches ever, fair, precise, interactive. But this was also why BBE got slammed by the banhammer. Nonetheless, spectacular games, absolutely spectacular.

[@garagavia]

If you have played for a long time, and know the format, what cards are good, and often used, and look up the eventual ones you miss, it's not so difficult. It demands some devotion, however.

[@vincechang7248]

one cryptic command should have changed the whole final match

[@Hectorn125]

these are pros, u expect this when you watch it. which format do u play?

[@stefan8tor3410]

i like how after he lost he kept the same face!