2012 Players Championship Semifinals: Shouta Yasooka vs. Jon Finkel

Watch top-seed Shouta Yasooka battle Hall of Famer Jon Finkel in the semifinals of the 2012 Magic Players Championship. The format is Modern.
Find complete coverage of the Magic Players Championship here:
www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine...

[@BitQuests]

Really like how the japanese dude is playing. Calm, thoughtful plus he keeps his base tidy. Pleasure to watch.

[@clearasil11]

These are my two favourite players. Calm and precise

[@yaboi5954]

Kind of wish modern stayed this exact format. Nothing broken. Just before jund got broken with deathrite. 5-color zoo decks were playable and Geist of saint traft was the best 3 dropw

[@SlowmotionTRO]

It is so nice that the cards are highlighted!!! Before I never knew what was going on. This should be done each time a Card enters the battlefield

[@jonathanshore5768]

One of the best matches ever played

[@9Mercury48]

i took a good look at the japanese guy's deck before i watch the match. So, i asked myself: "how the hell can this guy win with no damage? What if the opponent has cards like Celestial Colonnade and some way to gain life?" well, i can't believe it! What a deck! How did this guy come up with such a bright idea to build a deck like that?! just by looking at it, you are not sure that it's gonna work; and this is the deck that almost won the world's championship that year!!! Grats to Shouta Yasooka! he is the man

[@AM-cr5vk]

Gods it was a simpler time then

[@Princemoon1]

Ahhh when modern was good. MMGA make magic great again

[@Trivedi_Tuesdays]

Look how hard shouta had to work to establish a cryptic command lock. Now that whole process has been to reduced to just playing mystic sanctuary and islands 🤷‍♂️

[@downsjmmyjones101]

Love how Yasouka just gets surprised that he won the first game. He's like "Oh yeah that's more damage than you have life. Well shit."

[@jeremysegal1334]

+James Downs He's playing against Jon Finkel! Jon Finkel!!! ARUGHTUGH!!!!

[@jonathanshore5768]

shouta is magic genius

[@harrisonhighland7416]

the card descriptions are the most useful part of these videos. great idea, but make them more frequent!

[@blindghostraven]

Remanding his own Path? so legit.

[@Drecon84]

This basically comes down to Finkel and Kibler having a good answer to the metagame of that tournament, except that Yasooka had an answer to the metagame plus the Finkel/Kibler deck. Real great magic.

[@Arkmag]

I'm loving the game 1 handshake

[@sammyvincent9615]

don't you think it's funny jon finkel is playing a kitchen fink

[@Falcrist]

Samuel Vincent Not as funny as if he was playing it next to a Shadowmage Infiltrator. :D

[@FireLord2506RS]

Witness control is such a cool deck...

[@jangeertbruggink7040]

Two times John draws what was cliqued away, amazing.

[@TYRANCON]

ty m8 you saved me this time

[@Jaryism]

Shout out to Yasooka for the amazing play!

[@McQuacks_]

Ah, you are correct. Thanks for clearing that up :)

[@HeadcrabZ0mbie]

Audio is still incredibly low. Great video, I feel for Jon, that last game was just brutally bad luck for him.

[@jmr2008jan]

aw thanks, I havn't watched match 2 or 3 yet . . .

[@bozieu]

After rewatching game 3, I believe Jon made a mistake by playing Snapcaster Mage at the end of his turn instead of Restoration Angel. His opponent had 3 mana, so Yasooka could only play Mana Leak or Remand on Jon's Angel, but Jon had the spell snare at the ready. So there was absolutely no disadvantage to playing Restoration Angel there where Snapcaster could (and got) Spell Snared. Also, Restoration Angel dodges lightning bolt.

[@Sinneric]

Love Yasooka's deck. Looks fun.

[@PartisanGamer]

I felt so sorry for Finkel in the livecast. Not that I am a fan of him but it was almost heartbreaking that he never once was able to play out anything on his terms. Respect for Yasooka.

[@LilMotegi]

The video quality is spectacular, but the audio is always so horribly low and has some strange static.

[@RedJesper]

Vendilion Clique has to enter the battlefield in order for its ability to trigger. Therefore you have time to respond with a path before the ability resolves. You can dump any card from your that is instant speed so it's not a Clique target.

[@dspringer]

It's Amazing That Jon Finkel Got Teased By a Lot of people in his school

[@Zazizzlicious]

Why is the audio so low?

[@dspringer]

Peoples read Jonhy Magic and the Card Shark Kids It's Amazing

[@Tasteless90]

it's fine to have any kind of card or dice to represent the tokens as long as it's clearly identified.

[@Salivorin]

The counter clause is important though, since it can't bounce a uncounterable spell like abrupt decay, or supreme verdict.

[@drop0ut606]

great play

[@Cadian9t]

True, if everyone is playing the deck, it should be banned eventually to keep innovation going. But the card Wild Nacatl, for example, is hardly to be banned because it's " just too much " for the format. Cards like Jace, Stoneforge, are powerful enough to be banned. I just see a lot of people saying " This card is banned in modern, it's obviously super overpowered. " which is just not true.

[@Khazuki_]

Different decks have different strengths and weaknesses. There's also an undeniable aspect of variance with shuffled decks.

[@BumAtLarg]

my bad, didnt think my comment would go to the top of the page to spoil everything :X

[@Khazuki_]

I like John's play in the last few turns of the last game, up to double dismembering the snap caster over pathing it to draw out Shouta's counterspells in an attempt to stick the Baneslayer, his only chance at victory. It looked like a beating, but it was brilliant play.

[@Cadian9t]

You have to remember that cards are not always banned because of their power level but to encourage diversity. E.g. Nacatl is not actually too good for modern, it's that it's such a solid choice and makes all your aggro decks either affinity or zoo since it wants you to play plains, mountains and forests.

[@kylemitchell2052]

sooooo... Jon Finkel hasn't aged... at all. he looks exactly the same in 2018 as he did in 2012..

[@mfbarreto]

This is high level magic.

[@chasekraemer1182]

I LOVE U/W

[@frankfiore3886]

does anyone actually know the deck list of Shouta Yasooka's deck? I still feel like the deck list in the description of the deck tech video is wrong.

[@JesperJotun]

Yes, 60, that's the "core." However, making solid sideboard choices goes in to deck construction. Because if you move sideboard cards to your "core" deck...they become apart of your "core" deck. Ergo, those cards are ones you make decisions on in deck building. Like we BOTH said, they give you chances to change things up in bad match-ups.

[@DanielB32]

Caw = Squadron Hawk Blade = Sword of Feast and Famine.

[@McQuacks_]

Cryptic Command needs 3 sources of blue, not 4. Two of the lands are Flooded Groves, but with the way he tapped, he'd only have access to 1RUU...unless I'm missing something.

[@chilleffect]

You mean, you don't know what the cards do already? Well it's cool to get new players on MTG.

[@PAVN]

I think Shouta was the first person that figured out how good stoneforge mystic was.

[@MrGarruk123]

Wizards has also created token cards that for an example is a 2/2 Drake and is blue

[@eolfeci]

Finkel: "I'm actually a pretty fast player."

[@Tophisthebest226]

09 09:35 how did he path of exile clique when it was waiting to resolve. Was it not still a spell?

[@ubersign]

I think he went U into UU with flooded grove, used one of the U that was floating and turn that into UU using another flooded grove so in that way he got UUUR

[@Emperror1]

on the other hand, rich has quite the talent for building up enthusiasm or however that is spelled.

[@TheDavidAntoni]

Brutal.

[@Joe11Blue]

The deck is the 60 that is the core. The Sideboard is not the deck. It's called the sideboard, because that's what it is. It's there to give you the ability to add additional cards for your bad matchups. Finkel was losing to Aether Vial alone. Either he didn't bring in his Stony Silence's, or he thought he could play around them. That was the only card in Yasooka's deck that made playing it against it awkward. All he needed was to cut him off of the Vials.

[@MrShadow415]

jon kinkel is amazing

[@GenzaiDandy]

"An Actual Honest to God Flyer". "An Actual Honest to God 2/1 and 2/1 Beating each other". "An actual Honest to God Player's Championship Semfinals". Richard Hagon... In the words of Rich Hagon "I despair of you".

[@MrGarruk123]

yeah :D

[@Predator2103]

Well, the original cardtext says that Remand COUNTERS a spell...

[@vanory1997]

Oh i thought the Flooded Groves were Forests... In that way, yeah, he can play Cryptic Command. Thanks

[@Kiddomike]

Not being snarky or making a big deal out of it but I believe the correct pronunciation of "Æ" in Æther Vial is "ah". It is similar to the "a" in "cat" or "apple". Just my two cents. By the way, hooray for good quality video! :D

[@modernminded5466]

It's not. It's pronounced like it's spelt. With an æ.

[@FireLord2506RS]

"Why didn't he play artifact destruction" >Disenchant >Stony Silence They're both in his board. He didn't bring them because vial isn't always relevant, like you saw in game 3.

[@HanCholo112]

Pretty sure it happened to lots of us

[@Joe11Blue]

I think Jon Finkel's deck was the better one, but he wasn't properly prepared in the Sideboard to be able to pull it off.

[@shadowremorse]

that double remand

[@MrGarruk123]

don't spoil it for everyone else!

[@tmv866]

Jon Finkel just does some of the most brilliant plays. He Remand-ed his own spell just so he could get it back and re-cast it!

[@ethanpubg8894]

Parker Lewin That play was the reason that remand was printed.

[@jdcaporali]

4:10 "Because which member? Dis-member!" Hahahaha!

[@supermanthattay]

Hence my comment. 'Part skill, Part luck.' It's no coincidence that these guys can win up to 65% of their games. But ponder is so good that it's banned, foresee is unplayable in all formats besides block and possibly standard.

[@kim15742]

Many mana sounds really weird, but it's correct...

[@thatguywiththefaceofawsomn231]

he should run a bant version instead for resto angel and path

[@MrGarruk123]

Wasn't it Shouta who also was a part of the invention of Caw-Blade?

[@JesperJotun]

Then that means that Yasooka had the better deck. The point of deck building is build a deck and sideboard for potential threats. However, this did not happen. No one had answers to Yasooka's deck. Hence why he went 11-1.

[@nomakym]

Aether Vials are monsters in this matchup. Sweet deck, Vial with clique snap eternal.. ouch.

[@barilbarilbaril3427]

Yuuya won this tournament right?

[@slayer56429]

why do the call it caw blade?

[@vanory1997]

47:15 Why Yasooka pays 1 island only to cast cryptic command? It costs 4 islands...

[@RisenOrder1224]

I'm astounded that Finkel didn't bring in anything against the Aether Vials...I daresay that that card alone won the game(s) for Yasooka--why didn't Finkel bring in any artifact hate?

[@garagavia]

The people who are supposed to type in the numbers misstyped.

[@GekNemesis]

0:08:49 ...Really nice trick by Finkel=)

[@JesperJotun]

The commentators mentioned Finkel's Stoney Silences being in his sideboard going in to the match. He didn't switch them out. If he thought he could play around them with his current card choices he was proven wrong, consistently, in 3 games. That's my point. He made a choice, and it was obviously the wrong one. We're debating semantics here, but the point is, he lost. Not by a 3-2 close game, he was shut-out. One card or no, he couldn't play around it -shrug- it sucks, but that's the truth.

[@MooMooReath]

The table is too damn small... Can't see a single card description dammit

[@Emperror1]

Yeah! I want Buhler back -.-

[@GenzaiDandy]

BDM, Rich, Marshall, And Zac.... That would be the Announcing powerhouse, Even though alll of them get beat out by Brian Kibler and Randy B.

[@VYVANSE60mg]

the dry sarcasm was lost on this one

[@JaceGarruk]

Rich should have commentated on this alone lol

[@xMarto96]

From 10:10 to 10:20, THE best play i've ever seen.

[@kevinkim3479]

+xMarto96 Remanding you own spell becomes rather common between controlling decks. Since in this case Shouta's deck was a tempo deck using Vials, but it was still a mana intensive RUG tempo deck. Since the original purpose of remand is to achieve a tempo gain without the loss of card advantage, ex) remand targeting kitchen finks, since they've spent 3 mana and you 2 without a difference in card advantage. However, as the games go longer and players make more land drops, they have plenty of mana to recast their spells. At this point, remanding your own spell in response to their removal or counter is a much better proposition since it might have set you back three mana turn 7, but it gained you a card. Since modern is too fast for draws spells with X in them, efficient cards ex) lightning bolt or cards that has 2-1 written on them ex) snapcaster mage, sees a lot more play. Hence, it is important to grind out as much value as possible with a card in a non-aggro matchup in modern, therefore justifying remanding your own spell.

[@supermanthattay]

Ah. I would say you are wrong. A consistent turn 2 3/3 is quite overpowered in my opinion. I would feel that it's the best one drop ever. I would estimate that it deals on average 4.5 damage, takes up at least 2.5 of your opponents available mana. In general, turn one nacatl, turn two smash for three is far too overpowered. The zoo deck was riding on this card's back.

[@Lehman287]

9:48 finkel counters his own spell...

[@atje5]

anyone else notice the Obzedat artwork on the panel behind them...

[@danmancini2000]

I’m

[@MrLoek4]

just bought 3 aether vials on ebay for £10. pretty good.

[@dspringer]

Me too Moo Moo

[@SuperPrankschannel]

i get the felling yasooka counts his card as every game ive watched he gets aether viles in his start had its only a feeling

[@frasert8779]

I think he only had vial in his opening hand in game 1. Game two he drew it after a couple draw steps plus a serum visions (so it was. A few cards down), and he didn’t draw any for a while in game 3.

[@Dimitry4Life]

Wait but if Jon's statistics were a lot better than Shouto's statistics, how come that Jon got totally destroyed?

[@jeffwads]

Finkel's deck had zero chance against Yasooka. Nothing to do with their skill levels...which are both insane.

[@JesperJotun]

lol don't I know it...I have draw luck, plain and simple. But luck can be helped with consistency. If you know your deck and can analyze ins and outs for various situations you stand a better chance of winning. Luck is just where the cards fall when you shuffle and randomize. Hence why Ponder, Serum Visions, Foresee, etc are awesome cards, top decking doesn't matter when you can plan your draws and smooth them out.

[@heavencloud92]

No doubt, didn't he just pass Kai in winnings?

[@MrGarruk123]

oh right... sorry bout that

[@chromakey84]

REMAND, not cancel, not mana leak..

[@WhosNick]

Early in game 1, why does Jon go down to 10 life so suddenly?

[@Stribogboi]

Just an error on the life total. He wasn't really at 10