Local Longshot Slam Dunks Kobe
Examining the Top Eight Results of Pro Tour Kobe
by Jeff Zandi - 3.5.04

A few days ago in Kobe, Masashiro Kurada became the first Japanese player to
win a pro tour. I know what you’re thinking. Wasn’t this pro tour IN Japan?
Shouldn’t a Japanese player be a shoe-in in a tournament with more Japanese
players than most other pro tour events? Far from it. Masashiro Kurada,
well-respected in Japanese Magic, was the only Japanese player to make it to
the top eight. Although Kurada started out on fire, finishing day one
perfectly with eight wins and no losses, his 4-4 day two performance made
him a big underdog in the top eight. The Pacific Rim was represented at Pro
Tour Kobe by 63 of the 239 players that started the tournament. Of that
number, only 24 survived to play on day two, including nineteen Japanese
players, three players from Taiwan, one from Korea and one from Singapore.
Japanese players Kazumasa Shiki and Katsuhiro Mori finished ninth and tenth,
just inches from top eight glory and a their own chances to bring a Pro Tour
championship to their homeland.

The metagame environment for Pro Tour Kobe was smaller than normal.
Basically, there were two important deck archetypes. Affinity decks and mono
red anti-affinity decks. Almost all the affinity decks had red for removal
coupled with either black or blue. A number of red/green decks did well, as
well as “12 Post”, the closest thing to a true combo deck that did well in
the tournament.

THE DECK BREAKDOWN

110 players started the tournament with various but closely related Affinity
decks, the most of any archetype in the event. 37 Affinity decks made it to
day two, 6 finished in the top twenty and 2 finished in the top eight,
played by Ben Stark and Jelger Wiegersma.

Green/red was the second most popular deck, with 44 players starting the
tournament with the deck. Of those, 15 made it to day two, 1 finished in the
top twenty but none made it to the top eight. The highest finisher with this
deck type was Tsuyoshi Ikeda from Japan.

Big Red was probably the most successful deck in the tournament. This deck
was selected by 39 players on day one. Most of these, 21 to be exact, made
it to day two. 9 of the top twenty finishers played the mono red deck,
including 5 in the top eight. After sixteen rounds of Swiss, the top three
players all played decks closely related to this archetype, including
Alexandre Peset of France and Luigi Sbrozzi and Raffaele Lo Moro, both from
Italy.

Mono green decks were selected by 16 players on day one, of which 7 made it
to day two. 2 mono green decks finished in the top twenty, but none made it
to the top eight. The best mono green finisher was Eugeni Sanchez Mata from
Spain, who finished in 13th place.

None of the 12 players who started the tournament with the mono black Death
Cloud deck made it to the second day of competition.

Twelve Post was played by 8 players in Kobe, of which 6 made it to day two.
2 of these finished in the top twenty, including France’s Gabriel Nassif,
who finished in the top eight of Swiss, and who finished in second place
overall.

Only one deck of any other type made it to day two, a green/white deck
played by Shota Yasooka, who finished 79th.

THE ROUTE TO THE TOP EIGHT

Luigi Sbrozzi had a near perfect second day at Pro Tour Kobe with his Big
Red deck, defeating three mono red decks, one 12 Post deck and two Affinity
decks (while losing to Ben Stark’s Affinity deck) before drawing with
Stefano Fiori in the sixteenth round to finish first in the Swiss rounds
with a 12-3-1 record.

Raffaele Lo Moro, 7-1 after day one, cruised through his first five matches
on day two with wins over two Affinity decks, one mono red deck, one
green/red deck and one mono green deck. Lo Moro probably worried a little
after losing rounds fourteen and fifteen against Kazumasa’s Affinity deck
and Stefano Fiori’s mono red deck. Raffaele drew in the last round with
Gabriel Nassif to finish second in the Swiss rounds with a 12-3-1 record.

Alexandre Peset was also 7-1 after day one, also playing Big Red. Peset
played against 12 Post twice in a row to start day two, losing to Raphael
Levy in round nine but defeating fellow top 8er Gabriel Nassif in round ten.
In rounds eleven through fifteen, Peset defeated three Affinity decks and
Sanchez Mota’s mono green deck but fell to first place Swiss finisher Luigi
Sbrozzi’s Big Red deck. Alexandre drew with Ben Stark in round sixteen to
finish third in the Swiss with a 12-3-1 record.

Ben Stark, the only American in the top eight, started day two with a 6-2
record. Playing a black/blue Affinity deck, Stark won his first four matches
on day two, putting up wins against an Affinity deck, a green/red deck and a
Big Red deck before falling to Raffaele Lo Moro’s Big Red deck in round
thirteen. Stark then beat Raphael Levy and his 12 Post deck in round
fourteen before defeating top eighter Luigi Sbrozzi and his Big Red deck in
round fifteen. Stark drew with Peset in the last round of Swiss to finish
day two in fourth place with a 12-3-1 record.

Gabriel Nassif became the first French player, and the twenty-second player
overall, to top the $100,000 career earnings mark with his second place
finish at Pro Tour Kobe. Nassif started day two with a 6-2 record. He
guided his 12 Post deck to six more wins on day two, including two wins over
Affinity, three wins over Big Red and a mirror-match win over Berna Da Costa
Cabral in round eleven. Nassif drew in round sixteen with Raffaele Lo Moro
to finish fifth in the Swiss rounds with a 12-3-1 record.

Stefano Fiori had the longest odds of any of the top eight players. At the
end of day one, Stefano was 5-3 with his mono red deck. In order to make his
top eight dreams a reality, Fiori had to win his first seven straight
matches on day two, including SIX mirror-matches against other mono red
decks. Fiori drew with Luigi Sbrozzi in round sixteen to finish sixth in the
Swiss rounds with a 12-3-1 record.

The eventual champion Masashiro Kuroda had the most arduous route on day two
en route to the top eight. After winning all of his eight matches day one,
his Big Red deck lost to Jelger Wiegersma’s Affinity deck in round nine. In
round ten, Kuroda won against Romain Clere’s mono green deck before losing
in rounds eleven and twelve against Raffaele Lo Moro’s Big Red deck and Ben
Stark’s Affinity deck. Halfway through day two, Kuroda is now 1-3 on the day
with three losses ALL against players that would go on to finish in the top
eight with him. Masashiro turned it around winning three of his last four
Swiss rounds. His wins were over Lovre Crnobori’s red deck, Kamiel
Cornelissen’s Affinity and Eugeni Sanchez Mata’s mono green deck. Kuroda
lost to Gabriel Nassif’s Twelve Post deck in round fourteen. Masashiro
finished the Swiss rounds in seventh place with a 12-4 record.

Jelger Wiegersma, as big a name as any in the top eight at Kobe, started day
two with a 7-1 record piloting a black/blue Affinity deck with access to red
mana for sideboard cards like Electrostatic Bolt. Wiegersma started day two
with a win over Kobe’s eventual champion Masashiro Kuroda. Jelger would lose
three of his next four matches, splitting against two green/red decks and
losing to two mono red decks. This outstanding Dutch player stopped the
flood in rounds fourteen and fifteen, treating himself to wins against
Romain Clere’s mono green deck and Raphael Levy’s 12 Post deck. Finally,
Jelger finished his somewhat unlikely climb to the top eight with a win over
Lovre Crnobori’s mono red deck in the final round of Swiss. Wiegersma
squeaked into the top eight, finishing eighth in the Swiss rounds with a
12-4 record.

THE TOP EIGHT COMPETITION

In the top eight, Kuroda could hardly have been considered a favorite as he
had lost matches to four of the top eight players on day two. Nevertheless,
Kuroda reversed his luck against Big Red, defeating Lo Moro 3-0 in the
quarterfinals before defeating Peset 3-2. On the other side of the
championship bracket, France’s Gabriel Nassif defeated Ben Stark in the
quarterfinals 3-2 before defeating Jelger Wiegersma 3-1 in the semi-finals.
After losing a close match to Nassif’s 12 Post deck on day two, Masashiro
Kuroda turned the tables in the finals, defeating Gabriel Nassif three games
to one to claim the championship of Pro Tour Kobe.

It just goes to show that you should never count out an underdog.

Jeff Zandi
Texas Guildmages
Level II DCI Judge
jeffzandi@thoughtcastle.com
Zanman on Magic Online