Yamamoto Shows Chiba How It's Done!

Top 8 Coverage

Congratulations to Kentaro Yamamoto, your Grand Prix Chiba 2016 Champion! Sneaking past 2502 other competitors and showing everyone else how it should be done, Yamamoto crushed the competition in his 9th lifetime Grand Prix Top 8 to earn himself his very first Grand Prix victory.

When Yuuya Watanabe and Kentarou Yamamoto made it through the semifinals on opposite sides of the bracket, they were the hot favorites to make it through to set up an epic finals. However, Atsuki Kihara played masterfully to defeat Watanabe, while Yamamoto dispatched Keisuke Sato, creating a Miracles versus Sneak and Show showdown.

In the finals, Yamamoto was dealt an opening hand of Polluted Delta, City of Traitors, Lotus Petal, Show and Tell, Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Spell Pierce, and Force of Will, and there was practically no way anyone could possibly deal with a first-turn Emrakul! With the stars aligning in Yamamoto's favor, he swiftly took down Game 2 as well, going home $10,000 richer.

Most importantly, he had fulfilled a wish he had been dreaming about for the longest time.

Quarterfinalists Kouichi Miyabe, Ryo Takahashi, Akira Honma, and Liu Jin should also be very happy to crack their very first Top 8 and in such a large field no less. It is a great accomplishment and everyone should be glad to have earned invites and airfare to Pro Tour Aether Revolt in Dublin.

Until then, congratulations once again to Kentaro Yamamoto!

Day 2 Coverage

Welcome back to yet another beautiful day in Chiba. The field of 2503 players has been reduced down to only 749 players and six more rounds will ensue before the Top 8 cut.

In a favorable position today are are Bang Hyun Jung, Tatsuya Nishimura, Tasuyuki Utiyama, Koki Kageyama, Shimpei Toyota, Hideaki Hata, Kouichi Miyabe and Taishi Aoki, who all went 9-0 today and have a smoother path to the Top 8. Two other players are also technically undefefeated at 8-0-1 and they are Tatsuumi Kobayasho and Yuki Aikawa. In addition, Hall of Famers No. 16-Ranked Yuuya Watanabe and Makihito Mihara are the two most notable players from among 66 who went 8-1.

Close behind them are also No. 1 Ranked Shota Yasooka, No. 19-Ranked Lee Shi Tian, Yuuki Ichikawa, Osamu Fujita, Ben Friedman, Shawn Mcneace, Yam Wing Chun, Ryuichi Arita and Miracles master Joe Lossett, all at 7-2. Since this is a large Grand Prix, they'll need nothing less than the perfect score of 6-0 today if they want to break into the Top 8!

Who will make it through at the very end? Only time will tell!

Day 1 Coverage

The field of 2503 players has been reduced down to only 749 players.

Going 9-0 are Bang Hyun Jung, Tatsuya Nishimura, Tasuyuki Utiyama, Koki Kageyama, Shimpei Toyota, Hideaki Hata, Kouichi Miyabe, and Taishi Aoki. Two other players are also technically undefefeated at 8-0-1 and they are Tatsuumi Kobayasho and Yuki Aikawa. Hall of Famers No. 16-Ranked Yuuya Watanabe and Makihito Mihara are the two most notable players from among 66 who went 8-1.

Close behind them are also No. 1 Ranked Shota Yasooka, No. 19-Ranked Lee Shi Tian, Yuuki Ichikawa, Osamu Fujita, Ben Friedman, Shawn Mcneace, Yam Wing Chun, Ryuichi Arita, and Miracles master Joe Lossett, all at 7-2.

With a lot of interesting decks and interesting additions to the format, what more surprises await us tomorrow?