After fourteen rounds of Swiss, only four teams made it to the top from among 558 others. From 1674 players, we are down to the final 12 players. Which of these teams will win it all?
The Top 4 teams of Grand Prix Shizuoka (Autumn) 2017!
Team Abe-Hayakawa-Tachibana
(from left to right) Michio Abe, Syo Hayakawa, Kentarou Tachibana
Seat: A
Name: Michio Abe
Age: 25
Occupation: Company Employee
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: Nothing previously. This is my first Grand Prix Top 8!
Day 1 Archetype: White-Black Vampires with Deathless Ancient and 2 Call to the Feast.
Day 2 Archetype: White-Red Aggro with Captivating Crew.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Tachibana-kun.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Our captain, Mr Hayakawa, will sacrifice himself to protect us.
Seat: B
Name: Syo Hayakawa
Age: 26
Occupation: Company Employee
Hometown: Kanagawa, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: WMCQ Top 8
Day 1 Archetype: Blue-Green Menfolk. My key cards were Tempest Caller and River's Rebuke.
Day 2 Archetype: Green-White Dinosaurs with Wakening Sun's Avatar.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Mr. Tachibana.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Michio Abe, but I think he will try to run away.
Seat: C
Name: Kentarou Tachibana
Age: 24
Occupation: Company Employee
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: A few Grand Prix Day 2s.
Day 1 Archetype: Black-Red Pirates with Pirate's Cutlass.
Day 2 Archetype: Blue-Black Pirates with Pirate's Cutlass.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Myself.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Hopefully one of my teammates instead of me.
Team Ishii-Hironobu-Kozakai
(from left to right) Daisuke Ishii, Sugaya Hironobu, Yukio Kozakai
Seat: A
Name: Taisuke Ishii
Age: 39
Occupation: System Engineer
Hometown: Kanagawa, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: Grand Prix Kitakyushu 2009 Champion
Day 1 Archetype: Black-White Vampires with Boneyard Parley.
Day 2 Archetype: Blue-Black Pirates splash Vona, Butcher of Magan
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Myself.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
When you spell his name in Japanese characters, the last few alphabets sounds like "little fish". Since he is little fish, he is likely to be eaten up.
Seat: B
Name: Sugaya Hironobu
Age: 38
Occupation: "Producer"
Hometown: Chiba, Tokyo
Previous Magic accomplishments: Two Grand Prix titles.
Day 1 Archetype: Blue-Green Merfolk.
Day 2 Archetype: Red-Green Dinosaurs.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Mammoth, of course.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Mr. Kozakai.
Seat: C
Name: Yukio Kozakai
Age: 38
Occupation: Office Worker
Hometown: Yokohama, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: Participated in Pro Tour Amsterdam 2010
Day 1 Archetype: Red-White Dinosaurs. I am missing plenty of key cards. All I got were the leftovers.
Day 2 Archetype: Red-White Dinosaurs. This time, I got Burning Sun's Avatar!
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Daisuke Ishii. His nickname is Mammoth. Since he is a big elephant, I think he will survive.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Mr. Kozakai.
Team Watanabe-Nakamura-Yasooka
(from left to right) Yuuya Watanabe, Hajime Nakamura, Shota Yasooka
Seat: A
Name: Yuuya Watanabe
Age: 28
Occupation: Pro Player
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: LOTS!
Day 1 Archetype: Blue-Green Merfolk.
Day 2 Archetype: Blue-Green Merfolk.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Yasooka. He is easygoing and he can adapt.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Hajime Nakamura. He looks yummy!
Seat: B
Name: Hajime Nakamura
Age: 32
Occupation: Game Designer
Hometown: Kanagawa, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: Grand Prix Sydney 2017 finalist
Day 1 Archetype: White-Red Dinosaurs with Charging Monstrosaur.
Day 2 Archetype: White-Red Aggro with Captivating Crew.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Yaso. He survives everything.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
I think, myself.
Seat: C
Name: Shota Yasooka
Age: 33
Occupation: Pro Player
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: Many!
Day 1 Archetype: Blue-Black Pirates with Pirate Cutlass.
Day 2 Archetype: Blue-Black Pirates with Hostage Taker.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
I think everyone will die.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Hajime Nakamura.
Team Chew-Lee-Dezani
(from left to right) Kelvin Chew, Lee Shi Tian, Jérémy Dezani
Seat: A
Name: Kelvin Chew
Age: 30
Occupation: MTG Mint Card Pro Player
Hometown: Singapore
Previous Magic accomplishments: 1 Pro Tour Top 8 and 3 other Grand Prix Top 8s
Day 1 Archetype: Blue-Green Menfolk with River's Rebuke and Entrancing Melody.
Day 2 Archetype: Blue-Green Merfolk with One with the Wind and Dive Down.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Myself.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Lee Shi Tian. Nice appetizer.
Seat: B
Name: Lee Shi Tian
Age: 30
Occupation: Accountant
Hometown: Hong Kong
Previous Magic accomplishments: 5 Pro Tour Top 8s, 7 other Grand Prix Top 8s
Day 1 Archetype: Red-White Dinosaurs with 1 Charging Monstrosaur.
Day 2 Archetype: Red-White Dinosaurs with 2 Charging Monstrosaurs. However, this deck was terrible.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Kelvin Chew. He has a stone cold face and has a good character to be a pirate.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Not me, I hope. (But I know Kelvin and Jérémy will point at me.)
Seat: C
Name: Jérémy Dezani
Age: 27
Occupation: Hareruya Writer
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Previous Magic accomplishments: 2014 Player of the Year, 12 other Grand Prix Top 8s, Pro Tour Theros Champion
Day 1 Archetype: Black-White Vampires. Bishop's Soldier is so strong.
Day 2 Archetype: Black-White Vampires. I sacrificed Rutless Knave in order to cast spells.
Among your team, who is most likely to survive in Ixalan?
Kelvin Chew. He is a robot who doesn't care about dinosaurs. Also, robots have 0% flesh.
Among your team, who is most likely to become dinosaur food?
Lee Shi Tian. Nice appetizer. (Editor's note: Both Chew and Dezani completed this questionnaire without consulting each other and came up with the exact same answer.)