It's the return of yesteryear's player! Rei Hashimoto, a pro player from around four years ago has made the first Onslaught Limited Grand Prix his spotlight event. Having tired of the qualifier circuit and running short on money and time thanks to school, he'd taken something of a hiatus from the top tables as other responisbilities took hold of him. He shook them off long enough to familiarize himself with Onslaught, and charged through the competition. He entered the Top 8 as fourth seed.
He would draft in seventh seat. When none of the players in front of him took white cards, his path was clear. By the time the draft was done he was one of only two players drafting white. He chose his second colour when he cracked Dragon Roost, much to the dismay of Shuuhei Nakamura, drafting after him. That same Roost gave Hashimoto a game when he faced Nakamura in the finals. In the deciding third game Nakamura stumbled on mana and Hashimoto's draw was unforgiving. Nakamura joins Masahiko Morita in the mixed blessing of consistant second-place finishes at Grand Prix. Congratulations to Rei Hashimoto, Grand Prix - Utsunomiya Champion!
Top 8 Final Standing

1 | Hashimoto, Rei | $2,400 |
2 | Nakamura, Shuhei | $1,700 |
3 | Fujita, Tsuyoshi | $1,200 |
4 | Oiso, Masashi | $1,000 |
5 | Nomura, Eiji | $800 |
6 | Kobayashi, Masanori | $800 |
7 | Okamoto, Jin | $800 |
8 | Kinoshita, Junichi | $800 |
(Click here for complete final standings)
top 8 bracket
EVENT COVERAGE
- Finals: Shuuhei Nakamura v. Rei Hashimoto
by Josh Bennett
- Semifinals: Masashi Oiso vs Rei Hashimoto
by Josh Bennett
- Quarterfinals: Tsuyoshi Fujita vs Jin Okamoto
by Josh Bennett
- Feature: Top 8 Draft Decks
by Sideboard Staff
- Draft: Final Draft Report
by Josh Bennett
- Round 14: Tadayoshi Komiya vs Toshiyuki Kuroda
by Josh Bennett
- Round 13: Ichiro Shimura vs Tsuyoshi Fujita
by Josh Bennett
- Round 12: Rei Hashimoto vs Shuuhei Nakamura
by Josh Bennett
- Draft: Shuuhei Nakamura
by Josh Bennett
- Info: Draft 2 Pods
by Sideboard Staff
- Round 11: Itaru Ishida vs Kazuya Hirabayashi
by Josh Bennett
- Round 10: Tsuyoshi Ikeda vs Jin Okamoto
by Josh Bennett
- Draft: Jin Okamoto
by Josh Bennett
- Round 9: Masayuki Higashino vs Ken Kiyota
by Josh Bennett
- Feature: How the Big Names Did
by Josh Bennett
- Info: Draft 1 Pods
by Sideboard Staff
- Round 8: Jin Okamoto vs Yuji Otsubo
by Josh Bennett
- Round 7: Tomohiro Maruyama vs Shuuhei Nakamura
by Josh Bennett
- Round 6: Masaei Miyamori vs Kentaro Yuasa
by Josh Bennett
- Round 5: Itaru Ishida vs Chikara Nakajima
by Josh Bennett
- Round 4: Osamu Fujita vs Kouichirou Maki
by Josh Bennett
- Round 3: Ken'ichi Fujita vs Isamu Fujieda
by Josh Bennett
- Round 2: Koby Okada vs Kazuyuki Momose
by Josh Bennett
- Feature: Masahiko Morita's Sealed Deck
by Josh Bennett
- Info: Fact Sheet
by Sideboard Staff