Magic Spotlight: Secrets was held in Chiba, Japan, last weekend, with thousands of Magic fans coming to the Makuhari Messe convention center for three days of playing the game we all love. There were events for competitive and casual players, workshops, artist signings, giveaways, and even a live performance! Headlining the event was a two-day Standard tournament with a $50,000 prize pool. When the dust settled, Hori Masataka won the weekend with Izzet Prowess.

Hori Masataka wins Spotlight Series: Secrets!

Hori had a terrific weekend, going from 1-1 to 12-3 in the Swiss rounds to qualify for the Top 8. There, he faced Hosokawa Yuya playing Sultai Control, Yada Kazuki on Mardu Discard, and Chen Mingyang in a mirror match for the trophy. Chen put up a valiant fight and forced Hori into a deciding third game. But in the end, Hori pulled through thanks to some well-timed removal and a decisive Eddymurk Crab.

Hori faced down Chen in the finals.

The Top 8 made the power and resilience of Izzet Prowess clear once again, with five copies making it through. There were some interesting individual card choices in some lists, such as Makoto Horiuchi's main deck Ral, Crackling Wit or the Prismari Charms played by Satoshi Ishiguro and Hori, but broadly this Izzet deck is a well-known, well-tuned machine that continues to do very well at the top tables.

Players in the Top 8 at Spotlight Series: Secrets

All the same, Mardu Discard made it into the Top 8, as did a sweet Jeskai Lessons deck that splashed white for Jeskai Revelation. Notably, Naoya Sakata's Lessons list didn't lose to Izzet Prowess across fifteen Swiss rounds (before succumbing to Horiuchi in the quarterfinals). The last Top 8 deck was something very special: Hosokawa's "Sultai" list was basically a Dimir deck that splashed green for playsets of Rakshasa's Bargain and Urgent Necropsy. The list looked very impressive and put up an equally impressive record. After Hosokawa lost in round one, he didn't lose again until the quarterfinals.

The Top 8 bracket at Magic Spotlight: Secrets

The Standard metagame continues to shift as people seek new ways to contest the dominance of Izzet Prowess. While it remains the most popular deck by a comfortable margin, the decks seeking to unseat it shift from week to week as the format evolves. In Chiba, it was a tight race between Four-Color Control, Izzet Spellementals, Mono-Green Landfall, and Mardu Discard. As you can see based on the Top 8 results, Mardu turned out to be reasonably well-positioned for the tournament.

The Standard metagame for the weekend

Coming back to some of the other events put on across the weekend. There were all sorts of options for competitive-minded players, from a Limited Championship Qualifier to the Japan Standard Cup, not to mention endless side events for formats old and new, Limited and Constructed. Casual players could enjoy hanging out and jam games in the Command Zone, or even take a break to see the incredible live-painting performance put on by SUMIE OKAZU!

SUMIE OKAZU paints his version of Vampiric Tutor

Spotlight Series events like this are being held all around the world: Las Vegas, Nevada, in June; Brussels, Belgium, in July; and Brisbane, Australia, in August. With so much to do across these weekends, they offer a terrific time to every Magic fan, regardless of how you like to play. We hope to see you at the next one!

Tomohiko Ishikawa and Ken Yukuhiro commentating on the main event

Players doing battle in the Command Zone