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Recapping Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY: The Decks, the Players, and the Stories

June 30, 2025
Meghan Wolff

With the latest Pro Tour and MagicCon: Las Vegas in the rearview mirror, it's time to shine a spotlight on Chiba, Japan, for Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY! Less than a week after the biggest gathering ever in Las Vegas, over 2,200 players, many of them from Japan but others traveling thousands of miles to compete, gathered to play the final weekend of Standard before a much anticipated banned and restricted announcement reshaped the format.



Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY was the largest Spotlight Series event yet, with the main event selling out in May weeks before the event. The hall was open on Friday, the day before the main event, and players were already queuing up for games of Commander in the Command Zone and meeting up to perfect their decklists.



There was also a place for those unfamiliar with Magic but interested in trying it out, a lively "Learn to Play" space with guided tutorials and cosplayers that brought countless iconic characters to life.

An Event Unlike Any Other


As soon as players entered the hall, it was clear that Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY was an event unlike any other. A FINAL FANTASY special exhibit, featuring incredible recreations of items and scenes from cards in the set and cases displaying hallmark cards from each game, greeted visitors.




Another unique flourish at Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY was the one-of-a-kind trophy for the winner, featuring the Magic logo set deep within a blue crystal.


Faces of the Spotlight Series

Players traveled from all over the world to take part in Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY, and while many of them came from Japan and neighboring countries, many also made the trek from farther afield.


Some, like Ken Yukuhiro, had even been as far as MagicCon: Las Vegas just the weekend before. Just five days before sitting down to play the first round of the Spotlight Series, Yukuhiro had been hoisting the Pro Tour trophy in Vegas. While Yukuhiro has been a well-known name for years, his victory at Pro Tour FINAL FANTASY marked his first PT win, and his attendance at the Spotlight Series event made it clear how beloved of a player he is and how eager others were to celebrate his recent victory.

Yukuhiro wasn't the only big name in the event hall. Shota Yasooka was also part of the broadcast team that was streaming the weekend's events live on YouTube.

Other Spotlight Series players journeyed thousands of miles to play but also to more generally enjoy the elements that made this event unique, from the FINAL FANTASY special exhibit to it being the first Magic event of its size in Japan since before 2020.

Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY Metagame

On the heels of the Pro Tour, the Spotlight unsurprisingly hosted a metagame loosely mirroring that of the PT. However, Yukuhiro's success with Mono-Red Aggro at the Pro Tour led to that deck significantly eating into Izzet Prowess's lead over the rest of the field and even overcoming Azorius Omniscience as the second most played deck.


Despite their strong win rates at the Pro Tour and the favor of standout players like Eli Kassis and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Golgari Roots and Izzet Cauldron failed to increase their share of the metagame, though they did still go on to put two players into the Top 8 on Sunday.

Spicy Decklists

Despite Mono-Red Aggro and Izzet Prowess's dominant performances at the Pro Tour, many attendees of Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY were ready to put their creativity and deck-building skills to the test and bring something a little off the beaten path.

Ryo Kanazawa brought an Abzan deck, featuring powerful new cards like Yuna, Hope of Spira and Summon: Bahamut, which he piloted all the way to Day Two. Cards like Esper Origins and Overlord of the Balemurk put enchantment creatures like Summon: Bahamut and Overlord of the Mistmoors into the graveyard, ready for Yuna to reanimate during the next end step.

1 Swamp 4 Lush Portico 1 Cut Down 2 Forest 3 Summon: Fenrir 2 Underground Mortuary 1 Tear Asunder 2 Up the Beanstalk 2 Duress 1 Cavern of Souls 4 Wastewood Verge 3 Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods 4 Hushwood Verge 2 Shadowy Backstreet 1 Bitter Triumph 3 Temporary Lockdown 4 Bleachbone Verge 1 Overlord of the Mistmoors 1 The Cruelty of Gix 1 Plains 4 Yuna, Hope of Spira 2 Leyline Binding 3 Virtue of Persistence // Locthwain Scorn 2 Overlord of the Balemurk 2 Summon: Bahamut 1 Ultima 3 High Noon 2 Kutzil's Flanker 1 Summon: Knights of Round 2 Beza, the Bounding Spring 2 Authority of the Consuls 3 Heritage Reclamation 1 Voice of Victory

Meanwhile, Leo Isogaya piloted a different take on Abhorrent Oculus decks, this one adding black for disruption like Deep-Cavern Bat and Dreams of Steel and Oil and the powerful Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Rather than reanimating Abhorrent Oculus from the graveyard, the Dimir build of the deck focused on filling the graveyard with looting effects like Steamcore Scholar to cast the Oculus from hand. Isogaya finished in 13th place.

2 Dreams of Steel and Oil 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse 4 Darkslick Shores 1 Restless Reef 2 Go for the Throat 4 Winternight Stories 3 Kitsa, Otterball Elite 3 Abhorrent Oculus 2 Duress 6 Swamp 2 Island 4 Underground River 2 Undercity Sewers 4 Proft's Eidetic Memory 4 Deep-Cavern Bat 4 Gloomlake Verge 4 Cut Down 3 No One Left Behind 4 Steamcore Scholar 1 Gix's Command 1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares 1 Disdainful Stroke 1 Cecil, Dark Knight // Cecil, Redeemed Paladin 2 Lord Skitter, Sewer King 2 Qarsi Revenant 2 Enduring Curiosity 2 Duress 2 Faerie Mastermind 1 Sheoldred's Edict

Kanazawa's Abzan deck wasn't the only one trying to find a home for the powerful Yuna, Hope of Spira. Other versions, like Toshiya Kanegawa's Naya Yuna, paired the card with other powerful enchantment creatures like Overlord of the Boilerbilges while controlling the board with removal like Lightning Helix and the flexible The Elder Dragon War, which could clear away smaller creatures or immediately jump ahead a chapter to put more enchantments into the graveyard for Yuna. Kanegawa finished in 54th place.

1 Loot, Exuberant Explorer 2 Cori Mountain Monastery 4 Lush Portico 1 Brushland 4 Elegant Parlor 2 Get Lost 4 Overlord of the Boilerbilges 2 Mountain 2 Cavern of Souls 2 Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin 4 Thornspire Verge 4 Lightning Helix 4 The Elder Dragon War 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors 4 Fear of Missing Out 2 Plains 3 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire 4 Yuna, Hope of Spira 1 Karplusan Forest 3 Screaming Nemesis 4 Sunbillow Verge 1 Summon: Bahamut 1 Devout Decree 3 High Noon 1 Overwhelming Surge 2 Destroy Evil 2 Ghost Vacuum 1 Summon: Knights of Round 1 Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin 1 Pyroclasm 2 Heritage Reclamation 1 Screaming Nemesis

Day One's Undefeated Player – Jan Ang

At Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY, players faced a cut after Round 9, with only those with 18 points or more advancing to the next round. Day One then ended with one more round after the cut. After Round 9, four players were 9-0: Ho Wa and Jan Ang on Izzet Prowess, Shintarou Yoshida on Jeskai Control, and Kenta Masukado on a build of Dimir Midrange that included three copies of Azure Beastbinder in the main deck to foil the plans of more aggressive decks.


Round 10, the final round of Day One, ended the perfect records of all those players except Jan Ang, who ended the day with a perfect 10-0. Just behind him, however, were Ho Wa and Kenta Masukado, who picked up draws in Round 10 and, while they didn't have perfect records, were still undefeated at 9-0-1.

Day Two

Elsewhere in the Hall

In addition to the main Spotlight Series event, the hall in Chiba offered competitive players other ways to test their skills and get in great games of Magic. On Sunday, those players who failed to make Day Two, or anyone who just prefers Limited events, could play in a Team Limited event.

Team Limited is a skill-testing format that demands players know how to shape three strong decks out of one large sealed pool. It's demanding for both individual players and for their teamwork as a trio. Congratulations to Naoya Kawamoto, Takahashi Hyouri, and Soma Honda, winners of the Team Limited event!


Another unique event in the hall was a Rochester Draft utilizing two full, traditional foil sets of Magic: The Gathering®—FINAL FANTASY™. Eight players qualified for the event on Friday, which was then held on Sunday. Judges laid out two of every card in Magic: The Gathering—FINAL FANTASY. Players made their choices from the face-up options one by one. It was a one-of-a-kind event where watching the draft was every bit as exciting as the matches that came later.



Fall of the Undefeated

Day Two began with Round 11, where undefeated player Jan Ang faced off against 9-0-1 player Kenta Masukado. It was here that Ang picked up his first loss of the tournament, with Masukado's Azure Beastbinders and Qarsi Revenants able to stop the Izzet Prowess deck in its tracks.


Masukado would go on to finish the Swiss rounds with a record of 13-0-2 and lead the field heading into the Top 8!

Into the Top 8

After 15 rounds of Swiss, it was time for the cut to the Top 8!


Kenta Masukado, 35, from Niigata Prefecture, played Dimir Midrange because he expected to see a rise in Mono-Red decks after Yukuhiro's win with Mono-Red Aggro the previous weekend. Previously, Masukado had made the Top 8 of three Regional Championships and won one.

Kenichi Abe, 38, of Hyogo Prefecture, played Izzet Prowess simply because he found the deck fun to play. This was his first Top 8.

Shinnosuke Takahama, 32, from Tokyo played Mono-Red Aggro because it includes some of his favorite cards. This was his first Top 8.

Kazuya Hirabayashi, 44, from Tokyo, played Izzet Prowess because he thought it was strong and felt that the cantrip setup with cards like Consider and Sleight of Hand really suited his style. Hirabayashi had three previous Grand Prix Top 8 finishes and a 9th place Pro Tour finish.

Paul Tsao, 32, from Taiwan, played Izzet Cauldron because he loves combo decks. This was his first Top 8.

Chuan Sun, 27, from Beijing, played Golgari Roots because it was the deck that his testing team was playing for the event. This was his first Top 8.

Keita Tonouchi, 37, from Aichi Prefecture, played Izzet Prowess because he was used to playing it. Previously, he made the Top 8 of the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Japan Standard Cup.

Javier Del Pino Povedano, 35, from Spain, played Azorius Omniscience because "it's my first Standard tournament so I just looked at what Pro Tour deck that Javier Dominguez played." His previous accomplishments include a Top 16 finish at Spanish Nationals in 2015.

You can see the Top 8 deck lists here [link to Top 8 deck lists].

The Finals

In the quarterfinals, Kenta Masukado took his first loss of the tournament. He was defeated by Javier Del Pino Povedano, who then defeated Shinnosuke Takahama in the semifinals to earn a seat in the finals.


On the other side of the bracket, Kazuya Hirabayashi first defeated Paul Tsao on Izzet Cauldron in the quarterfinals, then Kenichi Abe in the mirror match in the semifinals to move on to the finals.


In Game 1 of the finals, Hirabayashi put a lot of early pressure on Povedano with his slew of Otter and Monk tokens. Povedano's turn-three Temporary Lockdown attempted to stem the tide of damage, but Hirabayashi had a Spell Pierce to keep the crucial enchantment from resolving, and Hirabayashi took a quick Game 1.


In Game 2, Povedano initially appeared to have stabilized at a healthy 16 life, with a Temporary Lockdown taking care of many of Hirabayashi's threats and an Overlord of the Mistmoors providing blockers and a ticking clock. Hirabayashi was at just 4 life, having been attacked by a Marang River Regent, when he leveraged an all-out attack and a Monstrous Rage to finish off Povedano from what had seemed like a safe 12 life. It was a perfect swan song for Izzet Prowess, proving the deck's brutal efficiency one last time.

Congratulations to Kazuya Hirabayashi, winner of Magic Spotlight: FINAL FANTASY!

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