Digital Card Games x Japan (2021)
High Japanese performance in digital card games by Hideo Ishii
From October to December 2021, a tournament was held to decide the world champions of three of the world’s most popular card game titles, “Magic: The Gathering,” “Shadowverse,” and “Hearthstone.”
It should be noted that Yuta Takahashi of “Magic the: Gathering”, kakip of “Shadowverse”, and Posesi of “Hearthstone”, who became world champions, are all Japanese players.
The victory of Japanese athletes in the world tournament is not so rare in the sports world where Japanese people are good at, such as figure skating and judo. However, it can be said that it is a feat that the world champion was born so much at almost the same time in the card game.
If you turn it over, it may mean that the number of Japanese players is thick and there are many world-class top players. I don’t think it’s been so much talked about in the world, but card games are now one of the Japanese specialty. Therefore, I would like to consider why Japanese players are strong in card games.
Features of the card game in which the Japanese became the world champion this year
First, I would like to look back on the card games mentioned in this article. The card game here is more politely called TCG (trading card game) or DCG (digital card game). The originator of TCG was “Magic: The Gathering” (MTG) released by Wizards of the Coast in 1993, and most of the TCGs that appeared after that were influenced by “MTG”. There is.
“MTG” is currently on sale in 11 countries and is played in more than 70 countries around the world. With over 20 million players worldwide, it has been recognized by the Guinness World Records as “the most played trading card game”. “MTG” was originally a TCG played with paper cards, but digital versions have also been developed several times, and now “MTG Arena” released in September 2018 has become the mainstay of the digital version. There is.
In addition to MTG, there are examples of DCG versions such as “Duel Masters” that are originally played on paper cards and played on smartphones, etc., but when converting TCGs other than “MTG” to DCG, DCG The rules are often changed slightly due to restrictions on the terminal side (screen resolution, etc.) to play. On the other hand, “MTG Arena” has exactly the same rules as the original “MTG”.
Here, I would like to briefly take a look at the flow up to the birth of the world champion in each title. Actually, Japanese players were strong even before this happened.
This year’s “MTG” World Championship “27th Magic: The Gathering World Championship” was held from October 8th to 10th, 2021 using the digital version of “MTG Arena”. This is the first time that “MTG Arena” has been used in the world championships, and it was played with paper cards until 2019 (it will not be held in 2020 due to event system changes and corona damage).
The world championship is the highest peak event of “MTG” in which 16 most active players of the year fight for the honor of the world champion. Of the 16 players invited to this world championship, five Japanese players are Yuta Takahashi, Noriyuki Shigeru, Keisuke Sato, Rei Sato, and Yoshihiko Ikawa, and Japan has the largest number of participating players. It is also a country. At this point you can see that the layers are already thick. By the way, the country with the next largest number of participating players was the United States, and there were three participating players.
Yuta Takahashi, who won the championship this time, suddenly won the 10th place at the “Grand Prix Niigata 2005”, which was his first participation in the premier event, including “MTG” in junior high school. He then participated in “Pro Tour Los Angeles 2005”. In addition, he is a player who has been prominent from early on, such as achieving consecutive victories in “Grand Prix Shizuoka 2008” and “Grand Prix Kobe 2008”. After that, although there was a time when he fell into a slump, he became a top 8 in the “Pro Tour” Eldritch Moon “” in August 2016 and was active as a gold level pro.
This world championship was a harsh one that took place over three days, and on the first day, the first to third rounds were drafts using “Innistrad: Midnight Hunting” (pick one from each pack and next to it). The format is to make a deck by repeatedly turning it to the person in the game and fight), the 4th to 5th rounds are standard, and the 6th to 10th rounds on the second day are standard. After the 10th round of qualifying, the top four players can advance to the final tournament on the third day.
Takahashi failed to pick in the draft on the first day and got off to the worst start of 0 wins and 3 losses. If you lose 3 times, you will not be able to pass even if you win all the remaining games, so many players usually give up, but Takahashi finished the standard round with 7–0 due to this cliff situation, and the third day. I went to the final tournament. His spiritual strength and courageous strength are awesome.
Takahashi won the final tournament three times in a row with that momentum and became the world champion. This is the fifth time that a Japanese player has won the “MTG” World Championship held 27 times (the first time in eight tournaments since Yuuya Watanabe, who won the 2012 tournament). The winning prize is $ 70,000, but as a reward for participation, $ 50,000 will be given to everyone, so Takahashi will receive a total of $ 120,000 (about 13.8 million yen).
The tournament to decide the world champion of “Shadowverse” is “Shadowverse World Grand Prix”, but since it was not held in 2020 due to Corona, this was the first time in two years.
“Shadowverse” is a title made in Japan, and Japanese players are top class in both number and level. The world tournament “Shadowverse World Grand Prix” was held for the first time in 2017, and Japanese tea / Par players defeated Portugal’s Akamarued player to become the first world champion.
The final match of the 2nd World Championship held in 2018 was a confrontation between Yoshimoto Revalent’s Feg player and Japanese player Potwasher who lives in the United States, and Feg became the world champion. In the final match of the 2019 World Championship, sasamumu, who was the strongest call in Taiwan, and jupi / Qwert from Japan will face each other, and sasamumu wins. For the first time, a non-Japanese player became the world champion.
The final tournament “GRAND FINALS” of “Shadowverse World Grand Prix 2021” was held at Saitama Super Arena on December 19, 2021 with offline spectators (foreign players participate online). The eight players who participated in the “GRAND FINALS” passed the qualifying round held in November, but four of them, kakip, negima, Hanada, and Shitaue / iDeal, are Japanese, and they are also Japanese. The most. The final match was a Japanese match between kakip and negima, but this is the first time that the final match of “GRAND FINALS” has been contested between Japanese players.
The final tournament of “GRAND FINALS” will be held in BO5 (3 games first), but kakip made a big mistake in the first game where he could win, and negima got the win. However, kakip played calmly from there and won the 2nd to 4th games in a row. He was brilliantly the world champion. The winner, kakip, became the fourth world champion and received a prize of 150 million yen.
The “2021 Hearthstone World Championship” is an event in which 6 people from the Grand Masters, 2 people from the Chinese Gold Series, and 8 selected players from all over the world gather together to decide the world champion.
The “Hearthstone World Championship” has been held since 2014, and the first world champion is Firebat from the United States, and the second world champion is Ostkaka from Sweden. Kno participated in the 2015 World Championships for the first time as a Japanese player and lost in the semi-finals. The result was the best 4 in the world. Even after that, the world championships have been held every year, but Japanese players could not qualify for participation, and in 2020, they participated for the first time in five years as a Japanese, and became the first Japanese world champion. Glory player.
Similar to “Shadowverse”, the final match of “2021 Hearthstone World Championship” was also a Japanese confrontation between Posesi and Glory. What’s more, Glory was the winner of last year’s world championships, and if Glory wins, he will achieve his first two consecutive victories. The “2021 Hearthstone World Championship” will be held with 4 decks and 1 deck prohibited, and the game will be decided by BO5. The final match was a fierce battle that was entangled up to the fifth game, but Posesi won the championship and Glory could not achieve the second straight victory. Still, Glory is the runner-up, and achieving the TOP4 for the second consecutive year is a great achievement. The winner, Posesi, received a prize of $ 200,000 (about 23 million yen).
Looking at it like this, it can be seen that neither “MTG” nor “Shadowverse” nor “Hearthstone” happened to be won by the Japanese. Considering the large number of players and the fact that the two titles other than “MTG” were the finals between Japanese people, I think that there are many card game players with world-class ability in Japan. Is natural. In that respect, Japan can be said to be one of the world’s leading card game powerhouses.
Then why did Japanese players become world champions one after another in card games, especially DCG? “MTG” champion Takahashi said in an interview that one of the reasons is that the world championships will be held at “MTG Arena” from this year.
Until now, I had been traveling by plane from Japan to the world championships held overseas, so it was difficult to demonstrate 100% of my strength due to travel fatigue, jet lag, and communication inconvenience. However, if you are online, you can participate from your familiar home, and you can maximize your strength. “MTG” and “Hearthstone”. It can be said that “Shadowverse” was originally home to Japan and had benefits from the beginning.
In addition, card games originally have a large proportion of luck compared to shogi and go, such as drawing cards. Therefore, you cannot tell the strength of a deck just by turning it once or twice. By increasing the number of trials, you can see the true strength of the deck, eliminating the so-called upside and downside. Repeatedly fighting various opponents, repeating a huge number of trials, polishing the deck, and reducing play mistakes at the same time.
Except for some genius-type players, card games can only improve by repeating such steady efforts. For that purpose, patience and community building are required. Takahashi, kakip, and Pesesi are not only trying a lot of practice repeatedly, even if the games they are playing are different, but they also make adjustments with top-level friends who are playing the same game. I can’t help but imagine that I’ve refined my deck and playing. This perseverance and the attitude of working seriously with friends can be said to be the qualities that many Japanese have in common.
To win at the top level in the world, no play mistake is allowed. Also, even if you lose due to a mistake or unlucky, you cannot go up by dragging it. People who reveal too much emotions such as anger are not suitable for becoming a professional. The fact that it is necessary to have such mental strength and speed of switching in order to become the world champion was reminded by the fighting behavior of Takahashi and kakip this time.
However, these are only one of the hypotheses. Whether this “incident” is accidental or inevitable, and whether these considerations are correct will be naturally proved by the results of future competitions.
Wishing for the further spread of culture as a card game “strongest country”
Japan was originally a card game powerhouse, and with the “birth of simultaneous multiple world champions” at the end of this year, I think it has a presence that can be called the “strongest country”. However, despite the fact that Japanese players are doing great things one after another, many people have decided that card games are for children to play.
Although it is a card game powerhouse, I feel that the general public’s understanding of card games is still less advanced than in Europe and the United States. In the United States and elsewhere, “MTG” is firmly rooted as a culture.
The author hopes that Japan will have more card game players in the future and will gain citizenship as a culture. “MTG Arena,” “Shadowverse,” and “Hearthstone” are all titles that you can play for free as a basic download. If you are interested, please play it.
