(also spelled Shota) is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. He is best known for his success in the 2006 Pro Tour season, when he won Pro Tour Charleston with Tomohiro Kaji and Tomoharu Saitou, as well as the Player of the Year title. In 2015, Yasooka was elected into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. When the Magic Online Player of the Year award was introduced in 2009, Yasooka with his account "yaya3" became the first player to win this honour. He also won the 2009 Magic Online Champion – Sealed title. Yasooka is currently the lead designer for the

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan EX'' magazine, as w ...

developed trading card games

Final Fantasy is a Japanese fantasy Anthology series, anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi which is owned, developed, and published by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fanta ...

and

WIXOSS ''WIXOSS'' (pronounced ''whii-kros'') is a Japanese gacha strategy Trading Card Game created by Hobby Japan along with lead game designer Shouta Yasooka, and first published by Takara Tomy on April 2014 in Japan and on November 2021 for English ...

Career

Yasooka's Pro Tour career began in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

at Pro Tour Barcelona. It would be three years until he played his second Pro Tour in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Kobe Kobe ( ; , ), officially , is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. With a population of around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's List of Japanese cities by population, seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Port of Toky ...

. The following season, he put up two more unimpressive Pro Tour finishes in

Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...

, and

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, before finishing in the top sixteen at that year's

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

. This finish qualified him for Pro Tour

Honolulu Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...

, and served as a catalyst for a spectacular run the following season. After another solid finish in Honolulu, Yasooka first came into the spotlight at

Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural ''Grands Prix'') most commonly refers to: * Grand Prix motor racing, a form of motorsport competition ** List of Formula One Grands Prix, an auto-racing championship *** Monaco Grand Prix, the most prestigious ...

Hamamatsu is a Cities of Japan, city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. In September 2023, the city had an estimated population of 780,128 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, with a population density of over the t ...

. Along with Akira Asahara and Masaya Kitayama, he finished in second at the team event. To follow up on this finish, Yasooka made the top eight individually at the next premier event held in Asia, Grand Prix

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. Just a week later, Yasooka put up the best finish of his Pro Tour career at Pro Tour Charleston with Tomoharu Saitou, and Tomohiro Kaji. Despite losing his finals match to Willy Edel, Yasooka's team, ''Kajiharu80'', still won the event. At this event, his teammates accurately predicted that he would win the Player of the Year title that season. The latter half of the season took Yasooka all over the world. He added three more Grand Prix top eights to his resume, in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, before the end of the season. Going into the World Championship, Yasooka had the lead in the Player of the Year race, and despite earning only the minimum two Pro Points there, no one was able to pass him. As a result, Yasooka became the 2006 Player of the Year with a total of 60 Pro Points. Yasooka became the second of five

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

players to win the Player of the Year title in a row, preceded by Kenji Tsumura and followed by

Tomoharu Saito is a professional Magic: The Gathering player and the owner of Hareruya Store in Tokyo. Career Saitou debuted at Pro Tour Chicago 2000. An 83rd-place finish meant he fell just short of making money. Later the same season, he made his first stan ...

Shuhei Nakamura is one of the most successful professional Magic: The Gathering players. He has reached the Top 8 of six Pro Tours and won seven Grands Prix, as well as being the 2008 Pro Player of the Year. In 2011, he was inducted into the Magic: The ...

and Yuuya Watanabe. This has been referred to as the 'golden age' of Magic in Japan. Since then, Yasooka has continued to play on the Pro Tour, but without the same degree of success of the 2006 season. He top-eighted three more Grand Prix,

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, and

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

, in the 2007 season, and Grand Prix

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, but did not return to the top eight of a Pro Tour until 2015. In 2009, Yasooka would be invited to play in the first Magic Online World Championship as a result of becoming Magic Online Player of the Year. The event took place at the same time as the 2009 World Championship. Yasooka would reach the finals of the tournament but ultimately lost to Anssi Myllymäki. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, Yasooka made the Top 8 of two Grand Prix and the Japanese National Championship. Yasooka's 35 Pro points placed him in 21st place in the 2010 Pro Tour Player of the Year standings. In

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, made the Top 8 of three Grand Prix events and the Japanese National Championship. Yasooka gained 52 Pro points through the season, placing him in joint seventh place in the 2011 Pro Tour Player of the Year standings, alongside Yuuya Watanabe and Josh Utter-Leyton. At the end of the 2012 season, Yasooka had amassed 53 Pro Points, which was enough to secure himself a place in the first ever Magic Players Championship. Yasooka's 53 pro points placed him seventh in the overall Pro Players Club standings for the second season in a row. Shouta Yasooka won his second pro tour in the Pro Tour season 2016-17, Pro Tour ''Kaladesh'' in Honolulu using Grixis control.

Achievements

Top 8 appearances

Other accomplishments * Pro Tour Player of the Year 2006 * Magic Online Player of the Year 2009 * 2009 Magic Online Champion – Sealed * Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame class of 2015

Reputation

Shouta Yasooka is widely regarded as being a talented deck-builder. He is known to favor blue-based control decks, and decks designed by him are sometimes referred to as 'Yaso-Control' or 'Yaso-Con' decks. Yasooka is also known for his fast and technical play style, an aspect of his game that is considered particularly impressive given his preference for control decks requiring much decision-making. In January 2012, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa named Yasooka as the main player he would most like to add to Team ChannelFireball. Paulo stated "...he always comes up with the craziest deck ideas and they all seem very bad, but he always does well and is insanely good, so I would like to see how he thinks". In an episode of Magic TV aired in 2012, Luis Scott-Vargas listed Yasooka eighth in the Top 8 players he least wants to play against in tournament play. He explained that he believed that Yasooka is one of the most underrated players in professional Magic, and could make it into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame if it were not for his lack of Pro Tour Top 8s. He was eventually elected into the Hall of Fame at the end of 2015 season, during which he had posted his second Pro Tour top 8 appearance, at Pro Tour ''Dragons of Tarkir'' in Brussels.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yasooka, Shouta Living people Japanese Magic: The Gathering players People from Tokyo 1984 births