Code of the Cardboard Samurai thejapanhobbyist

With the God of Pioneer 7 tournament in the books and still fresh on everybody's mind, The Japan Hobbyist and his "cohost" Taichi invite new friend and local MTG player Mickey (Swampmouse on Discord) to talk about his experience at the event. We go over what the metagame was like, the top 16 decklists, and also discuss the overall state of the Pioneer format in Japan at the moment.
In the second half of the podcast we move onto a discussion about organized play in Japan to help foreign players living or visiting the country. Taichi gives us some insight on what OP was like in the past in Japan and his opinions on how this year will be different, then offers us the unique perspective of a level 1 Magic the Gathering Judge. If you're thinking about playing Magic the Gathering in Japan and want to hop into competitive play this year, you don't want to miss this episode!
If you have questions about MTG in Japan don't be afraid to drop into our discord or hitting me up on Twitter!
 
Discord: https://discord.gg/JGKxHhy
Twitter: @YoJapanHobbyist

In this episode past guest and local Magic Player in the Tokyo area, Taichi Nishizawa, joins me to talk about Kamigawa Neon Dynasty from a Japanese person's point of view. I was really interested in hearing his opinion about not only the plane of Kamigawa itself, but also how it was portrayed by Wizards of the Coast in this set. 
After listening to this episode, feel free to hop into my discord to discuss the show or give me a follow on Twitter as well! 
 
Discord: https://discord.gg/JGKxHhy
Twitter: @YoJapanHobbyist

I don't know about you, but the moment Wizards of the Coast announced that Godzilla and many other Toho studio monsters would be in the next Magic the Gathering Set, Ikoria, my heart skipped a beat. Seeing all of these monsters appear on paper in my favorite hobby brought out all sorts of memories. Many people probably haven't seen many of these original Godzilla movies, if at all. Being the Japan Hobbyist, I felt that the gospel of Godzilla must be spread so I recruited a fellow foreigner living in Japan who is also a 'Kaiju' enthusiast and we proceeded to "nerd out" about the new monster cards in the plane of Ikoria. If you're interested in learning the history of the Toho monsters, or if you are wondering how close the MTG Ikoria counterparts are to the originals, be sure to listen!

The Pioneer format has exploded in popularity in Japan recently due to the upcoming Magic Fest in Nagoya. GP Nagoya will be the first ever Pioneer GP along with GP Brussels in Belgium. As some of you might know, I started my blog around Avacyn Restored and soon afterwards I began keeping an up to date Japanese to English vocabulary page on my blog, www.thejapanhobbyist.com. If you've been listening to my past podcasts then you know that I posted another episode about basic Magic the Gathering vocabulary you need to know to play MTG in Japan. You can find that episode here. In today's episode I'm joined by a special guest and level one judge in Japan, Taichi Nishizawa. We go over all of the vocabulary from Return to Ravnica block to Theros Beyond Death, and explain how to use the vocabulary while playing a game in Japanese. If you're a Magic player living in Japan, visiting for a Grand Prix or other event, or just want to practice speaking Japanese, give it a listen! 

Having lived in Japan for more than 10 years now, I've been all around the country and have met a lot of people playing Magic the Gathering. Doing so has allowed me to get to know all sorts of people in my travels, and while the majority of them have been Japanese players, I've also met quite a few foreigners. Some of the first Americans I met were when I was playing at Grand Prix around Japan. However, not everybody was over here in Japan to work like I was.
Over the years I realized just how many of the foreigners I met and played were actually serving in the military. While many of these players are only in Japan for a few years before shipping out to other parts of the world, they have become good friends of mine. Since moving to the Yokohama area, where there are a handful of military bases, I've come to meet more and more of these service members. That's why I thought it would be a good idea to do a podcast for people serving in the military in Japan, to give them some resources and information so that if they wanted to play MTG while living here, they could do so without worrying. 
If you're currently in the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines, or just know some Magic players in the military that are on their way over to Japan in the near future, be sure to let them know about this episode, as well as the others! 

And just like that the Final Frontier podcast ends. In episode 69 we talk about how Historic was finally announced officially by Wizards of the Coast and then talk about what excited us the most from the M20 Core set. We discussed how the cards fit into Frontier since we were hoping that the new format would go back further than Ixalan, so luckily the episode does a good job of showcasing how M20 fits into the scheme of things in Pioneer. I'd like to thank you for taking the time to listen to our old shows. If you'd like to follow us in our journey through the new Pioneer format you can pick up where we left here in our new podcast, The First Pioneers. Thanks for listening!
https://thefirstpioneers.podbean.com/