Or: Narratives in Competitive Magic, And Why Should You Care About Them
by Emma Partlow
This is Ken Yukuhiro (行弘賢).
If you aren’t familiar, Ken is a highly-accomplished competitive Magic: The Gathering player hailing from Fukuoka, Japan. You may see him knocking about as deathsnow on Magic Online and MTG Arena, and despite what his username may suggest, Ken is perhaps one of the warmest and most expressive players on the entire circuit. He’s an incredible deck innovator, inspiring brewers across the world to break the established mold of only playing what the data tells you to play. After his eighth time of trying, Ken finally clinched a Pro Tour victory a year ago shortly after the critically-acclaimed release of Magic: The Gathering–FINAL FANTASY. He is someone who embodies competitive Magic with grace and passion, giving us an important reminder that Magic is a universal game utterly adored by many. But Pro Tour FINAL FANTASY was well over a year ago and there’s been roughly a dozen Magic releases since then – not only that, I’ve already spoiled the ending to this story – so why on earth am I bringing this up now?
Since the release of FINAL FANTASY, Magic has gone from strength-to-strength and continues to break every financial record going, not to mention the current trend of “new” Commander formats with names seemingly inspired by throwing a dart at a map of the United States of America. Either way, Ken’s thoroughly-deserved Pro Tour win has lived rent-free in my head ever since, because to me, it was one of the more compelling Pro Tours we’ve had from a narrative standpoint, yet it was glossed over due to sentiments around Universes Beyond and the subbrand appearing on Magic’s biggest competitive stage. There’s tension with Universes Beyond for a myriad of reasons that I won’t get into today, not to mention the challenges in learning a second subject in preparation for coverage, which means narratives are harder to cultivate in such a short space of time. That said, narratives are subjective and resonate with us the most depending on the experiences we develop throughout our lives, which is why it remains so impactful in a world currently chock-full of generative AI and forced authenticity. And yes, this does mean narratives can also form and be appreciated with the existence of Universes Beyond.