is one of the most successful professional

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

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 Gathering Hall of Fame.

Career

Nakamura's first success came in a second place at Grand Prix Kobe in 2001. This qualified him for Pro Tour

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. However, he chose not to attend. In January 2002 he played his first Pro Tour in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

. Managing several Top 8 at Japanese Grand Prix, a Top 8 appearance at Pro Tour Columbus in 2005 was his first major showing on the Pro Tour. He followed this finish with another Top 8 at the

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, ...

the same season. Ultimately, Nakamura would finish fourth in the Player of the Year standings with 66 Pro Points. In 2006 Nakamura achieved several high finishes at Limited events, including third places at PT

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

and GP

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. Eventually he also won his first major tournament, Grand Prix

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

2006, immediately backing up the victory by winning the next Grand Prix event in Hiroshima four weeks later. As both of his Grand Prix wins were in the Coldsnap limited format, Shuhei earned the nickname 'Snowmaster'. Nakamura gained 56 Pro Points throughout the season placing him second in the 2006

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

Race, only four points behind winner

Shouta Yasooka 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 el ...

. The 2007 season was not quite as successful for Nakamura, however, he did manage to make his fourth Pro Tour Top 8 appearance at PT

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. The 2008 season started off perfect with a victory in the first professional tournament of the season, Grand Prix Stuttgart. This victory made him only the third player to have won a Grand Prix in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, and North America. Nakamura proceeded to manage Top 4 finishes at Pro Tour Hollywood, Grand Prix

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, and Grand Prix

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

. He finished the season with 70 Pro Points to become Pro Player of the Year. Nakamura was the fourth of five Japanese players to win the Player of the Year title in a row, preceded by Kenji Tsumura,

, Tomoharu Saito and followed by

Yuuya Watanabe Yuuya Watanabe (渡辺雄也) is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player and former World Champion. With five Pro Tour top eights and 27 Grand Prix top eights (including seven wins), Watanabe is best known for his Rookie of the Year title in 20 ...

. Nakamura has personally referred to this period as a 'golden age' for Magic in Japan. In 2009 Nakamura finished third at Grand Prix Rotterdam in February, but achieved no further final eight appearances until his victory at the Japanese Nationals in July. On 19 August 2011 it was announced that Nakamura will be inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame along with Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz and Anton Jonsson. The ceremony took place on 17 November at the 2011 Magic: The Gathering World Championship. In the 2012 season, Shuhei placed tenth in the Pro Players Club Standings at the end of the season with 51 Pro Points. This performance earned Nakamura an invite to the inaugural 2012 Magic Players Championship. Shuhei would take fifth place at the inaugural event, narrowly missing the cut to Top 4.

Accomplishments

Other accomplishments * 2008 Pro Player of the Year * 2011 Hall of Fame class (vote leader) * Most Grand Prix wins (7), tied with

Kai Budde Kai Budde (born 28 October 1979),Kai Budde 2005 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering Ravnica expansion) is a semi-retired professional Magic: The Gathering player, who holds the record for Pro Tour victories, and for a long time hel ...

and

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Shuhei Living people Japanese Magic: The Gathering players People from Hirakata 1981 births