Pro Tour (Magic: The Gathering)
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The Pro Tour (or PT) is the highest form of competitive play for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It is a series of high payout tournaments held throughout the world and run by the Wizards of the Coast "Organized Play" section of the DCI, culminating in the Magic World Championships at the end of each season.
Pro Tours are invite-only tournaments. The winner is awarded more than $35,000 for his victory. Pro Tours also award Pro Points which give various benefits to players and are used to calculate the Pro Player of the Year Race.
Making the Top 8 of a Pro Tour is the dream of any competitive Magic player. Professional players are often compared by the number of Top 8's they've made during their career.
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[edit] Origins
The first major Magic: The Gathering tournament was the 1994 World Championship held at GenCon. It was a single-elimination 512-person Constructed event run over three days of competition. The winner, Zak Dolan, received a trophy and little money. However, Dolan was also given a large number of booster packs from the Alpha expansion, and the secondary market value of those packs today would exceed many pro tour payoffs. Another World Championship was organized in 1995, but only in 1996 was held the first true Pro Tour. The idea was to run several tournaments each year that would gather the best players in the world and reward them with cash for their dedication to the game.
[edit] Qualification
The Pro Tour is a qualification-only tournament. The are several ways to qualify:
- By finishing in the Top 32 of the previous Pro Tour
- By winning a Pro Tour Qualifier (PTQ) tournament. These are open tournaments run during the months preceding the Pro Tour.
- By finishing high in a Grand Prix (GP): the top sixteen finishing players in a GP are invited, regardless of how many of those already hold an invitation. (This is a fairly recent change, and previously, the top 8 previously uninvited players received an invitation.)
- By being at least at level 3 in the Magic Pro Players Club. One earns levels in the Pro Players Club by acquiring Pro Points at previous Grand Prix and Pro Tour events. Players qualifying this way are said to be on the Gravy Train.
- By having a very high DCI rating. - Top 100 in either Limited or Constructed (same format as the Pro Tour itself) or average of 2000 in case of a team tournament
Although contrarily to some other competitions there are no "wild card" invites. Very rarely however, players can receive sponsor's exemptions, such as past pro tour parcipiant David Williams (of 2004 World Series of Poker fame) received in his invitation to the 2005 season Pro Tour LA. Players in the Hall of Fame get permanent level 3 status in the Pro Player's Club, and therefore a permanent invite to all Pro Tours.
[edit] Season structure
[edit] Location pattern
Since the 2006 season, the Pro Tour makes four stops, plus Worlds (as opposed to five or six plus Worlds in previous seasons) spread throughout the calendar year. One stop each is made in North America, Europe, and Japan. The fourth Pro Tour is held in an "exotic"/vacation-type location (such as Honolulu, Hawaii). Worlds is held on a rotating basis between North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region.
The 2007 season will make stops at:
- Geneva, Switzerland; February 9-11; Time Spiral-Planar Chaos booster draft
- Yokohama, Japan; April 20-22; Time Spiral block constructed
- San Diego, California, United States; June 29-July 1; Two-Headed Giant limited
- Valencia, Spain; October 12-14; Extended
- A location to be determined in North America for Worlds
[edit] Formats
- Constructed Pro Tours use standard, block constructed, or Extended deck construction rules.
- Limited Pro Tours are held in Booster Draft for individual competition, and in Sealed Deck (first day) and Rochester Draft (final two days) for team competition.
- The World Championships use a variety of formats over five days: Standard (first day), Booster Draft (second day), Extended (third day), and Team Rochester Draft (fourth day, only for national teams). On day five, the Top 8 individual players play with the same Standard decks they used on day one; the top two national teams play a new Rochester draft.
[edit] Tournament structure
The Pro Tour is run using a modified Swiss system. A typical Pro Tour is run over three days with 6 or 7 rounds (for Limited PTs) or 8 rounds (for Constructed PTs) of Swiss the first day, after which players with less than 4 victories (Limited) or 5 victories (Constructed) are eliminated, then 8 rounds of Swiss the second day after which the 8 best finishing players constitute what is called the Top 8. On the third and final day, the Top 8 players play single-elimination until the winner is determined.
Team Limited Pro Tours run the first day using the Team Sealed format, the second day using the Team Rochester Draft format, and the top 4 finishing teams advance to the last day of competition, which is also run in the Team Rochester format.
[edit] Payout
Traditionally the payout at the Pro Tour has been based only on the finishing place with a total of US$234,000 given out using the following pattern (for teams, indicated are the total winnings for teams of three):
| Place | Individual | Team | Worlds | Team Worlds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | $75,000 | $50,000 | $30,000 |
| 2 | $22,000 | $36,000 | $25,000 | $15,000 |
| 3 | $15,000 | $21,000 | $16,000 | $9,000 |
| 4 | $14,000 | $18,000 | $15,000 | $7,500 |
| 5-8 | $11,500-10,000 | $12,900-7,500 | $11,500-10,000 | $6,000-3,750 |
| 9-16 | $7,000-3,750 | $6,300-2,400 | $7,000-3,750 | $3,000 |
In individual Pro Tours the payout extends down to 75th place, while in team Pro Tours it goes to the 25th team.
In PT:Philadelphia 2005 a new payout system was tested. The tournament was run using triple-elimination (with a draw counting as a loss for both players) and each match was run with money at stake. The amount of money earned by the winner of the match increased from $100 in round 1 to $1,500 in round 12. This system had the result of distributing the money more evenly among competitors (out of 311, only 40 failed to make money) but the top finishers earned significantly less money than they would have under the old system. This layout was largely criticized by players and internet writers and will probably be abandoned altogether.
[edit] Pro Point distribution
Pro Points are awarded as follows:
| Place | Individual & Worlds | Team | Worlds Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 | 20 | 6 |
| 2 | 20 | 16 | 5 |
| 3-4 | 16 | 12 | 4 |
| 5-8 | 12 | 8 | 3 |
| 9-12 | 8 | 6 | 2 |
| 13-16 | 8 | 6 | 1 |
| 17-24 | 7 | 4 | - |
| 25-32 | 6 | 3 | - |
| 33-48 | 5 | 2 | - |
| 49-64 | 5 | 2 | - |
| 65-100 | 4 | 2 | - |
| 101-200 | 3 | 2 | - |
| 201+ | 2 | 2 | - |
[edit] Pro Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year
[edit] Pro Player of the Year
From Wizards' website: "The player with the most pro points over the course of a season is identified as the Pro Player of the Year. In addition to the title, the Pro Player of the Year receives invitations to certain tournaments throughout the next season. That player also receives travel and accommodations to each of the next season’s Pro Tour events and to the World Championships." [1]
| Season | Player of the Year |
|---|---|
| 1995-96 | Olle Rade |
| 1996-97 | Paul McCabe |
| 1997-98 | Jon Finkel |
| 1998-99 | Kai Budde |
| 1999-2000 | Bob Maher, Jr. |
| 2000-01 | Kai Budde |
| 2001-02 | Kai Budde |
| 2002-03 | Kai Budde |
| 2003-04 | Gabriel Nassif |
| 2005 | Kenji Tsumura |
| 2006 | Shouta Yasooka |
[edit] Rookie of the Year
From Wizards' website: "The player with the most pro points at the end of a tournament season that has not participated in a Pro Tour or World Championship tournament in any previous season is identified as the Rookie of the Year. In addition to the title, the Rookie of the Year receives travel and accommodations to his or her choice of one of the next season’s Pro Tour events (for which that player has an invitation) or to the World Championships." [2]
| Season | Rookie of the Year |
|---|---|
| 1995-96 | None awarded |
| 1996-97 | None awarded |
| 1997-98 | Randy Buehler |
| 1998-99 | Dirk Baberowski |
| 1999-2000 | Brian Davis |
| 2000-01 | Katsuhiro Mori |
| 2001-02 | Farid Meraghni |
| 2002-03 | Masashi Oiso |
| 2003-04 | Julien Nuijten |
| 2005 | Pierre Canali |
| 2006 | Sebastian Thaler (né Alijaj) |
[edit] Best performers
Players who have reached the final day of the Pro Tour several times are recognized for their skill and dedication to the game. Only through practice and creative talent have they managed such a feat.
Here are some of the most successful players on the Tour :
- Jon Finkel (United States) with 11 Top 8s and two wins.
- Kai Budde (Germany) with 9 Top 8s and an amazing 7 wins.
- Darwin Kastle (United States) with 8 Top 8s and a win.
- Gabriel Nassif (France) with 7 Top 8s and a win.
- Dirk Baberowski (Germany) with 5 Top 8s and 3 wins.
- Michael Turian (United States) with 5 Top 8s and a win.
- Alan Comer (United States) with 5 Top 8s.
- Olivier Ruel (France) with 5 Top 8s.
- Mike Long (United States) with 4 Top 8s and a win.
See also: List of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events
[edit] Making a living
Very few players can claim to earn enough money for a living by playing on the Pro Tour. Players have won more than $100,000 playing Magic, but spread over several years, and the figures do not take into account the cost of travel. A considerable number of players are professional gamers but Magic is not their principal source of revenue. Some play poker professionally, either on the internet or in real life; others are game store owners. What keeps them playing on the Pro Tour is their sheer passion for the game and the thrill of winning.
[edit] Gender gap
Magic is seen as a game overwhelmingly dominated by males, both on the Pro Tour and off. A woman has never made the Top 8 of a PT; however, Michelle Bush did get 2nd place at Grand Prix New Orleans in 2001. Until PT Charleston in 2006, though, a woman had never even finished in the money at a traditional-payout PT. That changed when Asami Katoaka and team Tottori 1 6 1 (led by level 6 player Masashi Oiso) finished in 18th place, earning the team US$1800 in total. (Asami did win money at a PT before, winning $100 at the skins-game PT Philadelphia in 2005.)
[edit] See also
- List of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events
- Magic: The Gathering World Championship
- Duelists' Convocation International
