| Magic: The Gathering World Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Held in |
| 1994 | Zak Dolan | Milwaukee, WI, USA |
| 1995 | Alexander Blumke | Seattle, WA, USA |
| 1996 | Tom Chanpheng | Seattle, WA, USA |
| 1997 | Jakub Slemr | Seattle, WA, USA |
| 1998 | Brian Selden | Seattle, WA, USA |
| 1999 | Kai Budde | Yokohama, Japan |
| 2000 | Jon Finkel | Brussels, Belgium |
| 2001 | Tom van de Logt | Toronto, Canada |
| 2002 | Carlos Romão | Sydney, Australia |
| 2003 | Daniel Zink | Berlin, Germany |
| 2004 | Julien Nuijten | San Francisco, CA, USA |
| 2005 | Katsuhiro Mori | Yokohama, Japan |
| 2006 | Makihito Mihara | Paris, France |
| 2007 | Uri Peleg | New York City, NY, USA |
| 2008 | Antti Malin | Memphis, TN, USA |
| 2009 | André Coimbra | Rome, Italy |
| 2010 | Guillaume Matignon | Chiba, Japan |
| 2011 | Jun'ya Iyanaga | San Francisco, CA, USA |
The Magic: The Gathering World Championships (Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering to the winner a cash prize of $45,000. Originally open to all competitors, Worlds is now an invitation-only event and the last Pro Tour of each season. The invitees are mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players.
After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds were held in various places outside the US, most of which were either in Europe or Japan. Besides the main event Worlds is always a huge gathering of Magic players, who come to watch the pros and compete in side events.
The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. Despite the name the tournament varied considerably from later Worlds. The tournament was open to all competitors, its mode was single-elimination, and it featured just one format, Type I (now Vintage).[1] Starting with the 1995 Worlds all subsequent Worlds were open to invited players only.
With the introduction of the Pro Tour in 1996 the World Championship became the final stop of each Pro Tour season. As the final event to award Pro points every season, Worlds also since hosts the Pro Player of the Year award ceremony. Traditionally held in August, Worlds was moved to the end of the year between 2004 and 2006, when the Pro Tour season was adjusted to the calendar year. Since the inception of the Hall of Fame in 2005 Worlds also hosts the induction ceremony of each year's class.
Major changes to the World Championships were announced in 2011, to take effect in 2012. As of 2012, the World Championships shall no longer be a single event and instead will be split into a separate national team event and individual player event.[2] The team event shall be called the World Magic Cup, featuring four player national teams.[2] The individual player event, which was altered to feature only 16 players, shall be called the Magic: The Gathering Players Championship.[2]
Most Worlds have been held over five days, hosting an individual and a team competition. The individual competition consists of three disciplines in which every participant has to compete. Traditionally that has been six rounds of Standard played on the first day, two Drafts of three rounds each on the second, and six rounds of some previously determined constructed format on the third day. The fourth day hosted the national team competition. On the final day the best eight players from the individual competition returned to determine the World Champion in three rounds of single elimination.
Beginning with the 2007 Worlds the tournament has been shortened to four days. The schedule has been altered to further accommodate all parts of the competition.
The following players are eligible to play in the World Championship:[3]
(Compare Magic Premier Event Invitation Policy). In recent years, the tournament location has alternated between North America, Asia-Pacific, and Europe.
The Team World Championship consists of three-player teams, with each team representing one country. Players that are eligible to play in the Team World Championship are the first, second and third place players at a country's National Championship.
On 2nd November 2011, Wizards of the Coast announced a major change to the structure of the World Championship.[5] It was announced that as of 2012, the individual World Championship would be renamed the Magic Players Championship[2] and move from being a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen players will be:
In 2012, it was also decided to invite the 2011 Pro Player of the Year, Owen Turtenwald, however this title will be defunct as of 2012.
As of 2012, the Team World Championship will be a single separate event which has been named the World Magic Cup.[2] This national team event will consist of four-player teams representing selected countries. The four players eligible to play in each national team will be the three winners of World Magic Cup qualifiers and the highest ranked player from that country not currently qualified for the team.[6]
| Zak Dolan – 1994 World Championship Angel Stasis |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Black Vise |
1 Library of Alexandria 1 Black Lotus |
1 Chaos Orb |
The first Magic World Championship was held at the Gen Con in Milwaukee, USA on 19–21 August 1994. It is the only Worlds tournament which was held in the Vintage format, then known as Type I. The 1994 Worlds is also the only Worlds which was not an invite-only tournament, instead everybody could register, but the tournament was capped at 512 participants. After two days of single elimination play the final four players featured Bertrand Lestrée, who defeated Cyrille DeFoucaud 2–0 in his semi-final, and Zak Dolan, who defeated Dominic Symens 2–0 in the other semi-final. In the final Dolan defeated Lestrée 2–1.[1]
| Alexander Blumke – 1995 World Championship[7] Rack Control |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Disrupting Scepter |
3 Adarkar Wastes |
1 CoP Artifact |
The second Magic Worlds Championship was held on 4–6 August at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle, USA.[8] 71 players from 19 countries participated. The tournament featured five rounds of Sealed Deck on the first day and five rounds of Standard, then known as Type II, on the second day. Points were awarded for each individual game instead of completed matches as today.[9] The top 8 on Sunday were played with the Standard decks from the day before. In the final Alexander Blumke defeated Mark Hernandez 3–2.[10]
Final standings
| Tom Chanpheng – 1996 World Championship White Weenie |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Lodestone Bauble |
1 Kjeldoran Outpost |
2 Arenson's Aura |
The third Magic World Championship was held at the Wizards headquarters in Seattle, USA. It was the first Worlds also to be a Pro Tour. 125 players competed in the event.[11] The tournament featured a Booster Draft, a Standard (Type II), and a Legacy (Type 1.5) portion.[12]
Final standings
Note that Chanpeng's winning deck included a Sleight of Mind, but no sources of blue mana. This stems from an error in his submitted decklist. He was forced to use plains in lieu of the 4 Adarkar Wastes he had planned to include.
Tom's victory was commemorated with a unique card, named 1996 World Champion.
| Jakub Slemr – 1997 World Championship | ||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Black Knight |
3 City of Brass |
2 Disenchant |
The fourth Magic World Championship was held on 13–17 August 1997 in Seattle, USA. 153 players competed in the event.[13] It was the first Magic tournament to be filmed by ESPN2. The competition featured Standard, Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight Rochester Draft, and Extended.[12]
Final standings
| Brian Selden – 1998 World Championship RecSur |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
2 Scroll Rack |
3 City of Brass |
1 Staunch Defenders |
The fifth Magic World Championship was held on 12–16 August 1998 in Seattle, USA. This tournament featured a Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus Booster Draft, Standard, and Tempest Block Constructed.[12]
203 players competed in the event.[14] The USA dominated the top 8, taking seven of the eight slots. The USA also won the team competition.[12]
| Kai Budde – 1999 World Championship Wildfire |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Cursed Scroll |
3 Ancient Tomb |
2 Boil |
The sixth Magic World Championship was held on 4–8 August 1999 in Yokohama, Japan. This tournament featured an Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended.[12]
208 players from 32 countries competed in the event.[15] In the final Kai Budde defeated Mark Le Pine 3–0 in about 20 minutes, the quickest Pro Tour final ever. Budde's win was the first of his seven Pro Tour victories. By winning this title he also claimed the first of his four Pro Player of the Year titles.[12]
| Jon Finkel – 2000 World Championship Tinker |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Crumbling Sanctuary |
4 Annul |
|
The seventh Magic World Championship was held in Brussels, Belgium on 2–6 August 2000. It was the first time the Worlds were held in Europe. The tournament featured a Mercadian Masques-Nemesis-Prophecy Booster Draft, Mercadian Masques Block Constructed, and Standard.[12]
273 players from 46 countries competed in the event.[16] In the final Jon Finkel defeated his friend, Bob Maher. Both played nearly identical decks with a difference of just one card.[12]
| Tom van de Logt – 2001 World Championship Machine Head |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Plague Spitter |
6 Swamp |
4 Scoria Cat |
The eighth World Championship was held from 8 to 12 August 2001 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. The tournament featured Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended as individual formats and Invasion block team rochester as the team format.[17]
296 players from 51 countries competed in the tournament.[18] Tom van de Logt from the Netherlands came out as the new world champion, garnering a prize of $35,000 for his victory (as well as another $1,000 for the success of the Dutch team he was part of). Other finalists included future World Series of Poker bracelet winner Alex Borteh (2nd place), Antoine Ruel (3rd place), Andrea Santin (4th place), Mike Turian (5th place), Jan Tomcani (6th place), Tommi Hovi (7th place), and David Williams (disqualified).[17] John Ormerod did not make the top 8 finishers, but was awarded 8th place after David Williams was disqualified for a marked deck.[19] The team competition was won by the US team, which defeated Norway in the team final.[17]
| Carlos Romão – 2002 World Championship Psychatog |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Nightscape Familiar |
10 Island |
1 Coffin Purge |
The ninth World Championship was held from 14 to 18 August 2002 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. The tournament featured Odyssey-Torment-Judgment Booster Draft, Odyssey Block Constructed, and Standard as individual formats and Odyssey Team Rochester Draft as the team format.[17]
245 players from 46 countries competed in the tournament.[20] 24-year old Carlos "Jaba" Romão from São Paulo, Brazil came out as world champion, defeating Mark Ziegner 3–2 in the final, thereby garnering a prize of $35,000 with the help of his blue/black "Psychatog" deck. Germany won the team competition, defeating the United States in the final 2–1.
| Daniel Zink – 2003 World Championship Wake |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Mana Leak |
4 Krosan Verge |
1 Vengeful Dreams |
The tenth World Championship was held from 6 to 10 August at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany.[17] The tournament featured Onslaught-Legions-Scourge Rochester Draft, Extended, and Standard as individual formats and Onslaught Team Rochester Draft as the team format.[21]
312 players from 54 countries participated in the tournament. German Daniel Zink managed to emerge as the new world champion, beating Japan's Jin Okamoto 3–0 in the finals and taking home $35,000 in the process. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130.[21] In the team final the United States defeated Finland 2–1.[21]
Player of the Year Race
| Julien Nuijten – 2004 World Championship W/G Astral Slide |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Viridian Shaman 4 Wrath of God |
4 Secluded Steppe |
4 Oxidize |
The eleventh World Championship was held from 1 to 5 September at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California, USA.[22] The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn Booster Draft on Thursday, and Mirrodin Block Constructed on Friday. The team format was Mirrodin Block Team Rochester Draft.[23]
304 players from 51 countries competed in the event. This was the first ever World Championships without a player from the United States in the Top 8. Julien Nuijten won the final 3–1 against Aeo Paquette. At 15 years old, he became the youngest ever Pro Tour winner and took home a total of $52,366 – a new record for winnings in a single collectible card game tournament. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. Team Germany won the team final 2–1 against Belgium.[22]
| Katsuhiro Mori – 2005 World Championship Ghazi Glare |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
2 Yosei, The Morning Star 3 Pithing Needle |
4 Vitu-Ghazi, The City Tree |
2 Greater Good |
The twelfth World Championship was held from 30 November to 4 December at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Ravnica Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Ravnica Team Rochester Draft.[24] The event began with the induction of the first class of the newly incepted Hall of Fame – Alan Comer, Jon Finkel, Tommi Hovi, Darwin Kastle, and Olle Råde.[25]
287 players from 56 countries competed in the event. Katsuhiro Mori won the tournament, defeating Frank Karsten 3–1 in the final, taking home $35,000. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. In the team final Japan defeated the United States 3–0.[24]
| Makihito Mihara – 2006 World Championship Dragonstorm |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Bogardan Hellkite 4 Dragonstorm |
1 Dreadship Reef |
1 Trickbind |
The thirteenth Magic World Championship took place from 29 November – 3 December 2006 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Time Spiral Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Time Spiral Team Rochester Draft.[26] Also on Wednesday Bob Maher, Dave Humpherys, Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The winner of this tournament was Makihito Mihara, who defeated Ryou Ogura 3–0 in an all-Japanese final. He piloted a combo deck based on the card Dragonstorm. It is the first time players from the same country have been World Champion in back-to-back seasons. The Netherlands defeated Japan 2–0 in the team final. The total prize money awarded to the top 75 finishers was $255,245.[27]
| Uri Peleg – 2007 World Championship Doran Rock |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Birds of Paradise 2 Eyeblight's Ending |
1 Brushland |
2 Cloudthresher |
The fourteenth Magic World Championship took place from 6–9 December 2007 at the Jacob K. Javits Center of New York in New York City, USA. The tournament featured five rounds of Standard and a Lorwyn Booster Draft on Thursday. Friday featured five rounds of Legacy and another Lorwyn Booster Draft. The team format was Lorwyn Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft.[28] The top 64 individual finishers received $215,600 in prize money.
386 players from 61 countries competed in the event. The winner of the tournament was Uri Peleg, defeating Patrick Chapin 3–1 in the final. Katsuhiro Mori made the top 8 for the third consecutive year, while Gabriel Nassif made his third final eight within four Worlds. Coincidentally, each player mirrored their performance from the previous year (Mori was eliminated in the quarter-finals, Nassif in the semi-finals).[29]
| Antti Malin – 2008 World Championship Faeries |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Mistbind Clique 4 Agony Warp |
1 Faerie Conclave |
4 Flashfreeze |
The fifteenth Magic World Championship took place from 11–14 December 2008 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN, USA. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Shards of Alara Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Also the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.[30] The top 75 individual finishers received $245,245 in prize money.[31]
329 players from 57 countries competed in the event. Antti Malin from Finland won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final the United States defeated Australia to become the team champion.
Pro Player of the Year
| André Coimbra – 2009 World Championship Naya Lightsaber |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
4 Baneslayer Angel |
4 Arid Mesa |
1 Ajani Vengeant |
The sixteenth Magic World Championship took place from 19–22 November 2009 at the Palazzo Dei Congressi in Rome, Italy. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Zendikar Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
409 players from 65 countries competed in the event. André Coimbra from Portugal won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final, China defeated Austria to become the team champion. This was the first Magic Pro Tour event of any sort in which no player in the Top 8 was from the United States or Japan. It was also the first time a Pro Tour Top 8 consisted of players from eight different countries.
The Magic Online World Championship was held for the first time. It also took place in Rome at the site of the paper Magic World Championship. The tournament was previously announced to be for eight competitors. The qualifications could be gained in special tournaments on Magic Online. The players played three rounds each of Classic, Zendikar Booster Draft, and Standard on computers provided on the site. After nine rounds the two best players determined the title in a final match of Standard.[32] Anssi Myllymäki (screen name: Anathik) of Finland defeated former Pro Player of the Year Shouta Yasooka (yaya3) in the final, thus claiming the grand prize of $13,000.[33] The other contestans won between $4,000 and $9,000.[32]
Pro Player of the Year
| Guillaume Matignon – 2010 World Championship Blue-Black Control |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
3 Grave Titan 1 Cancel |
4 Creeping Tar Pit |
1 Deprive |
The seventeenth World Championship took place from 9–12 December in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.[34] The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Scars of Mirrodin Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Extended on Saturday. On Sunday the best eight players gathered for the Top 8. They had to play the same decks, they used in the Standard portion of the tournament. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 2 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format is 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.
352 players from 60 countries competed in the event.[35] The national teams competition had 57 countries represented.
The 2010 World Champion Guillaume Matignon earned enough pro points with his performance to equal Pro Player of the Year leader Brad Nelson's total. This led to a play-off for the Pro Player of the Year title at Pro Tour Paris 2011, which was ultimately won by Brad Nelson.
Pro Player of the Year
| Jun'ya Iyanaga – 2011 World Championship Wolf Run Ramp |
||
|---|---|---|
| Main Deck: | Sideboard: | |
|
1 Birds of Paradise 2 Devil's Play |
4 Copperline Gorge |
2 Ancient Grudge |
The eighteenth Magic World Championship was held from 17–20 November in the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, USA,[36] the same site that already hosted the 2004 World Championship. The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Innistrad Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Modern on Saturday. This was be the first World Championship to feature the new Modern format. On Sunday, the Top 8 players will play-off against each other in elimination rounds, using the Standard decks they played on Thursday. 375 players from 60 countries competed in the event.[37]
The swiss rounds were dominated by American player Conley Woods, who would go 16–2 with his only losses being tactical concessions to other ChannelFireball teammates. Ultimately, four ChannelFireball teammates would make it into the Top 8: Conley Woods, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas and Josh Utter-Leyton. For Paulo this was his fourth World Championship Top 8, making him the first player to achieve this, and his eighth Pro Tour Top 8 overall. Also, for the first time players playing in the Magic Online World Championships managed to make the Top 8 of the Pro Tour, with Jun’ya Iyanaga (SEVERUS on MTGO) and David Caplan (goobafish on MTGO) making it to Sunday. The quarterfinals saw three of the four ChannelFireball teammates eliminated, with only Conley Woods making it to the semifinals after narrowly defeating Craig Wescoe 3-2. The semifinals would be clean sweeps with Jun'ya Iyanaga and Richard Bland defeating Conley Woods and David Caplan 3-0 respectively. The finals would see Jun'ya Iyanaga defeat Richard Bland in another 3-0 clean sweep to become the 2011 World Champion. Jun'ya Iyanaga's prize money for winning the World Championship and placing seventh in the Magic Online World Championship was $51,000, making him the second highest earner in the history of the World Championships behind 2004 World Champion Julien Nuijten.[38]
In the team event, Japan played against Norway for the World Team Title. The Japanese team of Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto,and former World Champion Makihito Mihara were victorious.
In the Magic Online World Championship finals, Reid Duke (reidderrabbit on MTGO) played against Florian Pils (flying man on MTGO) in the Modern format. Reid Duke won the match 2–1 to become the Magic Online World Champion, the first American and the first Magic Online Player of the Year to win the title.
As of 2012, the World Championship was drastically altered alongside changes to the ranking system used in Magic: The Gathering. The individual World Championship is to be changed from a Pro Tour-sized event to a sixteen-player event, which shall be called the Magic Players Championship. The team event, formerly held alongside the individual event, will now take place before the individual tournament and will feature four-player teams instead of the previous three-player teams.
The first ever Magic World Cup will be held on 16-19 August at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis.[2] The World Magic Cup is a modified national team event featuring four-player teams. The four players will be three winners of Magic World Cup qualifiers and the highest ranked player from that country who is not already qualified for the event.
The first Magic: The Gathering Players Championship will be held in 2012.[2] The Players Championships will replace the former Pro Tour-sized World Championship event. The Players Championship is an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. Although originally entitled the 2012 World Championship, the tournament was renamed the Players Championship in an announcement in December 2011.[2] The Players Championship will also replace the former Pro Player of the Year title.
Japan and the United States are tied for the most individual titles won. The United States have won the most team titles and also have had most competitors amongst the final eight. Germany and the Netherlands are the only other countries with more than one champion. Italy and Austria are the most successful nations that have never won a title.
| Country | Wins | Top 8 | Team Wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 3 | 34 | 8 |
| Japan | 3 | 16 | 2 |
| Germany | 2 | 9 | 2 |
| Netherlands | 2 | 8 | 1 |
| Switzerland | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| France | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| Finland | 1 | 6 | 0 |
| Brazil | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Portugal | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Czech Republic | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Australia | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Israel | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Canada | 0 | 7 | 1 |
| Slovakia | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| China | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Austria | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Italy | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Sweden | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Belgium | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| England | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Estonia | 0 | 1 | 0 |
As of 20 November 2011[update]