Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame

The Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame was started in 2005 to honor the most successful Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour players. The first inductions came on the tenth anniversary of the first Pro Tour event, and new Hall of Famers will be determined annually. Players with at least 150 Pro Points (before 2013, the requirement was 100 Pro Points) can be voted in the Hall of Fame if they get more than 40% of the election committee's votes. As of 2013, there are 36 players from 10 different countries in the Hall of Fame.

Eligibility

In order to appear on the Hall of Fame selection ballot, a player must meet the following three requirements:^[1]

1. The player must have participated in his or her first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour at least 10 seasons prior to the current voting year.
2. The player must have at least 150 lifetime Pro Tour Points. (Prior to 2013, the threshold was 100 lifetime Pro Tour Points.)
3. The player must not currently be suspended from playing Magic by the DCI. (Previous suspension does not disqualify a player from entering the Hall of Fame.)

Benefits

The Hall of Fame inductees will receive a number of benefits for the rest of his or her life. (unless suspended by the DCI) As of 2013–14 season, it includes the benefits below.

1. A guaranteed entry to any Pro Tour event and World Magic Cup Qualifiers
2. Appearance fee in every Pro Tour and World Magic Cup he or she is participating.
3. Bye(s) in Grand Prix and World Magic Cup Qualifiers.
4. Additional Magic Online Championship Series seasonal QPs.

If a Hall of Fame player is a current Platinum level member of the Pro Players Club, the higher reward will apply to them. (i.e. they receive two instead of one bye in World Magic Cup Qualifiers, 20QP instead of 15QP in the Magic Online Championship Series)

Players who enter the Hall of Fame since will also receive a special commemorative ring at the induction ceremony.

Voting process

The Selection Committee and Player's Committee vote on who to induct into the Hall of Fame.

Selection Committee

The Hall of Fame Selection Committee includes Wizards of the Coast employees, DCI members, judges, and reporters who are heavily influential in Magic design, development, and rules, as well as the Pro Tour.^[2]

Players' Committee

The Players' Committee consists of all Pro Tour players who have 100 or more lifetime Pro Tour points by a specific cut-off date each year. For 2009, this date was 30 June 2009. Players who are on both committees vote through the Selection Committee.^[3]

Selection

The selection procedure was changed several times. In 2005 the Selection Committee voted for five players, and the four players receiving the most votes were inducted. Then the Players' Committee voted for one player that was not already selected, and the player receiving the most votes was also inducted.

From 2006 Members of the Selection Committee and Players' Committee receive the list of players eligible for induction. Each member selects five players for induction. The votes are tabulated by a weighted percentage: Selection Committee votes count 2/3, and Players' Committee votes count 1/3. In 2006 and 2007 the five players with the highest percentages are inducted into the Hall of Fame. Starting from 2008 only the players with over 40% of the weighted votes are inducted or if no one meets this criterion the player with the highest percentage.

Removal from ballot

Players who have been on the Hall of Fame ballot for three or more years are removed from the ballot if they appear on less than 10 percent of the returned ballots in three consecutive years. This is not weighted as it is for selection into the Hall of Fame. A player may be reinstated onto the ballot by gaining four or more Pro Tour points in a one-year period.

Inductees

Class / year	Country	Inductee	Weighted ballot %	Ballot rank within class
2005	United States	Jon Finkel	97.10%[4]	1
2005	United States	Darwin Kastle	62.32%[4]	2
2005	United States	Alan Comer	52.17%[4]	3
2005	Finland	Tommi Hovi	46.38%[4]	4
2005	Sweden	Olle Råde	34.78%[4]	5
2006	United States	Bob Maher	60.01%[5]	1
2006	United States	Dave Humpherys	56.78%[5]	2
2006	France	Raphaël Lévy	42.58%[5]	3
2006	Canada	Gary Wise	39.03%[5]	4
2006	United States	Rob Dougherty	38.20%[5]	5
2007	Germany	Kai Budde	90.42%[6]	1
2007	United States	Zvi Mowshowitz	62.28%[6]	2
2007	Japan	Tsuyoshi Fujita	49.74%[6]	3
2007	Norway	Nicolai Herzog	41.50%[6]	4
2007	United States	Randy Buehler	35.58%[6]	5
2008	Germany	Dirk Baberowski	52.36%[7]	1
2008	United States	Mike Turian	50.13%[7]	2
2008	Netherlands	Jelger Wiegersma	48.19%[7]	3
2008	France	Olivier Ruel	46.01%[7]	4
2008	United States	Ben Rubin	45.62%[7]	5
2009	France	Antoine Ruel	63.43%[8]	1
2009	Netherlands	Kamiel Cornelissen	62.48%[8]	2
2009	Netherlands	Frank Karsten	44.79%[8]	3
2010	France	Gabriel Nassif	89.25%[9]	1
2010	United States	Brian Kibler	49.36%[9]	2
2010	Netherlands	Bram Snepvangers	40.03%[10]	4[lower-alpha 1]
2011	Japan	Shuhei Nakamura	89.25%[11]	1
2011	Sweden	Anton Jonsson	69.81%[11]	2
2011	United States	Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz	50.57%[11]	3
2012	Brazil	Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa	85.65%[12]	1
2012	Japan	Kenji Tsumura	81.76%[12]	2
2012	Japan	Masashi Oiso	76.18%[12]	3
2012	United States	Patrick Chapin	44.91%[12]	4
2013	United States	Luis Scott-Vargas	95.63%[13]	1
2013	United States	William Jensen	59.97%[13]	2
2013	United States	Ben Stark	58.96%[13]	3
2014	Japan	Makihito Mihara		1
2014	United States	Paul Rietzl		2
2014	France	Guillaume Wafo-Tapa		3

Controversies

Tomoharu Saito banning

In the ballot of 2010, Tomoharu Saito was voted into the Hall of Fame with a weighted percentage of 47.74%.^[9] However, two weeks prior to the induction Saito was disqualified during Grand Prix Florence leading to an 18-month suspension from the game. The rules do not allow currently suspended players to be voted into the Hall of Fame. At that point Saito had long been voted for, though. Afterwards Wizards announced without further explanation that Saito would not be part of the Hall of Fame based on the 2010 voting.^[14]

Bram Snepvangers miscalculation

In the original ballot results for 2010, Bram Snepvangers received a weighted percentage of 39.95%, barely missing the required 40%. However, in the days following the publication of results it was discovered that there had been an error in the calculations. Weights of 0.667 and 0.333 had been used for the votes from the Selection Committee and Players Committee respectively while the rules clearly stated that 0.67 and 0.33 were the correct numbers. After recalculating the scores Snepvangers landed at 40.03% and was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Nassif and Kibler.^[10]

Inductees by country

Country	Number of inductees
United States	17
France	5
Japan	5
Netherlands	4
Germany	2
Sweden	2
Brazil	1
Canada	1
Finland	1
Norway	1

Notes

References

External links

• Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame webpage
• List of players eligible for future Hall of Fame votes