Pro Tour (Magic: The Gathering)

The Pro Tour (often abbreviated as PT), is the highest form of competitive play for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It consists of a series of tournaments held throughout the world, each requiring an invitation to participate. Every Pro Tour awards a total of $250,000 in cash prizes, with $40,000 going to the winner. Pro Tour competitors also receive Pro Points, the amount depending on their results. Pro Points award special benefits to players, including automatic qualification and travel awards for subsequent Pro Tours. Currently, four Pro Tours are held during a twelve-month season.

Finishing within the Top 8 of a Pro Tour is considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments a competitive Magic player can achieve. Professional players are thus often compared by the number of Pro Tour Top 8 finishes they have made throughout their career. The most successful players on the Pro Tour are Kai Budde, who won seven Pro Tours out of ten Top 8 finishes, and Jon Finkel, who won three Pro Tours, while making it to the Top 8 fifteen times.

History

The first major Magic: The Gathering tournament was the 1994 World Championship held at Gen Con '94. It was a single-elimination 512-person Constructed event run over three days of competition.^[1] The winner, Zak Dolan, received a trophy but no money. However, Dolan was also given a large number of booster packs from various expansions, Arabian Nights through Ice Age, along with a deck of poker cards with Magic: The Gathering backs on them and a T-shirt. The secondary market value of those packs today would exceed many tournament payoffs, but is still not quite equal to the cash prizes of the current Pro Tour payouts. Another World Championship was organized in 1995.

In 1995 Brand Manager Skaff Elias suggested that organized play needed to take the step to the next level. 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. Players should have something to aspire to. Elias and Mark Rosewater along with others started to work on the concept. On 16–18 February 1996 the first Pro Tour, very briefly called The Black Lotus Pro Tour, was held in New York.^[2] The first Pro Tour season included three more Pro Tour events, culminating in the final Pro Tour, the World Championship, held in Seattle. In the following years a Pro Tour season (one year) always consisted of five and later six Pro Tours. From 2003 to 2005 Wizards of the Coast made an effort to bring the Pro Tour seasons in accordance with the calendar year instead of having the seasons last from August to August the next year. This resulted in two seasons of seven Pro Tours. Afterwards Pro Tour seasons were reduced to five and later four Pro Tours a year. In 2012, the season schedule was again adjusted, now starting and ending in May. Additionally, the World Championship lost its status as a Pro Tour event, resulting in three Pro Tours to be held each season. In 2014, the amount of Pro Tours went back up to four a season.

Prize payouts have increased slowly over the years from ca. $150,000 per tournament in 1996–97 to $250,000 in 2012. In the first Pro Tour season each Pro Tour awarded more prizes than the previous one, though. Afterwards prize payouts had only minor fluctuations throughout a season with the exception of the World Championships which always award some additional prizes.

Pro Tours started as single-format events in 1996, alternating between Constructed and Limited, with the exception of the World Championships which have been multi-format events since the inception of the Pro Tour. In 2010 Pro Tours were changed to always have several rounds of Constructed and Limited play.

Qualification

Up until the second season in 1997, qualifying was based on results in high profile tournaments, or by invitation from the sponsoring company. Since 1997 the Pro Tour is a qualification-only tournament with qualifying events held throughout the world.

There are several ways to qualify, the most common being:^[3]

• By finishing in the Top 25 (replaced by 33 match points, equivalent to winning 11 out of 16 rounds, since 2014–15 season) of the previous Pro Tour.
• Through a qualifier tournament, Named Pro Tour Qualifiers (PTQ) and later Regional Pro Tour Qualifiers (RPTQ), a tournament open to those not already qualified.
• By reaching the single elimination stage, or high enough points in Grand Prix. (Prior to 2014–15 season, Grand Prix events with 1200 or less participants will require a Top 4 instead of Top 8)

In 2012 it was announced that Sponsor's Exemption invitations would be given regularly to players who "showed excellence in play and positive community activity during the qualifying season".^[4] Previously those invitations were given out very rarely (for example to David Williams for Pro Tour Los Angeles 2005 or Kai Budde for the 2006 World Championships).

Location

The first season featured only Pro Tours in the United States. Beginning in 1996–97 one Pro Tour was held in Europe each season. The first Pro Tour to be held in Asia was the 1999 World Championship in Tokyo. Subsequently the amount of PTs every continent gets has varied, with the United States clearly hosting most Pro Tours, and Asia the least.

Of the Asian Pro Tours all but one were held in Japan. The only other continent to ever have a Pro Tour was Oceania (Australia), hosting the World Championship in 2002 and will host the Pro Tour in 2016.

Format

Previously, all Pro Tours other than World Championships have been held in a single format. However, beginning with the 2009 season, Pro Tours host one constructed and one limited format. Constructed Pro Tours utilized either Block Constructed, Standard, or Extended (succeed by Modern in 2011 season), while Limited Pro Tours were usually the Booster Draft format. Until PT Nagoya in 2005, Booster Draft and Rochester Draft had been used alternatingly, but Rochester Draft was dropped afterwards. Also, for several years beginning in 1999, every season included a team Pro Tour, but since 2007 no Pro Tours in teams has been held.

Beginning with the 2009 season each Pro Tour features a constructed format as well as a booster draft format. Day one and two of each PT will each consist of constructed rounds as well as a Booster Draft rounds. The third day will use one of the previously utilized formats.

World Championship before 2011, are special Pro Tours in that they always feature multiple formats, which include standard with a constructed format (with exception of 2007, which Legacy replaced the second constructed format), and a limited format (either Booster Draft or Rochester Draft).

Tournament structure

All Pro Tours are run using a modified Swiss system. Typical Pro Tours were held over three days with 7 rounds (Limited) or 8 rounds (Constructed or Mixed) of Swiss the first day. Players with fewer than 4 victories (Limited or Mixed) or 5 victories (Constructed) after day 1 were eliminated. 8 more rounds of Swiss followed on the second day after which the eight 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. Starting with the 2009 season this system is modified to accompany the fact, that each PT utilizes constructed and limited formats, in which three rounds of a booster draft will be held followed by five rounds of constructed.

Team Limited Pro Tours were run the first day using the Team Sealed format, the second day using the Team Rochester Draft format. The top 4 finishing teams advanced to the last day of competition, which was also run in the Team Rochester format.

World Championships (before 2011) used to be held over four to five days, which typically used Standard on the first day, Booster Draft or Rochester Draft on the second, and another constructed format on the third (second day since 2007). The final eight have always been played using the Standard decks from the first day. The fourth (third since 2007) day of Worlds also featured national championship as for the national teams to compete in.

Payout

Traditionally the payout at the Pro Tour has been based only on the finishing place. Currently the prize pool for Pro Tour events as well as the World Magic Cup amounts to $250,000 each. The Magic: The Gathering World Championship, while technically not a Pro Tour event also features a significant payout, currently amounting to $150,000. The largest prize pool in the history of the game was paid out for the combined 2006 World Championship event, comprising $465,245. The Pro Tour payout extends down to 75th place with the current payout structure being:^[5]

In Pro Tour Philadelphia 2005, a different 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 one to $1,500 in round twelve. 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 has not returned since.

Pro Points

In the current 2014–15 season, Pro Points for participating are awarded by ranking for the players that make it to the top 8. All other players earn Pro Points based on their total match point in Swiss portion of the event. The points are awarded as follows:

For players who finished in Top 8:

For players who finish outside the Top 8:

Additional Pro Points are awarded for participation in the World Magic Cup, the World Championship, and for good finishes at Grand Prix. For Grand Prix, only the best five results in a season will be counted towards their seasonal Pro Points. For players that finish in the top 8 Pro Points are awarded as follows:

For players who did not get into the single-elimination stage:

For the World Magic Cup each player earns Pro Points based on the ranking of their respective national team

At World Championships a player is awarded one Pro Point for every win in the Swiss part of the tournament and two Pro Points for every win in the elimination stage.

Accumulated Pro Points can grant players benefits when they exceed certain thresholds. In the past the number of levels and the associated benefits have varied. If a player achieves the level which awards qualifications to all Pro Tours he or she is said "to be on the Gravy Train". Currently this would be equivalent to the Gold Level. The Pro Club consists of the following levels:^[6]

• Silver level (18 Pro Points): The player receives two byes at Individual Grand Prix tournaments; invitation to World Magic Cup qualifiers and Pro Tour regional qualifiers; invitation to the following Pro Tour event that had not qualified by other means in that season.
• Gold level (33 Pro Points): The player receives three byes at Individual Grand Prix tournaments; invitation with one bye to World Magic Cup qualifiers; invitation to all Pro Tours with expenses paid for air travel.
• Platinum level (50 Pro Points): Three byes at Individual Grand Prix tournaments; invitation with two byes to World Magic Cup qualifiers; appearance of $3000 fee for attending Pro Tours, $250 plus free Sleep-In Special for attending Grand Prix, $500 for attending World Magic Cup qualifiers and $1000 for the World Magic Cup main event; expenses paid for air travel to and hotel accommodation at all Pro Tours.

The above-mentioned Pro Club levels are achieved the moment a player earns the required Pro Points in a season, and benefits are granted from that point on. The status and the associated benefits will be kept until the end of the season after the season in which they were earned. Since the 2013 season if a player wins in any Pro Tour or World Championship, they are immediately promoted to Platinum level until the end of next Pro Tour season regardless of their current Pro Points. Similarly the winner of the Magic Online Championship and Rookie of the Year (since 2014-2015 season) is immediately granted Gold level.

The number of pro points awarded in a season also decide the seasonal ranking, which affects the eligibility of World Championship and World Magic Cup. With the exception of deciding Pro Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, if multiple players finished with same amount of pro point, tiebreakers, which based on the performance of that season's Pro Tour and Grand Prix performance will be used.

Pro Player of the Year

The Pro Player of the Year title is awarded to the individual who has accumulated the most pro points over the course of a season (with the exception of 2012 season, which was awarded to winner of the Magic Players Championship, a tournament that replaced that year's Magic: The Gathering World Championship.^[7][8]). Previously, the Player of the Year receives invitations to several high-level tournaments throughout the following year, as well as travel and other accommodations to each of the following season's Pro Tours (including the World Championship).^[9] Since 2012 season, the only additional benefit received as a Player of the Year is the World Championship invitation.

If multiple person finished with most number of Pro Points, instead of using tiebreakers, playoff among those players will be used instead to decide the title. The first (and currently only) playoff events was held in 2011 as side event in Pro Tour Paris, deciding the 2010 Pro Player of the Year between Brad Nelson and Guillaume Matignon (both finished in 66 points at 2010 season). In the best of 7-games single match playoff, Nelson won in 4-2 to get the title.^[10]

Season	Player of the Year
1996	Olle Råde
1996–97	Paul McCabe
1997–98	Jon Finkel
1998–99	Kai Budde
1999–00	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
2007	Tomoharu Saitou
2008	Shuhei Nakamura
2009	Yuuya Watanabe
2010	Brad Nelson[10]
2011	Owen Turtenwald
2012	Yuuya Watanabe
2012–13	Josh Utter-Leyton
2013–14	Jérémy Dezani
2014–15	Mike Sigrist[11]

Rookie of the Year

The Rookie of the Year title is awarded to the player who has accumulated the most pro points over the course of a season and has not participated in a Pro Tour, World Championship, nor World Magic Cup before that season.^[12]

Season	Rookie of the Year
1996	None awarded
1996–97	None awarded
1997–98	Randy Buehler
1998–99	Dirk Baberowski
1999–00	Brian Davis
2000–01	Katsuhiro Mori
2001–02	Farid Meraghni
2002–03	Masashi Oiso
2003–04	Julien Nuijten
2005	Pierre Canali
2006	Sebastian Thaler
2007	Yuuya Watanabe
2008	Aaron Nicastri
2009	Lino Burgold
2010	Andrea Giarola
2011	Matthias Hunt
2011–12	Alexander Hayne[13]
2012–13	Felipe Tapia Becerra
2013–14	Raymond Perez Jr.
2014–15	Justin Cohen[11]

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. The following table shows all players who either achieved five Pro Tour Top 8s or two wins. 26 players have made the Top 8 of five or more Pro Tours, and only eight have won more than once.^[14]

Before 2011 World Championships were Pro Tour, thus World Championship Top 8s from before 2011 are counted as career Top 8s. The following table is accurate as of Pro Tour Battle of Zendikar:

Player	Wins	Top 8
Kai Budde	7	10
Jon Finkel	3	15
Dirk Baberowski	3	5
Gabriel Nassif	2	9
Nicolai Herzog	2	5
Brian Kibler	2	5
Tommi Hovi	2	4
Marco Blume	2	3
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa	1	10
Darwin Kastle	1	8
Kamiel Cornelissen	1	6
Luis Scott-Vargas	1	6
Patrick Chapin	1	5
Rob Dougherty	1	5
Dave Humpherys	1	5
Scott Johns	1	5
Makihito Mihara	1	5
Olle Råde	1	5
Tomoharu Saitou	1	5
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa	1	5
Mike Turian	1	5
Shuhei Nakamura	0	6
Masashi Oiso	0	6
Kenji Tsumura	0	6
Alan Comer	0	5
Anton Jonsson	0	5
Olivier Ruel	0	5
Josh Utter-Leyton	0	5

Most successful countries

Players from the following countries have won Pro Tours (for a more detailed country breakdown, see the list of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events article):

MTG PT wins by country (updated as of Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar)
Rank	Country	Wins
1	United States	39
2	Germany	12
3	France	9
	Japan
5	Canada	6
6	Norway	4
	Sweden
8	Finland	3
	Netherlands
10	Brazil	2
	Czech Republic
12	Australia	1
	Belgium
	Denmark
	Israel
	Italy
	Portugal
	Slovakia
	Spain

See also

• List of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events
• Magic: The Gathering World Championship
• Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame
• Duelists' Convocation International

References

External links

• Wizards of the Coast official Pro Tour site
• Pro Players Club description and benefits