Zvi Mowshowitz

Zvi Mowshowitz
Demographics
Born	January 8, 1979
Residence	New York City, United States
Nationality	American
Professional Career
Pro Tour debut	Pro Tour Los Angeles 1998
Top Finishes	4 (1 win)
GP top 8s	9 (2 wins)
Awards
Hall of Fame
PT Champion

Zvi Mowshowitz is a former Magic: The Gathering professional player, columnist, and Magic R&D intern.

Professional play

Zvi made Top 8 at 4 Pro Tour events, winning PT Tokyo 2001. He also made Top 8 at 8 Grand Prix events, winning 2 of them. His wins were at GP New Orleans 2003 and GP Pittsburgh 2003 (as part of the team Illuminati). Zvi has 236 Pro Points, amongst the Top 20 all time, and was voted into the Magic Invitational in 2004. His most notable decks include TurboZvi and My Fires. Ben Bleiweiss once said that Zvi "has broken more engine cards than any other player in Magic history". These include Yawgmoth's Bargain and Dream Halls. For his efforts, Zvi was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007.

Accomplishments

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
1998–99	Grand Prix	Boston	Block Constructed	5–6 September 1998	4
1998–99	Pro Tour	New York	Block Constructed	30 April–2 May 1999	3
1998–99	Grand Prix	Washington, D.C.	Limited	19–20 June 1999	4
1998–99	Nationals		Standard and Booster Draft	2–4 July 1999	4
1998–99	Worlds	Yokohama	National team	4–8 August 1999	1
2000–01	Grand Prix	Manchester	Limited	7–8 October 2000	8
2000–01	Pro Tour	Chicago	Standard	1–3 December 2000	7
2000–01	Pro Tour	Tokyo	Block Constructed	16–18 March 2001	1
2000–01	Masters	Barcelona	Block Constructed	1–4 May 2001	4
2001–02	Masters	New Orleans	Booster Draft	31 October–3 November 2001	5
2001–02	Grand Prix	New Jersey	Team Limited	29–30 June 2002	2
2002–03	Grand Prix	New Orleans	Extended	3–4 January 2003	1
2002–03	Grand Prix	Boston	Limited	22–23 February 2003	7
2002–03	Masters	Yokohama	Extended	8–11 May 2003	5
2002–03	Grand Prix	Pittsburgh	Team Limited	31 May–1 June 2003	1
2003–04	Grand Prix	Atlanta	Standard	29–30 August 2003	5
2012–13	Grand Prix	Portland	Modern	11–12 May 2013	3

→ Source: Wizards.com

Pro Tour Results

List of the Pro Tour results and winnings of Zvi Mowshowitz

Season	Pro Tour	Format	Finish	Winnings
1997–98	Los Angeles	Block Constructed	12	$3,310
1998–99	Chicago	Booster Draft	279
1998–99	Rome	Extended	152
1998–99	Los Angeles	Rochester Draft	38	$840
1998–99	New York	Block Constructed	3	$10,000
1998–99	Worlds (Tokyo)	Special	69
1999–00	Washington, D.C.	Team Limited	38
1999–00	London	Booster Draft	10	$3,750
1999–00	Chicago	Extended	269
1999–00	Los Angeles	Booster Draft	202
1999–00	New York	Block Constructed	12	$3,310
1999–00	Worlds (Brussels)	Special	10	$5,560
2000–01	New York	Team Limited	82
2000–01	Chicago	Standard	7	$8,000
2000–01	Los Angeles	Rochester Draft	295
2000–01	Tokyo	Block Constructed	1	$30,000
2000–01	Barcelona	Booster Draft	319
2000–01	Worlds (Toronto)	Special	14	$3,800
2001–02	New York	Team Limited	3	$6,000
2001–02	New Orleans	Extended	187
2001–02	San Diego	Rochester Draft	35	$1,100
2001–02	Osaka	Block Constructed	60	$540
2001–02	Nice	Booster Draft	185
2001–02	Worlds (Sydney)	Special	12	$4,500
2002–03	Boston	Team Limited	21
2002–03	Houston	Extended	139
2002–03	Chicago	Rochester Draft	254
2002–03	Venice	Block Constructed	32	$1,250
2002–03	Yokohama	Booster Draft	140
2002–03	Worlds (Berlin)	Special	135
2003–04	Boston	Team Limited	74
2003–04	New Orleans	Extended	99
2003–04	Kobe	Block Constructed	164
2003–04	San Diego	Booster Draft	127
2003–04	Seattle	Team Limited	19	$500
2003–04	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	278
2005	Atlanta	Team Limited	61
2007	Worlds (New York)	Special	27	$1,500
2008	Kuala Lumpur	Booster Draft	192
2008	Hollywood	Standard	31	$1,400
2010	San Diego	Standard and Booster Draft	242
2010	San Juan	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	22	$2,400
2011	Paris	Standard and Booster Draft	250
2011	Philadelphia	Modern and Booster Draft	236
2012–13	Gatecrash in Montreal	Standard and Booster Draft	29	$1,500
2012–13	Dragon's Maze in San Diego	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	90
2013–14	Magic 2015 in Portland	Standard and Booster Draft	34	$1,500
2014–15	Fate Reforged in Washington, D.C.	Modern and Booster Draft	95
2014–15	Dragons of Tarkir in Brussels	Standard and Booster Draft	86
2014–15	Magic Origins in Vancouver	Standard and Booster Draft	51	$1,000
2015–16	Battle for Zendikar in Milwaukee	Standard and Booster Draft	57	$1,000
2015–16	Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta	Modern and Booster Draft	312
2016–17	Amonkhet in Nashville	Standard and Booster Draft	131
2017–18	25th Anniversary in Minneapolis	Team Constructed	97
2018–19	Guilds of Ravnica in Atlanta	Standard and Booster Draft	412
2018–19	Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019	Standard and Booster Draft	471	$500

→ Source: Wizards.com

Columnist

Zvi wrote for Brainburst from 2002 through 2004, for Star City Games, mostly during 2005 and The Play's The Thing column on magicthegathering.com from July 2005 through April 2006. The column addressed game situations which were often complicated.

R&D Intern

Zvi served an internship with Magic R&D from August 2005 through April 2006. He worked on the Time Spiral block and argued that Damnation was a "mistake". He would later explain that he greatly regretted not being able to "build the deck or find the argument that would convince those with the power to pull this card that it should not have been printed."

He chose to quit R&D in April 2006, a decision explained on his blog: "I woke up and realized: I wasn't having any fun. I was having fun talking to my coworkers. I was having fun playing board games with them after work. I was having fun going to lunch with them and talking about stuff. But when it came down to the nuts and bolts of making a game, the same tasks that I'd dedicated myself to for years on end were not something I looked forward to. I was played out. When something went badly in a game of Magic I'd be sad, but when it went right I wouldn't be happy. Every deck and match seemed like another boring chore I had to get through. I was feeling tired all the time without doing anything outside of work beyond wind down, but I still felt I wasn't putting in the kind of work that I was capable of. Finally I realized: I'm just going through the motions. I aint got that swing. I don't want this job."

Designing

• Future Sight

Developing

• Coldsnap
• Planar Chaos

External links

• Zvi's Blog
• Zvi Mowshowitz author archive on Brainburst.com/TCGplayer.com
• Zvi Mowshowitz author archive on Star City Games
• Zvi Mowshowitz author archive on magicthegathering.com
• Lifetime Top Finishes
• Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s
• Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders

References

• Top 50 Card Drawing Cards
• Where Do We Go From Here?
• Planar Chaos Review: Damnation