Pro Tour

The Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour, abbreviated PT, is a series of major yearly invitation-only DCI sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments.

The first Pro Tour, as envisioned by Skaff Elias, was held in New York City on February 1996, 17–18.

History

Even early on in Magic history, there had been high-prestige tournaments that had attracted a lot of top players, most notably the 1994 World Championships, the first major tournament, which ran over three days of competition. However, the winner, Zak Dolan, received a trophy and a large number of booster packs from various sets, but no money. Similarly, the 1995 World Championship winner, Alexander Blumke, won a box of Legends and some miscellaneous packs. In 1995, Magic Brand Manager Skaff Elias felt that Organized Play needed to step up to the next level. Players had to have something to aspire to. Thus was the Pro Tour created.

The first Pro Tour, very briefly called the Black Lotus Pro Tour, was held on 16–18 February 1996 in New York. Known as "Pro Tour Speed Dial" and "The Showdown in New York", Michael Loconto from the United States ended up the winner, taking down 1994 Worlds finalist Bertrand Lestrée in the final. Loconto pocketed $12,000 for the win, much more than the winners of the early major tournaments got, yet a lot less than future Pro Tour winners would earn. The event was not streamed live, but a video was later published by Wizards. In addition to the main event, there was also a junior Pro Tour for players under eighteen. The junior Pro Tour continued for a couple of years, until it was transformed into the Junior Super Series. The first Pro Tour season included three more Pro Tour events, culminating in the final Pro Tour, the World Championships, held at Wizards of the Coast's corporate offices in Seattle.

Since 1996, Pro Tours have been held every year, with the number of events varying from three to seven per year. Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid in April 2016 was the 100th Pro Tour event.

The prize purse of the Pro Tours increased rapidly, from $30,000 at the first Pro Tour to $100,000 at the second, Pro Tour Los Angeles 1996, to $200,000 at the 1997 World Championships (plus $50,000 for the team competition). However, since then, the prizes have increased slowly; as of 2016, Pro Tours award $250,000 in prizes.

Qualification

Pro Tours are invitation-only events. There several ways to qualify, and the complete list can be found in the Magic: The Gathering Premier Event Invitation Policy. Currently, the most common ways are:

• finishing with an 11–5 record (33 match points) or better at the previous Pro Tour
• finishing sufficiently highly in Pro Tour Qualifier that feeds that Pro Tour: which is either top four in Regional Pro Tour Qualifier (RPTQ), top eight in Magic Online RPTQ, or winning in Pro Tour Qualifier hold as Grand Prixes' side event.
• winning a Magic Online Pro Tour Qualifier or Magic Online Championship Series monthly event that feeds that Pro Tour
• finishing in the top two of the Magic Online Championship Series quarterly event that feeds that Pro Tour
• finishing in the top eight (or top four in team format) or 13–2 at a Grand Prix that feeds that Pro Tour
• winning a WPN Premium Series that feeds that Pro Tour. - this only applies to selected WPN Premium series approved by WotC.
• having a sufficiently high Pro Players Club level (known as being on the "gravy train"). Gold-level and Platinum-level pros are invited to every Pro Tour, while Silver-level pros get invited to one Pro Tour event per year of their choice.
• being a member of the Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame.
• being a member of a team that finished in the top 8 of the World Magic Cup – this only applies to the Pro Tour following the World Magic Cup
• being invited to the Magic Online Championship – this only applies to players invited to the Magic Online Championship through an at-large slot, and only to the Pro Tour following the Magic Online Championship
• being a member of a team that placed/finished in the top 8 of the Pro Tour Team Series - this only applies to the Pro Tour following the 3rd as well as last pro tour each season.

Until 2011, players could also get qualified for the Pro Tour by having a sufficiently high DCI rating, and for Pro Tour Dark Ascension in 2012, the players with the most Planeswalker Points during the previous season were also invited.

With the exception of Silver-level pros and Hall of Famers, players qualified for the Pro Tour also get airfare paid by Wizards of the Coast. Hall of Famers do get an appearance fee of $1500 for participating in the first Pro Tour event in the season, however.

Structure

Traditionally, Pro Tours other than the World Championships have been three-day events with 11 to 16 rounds of Swiss play on the first two days, before a cut to the top eight players, who on the last day of competition play quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals to determine a winner. Reaching a Pro Tour top eight is considered a major accomplishment, and players are often measured by how many top eights they have achieved during their career. Starting with the 2016-17 season, top seeded players coming into the top eight will advance directly to the semi-finals, while the lower seeds have to play two quarterfinal stages.

Since Pro Tour Honolulu 2009, all Pro Tours have been 16 rounds of swiss, with ten rounds of Constructed and six rounds of Booster Draft, including two drafts. The constructed part has been either Standard, Extended, Modern, or Block Constructed. Starting with the 2014–15 season, three of the four Pro Tours use the Standard format, the last one using Modern (during the 2016-17 season, however, the Constructed portion of all four Pro Tours were Standard).

Prior to the 2009 season, Pro Tours other than the World Championships were held in a single format.

• Constructed Pro Tours were typically 16 rounds of Swiss, eight rounds on day one and eight rounds on day two. The players with 15 or more match points (a 5–3 record) after six rounds advanced to day two.
• Limited Pro Tours were typically 15 rounds of Swiss, spread across five Booster drafts or Rochester drafts, with three of the drafts and seven of the rounds being on day one, and two of the drafts and eight of the rounds being on day two. The players with 12 or more match points (a 4–2 record) after six rounds advanced to day two.
• Team Limited Pro Tours usually consisted of 11 rounds of Swiss, with six rounds of Sealed deck on day one and five rounds of Team Rochester draft on day two. The teams with 12 or more match points after six rounds (a 4–2 record) advanced to day two.

Prior to the 2012 season, the World Championships were typically a four- or five-day tournament with 18 rounds of Swiss play. The most common structure was six rounds of Standard on day one, six rounds of Booster draft on day two, and six rounds of either Extended or Block Constructed on day three. The fourth day was the team portion day, with the teams usually playing four rounds of Team Rochester draft or Mixed Constructed. The fifth day included both the top eight playoff for the individual competition, held in Standard, as well as the Team Finals.

Prizes

Money awarded

The current prize purse amounts to $250,000, distributed among the top 64 finishers as follows:

Place	Payout
1st	$50,000
2nd	$20,000
3rd	$15,000
4th	$12,500
5th	$10,000
6th	$9,000
7th	$7,500
8th	$6,000
9–16	$5,000
17–24	$3,000
25–32	$2,000
33–48	$1,500
49–64	$1,000

The largest prize pool in the history of the game was paid out for the 2006 World Championships, comprising $465,245 ($255,245 for the individual competition; $210,000 for the team competition).

Pro Points awarded

Unlike money, for players outside the top eight, Pro Points are awarded based on match points in the tournament rather than final standing.

Finish	Pro Points
1st	30
2nd	26
3rd	24
4th	22
5th	20
6th	18
7th	17
8th	16
36+ points	15
35 points	12
34 points	11
33 points	10
32 points	8
31 points	7
30 points	6
28–29 points	5
27 points	4
26 or fewer points	3

Pro Tour Season

The Pro Tour Season usually consists of three to four Pro Tour events spread through the calendar year. The last event of the season is the summer Pro Tour, usually held in late July or early August.

Prior to the 2005 season, the season ran roughly August to August, culminating with Worlds in August or early September. The 2005 season was extended, with it beginning after the 2004 World Championships in September 2004, and ending with the 2005 World Championships in December 2005. From 2005 to 2012, the seasons were run as a unit of year (half year in 2012), which consisted of 3-5 Pro Tour events spread through the calendar year. The current season setup started halfway through 2012.

Starting with the 2012 season, all Pro Tour rounds were named after the most recent expansion instead of the location of the venue, and were held 1-2 weeks after the release of that expansion.

Player of the Year

Player of the Year is an award given at the end of a Pro Tour season to the player with the highest number of Pro Points in that season. Although there are currently no additional prizes awarded to the Player of the Year, it is considered a highly prestigious title; players have been known to embark on worldwide tours to play as many Grand Prix events as possible in order to win the Player of the Year race. The current Player of the Year is American Owen Turtenwald.

Rookie of the Year

Rookie of the Year is an award given at the end of a Pro Tour season to the player with the highest number of Pro Points in that season that also made their Pro Tour, World Championship, or World Magic Cup debut that season. The Rookie of the Year is granted Gold status in the Pro Players Club for the following season, and for 2014, it was announced that the Rookie of the Year would be invited to the World Championship. However, this was discontinued after the 2014 event. The current Rookie of the Year is American Oliver Tiu.

Pro Points

Pro Points are earned through participation in a Pro Tour event, the World Championship, or the World Magic Cup. Points can also be won through high Grand Prix and National Championships finishes. The amount of Pro Points won depends on the finish in the event.

Pro Points are used to determine a player's level in the Pro Players Club, and the player with the most Pro Points during a single season wins the Player of the Year title. Similarly, the Rookie of the Year title is won by the player with the most Pro Points during a single season that also made their Pro Tour debut during that season. Since 2012, Pro Points have also been used to determine who gets invited to the World Magic Cup as their country's captain, as well as most invitations to the World Championship.

Pro Players Club

The Pro Players Club is a reward system associated with the Pro Tour. Points accumulated during the season determines the players' level in the club, each with different benefits. The levels and their benefits are, as of February 2016:

• Silver (20 points): Two byes at individual-format Grand Prix events; automatic invitation to National Championships; invitation to one Pro Tour event per season of their choosing; automatic invitation to the Regional Pro Tour Qualifier; 15 QPs each month in the Magic Online Championship Series.
• Gold (35 points): Three byes at individual-format Grand Prix events; 1 bye at National Championships; invitation to all Pro Tour events; expenses-paid air travel ticket to all Pro Tour events; 35 QPs each month in the Magic Online Championship Series.
• Platinum (52 points): Three byes at individual-format Grand Prix events; 2 byes at National Championships; invitation to all Pro Tour events; expenses-paid air travel ticket and hotel accommodations at all Pro Tour events;35 QPs each month in the Magic Online Championship Series; complementary sleep-in special at all Grand Prix (where available). The player also receives an appearance fee for attending select tournaments: $3000 for a Pro Tour, $1000 for the World Magic Cup, $500 for National Championships, $250 for a Grand Prix.

Amateur Status

A player that has never played in a Pro Tour event, World Championships, or World Magic Cup is considered to have Amateur Status. Prior to September 2006, Amateur Status only applied to players who did not have any lifetime Pro Points. Since Pro Points can be won by a high enough finish at a Grand Prix, it was previously possible to lose your Amateur Status without ever playing at a Pro Tour.

Until 2007, the top finishing Amateur players at GPs won a prize; nowadays, Amateur status is only used to determine who is eligible for the Rookie of the Year title.

Most successful players

The following table shows the players who have made it to the top eight of six or more Pro Tours, or have won multiple Pro Tours. Only ten players have six or more Pro Tour top eights, and only nine players have more than one Pro Tour win.

Player	Wins	Top 8
Template:Flagicon DEU Kai Budde	7	10
Template:Flagicon USA Jon Finkel	3	16
Template:Flagicon DEU Dirk Baberowski	3	5
Template:Flagicon FRA Gabriel Nassif	2	9
Template:Flagicon NOR Nicolai Herzog	2	5
Template:Flagicon USA Brian Kibler	2	5
Template:Flagicon FIN Tommi Hovi	2	4
Template:Flagicon JPN Shota Yasooka	2	4
Template:Flagicon DEU Marco Blume	2	3
Template:Flagicon BRA Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa	1	11
Template:Flagicon USA Darwin Kastle	1	8
Template:Flagicon USA Luis Scott-Vargas	1	8
Template:Flagicon NLD Kamiel Cornelissen	1	6
Template:Flagicon JPN Masashi Oiso	0	6
Template:Flagicon JPN Kenji Tsumura	0	6
Template:Flagicon JPN Shuhei Nakamura	0	6

Trivia

• The player who has played the most Pro Tours is Raphaël Lévy. As of Pro Tour Amonkhet, Levy has attended 94 Pro Tours.
  • Levy is also the player who has attended the most consecutive Pro Tours, with 90 since the 1998 World Championships.
• The largest Pro Tour of all time was Pro Tour Charleston 2006, with 525 players (175 teams).
  • The largest individual Pro Tour was Pro Tour Paris 2011, with 483 players.
• The only player who has won two consecutive Pro Tour events was Kai Budde, who in 2001 followed up his win at PT New York with a win at PT New Orleans. No player has won back-to-back individual Pro Tours (at PT New York, a Team Limited event, Budde won alongside teammates Dirk Baberowski and Marco Blume).
  • Nicolai Herzog won back-to-back Limited-format Pro Tours in 2004, winning in Amsterdam and San Diego. However, Pro Tour Kobe, a Block Constructed event, happened in between.
• Three players have finished in the top eight of three consecutive Pro Tour events: Scott Johns (Los Angeles 1996, Columbus 1996, Worlds 1996), Jon Finkel (New York 1998, Worlds 1998, Chicago 1998), and Luis Scott-Vargas (Oath of the Gatewatch, Shadows over Innistrad, Eldritch Moon).
• The player with the most money finishes in consecutive Pro Tour events is Jon Finkel, who cashed every Pro Tour from PT New York 1997 to PT Los Angeles 1999, ten in total.

See Also

• Pro Tour Collector Set
• Magic World Championships
• World Magic Cup
• Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame
• Pro Players Club
• Player of the Year
• Rookie of the Year
• Pro Tour Player Cards
• DCI
• Pro Tour Qualifier
• Grand Prix
• National Championships

External links

• Template:NewRef
• Planeswalker Points information page
• The Week That Was - You're Invited
• Pro Tour Top 8s - By Event
• Pro Tour Top 8s - By Player
• Lifetime Pro Points
• Magic: The Gathering Premier Event Invitation Policy
• Pro Tour
• Past Pro Tour Coverage
• Template:NewRef