Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
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Demographics
Nickname	PV
Born	September 29, 1987
Residence	Porto Alegre, Brazil
Nationality
Professional Career
Pro Tour debut	2003 World Championships (Berlin)
Top Finishes	12 (2 wins)
GP top 8s	19 (2 wins)

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa is a Brazilian professional Magic player. He was the 2016–17 Player of the Year, and with twelve Pro Tour top eights to his name, including wins at PT San Juan 2010 and at PT Hour of Devastation, Damo da Rosa is one of the most successful Magic players of all time.

Professional play

Damo da Rosa started playing Magic in 1995, age eight, after reading an advertisement for the game in a magazine. He started playing in tournaments very early on, and played Brazilian Nationals for the first time in 2000. At Grand Prix Rio de Janeiro in 2001, he went 5–2, but failed to make it to day two due to poor tiebreakers. At GP Curitiba the same year, he had earned three byes due to having a high DCI rating, and brought Battle of Wits. He didn't do well in the event, but was featured on coverage and gained some recognition. He then joined some online leagues for play on Apprentice, and started making a name for himself in the online community.

His first Pro Tour experience came in 2003, when he qualified for the World Championships in Berlin by virtue of being ranked among the top eight players in Latin America, though some suspected him for faking tournaments in order to boost his rating. Playing Mirari's Wake in Standard and Goblins in Extended, he finished 55th in the event, good enough for a money finish. A year later, he once again found himself qualified on rating for the World Championships. He couldn't afford the flight to San Francisco, however, so he won one through a tournament where the prize was a flight to Worlds to spectate the event. This time he finished 46th. At GP Porto Alegre 2004, his hometown Grand Prix, Damo da Rosa posted his first premier event top eight, finishing 6th. He then qualified for Pro Tour London 2005, where he finished 55th.

The 2006 season would prove to be Damo da Rosa's breakout year. He qualified for Pro Tour Honolulu via a PTQ; the PTQs starting to award plane tickets instead of $500 made the trip possible, and he went on to finish 20th in the event after losing the last round, where he played for top eight. At the following PT in Prague, he started the event 10–2, but went 0–3 in the final draft to finish 30th. At Pro Tour Charleston, Damo da Rosa rose to fame by finishing runner-up alongside teammates Willy Edel and Celso Zampere, eventually losing in the finals to the Japanese team of Tomoharu Saito, Shōta Yasooka, and Tomohiro Kaji. Damo da Rosa now went to the last two Pro Tours of the season as one of the Player of the Year contenders. He won the 2006 Brazilian National championships, finished 42nd at PT Kobe, and at the 2006 World Championships, he dominated the first three days of competition, locking up a top eight berth three rounds before the end of the Swiss rounds. By reaching the final, he'd also become the Player of the Year, but he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Makihito Mihara in a famous five-game match. In the fifth game, Damo da Rosa mulliganed to five and looked like he was going to lose, but Mihara miscounted his mana when trying to go off with Dragonstorm; failing would almost certainly have left Damo da Rosa winning, but he cast Repeal on Damo da Rosa's Savannah Lions, which drew him into his third Rite of Flame, which gave him enough mana to cast Dragonstorm and win the match. Damo da Rosa ended the season on 51 Pro Points, enough for Level 6 - the highest - in the Pro Players Club.

Over the next years, Damo da Rosa established himself as one of the top players in the game. At Pro Tour Geneva, he finished in the money again, achieving a record of nine money finishes in nine total Pro Tours played, though the streak ended at the next Pro Tour, PT Yokohama. He didn't top eight a Pro Tour in 2007, but in 2008, he posted his third and fourth, at PT Hollywood and at the 2008 World Championships, respectively; on both occasions he lost in the quarterfinals. In 2009, he won the Brazilian National championships again, and his fifth Pro Tour top eight came at PT Austin 2009, but he once again lost in the quarterfinals, playing Dark Depths combo in Extended.

In 2010, for PT San Diego, Damo da Rosa joined Team ChannelFireball alongside players such as Luis Scott-Vargas, David Ochoa, and Josh Utter-Leyton. At the very next Pro Tour, PT San Juan, Damo da Rosa, in his sixth top eight, not only escaped the quarterfinals for the first time in an individual event; he went all the way and took the title, defeating Guillaume Matignon 3–2 in the finals. He came close to the Player of the Year title again when he later in the same season top eighted the 2010 World Championships in Chiba, but Guillaume Matignon got his revenge from San Juan by defeating Damo da Rosa in the semifinals. Had Damo da Rosa won the match, he would have been the Player of the Year. In 2011, Damo da Rosa won his first Grand Prix event, at GP Singapore, playing the infamous Caw-blade deck. He also once again made it to the top eight at the World Championships, but was eliminated in the quarterfinals. At the very next event, he placed runner-up at Pro Tour Dark Ascension behind Brian Kibler. His results qualified him for the 2012 Players Championship (later renamed the World Championship), an exclusive high-stakes 16-player tournament; he there finished third. At Pro Tour Return to Ravnica, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, having earned 85.7% of the votes. Only 25 years old at the time, he was then the youngest player to have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The next couple of seasons were a disappointment for Damo da Rosa. He failed to post significant finishes on the Pro Tour, and indeed only made it to Silver level in the Pro Players Club. As such, he strongly considered quitting, and start playing a different game instead. However, the 2014–15 season was a successful one. Although he didn't finish in the top eight of any Pro Tours, he made the top eight of three Grand Prix events, winning one, and put up a strong 13th-place finish at Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir. Most of his top finishes during this season were with the deck called Esper Dragons, to which he credits the revitalizing of his Magic career. At the next season's Pro Tour Battle for Zendikar, Damo da Rosa posted his 10th career Pro Tour top eight, a figure only Jon Finkel and Kai Budde had reached before him. Damo da Rosa's renewed success culminated with an amazing 2016–17 season, where he at Pro Tour Aether Revolt picked up his eleventh top eight, surpassing Budde, before claiming his second Pro Tour title at PT Hour of Devastation, simultaneously becoming the Player of the Year for the first time in his career.

Accomplishments

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
2005	Grand Prix	Porto Alegre	Rochester Draft	20–21 November 2004	6
2006	Pro Tour	Charleston	Team Constructed	16–18 June 2006	2
2006	Nationals	São Paulo	Special	9–10 September 2006	1
2006	Worlds	Paris	Special	29 November–3 December 2006	6
2007	Grand Prix	San Francisco	Block Constructed	25–26 August 2007	3
2007	Grand Prix	Daytona Beach	Limited	17–18 November 2007	2
2008	Pro Tour	Hollywood	Standard	23–25 May 2008	8
2008	Worlds	Memphis	Special	11–14 December 2008	5
2009	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Standard	23–24 May 2009	3
2009	Grand Prix	Seattle	Standard	30–31 May 2009	3
2009	Nationals	Brazil	Standard and Booster Draft	25–26 July 2009	1
2009	Pro Tour	Austin	Extended and Booster Draft	16–18 October 2009	8
2010	Grand Prix	Houston	Extended	3–4 April 2010	6
2010	Pro Tour	San Juan	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	28–30 May 2010	1
2010	Grand Prix	Portland	Limited	11–12 September 2010	8
2010	Worlds	Chiba	Special	9–12 December 2010	3
2011	Grand Prix	Providence	Legacy	28–29 May 2011	4
2011	Grand Prix	Singapore	Standard	4–5 June 2011	1
2011	Grand Prix	Santiago	Limited	22–23 October 2011	6
2011	Worlds	San Francisco	Special	17–20 November 2011	5
2012	Grand Prix	Orlando	Standard	14–15 January 2012	3
2012	Pro Tour	Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	10–12 February 2012	2
2012	Grand Prix	Baltimore	Standard	25–26 February 2012	5
2012–13	Players Championship	Indianapolis	Special	29–31 August 2012	3
2013–14	Grand Prix	Paris	Legacy	15–16 February 2014	8
2013–14	Grand Prix	Buenos Aires	Standard	15–16 March 2014	3
2014–15	Grand Prix	Nashville	Team Limited	1–2 November 2014	2
2014–15	Grand Prix	Kraków	Standard	18–19 April 2015	3
2014–15	Grand Prix	São Paulo	Standard	2–3 May 2015	1
2015–16	Pro Tour	Milwaukee	Standard and Booster Draft	16–18 October 2015	7
2016–17	Grand Prix	Rotterdam	Team Limited	12–13 November 2016	4
2016–17	Grand Prix	Prague	Limited	28–29 January 2017	2
2016–17	Pro Tour	Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	3–5 February 2017	6
2016–17	Pro Tour	Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	28–30 July 2017	1

→ Source: Wizards.com

Pro Tour results

List of the Pro Tour results and winnings of Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa

Season	Pro Tour	Format	Finish	Winnings
2002–03	Worlds (Berlin)	Special	55	$590
2003–04	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	46	$730
2005	London	Booster Draft	55	$590
2006	Honolulu	Standard	20	$2,800
2006	Prague	Booster Draft	30	$1,450
2006	Charleston	Team Constructed	2	$12,000
2006	Kobe	Booster Draft	42	$850
2006	Worlds (Paris)	Special	6	$11,000
2007	Geneva	Booster Draft	66	$490
2007	Yokohama	Block Constructed	232
2007	San Diego	Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft	91
2007	Valencia	Extended	225
2007	Worlds (New York)	Special	67
2008	Kuala Lumpur	Booster Draft	326
2008	Hollywood	Standard	8	$9,500
2008	Berlin	Extended	37	$1,100
2008	Worlds (Memphis)	Special	5	$11,000
2009	Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	293
2009	Honolulu	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	222
2009	Austin	Extended and Booster Draft	8	$9,500
2009	Worlds (Rome)	Special	61	$540
2010	San Diego	Standard and Booster Draft	94
2010	San Juan	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	1	$40,000
2010	Amsterdam	Extended and Booster Draft	173
2010	Worlds (Chiba)	Special	3	$15,000
2011	Paris	Standard and Booster Draft	54	$610
2011	Nagoya	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	64	$510
2011	Philadelphia	Modern and Booster Draft	341
2011	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	5	$11,000
2012	Dark Ascension in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	2	$20,000
2012	Avacyn Restored in Barcelona	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	154
2012–13	Return to Ravnica in Seattle	Modern and Booster Draft	60	$1,000
2012–13	Gatecrash in Montreal	Standard and Booster Draft	266
2012–13	Dragon's Maze in San Diego	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	235
2013–14	Theros in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	71	$1,000
2013–14	Born of the Gods in Valencia	Modern and Booster Draft	167
2013–14	Journey into Nyx in Atlanta	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	34	$1,500
2013–14	Magic 2015 in Portland	Standard and Booster Draft	27	$1,500
2014–15	Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	112
2014–15	Fate Reforged in Washington, D.C.	Modern and Booster Draft	318
2014–15	Dragons of Tarkir in Brussels	Standard and Booster Draft	13	$5,000
2014–15	Magic Origins in Vancouver	Standard and Booster Draft	105
2015–16	Battle for Zendikar in Milwaukee	Standard and Booster Draft	7	$10,000
2015–16	Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta	Modern and Booster Draft	19	$2,500
2015–16	Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid	Standard and Booster Draft	267
2015–16	Eldritch Moon in Sydney	Standard and Booster Draft	86
2016–17	Kaladesh in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	99
2016–17	Aether Revolt in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	6	$10,000
2016–17	Amonkhet in Nashville	Standard and Booster Draft	125
2016–17	Hour of Devastation in Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	1	$50,000
2017–18	Ixalan in Albuquerque	Standard and Booster Draft	46	$1,500

→ Source: Wizards.com

Other Magic-related work

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa has been a long-time writer of the game. He joined Star City Games as a writer after his top eight finish at the 2006 World Championships, and since moved to ChannelFireball, where he still writes; he is often considered among the best Magic strategy writers, but has also written other articles, such as on the life of a pro player, and about what to do when playing in your first Pro Tour. Additionally, he has made the occasional Magic Online draft video, and has served as a commentator on coverage.

External links

• Lifetime Top Finishes
• Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s
• Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders