Player of the Year
Player of the Year is an award given at the end of a Pro Tour season to the Magic player with the highest number of Pro Points in that season.
It is possible to win this award without winning any Pro Tour or Grand Prix events if the player finishes high enough in enough events.
Player of the Year Winners
| Past Player of the Year Winners | |
|---|---|
| Year | Winner |
| 1996 | Template:Flagicon Olle Råde |
| 1996–97 | Template:Flagicon Paul McCabe |
| 1997–98 | Template:Flagicon Jon Finkel |
| 1998–99 | Template:Flagicon Kai Budde |
| 1999–00 | Template:Flagicon Bob Maher, Jr. |
| 2000–01 | Template:Flagicon Kai Budde |
| 2001–02 | Template:Flagicon Kai Budde |
| 2002–03 | Template:Flagicon Kai Budde |
| 2003–04 | Template:Flagicon Gabriel Nassif |
| 2005 | Template:Flagicon Kenji Tsumura |
| 2006 | Template:Flagicon Shota Yasooka |
| 2007 | Template:Flagicon Tomoharu Saito |
| 2008 | Template:Flagicon Shuhei Nakamura |
| 2009 | Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe |
| 2010 | Template:Flagicon Brad Nelson |
| 2011 | Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald |
| 2012 | Template:Flagicon Yuuya Watanabe* |
| 2012–13 | Template:Flagicon Josh Utter-Leyton |
| 2013–14 | Template:Flagicon Jérémy Dezani |
| 2014–15 | Template:Flagicon Mike Sigrist |
| 2015–16 | Template:Flagicon Owen Turtenwald |
| 2016–17 | Template:Flagicon Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa |
| * Watanabe won the Magic Players Championship | |
Trivia
- Kai Budde is the player who has won the most Player of the Year titles, with four.
- Two other players have won the title more than once: Yuuya Watanabe and Owen Turtenwald.
- Kai Budde and Yuuya Watanabe are also the only players to have won Worlds/Players Championship and Player of the Year in the same year.
- Watanabe's record is a bit different from that of Budde's. The 2012 season was the only year during which the Player of the Year was not decided by Pro Points; instead, the winner of the 2012 Players Championship was considered the Player of the Year. However, Yuuya was also the one with the most Pro Points for the 2011–12 season,[1] so he would have been the 2012 Player of the Year even with the old system.
- No player has won Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year in the same year.
- Randy Buehler was the closest to achieving this feat when he finished second in the 1997–98 Player of the Year race.[2]
- In 2010, Brad Nelson and Guillaume Matignon tied in the Player of the Year race, forcing a playoff at the next Pro Tour, where Brad Nelson won.[3]