1996 Pro Tour Atlanta
| Pro Tour Atlanta | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Date | September 13–15, 1996 | |||
| Location |
 Atlanta, Georgia | |||
| Attendance |
Seniors: 192 Juniors: 62 Teams: 48 | |||
| Format |
Sealed Deck (Mirage) Team Sealed (Ice Age block) | |||
| Prize pool |
Masters: $150,000 Junior: $30,000 (Scholarships) Team: $25,000 | |||
| Winner |
Masters:  Frank AdlerJunior: Aaron SoudersTeam: Pacific Coast Legends | |||
| ||||
The first Pro Tour event in the 1996-97 season was held in Atlanta from September 13 to 15, 1996. It was a Mirage Sealed Deck format, and uniquely for a professional tournament, it was also a Prerelease. Other than rules for new mechanics being revealed players went into the event completely blind; no cards were previewed. After 11 rounds German player Frank Adler beat American Darwin Kastle in the grand final match and was crowned Pro Tour Champion.
Description
Qualifying
Entry to the tournament was invitation-only. There were three ways to qualify:[1]
- Previous Pro Tour results:
- The Top 32 of 1996 World Championships
- The Top 32 of 1996 Pro Tour Columbus
- The Top 16 of 1996 Pro Tour Los Angeles
- The Top 8 of 1996 Pro Tour New York
- The Top 2 placed players in a qualifier tournament (Ice Age / Alliances sealed deck format).
- The Top 25 DCI-ranked Limited players as of August 28, 1996, who hadn't otherwise qualified.
Additionally, non-qualified players with a Duelists' Convocation Sealed deck rating of 1675 or better were eligible to play in the Team Sealed event.[2]
Format
There were two different formats played at Pro Tour Atlanta: both Sealed deck. Day 1 and Day 3 were Mirage sealed deck. Participants received 1 Mirage Starter deck, 2 Mirage Boosters, and 5 basic lands of their choice.[3] (Starters contained 4 or 5 basics of each type). There were 9 Swiss rounds on Day 1 after which a Top 8 was determined. The Top 8 received a new sealed pool for the finals on Day 3.
Day 2 was the team competition. Teams were given 5 Ice Age Starter decks and 5 Alliances boosters with which to make 5 decks. All the players from each team played matches against one of the members of another team. The team who won the most individual matches won the round. After 5 rounds of Swiss there was a cut to Top 4. Unlike the individual competition, the team competition didn't receive a new card pool for the finals. Instead they kept playing the same decks.
Controversy
There were accusations that members of the Pacific Coast Legends team, lead by Mark Justice, had been given access to the card files early.[4][5] If true, this would have given them a significant advantage over the rest of the field. No member of the team would end up making the Top 8; they ironically had much more success in the Ice Age and Alliances event on Day 2.
Thursday
There was a player meeting on Thursday night. The new mechanics Flanking and Phasing were introduced, as was the new card type of Mana Source. No actual cards were revealed, however. The new intentional draw rule was also discussed.[6] This had been changed due to a match between Mike Long and Mark Justice at the 1996 United States Nationals.[7][8] The meeting lasted over an hour as players asked increasingly niche questions about possible interactions. One issue for some players was how a Mana Source like Dark Ritual would interact with the effect of Nether Void, on the off chance that either were reprinted. (Dark Ritual was in Mirage - the only Mana Source in the set)
| “ | I don’t think Andrew [Finch] expected the players to come with those sort of questions. It was evident that the Wizards team hadn’t thought of this particular interaction, because they stood there in front of the room debating the question amongst themselves. Finally, they concluded that Nether Void would trigger, but that Dark Ritual would resolve before the trigger resolved. This opened up more questions about whether players could add other effects before the trigger resolved, what would happen in the case of multiple Mana Sources triggering against Nether Void at once. This went on for a good fifteen minutes, until Andrew Finch finally broke down and said, “Look, there’s no card like Nether Void in the set, so let’s just not worry about this now.” The room broke into applause.[4] | ” |
Afterwards a free dinner was provided for all players.
Friday
- See also 1996 Pro Tour Atlanta/Day 1 decks.
The match-ups for round one of the Swiss were seeded by player's Duelists' Convocation Limited rating.[7] Stronger Sealed players initially faced opponents with lower rankings.
Daring Apprentice received official errata early in the event, with its activated ability being amended to work at Interrupt-speed.[4][9] As printed the card didn't work as intended, with only Interrupts being "fast enough" to respond to other spells (except for Mana Sources) under the rules of the time.
Before the start of Round 9, the last of the day, Judges reminded players with 7-1 records of the Intentional Draw rule. Chris Pikula, who gone on to win 7 matches in a row after his first round defeat by Aaron Muranaka, found himself paired down for the final round. His opponent was Frank Adler[5], who had one loss in Round 3 and had just drawn with Darwin Kastle in Round 8. Neither player was assured of Top 8 with a draw, so they had to play out the match. After Adler won game one it was announced that Pikula would suffer a game loss penalty for not recording his basic lands on his deck registration form. This gave the match to Adler, but in the end Pikula was still able to make the Top 8 based on his tie breakers.
60 of the top 64 players on Day 1 had played Red cards in their decks.[10] The common 
casting cost direct damage spell Kaervek's Torch was key to many players' success. Mirage contained a high number of -spells which really defined its limited environment. Drain Life had been reprinted, also at common, and red uncommons such as Volcanic Geyser and Savage Twister were considered Bombs.[5][11]
Standings
| Place | Player | Points | Record | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | John Yoo
|
17 | 8-0-1 | Beat Aaron Muranaka. |
| 2 | Aaron Muranaka
|
15 | 7-1-1 | Beat Chris Pikula. Lost to John Yoo. Intentional draw with Matthew Vienneau. |
| 3 | Darwin Kastle
|
15 | 7-1-1 | Beat Matthew Vienneau. Drew with Frank Adler.[12] |
| 4 |  Matthew Vienneau
|
15 | 7-1-1 | Beat Michael Loconto, Mike Long and Mario Robaina. Lost to Darwin Kastle. Intentional draw with Aaron Muranaka. |
| 5 | Frank Adler
|
15 | 7-1-1 | Beat Chris Pikula. Lost to Canadian Jimmy Wong (89th place). Drew with Darwin Kastle.[12] |
| 6 | Terry Borer
|
|||
| 7 | Chris Pikula
|
14 | 7-2 | Lost to Aaron Muranaka and Frank Adler. |
| 8 | Mike Long
|
Loss to Matthew Vienneau. |
Ninth place was Michigan player Steven Parks, and tenth was top seeded limited player Mark Justice. Other players to miss the cut included Mario Robaina at 17, Olle Råde 32, Shawn "Hammer" Regnier 42, and reigning World Champion Tom Chanpheng was 50th.
Saturday
- See also 1996 Pro Tour Atlanta/Team decks.
Day 2 was the Ice Age / Alliances Sealed deck team event.[13][14] Unlike the individual competition, the same pool was used for both the Swiss rounds and the Top 4. There were concerns that this could lead to the same two teams playing the same decks twice, but this situation didn't end up eventuating.
Standings
At the end of the five rounds of Swiss the standings were:
| Place | Team | Record |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Team Oasis
|
5-0 |
| 2 | Pacific Coast Legends
|
4-0-1 |
| 3 | Team Canada
|
4-1 |
| 4 |  Team Reservoir Dogs
|
4-1 |
Top 4 Bracket
| Semifinals | Finals | |||||||
| 1 | Team Oasis | 3 | ||||||
| 4 | Team Reservoir Dogs | 1 | ||||||
| 1 | Team Oasis | 2 | ||||||
| 2 | Pacific Coast Legends | 3 | ||||||
| 2 | Pacific Coast Legends | 3 | ||||||
| 3 | Team Canada | 1 | ||||||
Team final
Team Oasis and Pacific Coast Legends met in the team final.[15]
Team Oasis won two matches, with Mike Rienking beating Preston Poulter 2-0, and Chris Stelzer taking down Mark Justice. Meanwhile Scott Johns and Mark Chalice had won their matches 2-0. They had played Jeff Sternal and Kevin Stelzer; who faced who was not specified in match coverage. This meant the deciding match was Mario Robaina vs Dave Lyon. Mario, the PCL representative, could be considered the underdog as he hadn't had much success with his Jokulhaups deck in previous rounds. However, he eventually managed to take Game 3. He held onto enough lands to play out a Sabertooth Tiger after clearing the board with Jokulhaups, and Lyon wasn't able to rebuild fast enough to offer any non-token resistance.
Sunday
- See also 1996 Pro Tour Atlanta/Top 8 decks.
Top 8 Bracket
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | John Yoo | 2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Mike Long | 1 | |||||||||||
| 1 | John Yoo | 2 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Frank Adler | 3 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Matthew Vienneau | 0 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Frank Adler | 2 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Frank Adler | 3 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Darwin Kastle | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Darwin Kastle | 2 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Terry Borer | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Darwin Kastle | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Aaron Muranaka | 1 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Aaron Muranaka | 2 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Chris Pikula | 0 | |||||||||||
"Any fast effects?"
A mistake by Terry Borer in his quarter-final match is widely considered to be the worst in Pro Tour history.[16] In the deciding game, he had more creatures than his opponent Darwin Kastle. All he needed to do was to cast a combat trick (Grave Servitude) on an unblocked creature and he wins the match. However, after Kastle declares his blocks Borer asks "Any fast effects?". Head Judge Charlie Catino rules that by asking this Borer has passed priority, and the game has moved into the combat damage step. Kastle consequently survives the attack, and is able to stabilise and come back to win the match.
This mistake doesn't only cost Borer a semi-final spot, and an extra $4,500 (or more) in prizes. He also ends up one match win short of winning the 1996–97 Pro Tour Season Player of the Year award. That is instead won by fellow Canadian, and his 1996 Pro Tour Columbus Junior finals opponent, Paul McCabe.
Final Results
Master Division
The final standings for the Masters division were:[17][18]
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frank Adler
|
$26,000 | 30 | First German to win a Pro Tour |
| 2 | Darwin Kastle
|
$16,000 | 25 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 3 | Aaron Muranaka
|
$9,000 | 20 | |
| 4 | John Yoo
|
$9,000 | 20 | |
| 5 | Terry Borer
|
$5,500 | 10 | First Masters Top 8 |
| 6 | Mike Long
|
$5,500 | 10 | |
| 7 | Chris Pikula
|
$5,500 | 10 | |
| 8 | Matthew Vienneau
|
$5,500 | 10 |
Junior Division
The final standings for the Junior division were:[17][19]
| Place | Player | Scholarship | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Souders
|
$8,400 | |
| 2 | Louis Beryl
|
$5,000 | |
| 3 | Daniel Connelly
|
$2,900 | |
| 4 | Jason Gordon
|
$2,900 | |
| 5 | Trevor Blackwell
|
$1,700 | |
| 6 | David Lively
|
$1,700 | |
| 7 | James Murphy
|
$1,700 | |
| 8 | Alexander Sutherland
|
$1,700 |
Team Competition
The final standings for the Team Compitition were:[17][20]
| Place | Team | Players | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pacific Coast Legends | Mark Chalice
|
$11,000 |
| Scott Johns
| |||
| Mark Justice
| |||
| Preston Poulter
| |||
| Mario Robaina
| |||
| 2 | Team Oasis | Dave Lyon
|
$6,000 |
| Mike Reinking
| |||
| Chris Stelzer
| |||
| Kevin Stelzer
| |||
| Jeff Sternal
| |||
| 3 | Team Canada | Matthew Vienneau
|
$4,000 |
| Terry Borer
| |||
| Eric Tam
| |||
| Paul McCabe
| |||
| Shawn Davies
| |||
| 4 | Team Reservoir Dogs | Frank Adler
|
$4,000 |
 Jonas Ekenvall
| |||
 Martyn Pynenburg
| |||
| Hans Stokking
| |||
| Thomas Andersson
|
References
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (1996). "Magic: The Gathering® Pro TourTM Invitation Policies (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on December 19, 1996. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ Beth Moursund (December 1996). "Magic Pro Tour Teams Up (pdf)". Inquest #20, p. 18. Wizards. Archived from the original on August 2, 2025. Retrieved on August 2, 2025.
- ↑ Beth Moursund (December 1996). "Pro Tour IV (pdf)". Inquest #20, pp. 54,55. Wizards. Archived from the original on August 2, 2025. Retrieved on August 2, 2025.
- ↑ a b c Ben Bleiweiss (October 4, 2004). "Blog Fanatic: Pro Tour Player Meeting (wesite)". Star City Games. Retrieved on September 6, 2025.
- ↑ a b c Brian David-Marshall (December 29, 2016). "An Oral History of Limited (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved on September 6, 2025.
- ↑ Frank Adler (September 24, 1996). "Re: Atlanta Pro Tourney Report (.txt)". The Dojo. Archived from the original on October 11, 1999. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ a b Matthew Vienneau (November 22, 2005). "Pro Tour Atlanta 1996 Report. No, Really. (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on May 13, 2008. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ Magic's Iconic Decks - Storm-Drain (Video). The Tranquil Domain. YouTube (August 20, 2025).
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (October 17, 2005). "Jamuraa, the Merrier (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on September 6, 2025.
- ↑ Terry Melia (December 1996). "[url=https://archive.org/details/the-duelist-sideboard-issue-4-december-1996/page/n11/mode/1up?view=theater Germany's Frank Adler Triumphs Over All] (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard #4, pp. 16 & 17. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on July 27, 2025. Retrieved on August 26, 2025.
- ↑ Ben Bleiweiss (December 30, 2005). "SCG Daily: The Definitive Mirage/Mirage/Mirage Draft Guide (website)". Star City Games. Retrieved on September 6, 2025.
- ↑ a b Terry Melia (December 1996). "[url=https://archive.org/details/the-duelist-sideboard-issue-4-december-1996/page/n11/mode/1up?view=theater It's Arguable He-Outplayed Me] (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard #4, pp. 20. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on July 27, 2025. Retrieved on August 26, 2025.
- ↑ Matthew Vienneau (November 22, 2005). "PT Atlanta 1996 Continues (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on December 8, 2008. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (December 1996). "The Winning Combination (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard Issue 4, p. 38. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on July 27, 2025. Retrieved on August 1, 2025.
- ↑ Mario Robaina (December 1996). "Pacific Coast Legends Strut Their Stuff (pdf)". The Duelist Sideboard Issue 4, p. 38. Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on July 27, 2025. Retrieved on September 7, 2025.
- ↑ Mark Rosewater (July 30, 2017). ""You've talked a few times..." (Blog post)". Blogatog. Tumblr. Retrieved on July 1, 2025.
- ↑ a b c Wizards of the Coast (1996). "Pro Tour-Atlanta Final Results September 13-15, 1996 (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on December 19, 1996. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ MTG Pro Tour Results. "Pro Tour Atlanta (website)". mtgptresults.com. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ MTG Pro Tour Results. "Pro Tour Atlanta - Junior Division (website)". mtgptresults.com. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.
- ↑ MTG Pro Tour Results. "Pro Tour Atlanta - Team Competition (website)". mtgptresults.com. Retrieved on July 13, 2025.