1997 Pro Tour Los Angeles
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Under construction “Be patient.”
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| Pro Tour Los Angeles | |||||
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| Date | 28 February–2 March 1997 | ||||
| Location | Los Angeles, United States | ||||
| Attendance |
Seniors: 236 Juniors: 123 | ||||
| Format |
Rochester Draft (Mirage and Visions) | ||||
| Prize pool |
Senior: $150,000 Junior: $30,000 (Scholarships) | ||||
| Winner |
Senior:  Tommi HoviJunior:  Jess Means | ||||
| 1996–97 Pro Tour Season | |||||
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The third Pro Tour event in the 1996-97 season was held in Los Angeles between 28 February and 2 March, 1997. It was the first Pro Tour to return to a previous location, and used the Rochester Draft format. It was won by the Finn Tommi Hovi in a controversial Grand Final where his opponent, David Mills, was disqualified due to repeated game-play violations.
The Junior Division was won by Jess Means, who defeated Zvi Mowshowitz in the finals. The Military League Tournament was won by Sgt. Thomas B. Blair III, US Marine Corps.
Description
Qualifying
Entry to the tournament was invitation-only.[1][2] There were three ways to qualify:
- Previous Pro Tour results:
- The Top 32 of 1996 Pro Tour Dallas
- The Top 16 of 1996 Pro Tour Atlanta
- The Top 8 of 1996 World Championships
- The Top 8 of 1996 Pro Tour Columbus
- The Top 4 of 1996 Pro Tour Los Angeles
- The Top 2 placed players in a qualifier tournament (Mirage Sealed Deck format).
- The Top 25 DCI-ranked Limited players as of January 12, 1997, who weren't otherwise qualified. This was restricted to players within the Top 50.
Format
Los Angeles used a Mirage and Visions Rochester Draft limited format.[3]
Unlike traditional Booster draft, in Rochester players all take turns selecting from one booster at a time. This is opened by a Judge and laid out in front of a pod of 8 players, who are able to see what card each opponent takes. There were two packs of Mirage and one of Visions for each player. Additionally, one random Mirage card was added to each booster, giving a total of 16 cards for players to select from.
A change from the previous Pro Tour event to use a Draft format, 1996 Pro Tour Los Angeles, was that all matches would be played between players who had drafted at the same table. This meant that there would be drafting before Round 1 and Round 4 of each day. Additionally, the second draft would be against players with a similar record.
Schedule
Thursday, February 27
- Masters
- 8.30pm: Player meeting.[4]
Friday, February 28
- Masters
- AM: Draft #1, followed by rounds 1-3 of Swiss.
- PM: Draft #2, followed by rounds 4-6 of Swiss.
- Juniors
- 8.30pm: Player meeting.
Saturday, March 1
- Masters
- AM: Draft #3, followed by rounds 7-9 of Swiss.
- PM: Draft #4, followed by rounds 10-12 of Swiss.
- Juniors
- AM: Draft #1, followed by rounds 1-3 of Swiss.
- PM: Draft #2, followed by rounds 4-6 of Swiss.
- Open events
- 10am: Pro Tour Paris Qualifier Tournament.Standard format (as of November 24, 1996).
- 1pm: Pro Tour Paris Qualifier Tournament. Standard format (as of November 24, 1996).
- 4pm: Military League Tournament. Fourth Edition Sealed deck. Valid Military ID required.
Sunday, March 2
- Masters
- 9am: Draft #5, followed by untimed single elimination rounds.
- Juniors
- 9am: Draft #3, followed by untimed single elimination rounds.
Masters Division
Day 1
- Draft #1
- Draft #2
The second draft, between rounds 3 and 4, was seeded so that players with similar records would form new pods together. This resulted in three full tables where everyone had 6 match points; these 24 players all chose to take intentional draws in rounds 4, 5 and 6 which guaranteed that they would make the Top 64 cut for Day 2.
| “ | this tournament would have easily been 2 or 3 times better had the 2nd draft not been powered (meaning all 3-0's at the same table) perhaps WotC hadnt considered the intentional draw rule when designing this system, but it essentially turned the tourney into 2 tournaments. a 3 round single elimination tournament to the top 64, and a losers bracket 6 round tournament to the top 64. | ” |
—Rudy Edwards (9th place in the Classic competition of PT Dallas)[5] | ||
- Standings
At the end of Round 6 there would be a cut to Top 64 to continue on Day 2. There were four players at the top of the table with 10 match points:[6]
| Place | Player | Deck | Color(s) | Points | Record | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Ben Possemier
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10 | ||||
| 2 | Brian Weissman
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10 | Beat Chris Pikula[7] | |||
| 3 | Truc Bui
|
10 | ||||
| 4 | Alvaro Marques
|
10 |
5th through to 48th place were all on 9 match points, indicating records of either 3-0-3 or 4-1-1.
This mean only 16 players with 8 match points (4-2) made the cut for Day 2. This included eventual semi-finalist Alan Comer in 51st, and Champion Tommi Hovi only just making it in 64th place.
Day 2
- Draft 3
At the end of Draft 3, there were 8 undefeated players:[8]
1 Possemier, Ben 6 10 61.11 2 Bui, Truc 6 10 44.44 3 Leiher, Peter 6 9 55.56 4 Yoo, John 6 9 50 5 Immordino, John 6 9 44.44 6 Slemr, Jakub 6 9 38.89 7 Venhaus, Mark 6 9 38.89 8 Hovi, Tommi 6 8 55.56
and one 2-0-1: (with 8 tables of 8 players???)
9 Frayman, Igor 5 9 27.78
- Draft 4
- Standings
Final round of swiss. Match points seperate from Day 1, but Day 1 results are first tie breaker.[9]
| Place | Player | Day 2 Points |
Day 2 Record |
Day 1 Points |
Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Truc Bui
|
10 | 10 | ||
| 2 | Ben Possemiers
|
10 | 10 | ||
| 3 | Brian Weissman
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10 | 10 | ||
| 4 | John Immordino
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10 | 9 | ||
| 5 | John Yoo
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10 | 5-1 | 9 | 4-1-1 |
| 6 |  Tommi Hovi
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10 | 8 | ||
| 7 | Alan Comer
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10 | 8 | ||
| 8 | David Mills
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9 | 4-1-1 | 9 |
9 Long, Michael 8 9 62.5 60 58.13
10 Slemr, Jakub 8 9 56.94 61.54 54.64
11 Wollpert, Worth 8 9 54.17 62.5 52.87
12 Justice, Mark 8 9 51.39 56.67 54.37
13 Finkel, Jon 8 9 48.61 64.29 47.29
35 Regnier, Hammer 6 9 50 50 50.14
Top 8 Bracket
Quarters = BO3, Semi + Final = BO5.[10]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Truc Bui | 1 | |||||||||||
| 8 | David Mills | 2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | David Mills | 3 | |||||||||||
| 5 | John Yoo | 0 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Immordino, John | 0 | |||||||||||
| 5 | John Yoo | 2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | David Mills | DQ | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tommi Hovi | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | John Weissman | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tommi Hovi | 2 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Tommi Hovi | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Alan Comer | 2 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Ben Possemier | 1 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Alan Comer | 2 | |||||||||||
Grand Final
Final Results
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tommi Hovi
|
$26,000 | 30 | Second Pro Tour Top 8, first Finn to win a Pro Tour |
| 2 | David Mills
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$16,000 | 25 | Disqualified with prize |
| 3 | Alan Comer
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$9,000 | 20 | |
| 4 | John Yoo
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$9,000 | 20 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 5 | Truc Bui
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$5,500 | 10 | |
| 6 | John Immordino
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$5,500 | 10 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 7 | Brian Weissman
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$5,500 | 10 | Second Pro Tour Top 8 |
| 8 | Ben Possemiers
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$5,500 | 10 | First Belgian in a Pro Tour Top 8 |
Junior Division
- Draft 1
Sixteen players were undefeated at the end of Round 3, which resulted in two full 3-0 tables.[11] All the players who would make the Top 8 cut at the end of Round 6 had drafted
>>> note. How did Kline have 14 points. Not just a typo? There should have only been two 6-0 players (12 match points) but there are 5. Was there a round 7? If so this would have needed to be cross pod? <<<
- Draft 2
- Standings
At the end of round 6:[12]
| Place | Player | Points | Record | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aaron Kline
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14 | ??? | |
| 2 | Zvi Mowshowitz
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12 | 6-0 | |
| 3 | Elijah Pollock
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12 | 6-0 | |
| 4 | Scott Valleroy
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12 | 6-0 | |
| 5 | Jess Means
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12 | 6-0 | |
| 6 | Brian Harding
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12 | 6-0 | |
| 7 | Jason Gordon
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10 | ||
| 8 | Raphael Zimmerman
|
10 |
Twenty-four players finished with 10 match points, including future Hall of Famers Brian Selden and Patrick Chapin, but only two were able to draft again.
Gary, Justin (DQ) 10 60 83.33 58.9
Top 8 Bracket
Quarters = BO3, Semi+Final = BO5.[10]
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| 1 | Kline | 2 | |||||||||||
| 8 | Zimmerman | 0 | |||||||||||
| 1 | Kline | 3 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Means | 1 | |||||||||||
| 4 | Valleroy | 1 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Means | 2 | |||||||||||
| 5 | Means | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Mowshowitz | 2 | |||||||||||
| 3 | Pollock | 1 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Harding | 2 | |||||||||||
| 6 | Harding | 2 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Mowshowitz | 3 | |||||||||||
| 2 | Mowshowitz | 2 | |||||||||||
| 7 | Gordon | 0 | |||||||||||
Military League Tournamnet
The supplementary competition for Los Angeles was the first in a planned series of events for United States Armed Forces personal.[13] It was also open to their dependents, members of the Coast Guard, and civilian employees of the Department of Defence. The format was Fourth Edition Sealed Deck, with five rounds of Swiss and a cut to Top 4.
| “ | "You could tell who was here for the Military Tournament,” commented onsite Judge Heather Henricks. “I'd never seen such a courteous and prompt group of Magic players." | ” |
The event was won by Sgt. Thomas B. Blair III, U.S. Marine Corps.
References
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (1996). "Pro TourTM Tournament Formats (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on December 19, 1996. Retrieved on September 9, 2025.
- ↑ 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 October 6, 2025.
- ↑ Wizards of the Coast (1996). "Rochester Draft Explination for Pro Tour - Los Angeles (website)". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on December 19, 1996. Retrieved on October 6, 2025.
- ↑ Adam!!! (January 17, 1997). "Wizard's release: PT LA Events and Info (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 12, 1997). "Rudy's Critique of PTLA (repost from .strategy) (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 1, 1997). "Pro Tour Los Angeles - Friday Masters' Standings (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Chris Pikula (March 4, 1997). "PTLA: Why it sucked (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 1, 1997). "SPTLA - Saturday Round 3 Masters (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 1, 1997). "Saturday Final Masters Standings (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ a b Charles Keith-Stanley (March 2, 1997). "PTLA - Final Results (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 2, 1997). "PTLA - Saturday Round 3 Juniors (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 8, 2025.
- ↑ Charles Keith-Stanley (March 2, 1997). "PTLA - Saturday Final Juniors Standings (Usenet post)". Newsgroup: rec.games.trading-cards.magic.misc. Usenet. Retrieved on October 8, 2025.
- ↑ Freddi Scott (May 1997). "All Hands On Deck (website), pp. 44,45". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on work=The Duelist Sideboard #06. Retrieved on October 7, 2025.