Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2005

2005 Pro Tour season

Pro Player of the Year	Kenji Tsumura
Rookie of the Year	Pierre Canali
World Champion	Katsuhiro Mori
Pro Tours	7
Grands Prix	31
Hall of Fame inductions	Jon Finkel Darwin Kastle Alan Comer Tommi Hovi Olle Råde
Start of season	10 September 2004
End of season	4 December 2005
← 2003–04 2006 →

The 2005 Pro Tour season was the tenth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 10 September 2004 the season began with Grand Prix Rimini. It ended on 4 December 2005 with the conclusion of the 2005 World Championship in Yokohama and was thus the longest Pro Tour season ever. The season consisted of 31 Grand Prixs and 7 Pro Tours, held in Columbus, Nagoya, Atlanta, Philadelphia, London, Los Angeles, and Yokohama. At the end of the season Kenji Tsumura was proclaimed Pro Player of the year as the first Japanese player. Also the first class of the Hall of Fame was inducted. The inductees were Jon Finkel, Darwin Kastle, Tommi Hovi, Alan Comer, and Olle Råde.

Grand Prixs – Rimini, Vienna, Austin

GP Rimini (10–11 September) Format: Standard Attendance: 750 Domingo Ottati Florian Pils Giovanni Gesiot Luka Gasparac Davide Ghini Jan Brodzak Andrea Paselli Luca Cialini

GP Vienna (9–10 October) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 979 Nicolaus Eigner Antoine Ruel René Kraft Sasha Zorc Sebastian Aljiaj Daniele Canavesi Dario Minieri Stefan Jedlicka

GP Austin (9–10 October) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 386 Jonathan Sonne Eugene Levin Chris Prochak Gerry Thompson Jim Finstrom Neil Reeves Michael Jacob Mike Thompson

Pro Tour – Columbus (29–31 October 2004)

Pierre Canali from France won the inaugural Pro Tour of the season, which was also the first Pro Tour he attended. His deck was an aggressive all-artifact deck called "Affinity". For the first time Japan had three players amongst the final eight while the USA had in the Top 8 for the first time in three Pro Tours. ^[1]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,130
Players: 286
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Jaap Brouwer ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Pierre Canali	3
	8	Geoffrey Siron	1
						Pierre Canali		3
						Olivier Ruel		2
	4	Masashi Oiso	0
	5	Olivier Ruel	3
											Pierre Canali		3
											Shuhei Nakamura		0
	2	Nicholas West	3
	7	Ryuichi Arita	0
						Nicholas West		0
						Shuhei Nakamura		3
	3	Gadiel Szleifer	1
	6	Shuhei Nakamura	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Pierre Canali	$30,000	25	Pro Tour debut
2	Shuhei Nakamura	$20,000	20
3	Nicholas West	$15,000	16	Pro Tour debut
4	Olivier Ruel	$13,000	16	3rd Final day
5	Gadiel Szleifer	$9,000	12
6	Masashi Oiso	$8,500	12	4th Final day
7	Ryuichi Arita	$8,000	12	2nd Final day
8	Geoffrey Siron	$7,500	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Pierre Canali	25
2	Shuhei Nakamura	20
3	Olivier Ruel	18
4	Nicholas West	16
5	Ryuichi Arita	12
	Masashi Oiso	12
	Geoffrey Siron	12
	Gadiel Szleifer	12

Grand Prixs – Helsinki, Brisbane, Yokohama, Porto Alegre, Paris, Chicago, Osaka

GP Helsinki (6–7 November) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 455 Olivier Ruel Mikko Leiviskä Jean Charles Salvin Ulrik Tarp Anton Jonsson Wenzel Krautmann Pavlos Akritas Erkki Siira

GP Brisbane (13–14 November) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 222 Will Copeman Anatoli Lightfoot Masami Ibamoto Andrew Grain Tom Hay Andrew Varga Jarrod Bright Bryce Trevilyan

GP Yokohama (20–21 November) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 707 Kazuki Katou Tomohiro Kaji Akira Asahara Koutarou Ootsuka Masahiko Morita Rei Hashimoto Takashi Akiyama Ren Ishikawa

GP Porto Alegre (20–21 November) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 342 Jose Barbero Gabriel Caligaris Mauro Kina Rafael Mendonça Guilherme Fonseca Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa Renato Wholers Adilson de Oliveira

GP Paris (27–28 November) Format: Rochester Draft Attendance: 1594 Wilco Pinkster Bastien Perez Wessel Oomens Raphael Lévy Giuseppe Reale Arnost Zidek Stephan Meyer Jean-Baptiste Gouesse

GP Chicago (18–19 December) Format: Team Limited Attendance: 474 (158 teams) 1. :B Timothy Aten Gadiel Szleifer John Pelcak 2. Gindy's Sister's Fan Club Adam Chambers Zach Parker Charles Gindy 3. The Max Fischer Players Igor Frayman Joshua Ravitz Chris Pikula 4. Voracious Cobra Bob Allbright Mike Hron Paul Artl

GP Osaka (8–9 January) Format: Team Limited Attendance: 480 (160 teams) 1. P.S.2 Masashiro Kuroda Katsuhiro Mori Masahiko Morita 2. FireBall.Pros Jin Okamoto Tsuyoshi Ikeda Itaru Ishida 3. Gatas Brilhantes Ichiro Shimura Shu Komuro Tomohide Sasagawa 4. One Spin Tomohiro Kaji Kenji Tsumura Tomoharu Saitou

Pro Tour – Nagoya (28–30 January 2005)

Pro Tour Nagoya was the last Pro Tour employing the Rochester Draft format. Shu Komuro from Japan defeated Anton Jonsson in the finals to win the tournament. ^[3]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,130
Players: 236
Format: Rochester Draft (Champions of Kamigawa)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Masashiro Kuroda	1
	8	Anton Jonsson	3
						Anton Jonsson		3
						Terry Soh		1
	4	Frank Karsten	1
	5	Terry Soh	3
											Anton Jonsson		1
											Shu Komuro		3
	2	Jarno Harkonen	1
	7	Murray Evans	3
						Murray Evans		1
						Shu Komuro		3
	3	Vasilis Fatouros	1
	6	Shu Komuro	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Shu Komuro	$30,000	25
2	Anton Jonsson	$20,000	20	5th Final day
3	Terry Soh	$15,000	16	2nd Final day
4	Murray Evans	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Masashiro Kuroda	$9,500	12	2nd Final day
6	Frank Karsten	$8,500	12
7	Jarno Harkonen	$7,500	12
8	Vasilis Fatouros	$6,500	12	1st Greek in a Top 8

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Shu Komuro	31
2	Shuhei Nakamura	30
3	Pierre Canali	28
4	Olivier Ruel	27
5	Anton Jonsson	23

Grand Prixs – Boston, Eindhoven, Seattle

GP Boston (5–6 February) Format: Extended Attendance: 699 Masashi Oiso Lucas Glavin Keith McLaughlin Benjamin Dempsey Osyp Lebedowicz Masahiko Morita Anthony Impellizzierei Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz

GP Eindhoven (26–27 February) Format: Extended Attendance: 1012 Sebastien Roux Rogier Maaten Xuan-Phi Nguyen Tobias Radloff Kamiel Cornelissen Michael Leicht Petr Nahodil Bas Postema

GP Seattle (5–6 March) Format: Extended Attendance: 390 Ernie Marchesano Taylor Putnam Shuhei Nakamura Max McCall Grant Struck John Ripley Tsuyoshi Fujita Ryan Cimera

Pro Tour – Atlanta (11–13 March 2005)

The Canadian French cooperation team "Nova" won Pro Tour Atlanta, defeating the American team "We Add" in the final. "Nova" consisted of Gabriel Tsang, David Rood, and Gabriel Nassif. For Nassif it was the first Pro Tour victory after five previous final day appearances including three second places. ^[4] Atlanta was the last Pro Tour using the three-person team Limited format, although it was still used for the team competition at the World Championship that year and the next.

Tournament data

Players: 357 (119 teams)
Prize Pool: $200,100
Format: Team Kamigawa Block Sealed (Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa) – first day, Team Kamigawa Block Rochester Draft (Champions of Kamigawa-Betrayers of Kamigawa) – final two days
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery ^[2]

Top 4

	Semifinals					Semi-finals
	1	Les baltringues de Ludipia	0
	4	We Add	2
						We add		0
						Nova		2
	3	One Spin	1
	2	Nova	2

Final standings

Place	Team	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Nova	Gabriel Tsang	$60,000	20	3rd Final day
		David Rood		20	2nd Final day
		Gabriel Nassif		20	6th Final day
2	We Add	Don Smith	$30,000	16	Pro Tour debut
		Andrew Pacifico		16
		Adam Chambers		16
3	Les baltringues de Ludipia	Benjamin Caumes	$18,000	12	2nd Final day
		Nicolas Bornarel		12
		Camille Fenet		12
4	One Spin	Tomohiro Kaji	$15,000	12
		Kenji Tsumura		12
		Tomoharu Saitou		12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Shu Komuro	39
2	Shuhei Nakamura	32
3	Pierre Canali	31
	Olivier Ruel	31
5	Masashi Oiso	29

Grand Prixs – Singapore, Leipzig, Lisbon, Detroit

GP Singapore (19–20 March) Format: Extended Attendance: 373 Itaru Ishida Shih Chien Chang Ichirou Shimura Yeung Sun Kit Dennis Yuliadinata Shu Komuro Oliver Oks Gabriel Kang

GP Leipzig (26–27 March) Format: Sealed and Booster Draft Attendance: 899 Rustam Bakirov Rosario Maij Max Bracht Niki Jedlicka Philip Fetzer Sune Ellegard Bernardo Da Costa Cabral Mateusz Dabkowski

GP Lisbon (23–24 April) Format: Sealed and Booster Draft Attendance: 1169 Marcio Carvalho Luis Sousa Mikael Polgary David Blazquez Joao Martins Pierre-Jerome Meurisse Marco Manuel Anton Jonsson

GP Detroit (23–24 April) Format: Sealed and Booster Draft Attendance: 491 Jordan Berkowitz Richard Hoaen Michael Krumb Jeroen Remie Osyp Lebedowicz William Postlethwait Sam Gomersall Patrick Sullivan

Pro Tour – Philadelphia (6–8 May 2005)

Pro Tour Philadelphia featured a tournament system different from those of other Pro Tours. While Swiss system was still used all players with three or more losses and/or draws were automatically dropped from the tournament. Prizes were given out not in relation to the final standings, but for the individual matches won, where matches in later rounds of the tournament were worth more than those in the earlier rounds. ^[5] It was also announced in the week prior to Pro Tour Philadelphia, that the end of the year payout based on Pro Points would be dropped after the season in favor of the Pro Club. Under the new system a player would receive special benefits based on the total number of Pro Points he had acquired in a season. ^[6]

16-year-old Gadiel Szleifer defeated 18-year-old Kenji Tsumura in the final to win the tournament. Szleifer played a control deck built around Gifts Ungiven. ^[7] Former Pro Player of the year Kai Budde received a lot of attention for being undefeated after day one, but was eliminated after he picked up three losses in the first three rounds of day two. ^[8]

Tournament data

Players: 311
Prize Pool: $194,898
Format: Kamigawa Block Constructed (Champions of Kamigawa, Betrayers of Kamigawa)
Head Judge: Mike Guptil ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Steven Wolfman	3
	8	André Müller	2
						Steven Wolfman		0
						Gadiel Szleifer		3
	4	Jeff Novekoff	1
	5	Gadiel Szleifer	3
											Gadiel Szleifer		3
											Kenji Tsumura		2
	2	Ryan Cimera	2
	7	Kenji Tsumura	3
						Kenji Tsumura		3
						Olivier Ruel		0
	3	Olivier Ruel	3
	6	Mark Herberholz	1

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Gadiel Szleifer	$21,725	25	2nd Final day
2	Kenji Tsumura	$12,275	20	2nd Final day
3	Steven Wolfman	$7,475	16	2nd Final day
4	Olivier Ruel	$6,950	16	4th Final day
5	Ryan Cimera	$2,825	12	Pro Tour debut
6	Jeff Novekoff	$4,750	12	Pro Tour debut
7	Mark Herberholz	$3,175	12	2nd Final day
8	André Müller	$2,075	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Olivier Ruel	49
2	Gadiel Szleifer	47
3	Shu Komuro	45
4	Kenji Tsumura	44
5	Shuhei Nakamura	40

Grand Prixs – Matsuyama, Bologna

GP Matsuyama (14–15 May) Format: Sealed and Booster Draft Attendance: 420 Akira Asahara Masashi Oiso Kentarou Nonaka Takayuki Toochika Osamu Fujita Shuhei Nakamura Tomoharu Saitou Jun'ya Takahashi

GP Bologna (11–12 June) Format: Sealed and Booster Draft Attendance: 654 Olivier Ruel David Brucker Giulio Barra Leonard Barbou Tomas Klimes Quentin Martin Bruno Panara Marco Castellano

Pro Tour – London (8–10 July 2005)

Geoffrey Siron from Belgium won Pro Tour London, defeating Tsuyoshi Fujita in the finals. In the Top 8 Siron did not lose a single game. ^[9]

Tournament data

Players: 314
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Booster Draft (Champions of Kamigawa-Betrayers of Kamigawa-Saviors of Kamigawa)
Head Judge: Jaap Brouwer ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Antti Malin	3
	8	Tomi Walamies	1
						Antti Malin		1
						Tsuyoshi Fujita		3
	4	Arnost Zidek	2
	5	Tsuyoshi Fujita	3
											Tsuyoshi Fujita		0
											Geoffrey Siron		3
	2	David Larsson	1
	7	Johan Sadeghpour	3
						Johan Sadeghpour		0
						Geoffrey Siron		3
	3	Masashi Oiso	0
	6	Geoffrey Siron	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Geoffrey Siron	$30,000	25	2nd Final day, 1st Belgian to win a Pro Tour
2	Tsuyoshi Fujita	$20,000	20	2nd Final day
3	Johan Sadeghpour	$15,000	16
4	Antti Malin	$13,000	16
5	Masashi Oiso	$9,000	12	5th Final day
6	Tomi Walamies	$8,500	12	3rd Final day
7	Arnost Zidek	$8,000	12
8	David Larsson	$7,500	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Olivier Ruel	59
2	Gadiel Szleifer	50
3	Shu Komuro	49
4	Shuhei Nakamura	47
	Masashi Oiso	47
	Kenji Tsumura	47

Grand Prixs – Minneapolis, Niigata, Taipei, Salt Lake City, Mexico City, Nottingham

GP Minneapolis (16–17 July) Format: Block Constructed Attendance: 404 Alex Lieberman Mark Herberholz Dustin Marquis Adam Yurchick Celso Zampere Andrew Stokinger Gerry Thompson Sean Inlow

GP Niigata (23–24 July) Format: Block Constructed Attendance: 476 Katsuhiro Mori Tomohiro Aridome Akira Asahara Masashi Oiso Takuya Oosawa Kenji Tsumura Ryouma Shiozu Suhan Yun

GP Taipei (6–7 August) Format: Block Constructed Attendance: 261 Osamu Fujita Masahiko Morita Jun'ichirou Bandou Shu Komuro Tai Chi Huang Aik Seng Khoo Masashi Oiso Masahiro Kuroda

GP Salt Lake City (27–28 August) Format: Block Constructed Attendance: 250 Antonino De Rosa Karl Briem Kenji Tsumura Mark Ioli Frank Karsten Gadiel Szleifer Gabe Walls Rogier Maaten

GP Mexico City (3–4 September) Format: Block Constructed Attendance: 305 Julien Nuijten Edgar Leiva Frank Karsten Maximiliano Liprandi William Postlethwait Gerard Fabiano Daniel Fior Rasmus Sibast

GP Nottingham (3–4 September) Format: Limited Attendance: 560 Nikola Vavra Roel van Heeswijk Nikolaus Eigner Philip Reich Jean Charles Salvin Ricard Tuduri Jure Trunk Alfred Benages

Pro Tour – Los Angeles (28–30 October 2005)

Antoine Ruel defeated Billy Moreno in the finals to become champion of Pro Tour Los Angeles. He played a blue-black control deck, built around Psychatog. ^[10]

Tournament data

Players: 340
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Kenji Tsumura	3
	8	Ryuichi Arita	1
						Kenji Tsumura		0
						Antoine Ruel		3
	4	Antoine Ruel	3
	5	Tsuyoshi Fujita	1
											Antoine Ruel		3
											Billy Moreno		0
	2	Billy Moreno	3
	7	Ervin Tormos	2
						Billy Moreno		3
						Chris McDaniel		2
	3	Chris McDaniel	3
	6	Chih-Hsian Chang	1

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Antoine Ruel	$30,000	25	3rd Final day
2	Billy Moreno	$20,000	20
3	Kenji Tsumura	$15,000	16	3rd Final day
4	Chris McDaniel	$13,000	16
5	Tsuyoshi Fujita	$9,000	12	3rd Final day
6	Chih-Hsiang Chang	$8,500	12	1st Taiwanese Player in a Top 8
7	Ervin Tormos	$8,000	12	Pro Tour debut
8	Ryuichi Arita	$7,500	12	3rd Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kenji Tsumura	72
2	Olivier Ruel	67
3	Masashi Oiso	62
4	Gadiel Szleifer	58
5	Shu Komuro	55

Grand Prixs – Melbourne, Copenhagen, Kitakyuushuu, Philadelphia, Bilbao, Beijing

GP Melbourne (5–6 November) Format: Extended Attendance: 140 James Zhang Paul Chalder Tim He David Zhao Andrew Vance Hugh Glanville Ben Fleming Sam Atkinson

GP Copenhagen (5–6 November) Format: Extended Attendance: 340 Julien Nuijten Kim Valori Alexandre Rathcke Wessel Oomens Olivier Ruel Pasi Virtanen Bodo Rösner Nikolaos Lahanas

GP Kitakyuushuu (5–6 November) Format: Extended Attendance: 272 Tomohiro Kaji Ryo Ogura Makihito Mihara Masashi Oiso Masahiko Morita Jin Okamoto Itaru Ishida Akira Asahara

GP Philadelphia (12–13 November) Format: Legacy Attendance: 495 Jonathan Sonne Chris Pikula Pasquale Ruggiero Tom Smart Paul Serignese Pat McGregor Ben Goodman Lam Phan

GP Bilbao (19–20 November) Format: Extended Attendance: 938 Olivier Ruel Marcio Carvalho Geoffrey Siron Jacob Arias Garcia Rogier Maaten Jonathan Rispal Gonzalo Domingo Sergi Herrero

GP Beijing (26–27 November) Format: Extended Attendance: 159 Dong Zhong Masashi Oiso Olivier Ruel Katsuhiro Mori Li Gong Wei Tomoharu Saitou Ming Da Tsai Kenji Tsumura

2005 World Championships – Yokohama (30 November – 4 December 2005)

Main article: Magic: The Gathering World Championship § 2005 World Championship

The tournament began with the first Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Jon Finkel, Darwin Kastle, Tommi Hovi, Alan Comer and Olle Råde were honored for their accomplishments and their determination to the game. In the final of the 2005 World Championship Katsuhiro Mori defeated Frank Karsten, thus completing an all-Japanese Worlds in Yokohama. The Top 4 also included Japanese players Akira Asahara and Tomohiro Kaji, shortly before Japan had won the team competition, and even the Pro Player of the year went to Japanese Kenji Tsumura. ^[11]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $208,130 (individual) + $195,000 (national teams)
Players: 287
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Ravnica), Extended
Head Judge: Collin Jackson, Sheldon Menery ^[2]

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Marcio Carvalho	1
	8	Akira Asahara	3
						Akira Asahara		2
						Frank Karsten		3
	4	Ding Leong	2
	5	Frank Karsten	3
											Frank Karsten		1
											Katsuhiro Mori		3
	2	Tomohiro Kaji	3
	7	André Coimbra	1
						Tomohiro Kaji		1
						Katsuhiro Mori		3
	3	Katsuhiro Mori	3
	6	Shuhei Nakamura	0

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Katsuhiro Mori	$35,000	32
2	Frank Karsten	$23,000	24	2nd Final day
3	Tomohiro Kaji	$15,000	16	2nd Final day
4	Akira Asahara	$13,000	16
5	Marcio Carvalho	$9,500	12
6	Ding Leong	$8,500	12
7	Shuhei Nakamura	$7,500	12	2nd Final day
8	André Coimbra	$6,500	12

National team competition

1. Japan (Ichiro Shimura, Takuma Morifuji, Masashi Oiso)
2. United States (Jonathan Sonne, Antonino De Rosa, Neil Reeves)

Pro Player of the year final standings

After the World Championship Kenji Tsumura was awarded the Pro Player of the year title as the first Japanese player.

Rank	Player	Pro Points	Prize
1	Kenji Tsumura	84	$12,000
2	Olivier Ruel	83	$11,800
3	Masashi Oiso	80	$11,600
4	Shuhei Nakamura	66	$11,400
5	Gadiel Szleifer	62	$11,200

References

1. "Canali Crushes Columbus". Wizards of the Coast. 31 October 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
2. "Head Judges of Pro Tours and World Championships". XS4ALL. 30 October 2009.
3. "Komuro Finishes the Rochester". Wizards of the Coast. 30 January 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
4. "Nova Burns Brightest in Atlanta". Wizards of the Coast. 13 March 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
5. "2005 Pro Tour-Philadelphia". Wizards of the Coast. 2005. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009.
6. Buehler, Randy (2 May 2005). "Welcome to the Pro Players Club". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008.
7. "Szleifer Seizes Sunday". Wizards of the Coast. 8 May 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
8. David-Marshall, Brian (7 May 2005). "Feature: Kai Budde in Black and White". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 2 June 2009.
9. "Siron Sweeps to Victory". Wizards of the Coast. 10 July 2005. Archived from the original on 11 October 2008.
10. "A Starring Role for Antoine Ruel". Wizards of the Coast. 30 October 2005. Archived from the original on 3 October 2008.
11. "Worlds 2005: Japan's Crowning Achievement". Wizards of the Coast. 4 December 2005. Archived from the original on 9 October 2008.