Pro Player of the Year | Tomoharu Saitou | ||
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Rookie of the Year | Yuuya Watanabe | ||
World Champion | Uri Peleg | ||
Pro Tours | 5 | ||
Grands Prix | 16 | ||
Hall of Fame inductions | Kai Budde Zvi Mowshowitz Tsuyoshi Fujita Nicolai Herzog Randy Buehler | ||
Start of season | 9 February 2007 | ||
End of season | 9 December 2007 | ||
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The 2007 Pro Tour season was the twelfth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 9 February 2007 the season began with Pro Tour Geneva. It ended on 9 December 2007 with the conclusion of the 2007 World Championship in New York. The season consisted of 16 Grand Prixs and 5 Pro Tours, held in Geneva, Yokohama, San Diego, Valencia, and New York. At the end of the season Tomoharu Saitou from Japan was proclaimed Pro Player of the year. At the Worlds in New York the third class of the Hall of Fame was inducted. The inductees were Kai Budde, Zvi Mowshowitz, Tsuyoshi Fujita, Nicolai Herzog, and Randy Buehler.
Mike Hron of the United States won the Pro Tour, defeating Takuya Oosawa in the Japanese player's second finals appearance. Willy Edel of Brazil became the first South American player with three top eight finishes, and former of player of the year Kenji Tsumura reached the quarter finals for the fifth time. [1]
Prize pool: $240,245
Players: 387
Format: Booster Draft (Time Spiral-Planar Chaos)
Head Judge: David Vogin [2]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Shingou Kurihara | 3 | ||||||||||||
8 | Ervin Tormos | 1 | ||||||||||||
Shingou Kurihara | 1 | |||||||||||||
Takuya Oosawa | 3 | |||||||||||||
4 | Jim Herold | 0 | ||||||||||||
5 | Takuya Oosawa | 3 | ||||||||||||
Takuya Oosawa | 2 | |||||||||||||
Mike Hron | 3 | |||||||||||||
2 | Kenji Tsumura | 3 | ||||||||||||
7 | Willy Edel | 1 | ||||||||||||
Kenji Tsumura | 1 | |||||||||||||
Mike Hron | 3 | |||||||||||||
3 | Mike Hron | 3 | ||||||||||||
6 | Marijn Lybaert | 1 |
Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
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1 | Mike Hron | $40,000 | 25 | |
2 | Takuya Oosawa | $22,000 | 20 | 2nd Final day |
3 | Kenji Tsumura | $15,000 | 16 | 5th Final day |
4 | Shingou Kurihara | $14,000 | 16 | |
5 | Marijn Lybaert | $11,500 | 12 | |
6 | Jim Herold | $11,000 | 12 | |
7 | Willy Edel | $10,500 | 12 | 3rd Final day |
8 | Ervin Tormos | $10,000 | 12 | 2nd Final day |
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Frenchman Guillaume Wafo-Tapa won the second Pro Tour of the year, emerging from a Top eight in which every other contestant has at least twice appeared in a PT final eight. Masashi Oiso became only the fifth player to reach the quarter finals more than five times, Portugal's Paulo Carvalho put up his second top eight in three events, and Raphaël Lévy continued his hot streak with his first Pro Tour top eight since 1999. [3]
Prize pool: $240,245
Players: 387
Format: Time Spiral Block Constructed
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery [2]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Kazuya Mitamura | 3 | ||||||||||||
8 | Sebastian Thaler | 0 | ||||||||||||
Kazuya Mitamura | 3 | |||||||||||||
Tomoharu Saitou | 2 | |||||||||||||
4 | Raphaël Lévy | 1 | ||||||||||||
5 | Tomoharu Saitou | 3 | ||||||||||||
Kazuya Mitamura | 1 | |||||||||||||
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | 3 | |||||||||||||
2 | Mark Herberholz | 3 | ||||||||||||
7 | Masashi Oiso | 0 | ||||||||||||
Mark Herberholz | 2 | |||||||||||||
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | 3 | |||||||||||||
3 | Paulo Caravlho | 2 | ||||||||||||
6 | Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | 3 |
Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
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1 | Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | $40,000 | 25 | |
2 | Kazuya Mitamura | $22,000 | 20 | 2nd Final day |
3 | Mark Herberholz | $15,000 | 16 | 4th Final day |
4 | Tomoharu Saitou | $14,000 | 16 | 4th Final day |
5 | Paulo Carvalho | $11,500 | 12 | 2nd Final day |
6 | Raphaël Lévy | $11,000 | 12 | 3rd Final day |
7 | Masashi Oiso | $10,500 | 12 | 6th Final day |
8 | Sebastian Thaler | $10,000 | 12 |
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Pro Tour San Diego was the inaugural and as yet only event for the Two-Headed Giant format at the Pro Tour level. Chris Lachmann and Jacob van Lunen won the tournament, both in their first Pro Tour, playing an innovative sliver strategy. They won the elimination bracket in a combined nine turns making it the shortest semi-final and final ever. [4]
Prize pool: $240,500
Players: 390 (195 teams)
Format: Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft (Time Spiral-Planar Chaos-Future Sight)
Head Judge: Toby Elliott [2]
Semifinals | Finals | ||||||||
1 | Eugene Harvey John Fiorillo | 0 | |||||||
4 | Yuuta Takahashi Kentaro Yamamoto | 1 | |||||||
Yuuta Takahashi Kentaro Yamamoto | 0 | ||||||||
Chris Lachmann Jacob van Lunen | 1 | ||||||||
3 | Masami Kaneko Genki Taru | 0 | |||||||
2 | Chris Lachman Jacob van Lunen | 1 |
Place | Players | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
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1 | Chris Lachman | $50,000 | 20 | Pro Tour debut |
Jacob van Lunen | 20 | Pro Tour debut | ||
2 | Yuuta Takahashi | $30,000 | 16 | |
Kentaro Yamamoto | 16 | |||
3 | John Fiorillo | $22,000 | 12 | |
Eugene Harvey | 12 | 4th Final day | ||
4 | Masami Kaneko | $20,000 | 12 | |
Genki Taru | 12 |
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Pro Tour Valencia began with a bumpy start. The first day of play to be canceled due to flooding. On the other two days the schedule had to be altered somewhat, including additional rounds on Saturday and three rounds on Sunday before Top 8. In the end, Frenchman Remi Fortier defeated Germany's André Müller in the final, making Valencia the third consecutive extended Pro Tour to be won by a French player. [5]
Prize pool: $240,245
Players: 424
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Jaap Brouwer [2]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Giulio Barra | 3 | ||||||||||||
8 | Makihito Mihara | 0 | ||||||||||||
Giulio Barra | 1 | |||||||||||||
Remi Fortier | 3 | |||||||||||||
4 | Tine Rus | 2 | ||||||||||||
5 | Remi Fortier | 3 | ||||||||||||
Remi Fortier | 3 | |||||||||||||
André Müller | 2 | |||||||||||||
2 | Takayuki Koike | 1 | ||||||||||||
3 | Shuhei Nakamura | 3 | ||||||||||||
Shuhei Nakamura | 2 | |||||||||||||
André Müller | 3 | |||||||||||||
3 | André Müller | 3 | ||||||||||||
6 | Sam Stein | 1 |
Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
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1 | Remi Fortier | $40,000 | 25 | |
2 | André Müller | $22,000 | 20 | 2nd Final day |
3 | Giulio Barra | $15,000 | 16 | |
4 | Shuhei Nakamura | $14,000 | 16 | 4th Final day |
5 | Takayuki Koike | $11,500 | 12 | Pro Tour debut |
6 | Tine Rus | $11,000 | 12 | 1st Slovenian in a Top 8, Pro Tour debut |
7 | Sam Stein | $10,500 | 12 | |
8 | Makihito Mihara | $10,000 | 12 | 2nd Final day |
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The World Championships began with the induction of the third class into the hall of fame. The inductees were Kai Budde, Zvi Mowshowitz, Tsuyoshi Fujita, Nicolai Herzog, and Randy Buehler. In the individual competition Uri Peleg became the first Israeli, not only to reach the top eight, but also to win a Pro Tour. For Mori it was his third consecutive Worlds Top 8 appearance. In the team competition, the Swiss defeated the Austrian team in the finals [6]
Prize pool: $215,600 (individual) + $192,200 (national teams)
Players: 386
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Lorwyn), Legacy
Head Judge: Mike Guptil [2]
Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | ||||||||||||
1 | Christoph Huber | 1 | ||||||||||||
8 | Koutarou Ootsuka | 3 | ||||||||||||
Koutarou Ootsuka | 1 | |||||||||||||
Uri Peleg | 3 | |||||||||||||
4 | Katsuhiro Mori | 0 | ||||||||||||
5 | Uri Peleg | 3 | ||||||||||||
Uri Peleg | 3 | |||||||||||||
Patrick Chapin | 1 | |||||||||||||
2 | Gabriel Nassif | 3 | ||||||||||||
7 | Roel van Heeswijk | 1 | ||||||||||||
Gabriel Nassif | 2 | |||||||||||||
Patrick Chapin | 3 | |||||||||||||
3 | Yoshitako Nakano | 2 | ||||||||||||
6 | Patrick Chapin | 3 |
Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment |
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1 | Uri Peleg | $40,000 | 25 | 1st Israeli to win a Pro Tour |
2 | Patrick Chapin | $22,000 | 20 | 3rd Final day |
3 | Gabriel Nassif | $15,000 | 16 | 8th Final day |
4 | Koutarou Ootsuka | $14,000 | 16 | |
5 | Christoph Huber | $11,000 | 12 | |
6 | Yoshitako Nakano | $10,000 | 12 | |
7 | Katsuhiro Mori | $9,000 | 12 | 3rd Final day |
8 | Roel van Heeswijk | $8,000 | 12 |
After the World Championship Tomoharu Saitou was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. [7]
Rank | Player | Pro Points |
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1 | Tomoharu Saitou | 68 |
2 | Kenji Tsumura | 62 |
3 | Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | 59 |
4 | Shingou Kurihara | 57 |
5 | Olivier Ruel | 54 |
Japan players dominated the season, making 16 Top 8 appearances although they had only about half as many players on the Pro Tour as the United States, which had the secondmost Top 8 appearances at 9. Both countries generated 21 level 4+ pro players in this season. For the Netherlands despite having generated 7 level 4+ pro players in the season success on the Pro Tour was almost elusive with a single 8th place being their only Top 8 appearance.
Country | T8 | Q* | Q/T8 | GT | Best Player (PPts) |
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Japan | 16 | 171 | 11 | 21 | Tomoharu Saitou (68) |
United States | 9 | 330 | 37 | 21 | Paul Cheon (52) |
France | 4 | 108 | 27 | 7 | Guillaume Wafo-Tapa (59) |
Germany | 3 | 83 | 28 | 6 | André Müller (36) |
Italy | 1 | 61 | 61 | 0 | Giulio Barra (18) |
Netherlands | 1 | 54 | 54 | 7 | Frank Karsten (37) |
Spain | 0 | 55 | 55 | 1 | Saul Aguado (20) |
T8 = Number of players from that country appearing in a Pro Tour Top 8; Q* = Number of players from that country participating in Pro Tours (PT San Diego is missing as no country breakdown is available for that event); GT = Gravy Trainers (aka players with a Pro Players Club level of 4 or more) from that country generated in the 2007 season; Best Player (PPts) = Player with the most Pro Points from that country, Pro Points of that player in brackets.
The Magic: The Gathering World Championships(Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds is an invitation-only event, and from 1996 to 2011 World was the last event of each Pro Tour season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players. Since 2012 the World Championships are held after the season and the most successful 16 or 24 players have been invited to the tournament.
Kenji Tsumura is a professional Magic: The Gathering player from Japan. He is one of only eight players to have reached the top eight of a Pro Tour more than five times.
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