The Masters Series or simply Masters were single-elimination Magic: The Gathering tournaments open to the most accomplished players only. These tournaments awarded cash prizes upon entrance and were held at several Pro Tours each season. The first predecessor to the Masters Series, named Team Challenge, was held at the 2000 Pro Tour New York. In the following seasons Masters were held at four different Pro Tours each season. The last Masters was held at Pro Tour Yokohama. Ben Rubin was the most successful player at the Masters Series, being the only player to win two individual events. Ryan Fuller is the only other player to win two events - one individually and one as part of team AlphaBetaUnlimited.com.
After the 2002–03 season the cash that would have gone into the Masters Series prizes was instead used for a final payout at the end of the season based on Pro Points. This payout was in turn replaced by the Pro Player's Club two years later.
* | Elected to the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame |
Season | Location | Winner | Runner-up | Result | Format | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999–00 | New York City | Black Ops Antoine Ruel* Olivier Ruel* Florent Jeudon | Antarctica Jon Finkel* Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz* Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz | 2–1 | Team Rochester Draft | [1] [2] |
2000–01 | New York City | William Jensen* | Jason Zilla | 2–1 | Extended | [3] |
2000–01 | Chicago | Ben Rubin* | Jon Finkel* | 2–0 | Booster Draft | [4] |
2000–01 | Tokyo | AlphaBetaUnlimited.com Chris Benafel Noah Boeken Ryan Fuller | Panzer Hunter Reiji Ando Itaru Ishida Momose Kazuyuki | 2–1 | Team Rochester Draft | [5] |
2000–01 | Barcelona | Ben Rubin* | Jay Elarar | 2–0 | Block Constructed | [6] |
2001–02 | New Orleans | Michael Pustilnik | Chris Benafel | 2–0 | Booster Draft | [7] |
2001–02 | San Diego | Ryan Fuller | Dave Humpherys* | 2–0 | Standard | [8] |
2001–02 | Osaka | Phoenix Foundation Dirk Baberowski* Marco Blume Kai Budde* | Panzer Hunter Reiji Ando Itaru Ishida Momose Kazuyuki | 2–1 | Team Rochester Draft | [9] |
2001–02 | Nice | Alexander Witt | Justin Gary | 2–1 | Extended | [10] |
2002–03 | Houston | Jens Thorén | Gary Wise* | 2–0 | Booster Draft | [11] |
2002–03 | Chicago | Franck Canu | Ken Ho | 2–0 | Standard | [12] |
2002–03 | Venice | PS2 Masahiro Kuroda Katsuhiro Mori Masahiko Morita | 2020 Elijah Pollock David Rood Steven Wolfman | 2–1 | Team Rochester Draft | [13] |
2002–03 | Yokohama | Bob Maher* | Gabriel Nassif* | 2–0 | Extended | [14] |
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.
Kai Budde, is a professional Magic: The Gathering player, who holds the record for Pro Tour victories, and for many years held the records for earnings and lifetime Pro Points. His performances earned him the nicknames "The (German) Juggernaut" and "King of the Grand Prix". Kai left the game in late 2004 to focus on his studies, and his appearances in tournaments are less frequent than in earlier years. Budde is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest Magic: The Gathering players.
The Players Tour (PT) is a competitive international league for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game, culminating in the World Championship. It consists of a series of tournaments held throughout the world, each requiring an invitation to participate. The Players Tour permanently replaced the Pro Tour in the 2020 season. Every PT awards a total of $250,000 in cash prizes, with $50,000 going to the winner. The Players Tour is split into three regions: Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each region hosts three events, resulting in nine Players Tour events per season.
Gabriel Nassif is a French professional card player. He is known for his continuous success on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and was the 2004 Pro Tour Player of the Year. He also enjoys playing poker, having moderate success at the World Series of Poker in recent years. In 2010, Nassif was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.
Grands Prix (GPs) were professional Magic: The Gathering tournaments, awarding cash prizes, Pro Points and invitations to Pro Tours. They were open to all players and were usually the biggest Magic tournaments by participant count. The first Grand Prix was held on 22–23 March 1997 in Amsterdam (Netherlands). Until their cancellation, 702 Grand Prix events were held, the biggest being GP Las Vegas 2015 with 7,551 competitors, making it the biggest trading card game tournament held at the time.
Robert Maher Jr., is a professional Magic: The Gathering player. He picked up the Magic game after sustaining a football injury in high school, and has gone on to become one of the most celebrated players in the game's history, earning the nickname "The Great One". Bob currently owns the Toy and Game distribution company ACD Distribution which is located in Middleton, Wisconsin.
Raphaël Lévy is a professional Magic: The Gathering player. He was inducted to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in November 2006. He is the first player to have been inducted while active on the Pro Tour. He is one of only six players to have won a Grand Prix on three different continents. He holds the second most lifetime Pro Points behind Shuhei Nakamura.
Tomoharu Saitou is a professional Magic: The Gathering player and the owner of Hareruya Store in Tokyo.
The 2002–03 Pro Tour season was the eighth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 24 August 2002 the season began with Grand Prix Sapporo. It ended on 10 August 2003 with the conclusion of the 2003 World Championship in Berlin. The season consisted of 21 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in Boston, Houston, Chicago, Venice, Yokohama, and Berlin. Also Master Series tournaments were held at four Pro Tours. At the end of the season Kai Budde was proclaimed Pro Player of the Year for the third time in a row.
The 2003–04 Pro Tour season was the ninth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 23 August 2003 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Yokohama and London. It ended on 5 September 2004 with the conclusion of the 2004 World Championship in San Francisco. Beginning with this season Wizards of the Coast moved the Pro Tour schedule farther backwards in the year to synchronize it with the calendar year. The season consisted of 26 Grand Prixs and 7 Pro Tours, held in Boston, New Orleans, Amsterdam, Kobe, San Diego, Seattle, and San Francisco. Also the Master Series tournaments were discontinued and replaced by payout at the end of the year based on the Pro Player of the year standings. At the end of the season Gabriel Nassif was proclaimed Pro Player of the year, the first player after Kai Budde's three-year-domination period, and also the first player to win the title without winning a Pro Tour in the same season.
Jelger Wiegersma is a Dutch Magic: The Gathering player. Though no longer a professional player, he still regularly attends Pro Tours. He won Pro Tour Seattle 2004 as a member of team Von Dutch with teammates Jeroen Remie and Kamiel Cornelissen. He also won two Grand Prix, in 2003 and 2008. In 2008, he was elected to the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.
The 1999–2000 Pro Tour season was the fifth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 3 September 1999 with Pro Tour Boston and ended on 6 August 2000 with the conclusion of 2000 World Championship in Brussels. The season consisted of twenty Grand Prixs, and six Pro Tours, located in Washington D.C., London, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Brussels. At the end of the season Bob Maher, Jr. was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.
Katsuhiro Mori is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. He is the most successful player in the individual portion of World Championships, winning one tournament and making the top eight of two others.
Frank Karsten is a Dutch Magic: The Gathering player. His achievements include three Pro Tour Top 8 appearances, including a second-place finish at the 2005 World Championships, and seven Grand Prix Top 8s. He is a member of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. Karsten is considered one of the game's foremost analytical minds and writers. He has since been considered mostly retired from Magic pro play, and has become a writer for Wizards' Magic event coverage.
Masashi Oiso is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. He is one of the most successful players to have played on the Pro Tour, being one of only seven players to have reached the top eight six times. Along with Kenji Tsumura, he is the player with the most top eights to have never won a Pro Tour. In 2012 Oiso was voted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. His induction was conducted at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica in October 2012.
Tsuyoshi Ikeda is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. His success include four top eights at the Pro Tour level, and six on the Grand Prix level, including one win. He is ranked 12th on lifetime pro points.
Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa is a Brazilian Magic: The Gathering player. In 2011, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa became the youngest player to ever reach 300 lifetime Pro Points. He was elected into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame in 2012 as the first player from South America, and has seventeen Pro Tour Top 8 finishes, which puts him second for the most Pro Tour Top 8s of all time, and in 2020 Da Rosa won the world championship for the 2019 season. Da Rosa is the all-time leader in prize money won playing professional-level Magic.
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa is a French Magic: The Gathering player. Best known for winning Pro Tour Yokohama in 2007, Wafo-Tapa's career has featured three other Pro Tour top eights, and six Grand Prix top eights. He is also known as a deck designer and for his strong preference for control decks. In 2014, Wafo-Tapa was voted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.
Richard Hoaen is a Canadian Magic: The Gathering player. Known for his skill in limited formats, Hoaen has reached the top eight of a Pro Tour just once. In addition, Hoaen has made the top eight of seven Grand Prix, winning three, and was runner-up to Tiago Chan in the last Magic Invitational.