Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2008

The 2008 Pro Tour season was the thirteenth season of the . It began on 15 December 2007, with Stuttgart, and ended on 14 December 2008, with the in Memphis. The season consisted of twenty-one Grand Prixs, and four Pro Tours, located in Kuala Lumpur, Hollywood, Berlin, and Memphis. The Grand Prixs from June until August were designated Summer Series Grand Prixs, awarding more prizes and additional Pro Points. At the end of the season, Shuhei Nakamura became the fourth consecutive Japanese player to win . Dirk Baberowski, Michael Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, and were inducted into the .

Grand Prix – Stuttgart

GP Stuttgart (15–16 December 2007)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 1336

1. Shuhei Nakamura
2. Robert van Medevoort
3. Jonathan Bergström
4. Raul Porojan
5. Joel Calafell
6. Fried Meulders
7. Patrizio Golia
8. Marc Vogt

Pro Tour – Kuala Lumpur (15–17 February 2008)

Jon Finkel of the US won Kuala Lumpur, becoming the first Hall of Fame member to do so after his induction. The top eight is considered to be one of the best ever, with the players having a total of six Pro Tour wins between them prior to Kuala Lumpur.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795<br/> Players: 346<br/> Format: Booster Draft (Lorwyn-Morningtide)<br/> Head Judge: Toby Elliott

Top 8

Final standings

Grand Prixs – Vancouver, Shizuoka, Vienna, Philadelphia, Brussels

GP Vancouver (23–24 February)

• Format: Extended
• Attendance: 395

1. Paul Cheon
2. Ben Lundquist
3. Marc Bonnefoy
4. Zack Hall
5. Jason Fleurant
6. Michael Guerney
7. Aaron Paquette
8. Hunter Coale

GP Philadelphia (15–16 March)

• Format: Extended
• Attendance: 969

1. Gerard Fabiano
2. Adam Yurchick
3. Luis Scott-Vargas
4. Tyler Mantey
5. Paul Mathews
6. Ben Wienburg
7. Matt Hansen
8. Jonathan Sonne

GP Shizuoka (8–9 March)

• Format: Standard
• Attendance: 827

2. Olivier Ruel
3. Kenji Tsumura
4. Ryousuke Masuno
5. Kazuya Mitamura
6. Shintarou Ishimura
7. Taichi Fujimoto
8. Akira Asahara

GP Brussels (3–4 May)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 1430

1. Kamiel Cornelissen
2. Gabriel Nassif
3. Raphaël Lévy
4. Antoine Ruel
5. Gaetan Lefebvre
6. Rogier Kleij
7. Holger Lange
8. Alexandre Peset

GP Vienna (15–16 March)

• Format: Extended
• Attendance: 1154

1. Mateusz Kopec
2. Nikolaus Eigner
3. Matija Vlahovic
4. Tomoharu Saitou
5. Gianluca Bevere
6. Horst Winkelmann
7. Wojciech Zuber
8. Andras Nagy

Pro Tour Hollywood (23–25 May 2008)

Charles Gindy became the second American to win a Pro Tour in the 2008 season. Playing a green-black elf/rock deck, he defeated Germany's Jan Ruess, playing merfolk, in the finals.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795<br/> Players: 371<br/> Format: Standard<br/> Head Judge: Sheldon Menery

Top 8

Final standings

Grand Prixs – Birmingham, Indianapolis, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Kobe, Denver, Copenhagen, Manila, Rimini, Kansas City, Paris

GP Birmingham (30 May – 1 June)

• Format: Block Constructed
• Attendance: 581

1. Lee Shi Tian
2. Remi Fortier
3. Raphaël Lévy
4. Jelger Wiegersma
5. Antti Malin
6. Matthias Künzler
7. Manuel Bucher
8. Jonathan Randle

GP Summer Series Indianapolis (21–22 June)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 1124

1. Jelger Wiegersma
2. Gaudenis Vidugiris
3. Jamie Parke
4. Tyler Mantey
5. James Beltz
6. Eric Franklin
7. Randy Wright
8. Ben Rasmussen

GP Summer Series Buenos Aires (28–29 June)

• Format: Standard
• Attendance: 580

1. Francisco Braga
2. Felipe Alves Pellegrini
3. Adrien Degaspare
4. Damian Buckley
5. Ivan Taroshi Fox
6. Olivier Ruel
7. Nicolas Bevacqua
8. Sebastian Pozzo

GP Summer Series Madrid (26–27 July)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 1465

1. Lasse Nørgaard
2. Daniel Martin Bermejo
3. Manuel Bucher
4. Romain Fenaux-briot
5. Allan Christensen
6. Sergio Salas Martinez
7. Tommi Lindgren
8. Geir Bakke

GP Summer Series Kobe (2–3 August)

• Format: Block Constructed
• Attendance: 811

2. Takayuki Takagi
3. Masaya Tanahashi
4. Shou Yoshimori
5. Hirosi Yosida
6. Katsuya Ueda
7. Koutarou Ootsuka
8. Tsuyoshi Ikeda

GP Summer Series Denver (9–10 August)

• Format: Block Constructed
• Attendance: 625

1. Gerry Thompson
2. Lee Steht
3. Nathan Elkins
4. Kenneth Castor
5. A.J. Sacher
6. Kyle Bundgaard
7. Antonino De Rosa
8. Hunter Burton

GP Summer Series Copenhagen (23–24 August)

• Format: Standard
• Attendance: 610

1. David Larsson
2. Tomoharu Saitou
3. Jakub Jahoda
4. Shuhei Nakamura
5. Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
6. William Cavaglieri
7. Philipp Summereder
8. Robert Van Meedevort

GP Summer Series Manila (30–31 August)

• Format: Block Constructed
• Attendance: 641

1. Hironobu Sugaya
2. Shouta Yasooka
3. Luis Magisa
4. Shingou Kurihara
5. Masami Kaneko
6. Koutarou Ootsuka
7. Raphaël Lévy
8. Wai Keat Ken Lim

GP Rimini (13–14 September)

• Format: Block Constructed
• Attendance: 686

1. Emanuele Giusti
2. Shuhei Nakamura
3. Claudio Salemi
4. Marcello Calvetto
5. Matthias Künzler
6. Rodrigo Renedo
7. Joel Calafell
8. Petr Nahodil

GP Paris (18–19 October)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 1838

1. Arjan van Leeuwen
2. Pierre Rensonnet
3. Menno Dolstra
4. Simon Görtzen
5. Niels Noorlander
6. Romain Lisciandro
7. Artur Cnotalski
8. Jan De Coster

GP Kansas City (18–19 October)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 746

1. Tim Landale
2. Carlos Romão
3. Jonathan Sonne
4. Sammy Batarseh
5. Brandon Scheel
6. Justin Meyer
7. Chris Pait
8. Willy Edel

Pro Tour Berlin (31 October – 2 November 2008)

Luis Scott-Vargas of the US, defeated Matej Zatlkaj in the finals of Pro Tour Berlin. Six of the eight quarter finalists, including all four semi-finalists, played variants on the Elf-Ball combo deck.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795<br/> Players: 454<br/> Format: Extended<br/> Head Judge: Sheldon Menery

Top 8

Final standings

Grand Prixs – Atlanta, Okoyama, Taipei, Auckland

GP Atlanta (15–16 November)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 684

1. Luis Scott-Vargas
2. Gerry Thompson
3. Chris Fennell
4. Steven Wolansky
5. Brett Piazza
6. Tomoharu Saitou
7. Chris Pait
8. Ken Adams

GP Taipei (29–30 November)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 270

1. Shu Komuro
2. Yoshitaka Nakano
3. Osamu Fujita
4. Homg Gi Tsai
5. Tun Min Huang
6. Sheng Xiu Jian
7. Lee Shi Tian
8. Kang Nien Chiang

GP Okoyama (22–23 November)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 635

1. Makihito Mihara
2. Kazuya Mitamura
3. Chikara Nakajima
4. Tsuyoshi Ikeda
5. Daisuke Muramatsu
6. Olivier Ruel
7. Akimasa Yamamoto
8. Guillaume Wafo-Tapa

GP Auckland (6–7 December)

• Format: Limited
• Attendance: 254

1. Dominic Lo
2. Nick Tung
3. Justin Cheung
4. Jason Chung
5. Olivier Ruel
6. Joseph Combs
7. Basam Tabet
8. Chris Hay

2008 World Championships – Memphis (11–14 December 2008)

The World Championships began with the induction of Dirk Baberowski, Michael Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, and , into the Hall of Fame. In the individual competition, Antti Malin of Finland emerged as the World Champion from a top eight including only one player without a prior Sunday appearance. In the team competition, it was the first time that the top four teams would play on Sunday, as opposed to only the top two. The US team defeated Australia in the finals.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $245,245 (individual) + $192,425 (national teams)<br/> Players: 329<br/> Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Shards of Alara), Extended<br/> Head Judge: Toby Elliott

Top 8

Final standings

National team competition

1. United States (Michael Jacob, Paul Cheon, )
2. Australia (Aaron Nicastri, Brandon Lau, Justin Cheung)
3. Brazil (Willy Edel, Vagner Casatti, Luiz Guilherme de Michielli)
4. Japan (Masashi Oiso, Yuuya Watanabe, Akihiro Takakuwa)

Pro Player of the year final standings

After the World Championship, Shuhei Nakamura was awarded the Pro Player of the year title, making Japan the first country to win the title in four consecutive years.

Performance by country

Japan had the most Top 8 appearances at 6 although they had less than half as many players on the Pro Tour in the season than the United States, which had the secondmost Top 8 appearances at 5.

<small>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; M = Median finish over all PTs; GT = (aka players with a Pro Players Club level of 4 or more) from that country created in the 2009 season; Best Player (PPts) = Player with the most from that country, Pro Points of that player in brackets.</small>

References