Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame

The Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame was started in 2005 to honor the most successful Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour players. The first inductions came on the tenth anniversary of the first Pro Tour event, and new Hall of Famers will be determined annually. Players who are eligible for the ballot (as below) can be voted in the Hall of Fame if they get more than 60% of the election committee's votes. As of 2018, there are 48 players from 12 countries in the Hall of Fame.

Eligibility

In order to appear on the Hall of Fame selection ballot, a player must meet the following five requirements (or the first four requirement if they never appeared in any previous ballots):[1][2]

  1. The player must have participated in his or her first Magic: the Gathering Pro Tour at least 10 seasons prior to the current voting year.
  2. The player must have at least 150 lifetime Pro Tour Points. (Prior to 2013, the threshold was 100 lifetime Pro Tour Points.)
  3. The player must have at least 2 single-elimination round finishes in Pro Tours. (From 2017 onwards)
  4. The player must not currently be suspended from playing Magic or be under investigation by the DCI (Previous suspension does not disqualify a player from entering the Hall of Fame.)
  5. The player must not currently be removed from ballot by the voting committee. If they are currently removed by the ballot, they must finish with at least 4 Pro Points in period between the previous and current voting.

(* Pro Tour includes all Magic: The Gathering World Championship before year 2011)

Voting process

The Selection Committee votes on whom to induct into the Hall of Fame. The committee includes Wizards of the Coast employees, DCI members, judges, long-time reporters, developers, all Hall of Famers, and every Magic player with at least 150 Pro Points.[3] Every member of the Selection Committee gets to vote for up to five of the eligible players. Afterwards every player with at least 60% of the votes gets inducted into the Hall of Fame. If nobody gets 60% of the vote, the player with the most votes will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

If a player received 10% or less of the votes in 3 consecutive votings, they will be removed from the Hall of Fame ballot. They will be eligible again if they score 4 Pro Tour Points during a specific period (roughly the same period between two consecutive votings).

Historical selection process

The selection procedure was changed several times. In 2005 the Selection Committee voted for five players, and the four players receiving the most votes were inducted. Then a Players' Committee voted for one player that was not already selected, and the player receiving the most votes was also inducted.

From 2006 members of the Selection Committee and the Players' Committee received the list of players eligible for induction. Each member selected five players for induction. The votes were tabulated by a weighted percentage: Selection Committee votes counted 2/3, and Players' Committee votes counted 1/3. In 2006 and 2007 the five players with the highest percentages were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Between 2008 and 2016 only the players with over 40% of the weighted votes were inducted or if no one mets this criterion the player with the highest percentage was inducted.

Benefits

The Hall of Fame inductees will receive a number of benefits for the rest of his or her life (unless suspended by the DCI). As of 2016–17 season, it includes the benefits below:

  1. A guaranteed entry to any Pro Tour event and World Magic Cup Qualifiers
  2. Appearance fee at the Pro Tour featuring the yearly Hall of Fame induction.
  3. Bye(s) in Grand Prix and World Magic Cup Qualifiers.
  4. Additional Magic Online Championship Series seasonal QPs.

If a Hall of Fame player is a current Platinum level member of the Pro Players Club, the higher reward will apply to them (i.e. they receive two instead of one bye in World Magic Cup Qualifiers, 20QP instead of 15QP in the Magic Online Championship Series).

Players who enter the Hall of Fame since will also receive a special commemorative ring at the induction ceremony.

Inductees
Class /
year		 Country Inductee Weighted
ballot %		 Ballot rank
within class
2005 United States Jon Finkel 97.10%[4] 1
2005 United States Darwin Kastle 62.32%[4] 2
2005 United States Alan Comer 52.17%[4] 3
2005 Finland Tommi Hovi 46.38%[4] 4
2005 Sweden Olle Råde 34.78%[4] 5
2006 United States Bob Maher 60.01%[5] 1
2006 United States Dave Humpherys 56.78%[5] 2
2006 France Raphaël Lévy 42.58%[5] 3
2006 Canada Gary Wise 39.03%[5] 4
2006 United States Rob Dougherty 38.20%[5] 5
2007 Germany Kai Budde 90.42%[6] 1
2007 United States Zvi Mowshowitz 62.28%[6] 2
2007 Japan Tsuyoshi Fujita 49.74%[6] 3
2007 Norway Nicolai Herzog 41.50%[6] 4
2007 United States Randy Buehler 35.58%[6] 5
2008 Germany Dirk Baberowski 52.36%[7] 1
2008 United States Mike Turian 50.13%[7] 2
2008 Netherlands Jelger Wiegersma 48.19%[7] 3
2008 France Olivier Ruel 46.01%[7] 4
2008 United States Ben Rubin 45.62%[7] 5
2009 France Antoine Ruel 63.43%[8] 1
2009 Netherlands Kamiel Cornelissen 62.48%[8] 2
2009 Netherlands Frank Karsten 44.79%[8] 3
2010 France Gabriel Nassif 89.25%[9] 1
2010 United States Brian Kibler 49.36%[9] 2
2010 Netherlands Bram Snepvangers 40.03%[10] 4[lower-alpha 1]
2011 Japan Shuhei Nakamura 89.25%[11] 1
2011 Sweden Anton Jonsson 69.81%[11] 2
2011 United States Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 50.57%[11] 3
2012 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 85.65%[12] 1
2012 Japan Kenji Tsumura 81.76%[12] 2
2012 Japan Masashi Oiso 76.18%[12] 3
2012 United States Patrick Chapin 44.91%[12] 4
2013 United States Luis Scott-Vargas 95.63%[13] 1
2013 United States William Jensen 59.97%[13] 2
2013 United States Ben Stark 58.96%[13] 3
2014 Japan Makihito Mihara 86.80% 1
2014 United States Paul Rietzl 72.59% 2
2014 France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa 60.91% 3
2015 United States Eric Froehlich 66.35%[14] 1
2015 Japan Shouta Yasooka 62.50%[14] 2
2015 Brazil Willy Edel 47.60%[14] 3
2016 United States Owen Turtenwald 70.93%[15] 1
2017 United States Josh Utter-Leyton 86.31%[16] 1
2017 Czech Republic Martin Jůza 66.39%[16] 2
2018 United States Seth Manfield 65.19%[17] 1
2018 Hong Kong Lee Shi Tian 64.16%[17] 2
2019 United States Reid Duke 94.28%[18] 1

Controversies

Tomoharu Saito banning

In the ballot of 2010, Tomoharu Saito was voted into the Hall of Fame with a weighted percentage of 47.74%.[9] However, two weeks prior to the induction Saito was disqualified during Grand Prix Florence leading to an 18-month suspension from the game. The rules do not allow currently-suspended players to be voted into the Hall of Fame. Wizards announced without further explanation that Saito would not be part of the Hall of Fame based on the 2010 ballot.[19]

Bram Snepvangers miscalculation

In the original ballot results for 2010, Bram Snepvangers received a weighted percentage of 39.95%, barely missing the required 40%. However, in the days following the publication of results it was discovered that there had been an error in the calculations. Weights of 0.667 and 0.333 had been used for the votes from the Selection Committee and Players Committee respectively while the rules clearly stated that 0.67 and 0.33 were the correct numbers. After recalculating the scores Snepvangers landed at 40.03% and was inducted into the Hall of Fame along with Nassif and Kibler.[10]

Yuuya Watanabe removal

In April 2019, during a deck check at Mythic Championship II in London it was found that some of Watanabe's card sleeves had been marked in a distinct way. This led to his disqualification from the tournament. On May 9, 2019, Wizards of the Coast announced that Watanabe would be removed from the Hall of Fame for cheating, as well as receiving a 30-month ban from sanctioned events and being removed from the Magic Pro League.[20] This event made Watanabe the first and so far only player to ever be removed from the Hall of Fame.

Inductees by country
Country Number of inductees
United States 21
Japan 7
France 5
Netherlands 4
Germany 2
Sweden 2
Brazil 2
Canada 1
Finland 1
Norway 1
Czech 1
Hong Kong 1

Notes
  1. At 40.03%, Bram Snepvangers's ballot rank within the class was fourth. At 47.74%, Tomoharu Saito's ballot rank within the class was third, but Saito was disqualified as described in more detail in the Controversies section of this article.

References
  1. "Pro Tour Hall of Fame Updates Plus RPTQ Decks". Wizards of the Coast. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
  2. "Hall of Fame Rules". Wizards of the Coast. 16 June 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  3. "Selection Committee". Wizards of the Coast. 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2016.
  4. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2005 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. 2005-08-01. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  5. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2006 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. 2005-08-01. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  6. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2007 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. 2007-09-07. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  7. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2008 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. 2008-09-05. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  8. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2009 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  9. "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame 2010 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2010-09-05.
  10. "Snepvangers Joins 2010 Hall of Fame Class". Wizards of the Coast. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2010-09-10.
  11. David-Marshall, Brian (19 August 2011). "Introducing the 2011 Hall of Fame Class". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  12. David-Marshall, Brian (2012-07-27). "Introducing the 2012 Pro Tour Hall of Fame Class". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  13. "2013 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 2013-07-31.
  14. "VOTING RESULTS". Wizards of the Coast. 31 July 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  15. "VOTING RESULTS". Wizards of the Coast. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  16. "VOTING RESULTS". Wizards of the Coast. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 11 September 2017.
  17. "Hall of Fame 2018 Voting Results". MAGIC: THE GATHERING. Retrieved 2018-11-11.
  18. MAGIC: THE GATHERING https://magic.wizards.com/en/events/coverage/top-players/pthof/2018/voting-results. Retrieved 2018-11-11. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. "Saito removed from Hall of Fame selection". Wizards of the Coast. 8 December 2010. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  20. "Statement Regarding Yuuya Watanabe". Wizards of the Coast. 9 May 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  • Hall of Fame webpage
  • Eligibility through 2020
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