Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1996–97

The 1996–97 Pro Tour season was the second season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 13 September 1996 with Pro Tour Atlanta, and ended on 17 August 1997 with the conclusion of 1997 World Championship in Seattle. The season consisted of five Grand Prix, and six Pro Tours, located in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, Paris, New York, and Seattle. At the end of the season Paul McCabe from Canada was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. It was the first season to host Grand Prix, which are major tournaments awarding cash prizes and Pro Points, but open to all players.

1996–97 Pro Tour season
Pro Player of the Year Paul McCabe
Rookie of the Yearnone awarded
World Champion Jakub Slemr
Pro Tours6
Grands Prix5
Start of season13 September 1996
End of season17 August 1997
← 1996 1997–98 →

Mode

Six Pro Tours were held in the 1996–97 season. Five Grand Prixs were held in the season. However, they did not award Pro Points. Based on final Pro Tour standings Pro Points were awarded as follows:

Rank123–45–89–1617–3233–6465+
Pro Points302520104210

Pro Tour – Atlanta (13–15 September 1996)

Atlanta was the only Pro Tour ever to host an individual Sealed Deck competition as the main event. Furthermore, the cards were all previously unknown to the players as Mirage product was used, but Mirage had not been officially released yet. Also Atlanta was the first Pro Tour that allowed players to intentionally draw matches.[1][2] In the end German Frank Adler won Pro Tour Atlanta over Darwin Kastle.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $150,000 ($250,000 including Team Competition and scholarships for the Junior Division)[3]
Players: 192
Format: Sealed Deck (Mirage)

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Frank Adler $26,000 1st German to win a Pro Tour
2 Darwin Kastle $16,000 2nd Final day
3 Aaron Muranaka $9,000
4 John Yoo $9,000
5 Terry Borer $5,500
6 Mike Long $5,500
7 Chris Pikula $5,500
8 Matthew Vienneau $5,500

Other divisions

Aaron Souders won the Junior Division against Louis Beryl. Jason Gordon and David Connelly were the other semi-finalists. The quarter-finalists were David Lively, Trevor Blackwell, James Murphy, and Alexander Sutherland. The team of Mark Chalice, Scott Johns, Mark Justice, Preston Poulter, and Mario Robaina won the Team Competition against Dave Lyon, Mike Reinking, Kevin Stelzer, Jeff Sternal, and Chris Stelzer for a prize of $11,000. [3]

Pro Tour – Dallas (22–24 November 1996)

Eventual Pro Player of the year Paul McCabe won Pro Tour Dallas. The Canadian defeated Jason Zila from the US in the final. Olle Råde had his third Top 8 appearance while playing only his fourth Pro Tour.[1] Pro Tour Dallas also featured a Type I (now Vintage) division, which Scott Johns won.[4] Justin Schneider won the Junior Division for $16,000 scholarship over Jeremy Baca in the finals. Eventual Hall of Famer Patrick Chapin and Jeff Simoneau lost in the semi-finals.[5]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $150,000 ($250,000 including Classic Division and Junior Division scholarships)[6]
Players: 242
Format: Standard

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Paul McCabe $26,000 1st Canadian to win a Pro Tour
2 Jason Zila $16,000
3 Brian Hacker $9,000
4 Chris Pikula $9,000 2nd Final day
5 George Baxter $5,500 2nd Final day
6 Olle Råde $5,500 3rd Final day
7 Robert Thornburg $5,500
8 Peer Kröger $5,500

Top 8
Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Brian Hacker 2
8 Olle Rade 0
Brian Hacker
Paul McCabe
5 Paul McCabe 2
4 Robert Thornburg 0
Paul McCabe
Jason Zila
3 Chris Pikula 2
6 George Baxter 1
Chris Pikula
Jason Zila
7 Peer Kröger 0
2 Jason Zila 2

Junior Division

Justin Schneider won the finals of the Junior Division against Jeremy Baca for a $16,000 scholarship. The other semi-finalists were Patrick Chapin and Jeff Simoneau. The quarter-finalists were Jason Moungey, Vinnie Falcone, Yubin Tao, and Adam Jansen.[7]

Pro Tour – Los Angeles (28 February – 2 March 1997)

Tommi Hovi won Pro Tour Los Angeles, winning the final against David Mills. It was the only Pro Tour final ever to be decided by a disqualification. Mills was disqualified because he repeatedly tapped his lands after (rather than before) attempting to play a spell, which was not allowed at the time. Leading to an upset amongst the players it was eventually decided that Mills would be allowed to claim his prize, despite being originally disqualified without prize.

Los Angeles was also the first Pro Tour to use the so-called Paris Mulligan. Previously players were allowed to take a mulligan if they had an all-land or no-land starting hand. Instead players could now mulligan whenever they wished to do so, but had to draw an opening hand with one card less. The name Paris Mulligan actually refers to the subsequent Pro Tour in Paris, which was the first Constructed Pro Tour to use this rule.[1]

Jess Means won the finals of the Junior Division against eventual Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz.[8]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $150,000
Players: 236
Format: Rochester Draft (Mirage-Visions)
Head Judge: Tom Wylie[9]

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Tommi Hovi $26,000 2nd Final day, 1st Finn to win a Pro Tour
2 David Mills $16,000 Disqualified
3 Alan Comer $9,000
4 John Yoo $9,000 2nd Final day
5 Truc Bui $5,500
6 John Immordino $5,500 2nd Final day
7 Brian Weissman $5,500 2nd Final day
8 Ben Possemiers $5,500 1st Belgian in a Top 8

Grand Prix – Amsterdam

GP Amsterdam (22–23 March)

  1. Emmanuel Vernay
  2. David Nott
  3. Wessel Oomens
  4. Sven Dijt
  5. Roeland Van der Hoevenen
  6. Matt Henstra
  7. Michael Huth
  8. Dominique Coene

Pro Tour – Paris (11–13 April 1997)

Paris was the first Pro Tour held outside the United States. In the finals, the biggest names of Magic at the time (Mike Long and Mark Justice) met to determine the champion. Both decks present in the final belonged to Long as he had previously loaned his deck to Justice. Eventually Long won the match, en route winning a game which his Combo deck was not capable of winning any more, but he convinced Justice to concede anyway.[1]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $150,000
Players: 223
Format: Mirage Block Constructed (Mirage, Visions)

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Mike Long $26,000 2nd Final day
2 Mark Justice $16,000 3rd Final day
3 Darwin Kastle $9,000 3rd Final day
4 Henning Rimkus $9,000
5 Sturla Bingen $5,500 1st Norwegian in a Top 8
6 Paul Ferker $5,500
7 Jason Gordon $5,500
8 Jason Zila $5,500 2nd Final day

Grand Prix – Washington D.C., Tokyo, Barcelona

Pro Tour – New York (30 May – 1 June 1997)

Canadian Terry Borer won Pro Tour New York, defeating Ivan Stanoev in the finals.[1] In the finals of Junior Division Ron Franke beat Jamie Parke.[10]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $150,000
Players: 259
Format: Booster Draft (5th Edition-Visions)

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Terry Borer $26,000 2nd Final day
2 Ivan Stanoev $16,000 1st Czech in a Top 8
3 Gabriel Tsang $9,000
4 Jeroen Weyden $9,000 1st Dutch Player in a Top 8
5 Mark Chalice $5,500
6 John Chinnock $5,500
7 Michael Pustilnik $5,500
8 Patrick Chapin $5,500

Grand Prix – London

GP London (12–13 July)

  1. Michel Sochon
  2. Cyrille DeFoucaud
  3. Ollie Schneider
  4. Graham Thomson
  5. Ben Possemiers
  6. Daniel Brickwell
  7. Robin McCandless
  8. Frederic Bannach

1997 World Championships – Seattle (13–17 August 1997)
Main article: Magic: The Gathering World Championship § 1997 World Championship

Jakub Slemr from the Czech Republic won the World Championship. He defeated Janosch Kühn from Germany in the final, playing a mainly black aggro-deck, dipping into all other colours for utility. Canada won the team competition in a final against Sweden.[1]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,000 (individual) + $50,000 (national teams)
Players: 153
Format: Standard, Rochester Draft (Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight), Extended

Final standings
Place Player Prize Comment
1 Jakub Slemr $34,000 1st Czech to win a Pro Tour
2 Janosch Kühn $22,000 Pro Tour debut
3 Paul McCabe $12,000 2nd Final day
4 Svend Geertsen $12,000 1st Dane in a Top 8
5 Gabriel Tsang $8,000 2nd Final day
6 Nikolai Weibull $8,000
7 Nate Clarke $8,000
8 John Chinnock $8,000 2nd Final day

National team competition
  1. Canada (Gary Krakower, Michael Donais, Ed Ito, Gabriel Tsang)
  2. Sweden (Nikolai Weibull, Mattias Jorstedt, Marcus Angelin, Johan Cedercrantz)

Pro Player of the year final standings

After the World Championship Paul McCabe was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.[1]

Rank Player Pro Points
1 Paul McCabe 52
2 Terry Borer 47
John Yoo 47
4 Mike Long 46
5 Darwin Kastle 45

References
  1. Rosewater, Mark (26 July 2004). "On Tour, Part 1". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  2. Vienneau, Matthew (22 November 2005). "Pro Tour Atlanta 1996 Report. No, Really". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  3. "Pro Tour-Atlanta Final Results". Wizards of the Coast. 1996. Archived from the original on 19 December 1996. Retrieved 15 April 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Kuta, Jeffrey (25 November 1996). "[Report] PT Dallas Type I Tournament". The Magic Dojo. Archived from the original on 18 February 1999. Retrieved 13 April 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. "Final Results, Magic: The Gathering® Pro TourTM-Dallas November 22-24, 1996". Wizards of the Coast. 1996. Archived from the original on 1 May 1997. Retrieved 15 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. "Pro Tour Tournament Formats". Wizards of the Coast. 1996. Archived from the original on 19 December 1996. Retrieved 15 April 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. "Final Results, Magic: The Gathering Pro TourTM-Dallas". Wizards of the Coast. 1996. Archived from the original on 19 December 1996. Retrieved 15 April 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "Pro Tour Los Angeles Cybercast". Wizards of the Coast. 1997. Archived from the original on 1 May 1997. Retrieved 15 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. "Head Judges of Pro Tours and World Championships". XS4ALL. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  10. "The final standings from Pro Tour - New York". Wizards of the Coast. 4 June 1997. Archived from the original on 6 June 1997. Retrieved 15 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
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