Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2001–02

New York was the third time Pro Tour was held in the Team Limited format. Car Acrobatic Team who had been amongst the Top 4 at the previous team Pro Tour returned for another Top 4. The event was won by team Phoenix Foundation consisting of Kai Budde, Dirk Baberowski, and Marco Blume. It was Baberowski's second win and Budde's fourth.[1] The final was also a repeat to the final of Grand Prix London a week before, where Budde had already won against Nassif. Eventually Kai's renewed success led to some memorable quotes. Asked about the favorite to win amongst the final 4 several pros exclaimed something to the extent of the words Gary Wise pronounced, "Kai doesn't lose on Sunday".[2] Randy Buehler's comment "if he wins New Orleans, I guess he is" on the discussion whether Kai is the best player in the history of the game also became a classic when Kai indeed won PT New Orleans.[1]

Final standings

Place	Team	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Phoenix Foundation	Marco Blume	$60,000	24
		Dirk Baberowski		24	3rd Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win
		Kai Budde		24	4th Final day, 4th Pro Tour win
2	Les Plus Class	Amiel Tenenbaum	$30,000	18	Pro Tour debut
		Gabriel Nassif		18
		Nicolas Olivieri		18
3	Illuminati*	Justin Gary	$18,000	12	2nd Final day
		Zvi Mowshowitz		12	4th Final day
		Alex Shvartsman		12
4	Car Acrobatic Team	Aaron Forsythe	$15,000	12	2nd Final day
		Andrew Cuneo		12	2nd Final day
		Andrew Johnson		12	2nd Final day

^* The team entered the tournament as "My Team Part 17", but decided they wanted to have more serious name as a Top4 team and changed it to "Illuminati".[4]

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kai Budde	30
2	Dirk Baberowski	24
	Marco Blume	24
4	Gabriel Nassif	23
5	Nicholas Olivieri	18
	Amiel Tenenbaum	18

After winning Pro Tour New York Kai Budde won New Orleans as well, making him the only player to win back to back Pro Tours. His fifth Pro Tour victory also made him the record money-earner and erased almost all doubt, that Budde is the best player in the history of the game.[5]

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Kai Budde	$30,000	32	5th Final day, 5th Pro Tour win
2	Tomi Walamies	$20,000	24
3	Jelger Wiegersma	$15,000	16
4	Dave Humpherys	$13,000	16	3rd Final day
5	Anton Jonsson	$9,500	12
6	Raphaël Gennary	$8,500	12	1st Swiss Player in a Top 8
7	Darwin Kastle	$7,500	12	6th Final day
8	Benedikt Klauser	$6,500	12	4th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kai Budde	62
2	Tomi Walamies	35
3	Marco Blume	32
4	Gabriel Nassif	28
5	Dave Humpherys	26

The 2002 was won by the French Farid Meraghni. It was the first time a French player won a major tournament after several French players coming in second at Worlds and Pro Tours.[1] Also the tournament is known for Magic veteran Eric Taylor literally eating his hat due to losing a bet about Kai Budde winning Pro Tour New Orleans.[6] Canadian player Ryan Fuller won the Masters.[7]

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Farid Meraghni	$30,000	32	1st Frenchmen to win a Pro Tour
2	Jens Thorén	$20,000	24
3	Donnie Gallitz	$15,000	16
4	Andrew Wolf	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Jeff Cunningham	$9,000	12
6	Frederico Bastos	$8,500	12	2nd Final day
7	Neil Reeves	$8,000	12
8	Eric Froehlich	$7,500	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kai Budde	80
2	Jens Thorén	40
3	Farid Meraghni	38
4	Tomi Walamies	34
5	Marco Blume	33

In Nice Kai Budde lost his first match on a Pro Tour Sunday, after winning his previous five Top 8.[1] His third final day appearance and ensuing 36-point-lead virtually secured him the Pro Player of the Year title, though. The Pro Tour was won by Norwegian Eivind Nitter, while the Masters Series title went to Alexander Witt from the Netherlands.

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Eivind Nitter	$30,000	32
2	Bram Snepvangers	$20,000	24
3	Svend Geertsen	$15,000	16	4th Final day
4	Brian Davis	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Kai Budde	$9,000	12	6th Final day
6	Anton Jonsson	$8,500	12	2nd Final day
7	Gary Talim	$8,000	12
8	Benjamin Niedrig	$7,500	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kai Budde	96
2	Jens Thorén	61
3	Alex Shvartsman	56
4	Olivier Ruel	55
5	Gabriel Nassif	47

As Jens Thorén had not scored any points since Nice and he was not on his national team the Pro Tour Player of the Year going to Kai Budde was already a sure thing before the tournament. While Carlos Romão from Brazil became World Champion by defeating Mark Ziegner from Germany in the final, the German team also starring Mark Ziegner won the team competition.[8]

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Carlos Romão	$35,000	32	1st Brazilian to win a Pro Tour
2	Mark Ziegner	$23,000	24
3	Diego Ostrovich	$15,000	16	1st Argentinian in a Top 8
4	Dave Humpherys	$13,000	16	4th Final day
5	Sim Han How	$9,000	12	1st Malaysian in a Top 8
6	John Larkin	$8,500	12	2nd Final day
7	Tuomas Kotiranta	$8,000	12
8	Ken Krouner	$7,500	12

After the World Championship Kai Budde was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. He thus became the only player to win the title more than once. Budde's 117 Pro Points in this season to date is still the only time that a player garnered more than 100 Pro Points in a season, and his lead of 42 Pro Points over the second place is still the greatest ever achieved at the end of a season.

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Kai Budde	117
2	Jens Thorén	75
3	Alex Shvartsman	62
4	Olivier Ruel	58
5	Dave Humpherys	52