Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2010

The 2010 Pro Tour season was the fifteenth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 13 February 2010 with Grand Prix Oakland, and ended on 12 December 2010 with the conclusion of the 2010 World Championship in Chiba, Japan. The season consisted of eighteen Grand Prixs, and four Pro Tours, located in San Diego, San Juan, Amsterdam, and Chiba.[1] Gabriel Nassif, Brian Kibler, and Bram Snepvangers were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the World Championship in Chiba. Although the season formally ended with the conclusion of the World Championship, the final title of season was not awarded until three months later. Guillaume Matignon and Brad Nelson tied for Player of the Year. The title was decided by a single match between the two at the 2011 Pro Tour in Paris, which Nelson won by four games to two.[2]

2010 Pro Tour season
Pro Player of the YearUnited States Brad Nelson
Rookie of the YearItaly Andrea Giarola
World ChampionFrance Guillaume Matignon
Pro Tours4
Grands Prix18
Hall of Fame inductionsFrance Gabriel Nassif
United States Brian Kibler
Netherlands Bram Snepvangers
Start of season13 February 2010
End of season12 December 2010

Mode

Four Pro Tours and eighteen Grand Prixs were held in the 2010 season. Further Pro Points were awarded at national championships. These Pro Points were used mainly to determine the Pro Player club levels of players participating in these events, but also decide which player was awarded the Pro Player of the year title at the end of the season. Based on final standings Pro Points were awarded as follows:[3]

Rank Pro Points awarded at
Pro Tour Grand Prix Nationals Worlds (Team)
1 25 10 10 6
2 20 8 8 5
3–4 16 6 6 4
5–8 12 5 4 3
9–12 8 4 2 2
13–16 8 3 1 1
17–24 7 2
25–32 6 2
33–64 5 1
65–100 4
101–200 3
201+ 2

Grand Prix – Oakland

GP Oakland (13–14 February)
  • Format: Extended
  • Attendance: 770
  1. United States Matt Nass
  2. United States Adam Yurchick
  3. United States Conley Woods
  4. United States Travis Woo
  5. United States Pat Cox
  6. United States Joby Parish
  7. Czech Republic Petr Brozek
  8. Japan Tomoharu Saitou

Pro Tour – San Diego (19–21 February 2010)

Pro Tour San Diego was held at the San Diego Convention Center. The tournament began with five rounds of Standard, followed by three rounds of Zendikar-Worldwake Booster Draft on the first day.[1] At the end of day one Gabriel Nassif and Luis Scott-Vargas were the only undefeated players left.[4] The second day began with another Zendikar-Worldwake Booster Draft and was followed by five additional rounds of Standard. Luis Scott-Vargas was the story of the day, having won all his matches in day two as well, thus becoming only the second player to win each match in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour, and the first to achieve this feat over sixteen rounds.

Of the final eight players only Scott-Vargas had ever reached the top eight before.[5] He quickly defeated his Dutch opponent. In the remaining quarter-finals the other Americans, Craig Wescoe and Kyle Boggemes, won their matches as well. German Simon Görtzen won the fourth quarter, defeating the Belgian Niels Viaene. In the semi-final Görtzen ended Scott-Vargas's streak, thus making it to the final where he played Boggemes. Both players had chosen Jund (red-green-black) decks. Eventually the German prevailed in a close match over the full five games.[6]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 413[7]
Format: Standard, Booster Draft (Zendikar-Worldwake)
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery

Top 8

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Luis Scott-Vargas 3
8 Jeroen Kanis 0
Luis Scott-Vargas 1
Simon Görtzen 3
4 Simon Görtzen 3
5 Niels Viaene 1
Simon Görtzen 3
Kyle Boggemes 2
2 Daniel Gräfensteiner 1
7 Craig Wescoe 3
Craig Wescoe 1
Kyle Boggemes 3
3 Kyle Boggemes 3
6 Yoshihiko Ikawa 0

Final standings

Place Player Prize Pro Points Comment
1 Germany Simon Görtzen $40,000 25
2 United States Kyle Boggemes $20,000 20
3 United States Luis Scott-Vargas $15,000 16 3rd Final day
4 United States Craig Wescoe $13,000 16
5 Germany Daniel Gräfensteiner $11,000 12
6 Belgium Niels Viaene $10,500 12 Pro Tour Debut
7 Japan Yoshihiko Ikawa $10,000 12
8 Netherlands Jeroen Kanis $9,500 12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank Player Pro Points
1 Germany Simon Görtzen 25
2 United States Kyle Boggemes 20
3 United States Luis Scott-Vargas 18
4 United States Craig Wescoe 16

Grand Prixs – Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, Yokohama, Brussels, Houston, Lyon, Washington D.C.

Pro Tour San Juan (28–30 May 2010)

The second Pro Tour of the season was held in Puerto Rico Convention Center in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The formats were Zendikar Block Constructed and Rise of the Eldrazi Booster Draft with the Top 8 doing another Rise of the Eldrazi draft.[1]

The following players made it to the final draft table (clockwise in order starting at seed one): Guillaume Matignon, Jeremy Neeman, Andrea Giarola, Paulo Vitor da Rosa, Brad Nelson, Noah Swartz, Koutarou Ootsuka, Josh Utter-Leyton. In his fifth individual Top 8 appearance Paulo Vitor da Rosa was finally able to win a quarterfinal match. Defeating Noah Swartz in the semifinals and Guillaume Matignon in the final, Paulo eventually claimed his first Pro Tour trophy.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 396[8]
Format: Booster Draft (Rise of the Eldrazi), Zendikar Block Constructed
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery

Top 8

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Guillaume Matignon 3
8 Brad Nelson 0
Guillaume Matignon 3
Andrea Giarola 2
4 Andrea Giarola 3
5 Koutarou Ootsuka 2
Guillaume Matignon 2
Paulo Vitor da Rosa 3
2 Paulo Vitor da Rosa 3
7 Josh Utter-Leyton 2
Paulo Vitor da Rosa 3
Noah Swartz 1
3 Jeremy Neeman 1
6 Noah Swartz 3

Final standings

Place Player Prize Pro Points Comment
1 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa $40,000 25 6th Final day
2 France Guillaume Matignon $20,000 20
3 Italy Andrea Giarola $15,000 16 Pro Tour debut
4 United States Noah Swartz $13,000 16
5 United States Josh Utter-Leyton $11,000 12
6 United States Brad Nelson $10,500 12
7 Japan Koutarou Ootsuka $10,000 12 2nd Final day
8 Australia Jeremy Neeman $9,500 12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank Player Pro Points
1 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 37
2 Germany Simon Görtzen 31
3 United States Kyle Boggemes 28
4 United States Luis Scott-Vargas 26
5 United States Brad Nelson 25
Japan Tomoharu Saitou 25
United States Adam Yurchick 25

Grand Prixs – Sendai, Manila, Columbus, Gothenburg

Pro Tour Amsterdam (3–5 September 2010)

The third Pro Tour of the season was held in Amsterdam Convention Factory in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The formats were Extended and Booster Draft with the Top 8 playing Extended again.[1]

Brad Nelson finished in first place after the Swiss rounds, thus continuing his string of Top 8 appearances that he had started at GP Washington in May. Despite losing in the final with his green-white-black Doran-deck, the additional Pro Points were sufficient to make him the leader in the Pro Player of the Year race. Kai Budde had his tenth showing in a Pro Tour Top 8 after six years of absence. He had piloted his Gabriel Nassif-designed White Weenie-deck to a 9–0–1 performance in the Swiss portion of the tournament before losing to Nelson. The eventual winner of the tournament was American Paul Rietzl, playing a White Weenie deck similar to Budde's. Rietzl made a clean sweep of the Top 8 going 9-0, the first time this had ever been done at a Constructed Pro Tour.[9]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 457[10]
Format: Extended, Booster Draft
Head Judge: Toby Elliott

Top 8

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Brad Nelson 3
8 Kai Budde 2
Brad Nelson 3
Marijn Lybaert 0
4 Marijn Lybaert 3
5 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa 1
Brad Nelson 0
Paul Rietzl 3
2 Paul Rietzl 3
7 Thomas Ma 0
Paul Rietzl 3
Michael Jacob 0
3 Michael Jacob 3
6 Brian Kibler 2

Final standings

Place Player Prize Pro Points Comment
1 United States Paul Rietzl $40,000 25 2nd Final day
2 United States Brad Nelson $20,000 20 2nd Final day
3 United States Michael Jacob $15,000 16
4 Belgium Marijn Lybaert $13,000 16 4th Final day
5 France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa $11,000 12 3rd Final day
6 United States Brian Kibler $10,500 12 4th Final day
7 United States Thomas Ma $10,000 12 Pro Tour debut
8 Germany Kai Budde $9,500 12 10th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank Player Pro Points
1 United States Brad Nelson 54
2 Japan Tomoharu Saitou 44
3 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 41
4 France Guillaume Matignon 38
5 Germany Simon Görtzen 37
Belgium Marijn Lybaert

Grand Prixs – Portland, Sydney, Toronto, Bochum, Nashville, Florence

2010 World Championships – Chiba (9–12 December 2010)

The 17th Magic World Championships was held in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.[1] The tournament was won by Guillaume Matignon beating long-time friend and colleague Guillaume Wafo-Tapa in the final. In the team event, Slovakia defeated Australia in the finals.[11]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $245,245 (individual) + ? (teams)
Players: 352[12] (57 National Teams)[13]
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft, Extended
Team Formats: Standard, Extended, Legacy
Head Judge: Riccardo Tessitori

Top 8

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 3
8 Jonathan Randle 2
1 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 0
4 Guillaume Matignon 3
4 Guillaume Matignon 3
5 Eric Froelich 1
Guillaume Matignon 3
Guillaume Wafo-Tapa 1
2 Love Janse 3
7 Christopher Wolf 2
2 Love Janse 1
3 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa 3
3 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa 3
6 Lukas Jaklovsky 1

Final standings

Place Player Prize Pro Points Comment
1 France Guillaume Matignon $45,000 25 2nd Final day
2 France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa $24,000 20 4th Final day
3 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa $15,000 16 7th Final day
4 Sweden Love Janse $14,000 16 Pro Tour Debut
5 United States Eric Froehlich $11,000 12 2nd Final day
6 Czech Republic Lukas Jaklovsky $10,500 12
7 Austria Christopher Wolf $10,000 12
8 England Jonathan Randle $9,500 12

Team Competition

  1. Slovakia Slovakia — Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, Patrik Surab
  2. Australia Australia — Adam Witton, Ian Wood, Jeremy Neeman

Pro Player of the Year final standings

For the first time in Pro Tour history, there was a tie for Pro Player of the Year. The tie players, Brad Nelson and Guillaume Matignon, played a single match play-off at Pro Tour Paris 2011 to determine the winner of the 2010 Pro Player of the Year title. Brad Nelson would win the match 4-2 to claim the 2010 Player of the Year title.[14]

Rank Player Pro Points
1 United States Brad Nelson 66
France Guillaume Matignon
3 Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa 64
4 Czech Republic Martin Juza 52
5 Japan Shuhei Nakamura 51
France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
7 United States Luis Scott-Vargas 47
8 Japan Yuuya Watanabe 45

Performance by country

The United States had the most Top 8 appearances at twelve, but they also had by far the most players playing in the Pro Tour. With 26 they also have the most Pro Club Level 4+ professional players. Compared to the previous season, the United States put 2 more players into Top 8s (+20%) and generated 9 additional "gravy trainers" (+53%). Japan's performance at the top fell sharply, putting 4 players less amongst the Top 8s (-67%) and also generating 8 level 4+ pros less than in the preceding season (-47%). Meanwhile, France had the second most Top 8 appearances at 4 after a single Top 8 in 2009.

Country T8 Q Q/T8 M GT Best Player (PPts)
United States United States 12 468 39 210 26 Brad Nelson (66)
France France 4 87 22 191 6 Guillaume Matignon (66)
Germany Germany 3 84 28 202.5 6 Simon Görtzen (40)
Japan Japan 2 160 80 160.5 9 Shuhei Nakamura (51)
Belgium Belgium 2 42 21 168.5 3 Marijn Lybaert (43)
Brazil Brazil 2 33 17 276 1 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (64)
Czech Republic Czech Republic 1 38 38 127 5 Martin Juza (52)
Netherlands Nethlands 1 53 53 172 2 Bas Melis (25)
Italy Italy 1 64 64 197 2 Andrea Giarola (26)

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 = Gravy Trainers (aka players with a Pro Players Club level of 4 or more) from that country created in the 2010 season; Best Player (PPts) = Player with the most Pro Points from that country, Pro Points of that player in brackets.

References

  1. "Magic Span the Globe in 2010". Wizards of the Coast. 11 August 2009. Archived from the original on August 14, 2009. Retrieved 29 November 2009.
  2. "The Full Nelson". Wizards of the Coast. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on February 14, 2011. Retrieved 11 February 2011.
  3. "Magic: The Gathering Pro Points Structure". Wizards of the Coast. 2009. Archived from the original on January 19, 2009. Retrieved 2009-07-21.
  4. "Pro Tour San Diego–Round 8 Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on February 23, 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  5. "Pro Tour San Diego–Top 8 Player Profiles". Wizards of the Coast. 20 February 2010. Archived from the original on February 24, 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  6. "Görtzen Goes All the Way in San Diego". Wizards of the Coast. 21 February 2010. Archived from the original on February 23, 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  7. "Pro Tour San Diego–Round 8 Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 19 February 2010. Archived from the original on February 26, 2010. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  8. "Pro Tour San Juan–Round 1 Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 28 May 2010. Archived from the original on June 5, 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2010.
  9. David-Marshall, Brian (5 September 2010). "Video Feature: Day Three Wrap-up". Archived from the original (Video) on September 13, 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2011.
  10. "Pro Tour Amsterdam–Round 1 Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 3 September 2010. Archived from the original on September 13, 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  11. "There's No Jace Like Guillaume". Wizards of the Coast. 12 December 2010. Archived from the original on December 11, 2010. Retrieved 12 December 2010.
  12. "Magic: The Gathering World Championships–Round 1 Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  13. "Magic: The Gathering World Championships–Round 1 Team Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 9 December 2010. Archived from the original on December 16, 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2010.
  14. Bennett, Josh (12 February 2011). "Player of the Year Match: The Full Nelson". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on February 15, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-16.
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