The 2002–03 Pro Tour season was the eighth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 24 August 2002 the season began with Grand Prix Sapporo. It ended on 10 August 2003 with the conclusion of the 2003 World Championship in Berlin. The season consisted of 21 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in Boston, Houston, Chicago, Venice, Yokohama, and Berlin. Also Master Series tournaments were held at four Pro Tours. At the end of the season Kai Budde was proclaimed Pro Player of the Year for the third time in a row.
Grand Prixs – Sapporo, London, Cleveland
GP Sapporo (24–25 August) Shinichi Kumagai Masahiko Morita Satoshi Nakamura Itaru Ishida Kenji Kimoto Junichi Kinoshita Yuta Hirosawa Nobuaki Shikata
GP London (31 August – 1 September) Jakub Slemr Christoph Hölzl Bram Snepvangers Craig Stevenson Pedro Velhinho Christophe Haim Dario Minieri Gérard Garcia
GP Cleveland (7–8 September) Valentin Moskovich Gabriel Tsang Jeremy Pinter Matthew Schrempp Adam Prosak Dave Williams Brian Davis Rob Dougherty
Pro Tour – Boston (27–29 September 2002)
Boston saw Phoenix Foundation win once again. This put all team members on top in regards to overall Pro Tour victories as no other player had then won more than two Pro Tours. The victory was dryly commented as not surprising anyone anymore.
Tournament data Prize pool: $200,100 Players: 363 (121 teams) Format: Team Sealed (Odyssey, Torment, Judgment) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Odyssey-Torment-Judgment) – final two days Head Judge: Nat Fairbanks
Top 4
Final standings
PlaceTeamPlayerPrizePro PointsComment1Phoenix Foundation Dirk Baberowski$60,000244th Final day, 3rd Pro Tour win Kai Budde247th Final day, 6th Pro Tour win Marco Blume242nd Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win22020 Steven Wolfman$30,00018 David Rood18 Elijah Pollock183Courtney's Boys Gary Wise$18,000123rd Final day Neil Reeves122nd Final day Bob Maher, Jr.123rd Final day4Slay Pillage Gerrard Jonathan Sonne$15,00012 Gerard Fabiano12 Scott McCord12
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Dirk Baberowski24 Marco Blume24 Kai Budde244 David Rood205 Elijah Pollock18 Steven Wolfman18
Grand Prixs – Hamburg, Utsonomiya, Copenhagen, Philadelphia
GP Hamburg (28–29 September) Simon Hockwin Arndt Meier Jens Krause Patrick Plößer Nico Wendt Piotr Sienko Dennis Schmitz Jean Charles Salvin
GP Utsonomiya (12–13 October) Rei Hashimoto Shuhei Nakamura Tsuyoshi Fujita Masashi Oiso Eiji Nomura Masanori Kobayashi Jin Okamoto Junichi Kinoshita
GP Copenhagen (12–13 October) Bob Maher, Jr. Jens Krause Kai Budde Fredrik Boberg Dirk Baberowski Jens Thorén David Linder Fleurent Jeudon
GP Philadelphia (26–27 October) Jeff Cunningham Shaun Doran Eli Aden Morgan Douglass Nick Eisel Craig Krempels Patrick Sullivan Jacob Rabinowitz
Pro Tour – Houston (8–10 November 2002)
Pro Tour Houston featured the Extended format. The Ice Age and Mirage-blocks had just rotated out of the format along with 5th Edition, thus removing several of the former key cards from the format. Also Onslaught had become legal for Extended play shortly before the tournament. The most played deck was a "Reanimator"-deck that aimed to get a big creature into the graveyard early via . Afterwards it would try to get that one into play with . Other much-played decks included a combo-deck revolving around and a green-black midrange control deck called "The Rock".
Justin Gary won Pro Tour Houston with a deck revolving around . His teammates of "Your Move Games" (YMG), Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle, came in second and third. Instead of breaking the format with one kind of deck the YMG players in the top 8 even played all different decks, thereby losing games exclusively to one another. It was Rob Dougherty's fifth final day appearance.
Jens Thorén from Sweden won the final of the Master Series against Gary Wise.
Tournament data Prize pool: $200,130 Players: 351 Format: Extended Head Judge: Rune Horvik
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Justin Gary$30,000323rd Final day2 Rob Dougherty$20,000245th Final day3 Darwin Kastle$15,000167th Final day4 John Larkin$13,000163rd Final day5 Peter Myrvig$9,500126 Mattias Jorstedt$8,500127 Bob Maher, Jr.$7,500124th Final day8 Jeroen Remie$6,50012
Winner's deck
Justin Gary's deck, named Turbo Oath, was designed to get a huge into play with quickly. The deck and sideboard was mainly blue, but also included black and green.
Turbo Oath by Justin Gary – Pro Tour Houston 2002 Main Deck: Sideboard: 4 Accumulated Knowledge 4 Brainstorm 2 Cognivore 4 Counterspell 3 Fact or Fiction 1 Foil 2 Forbid 3 Force Spike 2 Intuition 1 Krosan Reclamation 2 Living Wish 1 Mana Leak 4 Oath of Druids 3 Pernicious Deed 2 Forest 7 Island 4 Polluted Delta 1 Swamp 4 Treetop Village 2 Underground River 4 Yavimaya Coast 2 Dust Bowl 3 Engineered Plague 2 Gilded Drake 2 Masticore 2 Naturalize 2 Palinchron 2 Powder Keg
Masters – Booster Draft
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Justin Gary362 Dirk Baberowski343 Bob Maher, Jr.334 Kai Budde315 Rob Dougherty29
Grand Prixs – Melbourne, Los Angeles, Reims, New Orleans
GP Melbourne (23–24 November) Ben Seck Tristan Gall Jarron Puszet Shun Jiang Richard Grace Milton Jian Xiong Lin Chris Allen Jake Hart
GP Los Angeles (23–24 November) Philip Freneau Bob Maher, Jr. Brian Hegstad Ken Krouner Peter Swarowski Allen Sun Nick Eisel Gerardo Gordinez Estrada
GP Reims (30 November – 1 December) Alex Mack Benjamin Caumes Patrick Mello Emmanuel Vernay Hans Joachim Hoeh Régis Lavoisier Christoph Lippert Anton Jonsson
GP New Orleans (3–4 January) Zvi Mowshowitz Eugene Harvey Michael Pustilnik Diego Ostrovich Jeff Cunningham Morgan Douglass Carl Lobato Trey Van Cleave
Pro Tour – Chicago (17–19 January 2003)
In Chicago Kai Budde won his seventh Pro Tour. On his way to the title he defeated, William Jensen, Jon Finkel, and Nicolai Herzog, some of the most accomplished players in the game. Finkel had his tenth Top 8 showing, a feat matched even today only by Kai Budde and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. In the Masters final Franck Canu defeated Ken Ho.
Tournament data
Players: 349 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Rochester Draft (Onslaught) Head Judge: Mike Guptil
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Kai Budde$30,000328th Final day, 7th Pro Tour win2 Nicolai Herzog$20,000242nd Final day3 Jon Finkel$15,0001610th Final day4 Dustin Stern$13,000165 Eugene Harvey$9,000126 Fabio Reinhardt$8,500127 Bram Snepvangers$8,000122nd Final day8 William Jensen$7,500122nd Final day
Masters – Standard
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Kai Budde642 Dirk Baberowski423 Bob Maher, Jr.404 Justin Gary385 Nicolai Herzog34
Grand Prixs – Hiroshima, Sevilla, Boston
GP Hiroshima (25–26 January) Motokiyo Azuma Osamu Fujita Takao Higaki Kang Jisang Junichi Kinoshita Yoshitaka Nakano Tsuyoshi Fujita Atsushi Tabuchi
GP Sevilla (22–23 February) Anton Jonsson Carlos Romão Eivind Nitter Antoine Ruel Stan van der Velden Adriano Rohner David Brucker Javier Perez Fresnedo
GP Boston (22–23 February) Brian Kibler Matthew Cory Aaron Breider Mark Zajdner Ben Rubin Joshua Wagener Zvi Mowshowitz Eric James
Pro Tour – Venice (21–23 March 2003)
Osyp Lebedowicz won Pro Tour Venice with a white and red deck revolving around the Cycling mechanic. It was the second-most popular deck at the tournament trailing only the deck played by his opponent Tomi Walamies in the final. Walamies played a red deck with a Goblin theme. The Masters was won by the Japanese team "PS2".
Tournament data
Players: 310 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Onslaught Block Constructed (Onslaught, Legions) Head Judge: Collin Jackson
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Osyp Lebedowicz$30,000322nd Final day2 Tomi Walamies$20,000242nd Final day3 Jordan Berkowitz$15,000164 William Jensen$13,000163rd Final day5 Gabriel Nassif$9,000122nd Final day6 Darwin Kastle$8,500128th Final day7 Akihiro Kashima$8,000128 Mattias Jorstedt$7,500122nd Final day
Winner's decklist
Osyp Lebedowicz won the tournament with the following red and white deck revolving around the Cycling mechanism:
Astral Slide by Osyp Lebedowicz – Pro Tour Venice 2003 Main Deck: Sideboard: 4 Akroma's Blessing 4 Akroma's Vengeance 4 Astral Slide 2 Daru Sanctifier 2 Gempalm Incinerator 2 Jareth, Leonin Titan 4 Lightning Rift 3 Renewed Faith 4 Starstorm 4 Forgotten Cave 9 Mountain 10 Plains 4 Secluded Steppe 2 Akroma, Angel of Wrath 4 Avarax 3 Demystify 3 Disciple of Grace 2 Gempalm Incinerator 1 Oblation
Masters – Team Rochester Draft
TeamPlayerTeamPlayer2020 David RoodOutland Nicolai Herzog Steve Wolfman Eivind Nitter Elijah Pollock Bjørn JocumsenCourtney's Boys Gary WisePanzer Hunters Reiji Andou Neil Reeves Kazuyuki Momose Bob Maher, Jr. Itaru IshidaIlluminati Alex ShvartsmanPhoenix Foundation Kai Budde Zvi Mowshowitz Dirk Baberowski Patrick Sullivan Marco BlumeJokas Eric JamesPS2 Masahiro Kuroda Kyle Rose Katsuhiro Mori Norman Woods Masahiko Morita
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Kai Budde692 Dirk Baberowski483 Osyp Lebedowicz474 Justin Gary465 Bob Maher, Jr.42
Grand Prixs – Kyoto, Singapore, Prague
GP Kyoto (29–30 March) Akira Asahara Hisaya Tanaka Masashi Oiso Akihiro Takakuwa Itaru Ishida Shuhei Nakamura Ryouma Shiozu Yoshiaki Tashiro
GP Singapore (29–30 March) Mikael Polgary Terry Soh Kelvin Yew Teck Hoon Sam Lei Kang Lau Chang Chua Kai Cheong Tang Gary Talim Antonino De Rosa
GP Prague (12–13 April) Stefan Jedlicka Raphaël Lévy Thomas Gundersen David Jensen Jelger Wiegersma Gabriel Nassif Anton Jonsson Armin Birner
Pro Tour – Yokohama (9–11 May 2003)
Making the final eight for the third time this season Mattias Jorstedt won Pro Tour Yokohama. Jon Finkel also made another Top 8 appearance thus extending his lead in this category to eleven. In the final of the last Masters tournament Bob Maher, Jr. defeated Gabriel Nassif.
Tournament data
Players: 243 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Booster Draft (Onslaught-Legions) Head Judge: Rune Horvik
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Mattias Jorstedt$30,000323rd Final day2 Masashi Oiso$20,000243 Tsuyoshi Ikeda$15,000164 Jon Finkel$13,0001611th Final day5 Benjamin Caumes$9,000126 Jose Barbero$8,500127 Ben Seck$8,000128 Richard Hoaen$7,50012
Masters – Extended
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Kai Budde722 Mattias Jorstedt603 Dirk Baberowski524 Osyp Lebedowicz515 Justin Gary49
Grand Prixs – Pittsburgh, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Detroit
GP Pittsburgh (31 May – 1 June) 1. Illuminati Justin Gary Zvi Mowshowitz Alex Shvartsman 2. Prodigy James Duguid Charles Gindy Manny Orellana 3. Phoque Foundation Jean Charles Salvin Pasquale Ruggiero Jairo Liquidano 4. Northern Lights No. 5 Justin Schneider Michael Krzywicki Mike Long
GP Amsterdam (7–8 June) 1. Rankko Bongo Wheshiwheshi Wilfried Ranque Carlos Romão Jose Barbero 2. Ace Ten Off Kamiel Cornelissen Jon Finkel Eric Froehlich 3. Object of Affection Tomi Walamies Jens Thorén Anton Jonsson 4. Boston Tea Party André Delere Rolf Ottovordemgentschenfelde René Kraft
GP Bangkok (12–13 July) Tsuyoshi Fujita Itaru Ishida Vincent Gan Osamu Fujita Masahiko Morita Tsutomu Yamada Peerapat Ekpoorthorn Noppadol Srirattana
GP Detroit (12–13 July) Bob Maher, Jr. Eugene Harvey Joshua Ravitz Alex Shvartsman Mark Herberholz Matt Severa Morgan Douglass Derek Starleaf
2003 World Championships – Berlin (6–10 August 2003)