The 2006 Pro Tour season was the eleventh season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 18 December 2005 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Lille and Charlotte. It ended on 3 December 2006 with the conclusion of the 2006 World Championship in Paris. The season consisted of 22 Grand Prixs and 5 Pro Tours, held in Honolulu, Prague, Charleston, Kobe, and Paris. At the end of the season Shouta Yasooka from Japan was proclaimed Pro Player of the year. At the Worlds in Paris the second class of the Hall of Fame was inducted. The inductees were Bob Maher, Jr., Dave Humpherys, Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty.
Grand Prixs – Lille, Charlotte, Hasselt, Richmond, Dortmund
GP Lille (18–19 December) Format: Legacy Attendance: 939 Helmut Summersberger Daniel Krutil Nicholas Labarre Luca Verdiani Martin Brenner Loïc Le Briand Max Bracht Nicolas Francois
GP Charlotte (18–19 December) Format: Extended Attendance: 456 Michael Krumb Alex Majlaton Kyle Goodman David Shiels Antonino De Rosa Alan Hubbard Chris Boozer Thomas LaPille
GP Hasselt (28–29 January) Format: Limited Attendance: 1070 Sam Gomersall Julien Goron Maurice Palijama Ziga Fritz Helge Nelson Dimitri Reinderman Quentin Martin Francois Moreau
GP Richmond (4–5 February) Format: Limited Attendance: 558 Richard Hoaen Jonathan Sonne Adam Chambers John Fiorillo Eugene Harvey Taylor Webb Gerry Thompson Michael Pinnegar
GP Dortmund (18–19 February) Format: Limited Attendance: 1029 David Brucker Julien Goron Mathias Wigge Marco Rothaupt Dennis Grudowski Julien Nuijten Olivier Ruel Stefan Rentzsch
Pro Tour – Honolulu (3–5 March 2006)
Mark Herberholz won Pro Tour Honolulu piloting a green/red aggro-deck. He defeated Craig Jones in the finals. The final eight included both Ruel brothers, Antoine and Olivier. Notably absent from the Top 8 were the Japanese players after thirteen consecutive final day appearances.
Tournament data Prize pool: $240,245 Players: 410 Format: Standard Head Judge: John Shannon
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Mark Herberholz$40,000253rd Final day2 Craig Jones$22,000203 Tiago Chan$15,000164 Olivier Ruel$14,000165th Final day5 Osyp Lebedowicz$11,500123rd Final day6 Max Bracht$11,000127 Ruud Warmenhoven$10,500128 Antoine Ruel$10,000124th Final day
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Mark Herberholz282 Olivier Ruel223 Craig Jones204 Tiago Chan185 Max Bracht15
Grand Prixs – Manila, Cardiff, Madison, Hamamatsu, Barcelona
GP Manila (18–19 March) Format: Limited Attendance: 368 James Porter Jiro Francisco Cynic Kim Bo Sun Jake Hart Felix Gonzales Takuya Osawa Dominic Ortega
GP Cardiff (25–26 March) Format: Limited Attendance: 370 Martin Dingler Wesimo Al-Bacha Roel van Heeswijk Julian Jardine Quentin Martin Bram Snepvangers Raphaël Lévy Antoine Ruel
GP Madison (25–26 March) Format: Team Unified Standard Attendance: 456 (152 teams) 1. Faddy Josh Brian Ziegler Tim Bulger Takanobu Sato 2. Free James Beeton Kyle Goodman Mark Ioli Benjamin Lundquist 3. 4815162342 Richard Hoaen Eric Froehlich Bob Maher, Jr. 4. Cedric Philips Stole My Bike John Pelcak Chris McDaniel Jonathan Sonne
GP Hamamatsu (8–9 April) Format: Team Unified Standard Attendance: 495 (165 teams) 1. Tanii Monogatari Kotatsu Saitou Takahiro Katayama Yuusuke Tanii 2. Stardust Crusader Akira Asahara Masaya Kitayama Shouta Yasooka 3. Limit Break Takuya Oosawa Ryou Ogura Itaru Ishida 4. Kiosk Takashi Ishihara Shuhei Itou Daisuke Saitou
GP Barcelona (8–9 April) Format: Limited Attendance: 1208 Helmut Summersberger Raphaël Lévy Jelger Wiegersma Johan Sadeghpour Olivier Ruel Aniol Alcaraz Jean Charles Salvin Sebastian Aljiaj
Pro Tour – Prague (5–7 May 2006)
Takuya Osawa won Pro Tour Prague, defeating Aaron Brackmann in the finals. In a Top 8 of rather unknown players Shuhei Nakamura was the only one to have made it to the final stage of a PT before.
Tournament data Prize pool: $240,245 Players: 415 Format: Booster Draft (Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension) Head Judge: Jaap Brouwer
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Takuya Osawa$40,000252 Aaron Brackmann$22,000203 Shuhei Nakamura$15,000163rd Final day4 Christian Hüttenberger$14,000165 Rasmus Sibast$11,500126 Antonino De Rosa$11,000127 Joe Crosby$10,500128 Quentin Martin$10,00012
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Mark Herberholz32 Olivier Ruel323 Takuya Osawa304 Craig Jones24 Quentin Martin24
Grand Prixs – Torino, Toronto, Kuala Lumpur
GP Torino (3–4 June) Format: Limited Attendance: 656 Nico Bohny Antoine Ruel Bram Snepvangers Klaus Jöns Marco Lombardi Guillaume Wafo-Tapa Giacomo Mallamaci Pierre Canali
GP Toronto (3–4 June) Format: Limited Attendance: 504 Antonino De Rosa Jonathan Sonne Kyle Sanchez Mark Lovin John Fiorillo Brad Taulbee Jay Jiang Jelger Wiegersma
GP Kuala Lumpur (3–4 June) Format: Limited Attendance:316 Kenji Tsumura Osamu Fujita Quentin Martin Ruud Warmenhoven Terry Soh Shouta Yasooka Cynic Kim Itaru Ishida
Pro Tour – Charleston (16–18 June 2006)
The Japanese team "Kajiharu80" won Pro Tour Charleston, defeating the Brazilian team "Raaala Pumba" in the final. "Kajiharu80" consisted of Tomohiro Kaji, Shouta Yasooka, and Tomoharu Saitou. With 525 competitors in 175 teams Pro Tour Charleston was the biggest Pro Tour ever. It was also the only Team Constructed Pro Tour ever.
Tournament data
Players: 525 (175 teams) Prize Pool: $234,000 Format: 3-Person Team Block Constructed (Ravnica, Guildpact, Dissension) Head Judge: Sheldon Menery
Top 4
Final standings
PlaceTeamPlayerPrizePro PointsComment1Kajiharu80 Tomohiro Kaji$75,000203rd Final day Shouta Yasooka20 Tomoharu Saitou202nd Final day2Raaala Pumba Celso Zampere$36,00016 Willy Edel16 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa163D-25 Chikura Nakajima$21,00012 Ryuichi Arita124th Final day Kazuya Mitamura124Big Timing With Big Oots Chris McDaniel$18,000122nd Final day Gadiel Szleifer123rd Final day John Pelcak12
Grand Prixs – Toulouse, St. Louis, Malmo, Hiroshima, Phoenix, Sydney, Athens
GP Toulouse (24–25 June) Format: Limited Attendance: 674 Kenji Tsumura Marijn Lybaert Shuhei Nakamura Adrian Olivera Julien Soum Olivier Ruel Shouta Yasooka Thomas Didierjean
GP St. Louis (22–23 July) Format: Limited Attendance:466 Shuhei Nakamura Zac Hill Kenji Tsumura Chris Fennell Alex Kim Pierre Mondon Dalton King Jeremy Kunkel
GP Malmo (22–23 July) Format: Limited Attendance: 539 Wessel Oomens Vasilis Fatouros Wilco Pinkster Axel Berglund Jelger Wiegersma Kamiel Cornelissen André Coimbra Asbjørn Fallesen
GP Hiroshima (19–20 August) Format: Limited Attendance: 417 Shuhei Nakamura André Coimbra Takahiro Suzuki Basam Tebet Julien Nuijten Kentarou Nonaka Ichirou Shimura Yuusuke Wakisaka
GP Phoenix (2–3 September) Format: Limited Attendance: 387 Carlos Romão Sean Inoue Raphaël Lévy Sam Stein Geoffrey Siron Gadiel Szleifer André Coimbra Shu Kumuro
GP Sydney (7–8 October) Format: Limited Attendance: 213 James Zhang Anatoli Lightfoot Tomoharu Saitou Jeremy Neeman Steven Aplin Takuya Oosawa Shouta Yasooka Hugh Glanville
GP Athens (14–15 October) Format: Limited Attendance: 469 Sebastian Aljiaj Vincent Lemoine Marcio Carvalho Guillaume Wafo-Tapa David Brucker Antoine Ruel Evangelos Papatsarouchas Aaron Brackmann
Pro Tour – Kobe (20–22 October 2006)
German Jan-Moritz Merkel won Pro Tour Kobe. It was his first appearance at a Pro Tour.
Tournament data
Players: 388 Prize Pool: $240,245 Format: Booster Draft (Time Spiral) Head Judge: John Shannon
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Jan-Moritz Merkel$40,00025Pro Tour debut2 Willy Edel$22,000202nd Final day3 Bastien Perez$15,000164 Thomas Didierjean$14,00016Pro Tour debut5 Kenji Tsumura$11,500124th Final day6 Bram Snepvangers$11,000123rd Final day7 Tomoharu Saitou$10,500123rd Final day8 Takahiro Suzuki$10,00012
Grand Prixs – New Jersey, Yamagata
GP New Jersey (11–12 November) Format: Limited Attendance: 913 Guillaume Cardin Richard Hoaen Timothy Aten Jason Imperiale Gerry Thompson John Pelcak Andrew Stokinger Shouta Yasooka
GP Yamagata (18–19 November) Format: Limited Attendance: 359 Takihiro Suzuki Takeshi Ozawa Jelger Wiegersma Katsuhiro Mori Richard Hoaen Antoine Ruel Ryo Ogura Yuu Murakami
2006 World Championships – Paris (29 November – 3 December 2006)
The tournament began with the Hall of Fame induction of Bob Maher, Jr., Dave Humpherys Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty. In an all-Japanese final Makihito Mihara defeated Ryo Ogura. The Dutch team of Kamiel Cornelissen, Julien Nuijten, and Robert van Medevoort won the team finals against Japan.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $255,245 (individual) + $210,000 (national teams) Players: 356 Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Time Spiral), Extended Head Judge: Jaap Brouwer, Jason Ness
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Makihito Mihara$50,000252 Ryo Ogura$25,000202nd Final day3 Nicholas Lovett$16,000161st Welshmen in a Top 8, Pro Tour debut4 Gabriel Nassif$15,000167th Final day5 Paulo Carvalho$11,50012Pro Tour debut6 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa$11,000122nd Final day7 Tiago Chan$10,500122nd Final day8 Katsuhiro Mori$10,000122nd Final day
National team competition
The Netherlands (Julien Nuijten, Kamiel Cornelissen, Robert van Medevoort) Japan (Hidenori Katayama, Katsuhiro Mori, Shuhei Yamamoto)
Pro Player of the year final standings
After the World Championship Shouta Yasooka was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.
RankPlayerPro Points1 Shouta Yasooka602 Shuhei Nakamura563 Tiago Chan51 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa515 Tomoharu Saitou50
References