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.
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:
Rank 1 2 3–4 5–8 9–16 17–32 33–64 65+Pro Points 30 25 20 10 4 2 1 0
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. 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) Players: 192 Format: Sealed Deck (Mirage)
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Frank Adler$26,0001st German to win a Pro Tour2 Darwin Kastle$16,0002nd Final day3 Aaron Muranaka$9,0004 John Yoo$9,0005 Terry Borer$5,5006 Mike Long$5,5007 Chris Pikula$5,5008 Matthew Vienneau$5,500
Other divisions
Aaron Souders won the Junior Division against Louis Beryl. Jason Gordon and Daniel 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.
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. Pro Tour Dallas also featured a Type I (now Vintage) division, which Scott Johns won. 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.
Tournament data Prize pool: $150,000 ($250,000 including Classic Division and Junior Division scholarships) Players: 242 Format: Standard
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Paul McCabe$26,0001st Canadian to win a Pro Tour2 Jason Zila$16,0003 Brian Hacker$9,0004 Chris Pikula$9,0002nd Final day5 George Baxter$5,5002nd Final day6 Olle Råde$5,5003rd Final day7 Robert Thornburg$5,5008 Peer Kröger$5,500
Top 8
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.
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. With the score 2–1 up in his favor 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. An upset amongst the players followed. It was eventually decided that Mills would be allowed to claim his prize, despite being originally disqualified without prize. Wizards of the Coast tournament manager Andrew Finch explained the reason for overturning the ruling: "We felt, however, that this outcome would be most detrimental to the Pro Tour, so we've decided that the penalty in this case will be loss of match." The Duelist Sideboard. May 1997. Page: 20.
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.
Jess Means won the finals of the Junior Division against eventual Hall of Famer Zvi Mowshowitz.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $150,000 Players: 236 Format: Rochester Draft (Mirage-Visions) Head Judge: Tom Wylie
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Tommi Hovi$26,0002nd Final day, 1st Finn to win a Pro Tour2 David Mills$16,0003 Alan Comer$9,0004 John Yoo$9,0002nd Final day5 Truc Bui$5,5006 John Immordino$5,5002nd Final day7 Brian Weissman$5,5002nd Final day8 Ben Possemiers$5,5001st Belgian in a Top 8
Grand Prix – Amsterdam
GP Amsterdam (22–23 March)
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.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $150,000 Players: 223 Format: Mirage Block Constructed (Mirage, Visions)
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Mike Long$26,0002nd Final day2 Mark Justice$16,0003rd Final day3 Darwin Kastle$9,0003rd Final day4 Henning Rimkus$9,0005 Sturla Bingen$5,5001st Norwegian in a Top 86 Paul Ferker$5,5007 Jason Gordon$5,5008 Jason Zila$5,5002nd Final day
Grand Prix – Washington D.C., Tokyo, Barcelona
GP Washington D.C. (26–27 April)
GP Tokyo (4–5 May)
GP Barcelona (4–5 May)
Pro Tour – New York (30 May – 1 June 1997)
Canadian Terry Borer won Pro Tour New York, defeating Ivan Stanoev in the finals. In the finals of Junior Division Ron Franke beat Jamie Parke.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $150,000 Players: 259 Format: Booster Draft (5th Edition-Visions)
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Terry Borer$26,0002nd Final day2 Ivan Stanoev$16,0001st Czech in a Top 83 Gabriel Tsang$9,0004 Jeroen Weyden$9,0001st Dutch Player in a Top 85 Mark Chalice$5,5006 John Chinnock$5,5007 Michael Pustilnik$5,5008 Patrick Chapin$5,500
Grand Prix – London
GP London (12–13 July)
1997 World Championships – Seattle (13–17 August 1997)
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.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $200,000 (individual) + $50,000 (national teams) Players: 153 Format: Standard, Rochester Draft (Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight), Extended
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizeComment1 Jakub Slemr$34,0001st Czech to win a Pro Tour2 Janosch Kühn$22,000Pro Tour debut3 Paul McCabe$12,0002nd Final day4 Svend Geertsen$12,0001st Dane in a Top 85 Gabriel Tsang$8,0002nd Final day6 Nikolai Weibull$8,0007 Nate Clarke$8,0008 John Chinnock$8,0002nd Final day
National team competition
Canada (Gary Krakower, Michael Donais, Ed Ito, Gabriel Tsang) 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.
RankPlayerPro Points1 Paul McCabe522 Terry Borer47 John Yoo474 Mike Long465 Darwin Kastle45
References