The 2009 Pro Tour season was the fourteenth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 17 January 2009 with Grand Prix Los Angeles, and ended on 22 November 2009 with the conclusion of the 2009 World Championship in Rome. The season consisted of nineteen Grand Prixs, and four Pro Tours, located in Kyoto, Honolulu, Austin, and Rome. At the end of the season, Yuuya Watanabe was awarded the Pro Player of the Year, making him the first player to win both that title and the Rookie of the Year title which he had won two years prior. Frank Karsten, Kamiel Cornelissen, and Antoine Ruel were inducted into the Hall of Fame at the world championships in Rome.
Mode
Four Pro Tours and nineteen Grand Prixs will be held in the 2009 season. Further Pro Points will be awarded at national championships. These Pro Points will be used mainly to determine the Pro Player club levels of players participating in these events, but also decide which player will be awarded the Pro Player of the year title at the end of the season. Based on final standings Pro Points were awarded as follows:
RankPro Points awarded atPro TourGrand PrixNationalsWorlds (Team)125101062208853–4166645–8125439–12842213–16831117–247225–326233–645165–1004101–2003201+2
Grand Prix – Los Angeles, Rotterdam
GP Los Angeles (17–18 January) Attendance: 834 Format: Extended Luis Scott-Vargas Brett Piazza Saul Alvarado Mat Marr Michael Jacob Carl Hendrix Mark Herberholz Asher Hecht
GP Rotterdam (21–22 February) Attendance: 1227 Format: Limited Arjan van Leeuwen Robert van Meedevort Shuhei Nakamura Alex Fanghänel Aaron Brackmann Michal Hebky Tomas Langer Reinhold Kohl
Pro Tour – Kyoto (27 February – 1 March 2009)
Pro Tour veteran Gabriel Nassif defeated Luis Scott-Vargas in the finals of Pro Tour Kyoto, giving him his first individual title in his ninth Top 8.
Tournament data Prize pool: $230,795 Players: 381 Format: Standard, Booster Draft Head Judge: Riccardo Tessitori
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Gabriel Nassif$40,000259th Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win2 Luis Scott-Vargas$20,000202nd Final day3 Akimasa Yamamoto$15,000164 Brian Robinson$13,00016Pro Tour debut5 Matteo Orsini-Jones$11,000126 Cedric Philips$10,500127 Jan Ruess$10,000122nd Final day8 Masayu Tanahashi$9,50012
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Luis Scott-Vargas302 Gabriel Nassif293 Brian Robinson16 Akimasa Yamamoto165 Martin Juza14
Grand Prixs – Chicago, Hanover, Singapore, Kobe, Barcelona, Seattle
GP Chicago (7–8 March) Attendance: 1230 Format: Legacy Gabriel Nassif Andrew Probasco Paul Rietzl James Mink Brian Kowal Tommy Kolowith David Caplan Brian Six
GP Kobe (18–19 April) Attendance: 545 Format: Extended Tomoharu Saitou Yuuya Watanabe Kuo Tzu-Ching Kentarou Yamamoto Katsuya Ueda Keiichi Kondou Kenji Hamamoto Ryouma Shiozu
GP Hanover (13–14 March) Attendance: 925 Format: Extended Lino Burgold Gaudenis Vidugiris Lukas Kraft Karim Bauer Kenny Öberg Pascal Vieren Helmut Summersberger Ondra Posolda
GP Barcelona (23–24 May) Attendance: 1495 Format: Standard Joel Calafell Riccardo Neri Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa Samuel Black Hugo De Jong Sean Og Murphy Ricardo Venancio George Paraskuopoulos
GP Singapore (21–22 March) Attendance: 370 Format: Extended Tomoharu Saitou Masaya Kitayama Chin Heng Tan Yuuta Takahashi Yong Han Choo Liang Chen Samuel Black Kuo Tzu-Ching
GP Seattle (30–31 May) Attendance: 1127 Format: Standard Yann Massicard Benjamin Lundquist Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa Charles Gendron Dupont Luis Scott-Vargas Nicolay Potovin Michael Jacob Ari Lax
Pro Tour Honolulu (5–7 June 2009) In his second Pro Tour finals appearance, Kazuya Mitamura defeated Pro Tour newcomer Michal Hebky.
Tournament data Prize pool: $230,795 Players: 396 Format: Booster Draft, Block Constructed Head Judge: Toby Elliot
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Kazuya Mitamura$40,000253rd Final day2 Michael Hebky$20,000203 Paul Rietzl$15,000164 Conley Woods$13,000165 Christophe Gregoir$11,000126 Zac Hill$10,500127 Brian Kibler$10,000122nd Final day8 Tom Ross$9,50012
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Luis Scott-Vargas452 Gabriel Nassif443 Tomoharu Saitou364 Kazuya Mitamura325 Michal Hebky27
Grand Prixs – Sao Paulo, Boston, Brighton, Bangkok, Niigata, Prague, Melbourne
GP São Paulo (13–14 June) Attendance: 639 Format: Standard Daniel Almeida Alvez Andres Monsalve Guilherme Vieira Wendell Santini Allison Abe Diego Crusius Juan Veliz Daniel Frias
GP Bangkok (22–23 August) Attendance: 414 Format: Limited Shingou Kurihara Martin Juza Koutarou Ootsuka Matteo Orsini Jones Ruud Warmenhoven Yuuya Watanabe Ryan Luo Zhiyang Zhang
GP Melbourne (10–11 October) Attendance: 416 Format: Limited Yuuya Watanabe Tomoharu Saitou Marcus Teo Shane Daliston Brett Hughes Jacky Zhang Joel Piotto Steven Aplin
GP Boston (1–2 August) Attendance: 1503 Format: Limited Marlon Egolf Ben Stark David Feinstein Jason Lundberg Jonathan Pearlman Brian Lynch Bradley Wojceshonek Zach Efland
GP Niigata (29–30 August) Attendance: 722 Format: Limited Tsuyoshi Ikeda Shingou Kurihara Ren Ishikawa Hajime Nakamura Sho Ishikawa Takaya Saitou Gaudenis Vidugiris Yuuya Watanabe
GP Brighton (8–9 August) Attendance: 760 Format: Limited Olivier Ruel Martin Juza Dennis Stone Mark Dictus Kevin Grove Robbert Menten Reinhold Kohl Joseph Jackson
GP Prague (5–6 September) Attendance: 1541 Format: Limited Jan Schmidt Yuuya Watanabe Bojan Zunko Ognjen Cividini Julien De Graat Lukas Vozdecky Marcel Kondrk Radek Kaczmarczyk
Pro Tour Austin (16–18 October 2009) Both enjoying a comeback to the top level of Magic, Brian Kibler and Tsuyoshi Ikeda met in the finals, with Kibler winning in his second top eight in 2009.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $230,795 Players: 416 Format: Extended, Booster Draft Head Judge: Riccardo Tessitori
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Brian Kibler$40,000253rd Final day2 Tsuyoshi Ikeda$20,000204th Final day3 Naoki Shimizu$15,000164 Hunter Burton$13,000165 Evangelos Papatrarouchas$11,000126 Yuuya Watanabe$10,500127 Martin Juza$10,000122nd Final day8 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa$9,500125th Final day
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Yuuya Watanabe622 Martin Juza543 Tomoharu Saitou514 Gabriel Nassif505 Shuhei Nakamura48 Luis Scott-Vargas48
Grand Prixs – Tampa, Kitakyushu, Paris, Minneapolis
GP Tampa (24–25 October) Attendance: 834 Format: Limited Gaudenis Vidugiris Conley Woods John Skinner John May Gabriel Nassif Alex Majlaton Tom Ross Martin Juza
GP Minneapolis (14–15 November) Attendance: 1187 Format: Limited Zohar Bhagat Matthew Sperling Brian Kibler Brad Nelson Owen Turtenwald David Ochoa Mike Gualtieri Tom Ross
GP Kitakyushu (31 October – 1 November) Attendance: 501 Format: Limited Taisuke Ishii Masashi Oiso Jun'ya Iyanaga Ken Yukuhiro Yuuya Watanabe Katsuhiro Mori Takeshi Takagi Hironobu Sugaya
GP Paris (7–8 November) Attendance: 1961 Format: Limited Adrian Rosada Danny Ecker Lino Burgold Niels Viaene Herbert Engleitner Bernd Brendemühl Jérémy Dezani Gonzague Allouchery
2009 World Championships – Rome (19–22 November 2009)
The 2009 World Championship marked several firsts in Pro Tour history. For the first time ever, eight countries were represented in the quarterfinals, and there were no American or Japanese players in the top eight. Playing in his second Worlds top eight, André Coimbra of Portugal defeated Austrian David Reitbauer to become World Champion. In the team event, Austria finished second as well, losing to the Chinese team in the final.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $245,245 (individual) + $192,425 (teams) Players: 409 (55 National teams) Formats: Standard, Booster Draft, Extended Team Formats: Standard, Extended, Legacy Head Judge: Sheldon Menery
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 André Coimbra$45,000252nd Final day, first Portuguese player to win a Pro Tour2 David Reitbauer$24,000203 Terry Soh$15,000163rd Final day4 Bram Snepvangers$14,000164th Final day5 William Cavaglieri$11,000126 Manuel Bucher$10,500127 Marijn Lybaert$10,000123rd Final day8 Florian Pils$9,50012
National team competition
China (Wu Tong, Bo Li, Zhiyang Zhang) Austria (Benedikt Klauser, Benjamin Rozhon, Bernhard Lehner) Czech Republic (Lukas Jaklovsky, Lukas Blohon, Jan Kotrla) Netherlands (Kevin Grove, Niels Noorlander, Tom van Lamoen)
Pro Player of the year final standings
After the World Championship, Yuuya Watanabe was awarded the Pro Player of the year title, making him the fifth consecutive Japanese player to win the award.
RankPlayerPro Points1 Yuuya Watanabe782 Tomoharu Saitou663 Martin Juza644 Gabriel Nassif605 Shuhei Nakamura56 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa567 Luis Scott-Vargas528 Kazuya Mitamura50
Performance by country
The United States had the most Top 8 appearances at ten, but they also had by far the most players playing in the Pro Tour. With Japan at 17 they share the highest number of level 4+ professional Magic players, too.
CountryT8QQ/T8MGTBest Player (PPts) United States1020817Luis Scott-Vargas (52) Japan614917Yuuya Watanabe (78) Germany21685Lino Burgold (32) Belgium21914Marijn Lybaert (25) Czech Republic21133Martin Juza (64) France11985Gabriel Nassif (60) Brazil11962Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (56) Italy12482Riccardo Neri (24)
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 2009 season; Best Player (PPts) = Player with the most Pro Points from that country, Pro Points of that player in brackets.
References