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. 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.
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:
RankPro Points awarded atPro TourGrand PrixNationalsWorlds (Team)125101062208853–4166645–8125439–12842213–16831117–247225–326233–645165–1004101–2003201+2
Grand Prix – Oakland
GP Oakland (13–14 February) Format: Extended Attendance: 770 Matt Nass Adam Yurchick Conley Woods Travis Woo Pat Cox Joby Parish Petr Brozek 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. At the end of day one Gabriel Nassif and Luis Scott-Vargas were the only undefeated players left. 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. 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.
Tournament data Prize pool: $230,795 Players: 413 Format: Standard, Booster Draft (Zendikar-Worldwake) Head Judge: Sheldon Menery
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Simon Görtzen$40,000252 Kyle Boggemes$20,000203 Luis Scott-Vargas$15,000163rd Final day4 Craig Wescoe$13,000165 Daniel Gräfensteiner$11,000126 Niels Viaene$10,50012Pro Tour Debut7 Yoshihiko Ikawa$10,000128 Jeroen Kanis$9,50012
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Simon Görtzen252 Kyle Boggemes203 Luis Scott-Vargas184 Craig Wescoe16
Grand Prixs – Madrid, Kuala Lumpur, Yokohama, Brussels, Houston, Lyon, Washington D.C.
GP Madrid (27–28 February) Format: Legacy Attendance: 2228 Andreas Müller David Do Anh Richard Bland Tomoharu Saitou Rubén Gonzalez Lluis Restoy Alejandro Delgado Sven Dijt
GP Brussels (27–28 March) Format: Standard Attendance: 1667 Emanuele Giusti Zoltan Szoke Tamas Nagy Steve Bernstein Nicolas Lambach Christophe Gregoir Francesco Cipolleschi Ludvig Londos
GP Washington, D.C. (22–23 May) Format: Standard Attendance: 1932 Brad Nelson Owen Turtenwald Kyle Boggemes Joshua Wagener Brett Blackman Michael Stanfar Brad Carpenter Carlos Romão
GP Kuala Lumpur (13–14 March) Format: Standard Attendance: 518 Ding Yuan Leong Xue Tong Du Jakguy Subcharoen Shingo Fukuta Shouta Yasooka Wei Han Chin Raffy Sarto Zhiyang Zhang
GP Houston (3–4 April) Format: Extended Attendance: 652 Adam Yurchick Shaun Rodriquez Kenneth Ellis Todd Anderson Shuhei Nakamura Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa Charles Lancaster Pete Picard
GP Yokohama (20–21 March) Format: Extended Attendance: 1122 Katsuhiro Mori Masashiro Kuroda Min-su Kim Takashi Ishihara Kuo Tzu-Ching Yasunori Baba Atsuo Se Tomoyuki Honnami
GP Lyon (8–9 May) Format: Limited Attendance: 1425 Florian Koch Tobias Gräfensteiner Peter Vieren Bram Snepvangers Joakim Almelund Lukas Blohon Vladimir Komanicky Marcello Calvetto
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.
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 Format: Booster Draft (Rise of the Eldrazi), Zendikar Block Constructed Head Judge: Sheldon Menery
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa$40,000256th Final day2 Guillaume Matignon$20,000203 Andrea Giarola$15,00016Pro Tour debut4 Noah Swartz$13,000165 Josh Utter-Leyton$11,000126 Brad Nelson$10,500127 Koutarou Ootsuka$10,000122nd Final day8 Jeremy Neeman$9,50012
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa372 Simon Görtzen313 Kyle Boggemes284 Luis Scott-Vargas265 Brad Nelson25 Tomoharu Saitou25 Adam Yurchick25
Grand Prixs – Sendai, Manila, Columbus, Gothenburg
GP Sendai (5–6 June) Format: Standard Attendance: 907 Brian Kibler Makihito Mihara Shouta Yasooka Motoaki Itou Takeshi Ozawa Yuuya Watanabe Hiroyuki Shimoya Ryou Tasaki
GP Gothenburg (28–29 August) Format: Limited Attendance: 1001 Kenny Öberg Anton Jonsson Marijn Lybaert Allison Abe Nicolai Herzog Sami Häggkvist Samuel Black Markku Rikola
GP Manila (12–13 June) Format: Standard Attendance: 1071 Naoki Nakada Taufik Indrakesuma Gerald Camangon Yuuya Watanabe Yuchen Liu Adrian Marasigan Yuuta Takahashi Bayani Manansala
GP Columbus (31 July–1 August) Format: Legacy Attendance: 1296 Tomoharu Saitou Tom Martell Jason Ford Caleb Durward Bryant Cook Chris Gosselin Korey Age Brad Nelson
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.
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.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $230,795 Players: 457 Format: Extended, Booster Draft Head Judge: Toby Elliott
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Paul Rietzl$40,000252nd Final day2 Brad Nelson$20,000202nd Final day3 Michael Jacob$15,000164 Marijn Lybaert$13,000164th Final day5 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa$11,000123rd Final day6 Brian Kibler$10,500124th Final day7 Thomas Ma$10,00012Pro Tour debut8 Kai Budde$9,5001210th Final day
Pro Player of the year standings
RankPlayerPro Points1 Brad Nelson542 Tomoharu Saitou443 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa414 Guillaume Matignon385 Simon Görtzen37 Marijn Lybaert
Grand Prixs – Portland, Sydney, Toronto, Bochum, Nashville, Florence
GP Portland (11–12 September) Format: Limited Attendance: 1371 Martin Juza Thomas Kiene Josh Layne Philip Bau Jonathan Louks Nicholas Lynn David Ochoa Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
GP Bochum (30–31 October) Format: Limited Attendance: 1814 Martin Juza Yves Sele Julien Perez Geertjan Woltjes Manuel Mayer Jonas Köstler Sok-yong Lee Matthias Künzler
GP Sydney (9–10 October) Format: Limited Attendance: 434 Jeremy Neeman Luis Scott-Vargas Jacky Zhang Isaac Egan Yuuya Watanabe Michael Dao Jarron Puszet Masayasu Tanahashi
GP Nashville (20–21 November) Format: Limited Attendance: 1481 Gerry Thompson Ari Lax Gerard Fabiano John Kolos Josh Utter-Leyton Conley Woods Martin Juza Kyle Stoll
GP Toronto (23–24 October) Format: Limited Attendance: 1361 Jonathan Smithers Brad Nelson Dustin Faeder Ben Stark Eric Froehlich David Howard Pat Cox Stephen Zhang
GP Florence (27–28 November) Format: Limited Attendance: 1291 Pierluigi Aceto Nicola Landoni Shuhei Nakamura Citino Guido Mario Pascoli Tommi Lindgren Anders Melin Jörg Unfried
2010 World Championships – Chiba (9–12 December 2010)
The 17th Magic World Championships was held in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan. 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.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $245,245 (individual) + ? (teams) Players: 352 (57 National Teams) Formats: Standard, Booster Draft, Extended Team Formats: Standard, Extended, Legacy Head Judge: Riccardo Tessitori
Top 8
Final standings
PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment1 Guillaume Matignon$45,000252nd Final day2 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa$24,000204th Final day3 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa$15,000167th Final day4 Love Janse$14,00016Pro Tour Debut5 Eric Froehlich$11,000122nd Final day6 Lukas Jaklovsky$10,500127 Christopher Wolf$10,000128 Jonathan Randle$9,50012
Team competition Slovakia — Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, Patrik Surab 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.
RankPlayerPro Points1 Brad Nelson66 Guillaume Matignon3 Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa644 Martin Juza525 Shuhei Nakamura51 Guillaume Wafo-Tapa7 Luis Scott-Vargas478 Yuuya Watanabe45
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.