Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1998–99

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1998–99 Pro Tour season
Pro Player of the YearGermany Kai Budde
Rookie of the YearGermany Dirk Baberowski
World ChampionGermany Kai Budde
Pro Tours5
Grands Prix14
Start of season5 September 1998
End of season8 August 1999
← 1997–98 1999–00 →

The 1998–99 Pro Tour season was the fourth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 5 September 1998 with Grand Prix Boston and ended on 8 August 1999 with the conclusion of 1999 World Championship in Tokyo. The season consisted of fourteen Grand Prix, and five Pro Tours, located in Chicago, Rome, Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. At the end of the season Kai Budde from Germany was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.

Grand Prix – Boston, Lisbon[]

Pro Tour – Chicago (25–27 September 1998)[]

As in the previous season a rookie won the inaugural Pro Tour. In the finals Dirk Baberowski defeated Casey McCarrel. Jon Finkel also had another final eight showing, his third in a row.[1]

Tournament data[]

Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 324[2]
Format: Tempest Booster Draft (Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus)[3][4]
Head Judge: Charlie Catino[5]

Top 8[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Dirk Baberowski 3
8 Dominique Coena 1
Dirk Baberowski 3
Benedikt Klauser 0
4 Benedikt Klauser 3
5 Jon Finkel 2
Dirk Baberowski 3
Casey McCarrel 1
3 Jeff Fung 3
6 Ryan Fuller 1
Jeff Fung 0
Casey McCarrel 3
2 Casey McCarrel 3
7 Martin Cedercrantz 2
Loser's Bracket

Pro Tour Chicago also had Top 8 loser's bracket, that had matches held as best of three instead of five. The first round paired the quarter-finals losers against each other. Finkel defeated Coene 2–1 and Fuller defeated Cedercrantz 2–0. In the second and final round the winners of the first round were paired against the losers of the Top 8 semi-finals. Fung defeated Finkel 2–1 and Klauser defeated Fuller 2–1.[6]

Final standings[]

Place Player Prize Comment
1 Germany Dirk Baberowski $25,000 Pro Tour debut
2 United States Casey McCarrel $15,000 2nd Final day
3 Canada Jeff Fung $10,000
4 Austria Benedikt Klauser $8,000 1st Austrian in a Top 8
5 United States Jon Finkel $6,500 4th Final day
6 Canada Ryan Fuller $5,500
7 Sweden Martin Cedercrantz $4,800
8 Belgium Dominique Coene $4,300

Grand Prix – Austin, Birmingham[]

Pro Tour – Rome (13–15 November 1998)[]

Tommi Hovi won Pro Tour Rome, thus becoming the first player to win two Pro Tours. Reportedly Hovi was particularly happy to win another Pro Tour, because he won his first due to a disqualification, and thus felt it was not a proper victory. Olle Råde became the first player to have five Top 8 appearances.[1]

Tournament data[]

Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 266[7]
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Carl Crook[5]

Top 8[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Erik Lauer 1
8 Nicolas Labarre 3
Nicolas Labarre 3
Federico Dato 1
4 Mark Le Pine 1
5 Federico Dato 2
Nicolas Labarre 1
Tommi Hovi 3
3 Tommi Hovi 3
6 Justin Gary 2
Tommi Hovi 3
Olle Råde 0
2 Olle Råde 3
7 André Konstanczer 2
Loser's Bracket

The first round of the loser's bracket paired the quarter-finals losers against each other. Le Pine defeated Lauer 2–0 and Gary defeated Konstanczer 2–1. In the second and final round of the loser's bracket the winners of the first round were paired against the losers of the Top 8 semi-finals. Dato defeated Gary 2–1 and Le Pine defeated Råde 2–1.[8]

Final standings[]

Place Player Prize Comment
1 Finland Tommi Hovi $25,000 3rd Final day, First player to win two Pro Tours
2 France Nicolas Labarre $15,000
3 United States Mark Le Pine $10,000 2nd Final day
4 Italy Federico Dato $8,000
5 Sweden Olle Råde $6,500 5th Final day
6 United States Justin Gary $5,500
7 United States Erik Lauer $4,800
8 Germany André Konstanczer $4,300

Grand Prix – Manila, Kyoto, San Francisco, Barcelona[]

Pro Tour – Los Angeles (26–28 February 1999)[]

Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz won Pro Tour Los Angeles defeating his friend and fellow New Yorker Jon Finkel in the final.[1]

Tournament data[]

Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 337
Format: Urza's Saga Rochester Draft (Urza's Saga)
Head Judge: Charlie Catino[5]

Top 8[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Lucien Bui 1
8 Jon Finkel 3
Jon Finkel 3
Worth Wollpert 1
4 Worth Wollpert 3
5 Svend Geertsen 2
Jon Finkel 1
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 3
3 Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 3
6 Mike Long 1
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 3*
Terry Lau 2*
2 Patrick Chapin 0
7 Terry Lau 3

* = The semi-final of O'Mahoney-Schwartz against Lau went over six games. One of the games had been a draw. After five games the score was 2–2 and a draw, thus the sixth game became necessary.

Final standings[]

Place Player Prize Comment
1 United States Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz $25,000 2nd Final day
2 United States Jon Finkel $15,000 5th Final day
3 United States Worth Wollpert $10,000
4 Canada Terry Lau $8,000
5 France Lucien Bui $6,500
6 United States Patrick Chapin $5,500 2nd Final day
7 Denmark Svend Geertsen $4,800 3rd Final day
8 United States Mike Long $4,300 3rd Final day

Grand Prix – Vienna, Kansas City, Oslo, Taipei[]

Pro Tour – New York (30 April – 2 May 1999)[]

In the finals of Pro Tour New York Casey McCarrel defeated Shawn Keller,[1] both playing nearly identical decks, which was designed by Ben Rubin, Lan D. Ho, and Terry Tsang, who also made the Top 8 with the deck. The concept of their decks was to quickly generate huge amounts of mana to play big spells. Rob Dougherty and David Humpherys played nearly identical decks, designed by YMG.[9]

Tournament data[]

Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 308[10]
Format: Urza's Saga Block Constructed (Urza's Saga, Urza's Legacy)
Head Judge: Dan Gray[5]

Top 8[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Zvi Mowshowitz 3
8 Terry Tsang 2
Zvi Mowshowitz 2
Casey McCarrel 3
5 Casey McCarrel 3
4 Christian Lührs 2
Casey McCarrel 3
Shawn Keller 1
3 Shawn Keller 3
6 Nicolas Labarre 1
Shawn Keller 3
Dave Humpherys 1
7 Dave Humpherys 3
2 Rob Dougherty 1

Final standings[]

Place Player Prize Comment
1 United States Casey McCarrel $25,000 3rd Final day
2 United States Shawn Keller $15,000
3 United States Zvi Mowshowitz $10,000
4 United States Dave Humpherys $8,000
5 United States Rob Dougherty $6,500
6 Germany Christian Lührs $5,500
7 France Nicolas Labarre $4,800 2nd Final day
8 Canada Terry Tsang $4,300

Grand Prix – Amsterdam, Washington D.C.[]

1999 World Championships – Yokohama (4–8 August 1999)[]

Main article: Magic: The Gathering World Championship § 1999 World Championship

Kai Budde won the 1999 World Championship, defeating Mark Le Pine in the finals. The match went into the books as the shortest individual Pro Tour final ever, taking about 20 minutes. The title allowed Budde to take the Pro Player of the year title as well.[1]

The United States defeated Germany in the team finals to win the national team title.[1]

Tournament data[]

Prize pool: $250,000[11]
Players: 208
Individual formats: Urza's Saga Rochester Draft (Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny), Standard, Extended
Team formats: Team Sealed (Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny) – Swiss; Standard – Finals
Head Judge: Charlie Catino[5]

Top 8[]

Quarter-finals Semi-finals Finals
         
1 Jakub Slemr 2
8 Matt Linde 3
Matt Linde 2
Mark Le Pine 3
5 Mark Le Pine 3
4 Gary Wise 1
Mark Le Pine 0
Kai Budde 3
3 Jamie Parke 1
6 Kai Budde 3
Kai Budde 3
Raffaele Lo Moro 0
7 Nicolai Herzog 1
2 Raffaele Lo Moro 3

Final standings[]

Place Player Prize Comment
1 Germany Kai Budde $34,000
2 United States Mark Le Pine $22,000 3rd Final day
3 Italy Raffaele Lo Moro $16,000
4 United States Matt Linde $13,000
5 Czech Republic Jakub Slemr $11,000 3rd Final day
6 United States Jamie Parke $9,500
7 Canada Gary Wise $8,250
8 Norway Nicolai Herzog $7,250

National team competition[]

  1. United States United States (Kyle Rose, John Hunka, Zvi Mowshowitz, Charles Kornblith)
  2. Germany Germany (Marco Blume, Patrick Mello, David Brucker, Rosario Maij)
  3. Norway Norway (Nicolai Herzog, Sturla Bingen, Bjorn Joumsen, Marius Johnsen)
  4. Sweden Sweden (Jimmy Oman, Richard Soderberg, Ken Asp, Kristian Hellman)[12]

Pro Player of the year final standings[]

After the World Championship Kai Budde was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.[13]

Rank Player Pro Points
1 Germany Kai Budde 75
2 United States Jon Finkel 65
3 United States Casey McCarrel 63
4 United States Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 57
5 United States Mark Le Pine 52

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Rosewater, Mark (26 July 2004). "On Tour, Part 1". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved 1 December 2008.
  2. ^ "Pro Tour – Chicago 1998 Semifinals Results and Finals Brackets". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 20 February 1999. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Pro Tour – Chicago '98 Quarterfinals Decks". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 20 February 1999. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Pro Tour - Chicago '98 Booster Draft Preview". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 20 February 1999. Retrieved 4 May 2015.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Head Judges of Pro Tours and World Championships". XS4ALL. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  6. ^ "Pro Tour - Chicago, 1998". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 13 October 2000. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Pro Tour – Rome, 1998". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 11 February 2001. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  8. ^ "Pro Tour - Chicago, 1998". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 13 October 2000. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  9. ^ "Pro Tour-New York 1999 Top 8 Decklists". 2 May 1999. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
  10. ^ "Pro Tour – New York, 1999". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 9 July 2000. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  11. ^ "DCI Invitation Policy For Magic: The Gathering Tournaments 1998 - 99 Professional Season". TheDojo.net. 1999. Archived from the original on 25 February 1999. Retrieved 16 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  12. ^ "U.S. NATIONAL TEAM TAKES SECOND CONSECUTIVE TITLE AT 1999 MAGIC: THE GATHERING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS IN TOKYO, JAPAN". Wizards of the Coast. 9 August 1999. Archived from the original on 4 October 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2016.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  13. ^ "1997–1998 Player of the Year Standings". Wizards of the Coast. 1999. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
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