Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2001–02 explained

Season:2001–02 Pro Tour season
Ppoty: Kai Budde
Roty: Farid Meraghni
Wc: Carlos Romão
Pts:6
Gps:33
Masters:4
Start:18 August 2001
End:18 August 2002
Prevseason:2000–01
Nextseason:2002–03

The 2001–02 Pro Tour season was the seventh season of the Pro Tour. On 18 August 2001 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Kobe and Denver. It ended on 18 August 2002 with the conclusion of the 2002 World Championship in Sydney. The season consisted of 33 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in New York, New Orleans, San Diego, Osaka, Nice, and Sydney. Also Master Series tournaments were held at four Pro Tours. At the end of the season Kai Budde was proclaimed Pro Player of the Year, winning the title by a record margin.

Grand Prixs – Kobe, Denver, Santiago, Singapore, London

GP Kobe (18–19 August)
  1. Itaru Ishida
  2. Shuhei Nakamura
  3. Kei Ikeda
  4. Takayuki Nagaoka
  5. Hiroshi Kawasaki
  6. Ryo Ogura
  7. Takumi Hasegawa
  8. Kenshiro Ito
GP Denver (18–19 August)
  1. Brett Shears
  2. Danny Mandel
  3. Brock Parker
  4. Darwin Kastle
  5. Sammy Batarseh
  6. Mike Abraham
  7. Aaron Knobloch
  8. Alex Borteh
GP Santiago (25–26 August)
  1. Matias Gabrenja
  2. Gerardo Godinez
  3. Jorge Rodriguez
  4. Jose Echeverria
  5. Rodrigo Sanchez
  6. Brock Parker
  7. Andrés Hojman
  8. Juan Ruetter
GP Singapore (1–2 September)
  1. Albertus Law
  2. Kelvin Yew Teck Hoon
  3. Akuma Ding Yuen Leong
  4. Michihisa Onoda
  5. Royce Ming Huang Chai
  6. Lance Chin Wei Yeong
  7. David Kwan
  8. Chang Chua
GP London (1–2 September)
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Gabriel Nassif
  3. Helmut Summersberger
  4. Matt Henstra
  5. Warren Marsh
  6. René Kraft
  7. Antoine Ruel
  8. Pierre Malherbaud

Pro Tour – New York (7–9 September 2001)

New York was the third time Pro Tour was held in the Team Limited format. Car Acrobatic Team who had been amongst the Top 4 at the previous team Pro Tour returned for another Top 4. The event was won by team Phoenix Foundation consisting of Kai Budde, Dirk Baberowski, and Marco Blume. It was Baberowski's second win and Budde's fourth.[1] The final was also a repeat to the final of Grand Prix London a week before, where Budde had already won against Nassif. Eventually Kai's renewed success led to some memorable quotes. Asked about the favorite to win amongst the final 4 several pros exclaimed something to the extent of the words Gary Wise pronounced, "Kai doesn't lose on Sunday".[2] Randy Buehler's comment "if he wins New Orleans, I guess he is" on the discussion whether Kai is the best player in the history of the game also became a classic when Kai indeed won PT New Orleans.[1]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $202,200
Players: 426 (142 teams)
Format: Invasion Team Sealed (Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse) – first day, Invasion Team Rochester Draft (Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse) – final two days
Head Judge: Collin Jackson[3]

Final standings

PlaceTeamPlayerPrizePro PointsComment
align=center rowspan=31align=center rowspan=3Phoenix Foundation Marco Blumealign=center rowspan=3$60,00024
Dirk Baberowski243rd Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win
Kai Budde244th Final day, 4th Pro Tour win
align=center rowspan=32align=center rowspan=3Les Plus Class Amiel Tenenbaumalign=center rowspan=3$30,00018Pro Tour debut
Gabriel Nassif18
Nicolas Olivieri18
align=center rowspan=33align=center rowspan=3Illuminati* Justin Garyalign=center rowspan=3$18,000122nd Final day
Zvi Mowshowitz124th Final day
Alex Shvartsman12
align=center rowspan=34align=center rowspan=3Car Acrobatic Team Aaron Forsythealign=center rowspan=3$15,000122nd Final day
Andrew Cuneo122nd Final day
Andrew Johnson122nd Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Kai Budde30
align=center rowspan=22 Dirk Baberowski24
Marco Blume24
4 Gabriel Nassif23
align=center rowspan=25 Nicholas Olivieri18
Amiel Tenenbaum18

Grand Prixs – Warsaw, Minneapolis, Oslo, Vienna, Cape Town, Shizuoka, Montreal, Brisbane

GP Warsaw (8–9 September)
  1. Rickard Österberg
  2. Michal Marcik
  3. David Linder
  4. Mattias Kettil
  5. Przemek Oberbek
  6. Marcin Sados
  7. Felix Schneiders
  8. Roman Kubera
GP Oslo (22–23 September)
  1. Trey Van Cleave
  2. Anton Jonsson
  3. Johan Backfjärd
  4. Sigurd Eskeland
  5. Svante Landgraf
  6. Rickard Österberg
  7. Peter Laier
  8. Haakon Monsen
GP Minneapolis (29–30 September)
  1. Dave Humpherys
  2. Andrew Wolf
  3. Brian Hegstad
  4. Brian Davis
  5. Craig Wescoe
  6. Cassius Weatherby
  7. Lee Curtis
  8. Jacob Janoska
GP Vienna (6–7 October)
  1. Stephan Meyer
  2. Eivind Nitter
  3. Nicolai Herzog
  4. Gabor Papp
  5. Matthias Künzler
  6. Holger Meinecke
  7. Konrad Zawadzki
  8. Ladoslav Zupancic
GP Cape Town (6–7 October)
  1. Ben Seck
  2. Wagner Kruger
  3. Justin Polin
  4. Grant van Dyk
  5. Andrew Mitchell
  6. Pieter Loubser
  7. Robert Thompson
  8. Peter Klein
GP Shizuoka (13–14 October)
  1. Kohei Yamadaya
  2. Masahiko Morita
  3. Ryouma Shiozu
  4. Olivier Ruel
  5. Katsuhiro Mori
  6. Tsuyoshi Douyama
  7. Reiji Ando
  8. Eiho Kato
GP Montreal (13–14 October)
  1. Mike Turian
  2. Louis Boileau
  3. Timothy McKenna
  4. Brett Shears
  5. David Rood
  6. Bob Maher, Jr.
  7. Peter Szigeti
  8. Daniel Clegg
GP Brisbane (20–21 October)
  1. Richard Johnston
  2. Roger Miller
  3. Alex Shvartsman
  4. Egidio De Gois
  5. Lenny Collins
  6. Dante Rosati
  7. Pang Ming Wee
  8. Daniel Romans

Pro Tour – New Orleans (2–4 November 2001)

After winning Pro Tour New York Kai Budde won New Orleans as well, making him the only player to win back to back Pro Tours. His fifth Pro Tour victory also made him the record money-earner and erased almost all doubt, that Budde is the best player in the history of the game.[5]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,130
Players: 355
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Mike Guptil[3]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Kai Budde$30,000325th Final day, 5th Pro Tour win
2 Tomi Walamies$20,00024
3 Jelger Wiegersma$15,00016
4 Dave Humpherys$13,000163rd Final day
5 Anton Jonsson$9,50012
6 Raphaël Gennary$8,500121st Swiss Player in a Top 8
7 Darwin Kastle$7,500126th Final day
8 Benedikt Klauser$6,500124th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Kai Budde62
2 Tomi Walamies35
3 Marco Blume32
4 Gabriel Nassif28
5 Dave Humpherys26

Grand Prixs – Hong Kong, Atlanta, Biarritz, Curitiba, Las Vegas, Sendai, Houston

GP Hong Kong (17–18 November)
  1. Jeff Fung
  2. Frederick Salazar
  3. Tsuyoshi Fujita
  4. Shinsuke Hayashi
  5. Bayani Manansala, Jr.
  6. Steven Shears
  7. Brian Hegstad
  8. Ryan Fuller
GP Atlanta (17–18 November)
  1. Eugene Harvey
  2. Andrew Johnson
  3. Brad Swan
  4. Matt Linde
  5. Bin Chen
  6. Antonino De Rosa
  7. Craig Wescoe
  8. Alex Borteh
GP Biarritz (24–25 November)
  1. Nicolas Labarre
  2. Kai Budde
  3. Lucio Moratinos
  4. Joost Vollebregt
  5. Ferran Vila
  6. Alexander Witt
  7. Alexis Dumay
  8. Olivier Ruel
GP Curitiba (8–9 December)
  1. Guilherme Svaldi
  2. Alex Shvartsman
  3. Antoine Ruel
  4. Leopoldo Martins
  5. Raphael Gunther
  6. Jose Barbero
  7. José Mangueira
  8. Eliton Enacio
GP Las Vegas (8–9 December)
  1. Michael Pustilnik
  2. Adam Lane
  3. John Balla
  4. Sean Fitzgerald
  5. Kaare Anderson
  6. Rob Dougherty
  7. Shannon Krumick
  8. Scott Gerhardt
GP Sendai (15–16 December)
  1. Kazuaki Arahori
  2. Kazuya Hirabayashi
  3. Mike Long
  4. Yuki Murakami
  5. Itaru Ishida
  6. Kazufumi Abe
  7. Jin Okamoto
  8. Katsuhiro Mori
GP Houston (5–6 January)
  1. Joshua Smith
  2. Brian Kibler
  3. William Jensen
  4. Ben Rubin
  5. Bob Maher, Jr.
  6. Alex Shvartsman
  7. Jonathan Pechon
  8. Jonathan Job

Pro Tour – San Diego (11–13 January 2002)

The 2002 was won by the French Farid Meraghni. It was the first time a French player won a major tournament after several French players coming in second at Worlds and Pro Tours.[1] Also the tournament is known for Magic veteran Eric Taylor literally eating his hat due to losing a bet about Kai Budde winning Pro Tour New Orleans.[6] Canadian player Ryan Fuller won the Masters.[7]

Tournament data

Players: 348
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Odyssey Rochester Draft (Odyssey)
Head Judge: Mike Donais[3]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Farid Meraghni$30,000321st Frenchmen to win a Pro Tour
2 Jens Thorén$20,00024
3 Donnie Gallitz$15,00016
4 Andrew Wolf$13,000162nd Final day
5 Jeff Cunningham$9,00012
6 Frederico Bastos$8,500122nd Final day
7 Neil Reeves$8,00012
8 Eric Froehlich$7,50012

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Kai Budde80
2 Jens Thorén40
3 Farid Meraghni38
4 Tomi Walamies34
5 Marco Blume33

Grand Prixs – Lisbon, Heidelberg, Fukuoka, Tampa, Antwerp

GP Lisbon (19–20 January)
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Patrick Mello
  3. Olivier Ruel
  4. Marcio Carvalho
  5. Stefano Fiore
  6. Alex Shvartsman
  7. Tom Van de Logt
  8. Jelger Wiegersma
GP Heidelberg (9–10 February)
  1. Kamiel Cornelissen
  2. Chris Benafel
  3. Franck Canu
  4. Thomas Preyer
  5. Jelger Wiegersma
  6. Patrick Mello
  7. Yuri Kolomeyko
  8. Joost Vollebregt
GP Fukuoka (16–17 February)
  1. Alex Shvartsman
  2. Masahiko Morita
  3. Itaru Ishida
  4. Jun Ishihara
  5. Masahiro Kuroda
  6. Tsuyoshi Fujita
  7. Yusuke Sasaki
  8. Shuhei Nakamura
GP Tampa (23–24 February)
  1. Sol Malka
  2. Jeff Cunningham
  3. Koby Kennison
  4. Mike Emmert
  5. Antonino De Rosa
  6. Brian Kibler
  7. Adam Racht
  8. Adam Prokopin
GP Antwerp (2–3 March)
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Florent Jeudon
  3. Matthias Jorstedt
  4. Wolfgang Eder
  5. Arjan van Leeuwen
  6. Christoph Lippert
  7. Jos Schreurs
  8. Dirk Baberowski

Pro Tour – Osaka (15–17 March 2002)

Tournament data

Players: 277
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Odyssey Block Constructed (Odyssey, Torment)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson[3]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Ken Ho$30,00032
2 Olivier Ruel$20,00024
3 Rob Dougherty$15,000164th Final day
4 Jens Thorén$13,000162nd Final day
5 Sylvain Lauriol$9,00012
6 Nicholas Olivieri$8,500122nd Final day
7 Osyp Lebedowicz$8,00012
8 Christophe Haim$7,50012

Masters – Team Rochester Draft

TeamPlayerTeamPlayer
Les Plus Class Amiel TenenbaumPhoenix Foundation Dirk Baberowski
Gabriel Nassif Kai Budde
Nicolas Olivieri Marco Blume
Metagames Wilfried RanqueSlay-Pillage-Massacre Scott McCord
Raphaël Lévy Jon Sonne
Franck Canu Eric Ziegler
Outland Bjørn Jocumsenwww.star-maker.nl/lap Victor Van der Broek
Eivind Nitter Frank Karsten
Nicolai Herzog Jelger Wiegersma
Panzer Hunter Itaru IshidaYour Move Games Dave Humpherys
Kazuyaki Momose Rob Dougherty
Reiji Andou Darwin Kastle

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Kai Budde90
2 Jens Thorén58
3 Alex Shvartsman48
4 Olivier Ruel45
5 Gabriel Nassif42

Grand Prixs – Barcelona, Kuala Lumpur, Naples

GP Barcelona (23–24 March)
  1. Noah Boeken
  2. Christoph Lippert
  3. Olivier Ruel
  4. Carlos Barrado
  5. Stan van der Velden
  6. Reinhard Blech
  7. Raphaël Lévy
  8. Franck Canu
GP Kuala Lumpur (30–31 March)
  1. Ding Yueng Leong
  2. Chang Chua
  3. Yujian Zhou
  4. Veerapat Sirilertvorakul
  5. Alex Shvartsman
  6. Nicholas Jonatha Wong
  7. Tobey Tamber
  8. Edsel Alvarez
GP Naples (6–7 April)
  1. Pierre Malherbaud
  2. Jelger Wiegersma
  3. Kai Budde
  4. Olivier Ruel
  5. Patrick Mello
  6. Iwan Tan
  7. Raphaël Lévy
  8. Christoph Lippert

Pro Tour – Nice (3–5 May 2002)

In Nice Kai Budde lost his first match on a Pro Tour Sunday, after winning his previous five Top 8.[1] His third final day appearance and ensuing 36-point-lead virtually secured him the Pro Player of the Year title, though. The Pro Tour was won by Norwegian Eivind Nitter, while the Masters Series title went to Alexander Witt from the Netherlands.

Tournament data

Players: 332
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Odyssey Block Booster Draft (Odyssey-Torment)
Head Judge: Cyril Grillon[3]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Eivind Nitter$30,00032
2 Bram Snepvangers$20,00024
3 Svend Geertsen$15,000164th Final day
4 Brian Davis$13,000162nd Final day
5 Kai Budde$9,000126th Final day
6 Anton Jonsson$8,500122nd Final day
7 Gary Talim$8,00012
8 Benjamin Niedrig$7,50012

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Kai Budde96
2 Jens Thorén61
3 Alex Shvartsman56
4 Olivier Ruel55
5 Gabriel Nassif47

Grand Prixs – Nagoya, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Sao Paulo, Taipei

GP Nagoya (11–12 May)
  • 1. P.S.2
  • Masahiro Kuroda
  • Katsuhiro Mori
  • Masahiko Morita
  • 2. S.S.D.
  • Naoki Kubouchi
  • Shuhei Nakamura
  • Kimio Imai
  • 3. NAGOYAN
  • Ryo Ogura
  • Ryoma Shiozu
  • Koji Nose
  • 4. N.G.O.K.
  • Takayuki Nagaoka
  • Tsuyoshi Fujita
  • Masayuki Higashino
    GP Milwaukee (11–12 May)
    1. Eric Taylor
    2. Patrick Chapin
    3. Mike Turian
    4. Neil Reeves
    5. David Petersen
    6. Brian Kibler
    7. William Jensen
    8. Steve Cassell
    GP New Jersey (29–30 June)
  • 1. The Jokas
  • Eric James
  • Kyle Rose
  • Norman Woods
  • 2. Illuminati
  • Justin Gary
  • Zvi Mowshowitz
  • Alex Shvartsman
  • 3. Team Cardshark
  • Jason Huang
  • Paul Sottosanti
  • Adam Fischer
  • 4. Lovespell
  • Alex Borteh
  • Chris Benafel
  • Eric Froehlich
    GP São Paulo (13–14 July)
    1. Gabriel Caligaris
    2. Felipe Desiderati
    3. Antoine Ruel
    4. Luis Sérgio Massaro
    5. Raphael Fontana Günter
    6. André Barreto
    7. Michel Shirozono
    8. Rodrigo Castro
    GP Taipei (13–14 July)
    1. Sheng Hsun Hsia
    2. Kang Nien Chiang
    3. Joe Yi Xiang Wang
    4. Albertus Law
    5. Morris Song
    6. Wen-Jien Hwang
    7. Chang Ming Tung
    8. Lucifar Sun

    2002 World Championships – Sydney (14–18 August 2002)

    As Jens Thorén had not scored any points since Nice and he was not on his national team the Pro Tour Player of the Year going to Kai Budde was already a sure thing before the tournament. While Carlos Romão from Brazil became World Champion by defeating Mark Ziegner from Germany in the final, the German team also starring Mark Ziegner won the team competition.[8]

    Tournament data

    Prize pool: $210,200 (individual) + $162,000 (national teams)
    Players: 245
    Formats: Standard, Odyssey Booster Draft (Odyssey-Torment-Judgment), Odyssey Block Constructed (Odyssey, Torment, Judgment)
    Head Judge: Collin Jackson[3]

    Final standings

    PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
    1 Carlos Romão$35,000321st Brazilian to win a Pro Tour
    2 Mark Ziegner$23,00024
    3 Diego Ostrovich$15,000161st Argentinian in a Top 8
    4 Dave Humpherys$13,000164th Final day
    5 Sim Han How$9,000121st Malaysian in a Top 8
    6 John Larkin$8,500122nd Final day
    7 Tuomas Kotiranta$8,00012
    8 Ken Krouner$7,50012

    National team competition

    1. Germany (Mark Ziegner, Kai Budde, Felix Schneiders)
    2. United States (Andrew Ranks, Eugene Harvey, Eric Franz)

    Pro Player of the year final standings

    After the World Championship Kai Budde was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. He thus became the only player to win the title more than once. Budde's 117 Pro Points in this season to date is still the only time that a player garnered more than 100 Pro Points in a season, and his lead of 42 Pro Points over the second place is still the greatest ever achieved at the end of a season.

    RankPlayerPro Points
    1 Kai Budde117
    2 Jens Thorén75
    3 Alex Shvartsman62
    4 Olivier Ruel58
    5 Dave Humpherys52

    Notes and References

    1. Web site: Mark . Rosewater . On Tour, Part 2 . Wizards of the Coast . 9 August 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090302090404/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/daily/mr136. dead. 2 March 2009.
    2. Web site: 2001 Pro Tour New York Coverage . Wizards of the Coast . 9 September 2001 . https://web.archive.org/web/20011024002936/http://wizards.com/sideboard/event.asp?event=ptny01. dead. 24 October 2001.
    3. Web site: Head Judges of Pro Tours and World Championships . XS4ALL . 30 October 2009 .
    4. Web site: Illuminati . Wizards of the Coast . Wachter . Toby . 9 September 2001 . https://web.archive.org/web/20011118142015/http://wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=ptny01%5c698t4illum. dead. 18 November 2001.
    5. Web site: 2001 Pro Tour New Orleans Coverage . Wizards of the Coast . 4 January 2002 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020210134200/http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/event.asp?event=PTNOR01. dead. 10 February 2002.
    6. Web site: Eric Taylor eats his hat! . Wizards of the Coast . Bleiweiss . Ben . 11 February 2002 . https://web.archive.org/web/20050302160708/http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/article.asp?x=PTSD02/425edthat. dead. 2 March 2005.
    7. Web site: 2002 Masters Series San Diego Coverage . 13 February 2002 . https://web.archive.org/web/20020117112401/http://www.wizards.com/sideboard/event.asp?event=MASTERSSD02. dead. 17 January 2002.
    8. Web site: 2002 World Championships Coverage . Wizards of the Coast . 18 August 2002 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011012040/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=sideboard/events/worlds02. dead. 11 October 2008.

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