Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2003–04 explained

Season:2003–04 Pro Tour season
Ppoty: Gabriel Nassif
Roty: Julien Nuijten
Wc: Julien Nuijten
Pts:7
Gps:26
Start:23 August 2003
End:5 September 2004
Prevseason:2002–03
Nextseason:2005

The 2003–04 Pro Tour season was the ninth season of the . On 23 August 2003 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Yokohama and London. It ended on 5 September 2004 with the conclusion of the 2004 World Championship in San Francisco. Beginning with this season Wizards of the Coast moved the Pro Tour schedule farther backwards in the year to synchronize it with the calendar year. The season consisted of 26 Grand Prixs and 7 Pro Tours, held in Boston, New Orleans, Amsterdam, Kobe, San Diego, Seattle, and San Francisco. Also the Master Series tournaments were discontinued and replaced by payout at the end of the year based on the Pro Player of the year standings. At the end of the season Gabriel Nassif was proclaimed Pro Player of the year, the first player after Kai Budde's three-year-domination period, and also the first player to win the title without winning a Pro Tour in the same season.

Grand Prixs – Yokohama, London, Atlanta

GP Yokohama (23–24 August)
  1. Shu Komuro
  2. Kazuki Kato
  3. Masashiro Kuroda
  4. Yuichi Yamagishi
  5. Masahiko Morita
  6. Shuhei Nakamura
  7. Kazuyuki Momose
  8. Yusuke Osaka
GP London (23–24 August)
  1. Diego Ostrovich
  2. Yann Hamon
  3. Mario Pascoli
  4. Eivind Nitter
  5. Antonino De Rosa
  6. Jose Barbero
  7. Josh Rider
  8. Frank Karsten
GP Atlanta (30–31 August)
  1. Marco Blume
  2. Matt Linde
  3. Joshua Wagener
  4. Keith McLaughlin
  5. Zvi Mowshowitz
  6. Keith Thompson
  7. Sean Buckley
  8. Tim Bonneville

Pro Tour – Boston (12–14 September 2003)

"Phoenix Foundation" had its third consecutive Pro Tour Top 4 appearance, but this time they were eliminated by eventual champions "The Brockafellars". The team consisting of William Jensen, Matt Linde, and Brock Parker had allegedly not done a single practice draft in the format.[1]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,100
Players: 399 (133 teams)
Format: Team Sealed (Onslaught, Legions, Scourge) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Onslaught-Legions-Scourge) – final two days
Head Judge: Collin Jackson[2]

Final standings

PlaceTeamPlayerPrizePro PointsComment
align=center rowspan=31align=center rowspan=3The Brockafellars Brock Parkeralign=center rowspan=3$60,00024
William Jensen244th Final day
Matt Linde242nd Final day
align=center rowspan=32align=center rowspan=3Original Slackers Lovre Crnoborialign=center rowspan=3$30,00018
Jake Smith18
Rickard Österberg18
align=center rowspan=33align=center rowspan=3Zabutan Nemonaut Mike Turianalign=center rowspan=3$18,000123rd Final day
Gary Wise124th Final day
Eugene Harvey122nd Final day
align=center rowspan=34align=center rowspan=3Phoenix Foundation Marco Blumealign=center rowspan=3$15,000123rd Final day
Kai Budde129th Final day
Dirk Baberowski125th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Matt Linde29
align=center rowspan=22 William Jensen24
Brock Parker24
align=center rowspan=44 Marco Blume18
Lovre Crnobori18
Rickard Österberg18
Jake Smith18

Grand Prixs – Genova, Sydney, Kansas City, Lyon

GP Genova (13–14 September)
  1. Reinhard Blech
  2. Jan Doise
  3. Stefano Fiore
  4. André Müller
  5. Simone Carboni
  6. Alessandro Vegna
  7. Marco Benifei
  8. Martin Heidemann
GP Sydney (4–5 October)
  1. Andrew Grain
  2. Andrew Gordon
  3. Lenny Collins
  4. Itaru Ishida
  5. Shun Jiang
  6. Jake Hart
  7. Daniel Turner
  8. Tim He
GP Kansas City (18–19 October)
  1. Antonino De Rosa
  2. Nathan Heiss
  3. Ben Stark
  4. Brian Kibler
  5. Michael Krumb
  6. Gerry Thompson
  7. Justin Smith
  8. Jonathan Cassidy
GP Lyon (25–26 October)
  1. Yann Hamon
  2. Bruno Carvalho
  3. Daniel Madan
  4. Jeroen Remie
  5. Kevin Desprez
  6. Loïc Degrau
  7. Sebastien Bernaud
  8. Jelger Wiegersma

Pro Tour – New Orleans (31 October – 2 November 2003)

After finishing second with his team in Boston, Rickard Österberg returned to win Pro Tour New Orleans. The Extended format of New Orleans is considered to be one of the most powerful of all time and Österberg's deck was built around the soon to be banned card, too.[3]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,130
Players: 318
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Mike Guptil[2]

Top 8

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Rickard Österberg$30,000322nd Final day
2 Gabriel Nassif$20,000243rd Final day
3 Yann Hamon$15,00016
4 Masashi Oiso$13,000162nd Final day
5 Hans Joachim Höh$9,50012
6 Eugene Harvey$8,500123rd Final day
7 Tomohiro Yokosuka$7,50012
8 Nicolas Labarre$6,500124th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Rickard Österberg50
2 Matt Linde31
3 Gabriel Nassif30
4 Yann Hamon27
align=center rowspan=25 Brock Parker26
William Jensen26

Grand Prixs – Shizuoka, Gothenburg, Munich, Anaheim

GP Shizuoka (8–9 November)
  1. Kazuki Katou
  2. Satoshi Harada
  3. Koichiro Maki
  4. Tomohide Sasagawa
  5. Kei Ikeda
  6. Ken'Ichi Fujita
  7. Ryouma Shiozu
  8. Yusuke Sasaki
GP Gothenburg (22–23 November)
  1. Jelger Wiegersma
  2. Tommi Hovi
  3. Daniel Bertelsen
  4. Kai Budde
  5. Sam Gomersall
  6. Daniel Zink
  7. David Linder
  8. Benjamin Lindqvist
GP Munich (6–7 December)
  1. Yann Hamon
  2. Reinhard Blech
  3. Georgios Kapalas
  4. Stefan Schwaiger
  5. Tobias Kroll
  6. Hannes Scholz
  7. Steven Gouin
  8. Dirk Hein
GP Anaheim (13–14 December)
  1. Ben Rubin
  2. Nathan Saunders
  3. Nick Meves
  4. Peter Szigeti
  5. Ben Stark
  6. Paul Rietzl
  7. Blake Quelle
  8. Gerard Fabiano

Pro Tour – Amsterdam (16–18 January 2004)

Norwegian Nicolai Herzog defeated Osamu Fujita in the finals to win Pro Tour Amsterdam. Other than Fujita and Herzog the final eight included only accomplished players with at least one other lifetime Pro Tour final day appearance.[5]

Tournament data

Players: 347
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Rochester Draft (Mirrodin)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk[2]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Nicolai Herzog$30,000323rd Final day
2 Osamu Fujita$20,00024
3 Anton Jonsson$15,000163rd Final day
4 Olivier Ruel$13,000162nd Final day
5 Kamiel Cornelissen$9,000123rd Final day
6 Aeo Paquette$8,50012Pro Tour debut
7 Farid Meraghni$8,000122nd Final day
8 Mike Turian$7,500124th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Rickard Österberg52
2 Nicolai Herzog38
3 Yann Hamon36
align=center rowspan=34 Osamu Fujita34
Matt Linde34
Gabriel Nassif34

Grand Prixs – Okayama, Oakland, Madrid

GP Okayama (24–25 January)
  1. Kazuya Shiki
  2. Itaru Ishida
  3. Akira Asahara
  4. SangRyeol Lee
  5. Shinsuke Hayashi
  6. Asuka Doi
  7. Chikara Nakajima
  8. Kazura Hirabayashi
GP Oakland (7–8 February)
  1. Ken Ho
  2. Dave Humpherys
  3. Mike Turian
  4. Ian Spaulding
  5. Mitchell Tamblyn
  6. Ben Rubin
  7. Paul Rietzl
  8. Gabe Walls
GP Madrid (21–22 February)
  1. Kai Budde
  2. Bernardo Da Costa Cabral
  3. Dirk Hein
  4. Raphaël Lévy
  5. Thomas Gundersen
  6. Aniol Alcaraz
  7. Jaime Marrero
  8. Tommi Lindgren

Pro Tour – Kobe (27–29 February 2004)

On home turf Masashiro Kuroda won the first Pro Tour title for Japan, defeating Gabriel Nassif in the finals.[6]

Tournament data

Players: 239
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Mirrodin Block Constructed (Mirrodin, Darksteel)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson[2]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Masashiro Kuroda$30,000321st Japanese Player to win a Pro Tour
2 Gabriel Nassif$20,000244th Final day
3 Alexandre Peset$15,00016Pro Tour debut
4 Jelger Wiegersma$13,000162nd Final day
5 Luigi Sbrozzi$9,00012Pro Tour debut
6 Raffaele Lo Moro$8,500122nd Final day
7 Ben Stark$8,00012
8 Stefano Fiori$7,50012

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Rickard Österberg59
2 Gabriel Nassif58
3 Kai Budde43
4 Osamu Fujita42
5 Nicolai Herzog41

Grand Prixs – Hong Kong, Sendai, Columbus, Birmingham, Washington DC, Bochum

GP Hong Kong (6–7 March)
  1. Chuen Hwa Tan
  2. Olivier Ruel
  3. Masashi Oiso
  4. Gabe Walls
  5. Takuya Osawa
  6. Steven Tan
  7. Terry Soh
  8. Chi-Chung Hwang
GP Sendai (20–21 March)
  1. Ichiro Shimura
  2. Masahiko Morita
  3. Yusuke Sasaki
  4. Antoine Ruel
  5. Jin Okamoto
  6. Toshihisa Yamanaka
  7. Hiroto Yasutomi
  8. Ippei Sogabe
GP Columbus (27–28 March)
  1. Mike Turian
  2. Craig Krempels
  3. Aaron Lipcynski
  4. Cedric Phillips
  5. Kate Stavola
  6. Matt Larson
  7. Brandon Rickard
  8. Brock Parker
GP Birmingham (27–28 March)
  1. Stefan Jedlicka
  2. René Kraft
  3. Frank Karsten
  4. David Grant
  5. Mattias Jorstedt
  6. Jose Barbero
  7. Kamman Janpiam
  8. Niki Jedlicka
GP Washington D.C. (17–18 April)

1. Thaaaat's me

Chris Fennell

Bill Stead

Charles Gindy

2. Shenanigans

Adam Horvath

Osyp Lebedowicz

Patrick Sullivan

3. Your Move Games/Illuminati

Darwin Kastle

Rob Dougherty

Alex Shvartsman

4. Re-Elect Gore

Jon Finkel

Brian Kibler

Eric Froehlich

GP Bochum (17–18 April)

1. Schietkoe

Stijn Cornelissen

Tom van de Logt

Jesse Cornelissen

2. Team Burkas

Nicolai Herzog

Anton Jonsson

Tuomo Nieminen

3. The Unusual Suspects

David Brucker

Reinhard Blech

Dirk Hein

4. NPC All Stars

Sylvain Lehoux

Alexandre Peset

Loic Degrou

Pro Tour – San Diego (14–16 May 2004)

The second Mirrodin Draft Pro Tour saw three players amongst the final four, who had already finished in the Top 8 in the first Mirrodin Draft Pro Tour. Nicolai Herzog even followed his Amsterdam win up with another win victory, thus taking home the title in both Mirrodin Draft Pro Tours.[7]

Tournament data

Players: 312
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Mirrodin Booster Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson[2]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Nicolai Herzog$30,000324th Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win
2 Antoine Ruel$20,000242nd Final day
3 Mike Turian$15,000165th Final day
4 Anton Jonsson$13,000164th Final day
5 Mark Herberholz$9,00012
6 Ben Stark$8,500122nd Final day
7 Angel Perez del Pozo$8,00012Pro Tour debut
8 Masashi Oiso$7,500123rd Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Nicolai Herzog77
2 Rickard Österberg65
3 Gabriel Nassif63
4 Antoine Ruel53
5 Kai Budde47

Grand Prixs – Brussels, Zurich

GP Brussels (29–30 May)
  1. Tobias Henke
  2. Kai Budde
  3. Julien Nuijten
  4. Vasilis Fatouros
  5. Johannes Mitsios
  6. Xuan-Phi Nguyen
  7. Maxime Fays
  8. Stefano Fiore
GP Zurich (26–27 June)
  1. Manuel Bucher
  2. Matteo Cirigliano
  3. Sebastien Roux
  4. Frank Karsten
  5. Leonard Barbou
  6. Bertrand Fagnoni
  7. Timo Groth
  8. Charles Delvaux

Pro Tour – Seattle (9–11 July 2004)

Team "Von Dutch" from the Netherlands defeated Japanese "www.shop-fireBall.com2" in the finals to become the 2004 Pro Tour Seattle champions. The team consisted of Jeroen Remie, Jelger Wiegersma, and Kamiel Cornelissen.[8]

Tournament data

Players: 321 (107 teams)
Prize Pool: $200,100
Format: Team Sealed (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk[2]

Final standings

PlaceTeamPlayerPrizePro PointsComment
align=center rowspan=31align=center rowspan=3Von Dutch Jeroen Remiealign=center rowspan=3$60,000243rd Final day
Jelger Wiegersma243rd Final day
Kamiel Cornelissen244th Final day
align=center rowspan=32align=center rowspan=3www.shop-fireball.com2 Itaru Ishidaalign=center rowspan=3$30,00018
Tsuyoshi Ikeda182nd Final day
Jin Okamoto182nd Final day
align=center rowspan=33align=center rowspan=3S.A.I. Ichirou Shimuraalign=center rowspan=3$18,00012
Masami Ibamoto12
Ryuuichi Arita12
align=center rowspan=34align=center rowspan=3Pocket Rockets Paul Russellalign=center rowspan=3$16,20012Pro Tour debut
Joseph Derro12Pro Tour debut
Matthew Wood12Pro Tour debut

Pro Player of the year standings

RankPlayerPro Points
1 Nicolai Herzog80
align=center rowspan=22 Gabriel Nassif71
Rickard Österberg71
4 Jelger Wiegersma64
5 Antoine Ruel61

Grand Prixs – Kuala Lumpur, Orlando, New Jersey, Nagoya

GP Kuala Lumpur (24–25 July)
  1. Masahiko Morita
  2. Kwan Ching Yuen
  3. Zhen Xing Gao
  4. Tsuyoshi Fujita
  5. Sim Han How
  6. Cheng Wee Pek
  7. Bernard Chan
  8. Khang Jong Kuan
GP Orlando (24–25 July)
  1. Osyp Lebedowicz
  2. Michael Kuhmann
  3. Adam Chernoff
  4. Taylor Parnell
  5. William Jensen
  6. Antonino De Rosa
  7. Jeff Garza
  8. Harry Durnan
GP New Jersey (14–15 August)
  1. Jeff Garza
  2. Brian Kibler
  3. Eugene Harvey
  4. Jeroen Remie
  5. Jan Holland
  6. Adam Horvath
  7. Alexandre Peset
  8. Ty Dobbertin
GP Nagoya (28–29 August)
  1. Tatsunori Kishi
  2. Keisuke Hashimoto
  3. Masami Ibamoto
  4. Shun Iizuka
  5. Toru Takeshita
  6. Yuhi Kubota
  7. Masaki Yokoi
  8. Tomoharu Saitou

2004 World Championships – San Francisco (1–5 September 2004)

Fifteen-year-old Julien Nuijten from the Netherlands won the 2004 World Championship, defeating Aeo Paquette in the finals. Gabriel Nassif had his third final eight appearance within the season and thus claimed Pro Player of the year title. It was also his and Kamiel Cornelissen's fifth overall Top 8. Germany won the national team competition, defeating Belgium in the finals.[9]

Tournament data

Prize pool: $208,130 (individual) + $208,000 (national teams)
Players: 304
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn), Mirrodin Block Constructed (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk, Collin Jackson[2]

Final standings

PlacePlayerPrizePro PointsComment
1 Julien Nuijten$35,00032Pro Tour debut
2 Aeo Paquette$23,000242nd Final day
3 Ryou Ogura$15,00016
4 Manuel Bevand$13,00016
5 Kamiel Cornelissen$9,500125th Final day
6 Terry Soh$8,50012
7 Gabriel Nassif$7,500125th Final day
8 Murray Evans$6,50012

National team competition

  1. Germany (Sebastian Zink, Torben Twiefel, Roland Bode)
  2. Belgium (Dilson Ramos Da Fonseca, Vincent Lemoine, Geoffrey Siron)

Pro Player of the year final standings

After the World Championship Gabriel Nassif was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. He was the first player to win the title without winning a Pro Tour in the same season.

RankPlayerPro PointsPrize
1 Gabriel Nassif86$20,000
2 Nicolai Herzog82$19,800
3 Rickard Österberg76$19,600
4 Antoine Ruel68$19,400
5 Jelger Wiegersma66$19,200

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Live Coverage of 2003 Pro Tour Boston . Wizards of the Coast . 14 September 2003 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011011955/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=sideboard/events/ptbos03. dead. 11 October 2008.
  2. Web site: Head Judges of Pro Tours and World Championships . XS4ALL . 30 October 2009 .
  3. 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.
  4. Web site: Labarre forfeits . Wizards of the Coast . David-Marshall . Brian . 2 November 2003 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090602210258/https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=sideboard/ptno03/articleforfeit. dead. 2 June 2009.
  5. Web site: Live Coverage of 2004 Pro Tour Amsterdam . Wizards of the Coast . 18 January 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011011854/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=sideboard/events/masterschi03. dead. 11 October 2008.
  6. Web site: Live Coverage of 2004 Pro Tour Kobe . Wizards of the Coast . 29 February 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011013015/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent/ptkob04/welcome. dead. 11 October 2008.
  7. Web site: Live Coverage of 2004 Pro Tour San Diego . Wizards of the Coast . 16 May 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081011013100/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent/ptsd04/welcome. dead. 11 October 2008.
  8. Web site: Live Coverage of 2004 Pro Tour Seattle . Wizards of the Coast . 11 July 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080904125921/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent/ptsea04/welcome. dead. 4 September 2008.
  9. Web site: Nuijten, Nassif dominate Worlds . Wizards of the Coast . 5 September 2004 . https://web.archive.org/web/20081009153307/http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Events.aspx?x=mtgevent/worlds04/welcome. dead. 9 October 2008.

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