| Season: | 2008 Pro Tour season |
| Ppoty: |  Shuhei Nakamura |
| Roty: |  Aaron Nicastri |
| Wc: |  Antti Malin |
| Pts: | 4 |
| Gps: | 21 |
| Start: | 15 December 2007 |
| End: | 14 December 2008 |
| Hof: | Dirk Baberowski Mike Turian Jelger Wiegersma Olivier Ruel Ben Rubin |
| Prevseason: | 2007 |
| Nextseason: | 2009 |
The 2008 Pro Tour season was the thirteenth season of the . It began on 15 December 2007, with Grand Prix Stuttgart, and ended on 14 December 2008, with the 2008 World Championship in Memphis. The season consisted of twenty-one Grand Prixs, and four Pro Tours, located in Kuala Lumpur, Hollywood, Berlin, and Memphis. The Grand Prixs from June until August were designated Summer Series Grand Prixs, awarding more prizes and additional Pro Points. At the end of the season, Shuhei Nakamura became the fourth consecutive Japanese player to win Pro Player of the year. Dirk Baberowski, Michael Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, and Ben Rubin were inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Shuhei Nakamura
Jonathan Bergström
Joel Calafell
Fried Meulders
Patrizio GoliaJon Finkel of the US won Kuala Lumpur, becoming the first Hall of Fame member to do so after his induction. The top eight is considered to be one of the best ever, with the players having a total of six Pro Tour wins between them prior to Kuala Lumpur.[1]
Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 346
Format: Booster Draft (Lorwyn-Morningtide)
Head Judge: Toby Elliott[2]
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jon Finkel | $40,000 | 25 | 12th Final day, 3rd Pro Tour win | |
| 2 | Mario Pascoli | $20,000 | 20 | ||
| 3 | Marcio Carvalho | $15,000 | 16 | 2nd Final day | |
| 4 |  Ming Xu | $13,000 | 16 | 1st Chinese Player in a Top 8, Pro Tour debut | |
| 5 |  Guillaume Wafo-Tapa | $11,000 | 12 | 2nd Final day | |
| 6 | Mike Hron | $10,500 | 12 | 2nd Final day | |
| 7 | Joel Calafell | $10,000 | 12 | ||
| 8 |  Nicolai Herzog | $9,500 | 12 | 5th Final day |
Paul Cheon Ben Lundquist
Marc Bonnefoy Zack Hall Jason Fleurant Michael Guerney Aaron Paquette Gerard Fabiano Adam Yurchick Luis Scott-Vargas Tyler Mantey
Paul Mathews Ben Wienburg Matt Hansen Jonathan Sonne Yuuta Takahashi Olivier Ruel Kenji Tsumura Ryousuke Masuno Kazuya Mitamura Shintarou Ishimura Taichi Fujimoto Akira Asahara Gabriel Nassif Raphaël Lévy Antoine Ruel Gaetan Lefebvre Alexandre Peset
Mateusz Kopec
Nikolaus Eigner Tomoharu Saitou Gianluca Bevere Horst Winkelmann Wojciech Zuber
Andras NagyCharles Gindy became the second American to win a Pro Tour in the 2008 season. Playing a green-black elf/rock deck, he defeated Germany's Jan Ruess, playing merfolk, in the finals.[3]
Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 371
Format: Standard
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery[2]
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Charles Gindy | $40,000 | 25 | ||
| 2 | Jan Ruess | $20,000 | 20 | ||
| 3 | Shuhei Nakamura | $15,000 | 16 | 5th Final day | |
| 4 |  Yong Han Choo | $13,000 | 16 | ||
| 5 | Nico Bohny | $11,000 | 12 | ||
| 6 | Makihito Mihara | $10,500 | 12 | 3rd Final day | |
| 7 | Marijn Lybaert | $10,000 | 12 | 2nd Final day | |
| 8 |  Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa | $9,500 | 12 | 3rd Final day |
Lee Shi Tian Remi Fortier Raphaël Lévy Antti Malin
Gaudenis Vidugiris Jamie Parke Tyler Mantey James Beltz Eric Franklin Randy Wright Ben Rasmussen Francisco Braga Felipe Alves Pellegrini Adrien Degaspare
Damian Buckley Ivan Taroshi Fox Olivier Ruel Nicolas Bevacqua Sebastian Pozzo Daniel Martin Bermejo Romain Fenaux-briot Sergio Salas Martinez Geir Bakke Yuuta Takahashi Takayuki Takagi Masaya Tanahashi Shou Yoshimori Hirosi Yosida Katsuya Ueda Koutarou Ootsuka Tsuyoshi Ikeda Gerry Thompson Lee Steht Nathan Elkins A.J. Sacher Kyle Bundgaard Antonino De Rosa Hunter Burton David Larsson Tomoharu Saitou
Jakub Jahoda Shuhei Nakamura Guillaume Wafo-Tapa William Cavaglieri Philipp Summereder Hironobu Sugaya Shouta Yasooka
Luis Magisa Shingou Kurihara Masami Kaneko Koutarou Ootsuka Raphaël Lévy
Wai Keat Ken Lim Emanuele Giusti Shuhei Nakamura Claudio Salemi Marcello Calvetto Rodrigo Renedo Joel Calafell Petr Nahodil Pierre Rensonnet Romain Lisciandro Artur Cnotalski Jan De Coster Tim Landale Carlos Romão Jonathan Sonne Sammy Batarseh Brandon Scheel Justin Meyer Chris Pait Willy EdelLuis Scott-Vargas of the US, defeated Matej Zatlkaj in the finals of Pro Tour Berlin. Six of the eight quarter finalists, including all four semi-finalists, played variants on the Elf-Ball combo deck.[4]
Prize pool: $230,795
Players: 454
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Sheldon Menery[2]
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Luis Scott-Vargas | $40,000 | 25 | ||
| 2 |  Matej Zatlkaj | $20,000 | 20 | ||
| 3 | Tomoharu Saitou | $15,000 | 16 | 5th Final day | |
| 4 | Sebastian Thaler | $13,000 | 16 | 2nd Final day | |
| 5 | Kenny Öberg | $11,000 | 12 | ||
| 6 | Martin Juza | $10,500 | 12 | ||
| 7 | Denis Sinner | $10,000 | 12 | ||
| 8 | Jan Doise | $9,500 | 12 |
Luis Scott-Vargas Gerry Thompson Chris Fennell Steven Wolansky Brett Piazza Tomoharu Saitou Chris Pait Ken Adams Shu Komuro Yoshitaka Nakano Osamu Fujita Lee Shi Tian Makihito Mihara Kazuya Mitamura Chikara Nakajima Tsuyoshi Ikeda Daisuke Muramatsu Olivier Ruel Akimasa Yamamoto Guillaume Wafo-Tapa Dominic Lo
Nick Tung Justin Cheung Jason Chung Olivier Ruel Joseph Combs Basam Tabet Chris HayThe World Championships began with the induction of Dirk Baberowski, Michael Turian, Jelger Wiegersma, Olivier Ruel, and Ben Rubin, into the Hall of Fame. In the individual competition, Antti Malin of Finland emerged as the World Champion from a top eight including only one player without a prior Sunday appearance. In the team competition, it was the first time that the top four teams would play on Sunday, as opposed to only the top two. The US team defeated Australia in the finals.[5]
Prize pool: $245,245 (individual) + $192,425 (national teams)
Players: 329
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Shards of Alara), Extended
Head Judge: Toby Elliott[2]
| Place | Player | Prize | Pro Points | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Antti Malin | $45,000 | 25 | 2nd Final day | |
| 2 | Jamie Parke | $24,000 | 20 | 2nd Final day | |
| 3 | Tsuyoshi Ikeda | $15,000 | 16 | 3rd Final day | |
| 4 |  Hannes Kerem | $14,000 | 16 | 1st player from Estonia to Top Eight | |
| 5 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa | $11,000 | 12 | 4th Final day | |
| 6 | Kenji Tsumura | $10,500 | 12 | 6th Final day | |
| 7 | Frank Karsten | $10,000 | 12 | 3rd Final day | |
| 8 | Akira Asahara | $9,500 | 12 | 2nd Final day |
United States (Michael Jacob, Paul Cheon, Sam Black) Australia (Aaron Nicastri, Brandon Lau, Justin Cheung) Brazil (Willy Edel, Vagner Casatti, Luiz Guilherme de Michielli) Japan (Masashi Oiso, Yuuya Watanabe, Akihiro Takakuwa)After the World Championship, Shuhei Nakamura was awarded the Pro Player of the year title, making Japan the first country to win the title in four consecutive years.[6]
| Rank | Player | Pro Points | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Shuhei Nakamura | 70 | ||
| align=center rowspan="2" | 2 | Olivier Ruel | align=center rowspan="2" | 58 |
| Luis Scott-Vargas | ||||
| align=center rowspan="2" | 4 | Marcio Carvalho | align=center rowspan="2" | 50 |
| Tomoharu Saitou |
Japan had the most Top 8 appearances at 6 although they had less than half as many players on the Pro Tour in the season than the United States, which had the secondmost Top 8 appearances at 5.
| Country | T8 | Q | Q/T8 | M | GT | Best Player (PPts) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | 6 | 155.5 | 19 | Shuhei Nakamura (70) | |||
| United States | 5 | 196.5 | 16 | Luis Scott-Vargas (58) | |||
| Germany | 3 | 208 | 3 | Jan Ruess (35) | |||
| Belgium | 2 | 158.5 | 3 | Marijn Lybaert (33) | |||
| Brazil | 2 | 185.5 | 4 | Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (42) | |||
| France | 1 | 183.5 | 6 | Olivier Ruel (58) | |||
| Italy | 1 | 230 | 3 | Mario Pascoli (40) | |||
| Spain | 1 | 224 | 1 | Joel Calafell (33) |
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.