Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1998–99

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.

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

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 Dirk Baberowski $25,000 Pro Tour debut
2 Casey McCarrel $15,000 2nd Final day
3 Jeff Fung $10,000
4 Benedikt Klauser $8,000 1st Austrian in a Top 8
5 Jon Finkel $6,500 4th Final day
6 Ryan Fuller $5,500
7 Martin Cedercrantz $4,800
8 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 Tommi Hovi $25,000 3rd Final day, First player to win two Pro Tours
2 Nicolas Labarre $15,000
3 Mark Le Pine $10,000 2nd Final day
4 Federico Dato $8,000
5 Olle Råde $6,500 5th Final day
6 Justin Gary $5,500
7 Erik Lauer $4,800
8 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 Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz $25,000 2nd Final day
2 Jon Finkel $15,000 5th Final day
3 Worth Wollpert $10,000
4 Terry Lau $8,000
5 Lucien Bui $6,500
6 Patrick Chapin $5,500 2nd Final day
7 Svend Geertsen $4,800 3rd Final day
8 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 Casey McCarrel $25,000 3rd Final day
2 Shawn Keller $15,000
3 Zvi Mowshowitz $10,000
4 Dave Humpherys $8,000
5 Rob Dougherty $6,500
6 Christian Lührs $5,500
7 Nicolas Labarre $4,800 2nd Final day
8 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 Kai Budde $34,000
2 Mark Le Pine $22,000 3rd Final day
3 Raffaele Lo Moro $16,000
4 Matt Linde $13,000
5 Jakub Slemr $11,000 3rd Final day
6 Jamie Parke $9,500
7 Gary Wise $8,250
8 Nicolai Herzog $7,250

National team competition
  1. United States (Kyle Rose, John Hunka, Zvi Mowshowitz, Charles Kornblith)
  2. Germany (Marco Blume, Patrick Mello, David Brucker, Rosario Maij)
  3. Norway (Nicolai Herzog, Sturla Bingen, Bjorn Joumsen, Marius Johnsen)
  4. 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 Kai Budde 75
2 Jon Finkel 65
3 Casey McCarrel 63
4 Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz 57
5 Mark Le Pine 52
gollark: Phase 2 has been named XENON CIRCUMVENTION.
gollark: We're working on phase 2 right now.
gollark: It's a bizarre thing to entirely leave over, honestly?
gollark: Maybe ask them to return.
gollark: He was just weirdly obsessed with lyricly existing.

References
  1. 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. "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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