first modern pro tour

Card Database

An Oral History of the First Pro Tour

In early 1996, Magic: The Gathering was just under three years old, but Organized Play was just taking its first wobbly steps. There had been a couple of World Championships, a US Nationals, and scattered local tournaments offering collections of the Power Nine and complete sets of Legends as prizes. Homelands had just come out, and there was this new format called Type 2 that was scuffling along behind a format in which you could Fork an Ancestral Recall , eat all your Moxen, and then Berserk your gigantic Atog .

Still, we were having fun even if nobody knew quite where it was all going—until an ad appeared in the pages of The Duelist for something called "The Magic: The Gathering Black Lotus Pro Tour." It was billed as a professional tournament with bigger cash prizes than anyone had ever seen for playing a game.

That event took place 20 years ago this February, and it had a profound effect on what we thought of as tournament Magic . Today, Wizards of the Coast gives away millions of dollars every year to an elite cadre of the game's best players through Grand Prix, Pro Tours, and the Pro Players Club, but back then, a tournament with a $12,000 first prize was unprecedented. I interviewed a handful of people who were at that event in an attempt to capture the oral history of the tournament.

Joining me to share their memories from that event are:

Richard Garfield, the inventor of Magic: The Gathering .
Skaff Elias, one of the original Magic playtesters and the first Magic Brand Manager. He pushed the idea of Magic as an intellectual sport.
Mark Rosewater, the current Magic Head Designer, who has discussed his role at the Pro Tour on two podcasts. Those can be found here and here .
Elaine Chase, the current Senior Director of Global Brand Strategy and Marketing for Magic: The Gathering . Before her long journey at Wizards, she was a competitor at the event.
Charlie Catino, who, along with Skaff, was one of the first people to playtest Magic . In his role as an R&D Director, he has been responsible for Duel Masters for the past fifteen years.
Jon Finkel is a Pro Tour Hall of Famer who has been playing at the highest level throughout the 20 years of the Pro Tour.
Graham Tatomer, a Santa Barbara winemaker who won the Junior Division of that first Pro Tour.
Michael Loconto, a Worchester social worker who defeated Bertrand Lestree in the finals of the first Pro Tour to become the very first Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Champion.

Before the Black Lotus Pro Tour

Skaff : I came to be involved with Magic sheerly through pure luck. Richard Garfield was a fellow grad student in the math department at Penn. He had us all play games with him, and one of the games was this little thing he was working on for Wizards called "Magic." I think I was the third person to play it. And basically I have been playing it ever since.

Graham : It just turned out that Santa Barbara was kind of a hot spot for the game right when it came out. For Limited Edition (Alpha) and Limited Edition (Beta) we got an unusually high amount of players and actual cards. I was really drawn in by the fact that you got to make your own deck and that there were a lot of different avenues to take. There was this competitive factor to it that I liked as well. I was fifteen or sixteen years old when I got involved—around the release of Unlimited Edition . I was at the tail end of high school, where it felt like I didn't have that much to actually do. There was plenty of time to build decks and play against each other in local tournaments.

Elaine : Before the first Pro Tour, I was pretty active in the New York competitive scene. Gray Matter Conventions ran $1,000 tournaments at the time, and I played in those. I played in all sorts of communities in New York City, New Jersey, Upstate New York.... Magic at that time was a huge part of my life, and I would spend multiple days a week at multiple locations playing the game.

Charlie : I was one of the original playtesters for Richard Garfield's game. I basically played Magic before anyone else played Magic . I had a lot of experience and obviously, like all the players later on, when I first got into Magic I immediately realized what an awesome game it was and how much fun I had playing it. I just loved it so much and I dove incredibly deeply into it.

Michael : A lot of us played at SMK Collectibles in Hudson, Massachusetts. I remember buying Antiquities booster packs; that was the set that was out when we started to play. I'm sure everybody has a story about running to the store and hoping that there would be packs there. Unfortunately it wasn't Unlimited . We used to run a lot of tournaments for the store. Jim Lemire and I would be the judges. At the time, other than New York, the place to be was Hudson, Massachusetts.

Mark : I got hired by Wizards of the Coast in October 1995. I learned shortly afterwards from Skaff Elias that he was starting up a Pro Tour. Because I had been working freelance for Wizards, I wasn't allowed to play in tournaments. I told Skaff that I wanted to be involved, and he made me the liaison to R&D.

Jon : I was living in England when Magic came out. I was either fifteen or sixteen years old and I went to this local game store called Fun and Games. I walked in there and people were playing Dungeons & Dragons and other games, but the very first day people were playing Magic and it looked interesting. I asked about it and was pretty much instantly hooked. I moved back to the United States in New Jersey during the summer of '95 and started going to game stores and playing in some local tournaments. I thought I was pretty good—like every brash seventeen-year-old does—but I probably didn't play enough lands.

Richard : Obviously Magic was super-successful, but it was still in this turbulent non-stabilized state. I very much believed in this idea that if you took a game seriously that would help all levels of the game. The example that was used was that of basketball. The existence of the NBA didn't make it so that everybody's games are all super serious and exclude people who didn't participate in the NBA.

Balance | Art by Mark Poole

The Birth of the Pro Tour

Skaff : I was in R&D and at some point they needed a Brand Manager for the product, so I became the Brand and Business Manager for Magic —not too long before the Pro Tour. Part of the brand and marketing plan we came up with was to turn Magic into an intellectual sport. We felt that was really important for the long-term health of Magic .

Richard : When Ice Age came out, there were early posts analyzing the set, and they said there were only two good cards in the set. This is an unbelievably bad result for someone who's been working on the set for years and years. You look at that you just think, "This is ridiculous," with putting all this time, and in the end there were two cards that are of interest to people because they wanted to play with all these old, powerful cards. If we were in the business of selling cards to people, we were going to run out of cards sooner than we wanted. But if we were in the business of selling environments, we could make a new environment whenever we want. That's basically where the game was before the Pro Tour came around.

Mark : Skaff and I worked really closely together trying to get the event off the ground. Remember, in the early days there was nothing to model after. It was like the Wild West. Every tournament was run radically different.

Skaff : Golf and tennis were the two key examples for us that we were following. We talked to a lot of people at various sports marketing agencies and we decided that the best course of action was to start holding high-dollar tournaments and create stars out of the top people by having significant payouts. I understand the first Pro Tour wasn't necessarily that, but it was the first step towards that.

Mark : We wanted to name the Pro Tour, and one of the first things we came up with was "The Black Lotus Pro Tour." We sent out postcards announcing it, and we later learned that the lotus had connotations in some foreign markets that were not good. It is symbolic of drug trafficking in Asia, for example. We were just calling it the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour internally, and eventually that stuck.

Richard : The main thing was that there were a lot of design issues. As far as designing the way the tournament would work at the time—payouts, what would happen if people took too long playing, and so on—that was hard work, but it was minor compared to politically getting the company on board with it. Because if it [didn't] have the support of the company and a unified vision coming from them, then it wasn't going to work.

I remember a board meeting in those days with people talking about how to get in touch with what the players wanted. I suggested we could hire the players, and most of the people at the board meeting laughed. It just showed such a huge lack of respect for the people buying the product. All this political stuff had to be overcome. For me, this was the [most pressing] of the difficulties we faced.

The Phone Lines Are Open

Mark : We invited everybody that we could think of who were good players, including using rankings for the first time ever. We invited the top 25 or top 50 or whatever. Then we needed to fill out the rest of the tournament and we had no other means to do it. So the way you got into the first Pro Tour was by calling in.

Graham : I don't even think there were qualifiers for it. Whoever called first just got in. It filled up in a couple hours if I remember correctly. It was the same for the Juniors Division, but it just never filled up. Sam Beavers was actually the guy my parents called to ask, "Hey, if we fly our son out to New York, does he have a chance to win this thing?" He told them I definitely had a chance and they said, "Let's do it." After that first Pro Tour it was never like that again—you actually had to qualify for things, there was no sign-up sheet.

Skaff : We weren't really that connected to the players at the time, because everything was so casual. For the first Pro Tour, it was really difficult to jump-start everything. That was the hardest part. We basically had no contact information for the vast majority of good players. We knew we had limited slots and it was a call-in. We used as much information as we could, but in the end we had to have a call-in.

Elaine : It was first come, first serve, and at the time I had really well-trained fingers because that's how you got concert tickets—by calling into Ticketmaster. There was a lot of redialing on the phone when you got a busy signal. I would just hit redial...redial...redial. I actually got through, and my fiancé—now husband—also wanted to play. I asked if I could sign us both up and they said I had to hang up and dial again. Fortunately I got us both in. It was in New York City, I was in New York; there was no way I was gonna miss it. I was really excited to participate.

Mark : I remember I had friends, such as Mark Chalice, who desperately wanted to get in and they couldn't get through. They would call me and I just told them to keep trying, keep trying.

Michael : I remember all my friends trying to get in. I remember that I got through once and then the person on the other end hung up on me. And then it was busy...busy...busy. And then somehow—God bless—I got through on the phone lines. The rest is history I guess. Literally. It's amazing that that's how they did the first one.

Apocalypse Chime | Art by Mark Poole

A New Standard for Deck Construction

While it was still pretty common for tournaments to be held using what would now be considered Vintage as the default format, the format for that first Pro Tour was a modified version of Standard—or, as it was known at the time, Type 2. For this tournament, players build their decks including at least five cards from each set that was legal in the format: Fourth Edition , Chronicles , Ice Age , Fallen Empires , and Homelands .

Mark : The whole point of the Pro Tour is that it's a marketing vehicle. We want to be aspirational, but we were also trying to get them to focus on what the latest sets were going to be. Obviously right now Pro Tours are named after the new set that's just come out. Our problem was that the latest set to come out right before that first Pro Tour was Homelands ....

Elaine : I can't even remember what all the sets were except that Homelands was one of them. It was the biggest pain ever. I mean, which Homelands cards were I going to force in? Do you actually build a deck with the Homelands cards in it, or do you just try and stick them in the sideboard? It was one of the things that made Autumn Willow stand out for that tournament. I built White Weenie and I put Aysen Highway in the sideboard. That was my big tech. If I played against another White Weenie player, I could drop it and swing for the kill. I guess I was trying to make "Plainswalkers" a thing before I even worked here.

Skaff : The idea at the time was that we wanted people to have to rethink deck construction. We wanted deck construction and what teams/individuals would be thinking about to be a little bit off the normal. It was pretty close to Type 2, so we wanted to promote Type 2 with this added skill twist to it.

Jon : I don't think Alliances was out yet, because as soon as I saw Thawing Glaciers I thought it was the best card ever and I definitely would've played that. I remember that Homelands and Fallen Empires were the really hard ones there. Fallen Empires had Hymn to Tourach , Order of the Ebon Hand , and Order of Leitbur . I ended up playing a blue-white Millstone deck, but I played Serra Angel s, Blinking Spirit s, and two Order of Leitbur s. Homelands had Serrated Arrows and then the terrible tri-lands.

Charlie : We really wanted to encourage diversity and make sure that all sets were represented. We wanted the environment to be interesting and a little different. We wanted to make sure no sets felt bad to the players.

Michael : I remember trying to get Homelands cards in there—that was a hard one. Looking back now, I can see why people rip my deck. People don't know what it was like back then. They just know 60 cards, but back then it was different. I knew a kid who played 100-card decks competitively. Hallowed Ground was one of the cards I wasn't sold on; it was just in there because it needed to be.

Mark : Anyone who's ever heard me talk about this knows that [ Homelands ] is the weakest set—on every level—that we've ever made. It was not a particularly strong set-design-wise, was not a very powerful set development-wise. It was just a very kind of "eh" set. But that was the set that was out and we needed to focus on it. We wanted people to play with Homelands cards, but how do we make that happen other than maybe a Serrated Arrows here or there? We came up with a format that made you play with five cards from every set that was legal in Type 2.

Upstairs/Downstairs

In the early days of the Pro Tour, the field was broken up into two divisions: Seniors and Juniors. The Junior Division was held on an entirely different floor of the building that housed that first tournament. While the Seniors were cutting to a Top 16, the Juniors cut to a Top 8. Also all the prize money for Juniors was paid out in the form of college scholarships.

Skaff : I know this sounds almost quaint now, but at the time it was very controversial to put money on tournaments. You could put all sorts of other prizes, but you very rarely saw straight cash payouts. We wanted to not get on the bad side of parents, and it felt like that could happen if we put cash on the Juniors. So the prizes for the Juniors at the first Pro Tour weren't cash, they were scholarships. For the whole Junior tour they were managed as scholarships. There was a bit of marketing there, and we wanted the right emphasis for kids. We wanted to encourage kids to go to college.

Graham : I almost didn't go to college, because I already knew I wanted to work in the wine industry and I had a fair amount of experience. It was because I had that $12,000 scholarship—which essentially paid for all my tuition and books—that I was able to go to community college in Santa Barbara and then UCSB. It's pretty incredible that it worked out that way. It was really awesome.

Richard : Wow, that's cool!

Skaff : Honestly that makes me feel so good. That is exactly what we wanted to happen. We were all nerds growing up and we felt bad that people with hand-eye coordination and muscles could get scholarships. There are just not the amount of academic scholarships that there are for sports. We really wanted people to be able to take their hobby—which is essentially what you do with baseball or basketball—and have that equivalent for intellectual sports. We wanted more respect for intellectual pursuits.

Merchant Scroll | Art by Liz Danforth

Getting Ready

Graham : It's not hard to see in general what the most powerful cards are. It's unusual that something totally out of the blue comes along, but I guess the deck I brought—Necropotence—was pretty out of the blue. The way that came about was there was this one guy—I don't know his name, we just called him Frenchy—and Joel Unger had this unbelievable respect for him as a deck builder. He was the first person messing around with Necropotence . I got the deck from Joel, who had just gotten it from Frenchy and was testing it at our local tournaments.

Michael : At the time, Necro decks were just not a thing around here. We weren't really prepared for that situation that much—thank God I ducked a couple of those. After the first tour, the Necro deck just busted out all over the place.

Jon : I just played a lot of Magic . There were a couple of stores I went to, especially Hero's Outpost in North Plainfield, which was the most local store. I went to Outer Realms in Linden, which was the store where the best people played. People like Eric Phillipps, David Bachman, Andy Longo, and Aaron Kline—who did well at that first Pro Tour—all went there.

Elaine : [My husband] Kierin was my playtesting partner, and for the most part it was just the two of us building a bunch of different decks and playing them against each other, just like we would for any of the Gray Matter events we went to. There wasn't this huge playtesting regimen like there is now; it was just "Hey there's a tournament with wonky deck restrictions, let's see what we can build."

Skaff : That first Pro Tour was insane. You don't want to just put an event on and then have no one hear about it. It was really supposed to drive excitement through the whole Magic community. You don't even do it to begin with unless you have that strategy in place so that you can leverage the value. Then if you are going to have press there, you want to make it look good. We had real budget constraints, but we wanted a good site. We wanted it to be in NY because that was the center of the Magic community. Without much money, we made it look really good. For a little random game company just coming it out, we made it look astounding. Maybe it is rose-colored glasses, but it was really impressive.

Jon : That first Pro Tour was very much a media event with very high production values. Now the Pro Tour is really designed to be viewed online, but then we had this huge gala event. That site was beautiful, although it couldn't hold very many people.

Skaff : When a player went there, we wanted them to feel like it was a respectable event. We wanted them to say "Hey! This is kind of cool. This is real." Because those players go out and tell their friends about it. That was the seed of the original Magic Pro Tour community. We wanted them to feel some confidence that we would be around.

Elaine : The funny thing about the first Pro Tour is that I didn't even think there would be a second one. They had done a big Ice Age Prerelease and the Homelands event in New York called "The Gathering 1," and there was no The Gathering 2. They were just all these different types of events that were doing all these different things. At the time, my take on it was that it was the new marketing flavor of the month and that they were going to keep trying things and move on and do something else.

Charlie : It's hard to put people in the mindset where we were back then. We had a lot of passion for Magic , we had a lot of great ideas for Magic , we just didn't have much experience. We were trying to learn from all these things that happened and trying to improve, but when you do something for the first time you're gonna try a lot of stuff that nowadays maybe you wouldn't do. The important thing is to learn from it. A lot of the early starts for the judge programs and forming tournament environments came from all the decisions that went into that tournament.

Skaff : Even things like registration don't sound hard, but if you don't think about it you are going to screw it up. The registration, how everything is calculated, scheduling the number of rounds and the tournament structure. We studied every tournament format known to man. Before, when it was casual, it really didn't matter—but now that there was money on it, people were going to game the system at every opportunity. We had to think about how we would manipulate this, how we would screw the system over so that we could win money by figuring out loopholes in the system. All of the tournaments that were run after that were completely different than they were before it.

Mark : When Magic first came out, Richard Garfield's vision for the game was one of discovery. Richard didn't want information put out, he wanted people to discover Magic cards in the wild. So for the first year or year and a half, people were super secretive about what was in a deck. I covered Worlds in 1995 and I wasn't allowed to list the decks. I did play-by-play, and I showed what was in their hands, but we didn't tell you their whole decks. At this tournament not only were we going to tell you, but we were going to print [commemorative copies of] the decks so you could buy them—you could play them. That was a very different approach from how we handled Magic in the past.

Richard : By the time we were doing the Pro Tour, I had completely given up on that idea already. I think it [lasted] a year maybe where it was a real part of the game, and I took immense satisfaction when lists would come out in magazines or online that were incomplete or incorrect because people had to do all the research on their own. My memory is, which again could be fuzzy, that after about a year it was clear that the idea of people discovering things in that way was impossible and they wanted to get the answer. I had given up on [my previous vision].

In the beginning, the way I imagined Magic being played was with people buying one deck, having some fun, and then maybe buying another deck. Then maybe mixing and matching them. I didn't anticipate people buying more than four or five decks. If everyone in your group only bought four to five, there was going to be this process of exploration. That play group of eight people wouldn't even see all the cards, they're not even gonna all be there. It was pretty clear, pretty early, that this is not how it was going to go down. And I embraced that reality.

Jon : It wasn't the way it is now where everybody knows everything all the time.

Skaff : We had these sports marketing people from the beginning telling us we were crazy if we didn't make it all single-elimination, but we were confident that we wanted Swiss for two reasons. One, it is more skill-testing. It gives people more play. You don't want to drive six hours in that snowstorm and lose in the first round. So we knew we wanted Swiss, but you have this strong pressure of wanting single-elimination. Single-elimination is very easy for people to understand. It is crystal clear and every game is exciting and nail-biting. We wanted a combo of those two...so we just did it. We are sort of proud of that format. It has become the standard for Magic stuff, but you see it in other places too now.

Necropotence | Art by Mark Tedin

A Snow-Covered Island

Perhaps running a tent-pole marketing event in the middle of the winter in New York City was not the best idea.

Mark : Skaff had it in his mind that it had to be in New York City. He also really wanted the Pro Tour to start in February, but he never seemed to piece together that it snows in February in New York City.

Jon : It was the blizzard of '96—how could you forget the blizzard of '96? I probably drove in—at the time I lived really close to the Holland Tunnel. My car was this old Mitsubishi Mirage hatchback that was definitely not optimized for winter driving. I'd drive the car to PTQs and $1,000 tournaments all over the place, and there must have been a 20% chance that I got into an accident, but somehow I always came out on the right side of it. I min-crashed with it.

Elaine : There had already been two huge blizzards, including the blizzard that dumped two feet of snow in New York. Then the Pro Tour happens and there's this third blizzard with another ten-plus inches. We nearly didn't make it to the city, our car was slipping and sliding all over the place. Once we got there, all of Manhattan was closed. Try to picture Manhattan with no cars, with nobody going anywhere; it was the most insane thing ever.

Richard : I used to attend the MIT puzzle hunt, and it was always held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day—or as we who did the hunt used to call it, the coldest day of the year. This idea of having a large group of people get together in terrible weather and play games indoors was something I had lived through several times, and I thought maybe in some ways that was how it ought to be.

Michael : Oh my God, the weather! I remember being scared, I can tell you that. Jim Allen and I, we rented a van or something; he was driving and I was up front with him. Everyone else was either sleeping or passed out and I remember try to get one of my other friends to stay awake. I said, "I don't want to die."

Graham : I am from Southern California and New York was covered in snow. I had never been to New York City. I was just so wowed by the city, seeing everything so tall and covered in snow. I was just going with the flow, you know? I don't remember anything out of the ordinary other than it being very cold.

Charlie : The reason I remember that is because I didn't bring a winter coat. I wasn't thinking along those lines. I remember walking back one of those nights from the tournament site to the hotel with Skaff Elias, who also didn't bring a winter coat, and never wearing anything other than shorts. The snow is coming down like crazy and we were there without jackets, wearing tennis shoes.

Skaff : And I was out there on the roof of the Puck Building in my shorts, trying to fix stuff, with baling wire trying to hang signs and banners. It was obviously a disaster. We had talked about it before and asked "What if this happens?" but we were pretty adamant that it had to be in NY for a number of reasons. Number one was that it was a lot easier for international travel, and we wanted to make sure we had people from other countries there. The Magic community there was so strong and so many people could drive to it. It was by far the best city for the first Pro Tour.

Michael : Jim Allen was driving crazy. It was like a bat out of hell. It looked like the Millennium Falcon with the lights in the snow going by the windshield, and I was legit scared we were going to go off the road or something. My friend Jim would just maniacally laugh. I couldn't tell if he was really insane or just teasing me. To this day I don't know.

Mark : I grew up in the Snow Belt, where you really needed a foot and a half of snow for a real shot at a snow day. When I shot the video, I tried to do an introduction outside the building. It was so windy, with so much snow, that we did eight takes on it before we gave up. It was so snowy that we delayed the start of Day One. It was supposed to start at like 9 or 10 a.m. and we delayed until the afternoon.

Skaff : You never know...once your boss gives you approval to do stuff, you gotta do it because the rug could be yanked out from under you at the next turn. We didn't really have options. We knew that the weather could be a factor and we kept altering things—how late registration was, when the rounds would start. We did everything we could to bend things to accommodate people. It was nerve-wracking but—and maybe it was false optimism—I never thought things would be ruined. I am from the Northeast. I have driven stupidly in snowstorms a lot, so I thought, "Get there, suck it up, put some scrapes on the side of your car. That's what guard rails are for."

In the Eye of the Storm

Elaine : There was this party the night before for the people who were able to make it. There were people passing around pseudo-fancy appetizers, but everyone was starving because nobody could get anything to eat. They actually ordered a bunch of pizzas for us, which was really awesome. The pizzas would come out and people would just devour them.

Michael : The first night we got there...we were partying pretty hard. I'll never forget this, though: Richard Garfield, who at the time was kind of a big deal, was there and I had never met him. We were all practicing in the hallways of the hotel and I'd had a few too many drinks. I went up to him and I said, "Hey Richard! I'm Michael Loconto and I'm gonna see you Sunday when I win this thing!"

And then after it was all said and done and I'm standing there with him, he was shaking his head saying, "I can't believe you actually won." We used to have a really good time when we played.

Mark : We wanted to make sure that it was a spectacle. The night before, there was a party where we had food and drinks for the players. We even had to make sure all the players actually came; I had to get on the phone with the players and make sure they knew that this was going to be a big deal for Magic .

Elaine : Later that night, we went back to the hotel and we were watching Letterman. It was hilarious because nobody could get in or out of the city and Letterman taped in front of a live audience. He has the camera guy turn around to show the audience and there were like five people in the audience for Letterman. Then they went to check out the standby line and there were like twelve people on the standby line. He lets them all in and they don't even fill up the first row. Kierin and I just looked at each other and said "Holy crap! We should've gone to Letterman!"

Stormbind | Art by NéNé Thomas & Phillip Mosness

Pairings Are Up

Graham : There were a lot of little kids there. It felt like maybe there were fifteen of us that were actually competing in the tournament. It was just unfair that a twelve-year-old had to play a seventeen-year-old, you know? The fact that I had a Necropotence deck and I was given that playing field? My entire match would be done in ten or twelve minutes.

I do remember judges laughing when I played Demonic Consultation for the first time. I was like "Okay, laugh all you want." They certainly weren't laughing at the end. I remember an incredible number of fast matches. I remember losing to this guy who played Karma [in his main deck]. That was my only loss. I had to have a judge question if that was seriously in his [main] deck and the judge said it was.

Charlie : Not only was I the head judge for the Juniors, I was also the tournament organizer. I had note cards and I had pencils with erasers. I knew ahead of time how to do pairings — I played chess tournaments and I knew how a tournament should be run. I just got the note cards out, put all the 1-0s in a pile, put all the 0-1s in a pile, and paired them for Round 2. I kept track of all the results on the notecards. I took the pile of notecards back to my hotel room after dinner and spent quite a bit of time calculating—by hand—all the players' tiebreakers. I used that to determine the order that everybody finished in. Obviously I had to double-check that because it was an important thing. Not only did I calculate the tiebreakers, but I double-checked all my math. I had to calculate this for all 120-something competitors.

Elaine : I do remember that there was a big delay at the beginning of Round 1 because they were scouring the room and looking under tables and things to make sure there weren't any cheating implements. You could only go into the room with your deck and tournament materials—you couldn't bring anything else in with you. They had an enforced coat and backpack check that they didn't tell anybody they were going to have, and they were charging people money for it. At the time, we were poor Magic players and nobody wanted to pay the couple bucks to have them check our stuff. We complained loudly enough until they said we didn't have to pay...although I'm not sure if they just made that a special case for us or if they did it for everybody.

Skaff : Once the tournament started, I don't remember very much. I had been called up to the Juniors several times. Finkel was crying, and I had to take care of that.

Jon : Ten minutes after I won my first round, there were three cards sitting on our table. I had been Jester's Capped in Game 2 and our match went to three games. The judge asked me if they were my cards. I said they were, and I got a game loss for Game 3. I had won the match—those cards could've been there for any number of reasons. I threw what could charitably be called a tantrum. It definitely involved crying—I'm glad there was no video. That's actually how I met Skaff, I was demanding my money back and stuff. They calmed me down, but I still think that game loss was kinda [unfair].

Charlie : I remember being a little worried about making the rules call, but fortunately I was given Beth Moursand, who was really good at the rules. That helped a little bit for my concerns. I don't remember there being anything that extreme though.

Mark : There are so many things about how a Pro Tour is run that you take for granted now. For example, I'm the creator of Feature Matches—and that didn't even happen until the second Pro Tour. And there it was me putting up a list of tables with matches you might want to go see. It wasn't until the third Pro Tour that we created a special area where you could go as a spectator. For the first Pro Tour, spectators could just walk around and watch any match they wanted.

Elaine : I did horribly and lost very quickly. As soon as both Kierin and I were out of Top 16 contention, we went to get lunch. We went up to Brian David-Marshall and he told us to stay, because even if we weren't gonna make the cut, there were still going to be invites given out—I don't remember if it was Top 32 or Top 64—to the next tour in LA. And I remember saying specifically "Yeah right! Like they're going to do another one of these! Do you want us to bring you back anything?" So we dropped and of course I spent the next two years of my life trying to get back on the Pro Tour.

Jon : I won my next five rounds and then I was playing against Ross Sclafani; the winner was going to be in the Top 8. The tiebreaker was game win percentage and I suggested to Ross that we should say whoever wins won the match 2-0. He called the judge and the judge said we couldn't do that. Now, of course, you know that now—but then? You had no idea. I ended up losing, but I made the Top 8 anyway and lost in the quarters.

Demonic Consultation | Art by Rob Alexander

After a day of Swiss play and a laborious evening of tiebreaker calculations, the Top 16 for the Seniors and the Top 8 for the Juniors came back to play on Sunday. Bertrand Lestree and Michael Loconto were the last two Seniors playing at the end of their bracket, while Graham Tatomer faced off against Aaron Kline.

Graham : I played the final match against a White Weenie deck played by Aaron Kline. That was a really tough match, and I topdecked a couple times to save my [bacon]. I remember topdecking a Nevinyrral's Disk to win. That was gnarly.

They told us to play slow and explain everything. I was always a very fast Magic player. I felt like if I played too slow I might lose my natural instinct for the game. I remember at one point they announced that Aaron had won the match. We didn't really communicate when it happened. I was gonna kill him the next turn, but he had Karma out. I had a Zuran Orb and could sacrifice my lands to gain life. I looked at him and he said "Yeah I get it." I just swept up all my cards and so did he. They just thought he had won. I would have died to Karma if I didn't sacrifice any lands, but I could just sacrifice all my lands—it didn't matter—[and] I was about to kill him.

At any Pro Tour after that, you would've had to be very specific about what you were doing—about every step. Aaron was nice enough to say "Yes, you're totally not gonna die to Karma while you have the Zuran Orb out." I think about that moment a lot. I should've been more professional, but I was a kid. It was just this minute of confusion where all the people thought that he won. He would've won the tournament with that game, but we went the full five games.

Michael : My deck used Millstone s to run people out of cards. It was mainly defensive with lots of board wipes: Wrath of God , Swords to Plowshares (thank God for Swords), and Balance . You had Blinking Spirit s and Mishra's Factories to block all their stuff. I was just trying to make the games last as long as I could and hopefully run [my opponents] out of cards.

I remember at the end it was gonna be a best-of-seven match for the finals and the deck just took way too long. I don't think they ever expected that kind of thing. They brought me and Bertrand in after—I think I lost the first game and won the second game—and said it was super late and they didn't rent the venue for long enough. They needed to have a winner. They said we could just split the money and play one game for the title. That's how it went.

Graham : Oh my God! Is that what happened—they went from best-of-seven to best-of-three? Ours was nothing like that, we finished all five games! They even made a comment about it in the video. "These Juniors don't hold back, they're playing really fast." I think Aaron also had a tendency to be a really fast player. I think he was a regular White Weenie player and that's not like playing a control deck. I think that was the slowest that both Aaron and I each played those decks, but you could only go so slow with those. It's time to play Hypnotic Specter and get things done.

Charlie : I remember finishing our tournament and coming down and being asked to sub in for one of the judges because they needed a break—the final was just going so long. The other thing that I remember is a friend of mine and some other judges going to grab dinner. They went to a place kind of far away, someplace they had to wait a while. When they eventually came back, they had no idea that the match would still be going.

Mark : They both understood that this was the first Pro Tour and they both wanted to be the guy that won it. On top of that—people don't remember this—but Bertrand Lestree played in the World Championship and lost to Zak Dolan in the finals. On paper Bertrand was supposed to win that match, but Zak won that one. He did not want to become the guy who also lost in the finals of the first-ever Pro Tour. He was going to take his time. They were playing slow, slow decks to start with, and they just didn't want to make any mistakes. Originally we were gonna play best-of-seven, but then after five hours we decided it was gonna be best-of-three.

Michael : It was the final game and he had a Whirling Dervish that was just wrecking me. I'm not sure, but I think I made a mistake—maybe something with my Mishra—I had to topdeck a Swords to Plowshares and I had already used a few in that game. [Man], did I get lucky. I was holding one Plains in my hand—I had no lands. I just held that one Plains and laughed. I had to draw that Swords right there. He probably lost his mind after that.

We ended up becoming really good friends after that; he was a real character. He was like Shawn "Hammer" Regnier. He would always dig and say stuff and try to get inside your head, but after I won we really hit it off. We would always hang out after a Pro Tour. I remember asking him for his autograph. He wrote, "[Expletive deleted] Swords!" and then he signed it "Bertrand." I still have that. That, I'll never get rid of.

Swords to Plowshares | Art by Kaja Foglio

Summer Is Coming

Before that Pro Tour, the card Necropotence was not regarded as a tournament-viable card by the vast majority of the tournament goers.

Mark : Necropotence got a one-star rating in Inquest magazine. What was interesting about the tournament was Graham Tatomer obviously wins with the Necro deck and Leon Lindbeck makes the Top 8 with it—a really early version of the deck. It wasn't until that summer that that deck really took off.

Richard : I don't remember if we knew exactly how powerful that card was, but I knew it didn't surprise me. My design philosophy in those days was that if you didn't make a few banned cards, you weren't being aggressive enough. You had to be taking chances. My philosophy was give the players lots of interesting tools and let them play with those tools. My philosophy of discovery regarding the cards had gone by the wayside, but the discovery of combinations was very much a part of the game. Players are constantly finding new ways to combine cards in the game that we didn't anticipate.

Michael : I definitely dodged a few bullets that day in the pairings.

Graham : You were so powerful with that deck and you could really demoralize your opponent. I tried to use psychology as far as putting pressure on the opponent, and that deck really worked out for that—it forces people to makes mistakes or give up too early.

Closing Thoughts

Richard : The experience of going to events, where people were excited to meet me, have me sign cards, and play with me, was not new. I'd been doing that for a few years—but the tenor here was changing, because this was the first time that I felt like the players were starting to become really good and were taking the game really seriously. On the surface this was very much like all those previous meetings, but I felt like something had changed. Before the Pro Tour I could go in any card shop and beat most of the players with an all-commons deck. It was ridiculous. Then the Pro Tour came around and I couldn't walk into a card shop and beat everybody with an all-commons deck anymore.

Graham : It was incredible, obviously. My dad was with me and he was just thrilled. He's kind of a nerd himself. He would rather be the smartest one instead of the strongest one. For his son to win was kind of a big deal. Joel Unger was there, and it was great to have him there. It was incredible. They were also happy for me. When I got back to Santa Barbara, most of the people hadn't even heard yet. We weren't all that connected yet with texting and the internet. But everyone was thrilled when they found out that I won. It was pretty positive.

Skaff : The Pro Tour is probably the thing I am most proud of out of everything I have ever worked on. It is such a standard part of the game. I don't think people understand how important it is to the success of the game, because they have never lived in a world without it.

Mark : What the first Pro Tour really did was establish standards of how to run a tournament. The funny thing is that first tournament...we got a lot wrong. We learned a lot along the way, but it was a giant leap from what came before.

Jon : I think that if you look at the first Pro Tour and you hold up the Juniors against the Seniors and look at lifetime Pro Points, it has to be a blowout for the Juniors—an absolute blowout. Darwin was probably the best player who played in the Seniors. The Juniors had me, Steve O'Mahoney-Schwartz, Bob Maher, and Brian Kibler.

Elaine : For me, the Black Lotus Pro Tour really was a turning point in terms of the scale and scope that Magic had in the gaming universe—and in my universe.

Charlie : Twenty years ago, we were just formulating all of this: what a tournament should be like, what formats should be like, what's fun about Magic —all that kind of stuff. I definitely felt like we accomplished a lot. We learned so much from that very first event, it gave us so much to think about how we could make the next event better.

Michael : Years and years later, somebody came up to me and told me I was in a magazine again. They showed me and I was like "Wow." I showed my mom and she ended up calling out to Wizards asking them if they still had the cover painting [of me and Bertrand]. Wizards was super cool and they put it in a frame and sent it out to her. It is hanging next to the uncut sheet of my deck.

Mark : There are also some stories I could tell you that probably shouldn't be printed, so if you want to shut that recorder off—

Format Evolutions: Modern Pro Tours

As you know, tomorrow kicks off Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta, where five hundred of the best Magic players in the world will gather for Modern, a format recently shaken up by the banning of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom . One of the unique aspects of Modern is that it is still a young format. Birthed in 2011, there have only been four Pro Tours featuring Modern.

Unlike Standard, it's possible to look back at every single Modern Pro Tour. Not only will we explore the history of the format, but we'll see what direction it may be heading. In the past I've written deck evolution articles exploring the history of a specific archetype. Today we are going to examine the evolution of Modern as a format, as told by the Top Eights of the four Modern Pro Tours.

Remember to check out the coverage starting tomorrow morning, when the next chapter in the evolution of Modern will be written!

Pro Tour Philadelphia, 2011

Back in September 2011, Modern was as new as new can be. While the community had been talking about a Extended replacement for a while, it wasn't until August 2011 that Wizards announced Pro Tour Philadelphia would feature the new Modern format. We started with a skeleton banned list based on cards that were very good in Standard during their heyday, rather than careful playtesting. No one really knew what would happen in Philadelphia — anything and everything was possible. According to Frank Karsten , the pros quickly identified Zoo and Twelve Post as the decks to beat, which led to a Top Eight full of combo decks designed to kill as early as possible. The most innovative of these was a Mono-Blue Infect list designed and piloted by Sam Black.

The basic idea of the deck was surprisingly simple. You get an infect creature with evasion (either Blighted Agent or Inkmoth Nexus ) on the battlefield, you attack with said infect creature, then you use the alternate casting cost on Blazing Shoal to exile Dragonstorm or Progenitus to deal 10 infect damage and win the game. The combo was made easier by the fact that Ponder and Preordain were legal in the format at the time, which helped find the combo pieces. Speaking of decks designed to abuse Ponder and Preordain , UR Storm was a big player in the format, putting two players into the Top 8.

Maybe calling this deck Storm is a slight mischaracterization. It doesn't play any cards with the storm mechanic, but in many ways it plays similarly. Basically, you get a Pyromancer Ascension on the battlefield, then cast a ton of now-banned cantrips until you eventually kill your opponent with Lightning Bolt s and Noxious Revival . For me, the best part of this deck was the sideboard. If you've ever played against Storm, you'll know that the first thing you do when you sideboard is remove pretty much all of your spot removal. You don't really want to draw Path to Exile if your opponent isn't playing any creatures. Prost realized this behavior and put the Splinter Twin combo into his sideboard. So while his opponent was taking out all the removal spells, Prost was bringing in the creature-based infinite combo.

The other interesting deck in the Top Eight of Pro Tour Philadelphia was Breach Post, played by Jesse Hampton. The combo of Cloudpost , Glimmerpost , and Vesuva was basically the original (and more powerful) version of Tron in Modern. Unlike Tron, however, Breach Post was a creature-based ramp strategy. Actually, Plan A was just casting Through the Breach to put a hasty Emrakul, the Aeons Torn into play on turn three, while going big and playing Eye of Ugin and lands that tap for a more than one mana was Plan B.

The rest of the decks are fairly well known. There were two different Splinter Twin players, including Samuele Estratti, who ended up taking home the grand prize. There was an Affinity player, and Josh-Utter Leyton playing a Channel Fireball build of Zoo known as Counter-Cat Zoo. The most interesting part of the event was the impact it had on Modern going forward, an impact that is still felt to this day.

In the aftermath of Pro Tour Philadelphia , nearly every Top 8 deck had at least one of its cards banned. Of course Ponder and Preordain got the axe, and pretty much everyone playing Blue was playing these cards in Philadelphia. Storm decks also lost Rite of Flame , Zoo lost Wild Nacatl , and every Green creature deck lost Green Sun's Zenith . Cloudpost got banned, Blazing Shoal got banned, and then finally, just this past month, Splinter Twin met its demise.

Come to think of it, the only deck from the Top Eight of Pro Tour Philadelphia that would still be legal today was an early version of Modern Affinity stocked with staples such as Atog , Fling , and Frogmite .

Pro Tour Return to Ravnica, 2012

* Video taken from Grand Prix San Diego, but displays the moment that ended up being the final nail in the coffin of the Eggs deck.

With Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch coming up tomorrow, everyone is talking about how the bannings of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom signal a massive change in the format. It's important to remember that by the time Pro Tour Return to Ravnica came around, almost all of the Top Eight decks from the last Modern Pro Tour had been hit by the ban hammer. As a result, we end up with a Top 8 that looks surprisingly normal by our current standards.

For one thing, Fall 2012 was the absolute pinnacle of Jund in Modern. Deathrite Shaman had just been printed and Bloodbraid Elf was still in the format. While cards like Geralf's Messenger might look out of place in retrospect, this incarnation was the best Jund ever was in Modern, and likely ever will be. As a result, the deck put not one, not two, but three players in the Top Eight. We also saw the emergence of a real (i.e. not Atog and Frogmite ) version of Affinity, which looked like current builds of the deck. There was the rise of UWR Control in the hands of Eduardo Sajgalik, along with the first draft of Scapeshift combo thanks to the unbanning of Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle . However, if there is one thing you can say about Modern players, it's that they will keep finding ways to break the format and kill opponents in degenerate ways.

After Sam Black wrecked most of the Pro Tour Philadelphia field by killing people in one shot with Blazing Shoal Infect, Wizards decided that something had to be done. They banned Blazing Shoal . Infect players, instead of being discouraged, shrugged, added Green to the deck, and started targeting Inkmoth Nexus and Blighted Agent with Giant Growth s. Of course this iteration wasn't as efficient. Sometimes you actually had to attack twice or use more than one pump spell. Still, Green-Blue Infect still offered a way of killing opponents quickly and consistently. But of course, the deck of the tournament was Eggs, as played by Stanaslav Cifka. Eggs may be the most depressing deck to see across the table because it puts you in a position where you know you can't win, but takes another 45 minutes to actually kill you.

If you've never had the joy of playing with or against Eggs, go watch the video where Kibler hits the Magic Online F6 button (pass priority) in real life. It explains pretty much everything you need to know about the deck. That said, I'll try to explain it to you in the simplest terms possible. You know how a Storm deck has to cast 20 spells in a turn to Grapeshot you to death? Imagine Storm had to cast 100 spells to kill you, and most of them came with some sort of triggered ability. That's Eggs. The problem with Eggs isn't that it's too good. It's actually very fragile if you are playing graveyard hate or cards like Rule of Law or Eidolon of Rhetoric . The problem with Eggs is that it looks awful on camera. It simply isn't good viewing. I know this from experience. I featured a version of Eggs on Budget Magic , which ended up being the least-viewed Budget Magic of all time. Rather than being banned for power level concerns, Eggs ended up being banned for the sake of people watching (and playing in) events.

So what were the lasting impacts of Pro Tour Return to Ravnica ? In the years since, Jund has been nerfed twice, first with the banning of Bloodbraid Elf (which many people now consider a mistake) and then with the banning of Deathrite Shaman , the real problem . As I mentioned, Second Sunrise was banned from the Eggs deck and even though Storm didn't make the Top 8 (Jon Finkel was unsurprisingly the top finisher with the archetype with a Top 32), Wizards figured they might as well ban Seething Song as well, because when in doubt, ban something from Storm.

Pro Tour Born of the Gods, 2014

Pro Tour Born of the Gods is by far the "fairest" Modern Pro Tour we've ever seen. There was only one "broken" combo deck in the Top 8, Fennel's Storm, which just goes to show that no matter how many cards you ban, Storm players are still going to try to win by casting a bunch of spell in the same turn. Otherwise, we see a real, honest to god, control deck not only perform well, but actually win the tournament in the hands of Shaun McLaren.

While the deck itself isn't all that much to look at, basically amounting to a ton of counters, removal, Snapcaster Mage and Celestial Colonnade , simply the fact that a true control deck performed well at a Modern Pro Tour is a really big deal. It shows that, at least for a brief moment in time, it was possible to build an "answer" deck that really answered enough of the format to see success. Now of course, this is probably because the other tier decks were pretty well set in stone, with Birthing Pod and Splinter Twin clearly being the two most important decks to fight against, but still, there was a time where Cryptic Command and Mana Leak were real cards in Modern. Of course, the most important and long-lasting impact of Pro Tour Born of the Gods wasn't control decks in Modern, instead it was that the tournament that signaled the beginning of the end for two pillars of the format.

According to the official announcement , it was dominance at the Grand Prix level that brought the ban hammer down on Birthing Pod , but Jacob Wilson's runner-up finish at Pro Tour Born of the Gods actually kicked off the Year of Pod. While it is possible that the deck still would have gotten banned without a Pro Tour Top 8, as we've seen over the course of this article there is a strong correlation between a deck having a Pro Tour Top 8 and a key cards from that deck getting banned. If you look back over the timeline of modern bannings , you'll see that with the exception of Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise , which were emergency banned (more or less), every single card banned in Modern since the format's inception had a Pro Tour Top 8 in the calendar year preceding its banning. Meanwhile, the performance of Patrick Dickmann took a little longer to take up roots, but was no less effective at causing a banning.

If you read over the official reasoning for why Splinter Twin got banned, you'll see that it isn't so much that the card, or even the combo, is just too good for Modern, rather it's because it reduces the diversity of the format. Now, you know my feelings on the banning , but I will say that the fact that Dickmann showed that, at least at Pro Tour Born of the Gods, the best Tarmogoyf deck was also a Splinter Twin deck does back up Wizards' point of view. Before Tarmo-Twin was the talk of the tournament, the Splinter Twin combo was mostly confined to UR builds, or occasionally janky Jeskai decks, but this changed after Pro Tour Born of the Gods . People started playing Tarmo-Twin as the aggro build of Twin and Grixis Twin as the control build of Twin, alongside the more traditional UR build. So at least to some extent, Wizards' reasoning is true: Splinter Twin can go into a lot of deck. But it's possible they are thinking backwards. Instead of Splinter Twin hijacking Temur or Jeskai, maybe it's the other way around. Perhaps Temur and Jeskai are unplayable unless they have access to Splinter Twin to get some free wins in a very unfair Modern format.

Pro Tour Fate Reforged

Pro Tour Fate Reforged might be my least favorite of all the Modern Pro Tours, just because it ended up being so predictable (a featured a truly depressing amount of Burn decks on camera). Apart from the emergence of Amulet Bloom, which was cool for about six months and then oppressive, the Top Eight was all Twin, Abzan and Burn. Regardless, let's start by talking about the recently deceased Amulet of Vigor combo deck.

For me, the birth and death of Amulet Bloom illuminates one really important thing about Modern: there are still broken combos out there, and sooner or later players are going to find them. All of the pieces of the Amulet Bloom deck had been legal in Modern since before Pro Tour Return to Ravnica back in 2012 (with the last key piece being Slayers' Stronghold , which was printed in Avacyn Restored ), but it took three years and three Pro Tours for people to really figure it out. This isn't to say that the deck didn't exist until Cohen's Top 8 performance, actually, there is a deck tech from Pro Tour Born of the Gods showcasing it in the hands of Mathias Hunt, but it took until last February for the deck to have a true breakout performance.

Did Amulet Bloom deserve a banning? Without a doubt. Does banning Amulet Bloom fix Modern? By no means. If there is one thing I hope comes across in this article, it's that Modern players are going to keep figuring out ways to break the format. Remember, Modern doesn't have the safety valves we see in Legacy. There's no Force of Will , Flusterstorm , Wasteland or Daze , so people can keep coming up with Bloom after Bloom, Storm after Storm, combo after combo with no repercussions. We keep banning the symptoms rather than treating the underlying problem, and until we focus on giving players the tool they need to fight combo decks in general, things will likely continue down this road for the near future. There is another Amulet Bloom out there, I have no doubt; It's just a matter of someone figuring it out.

The rest of the Pro Tour Fate Reforged Top 8 was filled with Burn, Abzan and Twin. Actually, every deck except for Cohen's Amulet Bloom was Burn, Abzan or Twin, which (at least for me) doesn't lead to must-see TV, which further reinforces the idea that a Modern shakeup is needed for the sake of the viewing audience. Even though I don't agree with the reason why Twin was banned, if it saves me from having to watch Burn mirrors all weekend, I'll be thrilled by the decision.

TLDR: Quick Hitters

Modern, with few exceptions, has always been a degenerate format. From its birth at Pro Tour Philadelphia until last years Pro Tour Fate Reforged , people have been figuring out ways to kill people on turn two or turn three. This is what Modern is, and until we get better, generic answers to combo, we'll just have to come to grips with it.
Interestingly, most of this is Sam Black's fault. He bears a lot of responsibility for popularizing both Infect and Amulet Bloom.
Every single banning in Modern, with the exception of the emergency banning of Treasure Cruise and Dig Through Time , has impacted a deck that Top 8'd a Pro Tour in the year before the banning. As such, I'd keep a close eye on what decks make the Top 8 at Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch. They will be the odds-on favorites for having something banned at this time next year.
Also, with the exception of UWR Control (which ended up being borderline unplayable anyway), every deck that has won a Modern Pro Tour has gotten something banned. So if we are keeping an eye on the decks in the Top 8, this should be doubly true of the deck that wins the tournament.
Finally, keep an eye on decks that do something absurd on camera, followed by everyone complaining on social media. Wizards isn't going to have their Pro Tours ruined by people F6'ing through Eggs, and they don't want 40,000 viewers to view Modern as a turn-two format thanks to Amulet Bloom winning through Remand . These are the types of distinctive events that bump a deck to the Top of the B&R watch list and eventually lead to bannings.
Affinity must be the luckiest deck in Modern. It has percentages mirroring other banned decks, it has made the Top 8 of three of the four Modern Pro Tours to date, and it can do some pretty degenerate things. All it's missing is a Pro Tour win. As such, it's somewhat surprising it hasn't seen a banning already. Plus, one of the big complaints from a lot of pros is that there simply are not enough sideboard slots to go around in Modern, and a hypothetical banning of Affinity in Modern would free up a lot of slots currently dedicated to Stony Silence , Shatterstorm and the like.
Let's wrap up with a few bold predictions. Grishoalbrand is the deck mostly likely to do something absurd on camera and force itself into exile, followed by Infect. Affinity is my odds-on favorite for the next tier one deck to meet the ban hammer, whether or not it wins the Pro Tour. Actually, putting all this together makes it sound like banning Inkmoth Nexus would kill two decks with one stone. Infect would be horrible, and Affinity would be weakened slightly. If I had to right now pick one card that will get banned next winter, it would be Inkmoth Nexus . Eldrazi will generally be a flop and people will feel silly about calling for a preemptive Eye of Ugin banning (although it will show up and may even put someone in the Top Eight). Storm will be one of the surprise breakout decks at the Pro Tour, although it probably won't win the tournament, which is a good thing for Wizards because they are running out of Storm cards to ban.

Anyway, that's all for today. What are your predictions for Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch ? What is at the top of your B&R watch list? Is Wizards simply forcing Modern to be a rotating format by its management of the banned list? As always, leave your thoughts, ideas, opinions and suggestions in the comments, and you can reach me on Twitter (or MTGO) @SaffronOlive.

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The Pro Tour , abbreviated PT , is a series of major invitation-only DCI -sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments, held about once every three months from 1996 to 2018. [1] [2] [3] The Pro Tour was reinstated for the 2022–23 Pro Tour Season . [4]

History [ | ]

Even early on in Magic history, there had been high-prestige tournaments that had attracted a lot of top players, most notably the 1994 World Championships , the first major tournament, which ran over three days of competition. However, the winner, Zak Dolan , received a trophy and a large number of booster packs from various sets, but no money. [5] Similarly, the 1995 World Championship winner, Alexander Blumke , won a box of Legends and some miscellaneous packs. [2] In 1995, Magic Brand Manager Skaff Elias felt that Organized Play needed to step up to the next level. Players had to have something to aspire to. Thus was the Pro Tour created. [6] [7]

As envisioned by Skaff Elias , the first Pro Tour - very briefly called the Black Lotus Pro Tour - was held on 16–18 February 1996 in New York City. [8] [9] Also known as "Pro Tour Speed Dial" and "The Showdown in New York", [10] Michael Loconto from the United States ended up the winner, taking down 1994 Worlds finalist Bertrand Lestrée in the final. Loconto pocketed $12,000 for the win, much more than the winners of the early major tournaments got, yet a lot less than future Pro Tour winners would earn. The event was not streamed live, but a video was later published by Wizards. [6] In addition to the main event, there was also a junior Pro Tour for players under eighteen. The junior Pro Tour continued for a couple of years, until it was transformed into the Junior Super Series . The first Pro Tour season included three more Pro Tour events, culminating in the final Pro Tour, the World Championships, held at Wizards of the Coast's corporate offices in Seattle.

Since 1996, Pro Tours have been held every year, with the number of events varying from three to seven per year. Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid in April 2016 was the 100th Pro Tour event.

The prize purse of the Pro Tours increased rapidly, from $30,000 at the first Pro Tour to $100,000 at the second, Pro Tour Los Angeles 1996, to $200,000 at the 1997 World Championships (plus $50,000 for the team competition). However, since then, the prizes increased slowly; as of 2016, Pro Tours awarded $250,000 in prizes.

In 2019, more than twenty years after the first, the Pro Tours were rebranded as Mythic Championships . [11] In 2020 , this was changed again, to Players Tour . [12] At the same time, Wizards of the Coast introduced the short-lived Magic Esports competition with the Magic Pro League (or "MPL") and the Rivals League . MPL players would be invited to Mythic Invitationals and all Tabletop Players Tour events.

At the end of the 2022 season, the MPL and the Rivals League were terminated [13] and a modified old system was reinstated. [4] This Premier Play program once again featured Pro Tours.

Qualification [ | ]

2022 Premier Play pyramid

Pro Tours are invitation-only events. There are several ways to qualify. [14] The most common ways will be:

Be one of the top finishers at the previous Regional Championship , with invites passing down as players earn multiple qualifications.
Finish with ten or more wins at the previous Pro Tour.
Magic: The Gathering Online Champions Showcases
Players who finish with 39 or more Adjusted Match Points from the previous three Pro Tours (rolling).

For the transitional period between the sunsetting of the League structure and the first new Pro Tour in 2023, more invites will be given out for those beyond the normal cutoff point at the Regional Championships.

Members of the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame are invited to one Regional Championship and Pro Tour per season. Those events must be in the same round and cannot be in the same round in which they played in a Regional Championship Qualifier.

Structure [ | ]

Pro Tours are hosted by Wizards of the Coast . Currently, they are 16-round Swiss-paired events that are split into two mornings of three-round Draft pods and two afternoons of five-round Constructed. As of 2023, each year has one Pro Tour of each supported Constructed format in Standard, Pioneer and Modern; the Modern one often receives a new product in the summer supplementary period. Players strive for first a four-win record to qualify for Day 2, ten wins to requalify for the next Pro Tour, then twelve wins to qualify for the Top 8. At twelve wins, the player is removed from the pool and given winner's byes; this to avoid excessive intentional draws and is one of the holdovers from the online-only Players Tour era.

The Top 8 is a set of knockout rounds with best-of-five matches, as opposed to the traditional best-of-three. Sideboarding begins after the second game.

Pro Tour season [ | ]

The Pro Tour Season currently consists of three Pro Tour events spread through the calendar year. In previous seasons it had gone to four or five, with the Mythic Championship era having eight in the season at the highest.

Prior to the 2005 season, the season ran roughly from August to the following August, culminating with Worlds in August or early September. The 2005 season was extended, with it beginning after the 2004 World Championships in September 2004, and ending with the 2005 World Championships in December 2005. From 2005 to 2012, the seasons were run as a unit of year (half year in 2012), which consisted of three to five Pro Tour events spread throughout the calendar year.

Starting with the 2012 season, all Pro Tour rounds were named after the most recent expansion instead of the location of the venue, and were held two weeks after the release of that expansion. The season hence started with rotation in September and ends in July to August. Starting with Pro Tour Ixalan , the interval between the expansion and the Pro Tour were no longer fixed, and as of Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019 , Pro Tours were no longer tied to sets, though each release did have an event attached to it.

For Premier Play, the expansion release date and Pro Tour schedule were generally decoupled. There are three Pro Tours each year, with the first Pro Tour in February, which is after the third expansion of the rotation season is released. The third Pro Tour is after the supplementary summer set, while Worlds (currently always Las Vegas) is immediately after rotation. Two are set in the United States and the third one in Europe, but locations may expand to Canada or Asia in the future.

Trivia [ | ]

Levy is also the player who has attended the most consecutive Pro Tours, with 91 starting with the 1998 World Championships and ending with Pro Tour Hour of Devastation in 2017.
The player with the current longest active streak of Pro Tours attended is Shuhei Nakamura , who, as of PT Guilds of Ravnica , has attended 60 in a row since the 2004 World Championships. Whether this streak broke depends on how one defines the Mythic Championships and regional Players Tour events. His streak continues for those named Pro Tour, having attended all three in 2023.
The largest individual Pro Tour was PT Guilds of Ravnica , with 510 players.
Nicolai Herzog won back-to-back Limited -format Pro Tours in 2004, winning in Amsterdam and San Diego. However, Pro Tour Kobe, a Block Constructed event, happened between those Pro Tours.
Simon Nielsen has chained four events: Pro Tour March of the Machine , Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings , 2024 World Championship and Pro Tour Murders at Karlov Manor .
The player with the most money finishes in consecutive Pro Tour events is Jon Finkel , who cashed every Pro Tour from PT New York 1997 to PT Los Angeles 1999, ten in total.

Promos [ | ]

Promotional card#Pro Tour cards
Pro Tour Qualifier#Promos

References [ | ]

↑ Mark Rosewater (August 09, 2004). " On Tour, Part 2 ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ a b Mark Justice (June 01, 2009). " Musings on the History of the Magic Pro Tour ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Blake Rasmussen (November 24, 2014). " Magic's First Pro Tour Top 8 ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ a b Wizards of the Coast (March 31, 2022). " Return of the Pro Tour, Your Path to Playing Magic at the Highest Level ". Magic.gg .
↑ Zak Dolan (2004-08-26). " ZAK DOLAN'S WORLDS DIARY ". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved on 2015-09-25.
↑ a b Mark Rosewater (July 26, 2004). " On Tour, Part 1 ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Brian David-Marshall (February 2, 2016). " An Oral History of the First Pro Tour ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Mark Rosewater and Henry Stern (August 21, 2006). " Inside "Showdown in New York" ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Mark Rosewater (December 12, 2011). " Flashback to the Future ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Magic the Gathering Showdown in New York 1/10 . YouTube. Retrieved on 2015-09-29.
↑ Elaine Chase (December 6, 2018). " The Next Chapter for Magic : Esports ". magicthegathering.com . Wizards of the Coast.
↑ Elaine Chase (August 14, 2019). " The Future of Magic Esports ". Magic Esports .
↑ The new ORGANIZED PLAY announcement and how it affects competitive players (Video). Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa . YouTube (May 14, 2021).
↑ Wizards of the Coast (March 31, 2022). " Return of the Pro Tour: Details ". Magic.gg .
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Where We’ve Been: A Study of Pro Tour Modern Decks

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Last week, I wrote an article detailing the history behind Modern’s extensive banlist , complete with Wizards' official announcements and an analysis of each. This was, by far, my most popular article to date in the almost six months that I’ve been writing for Modern Nexus. This week, I plan on approaching another Modern topic in similar style: the history of Modern’s best decks! Maybe I’m just a sucker for nostalgia and the romance of the stage, but there is something about the finals of a high-level Magic event that excites me. Maybe it’s the significant cash winnings on the line. Maybe it’s the trial by fire narrative of perseverance that comes from two players fighting through a gigantic field to square off gladiator-style. Maybe it’s the impeccable, brilliant commentary that accompanies Pro Tours.

Whatever it is, I have an infatuation with the big lights that’s only grown since reaching it myself. With Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch coming in February, let’s take a look at where we’ve been.

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Pro Tour Philadelphia – September 2-4, 2011

Top 8 decklists.

2 Pyromancer Ascension 2 Splinter Twin 1 Mono-Red Affinity 1 Mono-Blue Infect 1 Counter Cat Zoo 1 R/G 12Post Breach

Finals – Samuele Estratti vs. Josh Utter-Leyton

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2zsHRjahl0&w=560&h=315]

*(match starts at 11:10)*

Pro Tour Philadelphia will forever be remembered as the first Modern Pro Tour showcasing all of the broken strategies Wizards “missed” in their initial banning . Focusing primarily on the Affinity enablers, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Stoneforge Mystic, and some broken combo pieces, Wizards ultimately missed Blazing Shoal and Cloudpost. Blazing Shoal combo'd with either Progenitus or Dragonstorm to one-shot opponent’s with infect damage in Sam Black’s Mono-Blue Infect, and Jesse Hampton showed the world what Cloudpost could do alongside Vesuva in a supercharged BreachPost Ramp deck that makes RG Tron look like child’s play.

On the fairer side of the table, Ponder and Preordain both had 20 copies in the Top 8 among five decks. For those counting at home, that’s 62.5% of the Top 8 playing Ponder/Preordain, (three separate archetypes) and all decks played the full four of both. Of the three decks that chose not to play the blue cantrips, two played a playset of Green Sun's Zenith, which would also see a banning after the tournament.

But enough of that. The champion and runner-up!

Splinter Twin, Samuele Estratti (1st, Pro Tour Philadelphia 2011)

Enchantments.

Oh, come on! The very first Modern Pro Tour is won by Splinter Twin, even in a field as broken as that old Wild West was?! Turns out Ponder and Preordain were just as broken as everything else, and Estratti dispatched Utter-Leyton 3-1 in an awesome finals match that saw Estratti winning twice with the combo and once with a “devastating” Blood Moon against Utter-Leyton’s board full of dual lands. I love this list, as it contains a lot of cool gems that really date it as a 2011 deck (maindeck Pact of Negation, ONE Lightning Bolt!?!) and yet we still see how much Twin has remained the same in over four years. Keep in mind that Snapcaster Mage was not yet legal (as Innistrad would release later that month). When we factor in the changes that Snapcaster Mage and the Ponder/Preordain banning had on this deck, we see that not much else has changed since. Go ahead and throw some Pact of Negation in your maindeck likes its 1999! (fine, 2011).

Untitled Deck

Planeswalkers.

This deck just looks so gross. A big Naya Zoo deck that splashes blue for Bant Charm and six more counterspells in the board?! Clearly this deck existed before Affinity and Burn showed up to crash the party, as that manabase looks so painful. Counter-Cat was designed as a hard-hitting aggro deck that could present a fast clock and then sit back with counterspells against a field full of combo. The added benefit of playing 11 removal spells helped it rise above all the other aggro decks in the field (and above Infect). This deck couldn’t really compete after the banning of Green Sun's Zenith, but I think its spirit lives on in the form of both Knightfall and Naya Company.

Pro Tour Return to Ravnica (Seattle, USA) – October 19-21, 2012

3 Jund 1 Affinity 1 Eggs 1 Scapeshift 1 Infect 1 Jeskai Geist

Finals – Stanislav Cifka vs. Yuuya Watanabe

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZDaM4VpSBk&w=560&h=315]

With Wild Nacatl banned after Worlds 2011, 2012 saw the rise of Jund as Deathrite Shaman and Bloodbraid Elf overpowered everything else in the format. The Top 8 of Pro Tour RTR saw three Jund decks demolishing the field, denying Splinter Twin even a single slot in the Top 8. Jund was truly the “best deck” of 2012, but for the Pro Tour, Stanislav Cifka had other ideas…

"Eggs, Stanislav Cifka (1st, Pro Tour Return to Ravnica 2012)"

Either you love this deck or hate it: it’s not close. Yuuya Watanabe definitely did not enjoy it, as he famously fiddled with dice for most of the match as Cifka combo’ed off, sighing all the way. Eggs abused the power of Second Sunrise and Faith's Reward alongside Reshape for Lotus Bloom to burn through its deck in a flurry of non-interaction, eventually killing with a recycled Pyrite Spellbomb or Grapeshot out of the sideboard. While Second Sunrise would eventually be banned , Cifka showed the world the unrealized power of Eggs as he went 15-1 through the Swiss, and 3-0 in the Top 8, with one of the most intricate, perfectly built puzzles I have ever seen. To this day, I can’t get over the playset of Silence (one of my favorite “gotcha” cards ever) and Leyline of Sanctity between the maindeck and board. I can appreciate a deck that embraces what it is, and Eggs pushed the limit of solitaire in Magic and made for an oft-maligned but nevertheless memorable experience.

"Jund, Yuuya Watanabe (2nd, Pro Tour Return to Ravnica 2011)"

The pinnacle of Jund in its Bloodbraid Elf days, Yuuya Watanabe brought to battle a primarily B/G deck that only lightly splashed red for Bloodbraid and Lightning Bolt. Instead, Yuuya found a way to play a full playset of Treetop Village (over the now universally adopted Raging Ravine). Deathrite Shaman is partially to blame for this, as it demanded B/G mana to activate abilities, yet could also be used to provide red mana itself or that crucial second black.

Pro Tour Born of the Gods (Valencia, Spain) – February 21-23, 2014

1 Melira Pod 1 Affinity 1 Storm 1 Tarmo-Twin 1 Jeskai Control 1 U/R Twin 1 Blue Moon 1 Jeskai Twin

Finals – Shaun McLaren vs. Jacob Wilson

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsoXl1_SC5Y&w=560&h=315]

This tournament featured so many amazing storylines. Whether Patrick Dickmann’s innovative Tarmo-Twin deck, the Chinese-born Blue Moon, or the eight different archetypes in the Top 8, I highly suggest going back and watching coverage of this tournament for anyone that missed it or has a Saturday to spare.

"Jeskai Control, Shaun McLaren (1st, Pro Tour Born of the Gods 2014)"

This finals is in my Top 5 of favorite all-time matches. Not only does it feature Shaun McLaren (one of my favorite pro players) and Jeskai Control (a deck I’ve wanted to succeed for a long time), it features the titan of 2013 Magic (Melira Pod) vs. a deck designed to beat it (Jeskai Control). Plus, LSV coverage:

“You’re not a kind person, are you?” – Rich Hagon “I’m a kind of person.” – LSV

While Jund Midrange would eventually return to punish control decks relying on Sphinx's Revelation, Thoughtseize was relatively absent from the late rounds of this event, allowing Shaun to bury opponents in card advantage and inevitability on the way to the championship. This is an excellent example of the stars aligning for arguably the most proficient player in an archetype bringing the best version of his pet deck to an event and just running the tables (and yes, Cifka’s Eggs comes close as well).

"Melira Pod, Jacob Wilson (2nd, Pro Tour Born of the Gods 2014)"

For those unfamiliar with Birthing Pod, Jacob Wilson’s version was perfect for the time. A literal combo deck that just did crazy unfair things every time it cast Birthing Pod, Melira Pod could beat down, threaten a combo kill, or disrupt opponents with “prison” style toolbox creatures. The worst thing about this deck was that it could often smoothly do all three at the same time. While I had just built this deck a month or two before its eventual banning, I was able to play with the deck a few times and its hard to describe the feeling of untapping with Birthing Pod, a board full of creatures, and infinite options.

Pro Tour Fate Reforged (Washington, DC) – February 6-8, 2015

2 Burn 3 Abzan 2 U/R Twin 1 Amulet Bloom

This event, as the Top 8 shows, was the Twin vs. Abzan show, and in my opinion relatively boring. Justin Cohen was the lone bright spot in the Top 8, bringing to battle a rogue Amulet Bloom deck that had been floating around on the internet for a while before the event. Seeing two copies of Burn in the Top 8 was definitely interesting, as it demolished the perception that pro players wouldn’t play a “deck like that”.

Finals – Justin Cohen vs. Antonio Del Moral Leon

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgqM0voH1PA&w=560&h=315]

"U/R Twin, Antonio Del Moral Leon (1st, Pro Tour Fate Reforged 2015)"

The circle is now complete. Twin won the first Pro Tour and, in the hands of Antonio del Moral Leon, Splinter Twin is now the reigning Modern Pro Tour archetype champion (at least until Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in February). This list looks almost completely current, though we do see a dated Flame Slash that has now become unplayable thanks to delve creatures like Tasigur, the Golden Fang.

"Amulet Bloom, Justin Cohen (2nd, Pro Tour Fate Reforged 2015)"

And here we are at last! The hottest thing on the block in Modern, Amulet Bloom has had everyone talking about the deck non-stop since its explosive emergence in the hands of Justin Cohen. Not much has changed since this version of the deck first appeared, primarily because the maindeck is very tight, but we do see more Swan Song and Seal of Primordium in the sideboard now that we didn’t see back then. Check out Michael Sigrist's 9th place Bloom finish at Grand Prix Pittsburgh for a comparison!

So there we have it, the first and second place lists of every Modern Pro Tour since the format’s inception in 2011. While there are many other amazing decks worthy of discussion we didn’t get to (Blue Moon, Tarmo Twin, the evolution of Affinity) these eight decks tell an interesting narrative of the evolution of the format on the world’s biggest stage. What do you think? Do you have a favorite Pro Tour deck? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next week

Trevor Holmes The_Architect on MTGO Twitch.tv/Architect_Gaming Twitter.com/7he4rchitect

6 thoughts on “ Where We’ve Been: A Study of Pro Tour Modern Decks ”

Another great article! This really paints a bigger picture on how Modern is shaping, esp. considering it’s only been around for over 4 years. I feel this game is a good investment overall! As far as future “history of” articles, I think I would like to see a history of rouge decks that make appearances in Top 8’s, why they succeeded, and how they shaped the meta, if at all. Thanks again!

Hi Trevor! I must say, thst i rly like your latest articles as i like other articles 😀 P.S. please, in your wideo series play more intresting (or even underrated and unkown) decks. And if you could write in those articles decklist of deck You are plaing it would be great. See You in next article! 😀

Please do more articles like this! It would also be nice to see some general play strategy articles as well. Love this site!

Really cool article! Interesting to see games played with cards now banned… Wasn’t around when some of them were still legal.

So you said that this is one of your Top5 fav matches. What are the other ones?

Best article to date. Thanks for putting in an the links to the video.

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MTG Pro Tour MH3 Amsterdam standings and scores

Over 200 Magic: The Gathering players gathered in Amsterdam for the final Pro Tour of the season, featuring Modern gameplay and Modern Horizons 3 Draft. Here are the updated standings and scores for day two of Pro Tour Amsterdam.

MTG Pro Tour MH3 standings – June 29

Day two of the final Pro Tour in Amsterdam began with the final three rounds of Modern Horizons 3 Draft, shifting the leaderboard around significantly.

Players like Noah Ma and Seth Manfield went undefeated during the second day of MH3 Draft, positioning themselves for a chance to advance to day three of Pro Tour Amsterdam. Only the top eight advance from day two. Players with 12 match wins automatically advance.

Heading into the Modern Constructed rounds, players who brought a Bant Nadu build and had success during the Draft rounds were feeling confident as the deck had a 58.4 percent win rate (not counting mirror matches) from the five rounds of Constructed on day one.

Ma was the first player to hit 12 match wins during day two of Pro Tour Amsterdam, playing Mono-Black Necro. As the first to advance to the top eight, Ma was able to take the rest of day two off. Second to advance to the top eight was Kassis, playing Bant Nadu.

Next to make it to the top eight was Jason Ye, followed by Dominguez after a match he loss was turned into a win due to his opponent getting disqualified . Sam Pardee advanced to the top eight next on Nadu Bant, followed by Daniel Goetschel.

Here were the top eight MTG players advancing to Worlds and the final day of the MH3 Pro Tour.

Noah Ma: Mono-Black Necro
Eli Kassis: Bant Nadu
Jason Ye: Bant Nadu
Javier Dominguez: Jeskai Control
Simon Nielsen: Bant Nadu
Sam Pardee: Bant Nadu
Seth Manfield: Mono Black Necro
Daniel Goetschel: Four-Color Nadu

MTG Pro Tour MH3 standings – June 28

A total of 234 players started Pro Tour Amsterdam playing Modern Horizons 3 Limited Draft, seeking a 3-0 start before heading into the Modern Constructed rounds. Earning a 3-0 start were veteran MTG players like Jonny Guttman, Arnie Huschenbeth, Javier Dominguez, Luis Scott-Fargas, Jean-Emmanuel Depraz, Seth Manfield, Ken Yukuhiro, and Simon Nelsen.

Following the three rounds of MH3 Draft, players shifted to Modern Constructed. All players who earned four wins during the first day of Pro Tour Amsterdam were guaranteed to advance to day two.

After eight rounds, three Draft and five Modern Constructed, the Pro Tour leaderboard featured Jacob Nagro—who went undefeated for the day. Sitting at 7-1 were other MTG greats like former World Champion Dominguez, Depraz, Guttman, and Kassis.

Here are the top 16 players after eight rounds on the first day of the MH3 Pro Tour Amsterdam.

Top 16 overall Pro Tour stnadings from day one

All Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Amsterdam standings will be updated following the three MH3 Draft rounds on day two, June 29.

How do rounds work at MTG Pro Tour MH3 Amsterdam?

All players at the third MTG Pro Tour of the season competed in three rounds of MH3 Draft and five rounds of Modern Constructed during days one and two. Players who achieved 12 match wins advanced to the top eight and the day three playoffs, featuring only Modern Constructed single-elimination rounds.

The top eight MTG players at Pro Tour Amsterdam earned an automatic invite to the World Championship. Players who earned 30 or more match points from the tournament were invited to the first Pro Tour of the 2024-2025 season.

The New MTG Pro Tour Is (Almost) Everything We Wanted

A former MTG World Champion weighs in on the new organized play system.

By Seth Manfield | @SethManfield | Published 2/7/2023 | 10 min read

Today is going to go down as one of the most important days in the history of Magic: The Gathering organized play. The COVID-19 pandemic and all of the restrictions that have come along with it essentially halted tabletop Magic for over two years. We've had high-level events on MTG Arena, but as far as official Wizards of the Coast in-person events, there hasn't been anything for quite some time. But that's all about to change.

THE PRO TOUR IS BACK!!

The Pro Tour has such a rich and amazing history. The name "Pro Tour" stopped being used altogether a few years back in favor of names like Mythic Championship and Set Championship. Bringing back the name "Pro Tour" for the 2022-2023 organized play system is the smartest thing the folks at WotC could have done.

Let's go over the four tiers of this new system.

Regional Championship Qualifiers

Regional Championship Qualifiers will happen at the local level, which means you should be able to play in one without having to get on a plane. While we don't have Pro Tour Qualifiers like players may remember from the past, the Regional Championship Qualifiers will fill a similar role.

We still don't have all the information on Regional Championship Qualifiers, like how many of them there will be, what type of attendance to expect, what the entry fee will be, and all the specific locations. I expect most of this to fall into place quite quickly though. What we do know is there are 11 different regions included in this new system.

Each region will be managed by a different tournament organizer , and that organizer has the freedom to make its own decisions about the tournament structure. However, the qualifying season will last the same four weeks no matter where you live. There will also be Last Chance Qualifiers at the Regional Championships themselves.

Based on what we know so far, there aren't any major issues I can see with the Regional Qualifiers, but a lot will come down to the details. Managing the size of these qualifiers and varying the number of qualifiers based on region will be very important. For instance, Brazil will likely have fewer qualifiers compared to the United States based on the player base.

There will also be event promos! Lava Spike will be awarded for participation in the first season, and copies of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx in both foil and nonfoil will be awarded to top finishers. Bringing promos into the mix is a great way to drive up attendance and overall interest in these events—good job, WotC.

Regional Championships

Once you do well enough in a Regional Championship Qualifier, you'll get to compete in the Regional Championship! There will be one Regional Championship in each region across the globe, which means 11 total. Each will be a bit different in size, which means we should expect different prizes for each event.

Besides doing well in a Regional Championship Qualifier there will be a couple other ways to qualify for a Regional Championship. One is having been in the Magic Pro League or Rivals League in 2021-2022. Also, top-finishing challengers from the 2021-2022 season and 2022 World Championship competitors will be invited to the Regional Championships. This is a good way to transition out of the previous league play systems.

Teferi, Hero of Dominaria OP Promo Non-Foil

Regional Championships may be one or two-day events depending on size of the event. Also, a promo version of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria will be given out at Regional Championships. Doing well at the Regional Championships is the primary way to qualify for the Pro Tour.

My hope with Regional Championships is that appropriate adjustments are made based on attendance to these events. WotC has said that prize pools and the number of Pro Tour invites given out in each region will vary, but beyond that we will have to wait for more specific information on Regional Championships.

The Pro Tour

While the qualifier rounds will start this year, the Pro Tours themselves will kick off in 2023. The target number of players in a Pro Tour is 300. The primary way to qualify for the Pro Tour will be doing well at the Regional Championships, though there will also be other routes as well. The Magic Online Showcase and large events on MTG Arena will provide direct paths to the Pro Tour. Doing well at the previous year's World Championship or at previous Pro Tours is another way to get PT invitations.

Pro Tours will use Adjusted Matchpoints (AMPs) to track player performance. This essentially means tracking how many wins a player gets at the Pro Tour. If you have enough AMPs at the Pro Tour level it will lead to additional qualifications. This will let players string together multiple Pro Tour qualifications without needing to go back to the regional level.

Pro Tours look like they will be a mix of Draft and Constructed. The first Pro Tour in 2023 will include the Pioneer format, with Standard and Modern likely being used as well at future Pro Tours. This makes a ton of sense as a way to create interest in Pioneer, as the format is quite fun to play right now . Personally though, I'm looking forward to competitive Limited the most, as that has been largely absent from competitive play over the past two years.

There will be three Pro Tours per year, and they can take place all around the world. These events will each have a $500,000 prize pool. Traveling internationally has been a big part of playing tabletop MTG at the highest level, and I'm very happy to see this aspect of the game returning. We should also expect to see live video coverage at all the Pro Tour events, which should create additional excitement surrounding these tournaments.

The World Championship

There will be 128 slots in the 2022-2023 World Championship, and the prize pool will be $1,000,000. This is more World Championships slots than we have been accustomed to over the past few years . I personally don't mind having this become a larger event. Like all the events being highlighted in today's announcement the World Championship will also be played on tabletop, rather than online. This is a major shift, as even before the pandemic the World Championships had been exclusively on MTG Arena. Tabletop play is clearly a huge priority again.

In order to make it to the World Championship you must do really well at events like the Regional Championships, or accumulate a lot of AMPs at the Pro Tour level across the three Pro Tours in a season. There will also be online paths to making it to the World Championship, as well as the previous World Champion being automatically qualified as well.

Reintroducing the Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame has always been an important part of the Pro Tour, and it will remain a part of the Pro Tour moving forward. Hall of Fame members will receive one Pro Tour invitation of their choice, per season. Hall of Fame members will also be invited to the Regional Championship that feeds the PT they have elected to use their invite on. This essentially means Hall of Fame members receive direct qualification to one third of the Pro Tours and Regional Championships each year.

Hall of Fame members had been promised an invite to every Pro Tour in perpetuity, at the time they were inducted. While this new system of qualifications for Hall of Fame members does not honor that promise, it does give Hall of Fame members more than what they have been receiving over the past few years.

I'm obviously biased as a member of the Hall of Fame, but WotC clearly shouldn't have promised a lifetime of invites if they couldn't live up to that. It would be possible to invite all Hall of Fame members to every Pro Tour in the new system if WotC wished to do so.

Missed Opportunities

Overall, this is a positive announcement for the community at large. Players have been itching for the return of the Pro Tour, and now their wish has been granted. Having some type of system in place that allows players to climb the ranks while playing with physical MTG cards is awesome. I'm excited to get back to playing the game we all love so much.

That said, there are some holes in the announcement I want to cover.

No Mention of Grand Prix

Grand Prix and MagicFests are not part of the new system. These large-scale events had been a big part of previous systems, and I think many players were expecting to see a return of large events that are open to the public and don't require an invitation.

Hopefully Grand Prix or something similar will be announced in the future, even if these events don't directly connect to the Pro Tour system anymore.

The Pro Tour Prize Pools Aren't Large Enough

International travel is expensive. If I were to fly to Japan, I would expect it to cost over $2,000 even with cost-cutting measures. Flights, hotels, food, they all add up. Not to mention the investment of time it takes to qualify for the Pro Tour and travel to the event. Assuming it costs $2,000 to travel to a 300-player Pro Tour with a $500,000 prize pool, the average player will lose money. This isn't good.

I believe the prize pools for Pro Tours should be $1,000,000 like the World Championships to ensure that players who qualify for Pro Tours can afford to play. With a larger prize pool, you could have a large enough minimum prize payout at the Pro Tour that players could mostly recoup their travel costs.

As WotC foreshadowed in their announcement about the end of the League system , prize pools have taken a step backward compared to what they were a couple years ago. The new system is not meant to financially support someone playing MTG—now is not the time to drop out of school to pursue Magic full time. The World Championships seem to be the only event where you should expect to make a profit should you qualify. Even if you do qualify for the World Championships there will still be 127 other world-class players in the event, and the estimated value is less than $8,000 per player before travel costs.

While I'm excited to compete and play MTG at a high level, I still want to push WotC to kick a bit more money into the program. To be fair though, we are coming back from having no tabletop system at all, so the 2022-2023 season may be used to reevaluate how large a financial commitment WotC can afford to make in regards to tabletop play. This announcement doesn't include the online side of organized play, and we should hopefully still see large digital events as well.

Thanks for reading,

Seth Manfield

27 - 30 Jun 2024

Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna

Adriatic Golf Club Cervia, Milano Marittima, Ravenna, Italy

DP World Tour Partners

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Alim McNeill Predicted to Be First-Time Pro Bowler

John maakaron | jun 24, 2024.

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill runs after 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions pairing Alim McNeill with veteran DJ Reader has the potential to pay immediate dividends for Aaron Glenn's defense.

McNeill, 24, is entering a contract year and is expected to continue his stellar play along the Lions' defensive interior.

In a recent Sports Illustrated list of potential first-time 2024 pro bowlers, the former third-round draft pick was among the 10 players tabbed for increased accolades this upcoming season.

" McNeill is a 3-technique defensive tackle and one of the best interior players in the NFL. He’s now firmly established as one of the Lions’ top defensive players, period," wrote Conor Orr. "Why do I like him as a Pro Bowl candidate? Because in pairing McNeill with the savvy and experienced D.J. Reader, the Lions are going to open up so many possibilities for stunting, twisting and other up-front games."

After his rookie season, McNeill has worked diligently to improve his diet. His commitment to improving all aspects of his game and gaining strength has benefitted Detroit's pass-rush.

"McNeill didn’t really need all that much help once he got the hang of the professional game, but Reader is elite when it comes to punishing one-on-one defenders, batting down passes and blowing up complex running plays behind the line of scrimmage.

"Just watch the Cincinnati Bengals’ game against the Browns last year that Reader completely took over. Now, imagine that Detroit has two of those players. I’m not a gambling man, but taking an over on an Aidan Hutchinson sack total isn’t the worst idea, either, now that we’re on the subject."

Related: Lions DT DJ Reader Film Review

Dan Campbell expressed during minicamp still believes McNeill can contribute more. With the addition of new defensive line coach Terrell Williams , all members of the defensive line are expected to add new facets to their game to hep the unit improve overall.

"Mac has got so much ability," said Campbell . "I think that he’s one of those that in the way that he is built, and the nimbleness and athleticism, and power that he has for the way that he is, for the way that he’s built – you don’t see that every day. We still feel like there is more in there. He really took a big step last year, we feel like there’s more in there."

Like the rest of the roster, the talented defensive tackle is looking forward to taking the next step forward after a disappointing loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game.

"Obviously, we wanted a different result," said McNeill . "Our goal is to get back to that point and get over the hump.”

JOHN MAAKARON

John Maakaron has covered Detroit Sports since 2013. Brings a vast array of experience covering the Detroit Tigers, Detroit Lions, Michigan Wolverines, Michigan State Spartans, Detroit Mercy Titans, and Oakland University Golden Grizzlies. John brings a wealth of sports broadcast experience. In 2013, John had the vision to establish the Detroit Sports Podcast Network. Has recorded over 3000 podcasts analyzing Detroit Sports. In 2019, Sports Illustrated Media Group, a historical sports media outlet, partnered with Detroit Sports Podcast to provide daily Lions content for their growing and expanding digital media outlet. Our Lions content can also be read in the newspaper at The Oakland Passionate about Detroit Sports and it is reflected in his coverage of the local teams!

Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings Modern Metagame Breakdown

After four years of metagame evolution since the last Modern Pro Tour, Modern returns to the big stage! At Pro Tour The Lord of The Rings , taking place July 28—30 at MagicCon: Barcelona , 269 of the world's best Magic: The Gathering players will compete with their best Modern decks for $500,000 in prizes, invitations to the World Championship, and a prestigious trophy. After all, there can be only one winner to rule them all. While most competitors earned their invitation via Regional Championships, the field also includes Magic Hall of Famers, top online players, and the reigning World Champion and Pro Tour champion: Nathan Steuer.

The formats are The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ Booster Draft in the morning of Friday and Saturday, followed by Modern for five rounds afterward each of those days. Modern is also the Top 8 format on Sunday. To follow all the action, catch the stream at twitch.tv/magic , which begins at 11 a.m. Central European Time on Friday and Saturday and at 10 a.m. Central European Time on Sunday. Take a look at the viewer's guide for more information.

Modern Metagame Breakdown

Modern is a nonrotating 60-card format that allows non-banned cards from expansion sets, core sets, and straight-to-Modern sets from Eighth Edition forward. As Eighth Edition was released on July 29, 2003, we can proudly declare during the Pro Tour that Modern is comprised of exactly twenty years of card history. With this deep card pool, including the newly added cards from The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ , the metagame at the Pro Tour breaks down as follows.

The most-played archetypes are Rakdos Evoke and Four-Color Omnath, which make good use of the newly added Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring , respectively. In last week's format primer , which introduces the game plans for all top Modern archetypes in more detail, I explained that Rakdos Evoke and Four-Color Omnath were the most prominent Modern archetypes in the weeks leading up to the event. So, their popularity at the Pro Tour is not a big surprise.

Yet Modern has been evolving rapidly. Compared to last week's metagame snapshot, Mono-Green Tron and Temur Rhinos have surged in popularity for Modern players , and Dimir Control has emerged as a major contender. To better understand these developments, let's take a closer look at the most-played cards, both overall and from the newest set.

Most-Played Modern Cards

The following table breaks down the 20 most-played cards across Modern decklists submitted for the Pro Tour.

The most-played nonland cards across all main decks and sideboards were The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters . These new cards from The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ , which have been adopted in a variety of decks, are even more popular than long-time format staples like Fury , Chalice of the Void , Misty Rainforest , and Force of Negation . With these changes, even time-tested decks are being forced to adapt.

So, let's zoom in. The following table breaks down all new cards from The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ across Modern decklists submitted for the Pro Tour.

As mentioned, the most important new additions are The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters , which together have led to an upheaval of the Modern metagame. They have reinvigorated old archetypes, enabled new ones, and pushed previously popular ones to the fringes. For example, Five-Color Creativity struggles against The One Ring , and Izzet Murktide is weak to Orcish Bowmasters , so these previously popular archetypes have dwindled to merely 3% of the metagame each. Meanwhile, other decks have surged, and it's all due to these new cards.

The One Ring , after preventing you from taking damage and being targeted for a turn, can quickly bury the opponent in card advantage. The card has led to a resurgence of Four-Color Omnath, Mono-Green Tron, Dimir Control, Jeskai Breach, Esper Control, and various other decks. These decks are the best at exploiting the legendary artifact, by either bouncing it with Teferi, Time Raveler , grabbing it from the sideboard with Karn, the Great Creator , combining it with a huge number of free pitch spells, and/or looping multiple copies with Emry, Lurker of the Loch . After all, once the burden of using the Ring becomes too great, you can use the legend rule to your advantage.

Orcish Bowmasters removes one-toughness creatures and punishes opponents for drawing too many cards with The One Ring , making it an all-star in a format dominated by the legendary artifact. It's the two-drop that Rakdos Evoke was waiting for, and the archetype has become a whopping 19.3% of the field. In addition, Dimir Control and Esper Control make good use of Orcish Bowmasters as well, leading to the emergence of brand-new archetypes. The popularity of Orcish Bowmasters has even prompted various red players at the Pro Tour to shave Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer from their decks, and it might keep The One Ring in check.

The Lord of The Rings also introduced a cycle of one-cost landcyclers. Generous Ent and Oliphaunt have been added to Living End , where they act like fetch lands that can be reanimated as huge creatures. Lórien Revealed is an excellent addition to decks with Force of Negation and Subtlety , as it's like a land that can be pitched as a blue card. It can also be used as a late-game card draw spell if necessary, providing both flexibility and consistency. New builds of Rhinos, Dimir Control, and Esper Control make good use of Lórien Revealed in this way, and they make up a sizable part of the Pro Tour as a result.

Besides these standouts, The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ introduced numerous other cards that boosted various archetypes. For example, Delighted Halfling has been a big upgrade for Four-Color Omnath and Golgari Yawgmoth, as it has enough toughness to survive Orcish Bowmasters and allows legendary spells (like The One Ring ) to dodge countermagic. Moreover, Samwise Gamgee has enabled new infinite combos with Cauldron Familiar and a sacrifice outlet, while Sauron's Ransom provides card advantage for Dimir Control.

The rise of Dimir Control, which didn't even exist a few weeks ago, is one of the biggest metagame stories to come out of the Pro Tour. While some players might ask what the best card from The Lord of The Rings is, Dimir Control simply runs all of them. Featuring The One Ring , Orcish Bowmasters , Lórien Revealed , and Sauron's Ransom , it is filled to the brim with new cards. The deck uses them in an attrition-based, interactive flash game with Subtlety and Force of Negation before recouping the pitch spell's card disadvantage with The One Ring and Sauron's Ransom . Esper Control, an innovative offshoot, has a very similar game plan with a small white splash. Both versions combined are over 8% of the metagame, which is a lot for a completely novel Modern strategy.

The Lord of The Rings: Tales of Middle-earth™ also added various new sideboard options. Stern Scolding is like a blue Fatal Push . Cast into the Fire can deal with The One Ring . And Stone of Erech is a new option to stop Feign Death , Living End , or graveyard loops. These sideboard cards might not have lead to massive metagame shifts, but they'll surely have an impact during the Modern rounds at the Pro Tour.

One-Sentence Archetype Summaries

All Modern Constructed decklists for the tournament will be published on the Pro Tour The Lord of The Rings event page on Friday, July 28 at the beginning of Round 4 gameplay, approximately at 2 p.m. Central European Time. Until then, you can find one-sentence descriptions of each archetype below.

Rakdos Evoke (52 players): Rakdos Evoke is a midrange deck that can evoke Grief or Fury and return them to the battlefield with Feign Death or Undying Malice , potentially producing a 4/3 menace with double discard or a 4/4 double striker on turn one.

Four-Color Omnath (30 players): Four-Color Omnath not only leverages interactive spells like Leyline Binding but also uses Delighted Halfling to ramp into Teferi, Time Raveler ; The One Ring ; and Omnath, Locus of Creation , which can be triggered multiple times per turn thanks to fetch lands.

Rhinos (29 players): The straightforward plan is to cast Shardless Agent or Violent Outburst on turn three to cascade into Crashing Footfalls , unleashing a horde of 4/4 Rhinos to quickly overpower the opponent. Twenty Rhinos players are based in the Temur colors; with nine adding white for Leyline Binding .

Mono-Green Tron (24 players): The archetype that won the previous Modern Pro Tour is built around the trio of Urza's Mine , Urza's Power Plant , and Urza's Tower —dubbed the "Urzatron" in the 90s as a reference to the Voltron TV series—which together unlocks seven mana by turn three.

Golgari Yawgmoth (19 players) : Yawgmoth, Thran Physician can sacrifice undying creatures like Young Wolf to generate card advantage, and since +1/+1 counters cancel out against -1/-1 counters, an infinite loop is possible with two undying creatures.

Dimir Control (16 players): Dimir Control makes the most of the new set, exploiting card advantage from The One Ring and Sauron's Ransom along with free interaction like Force of Negation and Subtlety to take control.

Living End (11 players): The game plan is to cycle several creatures, including the newly added Generous Ent and Oliphaunt , and then use Violent Outburst or Shardless Agent to cascade into Living End , wiping all creatures from the battlefield while returning the cyclers.

Burn (11 players): The goal is to unleash a flurry of damage as quickly as possible, with an ideal opening hand featuring a turn one Goblin Guide , turn two double Lava Spike , and turn three triple Lightning Bolt for a staggering 21 damage. Ten of the Burn players use the Boros colors; one added black for Orcish Bowmasters .

Izzet Murktide (9 players): Izzet Murktide combines cheap cantrips like Mishra's Bauble and efficient interaction like Counterspell to quickly turn Murktide Regent into a powerful two-mana 8/8 flier.

Five-Color Creativity (8 players): Any fetch land can grab Dwarven Mine , whose token is subsequently turned into Archon of Cruelty by Indomitable Creativity .

Jeskai Breach (7 players): Mishra's Bauble or Mox Amber can be repeatedly sacrificed to Grinding Station and recast with Underworld Breach , milling yourself until you win the game with Thassa's Oracle .

Esper Control (6 players): This is basically Dimir Control, splashing for Leyline Binding and possibly additional white cards such as Teferi, Time Raveler .

Hammer Time (5 players): With Sigarda's Aid and Puresteel Paladin , the enormous equip cost on Colossus Hammer can be sidestepped, turning the equipment into a +10/+10 effect for one mana. Three Hammer Time players are splashing blue for Spell Pierce , and the other two are mono-white.

Samwise Gamgee Combo (5 players): Samwise Gamgee , Cauldron Familiar , and a sacrifice outlet provides infinite Cauldron Familiar triggers, while Collected Company and Chord of Calling help assemble all the pieces.

Four-Color Control (5 players): This deck controls the game with spot removal like Prismatic Ending , countermagic like Counterspell , and planeswalkers like Teferi, Time Raveler , while splashing for two or three copies of Omnath, Locus of Creation .

Mono-Black Coffers (4 players) : The combination of Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth can produce enormous amounts of mana, which can be sunk into powerful spells like March of Wretched Sorrow or Karn, the Great Creator .

Amulet Titan (4 players): Amulet Titan is an intricate ramp deck that exploits the synergy between Amulet of Vigor and bounce lands like Simic Growth Chamber to power out Primeval Titan , which can subsequently grab Slayers' Stronghold and Boros Garrison to attack right away.

Dimir Mill (2 players): Mill has the straightforward game plan of depleting the opponent's library as quickly as possible, using cards like Hedron Crab and Archive Trap to great effect.

Urza ThopterSword (2 players): After sacrificing Sword of the Meek to Thopter Foundry , the created Thopter token brings back the Sword, allowing you to create a Thopter for every mana you have, and the addition of Urza, Lord High Artificer allows you to go infinite.

Mono-Black Grief (2 players): This mono-color midrange deck exploits Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring , has access to the powerful turn-one play of Grief into Malakir Rebirth , and makes of us Field of Ruin and Demolition Field in its mana base.

Naya Scapeshift (2 players): Scapeshift can search for Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle and six Mountains, roasting your opponent for 18 damage, while the white splash provides interactive spells.

Five-Color Bring to Light (2 players): Bring to Light can find Scapeshift , which can win the game with seven or eight lands, or Valki, God of Lies , which can be cast as Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor for free.

Grixis Shadow (1 player): Grixis Shadow aims to win the game with Death's Shadow while using interactive spells like Thoughtseize and a painful mana base to control their own life total.

Jeskai Control (1 player): This deck controls the battlefield with Lightning Bolt and Supreme Verdict , and it uses Narset, Parter of Veils in conjunction with Day's Undoing as a game-winning combo.

Asmo Food (1 player) : Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar searches for The Underworld Cookbook , which loops with Ovalchase Daredevil to create Food tokens, which in turn feeds the activated abilities of Samwise Gamgee .

Azorius Control (1 player): This deck controls the game with spot removal like Prismatic Ending , countermagic like Counterspell , sweepers like Supreme Verdict , and planeswalkers like Teferi, Time Raveler .

Gruul Valakut (1 player): This deck uses Primeval Titan or Wish to search for Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle , whose ability is supercharged by Dryad of the Ilysian Grove and green land-search spells that fetch more Mountains.

Merfolk (1 player): The original Lord of Atlantis dates all the way back to Alpha, and newer versions like Vodalian Hexcatcher provide more interaction while keeping the overall theme of the deck intact.

Jund Sagavan (1 player): A portmanteau of Urza's Saga and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer , Jund Sagavan represents a midrange deck with efficient threats, spot removal, and discard spells.

Five-Color Omnath (1 player): This is basically Four-Color Omnath, splashing for Orcish Bowmasters .

Five-Color Reanimator (1 player): After discarding Atraxa, Grand Unifier to Fable of the Mirror-Breaker , she can be returned to the battlefield with Goryo's Vengeance and, ideally, blinked by Ephemerate .

Dimir Murktide (1 player): This is basically Dimir Control without The One Ring and more emphasis on Murktide Regent .

Izzet Breach (1 player): This is basically Izzet Murktide without the big flier, instead using Underworld Breach as a fair card that can produce enough value to win the game.

Affinity (1 player): Artifact lands like Darksteel Citadel reduce the cost of Thought Monitor and Sojourner's Companion , and they power up Cranial Plating and Arcbound Ravager to unlock a fast damage clock.

Izzet Control (1 player): Izzet Control has some overlap in cards and strategy with Dimir Control, but the combo of Flame of Anor and Snapcaster Mage is a good reason to play red.

Oops! All Spells! (1 player): This deck features zero land cards, so when you use modal double-faced spell/land cards to cast Balustrade Spy or Undercity Informer , you can say "Oops! All Spells", put your entire library into your graveyard, and win with Creeping Chill and Vengevine .

With so many different strategies, Modern allows you to play any style of deck you want. As the gameplay and interactions can get complex, players are usually rewarded for having deep format knowledge and experience with their decks. Indeed, several big teams did not conform to a unanimous deck choice; instead, their members are mostly playing different archetypes, which may bring them more success if they can leverage their familiarity with that deck.

In any case, we'll find out during the event how powerful The One Ring and Orcish Bowmasters truly are. If you're eager to find out which cards and strategies will come out on top and who will carve their name into competitive Magic history, then don't miss all the live action. Coverage begins Friday, July 28 at twitch.tv/magic !

'She was inspirational': Legendary golfer's pro tour lands in Metamora, Peoria for first time

METAMORA — Annika Sorenstam wants to help women make a name for themselves in professional golf's developmental ranks.

So one of the game's greatest has put her name on the entire Women's All Pro Tour. The WAPT is now known as the Annika Tour in 2024.

And golfers like Krista Junkkari are proud to be part of that. She was among the competitors in the Annika Tour event that joined the men's side for the 2024 OSF Children's Hospital Illinois Championships on Tuesday in Metamora.

More: Here's what Tony Romo said while in central Illinois for pro-am golf tournament

The 72-hole tournament runs Wednesday through Saturday at Metamora Fields Golf Club and in Peoria at WeaverRidge Golf Club .

"This puts all of us on a bigger stage," said Junkkari, 24, amid the pro-am in Metamora. "Annika Sorenstam in my opinion is the greatest women's golfer in history. There are a lot of us dreaming of having a career like hers.

"I met her for the first time when I was a senior in college and attended a Q&A for her. She was inspirational."

Sorenstam agreed to partner with the WAPT last summer for a re-named tour starting this season. She put her name on the tour, invested her legacy in the Annika Foundation and is dedicated to helping women develop in golf.

"I am thrilled to embark on this journey with the Women's All Pro Tour," Sorenstam said in an Annika Foundation statement last July. "I firmly believe the best way to improve your game and prepare for the next level is by playing on a tour with great competition.

"By joining forces with the WAPT, we have a unique opportunity to further solidify an incredibly important platform that has already advanced the professional playing careers of so many talented players."

Ambassador Krista Junkkari

Junkkari is a native of Kouvola, Finland , and was a star golfing for the University of North Carolina. She finished her career after the 2022-23 season as UNC's fourth-best in stroke average all-time at 73.89.

She landed at the Annika Foundation when she was named one of its four inaugural ambassadors to the Annika Development Program in May of 2023.

4 things about Peoria golf: Upgrades, tournaments and course changes

The program's mission is to take rising women golfers who no longer have college eligibility and provide them opportunities to develop toward a pro career. As an ambassador, Junkkari has access to practice and play at Old Barnwell Golf Club in Aiken, S.C., while being trained by its professional staff. Ambassadors receive housing for their first year, and a $10,000 stipend every year to cover tournament fees and travel expenses. Sorenstam is hands-on as their mentor, and the women are required to play with club members and participate in clinics for young girls.

"Getting into the program is a huge deal to me," Junkkari said in 2023. "It feels like the perfect next step in my career and a smoother transition toward a professional career than what I had imagined to be possible.

"Turning professional has always been described to me as a time of uncertainty, and getting into the (Annika) program gave me a good sense of direction and a base on what I can start building on for the next couple of years."

Building a pro future in Metamora

Junkkari started her chase after a $30,000 first-place prize Wednesday, when she teed off at Metamora. The tournament schedule rotates the players each day between Metamora Fields and WeaverRidge in Peoria to provide different challenges.

The Annika Tour sets a high bar via its namesake, but delivers help in clearing it for developing players.

Sorenstam won 97 events as a pro, including 72 on the LPGA Tour. She won the U.S. Women's Open in 1995, 1996 and 2006. And the Women's British Open in 2004 and the Women's PGA Championship in 2003, 2004 and 2005. She is in the World Golf Hall of Fame and last October became the first LPGA player to become a member of Augusta National Golf Club.

Illinois golf: Peoria golf facility in midst of $4M project to make it like TopGolf

"It's exciting to be here, I think being on the Annika Tour, and what her name attached to it means for all of us, and to compete on this tour with that standard is great," Junkkari said after warming up on the Metamora course Tuesday. "It's very comfortable here. I'm a bit of a country girl at heart, I had lot of fun last night with my billet family here in Metamora, cornfields and chasing around fireflies in the yard."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at 686-3206 or [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'She was inspirational': Legendary golfer's pro tour lands in Metamora, Peoria for first time

Team Europe captain Annika Sorenstam during a practice round for The Solheim Cup international golf tournament at Des Moines Golf and Country Club on Aug. 15.

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Post Malone Is Hitting The Road For the 'F-1 Trillion Tour'

He’s slated to perform “a collection of country songs.”.

Post Malone F-1 Trillion Tour Announcement posty tickets venue album country music link price presale live nation website new york city texas california

Post Malone is revving the engine on his new releases, already mapping out a lengthy North American Tour in support of his forthcoming new project. Dubbed the F-1 Trillion Tour , Posty will hit the road this fall to perform his first-ever country record in 20 major venues.

“I love y’all so very much and I’m so excited to get out and play new music for you,” he said in a release.

Are you ready, Posty lovers? ❤️ @postmalone is revving up for his F-1 Trillion Tour! Performing a collection of country songs including songs off his upcoming album. 🛻 Tickets on sale this Monday, July 1 at 10am local: https://t.co/QfKaKfZlqK 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xQHDUyxvvz — Live Nation (@LiveNation) June 25, 2024

Sun Sep 8 – Salt Lake City, UT – Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre Thu Sep 12 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Music Center Sat Sep 14 – Syracuse, NY – Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview Mon Sep 16 – Bangor, ME – Maine Savings Amphitheatre Wed Sep 18 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park Fri Sep 20 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium Sat Sep 21 – Hartford, CT – The XFINITY Theatre Mon Sep 23 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Broadview Stage at SPAC Wed Sep 25 – Scranton, PA – The Pavilion at Montage Mountain Sat Sep 28 – New York, NY – Global Citizen Festival Sun Sep 29 – Wantagh, NY – Northwell at Jones Beach Theatre Tue Oct 1 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center Fri Oct 4 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach Sat Oct 5 – Raleigh, NC – Coastal Credit Union Music Park Mon Oct 7 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion Wed Oct 9 – Charleston, SC – Credit One Stadium Fri Oct 11 – Atlanta, GA – Lakewood Amphitheatre Sun Oct 13 – Rogers, AR – Walmart AMP Tue Oct 15 – Pelham, AL – Oak Mountain Amphitheatre Thu Oct 17 – Orange Beach, AL – The Wharf Amphitheater Sat Oct 19 – Nashville, TN – Nissan Stadium

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Rocket Mortgage weather forecast: Round 3 play concludes after delay

First tee time set to begin at 12:48 p.m. et.

Change Text Size

Update, Saturday, 11:15 a.m. ET: The start of the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic is delayed an additional 30 minutes. The first tee time is now scheduled for 12:48 p.m. ET. PGA TOUR LIVE coverage will begin at 1 p.m. The final pairing of Akshay Bhatia, Aaron Rai and Taylor Montgomery are set to tee off at 3 p.m. off the first tee.

Update, Saturday, 11:00 a.m. ET: Round 3 has been suspended an additional 30 minutes, with the first tee time set to begin at 12:18 p.m. ET. Preferred lies are in effect for the third round.

Update: Saturday, 9:00 a.m. ET: Round 3 has been suspended and tee times are delayed one hour, set to range from 11:48 a.m. ET to 2 p.m. ET.

Saturday's third-round tee times at the Rocket Mortgage Classic were moved up due to anticipated inclement weather, PGA TOUR Communications announced Friday. Rain and thunderstorms are expected to move east of Detroit Golf Club between 9:30-10 a.m. ET. Tee times are set to range from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. off split tees from Nos. 1 and 10.

Here is a look at the day-by-day weather forecast for the final two rounds:

Saturday: An isolated shower or thunderstorm will remain possible into the early afternoon before drier conditions return for the rest of the day. The cold front may produce an isolated t-storm as it passes tonight. Otherwise mostly cloudy, warm and humid conditions can be expected with highs in the mid-80s.

Sunday: It will be a much cooler and breezy day behind the front with temperatures starting in the low 60s and gradually warming to near 70 degrees during the afternoon. An NNW wind of 10-15 gusting to 20 mph will make it feel cooler at times.

IMAGES

Modern and the Pro Tour: A Look Through History
Modern and the Pro Tour: A Look Through History
Modern Pro Tour LotR Top 8 Green Tron
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Day One Highlights
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Modern Decklists : r/magicTCG
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Day One Highlights

VIDEO

Modern Horizons 3 Preview Cards + B&R Announcement
Pro Tour 25th Anniversary Semifinals: Wu, Hull, Orange vs. Gregoir, Neirynck, Van Der Paelt
SOLD
Pro Tour Fate Reforged Video Logs
Pro Tour 25th Anniversary Semifinals: Utter-Leyton, Stark, Jůza vs. Saporito, Carvalho, Romão
PRO TOUR LORD OF THE RINGS

COMMENTS

List of Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour events
The first Pro Tour was held in New York City in 1996. Invitations are usually earned by winning a qualifier tournament. Other means of qualifying include, finishing high in a Grand Prix or in the previous Pro Tour, and being part of the Magic Pro- and Rivals Leagues. ... Modern †, Booster Draft 2-4 September 2011 ...
Modern and the Pro Tour: A Look Through History
It's the fall of 2011, and the first ever Modern Pro Tour is underway in Philadelphia. While the format has unofficially been around on Magic Online, this is its introduction to the world as a sanctioned Magic format and the Pro Tour's first non-rotating format. At the end of the Top 8, Samuele Estratti becomes the first Modern Pro Tour Champion, piloting Splinter Twin, a deck that will go on ...
Pro Tour Philadelphia And The Birth Of Modern: An Oral History
LSV: When they announced Modern the first time it was going to be unveiled was actually at the Community Cup in 2011 and I was on the Community Cup team! ... Over the years, Modern became a staple of competitive Magic and the Modern Pro Tour was a must-see event in the professional calendar. Pro Tour Philadelphia kicked off a long and turbulent ...
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 | Day Two. Nearly 150 players return to MagicCon: Amsterdam to battle a second day for $500,000 in prizes and the trophy at Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3. Watch the action live now! Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Watch Live on Twitch Ready for ...
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour
From your local game store all the way to a Magic World Championship, Regional Championships and the Pro Tour offer competition and prizes every step of the way.. How to Qualify. Top finishers at each region's Regional Championships.; Players that earn 30 or more match points at the previous Pro Tour. The 8 players who compete in the Magic: The Gathering Online Champions Showcase which ...
An Oral History of the First Pro Tour
An Oral History of the First Pro Tour. Feature Dec 22, 2016. Brian David-Marshall. In early 1996, Magic: The Gathering was just under three years old, but Organized Play was just taking its first wobbly steps. There had been a couple of World Championships, a US Nationals, and scattered local tournaments offering collections of the Power Nine ...
Format Evolutions: Modern Pro Tours
As you know, tomorrow kicks off Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta, where five hundred of the best Magic players in the world will gather for Modern, a format recently shaken up by the banning of Splinter Twin and Summer Bloom.One of the unique aspects of Modern is that it is still a young format. Birthed in 2011, there have only been four Pro Tours featuring Modern.
The First Modern Pro Tour
In this episode, we asked the pros about their decks and what it's like playing in the Pro Tour!List of Interviewees:Alex BertonciniBrian David-MarshallJusti...
Pro Tour
The Pro Tour, abbreviated PT, is a series of major invitation-only DCI-sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments, held about once every three months from 1996 to 2018.[1][2][3] The Pro Tour was reinstated for the 2022-23 Pro Tour Season.[4] Even early on in Magic history, there had been high-prestige tournaments that had attracted a lot of top players, most notably the 1994 World ...
Pro Tour Philadelphia: Finals
Watch Samuele Estratti and his Splinter Twin deck battle Josh Utter-Leyton and Counter-Cat Zoo in the Finals of Pro Tour Philadelphia, the first Modern forma...
Where We've Been: A Study of Pro Tour Modern Decks
Pro Tour Philadelphia will forever be remembered as the first Modern Pro Tour showcasing all of the broken strategies Wizards "missed" in their initial banning. Focusing primarily on the Affinity enablers, Jace, the Mind Sculptor, Stoneforge Mystic, and some broken combo pieces, Wizards ultimately missed Blazing Shoal and Cloudpost.
The end of the first modern ERA. The Top 8 decks from the first modern
The Top 8 decks from the first modern pro tour banned. Every deck from the first modern pro tour top 8 has had a core ban and the format is now moving in a new direction and banning the strongest decks out.
As someone who started with modern at its inception and ...
As someone who started with modern at its inception and watched the first modern pro tour (and I still plays modern today), I want say say this to pioneer fans. The pros showed there was a "best" deck or decks during that pro tour. They broke some cards we loved and they found the best strategies and modern was never the same again.
Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Modern Decklists : r/ModernMagic
Discussion on Magic: the Gathering's Modern format plus its decks, cards, tournament results, and more!
Making Modern Memories (And The Semifinals) At Pro Tour The Lord Of The
Modern Moments. This Pro Tour marked the first appearance of Modern on Magic's biggest stage in four years. After the earthquakes of the Eldraine era and the transformation wrought by Modern Horizons 2, Modern had reached a state of relative stability. The eventual bannings of Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis and Arcum's Astrolabe tarnished the ...
MTG Pro Tour MH3 Amsterdam standings and scores
All Pro Tour Modern Horizons 3 Amsterdam standings will be updated following ... Players who earned 30 or more match points from the tournament were invited to the first Pro Tour of the 2024-2025 ...
Twelve Winning Brews from the Modern Pro Tour
Last weekend, Pro Tour Born of the Gods set the stage for the new post-ban Modern format. The Pro Tour is the ultimate deckbuilder's and brewer's tournament because it offers a fresh format. This particular Pro Tour took place just weeks after the new Modern bannings and thus proposed a particularly difficult challenge.
The New MTG Pro Tour Is (Almost) Everything We Wanted
The first Pro Tour in 2023 will include the Pioneer format, with Standard and Modern likely being used as well at future Pro Tours. This makes a ton of sense as a way to create interest in Pioneer, as the format is quite fun to play right now. Personally though, I'm looking forward to competitive Limited the most, as that has been largely ...
WotC Unveils New Premier Play System, Including Return Of Tabletop Pro
The structure for the Pro Tour will be the same as it was prior to the Magic Esports overhaul. Three days ; 16 rounds, cut to Top 8; Split format (Booster Draft + Constructed Format) Pioneer for first Pro Tour of 2023, Standard, and Modern to follow; Invitations. The Top 4 competitors from World Championship XXVIII will be invited to all three ...
Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna
27 - 30 Jun 2024. Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna. Adriatic Golf Club Cervia, Milano Marittima, Ravenna, Italy
Alim McNeill Predicted to Be First-Time Pro Bowler
In a recent Sports Illustrated list of potential first-time 2024 pro bowlers, the former third-round draft pick was among the 10 players tabbed for increased accolades this upcoming season.
Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings Modern Metagame Breakdown
Modern Metagame Breakdown. Modern is a nonrotating 60-card format that allows non-banned cards from expansion sets, core sets, and straight-to-Modern sets from Eighth Edition forward. As Eighth Edition was released on July 29, 2003, we can proudly declare during the Pro Tour that Modern is comprised of exactly twenty years of card history. With ...
Just for fun, a friend and I looked at the top 8 for the first Modern
This list is obvious, the second modern pro tour was Eggs and Jund (Second Sunrise, Bloodbraid elf, Deathrite Shaman). The third pro tour was Birthing Pod, the fourth pro tour was Splinter Twin and Amulet Bloom, and the last modern pro tour was Eldrazi (Eye of Ugin).
Rocket Mortgage Classic 2024 Golf Leaderboard
PGA TOUR Tournament Field 2024 Rocket Mortgage Classic, Detroit - Golf Scores and Results
'She was inspirational': Legendary golfer's pro tour lands in ...
Sorenstam won 97 events as a pro, including 72 on the LPGA Tour. She won the U.S. Women's Open in 1995, 1996 and 2006. And the Women's British Open in 2004 and the Women's PGA Championship in 2003 ...
Post Malone 'F-1 Trillion' Tour Announcement
Post Malone is revving the engine on his new releases, already mapping out a lengthy North American Tour in support of his forthcoming new project. Dubbed the F-1 Trillion Tour, Posty will hit the ...
Neal Shipley shoots 67 in PGA Tour pro debut at Rocket Mortgage Classic
Mt. Lebanon native Neal Shipley, making his professional debut on the PGA Tour, shot 5-under par in Round 1 of the Rocket Mortage on Thursday at Detroit...
56-year-old golfer makes back-to-back holes-in-one at US Senior Open
Last year's victory - Langer's 46th on the PGA Tour Champions and 12th senior major - saw the two-time Masters winner become the most successful golfer in the circuit's history.
Rocket Mortgage weather forecast: Round 3 play concludes after delay
Update, Saturday, 11:15 a.m. ET: The start of the third round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic is delayed an additional 30 minutes. The first tee time is now scheduled for 12:48 p.m. ET. PGA TOUR ...
Metagame Mentor: Modern with The Lord of the Rings : r/ModernMagic
The first Modern Pro Tour in years starts in one week from now! Ahead of the live broadcast, which starts on Friday July 28 at 2 a.m. PT // 5 a.m. ET // 11 a.m. CEST // 6 p.m. JST, this week's Metagame Mentor analyzes the Modern metagame and the impact of The Lord of the Rings.Key insights: Across succesful Modern decklists over the past month, the three most-played cards from the new set are ...