Magic: The Gathering World Championship

Magic: The Gathering World Championships
Year Winner Held in
1994 United States Zak Dolan Milwaukee, WI, USA
1995 Switzerland Alexander Blumke Seattle, WA, USA
1996 Australia Tom Chanpheng Seattle, WA, USA
1997 Czech Republic Jakub Slemr Seattle, WA, USA
1998 United States Brian Selden Seattle, WA, USA
1999 Germany Kai Budde Yokohama, Japan
2000 United States Jon Finkel Brussels, Belgium
2001 Netherlands Tom van de Logt Toronto, ON, Canada
2002 Brazil Carlos Romão Sydney, Australia
2003 Germany Daniel Zink Berlin, Germany
2004 Netherlands Julien Nuijten San Francisco, CA, USA
2005 Japan Katsuhiro Mori Yokohama, Japan
2006 Japan Makihito Mihara Paris, France
2007 Israel Uri Peleg New York City, NY, USA
2008 Finland Antti Malin Memphis, TN, USA
2009 Portugal André Coimbra Rome, Italy
2010 France Guillaume Matignon Chiba, Japan
2011 Japan Jun'ya Iyanaga San Francisco, CA, USA
2012 Japan Yuuya Watanabe* Seattle, WA, USA
2013 Israel Shahar Shenhar Amsterdam, Netherlands
2014 Israel Shahar Shenhar Nice, France
2015 United States Seth Manfield Seattle, WA, USA
* Watanabe won the Players Championship

The Magic: The Gathering World Championships (Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering cash prizes of up to $50,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds is an invitation-only event, and from 1996 to 2011 World was the last event of each Pro Tour season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players.

After the first five World Championships were all held in the United States, Worlds were held in various places outside the US, most of which were either in Europe or Japan. Besides the main event Worlds were always a huge gathering of Magic players, who came to watch the pros and compete in side events.

After the 2011 season the World Championship was briefly replaced by the Magic Players Championship. The top 16 pro players tournament selected due to various criteria were invited to the Players Championship. For 2013 the tournament was renamed to 'World Championship' once again, and for 2014 the tournament offered invitations to 24 pros instead of 16.

After the decision to abandon the large World Championship and in part due to heavy demand by the players it was decided that the team portion of the Worlds was too important to be abandoned. Instead a new team competition, the World Magic Cup was established in 2012.

History

A view over the hall at the 2009 Magic Worlds in Rome

The first World Championship was held in 1994 at the Gen Con fair in Milwaukee. The tournament was open to all competitors, its mode was single-elimination, and it featured just one format, Vintage (then known as Type I).[1] The 1994 tournament varied considerably from later Worlds. Starting with the 1995 Worlds, all subsequent Worlds were open to invited players only. Also beginning with the 1995 edition, all Worlds were events with multiple formats, two in case of the 1995 tournament, and three since. The team portion of Worlds was introduced in 1995 as well.

With the introduction of the Pro Tour in 1996, the World Championship became the final stop of each Pro Tour season. As the final event to award Pro points every season, Worlds also hosted the Pro Player of the Year award ceremony. Traditionally held in August, Worlds was moved to the end of the year between 2004 and 2006, when the Pro Tour season was adjusted to the calendar year. Since the inception of the Hall of Fame in 2005, Worlds also hosted the induction ceremony of each year's class.

After 15 years in which the Worlds underwent only minor changes, major changes were announced in 2011. For 2012, the World Championships were split into a separate national team event and individual player event.[2] The team event was named the World Magic Cup, and features four player national teams.[2] The individual player event, which was altered to include only 16 players, was named the Magic: The Gathering Players Championship.[2] Meanwhile, the Hall of Fame introduction ceremony was moved to the first Pro Tour in each season. The Pro Player of the Year title was discontinued in favor of the Players Championship, thus attempting to merge the major individual titles, the World Champion and the Pro Player of the Year. However, for the next season, the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship, and Pro Player of the Year was made a separate title again.[3]

Mode

Before 2012, most Worlds were held across five days, hosting an individual competition and a team competition. The individual competition consisted of three disciplines in which every participant had to compete. This meant six rounds of Standard played on the first day, two Drafts of three rounds each on the second, and six rounds of some previously determined constructed format on the third day. The fourth day hosted the national team competition. On the final day the eight highest finishing players from the individual competition returned to determine the World Champion in three rounds of single elimination. Beginning with the 2007 Worlds the tournament had been shortened to four days with the schedule altered to accommodate all parts of the competition.

Since 2012, the World Championship has been a 16-player event (2012 and 2013) or a 24-player event (2014 onwards) rather than a Pro Tour-like event with 300-400 competitors. The mode is similar to previous Worlds events in that it features two constructed formats in addition to Booster Draft. In 2014, three rounds of Vintage Masters draft and four rounds of Modern were played on the first day, followed by three rounds of Khans of Tarkir draft and four rounds of Standard on the second day. After the Swiss rounds, there is a cut to the top four players, who play two rounds of single elimination to determine the World Champion.

For 2015, it was initially announced that the World Championship and the World Magic Cup would be held on separate weeks, sharing the same venue. However, it was later announced that these events would be held at different locations and at different times.[4]

Participants

World Championship

Prior to 2012, the following players were eligible to play in the World Championship:[5]

(Compare Magic Premier Event Invitation Policy).

On 2 November 2011, Wizards of the Coast announced a major change to the structure of the World Championship.[7] It was announced that as of 2012, the individual World Championship would be renamed the Magic Players Championship,[2] though the tournament would later revert to its original title, and move from being a Pro Tour-sized event to an exclusive sixteen-person tournament. These sixteen players will be the:

In 2012, it was also decided to invite the 2011 Pro Player of the Year, Owen Turtenwald, though it was intended that the title be retired in that year.

In 2014, the tournament was expanded to 24 players. Additional invites were granted to the players ranked 2nd place from each geo-region, the fourth Pro-Tour winner, the Rookie of the Year, and the top-ranked player from the World Magic Cup winning country in previous season, will be also invited.

In a 2015 revision,[4] the Rookie of the Year invitation was replaced by the top-ranked player in terms of Pro Points earned in Grand Prix events (to which the point cap does not apply). Further revisions include a change in geo-region invitations, which have been increased to Top 3 for Europe and Asia-Pacific (which now includes Japan) and Top 4 for North America, at the expense of at-large slots. Effective after the 2015 World Championship, the captain of the previous season's World Magic Cup winning team would also no longer receive an invite.

Team World Championship

The Team World Championship consists of three-player teams, with each team representing one country. Players that are eligible to play in the Team World Championship are the first, second and third place players at a country's National Championship.

World Magic Cup

In 2012, the Team World Championship became a single separate event called the 'World Magic Cup'.[2] This national team event consists of four-player teams representing selected countries. The four players eligible to play in each national team will be the three winners of World Magic Cup qualifiers and the National Champion (the player finished with most Pro Points in previous season) of the country.[8] The National Champion is the highest ranked player from that country in that year's rankings.[9]

Until 2013, all players in top 4 will be invited into the following Pro Tour with airfare expense paid. It was expanded to top 8 teams since 2014. In 2013 and 2014 running, the National Champion of the winning team was also invited to the following year's world Championship.

1994 World championship

Zak Dolan – 1994 World Championship[10]
Angel Stasis
Main Deck: Sideboard:

1 Black Vise
1 Howling Mine
1 Icy Manipulator
1 Ivory Tower
2 Meekstone
1 Winter Orb
1 Ancestral Recall
1 Clone
1 Control Magic
1 Mana Drain
2 Old Man of the Sea
1 Recall
1 Siren's Call
2 Stasis
1 Time Elemental
1 Timetwister
1 Time Walk
1 Vesuvan Doppelganger
1 Birds of Paradise
1 Ley Druid
1 Regrowth
1 Armageddon
2 Disenchant
1 Kismet
4 Serra Angel
4 Swords to Plowshares
1 Wrath of God

1 Library of Alexandria
4 Savannah
2 Strip Mine
4 Tropical Island
4 Tundra

1 Black Lotus
1 Mox Emerald
1 Mox Ruby
1 Mox Pearl
1 Mox Sapphire
1 Mox Jet
1 Sol Ring
1 Mana Vault

1 Chaos Orb
1 CoP Red
1 Copy Artifact
1 Diamond Valley
1 In the Eye of Chaos
1 Floral Spuzzem
2 Karma
1 Magical Hack
1 Powersink
1 Presence of the Master
1 Reverse Damage
1 Sleight of Mind
1 Kismet
1 Winter Blast

The first Magic World Championship was held at the Gen Con in Milwaukee, USA on 19–21 August 1994. It is the only Worlds tournament which was held in the Vintage format, though it wasn't known as such at the time because there was only one sanctioned format. The 1994 Worlds is also the only Worlds which was not an invite-only tournament. Instead, everybody could register, but the tournament was capped at 512 participants. After two days of single elimination play the final four players featured Bertrand Lestrée, who defeated Cyrille DeFoucaud 2–0 in his semi-final, and Zak Dolan, who defeated Dominic Symens 2–0 in the other semi-final. In the final Dolan defeated Lestrée 2–1.[1]

Final standings
  1. United States Zak Dolan
  2. France Bertrand Lestrée
  3. Belgium Dominic Symens
  4. France Cyrille de Foucaud


1995 World championship

Alexander Blumke – 1995 World Championship[11]
Rack Control
Main Deck: Sideboard:

1 Disrupting Scepter
2 Icy Manipulator
3 The Rack
2 Zuran Orb
3 Dance of the Dead
1 Dark Banishing
4 Dark Ritual
4 Hymn to Tourach
3 Hypnotic Specter
1 Mind Twist
1 Pestilence
1 Royal Assassin
2 Sengir Vampire
2 Terror
1 Power Sink
1 Balance
3 Disenchant
1 Land Tax
1 Spirit Link
1 Swords to Plowshares

3 Adarkar Wastes
1 Bottomless Vault
4 Mishra's Factory
3 Plains
1 Strip Mine
12 Swamp
1 Underground River

1 CoP Artifact
1 CoP Black
2 CoP Red
1 Land Tax
1 Prismatic Ward
4 Gloom
2 Stromgald Cabal
1 Blue Elemental Blast
1 Magical Hack
1 Sleight of Mind

The second Magic Worlds Championship was held on 4–6 August at the Red Lion Inn in Seattle, USA.[12] 71 players from 19 countries participated. The tournament featured five rounds of Sealed Deck on the first day and five rounds of Standard, then known as Type II, on the second day. In each round three games were played and three points were awarded for each individual game won instead of completed matches as today.[13][14] After 30 games five players were tied at 19 wins. Blumke and Redi advanced to the top eight after a playoff.[14] The top 8 on Sunday were played with the Standard decks from the day before. In the final Alexander Blumke defeated Marc Hernandez 3–2.[15]

Final standings

  1. Switzerland Alexander Blumke
  2. France Marc Hernandez
  3. United States Mark Justice
  4. United States Henry Stern
  5. Italy Ivan Curina
  6. Italy Andrea Redi
  7. Finland Henri Schildt
  8. Austria Mu Luen Wang
Team champion
  1. United States United States – Mark Justice, Henry Stern, Peter Leiher, Michael Long
  2. Finland Finland – Rosendahl, Henri Schildt, Kimmo Hovi, Punakallio
  3. Australia Australia – Glen Shanley, Chris Hudson, Russell, Liew
  4. France France – Marc Hernandez, Moulin, Woirgard, Lebas


1996 World championship

Tom Chanpheng – 1996 World Championship
White Weenie
Main Deck: Sideboard:

1 Lodestone Bauble
2 Phyrexian War Beast
1 Zuran Orb
1 Sleight of Mind
1 Armageddon
1 Balance
4 Disenchant
1 Land Tax
4 Order of Leitbur
4 Order of the White Shield
1 Reinforcements
1 Reprisal
4 Savannah Lions
2 Serra Angel
4 Swords to Plowshares
4 White Knight

1 Kjeldoran Outpost
4 Mishra's Factory
15 Plains
4 Strip Mine

2 Arenson's Aura
1 Black Vise
4 Divine Offering
1 Energy Storm
1 Exile
1 Reprisal
1 Spirit Link
1 Sleight of Mind
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Kjeldoran Outpost

The third Magic World Championship was held at the Wizards headquarters in Seattle, USA. It was the first Worlds also to be a Pro Tour. 125 players competed in the event.[16] The tournament featured six rounds each of Booster Draft, Standard (Type II), and Legacy (Type 1.5).[17][18] For each match two points were awarded to the winner. In case of a draw both players received one point.[18] For the first time the World Championship also included an official team portion.

Final standings

  1. Australia Tom Chanpheng
  2. United States Mark Justice
  3. United States Henry Stern
  4. Sweden Olle Råde
  5. United States Matt Place
  6. United States Scott Johns
  7. Canada Eric Tam
  8. Finland Tommi Hovi

Note that Chanpheng's winning deck included a Sleight of Mind, but no sources of blue mana. This stemmed from an error in his submitted decklist, which was supposed to include some number of Adarkar Wastes in place of Plains.

Tom's victory was commemorated with a unique card, named 1996 World Champion.

Team final
  1. United States United States – Dennis Bentley, George Baxter, Mike Long, Matt Place
  2. Czech Republic Czech Republic – David Korejtko, Jakub Slemr, Ondrej Baudys, Lucas Kocourek
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Sweden Olle Råde
  2. United States Shawn "Hammer" Regnier
  3. United States Mark Justice


1997 World championship

Jakub Slemr – 1997 World Championship
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Black Knight
4 Choking Sands
4 Contagion
4 Fallen Askari
4 Knight of Stromgald
1 Necratog
4 Nekrataal
2 Shadow Guildmage
4 Man-o'-War
2 Uktabi Orangutan
2 Earthquake
4 Incinerate

3 City of Brass
3 Gemstone Mine
2 Sulfurous Springs
10 Swamp
1 Underground River
3 Undiscovered Paradise

2 Disenchant
1 Exile
1 Honorable Passage
3 Pyroblast
2 Dystopia
2 Ebony Charm
2 Forsaken Wastes
2 Hydroblast

The fourth Magic World Championship was held on 13–17 August 1997 in Seattle, USA. 153 players competed in the event.[19] It was the first Magic tournament to be filmed by ESPN2. The competition featured Standard, Mirage-Visions-Weatherlight Rochester Draft, and Extended.[17]

Final standings

  1. Czech Republic Jakub Slemr
  2. Germany Janosch Kühn
  3. Canada Paul McCabe
  4. Denmark Svend Geertsen
  5. Canada Gabriel Tsang
  6. Sweden Nikolai Weibull
  7. United States Nate Clark
  8. United States John Chinnock
Team final
  1. Canada Canada – Gary Krakower, Michael Donais, Ed Ito, Gabriel Tsang
  2. Sweden Sweden – Nikolai Weibull, Mattias Jorstedt, Marcus Angelin, Johan Cedercrantz
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Canada Paul McCabe
  2. Canada Terry Borer


1998 World championship

Brian Selden – 1998 World Championship
RecSur
Main Deck: Sideboard:

2 Scroll Rack
2 Lobotomy
2 Nekrataal
4 Recurring Nightmare
1 Spirit of the Night
1 Thrull Surgeon
1 Man-o'-War
1 Tradewind Rider
4 Birds of Paradise
2 Spike Feeder
1 Spike Weaver
4 Survival of the Fittest
2 Uktabi Orangutan
1 Verdant Force
4 Wall of Blossoms
2 Wall of Roots
2 Firestorm
1 Orcish Settlers
1 Cloudchaser Eagle

3 City of Brass
8 Forest
1 Gemstone Mine
2 Karplusan Forest
2 Reflecting Pool
1 Swamp
2 Underground River
2 Undiscovered Paradise
1 Volrath's Stronghold

1 Staunch Defenders
3 Emerald Charm
1 Hall of Gemstone
2 Pyroblast
4 Boil
2 Dread of Night
2 Phyrexian Furnace

The fifth Magic World Championship was held on 12–16 August 1998 in Seattle, USA. This tournament featured a Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus Booster Draft, Standard, and Tempest Block Constructed.[17]

203 players competed in the event.[20] The USA dominated the top 8, taking seven of the eight slots. The USA also won the team competition.[17]

Finishing order
  1. United States Brian Selden
  2. United States Ben Rubin
  3. United States Jon Finkel
  4. France Raphaël Lévy
  5. United States Scott Johns
  6. United States Chris Pikula
  7. United States Brian Hacker
  8. United States Alan Comer
Team final
  1. United States United States – Matt Linde, Mike Long, Bryce Currence, Jon Finkel
  2. France France – Pierre Malherbaud, Manuel Bevand, Marc Hernandez, Fabien Demazeau
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. United States Jon Finkel
  2. United States Randy Buehler
  3. United States Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
Rookie of the Year
  1. United States Randy Buehler


1999 World championship

Kai Budde – 1999 World Championship
Wildfire
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Cursed Scroll
4 Fire Diamond
4 Grim Monolith
3 Masticore
1 Karn, Silver Golem
2 Mishra's Helix
4 Temporal Aperture
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Voltaic Key
2 Worn Powerstone
4 Covetous Dragon
4 Wildfire

3 Ancient Tomb
4 City of Traitors
13 Mountain

2 Boil
3 Earthquake
2 Rack and Ruin
2 Shattering Pulse
4 Spellshock
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Phyrexian Processor

The sixth Magic World Championship was held on 4–8 August 1999 in Yokohama, Japan. This tournament featured an Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended.[17]

208 players from 32 countries competed in the event.[21] In the final Kai Budde defeated Mark Le Pine 3–0 in about 20 minutes, the quickest Pro Tour final ever. Budde's win was the first of his seven Pro Tour victories. By winning this title he also claimed the first of his four Pro Player of the Year titles.[17]

Finishing order
  1. Germany Kai Budde
  2. United States Mark Le Pine
  3. Italy Raffaele Lo Moro
  4. United States Matt Linde
  5. Czech Republic Jakub Slemr
  6. United States Jamie Parke
  7. Canada Gary Wise
  8. Norway Nicolai Herzog
Team final
  1. United States United States – Kyle Rose, John Hunka, Zvi Mowshowitz, Charles Kornblith
  2. Germany Germany – Marco Blume, Patrick Mello, David Brucker, Rosario Maij
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Germany Kai Budde
  2. United States Jon Finkel
  3. United States Casey McCarrel
Rookie of the Year
  1. Germany Dirk Baberowski


2000 World championship

Jon Finkel – 2000 World Championship
Tinker
Main Deck: Sideboard:

1 Crumbling Sanctuary
4 Grim Monolith
4 Masticore
4 Metalworker
1 Mishra's Helix
1 Phyrexian Colossus
4 Phyrexian Processor
4 Tangle Wire
4 Thran Dynamo
4 Voltaic Key
4 Brainstorm
4 Tinker

4 Crystal Vein
9 Island
4 Rishadan Port
4 Saprazzan Skerry

4 Annul
4 Chill
4 Miscalculation
2 Rising Waters
1 Mishra's Helix

The seventh Magic World Championship was held in Brussels, Belgium on 2–6 August 2000. It was the first time the Worlds were held in Europe. The tournament featured a Mercadian Masques-Nemesis-Prophecy Booster Draft, Mercadian Masques Block Constructed, and Standard.[17]

273 players from 46 countries competed in the event.[22] In the final Jon Finkel defeated his friend, Bob Maher. Both played nearly identical decks with a difference of just one card.[17]

Finishing order
  1. United States Jon Finkel
  2. United States Bob Maher, Jr.
  3. Germany Dominik Hothow
  4. Austria Benedikt Klauser
  5. Netherlands Tom van de Logt
  6. Austria Helmut Summersberger
  7. Germany Janosch Kühn
  8. France Nicolas Labarre
Team final
  1. United States United States – Jon Finkel, Chris Benafel, Frank Hernandez, Aaron Forsythe
  2. Canada Canada – Ryan Fuller, Murray Evans, Gabriel Tsang, Sam Lau
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. United States Bob Maher, Jr.
  2. United States Darwin Kastle
  3. United States Jon Finkel
Rookie of the Year
  1. United States Brian Davis


2001 World championship

Tom van de Logt – 2001 World Championship
Machine Head
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Plague Spitter
3 Phyrexian Scuta
3 Skizzik
2 Flametongue Kavu
2 Crypt Angel
4 Blazing Specter
4 Duress
4 Dark Ritual
4 Terminate
3 Vendetta
3 Urza's Rage

6 Swamp
6 Mountain
4 Rishadan Port
4 Urborg Volcano
4 Sulfurous Springs

4 Scoria Cat
3 Addle
2 Persecute
1 Pyroclasm
3 Phyrexian Arena
1 Flametongue Kavu
1 Crypt Angel

(Complete coverage)

The eighth World Championship was held from 8 to 12 August 2001 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Canada. The tournament featured Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse Rochester Draft, Standard, and Extended as individual formats and Invasion block team Rochester as the team format.[23]

296 players from 51 countries competed in the tournament.[24] Tom van de Logt from the Netherlands came out as the new world champion, garnering a prize of $35,000 for his victory (as well as another $1,000 for the success of the Dutch team he was part of). Other finalists included future World Series of Poker bracelet winner Alex Borteh (2nd place), Antoine Ruel (3rd place), Andrea Santin (4th place), Mike Turian (5th place), Jan Tomcani (6th place), Tommi Hovi (7th place), and David Williams (disqualified).[23] John Ormerod did not make the top 8 finishers, but was awarded 8th place after David Williams was disqualified for a marked deck.[25] The team competition was won by the US team, which defeated Norway in the team final.[23]

Finishing Order
  1. Netherlands Tom van de Logt
  2. United States Alex Borteh
  3. France Antoine Ruel
  4. Italy Andrea Santin
  5. United States Mike Turian
  6. Slovakia Jan Tomcani
  7. Finland Tommi Hovi
  8. England John Ormerod
Team final
  1. United States United States – Trevor Blackwell, Brian Hegstad, Eugene Harvey
  2. Norway NorwayNicolai Herzog, Oyvind Odegaard, Jan Pieter Groenhof
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Germany Kai Budde
  2. Netherlands Kamiel Cornelissen
  3. United States Michael Pustilnik
Rookie of the Year
  1. Japan Katsuhiro Mori


2002 World championship

Carlos Romão – 2002 World Championship
Psychatog
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Nightscape Familiar
4 Psychatog
3 Chainer's Edict
3 Circular Logic
4 Counterspell
3 Cunning Wish
3 Deep Analysis
3 Fact or Fiction
3 Memory Lapse
4 Repulse
2 Upheaval

10 Island
2 Cephalid Coliseum
1 Darkwater Catacombs
4 Salt Marsh
3 Swamp
4 Underground River

1 Coffin Purge
4 Duress
1 Fact or Fiction
1 Gainsay
3 Ghastly Demise
1 Hibernation
1 Mana Short
1 Recoil
1 Slay
1 Teferis Response

(Complete coverage)

The ninth World Championship was held from 14 to 18 August 2002 at Fox Studios in Sydney, Australia. The tournament featured Odyssey-Torment-Judgment Booster Draft, Odyssey Block Constructed, and Standard as individual formats and Odyssey Team Rochester Draft as the team format.[23]

245 players from 46 countries competed in the tournament.[26] Twenty-four-year-old Carlos "Jaba" Romão from São Paulo, Brazil came out as world champion, defeating Mark Ziegner 3–2 in the final, thereby garnering a prize of $35,000 with the help of his blue/black "Psychatog" deck. Germany won the team competition, defeating the United States in the final 2–1.

Finishing order
  1. Brazil Carlos Romão
  2. Germany Mark Ziegner
  3. Argentina Diego Ostrovich
  4. United States Dave Humpherys
  5. Malaysia Sim Han How
  6. Republic of Ireland John Larkin
  7. Finland Tuomas Kotiranta
  8. United States Ken Krouner
Team final
  1. Germany Germany – Kai Budde, Mark Ziegner, Felix Schneiders
  2. United States United States – Eugene Harvey, Andrew Ranks, Eric Franz
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Germany Kai Budde
  2. Sweden Jens Thorén
  3. United States Alex Shvartsman
Rookie of the Year
  1. France Farid Meraghni


2003 World championship

Daniel Zink – 2003 World Championship
Wake
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Mana Leak
1 Circular Logic
4 Wrath of God
2 Vengeful Dreams
3 Moment's Peace
3 Renewed Faith
3 Mirari's Wake
1 Mirari
4 Deep Analysis
3 Compulsion
3 Cunning Wish
2 Decree of Justice

4 Krosan Verge
4 Skycloud Expanse
4 Forest
4 Plains
7 Island
2 Flooded Strand
2 Elfhame Palace

1 Vengeful Dreams
1 Hunting Pack
1 Wing Shards
1 Circular Logic
1 Ray of Distortion
1 Renewed Faith
1 Krosan Reclamation
2 Exalted Angel
3 Ray of Revelation
3 Anurid Brushhopper

(Complete coverage)

The tenth World Championship was held from 6 to 10 August at the Estrel Hotel in Berlin, Germany.[23] The tournament featured Onslaught-Legions-Scourge Rochester Draft, Extended, and Standard as individual formats and Onslaught Team Rochester Draft as the team format.[27]

312 players from 54 countries participated in the tournament. German Daniel Zink managed to emerge as the new world champion, beating Japan's Jin Okamoto 3–0 in the finals and taking home $35,000 in the process. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130.[27] In the team final the United States defeated Finland 2–1.[27]

Finishing order
  1. Germany Daniel Zink
  2. Japan Jin Okamoto
  3. Finland Tuomo Nieminen
  4. United States Dave Humpherys
  5. Netherlands Jeroen Remie
  6. Germany Peer Kröger
  7. Germany Wolfgang Eder
  8. United States Gabe Walls
Team Finals
  1. United States United States – Justin Gary, Gabe Walls, Joshua Wagner
  2. Finland Finland – Tomi Walamies, Tuomo Nieminen, Arho Toikka

Player of the Year Race

  1. Germany Kai Budde
  2. United States Justin Gary
  3. Sweden Mattias Jorstedt
Rookie of the Year
Japan Masashi Oiso


2004 World championship

Julien Nuijten – 2004 World Championship
W/G Astral Slide
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Viridian Shaman
4 Eternal Witness
4 Eternal Dragon

4 Wrath of God
4 Renewed Faith
4 Astral Slide
2 Akroma's Vengeance
2 Decree of Justice
1 Plow Under
2 Wing Shards
4 Rampant Growth

4 Secluded Steppe
4 Tranquil Thicket
4 Windswept Heath
6 Plains
7 Forest

4 Oxidize
2 Rude Awakening
3 Scrabbling Claws
3 Circle of Protection: Red
3 Plow Under

(Complete coverage)

The eleventh World Championship was held from 1 to 5 September at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California, USA.[28] The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn Booster Draft on Thursday, and Mirrodin Block Constructed on Friday. The team format was Mirrodin Block Team Rochester Draft.[29]

304 players from 51 countries competed in the event. This was the first ever World Championships without a player from the United States in the Top 8. Julien Nuijten won the final 3–1 against Aeo Paquette. At 15 years old, he became the youngest ever Pro Tour winner and took home a total of $52,366 – a new record for winnings in a single collectible card game tournament. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. Team Germany won the team final 2–1 against Belgium.[28]

Finishing order
  1. Netherlands Julien Nuijten
  2. Canada Aeo Paquette
  3. Japan Ryou Ogura
  4. France Manuel Bevand
  5. Netherlands Kamiel Cornelissen
  6. Malaysia Terry Soh
  7. France Gabriel Nassif
  8. Canada Murray Evans
Team final
  1. Germany Germany – Torben Twiefel, Roland Bode, Sebastian Zink
  2. Belgium Belgium – Vincent Lemoine, Dilson Ramos Da Fonseca, Geoffery Siron
Player of the Year Race
  1. France Gabriel Nassif
  2. Norway Nicolai Herzog
  3. Norway Rickard Österberg
Rookie of the Year
Netherlands Julien Nuijten


2005 World championship

(Complete coverage)

Katsuhiro Mori – 2005 World Championship
Ghazi Glare
Main Deck: Sideboard:

2 Yosei, The Morning Star
3 Arashi the Sky Asunder
1 Birds of Paradise
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Wood Elves
4 Loxodon Hierarch
3 Kodama of the North Tree
3 Llanowar Elves

3 Pithing Needle
3 Umezawa's Jitte
2 Congregation at Dawn
3 Glare of Subdual
2 Seed Spark

4 Vitu-Ghazi, The City Tree
4 Selesnya Sanctuary
1 Okina, Temple to the Grandfathers
4 Brushland
5 Forest
4 Temple Garden
1 Plains

2 Greater Good
1 Kodama of the North Tree
2 Naturalize
2 Carven Caryatid
1 Seedborn Muse
1 Wrath of God
1 Kodama's Reach
2 Yosei, the Morning Star
3 Hokori, Dust Drinker

The twelfth World Championship was held from 30 November to 4 December at the Pacifico Yokohama in Yokohama, Japan. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Ravnica Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Ravnica Team Rochester Draft.[30] The event began with the induction of the first class of the newly incepted Hall of FameAlan Comer, Jon Finkel, Tommi Hovi, Darwin Kastle, and Olle Råde.[31]

287 players from 56 countries competed in the event. Katsuhiro Mori won the tournament, defeating Frank Karsten 3–1 in the final, taking home $35,000. The total prize money awarded to the top 64 finishers was $208,130. In the team final Japan defeated the United States 3–0.[30]

Finishing Order
  1. Japan Katsuhiro Mori
  2. Netherlands Frank Karsten
  3. Japan Tomohiro Kaji
  4. Japan Akira Asahara
  5. Portugal Marcio Carvalho
  6. Singapore Ding Leong
  7. Japan Shuhei Nakamura
  8. Portugal André Coimbra
Team final
  1. Japan Japan – Takuma Morofuji, Ichirou Shimura, Masashi Oiso
  2. United States United States – Antonino De Rosa, Neil Reeves, Jonathan Sonne
Player of the Year Race
  1. Japan Kenji Tsumura
  2. France Olivier Ruel
  3. Japan Masashi Oiso
Rookie of the Year
  1. France Pierre Canali
Hall of Fame inductees

2006 World championship

(Complete Coverage)

Makihito Mihara – 2006 World Championship
Dragonstorm
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Bogardan Hellkite
2 Hunted Dragon

4 Dragonstorm
4 Lotus Bloom
4 Telling Time
4 Seething Song
4 Sleight of Hand
4 Rite of Flame
4 Gigadrowse
4 Remand

1 Dreadship Reef
1 Calciform Pools
8 Island
4 Steam Vents
4 Mountain
4 Shivan Reef

1 Trickbind
3 Pyroclasm
1 Calciform Pools
2 Dreadship Reef
3 Ignorant Bliss
4 Repeal
1 Teferi, Mage of Zhalfir

The thirteenth Magic World Championship took place from 29 November – 3 December 2006 at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris, France. The tournament featured Standard on Wednesday, Time Spiral Booster Draft on Thursday, and Extended on Friday. The team format was Time Spiral Team Rochester Draft.[32] Also on Wednesday Bob Maher, Dave Humpherys, Raphaël Lévy, Gary Wise, and Rob Dougherty were inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The winner of this tournament was Makihito Mihara, who defeated Ryou Ogura 3–0 in an all-Japanese final. He piloted a combo deck based on the card Dragonstorm. It is the first time players from the same country have been World Champion in back-to-back seasons. The Netherlands defeated Japan 2–0 in the team final. The total prize money awarded to the top 75 finishers was $255,245.[33]

Finishing Order
  1. Japan Makihito Mihara
  2. Japan Ryou Ogura
  3. Wales Nicholas Lovett
  4. France Gabriel Nassif
  5. Portugal Paulo Carvalho
  6. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  7. Portugal Tiago Chan
  8. Japan Katsuhiro Mori
Team final
  1. Netherlands NetherlandsKamiel Cornelissen, Julien Nuijten, Robert Van Medevoort
  2. Japan Japan – Katsuhiro Mori, Shuhei Yamamoto, Hidenori Katayama
Player of the Year
  1. Japan Shouta Yasooka
  2. Japan Shuhei Nakamura
  3. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
Rookie of the Year
  1. Germany Sebastian Thaler
Hall of Fame inductees

2007 World championship

(Complete Coverage)

Uri Peleg – 2007 World Championship
Doran Rock
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Birds of Paradise
4 Doran, the Siege Tower
1 Hypnotic Specter
3 Llanowar Elves
4 Ohran Viper
3 Shriekmaw
4 Tarmogoyf

2 Eyeblight's Ending
3 Garruk Wildspeaker
1 Liliana Vess
2 Nameless Inversion
2 Profane Command
4 Thoughtseize

1 Brushland
3 Caves of Koilos
1 Forest
2 Gemstone Mine
4 Gilt-Leaf Palace
1 Horizon Canopy
4 Llanowar Wastes
1 Pendelhaven
4 Treetop Village
2 Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

2 Cloudthresher
2 Loxodon Warhammer
2 Nath of the Gilt-Leaf
1 Oblivion Ring
3 Riftsweeper
2 Serrated Arrows
1 Shriekmaw
2 Stupor

The fourteenth Magic World Championship took place from 6–9 December 2007 at the Jacob K. Javits Center of New York in New York City, USA. The tournament featured five rounds of Standard and a Lorwyn Booster Draft on Thursday. Friday featured five rounds of Legacy and another Lorwyn Booster Draft. The team format was Lorwyn Two-Headed Giant Booster Draft.[34] The top 64 individual finishers received $215,600 in prize money.

386 players from 61 countries competed in the event. The winner of the tournament was Uri Peleg, defeating Patrick Chapin 3–1 in the final. Katsuhiro Mori made the top 8 for the third consecutive year, while Gabriel Nassif made his third final eight within four Worlds. Coincidentally, each player mirrored their performance from the previous year (Mori was eliminated in the quarter-finals, Nassif in the semi-finals).[35]

Finishing Order
  1. Israel Uri Peleg
  2. United States Patrick Chapin
  3. France Gabriel Nassif
  4. Japan Koutarou Ootsuka
  5. Switzerland Cristoph Huber
  6. Japan Yoshitaka Nakano
  7. Japan Katsuhiro Mori
  8. Netherlands Roel van Heeswijk
Team final
  1. Switzerland Switzerland – Nico Bohny, Manuel Bucher, Christoph Huber, Raphael Gennari
  2. Austria Austria – Thomas Preyer, David Reitbauer, Stefan Stradner, Helmut Summersberger
Pro Tour Player of the Year
  1. Japan Tomoharu Saitou
  2. Japan Kenji Tsumura
  3. France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
Rookie of the Year
  1. Japan Yuuya Watanabe
Hall of Fame inductees

2008 World championship

Antti Malin – 2008 World Championship
Faeries
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Mistbind Clique
2 Sower of Temptation
4 Spellstutter Sprite
2 Vendilion Clique

4 Agony Warp
4 Bitterblossom
3 Broken Ambitions
4 Cryptic Command
3 Remove Soul
1 Terror
4 Thoughtseize

1 Faerie Conclave
6 Island
4 Mutavault
4 Secluded Glen
4 Sunken Ruins
2 Swamp
4 Underground River

4 Flashfreeze
2 Glen Elendra Archmage
4 Infest
2 Jace Beleren
1 Mind Shatter
1 Ponder
1 Sower of Temptation

(Official coverage)

The fifteenth Magic World Championship took place from 11–14 December 2008 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, TN, USA. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Shards of Alara Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday, and the finals on Sunday. Also the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.[36] The top 75 individual finishers received $245,245 in prize money.[37]

329 players from 57 countries competed in the event. Antti Malin from Finland won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final the United States defeated Australia to become the team champion.

Individual
  1. Finland Antti Malin
  2. United States Jamie Parke
  3. Japan Tsuyoshi Ikeda
  4. Estonia Hannes Kerem
  5. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  6. Japan Kenji Tsumura
  7. Netherlands Frank Karsten
  8. Japan Akira Asahara
Team Competition
  1. United States United States – Michael Jacob, Samuel Black, Paul Cheon
  2. Australia Australia – Aaron Nicastri, Brandon Lau, Justin Cheung
  3. Brazil Brazil – Willy Edel, Vagner Casatti, Luiz Guilherme de Michielli
  4. Japan Japan – Yuuya Watanabe, Masashi Oiso, Akihiro Takakuwa

Pro Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year
  1. Australia Aaron Nicastri
Hall of Fame inductees

2009 World championship

André Coimbra – 2009 World Championship
Naya Lightsaber
Main Deck: Sideboard:

4 Baneslayer Angel
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Noble Hierarch
4 Ranger of Eos
1 Scute Mob
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar

3 Ajani Vengeant
4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile

4 Arid Mesa
4 Forest
3 Mountain
1 Oran-Rief, the Vastwood
4 Plains
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove

1 Ajani Vengeant
2 Burst Lightning
4 Celestial Purge
4 Goblin Ruinblaster
4 Great Sable Stag

(Official coverage)

The sixteenth Magic World Championship took place from 19–22 November 2009 at the Palazzo Dei Congressi in Rome, Italy. The tournament featured six rounds of Standard play on Thursday, two Zendikar Booster Drafts with three rounds of Swiss each on Friday, six rounds of Extended on Saturday and the finals on Sunday. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 4 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format was 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.

409 players from 65 countries competed in the event. André Coimbra from Portugal won the tournament, thereby claiming the first prize of $45,000. In the team final, China defeated Austria to become the team champion. This was the first Magic Pro Tour event of any sort in which no player in the Top 8 was from the United States or Japan. It was also the first time a Pro Tour Top 8 consisted of players from eight different countries.

The Magic Online World Championship was held for the first time. It also took place in Rome at the site of the paper Magic World Championship. The tournament was previously announced to be for eight competitors. The qualifications could be gained in special tournaments on Magic Online. The players played three rounds each of Classic, Zendikar Booster Draft, and Standard on computers provided on the site. After nine rounds the two best players determined the title in a final match of Standard.[38] Anssi Myllymäki (screen name: Anathik) of Finland defeated former Pro Player of the Year Shouta Yasooka (yaya3) in the final, thus claiming the grand prize of $13,000.[39] The other contestants won between $4,000 and $9,000.[38]

Individual
  1. Portugal André Coimbra
  2. Austria David Reitbauer
  3. Malaysia Terry Soh
  4. Netherlands Bram Snepvangers
  5. Italy William Cavaglieri
  6. Switzerland Manuel Bucher
  7. Belgium Marijn Lybaert
  8. Germany Florian Pils
Team Competition
  1. China China – Bo Li, Wu Tong, Zhiyang Zhang
  2. Austria Austria – Benedikt Klauser, Bernhard Lehner, Benjamin Rozhon
  3. Czech Republic Czech Republic – Lukas Blohon, Lukas Jakolvsky, Jan Kotrla
  4. Netherlands Netherlands – Kevin Grove, Niels Noorlander, Tom van Lamoen

Pro Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year
  1. Germany Lino Burgold
Hall of Fame inductees
Magic Online World Champion

2010 World championship

Guillaume Matignon – 2010 World Championship
Blue-Black Control
Main Deck: Sideboard:

3 Grave Titan
2 Sea Gate Oracle

1 Cancel
2 Consume the Meek
2 Disfigure
2 Doom Blade
1 Duress
3 Inquisition of Kozilek
2 Jace Beleren
4 Jace, the Mind Sculptor
4 Mana Leak
4 Preordain
4 Spreading Seas

4 Creeping Tar Pit
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Drowned Catacomb
5 Island
1 Misty Rainforest
3 Swamp
4 Tectonic Edge
1 Verdant Catacombs

1 Deprive
2 Disfigure
1 Doom Blade
2 Duress
2 Flashfreeze
3 Memoricide
3 Ratchet Bomb
1 Sorin Markov

(Official coverage)

The seventeenth World Championship took place from 9–12 December in Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.[40] The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Scars of Mirrodin Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Extended on Saturday. On Sunday the best eight players gathered for the Top 8. They had to play the same decks, they used in the Standard portion of the tournament. Also, the national teams played two rounds of team constructed each on Thursday and Saturday with the Top 2 teams advancing to the single elimination finals on Sunday. The team format is 3 Person Team Constructed with one player playing Standard, one Extended, and one Legacy.

352 players from 60 countries competed in the event.[41] The national teams competition had 57 countries represented.

The 2010 World Champion Guillaume Matignon earned enough pro points with his performance to equal Pro Player of the Year leader Brad Nelson's total. This led to a play-off for the Pro Player of the Year title at Pro Tour Paris 2011, which was ultimately won by Brad Nelson.

Individual
  1. France Guillaume Matignon
  2. France Guillaume Wafo-Tapa
  3. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  4. Sweden Love Janse
  5. United States Eric Froehlich
  6. Czech Republic Lukas Jaklovsky
  7. Austria Christopher Wolf
  8. England Jonathan Randle
Team Competition
  1. Slovakia Slovakia – Ivan Floch, Robert Jurkovic, Patrik Surab
  2. Australia Australia – Adam Witton, Ian Wood, Jeremy Neeman

Pro Player of the Year

Rookie of the Year
  1. Italy Andrea Giarola
Hall of Fame inductees
Magic Online World Champion

2011 World championship

Jun'ya Iyanaga – 2011 World Championship
Wolf Run Ramp
Main Deck: Sideboard:

1 Birds of Paradise
4 Inferno Titan
4 Primeval Titan
4 Solemn Simulacrum
1 Thrun, the Last Troll

2 Devil's Play
4 Galvanic Blast
2 Green Sun's Zenith
4 Rampant Growth
1 Shock
3 Slagstorm
4 Sphere of the Suns

4 Copperline Gorge
5 Forest
4 Inkmoth Nexus
3 Kessig Wolf Run
6 Mountain
4 Rootbound Crag

2 Ancient Grudge
4 Autumn's Veil
1 Beast Within
1 Slagstorm
2 Sword of Feast and Famine
2 Thrun, the Last Troll
2 Tree of Redemption
1 Viridian Corrupter

(Official coverage)

The eighteenth Magic World Championship was held from 17–20 November in the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco,[42] the same site that already hosted the 2004 World Championship. The tournament consisted of six rounds of Standard on Thursday, two Innistrad Booster Drafts of three rounds each on Friday, and six rounds of Modern on Saturday. This would be the first World Championship to feature the new Modern format. On Sunday, the Top 8 players played against each other in elimination rounds, using the Standard decks they played on Thursday. 375 players from 60 countries competed in the event.[43]

The Swiss rounds were dominated by American player Conley Woods, who would go 16–2 with his only losses being tactical concessions to other ChannelFireball teammates. Ultimately, four ChannelFireball teammates would make it into the Top 8: Conley Woods, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa, Luis Scott-Vargas and Josh Utter-Leyton. For Paulo this was his fourth World Championship Top 8, making him the first player to achieve this, and his eighth Pro Tour Top 8 overall. Also, for the first time players playing in the Magic Online World Championships managed to make the Top 8 of the Pro Tour, with Jun’ya Iyanaga (SEVERUS on MTGO) and David Caplan (goobafish on MTGO) making it to Sunday. The quarterfinals saw three of the four ChannelFireball teammates eliminated, with only Conley Woods making it to the semifinals after narrowly defeating Craig Wescoe 3–2. The semifinals were clean sweeps with Jun'ya Iyanaga and Richard Bland defeating Conley Woods and David Caplan 3–0 respectively. In the finals Jun'ya Iyanaga defeated Richard Bland in another 3–0 to become the 2011 World Champion. Jun'ya Iyanaga's prize money for winning the World Championship and placing seventh in the Magic Online World Championship was $51,000, making him the second highest earner in the history of the World Championships behind 2004 World Champion Julien Nuijten.[44]

In the team event, Japan played against Norway for the World Team Title. The Japanese team of Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto,and former World Champion Makihito Mihara were victorious.

In the Magic Online World Championship finals, Reid Duke (reidderrabbit on MTGO) played against Florian Pils (flying man on MTGO) in the Modern format. Reid Duke won the match 2–1 to become the Magic Online World Champion, the first American and the first Magic Online Player of the Year to win the title.

Individual
  1. Japan Jun'ya Iyanaga
  2. England Richard Bland
  3. United States Conley Woods
  4. Canada David Caplan
  5. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa
  6. United States Luis Scott-Vargas
  7. United States Josh Utter-Leyton
  8. United States Craig Wescoe
Team Competition
  1. Japan Japan – Ryuichiro Ishida, Tomoya Fujimoto, Makihito Mihara
  2. Norway Norway – Sveinung Bjørnerud, Kristoffer Jonassen, Andreas Nordahl
Pro Player of the Year
  1. United States Owen Turtenwald
  2. United States Luis Scott-Vargas
  3. Czech Republic Martin Juza
Rookie of the Year
  1. United States Matthias Hunt
Hall of Fame inductees
Magic Online World Champion

2012 World championship

In 2012, the World Championship structure was drastically altered alongside changes to the ranking system used in Magic: The Gathering. The individual World Championship was changed from a Pro Tour-sized event to a sixteen-player event, which was called the Magic Players Championship (though the tournament reverted to being called the World Championship for 2013). The team event, formerly held alongside the individual event, took place before the individual tournament and was contested by four-player teams instead of the previous three-player teams.

2012 World Magic Cup

(Official coverage)

Mode

The first World Magic Cup was held on 16–19 August at Gen Con 2012 in Indianapolis.[2] The World Magic Cup is a modified national team event contested by four-player teams. Of the four players three were winners of a country's three qualifier tournaments, called Magic World Cup qualifiers. The final player on the team was the National Champion, the player with the most pro points for the season from that country.

On Day 1, there were seven Swiss rounds including three rounds of Magic 2013 Booster Draft and four rounds of Standard.[45] Players gained points for the team (Win- 3, Draw- 1, Loss- 0) and the best three scores in each team were added together to make a combined team score. The Top 32 teams with the highest combined team score advanced to Day 2.[45]

On Day 2, all qualified teams will only start with three players, along with their advisor (the lowest scoring player in their team on Day 1).[45] The 32 teams were being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Magic 2013 Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Constructed, with a player from each team playing Standard, Modern, and Innistrad Block Constructed.[45]

On Day 3, the top eight teams from Day 2 competed in seeded single-elimination rounds, in the Team Constructed format, to determine the winner of the World Magic Cup.[45]

Results

In the final of the tournament the team from Chinese Taipei played against the Puerto Rico team. Chinese Taipei won the final and became the first World Magic Cup holders.[46]

Finalists[47]
  1. Taiwan Chinese Taipei — Tzu-Ching Kuo, Tung-Yi Cheng, Yu Min Yang, and Paul Renie
  2. Puerto Rico Puerto Rico — Jorge Iramain, Gabriel Nieves, Cesar Soto, and Jonathan Paez
  3. Poland Poland — Tomek Pedrakowski, Mateusz Kopec, Adam Bubacz, and Jan Pruchniewicz
  4. Hungary Hungary — Tamás Glied, Gabor Kocsis, Tamas Nagy, and Máté Schrick
  5. Croatia Croatia — Grgur Petric Maretic, Toni Portolan, Stjepan Sucic, and Goran Elez
  6. Scotland Scotland — Stephen Murray, Bradley Barclay, Andrew Morrison, and Chris Davie
  7. Philippines Philippines — Andrew Cantillana, Gerald Camangon, Zax Ozaki, and Jeremy Bryan Domocmat
  8. Slovakia Slovak Republic — Robert Jurkovic, Ivan Floch, Filip Valis, and Patrik Surab

2012 Magic Players Championship

(Official coverage)

Mode

The 2012 Magic: The Gathering Players Championship was held from 29–31 August 2012 at the PAX Prime 2012 event.[48] It replaced the former Pro Tour-sized World Championship event. Although originally entitled the 2012 World Championship, the tournament was renamed the Players Championship in an announcement in December 2011.[2] The Players Championship also replaced the former Pro Player of the Year title, with that title intended to be encompassed in the Players Championship. The 2012 Magic Players Championship was an exclusive sixteen-person tournament[49] which took place over three days. Day 1 consisted of three rounds of the Modern format followed by three rounds of Cube Draft, the first time a Cube Draft had been used in high-level competition.[48] Day 2 consisted of three rounds of Magic 2013 draft, followed by three more rounds of Modern. On Day 3, the four players with the best records from the past 12 rounds played in single-elimination best-of-five-games Modern rounds to determine the winner of the Magic Players Championship.

Results

Yuuya Watanabe won the 2012 Players Championship and became only the second player ever (after Kai Budde) to receive more than one Player of the Year title.[50]

  1. Japan Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points, Japan) - Decklist
  2. Japan Shouta Yasooka (Top Pro Points, At-large 3)
  3. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points, Latin America)
  4. United States Jon Finkel (Top Pro Points, At-large 1)
  5. Japan Shuhei Nakamura (Top Pro Points, At-large 5)
  6. United States Brian Kibler (Pro Tour Dark Ascension Champion)
  7. Italy Samuele Estratti (Pro Tour Philadelphia Champion)
  8. Canada Alexander Hayne (Pro Tour Avacyn Restored Champion)
  9. Czech Republic Martin Juza (Top Pro Points, Europe)
  10. United States Owen Turtenwald (2011 Pro Tour Player of the Year)
  11. Japan Jun'ya Iyanaga (2011 World Champion)
  12. United States Luis Scott-Vargas (Top Pro Points, At-large 2)
  13. United States Josh Utter-Leyton (Top Pro Points, North America)
  14. United States David Ochoa (Top Pro Points, At-large 4)
  15. Taiwan Tzu-Ching Kuo (Top Pro Points, APAC)
  16. United States Reid Duke (2011 Magic Online Champion)

2013 World Championship

(Official coverage)

For 2013 the Players Championship was renamed to World Championship. The title of Pro Player of the Year once again became a separate title, being awarded to Josh Utter-Leyton for the 2012-13 season. The 2013 World Championship was held in Amsterdam on 31 July – 4 August.[51]

The players invited to the 2013 World Championship were.[52]

  1. Israel Shahar Shenhar (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  2. United States Reid Duke (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  3. United States Ben Stark (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  4. United States Josh Utter-Leyton (2012–13 Player of the year)
  5. United States Craig Wescoe (Pro Tour Dragon's Maze winner)
  6. Japan Yuuya Watanabe (2012 Players Championship winner)
  7. United States Brian Kibler (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  8. Japan Shuhei Nakamura (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  9. Russia Dmitriy Butakov (2012 Magic Online champion)
  10. United States David Ochoa (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  11. Czech Republic Stanislav Cifka (Pro Tour Return to Ravnica winner)
  12. United States Tom Martell (Pro Tour Gatecrash winner)
  13. Brazil Willy Edel (Top Pro Points, Latin America)
  14. United States Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points, at-large)
  15. Hong Kong Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points, Asia Pacific)
  16. Czech Republic Martin Juza (Top Pro Points, at-large)

The tournament consisted of three rounds each of Modern Masters Booster Draft, Modern, Magic 2014 Booster Draft, and Standard. After these twelve rounds the field of 16 players was cut to the top four. In the semi-finals Shahar Shenhar beat Ben Stark, and Reid Duke beat Josh Utter-Leyton. After trailing 0–2 in the finals, Shahar Shenhar came back to a 3–2 victory over Reid Duke with his UWR Flash Modern Deck, thus becoming the 2013 Magic World Champion.

2013 World Magic Cup

(Official coverage)

The second World Magic Cup took place during August 2–4, 2013 at the Amsterdam Convention Factory, in conjunction with the World Championship.

In the finals of the tournament France won 2–1 against Hungary.

Mode

The format greatly differs from the inaugural running: Day 1 would still consist of seven Swiss rounds will decide the 32 teams advance to Day 2, but three rounds of Team Sealed Deck and four rounds of Team Standard were played instead. On Day 2, the team play began with teams being sorted, according to seeding, into eight pools of four teams. The teams played in three rounds with the format being Team Sealed Deck. After these rounds, the top two teams from each pool advanced to the second stage, leaving sixteen teams. These teams were then sorted into four pools of four teams, and played three rounds of Team Standard. The Top 8 teams, advanced the top two teams from each pool, will play Team Standard on the final day of tournament in seeded single-elimination rounds.

On Day 1 and Day 2, Teams must switch one of the member played in first portion to player who had not played in first portion at the beginning of second portion of event (i.e. no player can sit out for whole day). In Team Standard, the same decks must be used throughout the whole event.

Final eight[53]
  1. France France (Raphael Levy, Timothee Simonot, Yann Guthmann, and Stephane Soubrier)
  2. Hungary Hungary (Tamas Nagy, Adorjan Korbl, Gabor Kocsis, and Ervin Hosszú)
  3. Czech Republic Czech Republic (Stanislav Cifka, Leos Kopecky, Kristian Janda, and Michal Mendl)
  4. Iceland Iceland (Alvin Orri Gislason, Orri Ómarsson, Ragnar Sigurdsson and Hedinn Haraldsson)
  5. Austria Austria (Thomas Holzinger, Manuel Danninger, David Reitbauer, and Marc Mühlböck)
  6. Estonia Estonia (Hannes Kerem, Mikk Kaasik, Rauno Raidma, and Simon Robberts)
  7. New Zealand New Zealand (Walker MacMurdo, Jingwei Zheng, Jason Chung, and Digby Carter)
  8. Belgium Belgium (Vincent Lemoine, Xavier Vantyghem, Marijn Lybaert, and Emmanuel Delvigne)

2014 World Championship

(Official coverage)

In 2014, the World Championship and the World Magic Cup took place from 2–7 December 2014. The events were held in conjunction in Nice, France.

For 2014, the World Championship format was altered to include 24 players rather than the 16 players who were invited the previous two years. Day One of the tournament consisted of three rounds of Vintage Masters Draft and four rounds of Modern. Day Two consisted of three rounds of Khans of Tarkir Draft and four rounds of Standard. After these fourteen rounds the Top 4 players in the Swiss standings played in single-elimination rounds in the Standard format.[54]

The final standings were as follows:

  1. Israel Shahar Shenhar (2013 World Champion)
  2. United States Patrick Chapin (Pro Tour Journey into Nyx winner)
  3. Japan Yuuya Watanabe (Pro Point leader Japan)
  4. Japan Kentaro Yamamoto (8th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  5. Canada Shaun McLaren (Pro Tour Born of the Gods winner)
  6. Japan Yuuki Ichikawa (Pro Point runner-up Japan)
  7. Slovakia Ivan Floch (Pro Tour Magic 2015 winner)
  8. United States William Jensen (Most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  9. United States Sam Black (6th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  10. Thailand Lars Dam (2013 Magic Online Champion)
  11. United States Josh Utter-Leyton (3rd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  12. United States Paul Rietzl (5th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  13. United States Owen Turtenwald (Pro Point leader North America)
  14. United States Reid Duke (Pro Point runner-up North America)
  15. Czech Republic Stanislav Cifka (2nd most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  16. United States Tom Martell (4th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  17. France Raphaël Lévy (2013 World Magic Cup winner)
  18. France Jérémy Dezani (2013–14 Player of the Year)
  19. Canada Jacob Wilson (7th most Pro Points of otherwise unqualified)
  20. Brazil Willy Edel (Pro Point leader Latin America)
  21. South Korea Nam Sung-Wook (Pro Point runner-up APAC region)
  22. United States Raymond Perez Jr. (2013–14 Rookie of the Year)
  23. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Pro Point runner-up Latin America)
  24. Hong Kong Lee Shi Tian (Pro Point leader APAC region)

Shahar Shenhar became the first player to win the World Championship for a second time as well as the first player to win the title in consecutive years.

2014 World Magic Cup

(Official Coverage)

Final eight[55]
  1. Denmark Denmark (Martin Müller, Simon Nielsen, Thomas Enevoldsen, Lars Birch)
  2. Greece Greece (Marios Angelopoulos, Bill Chronopoulos, Panagiotis Savvidis, Socrates Rozakeas)
  3. England England (Fabrizio Anteri, David Inglis, Francesco Giorgio, Riccardo Reale)
  4. United States United States (Owen Turtenwald, Isaac Sears, Andrew Baeckstrom, Neal Oliver)
  5. South Korea South Korea (Nam Sung-wook, Oh Joon-hyun, Cho Jeong-woo, Kim Sang-eun)
  6. Serbia Serbia (Aleksa Telarov, Miodrag Kitanovic, Boris Bajgo, Milos Stajic)
  7. Slovakia Slovakia (Ivan Floch, Jan Tomcani, Michal Guldan, Matej Zatlkaj)
  8. Brazil Brazil (Willy Edel, Gabriel Fehr, Thiago Saporito, Matheus Rosseto)

2015 World Championship

The 2015 World Championship took place from 27–30 August 2015. The event was originally planned to held in Barcelona, Spain in conjunction with 2015 World Magic Cup, but was later moved to Seattle, and was held in conjunction with PAX Prime instead.[4]

Some changes to the previous years' invitation structure were announced, with the following announcement by Director of Organized Play, Helene Bergeot at Pro Tour Fate Reforged.

   The 2015 World Championship will be the last year that the World Magic Cup team-winning captain is awarded an invitation  to the World Championship
   North America now invites its top four Pro Point earners (it was previously two)
   Europe now invites its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two)
   Asia-Pacific now invites its top three Pro Point earners (it was previously two for Asia-Pacific and two for Japan, the   latter of which was folded into the Asia-Pacific georegion for this event)
   A new slot was added for the player who earns the most Pro Points at Grand Prix in the 2014–2015 Premier Play season (the number of GPs that count for this slot is uncapped)
   The invitation for Rookie of the Year has been removed

The format of the tournament was 3 rounds of Modern Masters 2015 draft followed by 4 rounds of Modern constructed for Thursday. On Friday, a Magic Origins draft followed by 4 rounds of standard and after a hiatus on Saturday, the top 4 playoffs on Sunday.

The final standings were as follows:[56]

  1. United States Seth Manfield (Top Pro Points at large)
  2. United States Owen Turtenwald (Top Pro Points at large)
  3. United States Paul Rietzl (Top Pro Points at large)
  4. United States Sam Black (Top Pro Points North America)
  5. Sweden Magnus Lantto (2014 Magic Online Champion)
  6. Denmark Martin Müller (2014 World Magic Cup winning team captain)
  7. Canada Shaun McLaren (Top Pro Points at large)
  8. Brazil Thiago Saporito (Top Pro Points Latin America)
  9. Czech Republic Ondrey Strasky (Top Pro Points North America)
  10. Japan Yuuya Watanabe (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
  11. Brazil Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa (Top Pro Points Latin America)
  12. Canada Jacob Wilson (Top Pro Points at large)
  13. Sweden Joel Larsson (Pro Tour Magic Origins winner)
  14. Canada Alexander Hayne (Grand Prix Pro Point leader)
  15. Denmark Martin Dang (Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir winner)
  16. United States Steve Rubin (Top Pro Points at large)
  17. Japan Kentaro Yamamoto (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
  18. United States Mike Sigrist (2014–15 Player of the Year)
  19. United States Eric Froehlich (Top Pro Points North America)
  20. Hong Kong Lee Shi Tian (Top Pro Points Asia-Pacific)
  21. United States Brad Nelson (Top Pro Points North America)
  22. Spain Antonio Del Moral Leon (Pro Tour Fate Reforged winner)
  23. Israel Shahar Shenhar (2014 World Champion)
  24. United States Ari Lax (Pro Tour Khans of Tarkir winner)

2015 World Magic Cup

(Official Coverage)

Final eight[57]
  1. Italy Italy (Marco Cammilluzzi, Andrea Mengucci, Francesco Bifero and William Pizzi)
  2. Thailand Thailand (Aekarash Sorakup, Suttipong Popitukgul, Veerapat Sirilertvorakul and Chom Pasidparchya)
  3. France France (Pierre Dagen, Hichem Tedjditi, Fathi Ben Aribi and Arnaud Soumet)
  4. Austria Austria (Nikolaus Eigner, Christoph Aukenthaler, Valentin Mackl and Sebastian Fiala-Ibitz)
  5. Denmark Denmark (Christoffer Larsen, Daniel Lind, Martin Müller and Martin Dang)
  6. Guatemala Guatemala (Fernando José Juárez Oliva, José Andrés Martínez Figueloa, Christopher Andrés Virula Martinez and Wilfredo Bojorquez Castillo)
  7. Scotland Scotland (Ray Doyle, Stephen Murray, Grant Hislop and Martin Clement)
  8. Japan Japan (Kenji Tsumura, Ryoichi Tamada, Yuuya Watanabe and Soyo You)

Performance by country

Japan and the United States have the same number of individual titles won. The United States have won the most team titles, and also have had most competitors amongst the final eight individually. Germany, the Netherlands and Israel are the only other countries with more than one champion. Canada, Italy and Austria are the most successful nations that have never won a title.

Country Wins Top 8 Team Wins
United States United States 4 47 8
Japan Japan 4 24 2
Israel Israel 3 3 0
Germany Germany 2 9 2
Netherlands Netherlands 2 9 1
France France 1 12 1
Switzerland Switzerland 1 3 1
Finland Finland 1 6 0
Brazil Brazil 1 7 0
Portugal Portugal 1 5 0
Czech Republic Czech Republic 1 3 0
Australia Australia 1 1 0
Canada Canada 0 10 1
Slovakia Slovakia 0 2 1
China China 0 0 1
Denmark Denmark 0 2 1
Austria Austria 0 5 0
Italy Italy 0 6 1
Sweden Sweden 0 4 0
Belgium Belgium 0 2 0
England England 0 3 0
Estonia Estonia 0 1 0
Argentina Argentina 0 1 0
Norway Norway 0 1 0
Malaysia Malaysia 0 3 0
Republic of Ireland Ireland 0 1 0
Singapore Singapore 0 1 0
Wales Wales 0 1 0
Taiwan Chinese Taipei 0 0 1

As of 5 August 2013

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External links

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