Raphaël Lévy

Raphaël Lévy
Born	September 25, 1981[1]
Residence	Toulouse, France
Nationality	French
Pro Tour debut	1997 Pro Tour Paris[1]
Winnings	$292,013[2]
Pro Tour wins (Top 8)	0 (3)[3]
Grand Prix wins (Top 8)	5 (20)[4]
Lifetime Pro Points	630[5]
Planeswalker Level	50 (Archmage)

Raphaël Lévy is a professional Magic: The Gathering player. He was inducted to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in November 2006. He is the first player to have been inducted while active on the Pro Tour.^[6] He is one of only six players to have won a Grand Prix on three different continents (the others being Shuhei Nakamura, Alex Shvartsman, Carlos Romão, Yuuya Watanabe, and Martin Juza). He also currently holds the record for lifetime Pro Points.

Career

Raphaël Lévy began his Pro Tour career in 1997 at Pro Tour Paris. A 130th-place finish meant he did not qualify for the next Pro Tour. After missing Pro Tour New York, he qualified for the 1997 World Championship, and has not missed a Pro Tour since.

Lévy first began to attract attention the following season first by winning Grand Prix Lyon and then reaching the top eight of the World Championship.^[7] He was the only non-American in an impressive top eight whose players now have a combined 37 Pro Tour Sunday appearances.

In 1998-99, Lévy continued to perform well with fourth-place finishes in Grand Prix Barcelona and the European Championship in Berlin.^[8] Before the turn of the millennium, Lévy put up his second Pro Tour Top eight. A semifinal loss to Brian Davis saw Lévy put up yet another fourth-place finish.^[9]

Over the following six years, Lévy did well without standing out. He remained continuously qualified for the Pro Tour, and put up nine Grand Prix top eights. However, his third Pro Tour top eight would not come until seven years after his second. In 2006, Lévy's two Pro Tour Top eights and streak of then 47 consecutive Pro Tours attended were enough to get him inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. This honour served to reinvigourate Lévy's game. The following season, he won back to back Grand Prix in Dallas and Singapore. He made his third Pro Tour Top eight in Yokohama, making him the first Hall of Famer to make it back to the Sunday stage.^[10]

Since then, Lévy has returned to putting up solid Pro Tour finishes without reaching the top eight, and has put up five more Grand Prix top eights, one of which was his fourth Grand Prix title.

In 2012, at Pro Tour Dark Ascension Lévy earned 6 pro points equalling the 500 lifetime pro points record of Kai Budde.^[11] Raphael Levy also became the 2012 French National Champion by being the highest ranked French player after Pro Tour Avacyn Restored, and as a result was part of the French National Team at the inaugural 2012 World Magic Cup, where they finished in 10th place. Levy was in 2013 once again the highest ranking French player, and at the 2013 World Magic Cup he captained the French team to victory.^[12] The win qualified Levy for the 2014 World Championship, where he finished 17th.^[13]

Accomplishments

Top 8 appearances

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
1997–98	Grand Prix	Lyon	Extended	7–8 February 1998	1
1997–98	Worlds	Seattle	Special	12–16 August 1998	4
1998–99	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Sealed and Booster Draft	6–7 February 1999	4
1998–99	European Championship	Berlin	Special	10–12 July 1999	4
1999–00	Pro Tour	Chicago	Extended	3–5 December 1999	4
1999–00	European Championship	Paris	Special	14–16 July 2000	2
2000–01	Grand Prix	Gothenburg	Sealed and Booster Draft	24–25 March 2001	3
2001–02	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Sealed and Booster Draft	23–24 March 2002	7
2001–02	Grand Prix	Naples	Sealed and Booster Draft	6–7 April 2002	7
2002–03	Grand Prix	Prague	Sealed and Booster Draft	12–13 April 2003	2
2003–04	Grand Prix	Madrid	Sealed and Booster Draft	21–22 February 2004	4
2005	Grand Prix	Paris	Sealed and Rochester Draft	27–28 November 2004	4
2005	Nationals	Aix-en-Provence	Special	30–31 July 2005	8
2006	Grand Prix	Cardiff	Sealed and Booster Draft	25–26 March 2006	7
2006	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Sealed and Booster Draft	8–9 April 2006	2
2006	Grand Prix	Phoenix	Sealed and Booster Draft	2–3 September 2006	3
2007	Grand Prix	Dallas	Extended	24–25 February 2007	1
2007	Grand Prix	Singapore	Extended	3–4 March 2007	1
2007	Pro Tour	Yokohama	Block Constructed	20–22 April 2007	6
2008	Grand Prix	Brussels	Sealed and Booster Draft	3–4 May 2008	3
2008	Grand Prix	Birmingham	Block Constructed	30 May–1 June 2008	3
2008	Grand Prix	Manila	Block Constructed	30–31 August 2008	7
2011	Grand Prix	Milan	Sealed and Booster Draft	8–9 October 2011	2
2012	Grand Prix	Austin	Sealed and Booster Draft	7–8 January 2012	1
2013–14	World Magic Cup	Amsterdam	National team	2–4 August 2013	1
2013–14	Grand Prix	Prague	Sealed and Booster Draft	31 August–1 September 2013	8
2015–16	Grand Prix	Madison	Sealed and Booster Draft	9-11 October 2015	1

Last updated: 31 October 2014
Source: Event Coverage at Wizards.com

Other accomplishments

• Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame class of 2006^[6]
• Most Lifetime Pro Points^[5]
• Most Pro Tour appearances (87 as of Pro Tour Magic Origins)

References

1. Raphael Levy 2007 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering Time Spiral expansion)
2. "Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-07-15. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
3. "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-08-07. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
4. "Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-07-28. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
5. "Planeswalker Points". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
6. "Raphaël Lévy — Hall of Fame Profile". Retrieved 2006-11-30.
7. "1998 World Championships Coverage". The Sideboard. 1998-08-16. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
8. "1999 European Championships". The Sideboard. 1999-07-12. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
9. "Pro Tour-Chicago 1999". The Sideboard. 1999-12-05. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
10. "Wafo-Tapa Tops Them All!". Wizards of the Coast. 2007-04-22. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
11. "Kibler Triumphs in Epic Pro Tour". Wizards of the Coast. 12 February 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
12. "Lévy du Soleil en France!". Wizards of the Coast. 2013-08-04. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
13. "2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 14 STANDINGS". Wizards of the Coast. 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2014-12-04.