Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1999–2000

The 1999–2000 Pro Tour season was the fifth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 3 September 1999 with Pro Tour Boston and ended on 6 August 2000 with the conclusion of 2000 World Championship in Brussels. The season consisted of twenty Grand Prixs, and six Pro Tours, located in Washington D.C., London, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Brussels. At the end of the season Bob Maher, Jr. was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.

Mode
Six Pro Tours and 20 Grand Prix were held in the 1999–2000 season. Based on final standings Pro Points were awarded as follows:

Pro Tour – Washington D.C. (3–5 September 1999)
Washington D.C. was the first team Pro Tour. In a high-profile Top 8 featuring six players who were later inducted into the Hall of Fame, team Your Move Games (YMG) came out on top. YMG consisted of Dave Humpherys, Rob Dougherty, and Darwin Kastle, all eventual members of the Hall of Fame.

Tournament data
Players: 243 (81 teams) Prize Pool: $100,230 Format: Urza's Saga Team Sealed (Urza's Saga, Urza's Legacy, Urza's Destiny) – first day, Urza's Saga Team Rochester Draft (Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny) – final two days Head Judge: Mike Guptil

Grand Prixs – Tohoku, Memphis, Lisbon

 * GP Tohoku (11–12 September)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Higashino Masayuki
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Kazuyuki Momose
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Satoshi Nakamura
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Toshiki Tsukamoto
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Ayumi Hidaka
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Hiroshi Harada
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Yuichi Taguchi


 * GP Memphis (18–19 September)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Michael Pustilnik
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Mike Heffern
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Kyle Kloeckner
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Matthew Norton
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Adrian Sullivan
 * 6) 🇺🇸 David Jafari
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Ric Watts
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Matt Rauseo


 * GP Lisbon (25–26 September)
 * 1) Helder Coelho
 * 2) Paolo Cruz
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Stephane Gentric
 * 4) 🇵🇹 Rui Mariani
 * 5) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Pedro Marcos
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 7) 🇵🇹 Kuniyoshi Ishii
 * 8) 🇪🇸 Hector Fuentes

Pro Tour – London (15–17 October 1999)
Kyle Rose won Pro Tour London, defeating Austrian Thomas Preyer in the finals. Darwin Kastle's back to back Top 8 appearances in Washington and London brought him to five final day appearance in his career.

Tournament data
Players: 310 Prize pool: $151,635 Format: Urza's Saga Booster Draft (Urza's Saga-Urza's Legacy-Urza's Destiny) Head Judge: Carl Crook

Grand Prixs – Kyushu, Sao Paulo, Milan, San Diego, Tours

 * GP Kyushu (30–31 October)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Tadayoshi Komiya
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Eisaku Itadani
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Katsuhiro Mori
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Fumihiko Sano
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Masashiro Kuroda
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Masayuki Higashino
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Takuichi Harino
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Toshiki Tsukamoto


 * GP San Diego (20–21 November)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Gary Krakower
 * 3) 🇺🇸 David Williams
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Charles Kornblith
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Darwin Kastle
 * 6) 🇺🇸 John Yoo
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Trevor Blackwell
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Eric James


 * GP São Paulo (6–7 November)
 * 1) 🇧🇷 Rafael Assafi Alvarengi
 * 2) 🇦🇷 Douglas Maioli
 * 3) 🇧🇷 Carlos Mao
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 5) 🇧🇷 Carlos Romão
 * 6) 🇧🇷 Eduardo Simao Teixeira
 * 7) 🇧🇷 F. Moreira Bandeira
 * 8) 🇧🇷 Rodrigo Jose Constanza


 * GP Tours (27–28 November)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 2) 🇫🇷 Nicolas Labarre
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Eric Vinh
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Franck Canu
 * 5) 🇳🇴 Christer Ljones
 * 6) 🇫🇷 Camille Gleizes
 * 7) 🇳🇴 Thomas F. Gundersen
 * 8) Svend Geertsen


 * GP Milan (6–7 November)
 * 1) 🇸🇮 Ziga Fritz
 * 2) Raphael Gennari
 * 3) 🇮🇹 William Cavaglieri
 * 4) 🇮🇹 Mario Delucis
 * 5) 🇮🇪 Ivan Solaja
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Micha Schulte-Middelich
 * 7) 🇮🇹 Ivan Curina
 * 8) Sasa Zorc

Pro Tour – Chicago (3–5 December 1999)
Bob Maher, Jr. won Pro Tour Chicago playing a blue-green-white control deck. He defeated Brian Davis in the finals 3–2. First time Pro Tour attendant Davis reportedly played so horribly, that around spectators the joke went, that Davis was the first to have played 5–0 in the finals and lost, referring to their perception that he could and should have won every single game.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $151,635 Players: 344 Format: Extended Head Judge: Nat Fairbanks

Grand Prixs – Manila, Seattle, Madrid

 * GP Manila (4–5 December)
 * 1) Christopher Parreñas
 * 2) Frederick Salazar
 * 3) Francis Robert Profeta
 * 4) Lawrence Lagman
 * 5) 🇭🇰 Au Yeung Hon Ming
 * 6) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andrew Buchanan
 * 7) Dino Eric Yu
 * 8) Ramon Allan Oca, Jr.


 * GP Seattle (15–16 January)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Jeremy Brower
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Tim Kariel
 * 4) 🇺🇸 David Price
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 6) 🇨🇦 Jasar Elarar
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Mike Hron
 * 8) 🇺🇸 David Weitz


 * GP Madrid (29–30 January)
 * 1) 🇪🇸 Carlos Barrado
 * 2) 🇪🇸 Xavi Gonzales
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 4) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tony Dobson
 * 5) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel
 * 6) 🇪🇸 Alex Dominguez Ramos
 * 7) 🇵🇹 Rui Mariani
 * 8) 🇩🇪 Patrick Mello

Pro Tour – Los Angeles (4–6 February 2000)
Trevor Blackwell defeated Chris Benafel in the finals to become Pro Tour Los Angeles champion.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $151,635 Players: 337 Format: Mercadian Masques Booster Draft (Mercadian Masques) Head Judge: Dan Gray

Grand Prix – Taipei, Philadelphia, Cannes, Kuala Lumpur, Frankfurt

 * GP Taipei (12–13 February)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Tadayoshi Komiya
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 4) Jim Len
 * 5) Lucifar Sun
 * 6) Chi Jin Guo (Tzu-Ching Kuo)
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Satoshi Nakamura
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Tobey Tamber


 * GP Philadelphia (19–20 February)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Trey Van Cleave
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Britt Fitch
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Scott McCord
 * 4) 🇺🇸 John Marks
 * 5) 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 6) 🇺🇸 David Roderer
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Brad Swan
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Michael Bernat

1. Black Ops
 * GP Cannes (26–27 February)
 * 🇫🇷 Florent Jeudon
 * 🇫🇷 Antoine Ruel
 * 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel

2. New Wave
 * 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * Bram Snepvangers
 * 🇦🇹 Thomas Preyer

3. Legion of Rabbits
 * 🇫🇷 Nicolas Labarre
 * 🇫🇷 Manuel Bevand
 * 🇫🇷 Marie Laure Saulnier

4. The Tightans
 * 🇺🇸 Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz
 * 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 🇺🇸 David Williams


 * GP Kuala Lumpur (4–5 March)
 * 1) 🇲🇾 Ryan Soh
 * 2) 🇲🇾 Tishen Tham
 * 3) 🇲🇾 Wai Kin Au Yong
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Ikeda
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Jun Nobushita
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Tsutomu Yamada
 * 7) Albertus Law
 * 8) 🇲🇾 Wei Ren Khoo

1. III Heroes
 * GP Frankfurt (8–9 April)
 * 🇩🇪 Jim Herold
 * 🇩🇪 Sebastian Moises
 * 🇩🇪 Gunnar Refsdal

2. Hammer of Brno
 * 🇨🇿 Martin Laznovsky
 * 🇨🇿 Ivan Stanoev
 * 🇨🇿 Libor Marek

3. Trash A
 * 🇨🇿 Jakub Slemr
 * 🇨🇿 Ondrej Baurys
 * 🇨🇿 Tomas Kosicka

4. Absolute Samuels
 * 🇩🇪 Daniel Steinsdorfer
 * 🇩🇪 Demir Sejdiu
 * 🇩🇪 Patrick Jansen

Pro Tour – New York (14–16 April 2000)
Sigurd Eskeland won Pro Tour New York, defeating Warren Marsh in the finals. Eskeland played a blue control-deck with the centerpiece of the deck being. His opponent played the deck most present at this tournament, Rebels. PT New York is considered to be the first time where there was a dominant deck at a Pro Tour, the deck did not win the tournament.

43% of the players entering the tournament had chosen rebel decks. On the second day of the tournament rebels were even more present, comprising and unprecedented 57% of the field. These numbers were again topped by the final eight where six of eight decks were rebel decks. In contrast the winning Rising Waters deck comprised only 8.4% of the field on day one and 14.5% on day two. In the top eight the two non-rebel decks were both Rising Waters decks. Rising Waters on both days had the highest winning percentage of all decks played with 60% on day one and 53.8% on day two.

Tournament data
Players: 310 Prize pool: $151,635 Format: Mercadian Masques Block Constructed (Mercadian Masques, Nemesis) Location: New York State Armory Head Judge: Cyril Grillon

Winner's deck
Sigurd Eskeland played a blue control-deck with the centerpiece of the deck being.

Team Challenge
The Team Challenge was a predecessor to the Masters Series events that were held from 2000 to 2003. These events were open only to the most accomplished players and awarded cash prizes even for entering the tournament. The Team Challenge at Pro Tour New York 2000 awarded $3,000 for entering the tournament, $9,000 to the runners-up team, and $15,000 to the winners. Four teams were invited to enter the tournament. In a field composed of otherwise American teams the French team Black Ops defeated Game Empire and Antarctica to win the tournament.

Grand Prixs – Nagoya, St. Louis, Copenhagen, Pittsburgh
1. New Wave
 * GP Nagoya (22–23 April)
 * 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 🇺🇸 Trevor Blackwell
 * Nick Wong

2. Masato Club
 * 🇯🇵 Goro Matsuo
 * 🇯🇵 Jun Nobushita
 * 🇯🇵 Tadayoshi Komiya

3. Godzilla
 * 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 🇺🇸 David Williams
 * 🇺🇸 Mike Long

4. Unluckys
 * 🇯🇵 Osamu Fujita
 * 🇯🇵 Ayumi Hidaka
 * 🇯🇵 Takayuki Nagaoka


 * GP Copenhagen (17–18 June)
 * 1) Niels Sanders Jensen
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Franck Canu
 * 4) Noah Boeken
 * 5) 🇩🇪 Gottlieb Yeh
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Gunnar Refsdal
 * 7) Tom van de Logt
 * 8) 🇧🇪 Peter Gysemans

1. Antarctica
 * GP St. Louis (13–14 May)
 * 🇺🇸 Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz
 * 🇺🇸 Jon Finkel
 * 🇺🇸 Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz

2. Dogma
 * 🇺🇸 Rob Liszka
 * 🇺🇸 Mike Heffern
 * 🇺🇸 Aaron Estrin

3. Your Move Games
 * 🇺🇸 Darwin Kastle
 * 🇺🇸 Rob Dougherty
 * 🇺🇸 Dave Humpherys

4. Hubbo
 * 🇺🇸 Ryan Carpenter
 * 🇺🇸 Bryan Hubble
 * 🇺🇸 Jason Opalka

1. Huey, Ben, and Casey
 * GP Pittsburgh (24–25 June)
 * 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 🇺🇸 Ben Rubin
 * 🇺🇸 Casey McCarrel

2. Dark Side of the Moon
 * 🇺🇸 Ray Tautic
 * 🇺🇸 Brian Lynch
 * 🇺🇸 Ben Halpren

3. Antarctica
 * 🇺🇸 Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz
 * 🇺🇸 Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
 * 🇺🇸 Jon Finkel

4. Your Move Games
 * 🇺🇸 Darwin Kastle
 * 🇺🇸 Rob Dougherty
 * 🇺🇸 Dave Humpherys

2000 World Championships – Brussels (2–6 August 2000)
Jon Finkel won the 2000 World Championship, defeating teammate Bob Maher, Jr. in the finals. The second place allowed Maher to take the Pro Player of the year title, surpassing Darwin Kastle in the final standings. Finkel became the second player to win two Pro Tours and the first with seven Top 8 appearances. The US team won the national team competition, also with Finkel as reigning national champion at its head.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $201,620 (individual) + $50,000 (national teams) Players: 273 Individual formats: Formats: Mercadian Masques Booster Draft (Mercadian Masques-Nemesis-Prophecy), Mercadian Masques Block Constructed (Mercadian Masques, Nemesis, Prophecy), Standard Team Format: Standard Head Judge: Cyril Grillon

National team competition

 * 1) 🇺🇸 United States (Jon Finkel, Chris Benafel, Frank Hernandez, Aaron Forsythe)
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Canada (Ryan Fuller, Murray Evans, Gabriel Tsang, Sam Lau)

Pro Player of the year final standings
After the World Championship Bob Maher, Jr. was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.