Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2001–02

The 2001–02 Pro Tour season was the seventh season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 18 August 2001 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Kobe and Denver. It ended on 18 August 2002 with the conclusion of the 2002 World Championship in Sydney. The season consisted of 33 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in New York, New Orleans, San Diego, Osaka, Nice, and Sydney. Also Master Series tournaments were held at four Pro Tours. At the end of the season Kai Budde was proclaimed Pro Player of the Year, winning the title by a record margin.

Grand Prixs – Kobe, Denver, Santiago, Singapore, London

 * GP Kobe (18–19 August)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Shuhei Nakamura
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Kei Ikeda
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Takayuki Nagaoka
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Hiroshi Kawasaki
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Ryo Ogura
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Takumi Hasegawa
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Kenshiro Ito


 * GP Denver (18–19 August)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Brett Shears
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Danny Mandel
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Brock Parker
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Darwin Kastle
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Sammy Batarseh
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Mike Abraham
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Aaron Knobloch
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Alex Borteh


 * GP Santiago (25–26 August)
 * 1) 🇦🇷 Matias Gabrenja
 * 2) 🇲🇽 Gerardo Godinez
 * 3) 🇨🇱 Jorge Rodriguez
 * 4) 🇨🇱 Jose Echeverria
 * 5) 🇨🇱 Rodrigo Sanchez
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Brock Parker
 * 7) 🇨🇱 Andrés Hojman
 * 8) 🇨🇱 Juan Ruetter


 * GP Singapore (1–2 September)
 * 1) Albertus Law
 * 2) Kelvin Yew Teck Hoon
 * 3) Akuma Ding Yuen Leong
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Michihisa Onoda
 * 5) Royce Ming Huang Chai
 * 6) Lance Chin Wei Yeong
 * 7) David Kwan
 * 8) Chang Chua


 * GP London (1–2 September)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 2) 🇫🇷 Gabriel Nassif
 * 3) 🇦🇹 Helmut Summersberger
 * 4) Matt Henstra
 * 5) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Warren Marsh
 * 6) 🇩🇪 René Kraft
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Antoine Ruel
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Pierre Malherbaud

Pro Tour – New York (7–9 September 2001)
New York was the third time Pro Tour was held in the Team Limited format. Car Acrobatic Team who had been amongst the Top 4 at the previous team Pro Tour returned for another Top 4. The event was won by team Phoenix Foundation consisting of Kai Budde, Dirk Baberowski, and Marco Blume. It was Baberowski's second win and Budde's fourth. The final was also a repeat to the final of Grand Prix London a week before, where Budde had already won against Nassif. Eventually Kai's renewed success led to some memorable quotes. Asked about the favorite to win amongst the final 4 several pros exclaimed something to the extent of the words Gary Wise pronounced, "Kai doesn't lose on Sunday". Randy Buehler's comment "if he wins New Orleans, I guess he is" on the discussion whether Kai is the best player in the history of the game also became a classic when Kai indeed won PT New Orleans.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $202,200 Players: 426 (142 teams) Format: Invasion Team Sealed (Invasion, Planeshift, Apocalypse) – first day, Invasion Team Rochester Draft (Invasion-Planeshift-Apocalypse) – final two days Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Final standings

 * The team entered the tournament as "My Team Part 17", but decided they wanted to have more serious name as a Top4 team and changed it to "Illuminati".

Grand Prixs – Warsaw, Minneapolis, Oslo, Vienna, Cape Town, Shizuoka, Montreal, Brisbane

 * GP Warsaw (8–9 September)
 * 1) 🇸🇪 Rickard Österberg
 * 2) 🇨🇿 Michal Marcik
 * 3) 🇸🇪 David Linder
 * 4) 🇸🇪 Mattias Kettil
 * 5) 🇵🇱 Przemek Oberbek
 * 6) 🇵🇱 Marcin Sados
 * 7) 🇩🇪 Felix Schneiders
 * 8) 🇵🇱 Roman Kubera


 * GP Oslo (22–23 September)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Trey Van Cleave
 * 2) 🇸🇪 Anton Jonsson
 * 3) 🇸🇪 Johan Backfjärd
 * 4) 🇳🇴 Sigurd Eskeland
 * 5) 🇸🇪 Svante Landgraf
 * 6) 🇸🇪 Rickard Österberg
 * 7) Peter Laier
 * 8) 🇳🇴 Haakon Monsen


 * GP Minneapolis (29–30 September)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Dave Humpherys
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Andrew Wolf
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Brian Hegstad
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Brian Davis
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Craig Wescoe
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Cassius Weatherby
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Lee Curtis
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Jacob Janoska


 * GP Vienna (6–7 October)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Stephan Meyer
 * 2) 🇳🇴 Eivind Nitter
 * 3) 🇳🇴 Nicolai Herzog
 * 4) 🇭🇺 Gabor Papp
 * 5) Matthias Künzler
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Holger Meinecke
 * 7) 🇵🇱 Konrad Zawadzki
 * 8) Ladoslav Zupancic


 * GP Cape Town (6–7 October)
 * 1) 🇦🇺 Ben Seck
 * 2) Wagner Kruger
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Justin Polin
 * 4) Grant van Dyk
 * 5) Andrew Mitchell
 * 6) Pieter Loubser
 * 7) Robert Thompson
 * 8) Peter Klein


 * GP Shizuoka (13–14 October)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Kohei Yamadaya
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Masahiko Morita
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Ryouma Shiozu
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Katsuhiro Mori
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Douyama
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Reiji Ando
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Eiho Kato


 * GP Montreal (13–14 October)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Mike Turian
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Louis Boileau
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Timothy McKenna
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Brett Shears
 * 5) 🇨🇦 David Rood
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Peter Szigeti
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Daniel Clegg


 * GP Brisbane (20–21 October)
 * 1) 🇦🇺 Richard Johnston
 * 2) 🇳🇿 Roger Miller
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 4) 🇦🇺 Egidio De Gois
 * 5) 🇦🇺 Lenny Collins
 * 6) 🇦🇺 Dante Rosati
 * 7) 🇦🇺 Pang Ming Wee
 * 8) 🇦🇺 Daniel Romans

Pro Tour – New Orleans (2–4 November 2001)
After winning Pro Tour New York Kai Budde won New Orleans as well, making him the only player to win back to back Pro Tours. His fifth Pro Tour victory also made him the record money-earner and erased almost all doubt, that Budde is the best player in the history of the game.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $200,130 Players: 355 Format: Extended Head Judge: Mike Guptil

Grand Prixs – Hong Kong, Atlanta, Biarritz, Curitiba, Las Vegas, Sendai, Houston

 * GP Hong Kong (17–18 November)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Jeff Fung
 * 2) Frederick Salazar
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Shinsuke Hayashi
 * 5) Bayani Manansala, Jr.
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Steven Shears
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Brian Hegstad
 * 8) 🇨🇦 Ryan Fuller


 * GP Atlanta (17–18 November)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Eugene Harvey
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Andrew Johnson
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Brad Swan
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Matt Linde
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Bin Chen
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Antonino De Rosa
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Craig Wescoe
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Alex Borteh


 * GP Biarritz (24–25 November)
 * 1) 🇫🇷 Nicolas Labarre
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 3) 🇪🇸 Lucio Moratinos
 * 4) Joost Vollebregt
 * 5) 🇪🇸 Ferran Vila
 * 6) Alexander Witt
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Alexis Dumay
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel


 * GP Curitiba (8–9 December)
 * 1) 🇧🇷 Guilherme Svaldi
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Antoine Ruel
 * 4) 🇧🇷 Leopoldo Martins
 * 5) 🇧🇷 Raphael Gunther
 * 6) 🇦🇷 Jose Barbero
 * 7) 🇧🇷 José Mangueira
 * 8) 🇧🇷 Eliton Enacio


 * GP Las Vegas (8–9 December)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Michael Pustilnik
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Adam Lane
 * 3) 🇺🇸 John Balla
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Sean Fitzgerald
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Kaare Anderson
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Rob Dougherty
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Shannon Krumick
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Scott Gerhardt


 * GP Sendai (15–16 December)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Kazuaki Arahori
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Kazuya Hirabayashi
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Mike Long
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Yuki Murakami
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Kazufumi Abe
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Jin Okamoto
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Katsuhiro Mori


 * GP Houston (5–6 January)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Joshua Smith
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Brian Kibler
 * 3) 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Ben Rubin
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Jonathan Pechon
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Jonathan Job

Pro Tour – San Diego (11–13 January 2002)
The 2002 was won by the French Farid Meraghni. It was the first time a French player won a major tournament after several French players coming in second at Worlds and Pro Tours. Also the tournament is known for Magic veteran Eric Taylor literally eating his hat due to losing a bet about Kai Budde winning Pro Tour New Orleans. Canadian player Ryan Fuller won the Masters.

Tournament data
Players: 348 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Odyssey Rochester Draft (Odyssey) Head Judge: Mike Donais

Grand Prixs – Lisbon, Heidelberg, Fukuoka, Tampa, Antwerp

 * GP Lisbon (19–20 January)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Patrick Mello
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel
 * 4) Marcio Carvalho
 * 5) 🇮🇹 Stefano Fiore
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 7) Tom Van de Logt
 * 8) Jelger Wiegersma


 * GP Heidelberg (9–10 February)
 * 1) Kamiel Cornelissen
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Chris Benafel
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Franck Canu
 * 4) 🇦🇹 Thomas Preyer
 * 5) Jelger Wiegersma
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Patrick Mello
 * 7) 🇺🇦 Yuri Kolomeyko
 * 8) Joost Vollebregt


 * GP Fukuoka (16–17 February)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Masahiko Morita
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Jun Ishihara
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Masahiro Kuroda
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Yusuke Sasaki
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Shuhei Nakamura


 * GP Tampa (23–24 February)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Sol Malka
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Jeff Cunningham
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Koby Kennison
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Mike Emmert
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Antonino De Rosa
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Brian Kibler
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Adam Racht
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Adam Prokopin


 * GP Antwerp (2–3 March)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 2) 🇫🇷 Florent Jeudon
 * 3) 🇸🇪 Matthias Jorstedt
 * 4) 🇩🇪 Wolfgang Eder
 * 5) Arjan van Leeuwen
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Christoph Lippert
 * 7) Jos Schreurs
 * 8) 🇩🇪 Dirk Baberowski

Tournament data
Players: 277 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Odyssey Block Constructed (Odyssey, Torment) Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Grand Prixs – Barcelona, Kuala Lumpur, Naples

 * GP Barcelona (23–24 March)
 * 1) Noah Boeken
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Christoph Lippert
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel
 * 4) 🇪🇸 Carlos Barrado
 * 5) Stan van der Velden
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Reinhard Blech
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Raphaël Lévy
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Franck Canu


 * GP Kuala Lumpur (30–31 March)
 * 1) Ding Yueng Leong
 * 2) Chang Chua
 * 3) Yujian Zhou
 * 4) 🇹🇭 Veerapat Sirilertvorakul
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 6) Nicholas Jonatha Wong
 * 7) 🇹🇼 Tobey Tamber
 * 8) Edsel Alvarez


 * GP Naples (6–7 April)
 * 1) 🇫🇷 Pierre Malherbaud
 * 2) Jelger Wiegersma
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Olivier Ruel
 * 5) 🇩🇪 Patrick Mello
 * 6) 🇩🇪 Iwan Tan
 * 7) 🇫🇷 Raphaël Lévy
 * 8) 🇩🇪 Christoph Lippert

Pro Tour – Nice (3–5 May 2002)
In Nice Kai Budde lost his first match on a Pro Tour Sunday, after winning his previous five Top 8. His third final day appearance and ensuing 36-point-lead virtually secured him the Pro Player of the Year title, though. The Pro Tour was won by Norwegian Eivind Nitter, while the Masters Series title went to Alexander Witt from the Netherlands.

Tournament data
Players: 332 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Odyssey Block Booster Draft (Odyssey-Torment) Head Judge: Cyril Grillon

Grand Prixs – Nagoya, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Sao Paulo, Taipei

 * GP Nagoya (11–12 May)
 * 1. P.S.2
 * 🇯🇵 Masahiro Kuroda
 * 🇯🇵 Katsuhiro Mori
 * 🇯🇵 Masahiko Morita
 * 2. S.S.D.
 * 🇯🇵 Naoki Kubouchi
 * 🇯🇵 Shuhei Nakamura
 * 🇯🇵 Kimio Imai
 * 3. NAGOYAN
 * 🇯🇵 Ryo Ogura
 * 🇯🇵 Ryoma Shiozu
 * 🇯🇵 Koji Nose
 * 4. N.G.O.K.
 * 🇯🇵 Takayuki Nagaoka
 * 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 🇯🇵 Masayuki Higashino


 * GP Milwaukee (11–12 May)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Eric Taylor
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Patrick Chapin
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Mike Turian
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Neil Reeves
 * 5) 🇺🇸 David Petersen
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Brian Kibler
 * 7) 🇺🇸 William Jensen
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Steve Cassell


 * GP New Jersey (29–30 June)
 * 1. The Jokas
 * 🇺🇸 Eric James
 * 🇺🇸 Kyle Rose
 * 🇺🇸 Norman Woods
 * 2. Illuminati
 * 🇺🇸 Justin Gary
 * 🇺🇸 Zvi Mowshowitz
 * 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 3. Team Cardshark
 * 🇺🇸 Jason Huang
 * 🇺🇸 Paul Sottosanti
 * 🇺🇸 Adam Fischer
 * 4. Lovespell
 * 🇺🇸 Alex Borteh
 * 🇺🇸 Chris Benafel
 * 🇺🇸 Eric Froehlich


 * GP São Paulo (13–14 July)
 * 1) 🇦🇷 Gabriel Caligaris
 * 2) 🇧🇷 Felipe Desiderati
 * 3) 🇫🇷 Antoine Ruel
 * 4) 🇧🇷 Luis Sérgio Massaro
 * 5) 🇧🇷 Raphael Fontana Günter
 * 6) 🇧🇷 André Barreto
 * 7) 🇧🇷 Michel Shirozono
 * 8) 🇧🇷 Rodrigo Castro


 * GP Taipei (13–14 July)
 * 1) 🇹🇼 Sheng Hsun Hsia
 * 2) 🇹🇼 Kang Nien Chiang
 * 3) 🇹🇼 Joe Yi Xiang Wang
 * 4) Albertus Law
 * 5) 🇹🇼 Morris Song
 * 6) 🇹🇼 Wen-Jien Hwang
 * 7) 🇹🇼 Chang Ming Tung
 * 8) 🇹🇼 Lucifar Sun

2002 World Championships – Sydney (14–18 August 2002)
As Jens Thorén had not scored any points since Nice and he was not on his national team the Pro Tour Player of the Year going to Kai Budde was already a sure thing before the tournament. While Carlos Romão from Brazil became World Champion by defeating Mark Ziegner from Germany in the final, the German team also starring Mark Ziegner won the team competition.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $210,200 (individual) + $162,000 (national teams) Players: 245 Formats: Standard, Odyssey Booster Draft (Odyssey-Torment-Judgment), Odyssey Block Constructed (Odyssey, Torment, Judgment) Head Judge: Collin Jackson

National team competition

 * 1) 🇩🇪 Germany (Mark Ziegner, Kai Budde, Felix Schneiders)
 * 2) 🇺🇸 United States (Andrew Ranks, Eugene Harvey, Eric Franz)

Pro Player of the year final standings
After the World Championship Kai Budde was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. He thus became the only player to win the title more than once. Budde's 117 Pro Points in this season to date is still the only time that a player garnered more than 100 Pro Points in a season, and his lead of 42 Pro Points over the second place is still the greatest ever achieved at the end of a season.