Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2002–03

The 2002–03 Pro Tour season was the eighth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 24 August 2002 the season began with Grand Prix Sapporo. It ended on 10 August 2003 with the conclusion of the 2003 World Championship in Berlin. The season consisted of 21 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in Boston, Houston, Chicago, Venice, Yokohama, and Berlin. 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 for the third time in a row.

Grand Prixs – Sapporo, London, Cleveland

 * GP Sapporo (24–25 August)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Shinichi Kumagai
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Masahiko Morita
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Satoshi Nakamura
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Kenji Kimoto
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Junichi Kinoshita
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Yuta Hirosawa
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Nobuaki Shikata


 * GP London (31 August – 1 September)
 * 1) 🇨🇿 Jakub Slemr
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Christoph Hölzl
 * 3) Bram Snepvangers
 * 4) 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Craig Stevenson
 * 5) Pedro Velhinho
 * 6) 🇫🇷 Christophe Haim
 * 7) 🇮🇹 Dario Minieri
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Gérard Garcia


 * GP Cleveland (7–8 September)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Valentin Moskovich
 * 2) 🇨🇦 Gabriel Tsang
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Jeremy Pinter
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Matthew Schrempp
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Adam Prosak
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Dave Williams
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Brian Davis
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Rob Dougherty

Pro Tour – Boston (27–29 September 2002)
Boston saw Phoenix Foundation win once again. This put all team members on top in regards to overall Pro Tour victories as no other player had then won more than two Pro Tours. The victory was dryly commented as not surprising anyone anymore.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $200,100 Players: 363 (121 teams) Format: Team Sealed (Odyssey, Torment, Judgment) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Odyssey-Torment-Judgment) – final two days Head Judge: Nat Fairbanks

Grand Prixs – Hamburg, Utsonomiya, Copenhagen, Philadelphia

 * GP Hamburg (28–29 September)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Simon Hockwin
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Arndt Meier
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Jens Krause
 * 4) 🇩🇪 Patrick Plößer
 * 5) 🇩🇪 Nico Wendt
 * 6) 🇵🇱 Piotr Sienko
 * 7) 🇩🇪 Dennis Schmitz
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Jean Charles Salvin


 * GP Utsonomiya (12–13 October)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Rei Hashimoto
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Shuhei Nakamura
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Masashi Oiso
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Eiji Nomura
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Masanori Kobayashi
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Jin Okamoto
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Junichi Kinoshita


 * GP Copenhagen (12–13 October)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 2) 🇩🇪 Jens Krause
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Kai Budde
 * 4) 🇸🇪 Fredrik Boberg
 * 5) 🇩🇪 Dirk Baberowski
 * 6) 🇸🇪 Jens Thorén
 * 7) 🇸🇪 David Linder
 * 8) 🇫🇷 Fleurent Jeudon


 * GP Philadelphia (26–27 October)
 * 1) 🇨🇦 Jeff Cunningham
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Shaun Doran
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Eli Aden
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Morgan Douglass
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Nick Eisel
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Craig Krempels
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Patrick Sullivan
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Jacob Rabinowitz

Pro Tour – Houston (8–10 November 2002)
Pro Tour Houston featured the Extended format. The Ice Age and Mirage-blocks had just rotated out of the format along with 5th Edition, thus removing several of the former key cards from the format. Also Onslaught had become legal for Extended play shortly before the tournament. The most played deck was a "Reanimator"-deck that aimed to get a big creature into the graveyard early via. Afterwards it would try to get that one into play with. Other much-played decks included a combo-deck revolving around and a green-black midrange control deck called "The Rock".

Justin Gary won Pro Tour Houston with a deck revolving around. His teammates of "Your Move Games" (YMG), Rob Dougherty and Darwin Kastle, came in second and third. Instead of breaking the format with one kind of deck the YMG players in the top 8 even played all different decks, thereby losing games exclusively to one another. It was Rob Dougherty's fifth final day appearance.

Jens Thorén from Sweden won the final of the Master Series against Gary Wise.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $200,130 Players: 351 Format: Extended Head Judge: Rune Horvik

Winner's deck
Justin Gary's deck, named Turbo Oath, was designed to get a huge into play with  quickly. The deck and sideboard was mainly blue, but also included black and green.

Grand Prixs – Melbourne, Los Angeles, Reims, New Orleans

 * GP Melbourne (23–24 November)
 * 1) 🇦🇺 Ben Seck
 * 2) 🇦🇺 Tristan Gall
 * 3) 🇦🇺 Jarron Puszet
 * 4) 🇦🇺 Shun Jiang
 * 5) 🇳🇿 Richard Grace
 * 6) Milton Jian Xiong Lin
 * 7) 🇦🇺 Chris Allen
 * 8) 🇨🇳 Jake Hart


 * GP Los Angeles (23–24 November)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Philip Freneau
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Brian Hegstad
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Ken Krouner
 * 5) Peter Swarowski
 * 6) Allen Sun
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Nick Eisel
 * 8) 🇲🇽 Gerardo Gordinez Estrada


 * GP Reims (30 November – 1 December)
 * 1) 🇩🇪 Alex Mack
 * 2) 🇫🇷 Benjamin Caumes
 * 3) 🇩🇪 Patrick Mello
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Emmanuel Vernay
 * 5) 🇩🇪 Hans Joachim Hoeh
 * 6) 🇫🇷 Régis Lavoisier
 * 7) 🇩🇪 Christoph Lippert
 * 8) 🇸🇪 Anton Jonsson


 * GP New Orleans (3–4 January)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Zvi Mowshowitz
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Eugene Harvey
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Michael Pustilnik
 * 4) 🇦🇷 Diego Ostrovich
 * 5) 🇨🇦 Jeff Cunningham
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Morgan Douglass
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Carl Lobato
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Trey Van Cleave

Pro Tour – Chicago (17–19 January 2003)
In Chicago Kai Budde won his seventh Pro Tour. On his way to the title he defeated, William Jensen, Jon Finkel, and Nicolai Herzog, some of the most accomplished players in the game. Finkel had his tenth Top 8 showing, a feat matched even today only by Kai Budde and Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa. In the Masters final Franck Canu defeated Ken Ho.

Tournament data
Players: 349 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Rochester Draft (Onslaught) Head Judge: Mike Guptil

Grand Prixs – Hiroshima, Sevilla, Boston

 * GP Hiroshima (25–26 January)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Motokiyo Azuma
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Osamu Fujita
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Takao Higaki
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Kang Jisang
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Junichi Kinoshita
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Yoshitaka Nakano
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Atsushi Tabuchi


 * GP Sevilla (22–23 February)
 * 1) 🇸🇪 Anton Jonsson
 * 2) 🇧🇷 Carlos Romão
 * 3) 🇳🇴 Eivind Nitter
 * 4) 🇫🇷 Antoine Ruel
 * 5) Stan van der Velden
 * 6) 🇪🇸 Adriano Rohner
 * 7) 🇩🇪 David Brucker
 * 8) 🇪🇸 Javier Perez Fresnedo


 * GP Boston (22–23 February)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Brian Kibler
 * 2) Matthew Cory
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Aaron Breider
 * 4) 🇨🇦 Mark Zajdner
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Ben Rubin
 * 6) Joshua Wagener
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Zvi Mowshowitz
 * 8) Eric James

Pro Tour – Venice (21–23 March 2003)
Osyp Lebedowicz won Pro Tour Venice with a white and red deck revolving around the Cycling mechanic. It was the second-most popular deck at the tournament trailing only the deck played by his opponent Tomi Walamies in the final. Walamies played a red deck with a Goblin theme. The Masters was won by the Japanese team "PS2".

Tournament data
Players: 310 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Onslaught Block Constructed (Onslaught, Legions) Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Winner's decklist
Osyp Lebedowicz won the tournament with the following red and white deck revolving around the Cycling mechanism:

Grand Prixs – Kyoto, Singapore, Prague

 * GP Kyoto (29–30 March)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Akira Asahara
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Hisaya Tanaka
 * 3) 🇯🇵 Masashi Oiso
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Akihiro Takakuwa
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Shuhei Nakamura
 * 7) 🇯🇵 Ryouma Shiozu
 * 8) 🇯🇵 Yoshiaki Tashiro


 * GP Singapore (29–30 March)
 * 1) 🇸🇪 Mikael Polgary
 * 2) 🇲🇾 Terry Soh
 * 3) 🇸🇬 Kelvin Yew Teck Hoon
 * 4) 🇸🇬 Sam Lei Kang Lau
 * 5) 🇸🇬 Chang Chua
 * 6) 🇭🇰 Kai Cheong Tang
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Gary Talim
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Antonino De Rosa


 * GP Prague (12–13 April)
 * 1) 🇦🇹 Stefan Jedlicka
 * 2) 🇫🇷 Raphaël Lévy
 * 3) 🇳🇴 Thomas Gundersen
 * 4) David Jensen
 * 5) Jelger Wiegersma
 * 6) 🇫🇷 Gabriel Nassif
 * 7) 🇸🇪 Anton Jonsson
 * 8) 🇦🇹 Armin Birner

Pro Tour – Yokohama (9–11 May 2003)
Making the final eight for the third time this season Mattias Jorstedt won Pro Tour Yokohama. Jon Finkel also made another Top 8 appearance thus extending his lead in this category to eleven. In the final of the last Masters tournament Bob Maher, Jr. defeated Gabriel Nassif.

Tournament data
Players: 243 Prize Pool: $200,130 Format: Booster Draft (Onslaught-Legions) Head Judge: Rune Horvik

Grand Prixs – Pittsburgh, Amsterdam, Bangkok, Detroit

 * GP Pittsburgh (31 May – 1 June)
 * 1. Illuminati
 * 🇺🇸 Justin Gary
 * 🇺🇸 Zvi Mowshowitz
 * 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 2. Prodigy
 * 🇺🇸 James Duguid
 * 🇺🇸 Charles Gindy
 * 🇺🇸 Manny Orellana
 * 3. Phoque Foundation
 * 🇫🇷 Jean Charles Salvin
 * 🇨🇦 Pasquale Ruggiero
 * 🇨🇦 Jairo Liquidano
 * 4. Northern Lights No. 5
 * 🇺🇸 Justin Schneider
 * 🇺🇸 Michael Krzywicki
 * 🇺🇸 Mike Long


 * GP Amsterdam (7–8 June)
 * 1. Rankko Bongo Wheshiwheshi
 * 🇫🇷 Wilfried Ranque
 * 🇧🇷 Carlos Romão
 * 🇦🇷 Jose Barbero
 * 2. Ace Ten Off
 * Kamiel Cornelissen
 * 🇺🇸 Jon Finkel
 * 🇺🇸 Eric Froehlich
 * 3. Object of Affection
 * 🇫🇮 Tomi Walamies
 * 🇸🇪 Jens Thorén
 * 🇸🇪 Anton Jonsson
 * 4. Boston Tea Party
 * 🇩🇪 André Delere
 * 🇩🇪 Rolf Ottovordemgentschenfelde
 * 🇩🇪 René Kraft


 * GP Bangkok (12–13 July)
 * 1) 🇯🇵 Tsuyoshi Fujita
 * 2) 🇯🇵 Itaru Ishida
 * 3) 🇲🇾 Vincent Gan
 * 4) 🇯🇵 Osamu Fujita
 * 5) 🇯🇵 Masahiko Morita
 * 6) 🇯🇵 Tsutomu Yamada
 * 7) 🇹🇭 Peerapat Ekpoorthorn
 * 8) 🇹🇭 Noppadol Srirattana


 * GP Detroit (12–13 July)
 * 1) 🇺🇸 Bob Maher, Jr.
 * 2) 🇺🇸 Eugene Harvey
 * 3) 🇺🇸 Joshua Ravitz
 * 4) 🇺🇸 Alex Shvartsman
 * 5) 🇺🇸 Mark Herberholz
 * 6) 🇺🇸 Matt Severa
 * 7) 🇺🇸 Morgan Douglass
 * 8) 🇺🇸 Derek Starleaf

2003 World Championships – Berlin (6–10 August 2003)
German Daniel Zink won the 2003 World Championship, defeating Jin Okamoto from Japan in the finals. Both players played manaheavy control decks built around. Kai Budde was declared Pro Player of the year for the third time in a row as none of his pursuers made significant points at this tournament. The United States won the national team competition, defeating Finland in the finals.

Tournament data
Prize pool: $208,130 (individual) + $213,000 (national teams) Players: 309 Formats: Standard, Rochester Draft (Onslaught-Legions-Scourge), Extended Head Judge: Rune Horvik

National team competition

 * 1) 🇺🇸 United States (Justin Gary, Gabe Walls, Joshua Wagner)
 * 2) 🇫🇮 Finland (Tomi Walamies, Tuomo Nieminen, Arho Toikka)

Pro Player of the year final standings
After the World Championship Kai Budde was awarded his fourth Pro Player of the year title.