Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2003–04

The 2003–04 Pro Tour season was the ninth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 23 August 2003 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Yokohama and London. It ended on 5 September 2004 with the conclusion of the 2004 World Championship in San Francisco. Beginning with this season Wizards of the Coast moved the Pro Tour schedule farther backwards in the year to synchronize it with the calendar year. The season consisted of 26 Grand Prixs and 7 Pro Tours, held in Boston, New Orleans, Amsterdam, Kobe, San Diego, Seattle, and San Francisco. Also the Master Series tournaments were discontinued and replaced by payout at the end of the year based on the Pro Player of the year standings. At the end of the season Gabriel Nassif was proclaimed Pro Player of the year, the first player after Kai Budde's three-year-domination period, and also the first player to win the title without winning a Pro Tour in the same season.

2003–04 Pro Tour season

Pro Player of the Year	Gabriel Nassif
Rookie of the Year	Julien Nuijten
World Champion	Julien Nuijten
Pro Tours	7
Grands Prix	26
Start of season	23 August 2003
End of season	5 September 2004
← 2002–03 2005 →

Grand Prixs – Yokohama, London, Atlanta

GP Yokohama (23–24 August)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Shu Komuro
2. Kazuki Kato
3. Masashiro Kuroda
4. Yuichi Yamagishi
5. Masahiko Morita
6. Shuhei Nakamura
7. Kazuyuki Momose
8. Yusuke Osaka

GP London (23–24 August)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Diego Ostrovich
2. Yann Hamon
3. Mario Pascoli
4. Eivind Nitter
5. Antonino De Rosa
6. Jose Barbero
7. Josh Rider
8. Frank Karsten

GP Atlanta (30–31 August)

• Format: Standard

1. Marco Blume
2. Matt Linde
3. Joshua Wagener
4. Keith McLaughlin
5. Zvi Mowshowitz
6. Keith Thompson
7. Sean Buckley
8. Tim Bonneville

Pro Tour – Boston (12–14 September 2003)

"Phoenix Foundation" had its third consecutive Pro Tour Top 4 appearance, but this time they were eliminated by eventual champions "The Brockafellars". The team consisting of William Jensen, Matt Linde, and Brock Parker had allegedly not done a single practice draft in the format.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,100
Players: 399 (133 teams)
Format: Team Sealed (Onslaught, Legions, Scourge) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Onslaught-Legions-Scourge) – final two days
Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Top 4

	Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Zabutan Nemonaut	0
	4	Original Slackers	2
						Original Slackers		0
						The Brockafellars		2
	2	Phoenix Foundation	0
	3	The Brockafellars	2

Final standings

Place	Team	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	The Brockafellars	Brock Parker	$60,000	24
		William Jensen		24	4th Final day
		Matt Linde		24	2nd Final day
2	Original Slackers	Lovre Crnobori	$30,000	18
		Jake Smith		18
		Rickard Österberg		18
3	Zabutan Nemonaut	Mike Turian	$18,000	12	3rd Final day
		Gary Wise		12	4th Final day
		Eugene Harvey		12	2nd Final day
4	Phoenix Foundation	Marco Blume	$15,000	12	3rd Final day
		Kai Budde		12	9th Final day
		Dirk Baberowski		12	5th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Matt Linde	29
2	William Jensen	24
	Brock Parker	24
4	Marco Blume	18
	Lovre Crnobori	18
	Rickard Österberg	18
	Jake Smith	18

Grand Prixs – Genova, Sydney, Kansas City, Lyon

GP Genova (13–14 September)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Reinhard Blech
2. Jan Doise
3. Stefano Fiore
4. André Müller
5. Simone Carboni
6. Alessandro Vegna
7. Marco Benifei
8. Martin Heidemann

GP Sydney (4–5 October)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Andrew Grain
2. Andrew Gordon
3. Lenny Collins
4. Itaru Ishida
5. Shun Jiang
6. Jake Hart
7. Daniel Turner
8. Tim He

GP Kansas City (18–19 October)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Antonino De Rosa
2. Nathan Heiss
3. Ben Stark
4. Brian Kibler
5. Michael Krumb
6. Gerry Thompson
7. Justin Smith
8. Jonathan Cassidy

GP Lyon (25–26 October)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Yann Hamon
2. Bruno Carvalho
3. Daniel Madan
4. Jeroen Remie
5. Kevin Desprez
6. Loïc Degrau
7. Sebastien Bernaud
8. Jelger Wiegersma

Pro Tour – New Orleans (31 October – 2 November 2003)

After finishing second with his team in Boston, Rickard Österberg returned to win Pro Tour New Orleans. The Extended format of New Orleans is considered to be one of the most powerful of all time and Österberg's deck was built around the soon to be banned card Tinker, too.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $200,130
Players: 318
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Mike Guptil

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Hans Joachim Höh	1
	8	Masashi Oiso	3
						Masashi Oiso		2
						Gabriel Nassif		3
	4	Gabriel Nassif	3
	5	Tomohiro Yokosuka	0
											Gabriel Nassif		2
											Rickard Österberg		3
	2	Yann Hamon	*
	7	Nicolas Labarre	*
						Yann Hamon		0
						Rickard Österberg		3
	3	Eugene Harvey	2
	6	Rickard Österberg	3

^* Hamon and Labarre both had to catch a flight on the morning of the Top 8 and did not want to book two new flights. They thus played an unofficial match at their hotel on the preceding evening to decide who would officially concede to the other. Hamon won 3–2.

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Rickard Österberg	$30,000	32	2nd Final day
2	Gabriel Nassif	$20,000	24	3rd Final day
3	Yann Hamon	$15,000	16
4	Masashi Oiso	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Hans Joachim Höh	$9,500	12
6	Eugene Harvey	$8,500	12	3rd Final day
7	Tomohiro Yokosuka	$7,500	12
8	Nicolas Labarre	$6,500	12	4th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Rickard Österberg	50
2	Matt Linde	31
3	Gabriel Nassif	30
4	Yann Hamon	27
5	Brock Parker	26
	William Jensen	26

Grand Prixs – Shizuoka, Gothenburg, Munich, Anaheim

GP Shizuoka (8–9 November)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Kazuki Katou
2. Satoshi Harada
3. Koichiro Maki
4. Tomohide Sasagawa
5. Kei Ikeda
6. Ken'Ichi Fujita
7. Ryouma Shiozu
8. Yusuke Sasaki

GP Gothenburg (22–23 November)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Jelger Wiegersma
2. Tommi Hovi
3. Daniel Bertelsen
4. Kai Budde
5. Sam Gomersall
6. Daniel Zink
7. David Linder
8. Benjamin Lindqvist

GP Munich (6–7 December)

• Format: Rochester Draft

1. Yann Hamon
2. Reinhard Blech
3. Georgios Kapalas
4. Stefan Schwaiger
5. Tobias Kroll
6. Hannes Scholz
7. Steven Gouin
8. Dirk Hein

GP Anaheim (13–14 December)

• Format: Extended

1. Ben Rubin
2. Nathan Saunders
3. Nick Meves
4. Peter Szigeti
5. Ben Stark
6. Paul Rietzl
7. Blake Quelle
8. Gerard Fabiano

Pro Tour – Amsterdam (16–18 January 2004)

Norwegian Nicolai Herzog defeated Osamu Fujita in the finals to win Pro Tour Amsterdam. Other than Fujita and Herzog the final eight included only accomplished players with at least one other lifetime Pro Tour final day appearance.

Tournament data

Players: 347
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Rochester Draft (Mirrodin)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Farid Meraghni	1
	8	Nicolai Herzog	3
						Nicolai Herzog		3
						Olivier Ruel		0
	4	Olivier Ruel	3
	5	Mike Turian	1
											Nicolai Herzog		3
											Osamu Fujita		0
	2	Kamiel Cornelissen	1
	7	Osamu Fujita	3
						Osamu Fujita		3
						Anton Jonsson		2
	3	Aeo Paquette	0
	7	Anton Jonsson	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Nicolai Herzog	$30,000	32	3rd Final day
2	Osamu Fujita	$20,000	24
3	Anton Jonsson	$15,000	16	3rd Final day
4	Olivier Ruel	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Kamiel Cornelissen	$9,000	12	3rd Final day
6	Aeo Paquette	$8,500	12	Pro Tour debut
7	Farid Meraghni	$8,000	12	2nd Final day
8	Mike Turian	$7,500	12	4th Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Rickard Österberg	52
2	Nicolai Herzog	38
3	Yann Hamon	36
4	Osamu Fujita	34
	Matt Linde	34
	Gabriel Nassif	34

Grand Prixs – Okayama, Oakland, Madrid

GP Okayama (24–25 January)

• Format: Extended

1. Kazuya Shiki
2. Itaru Ishida
3. Akira Asahara
4. SangRyeol Lee
5. Shinsuke Hayashi
6. Asuka Doi
7. Chikara Nakajima
8. Kazura Hirabayashi

GP Oakland (7–8 February)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Ken Ho
2. Dave Humpherys
3. Mike Turian
4. Ian Spaulding
5. Mitchell Tamblyn
6. Ben Rubin
7. Paul Rietzl
8. Gabe Walls

GP Madrid (21–22 February)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Kai Budde
2. Bernardo Da Costa Cabral
3. Dirk Hein
4. Raphaël Lévy
5. Thomas Gundersen
6. Aniol Alcaraz
7. Jaime Marrero
8. Tommi Lindgren

Pro Tour – Kobe (27–29 February 2004)

On home turf Masashiro Kuroda won the first Pro Tour title for Japan, defeating Gabriel Nassif in the finals.

Tournament data

Players: 239
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Mirrodin Block Constructed (Mirrodin, Darksteel)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Luigi Sbrozzi	1
	8	Jelger Wiegersma	3
						Jelger Wiegersma		1
						Gabriel Nassif		3
	4	Ben Stark	2
	5	Gabriel Nassif	3
											Gabriel Nassif		1
											Masashiro Kuroda		3
	2	Raffaele Lo Moro	0
	7	Masashiro Kuroda	3
						Masashiro Kuroda		3
						Alexandre Peset		2
	3	Alexandre Peset	3
	6	Stefano Fiori	2

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Masashiro Kuroda	$30,000	32	1st Japanese Player to win a Pro Tour
2	Gabriel Nassif	$20,000	24	4th Final day
3	Alexandre Peset	$15,000	16	Pro Tour debut
4	Jelger Wiegersma	$13,000	16	2nd Final day
5	Luigi Sbrozzi	$9,000	12	Pro Tour debut
6	Raffaele Lo Moro	$8,500	12	2nd Final day
7	Ben Stark	$8,000	12
8	Stefano Fiori	$7,500	12

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Rickard Österberg	59
2	Gabriel Nassif	58
3	Kai Budde	43
4	Osamu Fujita	42
5	Nicolai Herzog	41

Grand Prixs – Hong Kong, Sendai, Columbus, Birmingham, Washington DC, Bochum

GP Hong Kong (6–7 March)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Chuen Hwa Tan
2. Olivier Ruel
3. Masashi Oiso
4. Gabe Walls
5. Takuya Osawa
6. Steven Tan
7. Terry Soh
8. Chi-Chung Hwang

GP Sendai (20–21 March)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Ichiro Shimura
2. Masahiko Morita
3. Yusuke Sasaki
4. Antoine Ruel
5. Jin Okamoto
6. Toshihisa Yamanaka
7. Hiroto Yasutomi
8. Ippei Sogabe

GP Columbus (27–28 March)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Mike Turian
2. Craig Krempels
3. Aaron Lipcynski
4. Cedric Phillips
5. Kate Stavola
6. Matt Larson
7. Brandon Rickard
8. Brock Parker

GP Birmingham (27–28 March)

• Format: Sealed and Booster Draft

1. Stefan Jedlicka
2. René Kraft
3. Frank Karsten
4. David Grant
5. Mattias Jorstedt
6. Jose Barbero
7. Kamman Janpiam
8. Niki Jedlicka

GP Washington D.C. (17–18 April)

• Format: Team Limited

1. Thaaaat's me

Chris Fennell

Bill Stead

Charles Gindy

2. Shenanigans

Adam Horvath

Osyp Lebedowicz

Patrick Sullivan

3. Your Move Games/Illuminati

Darwin Kastle

Rob Dougherty

Alex Shvartsman

4. Re-Elect Gore

Jon Finkel

Brian Kibler

Eric Froehlich

GP Bochum (17–18 April)

• Format: Team Limited

1. Schietkoe

Stijn Cornelissen

Tom van de Logt

Jesse Cornelissen

2. Team Burkas

Nicolai Herzog

Anton Jonsson

Tuomo Nieminen

3. The Unusual Suspects

David Brucker

Reinhard Blech

Dirk Hein

4. NPC All Stars

Sylvain Lehoux

Alexandre Peset

Loic Degrou

Pro Tour – San Diego (14–16 May 2004)

The second Mirrodin Draft Pro Tour saw three players amongst the final four, who had already finished in the Top 8 in the first Mirrodin Draft Pro Tour. Nicolai Herzog even followed his Amsterdam win up with another win victory, thus taking home the title in both Mirrodin Draft Pro Tours.

Tournament data

Players: 312
Prize Pool: $200,130
Format: Mirrodin Booster Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel)
Head Judge: Collin Jackson

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Masashi Oiso	1
	8	Anton Jonsson	3
						Anton Jonsson		2
						Antoine Ruel		3
	4	Antoine Ruel	3
	5	Angel Perez del Pozo	2
											Antoine Ruel		0
											Nicolai Herzog		3
	2	Mike Turian	3
	7	Mark Herberholz	0
						Mike Turian		1
						Nicolai Herzog		3
	3	Ben Stark	0
	6	Nicolai Herzog	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Nicolai Herzog	$30,000	32	4th Final day, 2nd Pro Tour win
2	Antoine Ruel	$20,000	24	2nd Final day
3	Mike Turian	$15,000	16	5th Final day
4	Anton Jonsson	$13,000	16	4th Final day
5	Mark Herberholz	$9,000	12
6	Ben Stark	$8,500	12	2nd Final day
7	Angel Perez del Pozo	$8,000	12	Pro Tour debut
8	Masashi Oiso	$7,500	12	3rd Final day

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Nicolai Herzog	77
2	Rickard Österberg	65
3	Gabriel Nassif	63
4	Antoine Ruel	53
5	Kai Budde	47

Grand Prixs – Brussels, Zurich

GP Brussels (29–30 May)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Tobias Henke
2. Kai Budde
3. Julien Nuijten
4. Vasilis Fatouros
5. Johannes Mitsios
6. Xuan-Phi Nguyen
7. Maxime Fays
8. Stefano Fiore

GP Zurich (26–27 June)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Manuel Bucher
2. Matteo Cirigliano
3. Sebastien Roux
4. Frank Karsten
5. Leonard Barbou
6. Bertrand Fagnoni
7. Timo Groth
8. Charles Delvaux

Pro Tour – Seattle (9–11 July 2004)

Team "Von Dutch" from the Netherlands defeated Japanese "www.shop-fireBall.com2" in the finals to become the 2004 Pro Tour Seattle champions. The team consisted of Jeroen Remie, Jelger Wiegersma, and Kamiel Cornelissen.

Tournament data

Players: 321 (107 teams)
Prize Pool: $200,100
Format: Team Sealed (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn) – first day, Team Rochester Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk

Top 4

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals
	1	Von Dutch	2
	4	Pocket Rockets	1
						Von Dutch		2
						www.shop-fireball.com2		1
	3	www.shop-fireball.com2	2
	2	S.A.I.	1

Final standings

Place	Team	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Von Dutch	Jeroen Remie	$60,000	24	3rd Final day
		Jelger Wiegersma		24	3rd Final day
		Kamiel Cornelissen		24	4th Final day
2	www.shop-fireball.com2	Itaru Ishida	$30,000	18
		Tsuyoshi Ikeda		18	2nd Final day
		Jin Okamoto		18	2nd Final day
3	S.A.I.	Ichirou Shimura	$18,000	12
		Masami Ibamoto		12
		Ryuuichi Arita		12
4	Pocket Rockets	Paul Russell	$16,200	12	Pro Tour debut
		Joseph Derro		12	Pro Tour debut
		Matthew Wood		12	Pro Tour debut

Pro Player of the year standings

Rank	Player	Pro Points
1	Nicolai Herzog	80
2	Gabriel Nassif	71
	Rickard Österberg	71
4	Jelger Wiegersma	64
5	Antoine Ruel	61

Grand Prixs – Kuala Lumpur, Orlando, New Jersey, Nagoya

GP Kuala Lumpur (24–25 July)

• Format: Standard

1. Masahiko Morita
2. Kwan Ching Yuen
3. Zhen Xing Gao
4. Tsuyoshi Fujita
5. Sim Han How
6. Cheng Wee Pek
7. Bernard Chan
8. Khang Jong Kuan

GP Orlando (24–25 July)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Osyp Lebedowicz
2. Michael Kuhmann
3. Adam Chernoff
4. Taylor Parnell
5. William Jensen
6. Antonino De Rosa
7. Jeff Garza
8. Harry Durnan

GP New Jersey (14–15 August)

• Format: Block Constructed

1. Jeff Garza
2. Brian Kibler
3. Eugene Harvey
4. Jeroen Remie
5. Jan Holland
6. Adam Horvath
7. Alexandre Peset
8. Ty Dobbertin

GP Nagoya (28–29 August)

• Format: Standard

1. Tatsunori Kishi
2. Keisuke Hashimoto
3. Masami Ibamoto
4. Shun Iizuka
5. Toru Takeshita
6. Yuhi Kubota
7. Masaki Yokoi
8. Tomoharu Saitou

2004 World Championships – San Francisco (1–5 September 2004)

Main article: Magic: The Gathering World Championship § 2004 World Championship

Fifteen-year-old Julien Nuijten from the Netherlands won the 2004 World Championship, defeating Aeo Paquette in the finals. Gabriel Nassif had his third final eight appearance within the season and thus claimed Pro Player of the year title. It was also his and Kamiel Cornelissen's fifth overall Top 8. Germany won the national team competition, defeating Belgium in the finals.

Tournament data

Prize pool: $208,130 (individual) + $208,000 (national teams)
Players: 304
Formats: Standard, Booster Draft (Mirrodin-Darksteel-Fifth Dawn), Mirrodin Block Constructed (Mirrodin, Darksteel, Fifth Dawn)
Head Judge: Gijsbert Hoogendijk, Collin Jackson

Top 8

	Quarter-finals					Semi-finals					Finals
	1	Kamiel Cornelissen	1
	8	Manuel Bevand	3
						Manuel Bevand		1
						Aeo Paquette		3
	4	Aeo Paquette	3
	5	Gabriel Nassif	1
											Aeo Paquette		1
											Julien Nuijten		3
	2	Julien Nuijten	3
	7	Murray Evans	2
						Julien Nuijten		3
						Ryou Ogura		2
	3	Terry Soh	2
	6	Ryou Ogura	3

Final standings

Place	Player	Prize	Pro Points	Comment
1	Julien Nuijten	$35,000	32	Pro Tour debut
2	Aeo Paquette	$23,000	24	2nd Final day
3	Ryou Ogura	$15,000	16
4	Manuel Bevand	$13,000	16
5	Kamiel Cornelissen	$9,500	12	5th Final day
6	Terry Soh	$8,500	12
7	Gabriel Nassif	$7,500	12	5th Final day
8	Murray Evans	$6,500	12

National team competition

1. Germany (Sebastian Zink, Torben Twiefel, Roland Bode)
2. Belgium (Dilson Ramos Da Fonseca, Vincent Lemoine, Geoffrey Siron)

Pro Player of the year final standings

After the World Championship Gabriel Nassif was awarded the Pro Player of the year title. He was the first player to win the title without winning a Pro Tour in the same season.

Rank	Player	Pro Points	Prize
1	Gabriel Nassif	86	$20,000
2	Nicolai Herzog	82	$19,800
3	Rickard Österberg	76	$19,600
4	Antoine Ruel	68	$19,400
5	Jelger Wiegersma	66	$19,200