In accordance with Greg Collins, the main goal was tell stories about a player's motivation and his or her life outside of Magic that are hard to tell during the normal course of covering a tournament.
Magic: The Gathering (MTG; also known as Magic) is a trading card game created by Richard Garfield. First published in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast, Magic was the first trading card game produced and it continues to thrive, with approximately twenty million players as of 2015. Magic can be played by two or more players in various formats, the most common of which uses a deck of 60+ cards, either in person with printed cards or using a deck of virtual cards through the Internet-based Magic: The Gathering Online, on a smartphone or tablet, or other programs.
A 2004 article in "USA Today" suggested that playing Magic might help improve the social and mental skills of some of the players. The article interviewed players' parents who believe that the game, similar to sports, teaches children how to more gracefully win and lose. Magic also contains a great amount of strategy and vocabulary that children may not be exposed to on a regular basis. Parents also claimed that playing Magic helped keep their children out of trouble, such as using illegal drugs or joining criminal gangs. On the other hand the article also briefly mentions that Magic can be highly addictive, leading to parents worried about the Magic obsession of their kids. In addition, until 2007, some of the better players had opportunities to compete for a small number of scholarships.
The Pro Tour (often abbreviated as PT), is the highest form of competitive play for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It consists of a series of tournaments held throughout the world, each requiring an invitation to participate. Every Pro Tour awards a total of $250,000 in cash prizes, with $40,000 going to the winner. Pro Tour competitors also receive Pro Points, the amount depending on their results. Pro Points award special benefits to players, including automatic qualification and travel awards for subsequent Pro Tours. As of ReleaseFour Pro Tours are held during a twelve-month season.Finishing within the Top 8 of a Pro Tour is considered to be one of the greatest accomplishments a competitive Magic player can achieve. Professional players are thus often compared by the number of Pro Tour Top 8 finishes they have made throughout their career. The most successful players on the Pro Tour are Kai Budde, who won seven Pro Tours out of ten Top 8 finishes, and Jon Finkel, who won three Pro Tours, while making it to the Top 8 seventeen times.
The player who has played the most Pro Tours is Raphaël Lévy. As of Pro Tour Shadows over Innistrad, Levy has attended 90 Pro Tours.
Levy is also the player who has attended the most consecutive Pro Tours, with 86 since the 1998 World Championships.
The largest Pro Tour of all time was Pro Tour Charleston 2006, with 525 players (175 teams).The largest individual Pro Tour was Pro Tour Paris 2011, with 483 players.
The only player who has won two consecutive Pro Tour events was Kai Budde, who in 2001 followed up his win at PT New York with a win at PT New Orleans. No player has won back-to-back individual Pro Tours (at PT New York, a Team Limited event, Budde won alongside teammates Dirk Baberowski and Marco Blume).