日本語の取材へ

PRO TOUR PHILADELPHIA BLOG

BY JOSH BENNETT

When 16-year-old Gadiel Szleifer strode into the Feature Match Area sporting a "Taking Back Sunday" T-shirt, you could not have scripted a better finals. His opponent was 18-year-old Kenji Tsumura, and their battle went the full five games -- with Gadiel's back against the wall for the last two.

The T-shirt is for an alternative band, but it also told the story of Gadiel's alternative team of young North American Magic players looking to take back the glory of Sundays from the Dutch, French, and especially the Japanese. Gadiel has gone from rising star to superstar with his win this weekend. It was his second straight Constructed Top 8 finish, previously falling in the quarterfinals of Columbus.

Gadiel was the lone North American player on that Sunday, but he was joined by four other players from his home continent this time around. Americans Mark Herberholz, Ryan Cimera, and Jeff Novekoff were joined by Canadian Steve Wolfman -- proving that if you write about the demise of American Magic enough, you can light a fire under that segment of the community. Rounding out the Top 8 were Frenchman Olivier Ruel and Germany's Andre Mueller.

Coming into the tournament, people couldn't decide what was a greater danger, the sky falling or Umezawa's Jitte. This Top 8 should put that panic to rest. Only half the Top 8 players were wielding that particular hardware, and by the semifinals three of those players were outside looking for a draft. Sensei's Divining Top, on the other hand…

Two other stories this weekend were the skins style payout and the newly announced Player's Club. Of the 311 players in the tournament, only 40 of them left Philadelphia without a prize check.

The big winners were players who "leveled up" with their performances this weekend. Olivier Ruel and Julien Nuijten reached Level 6 -- more or less the financial equivalent of winning the Player of the Year race. They will now receive $2,000 appearance fees for Pro Tours, $500 for Grand Prix, and free travel and accommodations for every event from now through Worlds 2006.