The 1998–99 Pro Tour season was the fourth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 5 September 1998 with Grand Prix Boston and ended on 8 August 1999 with the conclusion of 1999 World Championship in Tokyo. The season consisted of fourteen Grand Prix, and five Pro Tours, located in Chicago, Rome, Los Angeles, New York, and Tokyo. At the end of the season Kai Budde from Germany was awarded the Pro Player of the year title.
Grand Prix – Boston, Lisbon
GP Boston (5–6 September) Jon Finkel Randy Buehler Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz Zvi Mowshowitz Darwin Kastle Mike Bregoli Dave Beury Ben Farkas
GP Lisbon (12–13 September) Bruno Cardoso Brian Hacker Randy Buehler Helder Coelho Jean-Louis D'Hondt Laurent Pagorek Alexis Dumay Jorge Martins
Pro Tour – Chicago (25–27 September 1998)
As in the previous season a rookie won the inaugural Pro Tour. In the finals Dirk Baberowski defeated Casey McCarrel. Jon Finkel also had another final eight showing, his third in a row.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 324
Format: Tempest Booster Draft (Tempest-Stronghold-Exodus) Head Judge: Charlie Catino
Top 8
Loser's Bracket
Pro Tour Chicago also had Top 8 loser's bracket, that had matches held as best of three instead of five. The first round paired the quarter-finals losers against each other. Finkel defeated Coene 2–1 and Fuller defeated Cedercrantz 2–0. In the second and final round the winners of the first round were paired against the losers of the Top 8 semi-finals. Fung defeated Finkel 2–1 and Klauser defeated Fuller 2–1.
Final standings
Grand Prix – Austin, Birmingham
GP Austin (10–11 October) Gary Krakower Darwin Kastle Heath Kennel Richard Van Cleave Jeremy Baca Tony Tsai Sid Rao Jonathan Pechon
GP Birmingham (17–18 October) Craig Jones Kai Budde Darwin Kastle Neil Rigby Arho Toikka Warren Marsh Andreas Jonsson Jean-Louis D'Hondt
Pro Tour – Rome (13–15 November 1998)
Tommi Hovi won Pro Tour Rome, thus becoming the first player to win two Pro Tours. Reportedly Hovi was particularly happy to win another Pro Tour, because he won his first due to a disqualification, and thus felt it was not a proper victory. Olle Råde became the first player to have five Top 8 appearances.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 266
Format: Extended
Head Judge: Carl Crook
Top 8
Loser's Bracket
The first round of the loser's bracket paired the quarter-finals losers against each other. Le Pine defeated Lauer 2–0 and Gary defeated Konstanczer 2–1. In the second and final round of the loser's bracket the winners of the first round were paired against the losers of the Top 8 semi-finals. Dato defeated Gary 2–1 and Le Pine defeated Råde 2–1.
Final standings
Grand Prix – Manila, Kyoto, San Francisco, Barcelona
GP Manila (12–13 December) Toshiki Tsukamoto Scion Raguindin Josua Rivera Leo Gonzales Rozano Yu Francis Robert Profeta GeeVee Vegara Itaru Ishida
GP San Francisco (23–24 January) Richard Van Cleave Mark Schick John Yoo Alan Comer Mike Craig Shawn Keller Hashim Bello Shawn Roush
GP Kyoto (16–17 January) Yoshikazu Ishii Hiroshi Watanabe Masami Ibamoto Tsuyoshi Fujita Tadayoshi Komiya Hirobumi Nakamura Hideaki Amano Eisaku Sueyoshi
GP Barcelona (6–7 February) Kai Budde Alex Shvartsman Roc Herms Raphaël Lévy Daniel Nuttal Matt Henstra Laurent Laclavie Gordon Benson
Pro Tour – Los Angeles (26–28 February 1999)
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz won Pro Tour Los Angeles defeating his friend and fellow New Yorker Jon Finkel in the final.
Tournament data
Prize pool: $151,635
Players: 337
Format: Urza's Saga Rochester Draft (Urza's Saga) Head Judge: Charlie Catino
Top 8
* = The semi-final of O'Mahoney-Schwartz against Lau went over six games. One of the games had been a draw. After five games the score was 2–2 and a draw, thus the sixth game became necessary.
Final standings
Grand Prix – Vienna, Kansas City, Oslo, Taipei
GP Vienna (13–14 March) Kai Budde Christian Gregorich Jon Finkel Erik Lauer Randy Buehler Jakub Slemr Dirk Hein Peer Kröger
GP Oslo (10–11 April) Jim Herold Mikko Lintamo Christer Ljones Bjørn Ove Leknes Skogneth Seppo Toikka Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz André Konstanczer Jonathan Brown
GP Kansas City (27–28 March) Mark Gordon Chris Pikula Bob Maher, Jr. Scott Seville Jon Finkel Lan D. Ho Randy Buehler Vincent Johnson
GP Taipei (24–25 April) Kenichi Fujita Iwao Takemasa Tobey Tamber Itaru Ishida Chi Fai Ng Kai Cheog Tang Alex Shvartsman Miller Tsai