Hall of Fame Candidates Announced

by News | posted at 2010-09-05 23:24:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Pro Tour, PT, Brian Kibler, Amsterdam, Tomoharu Saito, Hall of Fame, HOF, Gabriel Nassif, Bram Snepvangers, MTGHOF

At Pro Tour-Amsterdam, the inclusions to the next Hall of Fame class were announced during the broadcast of the Top 8. The hall will expand by just three names, as it did in 2009. Those players? From France Gabriel Nassif, from the United States Brian Kibler, and from Japan Tomoharu Saito.

Nassif's inclusion into the Hall was never up for debate, but both Kibler and Saito were considered favorites whose slots were not sure-things. After returning to the Pro Tour after lengthy retirement, Kibler has Top 8'ed three additional Pro Tours including a win in Austin, as well as a Grand Prix win in Sendai. As if to add an exclamation point to the announcement, the California resident earned a fourth Top 8 in Amsterdam, losing in the Quarterfinals to Michael Jacob.

Saito will become the second Japanese player to be enshrined into the Hall, alongside Tsuyoshi Fujita. The Japense pro also has the indistinction of being one of three formerly suspended players to be enshrined (the previous being Olivier Ruel and Bob Maher). That fact kept him off a number of ballots though his resume leaves little to the imagination with regards to his qualifications, and he is currently a leader for the 2010 Player of the Year race.

Two players who didn't make the cut? Bram Snepvangers of the Pro Tour's host nation, the Netherlands, who missed by a single vote, and Anton Jonsson who has five Pro Tour Top 8's and made the single elimination rounds at Grand Prix-Gothenburg one weekend prior to the announcement. Both are considered strong candidates for inclusion in 2011 with Snepvangers missing the cut by a SINGLE vote, yielding 39% of the total tally needing 40% to make the cut. He was bolstered in his run by a web balloting effort that began here at TheStarkingtonPost.com.

The players will be inducted at the 2010 World Championships to be held in Chiba, Japan.

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