My Hall of Fame Ballot

by Bill Stark | posted at 2010-08-28 01:49:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Pro Tour, Bill Stark, Video, Hall of Fame, HOF, MTGHOF

 

Gabriel Nassif

Gabriel Nassif will undoubtedly make the Pro Tour Hall of Fame this year. He may make it without dropping a single vote, the first player to do that in the history of the Hall. He is one of the game's all-time great players, but a ton of writers who have published their ballots have done a giant disservice to Gabe by writing of him simply "Hey, Gabe will make it, that's all that needs to be said, everyone else is writing about him." But you know what? Everyone else ISN'T writing about him because they're all using that tacky cop out, and that's a damn shame because Nassif is one of Magic's best on all fronts.

 

Take his career for example. His numbers are just sick; NINE Pro Tour Top 8's? The only other players who have more are named "Finkel" and "Kai." Gabe was the first player to wrest the Player of the Year title from Kai Budde's death grip on it during the early portion of this decade, and he is the last non-Japanese player to claim the title. And when a few naysayers began discussing his prospects for making it into the Hall of Fame, casting doubts over the fact his Pro Tour Title was good enough for the fact it was earned at a Team Pro Tour, Nassif won the first mixed-format Pro Tour in 2009 demonstrating a knack for both Constructed and Limited and the ability to switch formats, then won a Legacy Grand Prix a week later! All that as if EIGHT Pro Tour Top 8's weren't already enough before he managed to win in Kyoto.

 

In a conversation I had recently with Randy Buehler, himself a Hall of Famer, Randy pointed out that Gabe's longevity is truly a mind boggling stat. Many a player succeeded in the late 90's and early 2000's only to find themselves left in the dust as a world of Magic players raised on 24/7 gaming thanks to Magic Online began lapping them. Not Gabe; he only got better. His Top 8's are spread liberally throughout his career, including back-to-backs at Worlds.

 

I chatted with Gabe waiting to get our bags at the airport for Pro Tour-San Juan this year and asked him pointedly if he thought he would make the Hall on his first ballot in 2010. He gave a coy smile and answered honestly: his odds looked good. Gabe represents the game in a fashion that deserves all of our respect, playing at the top of its skillset for a decade, putting together one of the Top 3 resumes of all time, and continuing to battle even after going on to make thousands and thousands of dollars playing professional poker.

 

With my first vote of 2010, I happily select Gabriel Nassif.

 

Brian Kibler

The Dragonmaster loves Magic, and that's always endeared me to him. As a youngster watching the game from afar Brian and Ben Rubin helped represent the possibility that I could succeed on the Pro Tour too, despite being young. He has always loved the game, even after moving on to play other things like Versus, where he was also a champion. Now Brian works in the gaming industry, but after winning a random PTQ in Las Vegas over a year ago he has put together a hell of a run with a PT win and Grand Prix success too. His three Pro Tour Top 8's leave him a little light on the competitive resume side, but his larger than life personality, writing, and other contributions to the game make up for other areas that are weaker.

 

Anton Jonsson

Anton Jonsson makes my list because of Ted Knutson. In a note on Facebook, Teddy Cardgames pointed out Jonsson's resume is just Hall bulletproof, with 5 Pro Tour Top 8's in multiple formats, nearly a dozen Grand Prix Top 8's, and a desire for the game that continues today seeing Anton sitting with some 200 draft sets of each of the most recent expansions of Magic on his MTGO account. That snapped me out of forgetting about Anton who did a disservice to himself for not speaking up about the Hall or making himself more public around balloting. But that shouldn't be a strike against him, and thanks to Ted I was saved from having a ballot missing the supremely qualified Jonsson from it.

 

Steve O'Mahoney-Schwartz

Steve benefits from the opposite scenario of Anton; his resume is Hall worthy, but he has had a very public push to get him selected for 2010. I'm voting for Steve because I feel his career merits being included, though being reminded of that fact incessantly during the balloting process certainly helped in remembering that fact. A member of the first cabal of players that started traveling the world to pick up Pro Points from foreign Grand Prixs, Steve was teammates with Jon Finkel for a long time. That's high praise before you even consider the fact he is a Pro Tour champion as well.

 

Scott Johns

It is a shame to me each year that Scott gets as few votes as he does. There was a time when Scott was arguably the best player in the world, making Top 8 after Top 8 before winning alongside teammates Mike Turian and Gary Wise as members of Team Potato Nation. Those teammates are now in the Hall of Fame themselves, and when Scott won his match to clinch the title from their Pro Tour together, he was clearly emotional about finally closing. In addition to his career on the Pro Tour, Scott pioneered the world of Magic media online paving the way for sites like TheStarkingtonPost.com. He left the Pro Tour to help blaze that trail for Wizards of the Coast as the editor for DailyMTG.com.

 

Closing Thoughts

Sheldon Menery's ballot has convinced me that the correct play is to not vote for a player on their first ballot who has been suspended during their career. That means for this year there is no vote for Tomoharu Saito, though if he doesn't get in I expect to vote for him in 2011. It also means I wouldn't have voted for Olivier Ruel or Bob Maher, despite the fact Bob was one of my Magic heroes growing up in the Midwest and the fact that I DID vote for Olivier his first time out.

 

If I had a sixth vote this year, I would have put Bram Snepvangers on the ballot. I almost put him on over Steve OMS. He's close, and I hope as the next few years level out and the ballot softens a bit that Bram makes the cut if he doesn't this year.

 

Finally, while I rooted for Chris Pikula growing up with the Pro Tour, and I have a great deal of respect for what he represented to the professional game. It wouldn't be today what it is without what he did then, serving as its early sheriff and working with the Deadguys to clean up cheaters. However I didn't have enough votes on my ballot this year to include him, and his lack of a Pro Tour title keeps him off my ballot. I'd love to see him get back on Tour and put up a finish, similar to what Jamie Parke has done, but without another finish and a public face indicating he's still tied to the game, I just don't have room on my ballot to squeeze him in.

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