Kai Budde
| Kai Budde | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nicknames | The German Juggernaut Planeswalker Level 49 (Archmage) | |
Kai Budde (born 28 October 1979),
He has won five individual Pro Tour titles (no other player has won more than three), and two Team Pro Tour titles (alongside fellow Germans
Budde also won the 2001
Career
Early years
Budde started playing Magic in 1994 when he learned about the game from fellow gamers. As a player from Cologne he quickly became acquainted with more experienced players from the city such as later Pro Tour winner Frank Adler. His rise to professional play coincided with that of Dirk Baberowski, another Magic player who had moved to Cologne. Being at a comparable level of playing, both worked together to qualify for the Pro Tour. Budde succeeded on his second attempt, thus qualifying for the 1997 Pro Tour New York. As he had not yet turned eighteen Kai chose to attend the Junior Division of the tournament, eventually finishing among the best 32. Afterwards, the Junior Pro Tour was discontinued and Budde was automatically qualified for the following Pro Tour in Mainz.[10]
Kai finished 52nd in Mainz and for a while struggled to qualify for another Pro Tour but eventually managed to qualify for the
After adding an 11th-place finish at the next Pro Tour in London the rest of the
Five Pro Tour titles in two years
It took Kai until November 2000 to make another final eight appearance. A third place at Grand Prix Florence was followed by his second Pro Tour win. The 2000 Pro Tour Chicago title made him the third player to win more than one Pro Tour, the other two being Jon Finkel and Tommi Hovi. Winning Pro Tour Barcelona in the same season, Kai managed to surpass Finkel and Hovi to become the first player to win three Pro Tours. In the semi-final at Barcelona Budde had even asked if he could concede to his friend Patrick Mello to make him eligible for the next Masters, but the officials had refused.[10] Finally a 44th-place finish at the World Championship in Toronto sufficed to make Kai the first double Pro Player of the Year.
The
Throughout the season a few more Grand Prix titles followed and eventually he managed another Top 8 appearance at Pro Tour Nice, this time losing in the quarter-final to Bram Snepvangers. Before the final event of the season, the World Championship in Sydney, Kai was already locked in to succeed himself as Pro Tour Player of the Year. Only a week after Nice, Budde won the German Nationals, securing another title he had not won before and thus making the national team. While he finished 44th individually at the World Championship, Kai led the German team with Felix Schneiders, a fellow player from his Cologne days, and Mark Ziegner to the team title.
Phoenix Foundation won the first Pro Tour of the 2002–03 season, giving Kai an early lead in the Pro Player of the Year race. Also this set the three Phoenix Foundation members in the top three spots in lifetime Pro Tour wins until Jon Finkel overtook Blume with his victory in Kuala Lumpur five years later. After a few mediocre finishes through mid-season Kai won his seventh Pro Tour in Chicago, beating some of the most accomplished players such as Jon Finkel, William Jensen, and Nicolai Herzog along the way. Despite making no further Top 8 appearances in the season Kai was able to take his fourth Pro Player of the Year title with a comfortable lead.
Decline
In 2003–04 Phoenix Foundation managed to open with another top 4 appearance, but lost in the semi-final to the eventual winners. Kai managed to make a few more Top 8 appearance at Grand Prixs, among those a victory at the then biggest Magic tournament ever at Madrid, but his performances declined notably. He managed an undefeated first day at Pro Tour Philadelphia in the following season, but was quickly eliminated from the event afterwards. Budde has since been considered to be retired from Pro Play although he has shown up for a Pro Tour from time to time. Eventually he was inducted into the Hall of Fame at the 2007 World Championship in New York. Over the next years he played on the Pro Tour occasionally, but without much success. However, in 2010 Budde made his tenth Pro Tour top 8 in Amsterdam, and in 2011 he made his fifteenth Grand Prix top 8 in Paris. Since Pro Tour Return to Ravnica Budde has been a part of the team currently called 'The Pantheon', alongside players such as Jon Finkel, William Jensen, and Gabriel Nassif.[14] In 2019, he made the Top4 of the Mythic Championship III, a rebranded version of the Pro Tour, which was entirely played on Magic Arena. Then, in 2023, Budde made another Top8 at Pro Tour The Lord of the Rings in Barcelona.
Top 8 appearances
| Season | Event type | Location | Format | Date | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998–99 | Grand Prix | Birmingham | Block Constructed | 17–18 October 1998 | 2 |
| 1998–99 | Grand Prix | Barcelona | Limited | 6–7 February 1999 | 1 |
| 1998–99 | Grand Prix | Vienna | Extended | 13–14 March 1999 | 1 |
| 1998–99 | Grand Prix | Amsterdam | Limited | 15–16 May 1999 | 1 |
| 1998–99 | Worlds | Tokyo | Standard | 4–8 August 1999 | 1 |
1999–00
|
Invitational
|
Kuala Lumpur | Special | 2–5 March 2000 | 6 |
| 2000–01 | Grand Prix | Florence | Extended | 25–26 November 2000 | 3 |
| 2000–01 | Pro Tour
|
Chicago | Standard | 1–3 December 2000 | 1 |
| 2000–01 | Pro Tour
|
Barcelona | Limited | 4–6 May 2001 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Grand Prix | London | Block Constructed | 1–2 September 2001 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Pro Tour
|
New York | Team Limited | 7–9 September 2001 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Invitational
|
Cape Town | Special | 5–7 October 2001 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Pro Tour
|
New Orleans | Extended | 9–11 November 2001 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Grand Prix | Biarritz | Limited | 24–25 November 2001 | 2 |
| 2001–02 | Grand Prix | Lisbon | Extended | 19–20 January 2002 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Grand Prix | Antwerp | Limited | 2–3 March 2002 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Masters
|
Osaka | Team Limited | 14–17 March 2002 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Grand Prix | Naples | Limited | 6–7 April 2002 | 3 |
| 2001–02 | Pro Tour
|
Nice | Limited | 3–5 May 2002 | 5 |
| 2001–02 | Nationals | Germany | Special | 10–12 May 2002 | 1 |
| 2001–02 | Worlds | Sydney | National team | 10–14 August 2002 | 1 |
| 2002–03 | Pro Tour
|
Boston | Team Limited | 27–29 September 2002 | 1 |
| 2002–03 | Grand Prix | Copenhagen | Limited | 12–13 October 2002 | 3 |
| 2002–03 | Masters
|
Chicago | Standard | 16–19 January 2003 | 8 |
| 2002–03 | Pro Tour
|
Chicago | Limited | 17–19 January 2003 | 1 |
| 2003–04 | Pro Tour
|
Boston | Team Limited | 12–14 September 2003 | 4 |
| 2003–04 | Grand Prix | Gothenburg | Limited | 22–23 November 2003 | 4 |
| 2003–04 | Grand Prix | Madrid | Limited | 21–22 February 2004 | 1 |
| 2003–04 | Grand Prix | Brussels | Block Constructed | 29–30 May 2004 | 2 |
| 2005 | Invitational
|
Los Angeles | Special | 17–20 May 2005 | 7 |
| 2010 | Pro Tour
|
Amsterdam | Extended and Booster Draft | 3–5 September 2010 | 8 |
| 2011 | Grand Prix | Paris | Limited | 12–13 February 2011 | 5 |
| 2023 | Pro Tour
|
Barcelona | Modern | 28–30 July 2023 | 8 |
Last updated: 13 February 2011
Source: Wizards.com
Other accomplishments
- Pro Player of the Year 1998–1999
- Pro Player of the Year 2000–2001
- Pro Player of the Year 2001–2002
- Pro Player of the Year 2002–2003
- Magic Hall of Fame class of 2007 vote leader
References
- ^ Ravnicaexpansion)
- ^ "Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. 15 July 2014. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 7 August 2014. Archived from the original on 16 April 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 28 July 2014. Archived from the original on 8 August 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
- ^ "Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. 17 April 2013. Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2013.
- ^ "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 19 February 2008. Archived from the original on 14 March 2006. Retrieved 23 March 2008.
- ^ David-Marshall, Brian (22 June 2012). "Hall of Fame Calisthenics". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 24 June 2012. Retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ "Comment le Poker peut s'inspirer des autres Jeux populaires". 26 February 2020.
- ^ "Magic Pro Tour Hall of Fame Profiles - Kai Budde". Wizards of the Coast. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2008. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
- ^ a b c d Wise, Gary (July 2001). "Kai Budde: The Juggernaut". The Sideboard. 6 (37): 50–51.
- ^ Rosewater, Mark (26 July 2004). "On Tour, Part 1". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2009.
- ^ Forsythe, Aaron (January 2002). "Pro Tour–Boston Champions". The Sideboard. 8 (44): 14.
- ^ "2001 Pro Tour New York Coverage". Wizards of the Coast. 9 September 2001. Archived from the original on 24 October 2001. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
- ^ "Team Pantheon". ChannelFireball. Archived from the original on 9 December 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2014.
