Raphaël Lévy

Raphaël Lévy is a professional Magic: The Gathering player. He was inducted to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in November 2006. He is the first player to have been inducted while active on the Pro Tour.[6] He is one of only six players to have won a Grand Prix on three different continents (the others being Shuhei Nakamura, Alex Shvartsman, Carlos Romão, Yuuya Watanabe, and Martin Juza). He's holding the second most lifetime Pro Points behind Shuhei Nakamura.

For other uses, see Raphaël Lévy (disambiguation).
Raphaël Lévy
Born (1981-09-25) September 25, 1981[1]
Toulouse, France
ResidenceToulouse, France
NationalityFrench
Pro Tour debut1997 Pro Tour Paris[1]
Winnings$526,463[2]
Pro Tour wins (Top 8)0 (6)[3]
Grand Prix wins (Top 8)6 (23)[4]
Lifetime Pro Points695[5]

Career

Raphaël Lévy began his Pro Tour career in 1997 at Pro Tour Paris. A 130th-place finish meant he did not qualify for the next Pro Tour. After missing Pro Tour New York, he qualified for the 1997 World Championship, and did not miss a Pro Tour until Pro Tour Ixalan due to the birth of his child.

Lévy first began to attract attention the following season first by winning Grand Prix Lyon and then reaching the top eight of the World Championship.[7] He was the only non-American in an impressive top eight whose players now have a combined 37 Pro Tour Sunday appearances.

In 1998-99, Lévy continued to perform well with fourth-place finishes in Grand Prix Barcelona and the European Championship in Berlin.[8] Before the turn of the millennium, Lévy put up his second Pro Tour Top eight. A semifinal loss to Brian Davis saw Lévy put up yet another fourth-place finish.[9]

Over the following six years, Lévy did well without standing out. He remained continuously qualified for the Pro Tour, and put up nine Grand Prix top eights. However, his third Pro Tour Top Eight would not come until seven years after his second. In 2006, Lévy's two Pro Tour Top Eights and streak of then 47 consecutive Pro Tours attended were enough to get him inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. This honour served to reinvigorate Lévy's game. The following season, he won back to back Grand Prix in Dallas and Singapore. He made his third Pro Tour Top eight in Yokohama, making him the first Hall of Famer to make it back to the Sunday stage.[10]

Since then, Lévy has returned to putting up solid Pro Tour finishes without reaching the top eight, and has put up five more Grand Prix top eights, one of which was his fourth Grand Prix title.[11]

In 2012, at Pro Tour Dark Ascension Lévy earned 6 pro points equalling the 500 lifetime pro points record of Kai Budde.[12] Raphael Levy also became the 2012 French National Champion by being the highest ranked French player after Pro Tour Avacyn Restored, and as a result was part of the French National Team at the inaugural 2012 World Magic Cup, where they finished in 10th place. Levy was in 2013 once again the highest ranking French player, and at the 2013 World Magic Cup he captained the French team to victory.[13] The win qualified Levy for the 2014 World Championship, where he finished 17th.[14]

During the 2015–2016 season, Lévy added two GP trophies (making it 6) to his résumé: one in Madison in Battle for Zendikar Limited [15] and the second one in Manchester in Standard.[16]

In 2019, after racking up good results over the season, he qualified to both World Championship XXVI[17] and the MPL[18] for the following seasons as one of the top 4 Challengers.

While the pandemic shut down live tournament, Lévy reached the top 8 of three major tournaments: the Players Tour Finals (8th place),[19] the Grand Finals (4th place)[20] and the Strixhaven Championship (8th place).[21]

Accomplishments

Top 8 appearances
 Season   Event type   Location   Format   Date   Rank 
1997–98 Grand Prix Lyon Extended 7–8 February 1998 1
1997–98 Worlds Seattle Special 12–16 August 1998 4
1998–99 Grand Prix Barcelona Sealed and Booster Draft 6–7 February 1999 4
1998–99 European Championship Berlin Special 10–12 July 1999 4
1999–00 Pro Tour Chicago Extended 3–5 December 1999 4
1999–00 European Championship Paris Special 14–16 July 2000 2
2000–01 Grand Prix Gothenburg Sealed and Booster Draft 24–25 March 2001 3
2001–02 Grand Prix Barcelona Sealed and Booster Draft 23–24 March 2002 7
2001–02 Grand Prix Naples Sealed and Booster Draft 6–7 April 2002 7
2002–03 Grand Prix Prague Sealed and Booster Draft 12–13 April 2003 2
2003–04 Grand Prix Madrid Sealed and Booster Draft 21–22 February 2004 4
2005 Grand Prix Paris Sealed and Rochester Draft 27–28 November 2004 4
2005 Nationals Aix-en-Provence Special 30–31 July 2005 8
2006 Grand Prix Cardiff Sealed and Booster Draft 25–26 March 2006 7
2006 Grand Prix Barcelona Sealed and Booster Draft 8–9 April 2006 2
2006 Grand Prix Phoenix Sealed and Booster Draft 2–3 September 2006 3
2007 Grand Prix Dallas Extended 24–25 February 2007 1
2007 Grand Prix Singapore Extended 3–4 March 2007 1
2007 Pro Tour Yokohama Block Constructed 20–22 April 2007 6
2008 Grand Prix Brussels Sealed and Booster Draft 3–4 May 2008 3
2008 Grand Prix Birmingham Block Constructed 30 May–1 June 2008 3
2008 Grand Prix Manila Block Constructed 30–31 August 2008 7
2011 Grand Prix Milan Sealed and Booster Draft 8–9 October 2011 2
2012 Grand Prix Austin Sealed and Booster Draft 7–8 January 2012 1
2013–14 World Magic Cup Amsterdam National team 2–4 August 2013 1
2013–14 Grand Prix Prague Sealed and Booster Draft 31 August–1 September 2013 8
2015–16 Grand Prix Madison Sealed and Booster Draft 9-11 October 2015 1
2015–16 Grand Prix Manchester Standard 28-29 May 2016 1
2016-17 Grand Prix Rotterdam Team Limited 12–13 November 2016 3
2018-19 Grand Prix Strasbourg Sealed and Booster Draft 15–16 February 2019 4
2020 Pro Tour Online Standard 24–26 July 2020 8
2020 Pro Tour Online Special 09–11 October 2020 4
2021 Pro Tour Online Special 04–06 June 2021 8

Last updated: 12 June 2021
Source: Event Coverage at Wizards.com

Other accomplishments

References
  1. Raphael Levy 2007 Pro Player card (from the Magic: The Gathering Time Spiral expansion)
  2. "Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. 2022-04-21. Retrieved 2022-04-21.
  3. "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-08-07. Archived from the original on 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  4. "Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-07-28. Archived from the original on 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  5. "Planeswalker Points". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-10-31. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  6. "Raphaël Lévy — Hall of Fame Profile". Archived from the original on December 1, 2007. Retrieved 2006-11-30.
  7. "1998 World Championships Coverage". The Sideboard. 1998-08-16. Archived from the original on April 10, 2001. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
  8. "1999 European Championships". The Sideboard. 1999-07-12. Archived from the original on April 10, 2001. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
  9. "Pro Tour-Chicago 1999". The Sideboard. 1999-12-05. Archived from the original on April 10, 2001. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
  10. "Wafo-Tapa Tops Them All!". Wizards of the Coast. 2007-04-22. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-30.
  11. "GP Austin 2012".
  12. "Kibler Triumphs in Epic Pro Tour". Wizards of the Coast. 12 February 2012. Archived from the original on February 13, 2012. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
  13. "Lévy du Soleil en France!". Wizards of the Coast. 2013-08-04. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved 2014-09-03.
  14. "2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 14 STANDINGS". Wizards of the Coast. 2014-12-07. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  15. "GP Madison 2015".
  16. "GP Manchester 2016".
  17. "Magic World Championship XXVI".
  18. "Magic Esports | MPL Roster".
  19. "Prinz Reclaims Victory". Wizards of the Coast. 2020-08-01. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  20. "Austin's Excellent Adventure". Wizards of the Coast. 2020-10-09. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
  21. "It's Not a Pardee Without Friends". Wizards of the Coast. 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2021-06-12.
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