Jon Finkel
Encyclopedia
Jon Finkel is an American Magic: The Gathering
and poker
player. In the year 2000, he became the world champion of Magic, as well as being on the team that became the team world champion.
, England
in the summer of 1992 and learned about Magic: The Gathering at a local game shop named Fun and Games shortly thereafter. After he returned to the New York
area in 1995 Finkel quickly made friends with the "OMS brothers", Steven
and Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz.
In 1996 the first Pro Tour
was held in New York. Finkel competed in the Junior Division of the tournament, made it to the Top 8, and won a $1,000 scholarship. After reaching another Top 8 in the Junior Division of Pro Tour Columbus Finkel had his first appearance in the senior competition of the Pro Tour at the 1996 World Championship in Seattle. A ninth place finish earned him $3,200.
Finkel had three Top 16 finishes in the 1996–97 season
, but never made it to the finals. His first Top 8 appearance was at Pro Tour Chicago 1997. In the same season Finkel won his first Grand Prix title in Rio de Janeiro
, his first Pro Tour title in New York, finished third at US Nationals and the World Championship, and eventually claimed the Pro Player of the Year title.
The 1998–99 season
opened with Finkel winning another Grand Prix in Boston and making his third consecutive Top 8 appearance, a feat only once before achieved by Scott Johns. Finkel finished the season second to Kai Budde
in the Pro Player of the Year race. At the first Team Pro Tour in Washington the following season
Finkel finished third with his friends and team mates Daniel and Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
. After some mediocre finishes in the middle of the season Finkel won the US Nationals as well as the team and the individual portion of the World Championship. Eventually Finkel finished third in the Pro Player of the Year race. Later in 2000 Finkel also won the Magic Invitational, giving him the chance to design his own Magic card. His creation, , debuted in the Odyssey
set and was later reprinted in Time Spiral
.
After two additional Top 8 appearances in the 2000–01 season
Finkel's performances dropped in the 2001–02 season
. Two Top 8s in 2002–03
were followed by another drop in 2003–04
and eventually by Finkel retiring from professional play. In 2005 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame
as the vote leader of the inaugural class. This allowed him to attend further Pro Tours without having to qualify. In 2008 Finkel thus attended and won Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, becoming the first player to win a Pro Tour after his induction into the Hall of Fame. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater
commented on the occasion, "[Finkel] is the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen. His accomplishments are rivaled by only one other man [Budde]".
In recent years, Finkel, like fellow Magic players David Williams
and Noah Boeken
, has been playing in high-level poker
tournaments.
Finkel also has been involved with Tenacious Games in the development of their game The Spoils as an advisor since 2002. In 2006, he also became an investor in the company.
He currently works as a managing partner at the hedge fund Landscape Capital Management.
In 2011, an intern for tech website Gizmodo
wrote an article about two dates she had with Finkel, which was picked up by Forbes
, The Washington Post
and CBS
. The article was critical of Finkel for not revealing he played Magic on his OkCupid
dating profile, eliciting negative comments against the writer from a number of people involved in tech and geek culture, notably actress Felicia Day
and Playboy
Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
.
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
and poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player. In the year 2000, he became the world champion of Magic, as well as being on the team that became the team world champion.
Career
Finkel moved with his family to WokingWoking
Woking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in the summer of 1992 and learned about Magic: The Gathering at a local game shop named Fun and Games shortly thereafter. After he returned to the New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
area in 1995 Finkel quickly made friends with the "OMS brothers", Steven
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz is an American Magic: The Gathering player. At the height of his career in the late 1990s, he was considered one of the best players. He is well known as a friend and teammate to Jon Finkel.-Career:...
and Daniel O'Mahoney-Schwartz.
In 1996 the first Pro Tour
Pro Tour (Magic: The Gathering)
The Pro Tour is the highest form of competitive play for the Magic: The Gathering collectible card game. It consists of a series of payout tournaments held throughout the world, each requiring an invitation to participate. Every PT awards a total of $230,000 in cash prizes, with $40,000 going to...
was held in New York. Finkel competed in the Junior Division of the tournament, made it to the Top 8, and won a $1,000 scholarship. After reaching another Top 8 in the Junior Division of Pro Tour Columbus Finkel had his first appearance in the senior competition of the Pro Tour at the 1996 World Championship in Seattle. A ninth place finish earned him $3,200.
Finkel had three Top 16 finishes in the 1996–97 season
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1996–97
The 1996–97 Pro Tour season was the second season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 13 September 1996 with Pro Tour Atlanta, and ended on 17 August 1997 with the conclusion of 1997 World Championship in Seattle. The season consisted of five Grand Prixs, and six Pro Tours, located in...
, but never made it to the finals. His first Top 8 appearance was at Pro Tour Chicago 1997. In the same season Finkel won his first Grand Prix title in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, his first Pro Tour title in New York, finished third at US Nationals and the World Championship, and eventually claimed the Pro Player of the Year title.
The 1998–99 season
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1998–99
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...
opened with Finkel winning another Grand Prix in Boston and making his third consecutive Top 8 appearance, a feat only once before achieved by Scott Johns. Finkel finished the season second to Kai Budde
Kai Budde
Kai Budde , is a professional Magic: The Gathering player, who holds the records for earnings, Pro Tour victories and lifetime Pro Points. His performances earned him the nicknames "The Juggernaut" and "King of the Grand Prix"...
in the Pro Player of the Year race. At the first Team Pro Tour in Washington the following season
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1999–2000
The 1999–2000 Pro Tour season was the fifth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. It began on 3 September 1999 with Pro Tour Boston and ended on 6 August 2000 with the conclusion of 2000 World Championship in Brussels. The season consisted of twenty Grand Prixs, and six Pro Tours, located in...
Finkel finished third with his friends and team mates Daniel and Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz
Steven O'Mahoney-Schwartz is an American Magic: The Gathering player. At the height of his career in the late 1990s, he was considered one of the best players. He is well known as a friend and teammate to Jon Finkel.-Career:...
. After some mediocre finishes in the middle of the season Finkel won the US Nationals as well as the team and the individual portion of the World Championship. Eventually Finkel finished third in the Pro Player of the Year race. Later in 2000 Finkel also won the Magic Invitational, giving him the chance to design his own Magic card. His creation, , debuted in the Odyssey
Odyssey (Magic: The Gathering)
Odyssey is the 24th Magic: The Gathering expert-level expansion set. Released in September, 2001, Odyssey is the first set in the Odyssey Block. Its expansion symbol is a small image of the Mirari .-Storyline:...
set and was later reprinted in Time Spiral
Time Spiral
Time Spiral is a Magic: The Gathering expansion set, released October 6, 2006. The set is laden with references to previous Magic: the Gathering sets and is the first to take place in Dominaria since the May 2003 set Scourge...
.
After two additional Top 8 appearances in the 2000–01 season
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2000–01
The 2000–01 Pro Tour season was the sixth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 23 September 2000 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Sapporo and Porto. It ended on 12 August 2001 with the conclusion of the 2001 World Championship in Toronto. The season consisted of 27 Grand...
Finkel's performances dropped in the 2001–02 season
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2001–02
The 2001–02 Pro Tour season was the seventh season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 18 August 2001 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Kobe and Denver. It ended on 18 August 2002 with the conclusion of the 2002 World Championship in Sydney. The season consisted of 33 Grand Prixs...
. Two Top 8s in 2002–03
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2002–03
-Final standings:-Pro Player of the year standings:-Grand Prixs – Hamburg, Utsonomiya, Copenhagen, Philadelphia:GP Hamburg # Simon Hockwin# Arndt Meier# Jens Krause# Patrick Plößer# Nico Wendt# Piotr Sienko# Dennis Schmitz...
were followed by another drop in 2003–04
Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 2003–04
The 2003–04 Pro Tour season was the ninth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 23 August 2003 the season began with parallel Grand Prixs in Yokohama and London. It ended on 5 September 2004 with the conclusion of the 2004 World Championship in San Francisco...
and eventually by Finkel retiring from professional play. In 2005 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame
Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame
The Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame was started in 2005 to honor the most successful Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour players. The first inductions came on the tenth anniversary of the first Pro Tour event, and new Hall of Famers will be determined annually...
as the vote leader of the inaugural class. This allowed him to attend further Pro Tours without having to qualify. In 2008 Finkel thus attended and won Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, becoming the first player to win a Pro Tour after his induction into the Hall of Fame. Magic head designer Mark Rosewater
Mark Rosewater
Mark Rosewater is a Magic: The Gathering card designer. He is currently Magics head designer.-Biography:Rosewater grew up in Pepper Pike, Ohio, where he attended the Orange High School. Rosewater has a Jewish background. Rosewater has described himself in his youth as a "social outcast", who did...
commented on the occasion, "[Finkel] is the most naturally gifted player the game has ever seen. His accomplishments are rivaled by only one other man [Budde]".
In recent years, Finkel, like fellow Magic players David Williams
David Williams (card player)
David Anthony Williams is a professional poker player and popular Magic: The Gathering player.-Personal life:Williams was born in Arlington, Texas. He briefly attended Princeton University before switching to study economics at Southern Methodist University...
and Noah Boeken
Noah Boeken
Noah Boeken is a Dutch professional poker and Magic: The Gathering player.-Magic:In the 1997 Pro Tour Chicago, Boeken finished in 15th place, and later 32nd at Pro Tour Mainz...
, has been playing in high-level poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
tournaments.
Finkel also has been involved with Tenacious Games in the development of their game The Spoils as an advisor since 2002. In 2006, he also became an investor in the company.
He currently works as a managing partner at the hedge fund Landscape Capital Management.
In 2011, an intern for tech website Gizmodo
Gizmodo
Gizmodo is a technology weblog about consumer electronics. It is part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton and is known for its up-to-date coverage of the technology industry, along with topics as broad as design; architecture; space and science....
wrote an article about two dates she had with Finkel, which was picked up by Forbes
Forbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. The article was critical of Finkel for not revealing he played Magic on his OkCupid
OKCupid
OkCupid is a free dating and social networking website that features member-created quizzes. The site supports various modes of communication, including personal blogs, public forums, instant messages, emails, and "winks." OkCupid was listed in TIME's 2007 Top 10 dating sites.-Overview:OkCupid...
dating profile, eliciting negative comments against the writer from a number of people involved in tech and geek culture, notably actress Felicia Day
Felicia Day
Kathryn Felicia Day is an American actress, known for her work as "Vi" on the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and for parts in movies such as Bring It On Again and June, as well as the Internet musical, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog...
and Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
Playmate of the Year Sara Jean Underwood
Sara Jean Underwood
Sara Jean Underwood is an American model and actress who was chosen as the Playmate of the Month for the July 2006 issue of Playboy magazine and later became Playmate of the Year in 2007. She is a presenter on Attack of the Show!....
.