Greatest Accomplishments

[kj_4247]

With his latest win in Kuala Lumpur many have re-proclaimed Jon Finkel to be the greatest Magic player ever. His list of accomplishments is long and varied highlighted by 3 PT victories (tied for the second most ever) and a staggering 12 PT top 8s (the highest total on record). The only man that can even contend with his claim to all-time-best is of course Kai Budde. The German Juggernaut amassed 7 PT victories out of 9 top 8s (second most ever, behind Finkel). Kai is also the leader on both lifetime prize money and pro points (Finkel being second on both lists).

My question is this: Who do you believe to be the greatest player in the history of the game? Furthermore what metric should we use to measure pros in general? Which accomplishments are the most coveted? PT wins? PT top 8s? GPs? Player of the Year titles? Life time money winnings or pro points? What about the invitational or the PT Hall of Fame? I have never before known of so many accomplished pros gathered in one forum. I would very much like to here what you all think.

Thank you very much for your time,
KJ

[Reindeercards]

I thnk you have to take all of those factors into account plus whether the person won those things honestly rather than having combo pieces in his lap, fake "shuffling" techniques, etc.

I'd like to express my appreciation for Chris Pikula and his faithful indian companions for taking a prinicipled stand against cheating back in the dark days when Rosewater & company were deliberately turning a blind eye to it in an effort to generate publicity and controversy.

Between Finkel and Budde, I'd have to give the edge to Finkel at the moment. He studied the format, put in the work, and clearly knew what he was doing this weekend.

I have no reason to think that Budde couldn't return to his previous form if he put in the time and effort. Whether he'd want to is another matter.

[mercenarybdu]

Gotta give him additional credit as he has made it even harder for Kai to surpass him in PT Top 8s as Finkel has just made to 12.

Besides that, he still wants to tell the world that nobody is going to surpass his second place spot in total earnings as Oliver Ruel is catching up in breaking it like Kai did with the top spot.

[kj_4247]

To anyone who votes "other" on the above poll. I'd very much like to know who you choose and why

[TobiH]

In my opinion, it comes down to battle between raw talent and sheer will power... (Which is hard to compare, but I'll give my opinion anyway. )

Whereas Finkel is amazingly talented magic-wise, probably better at making tactical decisions on the spot, even in an untested format, Budde simply put in the effort to really become dominant – long hours of testing, always having the best deck or draft plan, knowing every possible match-up and so on...

And he unlike Finkel was dominant: Player of the Year in 1999, 2001, 2002 and 2003...? Beginning with the 2000/2001 season he took ONE THIRD of all PT titles for three consecutive years! Did you follow coverage in that period? When everyone was saying "Nah, he can't really win yet another tour" – and then he did? When Eric Taylor actually bet against him, lost, and literally had to eat his hat? When Kai was leading in the Player of the Year race... with some 50 points (not even at the end of the season, mind you, but rather with two more PTs to go) ? Those were the times.

That was true dominance... quite unlike anything we've seen from Finkel! For all the stellar results he has posted and brilliant play skill he does indeed possess, the decision between Finkel and Budde is still . n o t . e v e n . c l o s e!

That being said, on a Pre-Release I'd rather face Budde than Finkel, but give both of them 1 month to prepare for any given event, and I'd put my money on Budde every time.

[in5ano]

What Tobi said... Although I still think the most awesome play on this game was performed by Antoine Ruel, ptla2005... the force spike.

[Insomniacbob]

its funny you poll us on the greatest, but ask for greatest accomplishments.
by accomplishments it's hands down kai, but greatest is a much more complicated
thing. the best technical play skill, versatility, ability to find wins out of thin air,
accomplishments, determination, how much drive they had to succeed, how much work they put in
and many other things come into to play and there really is no straight answer

one thing i know though is that winning a pro tour today means so much more than it used to
but you can't deny the dominance that kai showed. i always want to side with finkel but don't know that i can justify it over kai

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