Tom Martell

Tom Martell is an American former professional player. He won Pro Tour Gatecrash in 2013. His other notable finishes include another Pro Tour top eight, at Pro Tour Paris 2011, as well as three Grand Prix wins.

Professional play
Martell qualified for a few Pro Tours in the early 2000s, but without putting up any major finishes; he disappeared from the professional scene, and quit playing Magic for some time. However, after finishing college and moving to New York City, Martell was invited to play at Jon Finkel's apartment, where many of the best players in the area came to play. Martell's first Pro Tour after returning to the game was Pro Tour San Juan 2010, which he qualified for via the Last Chance Qualifier. Martell finished 32nd in the event, qualifying himself for the next Pro Tour. A couple of months later, Martell got his first Grand Prix top eight by finishing second at Grand Prix Columbus, losing to Tomoharu Saito in the final. He joined Team ChannelFireball prior to Pro Tour Amsterdam. Martell ended the 2010 Pro Tour season on 25 points, earning him invitations to all the Pro Tours in 2011.

The 2011 Pro season started well for Martell, with him earning his first Pro Tour top eight at Pro Tour Paris. Like the rest of the ChannelFireball team members, he played 'Caw-Blade', losing to teammate Ben Stark in the quarterfinals. Martell failed to make the top eight of any more professional events in 2011, and finished the season on 29 points, one shy of level 6 in the Pro Players Club.

In the following seasons, Tom Martell established himself as one of the top professional players. He won his first Grand Prix at GP Indianapolis 2012, and in 2013, he went on to win Pro Tour Gatecrash. His win qualified him for the 2013 World Championship, where he finished 12th. In 2014, he won his second Grand Prix event, in Sacramento, earning much praise from the commentators for his play and his decisions during the top eight booster draft. He finished the season with enough points to qualify for the World Championship for the second year in a row, where he finished 16th.

The 2014–15 season was a disappointing one for Martell. He did finish in the top eight of two Grand Prix, at GP Nashville and GP Vancouver, but his Pro Tour finishes were unspectacular; his best result being a 57th-place finish at Pro Tour Dragons of Tarkir. As a result, he didn't finish the year with enough points to reach Platinum status in the Pro Players Club for another season, but he did get enough for Gold. In 2015–16, he won his third Grand Prix event when he beat Owen Turtenwald in the finals of GP Atlanta. He skipped Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, which was the first Pro Tour he did not attend since PT San Diego 2010, and ended the season with Gold status in the Pro Players Club for the second year in a row.