Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour season 1996
| Pro Player of the Year |
 Olle Råde
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|---|---|---|---|
| Rookie of the Year | none awarded | ||
| World Champion |
 Tom Chanpheng |
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| Pro Tours | 4 | ||
| Start of season | 17 February 1996 | ||
| End of season | 18 August 1996 | ||
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The 1996 Pro Tour season was the first season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. At the end of 1995 Wizards of the Coast had announced the introduction of a tournament series featuring big cash prizes. Originally coined the "Black Lotus Pro Tour" the tournaments were simply called "Pro Tours" and the name was thus changed quickly. The first Pro Tour, held in New York in February 1996, was won by the American Michael Loconto. Los Angeles and Ohio were the other Pro Tours in the inaugural season along with the 1996 World Championships in Seattle. At the end of the season Olle Råde was proclaimed the first Pro Tour Player of the Year.
Four Pro Tours were held in the 1996 season. As Grand Prixs had not been introduced those Pro Tours were the only events to award Pro Points. Based on final standings Pro Points were awarded as follows:
Pro Tour New York was the first Pro Tour ever held. As Wizards tried to find an adequate tournament mode for a professional circuit several things were done different in New York than at later Pro Tours. While being the first Magic tournament to award sizeable cash prizes, the total amount of $30,000 was still small compared to subsequent Pro Tours which featured prizes well in excess of $300,000. The tournament consisted of only seven rounds of Swiss play, which were followed by a cut to top 16. Those 16 players returned on Sunday to determine the winner in four rounds of single elimination. Furthermore, PT New York was the only Pro Tour to feature a non-standard format. Instead a modification of Type II was used, forcing every player to use at least five cards from every set, legal in Type II at that time. New York also introduced the play-draw rule to reduce the advantage of beginning the game. Previously the starting player would draw a card on his first turn. Instead the player winning the die roll now would have to decide whether to "play first" and thereby forfeit their first draw step or "draw first" and thus playing second.
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