| Yuuya Watanabe | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan[1] |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Pro Tour debut | 2007 Pro Tour Yokohama |
| Pro Tour wins (Top 8) | 0 (1)[2] |
| Grand Prix wins (Top 8) | 4 (13)[3] |
| Lifetime Pro Points | 225[1] |
| Matches played | 3,338[1] |
| Planeswalker Level | 47 (Archmage) |
Yuuya Watanabe is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. With one Pro Tour top eight, and 13 Grand Prix top eights (including four wins), Watanabe is best known for his Rookie of the Year title in 2007,[4] and his Player of the Year title two years later.[5]
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Watanabe's professional Magic career began in 2007 at Grand Prix Kyoto. He emerged as the champion from a top eight of relatively unknown players,[6] something former Player of the Year Kenji Tsumura had predicted on day one of the tournament.[7] This qualified him for his first Pro Tour, Yokohama, held about a month later. Despite not making another top eight that season at either the Pro Tour or Grand Prix level, strong finishes at Pro Tour San Diego (22nd), with Shuhei Nakamura, and at Pro Tour Valencia (21st) were enough for him to win the Rookie of the Year title.[4]
The following season Watanabe did not perform as well on the Pro Tour, with a 35th place finish at the World Championship being his best finish. However, off Tour he did have some stand-out finishes. A third place standing at the Japanese National Championship earned him a place on the Japanese national team.[8] Along with his national team colleagues Masashi Oiso, and Akihiro Takakuwa, Watanabe made the semifinals of the national team competition at Worlds, where Japan lost to the United States team.[9]
In 2009, Watanabe had his best season yet. The first half of the season was somewhat unimpressive. He was able to offset the deficit of earning only the minimum two Pro Points at Kyoto and Honolulu, with a second place finish behind Tomoharu Saitou at Grand Prix Kobe. The second half on the other hand was nothing short of spectacular, with Watanabe making the top eight of six consecutive premier level events. The run began with a second place finish at Japanese Nationals behind his San Diego teammate Shuhei Nakamura.[10] After this finish, Watanabe made the top eight of four back-to-back Grand Prix in Bangkok, Niigata, Prague, and Melbourne, winning the last of these. This gave him the lead in the player of the year race going into Pro Tour Austin, and made him the first non-Australian to win a Grand Prix in Australia. A year and a half after his Pro Tour debut, Watanabe made his first, and to date only, Pro Tour top eight at Pro Tour Austin. He lost his quarterfinal match in five games to Hunter Burton.[11] After a 62nd place finish at the next event, Grand Prix Tampa, Watanabe pick up right where he left off with another Grand Prix top eight in Kitakyushu. Despite not doing very well at the World Championship, finishing 101st individually and 7th with the Japanese team that were favourites to win the tournament, none of Watanabe's competitors for Player of the Year were able to capitalise, and he was awarded the title at the end of the tournament.[5]
| Season | Event type | Location | Format | Date | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Grand Prix | Kyoto | Standard | 17–18 March 2007 | 1 |
| 2008 | Nationals | Yokohama | Standard and Booster Draft | 19–21 September 2008 | 3 |
| 2008 | Worlds | Memphis, Tennessee | National team | 11–14 December 2008 | 4 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Kobe | Extended | 18–19 April 2009 | 2 |
| 2009 | Nationals | Hiroshima | Standard and Booster Draft | 18–20 July 2009 | 2 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Bangkok | Sealed and Booster Draft | 22–23 August 2009 | 6 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Niigata, Niigata | Sealed and Booster Draft | 29–30 August 2009 | 8 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Prague | Sealed and Booster Draft | 5–6 September 2009 | 2 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Melbourne | Sealed and Booster Draft | 10–11 October 2009 | 1 |
| 2009 | Pro Tour | Austin, Texas | Extended and Booster Draft | 16–18 October 2009 | 6 |
| 2009 | Grand Prix | Kitakyushu | Sealed and Booster Draft | 31 October–1 November 2009 | 5 |
| 2010 | Grand Prix | Sendai | Standard | 5–6 June 2010 | 6 |
| 2010 | Grand Prix | Manila | Standard | 12–13 June 2010 | 4 |
| 2010 | Grand Prix | Sydney | Sealed and Booster Draft | 9–10 October 2010 | 5 |
| 2011 | Grand Prix | Kansas City, Missouri | Sealed and Booster Draft | 18–19 June 2011 | 2 |
| 2011 | Grand Prix | Shanghai | Sealed and Booster Draft | 20–21 August 2011 | 1 |
| 2011 | Grand Prix | Pittsburgh | Standard | 27–28 August 2011 | 1 |
Last updated: 28 August 2011
Source: Event Coverage at Wizards.com
Other accomplishments
| Preceded by Sebastian Thaler |
Rookie of the Year 2007 |
Succeeded by Aaron Nicastri |
| Preceded by Shuhei Nakamura |
Pro Player of the Year 2009 |
Succeeded by Brad Nelson |