Yuuya Watanabe
| Yuuya Watanabe | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Machida, Tokyo, Japan |
| Nationality |
 Japanese
|
| Pro Tour debut | 2007 Pro Tour Yokohama |
| Winnings | $283,425 |
| Pro Tour wins (Top 8) | 0 (3) |
| Grand Prix wins (Top 8) | 7 (24) |
| Lifetime Pro Points | 488 |
| Planeswalker Level | 50 (Archmage) |
Yuuya Watanabe (渡辺雄也) is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player and former World Champion. With three Pro Tour top eights and 24 Grand Prix top eights (including seven wins), Watanabe is best known for his Rookie of the Year title in 2007, and his Player of the Year titles in 2009 and 2012. He is one of only three players to become Player of the Year more than once. He was elected to the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame in 2016, along with Owen Turtenwald.
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, something former Player of the Year Kenji Tsumura had predicted on day one of the tournament. 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 teammate Shuhei Nakamura, and at Pro Tour Valencia (21st) were enough for him to win the Rookie of the Year title.
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. 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.
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