William Jensen

Last updated

William Jensen
Dana Fischer and William Huey Jensen at MagicFest Dallas.jpg
Jensen (right) with young competitive Magic player Dana Fischer in 2019
NicknamesHuey
Born (1982-07-26) July 26, 1982 (age 40)
Residence Las Vegas, Nevada
NationalityAmerican
Pro Tour debut Pro Tour Rome 1998
Winnings US$375,395 [1]
Pro Tour wins (Top 8)1 (5) [2]
Grand Prix wins (Top 8)6 (24) [3]
Lifetime Pro Points389 [4]
Planeswalker Level 48 (Archmage)

William "Huey" Jensen (born July 26, 1982) is an American Magic: The Gathering player. He won Pro Tour Boston 2003, and has finished in the top 8 of four additional Pro Tours. He also has 24 Grand Prix top eights, including six wins. Jensen is one of the few players to have beaten Kai Budde in the elimination rounds of a Pro Tour. In 2013 he was voted into the Hall of Fame. He is the current record holder of most Grand Prix top eight finishes within a single season, with eight in 2013–14. [5] He is also the 2017 Magic World Champion.

Contents

Magic: The Gathering career

William Jensen started playing Magic in 1995 at age 13, [6] and his first Pro Tour was Pro Tour Rome 1998. One year later, at Pro Tour London 1999, he got his major breakthrough by making the top 8, ultimately finishing 6th, losing to eventual champion Kyle Rose. Only one month later, at Grand Prix San Diego, Jensen experienced his first Grand Prix success by not only making the top 8, but winning the event. [7]

The 2000–01 Pro Tour season started with Jensen winning the inaugural Masters event, beating among others eventual Hall of Famers Nicolai Herzog, Olivier Ruel, and Bob Maher en route to the title. [8] Jensen continued to be a mainstay on the professional scene, putting up additional Grand Prix top 8s, including another win at Grand Prix Pittsburgh 2000, [9] as well as solid Pro Tour finishes. In 2003, Jensen returned to the top 8 of the Pro Tour, finishing 8th at Pro Tour Chicago, once again losing to the eventual champion, in this case Kai Budde. [10] However, Jensen would return to the top 8 at the very next Pro Tour, finishing 4th at Pro Tour Venice 2003. [11]

The first Pro Tour of the next season, the 2003–04 Pro Tour season, was a Team Rochester draft Pro Tour in Boston. Teaming up with Brock Parker and Matt Linde as 'The Brockafellars', Jensen won his first Pro Tour. [12] The team defeated the German team 'Phoenix Foundation', the winners of the previous two Team Limited Pro Tours, with Jensen defeating Kai Budde 2–0 in his match. In the finals, they faced the Norwegian team 'Unoriginal Slackers', where Jensen won his match 2–0 over Jake Smith. Jensen continued to play on the pro circuit for one more year, his final Pro Tour being the 2004 World Championships, before he retired from professional play. Jensen has cited being tired of traveling and friends leaving the scene as the reasons for quitting. [6]

In 2012, despite not having played a professional event in almost eight years, William Jensen was among the top candidates for getting voted into the Hall of Fame. He eventually missed by a single vote, [13] but received a special invitation to play at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica. [14] He playtested for the event with team StarCityGames Black (currently known as Team Pantheon [15] ), featuring players like Jon Finkel, Gabriel Nassif, and Jelger Wiegersma. This reignited his interest in competitive Magic. One year later, he was voted into the Hall of Fame, garnering a total of 59.97% of the votes. [16]

The 2013–14 Pro Tour season was Jensen's comeback season. He won his third Grand Prix shortly after being voted into the Hall of Fame by defeating Neal Oliver in the final of Grand Prix Oakland. [17] He continued to make additional Grand Prix top 8s throughout the season, though without winning another one. At the end of the season, he had made the top 8 of eight total Grand Prix, setting the record for most Grand Prix top 8 finishes within a single season. [5] In the final event of the season, Pro Tour Magic 2015 in Portland, Jensen made his fifth Pro Tour top 8, finishing 7th. [18] His overall performance in the season earned him an invitation to the 2014 World Championship. [5]

The very first Grand Prix of the 2014–15 Pro Tour season, Grand Prix Portland, was won by Jensen's team, 'Peach Garden Oath', with teammates Reid Duke and Owen Turtenwald. [19] This was Jensen's fourth Grand Prix win. At the 2014 World Championship, Jensen came close to reaching the top 4, but lost the last round of Swiss to Yuuya Watanabe, resulting in an 8th-place finish. [20] He finished the season on 47 points, enough for Platinum status in the Pro Player Club, but not enough to qualify for the 2015 World Championships.

Achievements

 Season  Event type  Location   Format    Date   Rank 
1999–2000 Pro Tour LondonBlock ConstructedOctober 15–17, 19996
1999–2000 Grand Prix San DiegoLimitedNovember 20–21, 19991
1999–2000 Grand Prix PhiladelphiaExtendedFebruary 19–20, 20005
1999–2000 Grand Prix CannesTeam LimitedFebruary 26–27, 20004
1999–2000 Grand Prix PittsburghTeam LimitedJune 24–25, 20001
2000–01 Masters New York CityExtendedSeptember 29–October 1, 20001
2000–01 Grand Prix DetroitLimitedMarch 31–April 1, 20015
2000–01 Nationals OrlandoStandard and Booster DraftJune 1–3, 20016
2001–02 Grand Prix HoustonExtendedJanuary 5–6, 20023
2001–02 Grand Prix MilwaukeeStandardMay 11–12, 20027
2002–03 Pro Tour ChicagoRochester DraftJanuary 17–19, 20038
2002–03 Pro Tour VeniceBlock ConstructedMarch 21–23, 20034
2003–04 Pro Tour BostonTeam LimitedSeptember 12–14, 20031
2003–04 Grand Prix OrlandoBlock ConstructedJuly 24–25, 20045
2013–14 Grand Prix OaklandLimitedAugust 24–25, 20131
2013–14 Grand Prix LouisvilleStandardOctober 19–20, 20138
2013–14 Grand Prix TorontoLimitedNovember 30–December 1, 20133
2013–14 Grand Prix Dallas/Fort WorthStandardDecember 7–8, 20132
2013–14 Grand Prix BarcelonaTeam LimitedMarch 1–2, 20143
2013–14 Grand Prix PhiladelphiaLimitedApril 12–13, 20146
2013–14 Grand Prix AtlantaLimitedMay 24–25, 20143
2013–14 Grand Prix Washington DCLimitedJune 28–29, 20145
2013–14 Pro Tour PortlandStandard and Booster DraftAugust 1–3, 20147
2014–15 Grand Prix PortlandTeam LimitedAugust 9–10, 20141
2014–15 Grand Prix DenverStandardJanuary 3–4, 20156
2015–16 Grand Prix DetroitTeam LimitedAugust 15–16, 20153
2015–16 Grand Prix Washington, D.C.Team LimitedMarch 12–13, 20163
2015–16 Grand Prix BarcelonaLimitedApril 16–17, 20163
2016–17 Grand Prix San AntonioTeam Unified ModernApril 1–2, 20172
2016–17 Grand Prix ClevelandTeam LimitedJune 23–25, 20171
2016–17 Grand Prix KyotoLimitedJuly 21–23, 20171
2016–18 Grand Prix ProvidenceTeam LimitedSeptember 30–October 1, 20172
2017-18 Worlds BostonStandard and Booster DraftOctober 6–8, 20171

Last updated: October 12, 2017
Source: Wizards.com

Personal life

On November 10, 2016, Jensen came out as gay on Twitter. [21]

Related Research Articles

The Magic: The Gathering World Championships(Worlds) have been held annually since 1994. It is the most important tournament in the game of Magic: The Gathering, offering cash prizes of up to $100,000 to the winners. With the exception of the first edition, Worlds is an invitation-only event, and from 1996 to 2011 World was the last event of each Pro Tour season. The invitees were mostly top finishers from the National championships, the top-ranked players of the DCI and high-level pro players. Since 2012 the World Championships are held after the season and the most successful 16 or 24 players have been invited to the tournament.

Kai Budde, is a semi-retired professional Magic: The Gathering player, who holds the record for Pro Tour victories, and for a long time held the records for earnings and lifetime Pro Points. His performances earned him the nicknames "The (German) Juggernaut" and "King of the Grand Prix". Kai left the game in late 2004 to focus on his studies, and his appearances in tournaments are less frequent than in earlier years. Budde is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest Magic: The Gathering players.

Jon Finkel is an American Magic: The Gathering and poker player. Finkel is one of the most decorated players in the history of professional Magic: The Gathering play and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time. During his career he has won three Grand Prix events and made the Top 8 of a record 16 Pro Tour events, winning three of those. In the year 2000, he became the Magic: The Gathering World Champion, as well as playing for the United States National Team, which won the team portion of the competition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Nassif</span> French professional card player

Gabriel Nassif is a French professional card player. He is known for his continuous success on the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour and was the 2004 Pro Tour Player of the Year. He also enjoys playing poker, having moderate success at the World Series of Poker in recent years. In 2010, Nassif was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.

Raphaël Lévy is a professional Magic: The Gathering player. He was inducted to the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour Hall of Fame in November 2006. He is the first player to have been inducted while active on the Pro Tour. He is one of only six players to have won a Grand Prix on three different continents. He's holding the second most lifetime Pro Points behind Shuhei Nakamura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivier Ruel</span>

Olivier Ruel is one of the most successful professional Magic: The Gathering players. He holds the record for most Grand Prix Top 8’s, and is one of twenty players with five or more Pro Tour top 8’s. After Pro Tour San Juan 2010, Olivier surpassed Kai Budde as the leader in lifetime Pro Points. However, Budde regained that title later that season.

Dirk Baberowski is one of the most successful professional Magic: The Gathering players. He has won three Pro Tours, tying him in second place with Jon Finkel. Two of those victories were won at team Pro Tours with his teammates of Phoenix Foundation, Kai Budde and Marco Blume.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shuhei Nakamura</span>

Shuhei Nakamura is one of the most successful professional Magic: The Gathering players. He has reached the Top 8 of six Pro Tours and won seven Grands Prix, as well as being the 2008 Pro Player of the Year. In 2011, he was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.

The 2002–03 Pro Tour season was the eighth season of the Magic: The Gathering Pro Tour. On 24 August 2002 the season began with Grand Prix Sapporo. It ended on 10 August 2003 with the conclusion of the 2003 World Championship in Berlin. The season consisted of 21 Grand Prixs and 6 Pro Tours, held in Boston, Houston, Chicago, Venice, Yokohama, and Berlin. Also Master Series tournaments were held at four Pro Tours. At the end of the season Kai Budde was proclaimed Pro Player of the Year for the third time in a row.

Jelger Wiegersma is a Dutch Magic: The Gathering player. Though no longer a professional player, he still regularly attends Pro Tours. He won Pro Tour Seattle 2004 as a member of team Von Dutch with teammates Jeroen Remie and Kamiel Cornelissen. He also won two Grand Prix, in 2003 and 2008. In 2008, he was elected to the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luis Scott-Vargas</span> American Magic: The Gathering player

Luis Scott-Vargas, commonly known as LSV, is a professional Magic: the Gathering player from Oakland, California, USA, currently living in Denver, Colorado. His accomplishments include fifteen Grand Prix Top 8s and ten Pro Tour Top 8s. In 2013 he was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. As well as being a prominent player of the game, LSV is also known for writing about the game. He was a writer for StarCityGames.com before becoming the editor and vice president for ChannelFireball.com, a Magic: The Gathering shop and strategy website. LSV still writes for ChannelFireball but ended his tenure as editor in 2012 to work as a game designer at Dire Wolf Digital, specifically on Eternal, and in 2021 LSV joined Good Luck Games to work on Storybook Brawl.

Masashi Oiso is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player. He is one of the most successful players to have played on the Pro Tour, being one of only seven players to have reached the top eight six times. Along with Kenji Tsumura, he is the player with the most top eights to have never won a Pro Tour. In 2012 Oiso was voted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. His induction was conducted at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica in October 2012.

Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa is a Brazilian Magic: The Gathering player. In 2011, Paulo Vitor Damo da Rosa became the youngest player to ever reach 300 lifetime Pro Points. He was elected into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame in 2012 as the first player from South America, and has seventeen Pro Tour Top 8 finishes, which puts him second for the most Pro Tour Top 8s of all time, and in 2020 Da Rosa won the world championship for the 2019 season. Da Rosa is the all-time leader in prize money won playing professional-level Magic.

Yuuya Watanabe (渡辺雄也) is a Japanese Magic: The Gathering player and former World Champion. With five Pro Tour top eights and 27 Grand Prix top eights, 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, but removed in May 2019 after a cheating scandal involving marked card sleeves.

Benjamin "Ben" Stark is an American Magic: The Gathering player. His career accomplishments include back to back Pro Tour Top 8s in 2004 and winning Pro Tour Paris in 2011. In 2013, he was voted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.

Guillaume Wafo-Tapa is a French Magic: The Gathering player. Best known for winning Pro Tour Yokohama in 2007, Wafo-Tapa's career has featured three other Pro Tour top eights, and six Grand Prix top eights. He is also known as a deck designer and for his strong preference for control decks. In 2014, Wafo-Tapa was voted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame.

Owen Turtenwald is a former American professional Magic: The Gathering player. He won a number of awards during his career, notably the 2010 Vintage World Championship and 2011 and 2015-16 Player of the Year. In 2016, he was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame. He was briefly a member of the Magic Pro League in 2019 before being removed following sexual harassment accusations from women in the Magic community. He has not participated in any Wizards of the Coast sanctioned Magic: The Gathering tournaments since the incident.

Paul Rietzl is an American Magic: The Gathering player. His greatest success was his win at Pro Tour Amsterdam in 2010, but his resume includes three more Pro Tour top eights, and thirteen Grand Prix top eights, including two wins. He was inducted into the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reid Duke</span> American Magic: The Gathering player

Reid Duke is an American Magic: The Gathering player from Sugar Loaf, New York. He won the Magic: The Gathering Online Championship in 2011. His best finishes include three Pro Tour Top 8s, at Pro Tour Journey Into Nyx, Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, and Pro Tour Rivals of Ixalan, a runner-up finish at the 2013 World Championships, and wins at Grand Prix Nashville 2012, Grand Prix Miami 2013, Grand Prix Portland 2014, Grand Prix Oakland 2016, Grand Prix Louisville 2017, Grand Prix Cleveland and Pro Tour Phyrexia.

References

  1. ↑ "Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders". Wizards of the Coast. Archived from the original on September 13, 2014. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Lifetime Pro Tour Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. August 7, 2014. Archived from the original on April 16, 2016. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  3. ↑ "Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s". Wizards of the Coast. July 28, 2014. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Planeswalker Points". Wizards of the Coast. Retrieved August 4, 2014.[ dead link ]
  5. 1 2 3 "2014 World Championship Competitors: William Jensen". Wizards of the Coast. November 10, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  6. 1 2 "My Magic Life". StarCityGames. August 7, 2013. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  7. ↑ "Grand Prix-San Diego November 19-21, 1999". Wizards of the Coast. November 21, 1999. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Masters Series Coverage: New York 2000". Wizards of the Coast. October 1, 2000. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  9. ↑ "Grand Prix Pittsburgh 2000 Coverage". Wizards of the Coast. June 25, 2000. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  10. ↑ "Live Coverage of 2003 Pro Tour Chicago". Wizards of the Coast. January 17, 2003. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Live Coverage of 2003 Pro Tour Venice". Wizards of the Coast. March 23, 2003. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Live Coverage of 2003 Pro Tour Boston". Wizards of the Coast. September 12, 2003. Archived from the original on June 22, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  13. ↑ "2012 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. July 27, 2012. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ "Invitation List for Pro Tour Return to Ravnica 2012". Wizards of the Coast. October 17, 2012. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Team Pantheon". ChannelFireball. Retrieved December 18, 2014.
  16. ↑ "2013 Ballot". Wizards of the Coast. August 2, 2013. Archived from the original on November 29, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ "He's back! Jensen shows mastery in Oakland". Wizards of the Coast. August 25, 2013. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  18. ↑ "FLOCH IMMORTALIZED AT PRO TOUR". Wizards of the Coast. August 4, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  19. ↑ "THE PANTHEON CONQUERS PORTLAND". Wizards of the Coast. August 11, 2014. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
  20. ↑ "2014 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 14 STANDINGS". Wizards of the Coast. December 3, 2013. Archived from the original on December 6, 2014. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  21. ↑ @HueyJensen (November 10, 2016). "Open and Honest" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.