William Jensen

William Jensen
Demographics
Nickname	Huey
Residence	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Nationality	American
Professional Career
Pro Tour debut	Pro Tour Rome 1998
Top Finishes	5 (1 win)
GP top 8s	25 (6 wins)
Awards
Hall of Fame
World Champion
PT Champion

William "Huey" Jensen is an American professional player and former World Champion, having won the 2017 World Championship. He also won Pro Tour Boston 2003 alongside teammates Brock Parker and Matt Linde, and has finished in the top eight of four additional Pro Tours. He also has 25 Grand Prix top eights, including six wins. 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. He also regularly commentates on North American GPs.

Professional play

William Jensen started playing Magic in 1995 at age 13, 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.

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. 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, 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. However, Jensen made another top 8 appearance at the very next Pro Tour, finishing 4th at Pro Tour Venice 2003.

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. 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.

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, partly due to Brad Nelson, who intended to vote for Jensen, mistakenly voted for Eugene Harvey instead. Instead, Jensen received a special invitation to play at Pro Tour Return to Ravnica. He playtested for the event with team StarCityGames Black (currently known as Team Pantheon), 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.

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. 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. In the final event of the season, Pro Tour Magic 2015 in Portland, Jensen made his fifth Pro Tour top 8, finishing 7th. His overall performance in the season earned him an invitation to the 2014 World Championship.

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. 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. He finished the season on 47 points, enough for Platinum status in the Pro Players Club, but not enough to qualify for the 2015 World Championship. The 2015–16 season went very similarly; thanks to three Grand Prix top eight finishes, 9th-place at Pro Tour Oath of the Gatewatch, and an 11–5 result at Pro Tour Eldritch Moon, he renewed his Platinum membership, but did not qualify for the 2016 World Championship.

In 2016–17, Jensen started the season unevenly and didn't attend many Grand Prix events, instead providing play-by-play commentary; it looked like for the first time since returning to the professional scene, he wouldn't achieve Platinum status in the Pro Players Club. However, thanks to a very strong finish to the season, including 13th-place at Pro Tour Amonkhet as well as back-to-back Grand Prix wins at Cleveland and then Kyoto (the last Grand Prix of the season), Jensen propelled to not only renewed Platinum status, but also invitation to the 2017 World Championship. For that event, taking place in his hometown of Boston, he practiced extensively with teammates Owen Turtenwald and Reid Duke, and was rewarded with a runaway performance that saw him starting the event 12–0, and he finished first after the Swiss with a margin of 9 match points. He won his semifinal match against Kelvin Chew 3–1, and then faced Spain's Javier Dominguez. Jensen once again won 3–1, and was crowned World Champion, earning $100,000, which was the largest cash prize ever awarded at a Magic tournament. He also became the first player to become World Champion post-Hall of Fame induction. The rest of the 2017–18 season was unremarkable, however, leaving Jensen without an invitation to the 2018 World Championship. In December 2018, it was announced that Jensen would be one of the 32 players joining the upcoming 2019 Magic Pro League. Because he finished in the Top 20, he could continue in the 2020 Season.

Accomplishments

Season	Event type	Location	Format	Date	Rank
1999–00	Pro Tour	London	Block Constructed	15–17 October 1999	6
1999–00	Grand Prix	San Diego	Limited	20–21 November 1999	1
1999–00	Grand Prix	Philadelphia	Extended	19–20 February 2000	5
1999–00	Grand Prix	Cannes	Team Limited	26–27 February 2000	4
1999–00	Grand Prix	Pittsburgh	Team Limited	24–25 June 2000	1
2000–01	Masters	New York City	Extended	29 September–1 October 2000	1
2000–01	Grand Prix	Detroit	Limited	31 March–1 April 2001	5
2000–01	Nationals	Orlando	Standard and Booster Draft	1–3 June 2001	6
2001–02	Grand Prix	Houston	Extended	5–6 January 2002	3
2001–02	Grand Prix	Milwaukee	Standard	11–12 May 2002	7
2002–03	Pro Tour	Chicago	Rochester Draft	17–19 January 2003	8
2002–03	Pro Tour	Venice	Block Constructed	21–23 March 2003	4
2003–04	Pro Tour	Boston	Team Limited	12–14 September 2003	1
2003–04	Grand Prix	Orlando	Block Constructed	24–25 July 2004	5
2013–14	Grand Prix	Oakland	Limited	24–25 August 2013	1
2013–14	Grand Prix	Louisville	Standard	19–20 October 2013	8
2013–14	Grand Prix	Toronto	Limited	30 November–1 December 2013	3
2013–14	Grand Prix	Dallas/Fort Worth	Standard	7–8 December 2013	2
2013–14	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Team Limited	1–2 March 2014	3
2013–14	Grand Prix	Philadelphia	Limited	12–13 April 2014	6
2013–14	Grand Prix	Atlanta	Limited	24–25 May 2014	3
2013–14	Grand Prix	Washington, D.C.	Limited	28–29 June 2014	5
2013–14	Pro Tour	Portland	Standard and Booster Draft	1–3 August 2014	7
2014–15	Grand Prix	Portland	Team Limited	9–10 August 2014	1
2014–15	Grand Prix	Denver	Standard	3–4 January 2015	6
2015–16	Grand Prix	Detroit	Team Limited	15–16 August 2015	3
2015–16	Grand Prix	Washington, D.C.	Team Limited	12–13 March 2016	3
2015–16	Grand Prix	Barcelona	Limited	16–17 April 2016	3
2016–17	Grand Prix	San Antonio	Team Modern	1–2 April 2017	2
2016–17	Grand Prix	Cleveland	Team Limited	24–25 June 2017	1
2016–17	Grand Prix	Kyoto	Limited	22–23 July 2017	1
2017–18	Grand Prix	Providence	Team Limited	30 September–1 October 2017	2
2017–18	Worlds	Boston	Standard and Booster Draft	6–8 October 2017	1
2018–19	Unknown	Las Vegas	Team Limited	23 September 2018	1

→ Source: Wizards.com

Pro Tour Results

List of the Pro Tour results and winnings of William Jensen

Season	Pro Tour	Format	Finish	Winnings
1998–99	Rome	Extended	124
1998–99	Los Angeles	Rochester Draft	314
1998–99	New York	Block Constructed	55	$460
1998–99	Worlds (Tokyo)	Special	29	$2,400
1999–00	London	Booster Draft	6	$5,500
1999–00	Chicago	Extended	97
1999–00	Los Angeles	Booster Draft	38	$840
1999–00	New York	Block Constructed	26	$1,500
1999–00	Worlds (Brussels)	Special	69
2000–01	New York	Team Limited	13	$1,100
2000–01	Chicago	Standard	39	$900
2000–01	Los Angeles	Rochester Draft	22	$2,100
2000–01	Tokyo	Block Constructed	69
2000–01	Barcelona	Booster Draft	182
2000–01	Worlds (Toronto)	Special	56	$580
2001–02	New York	Team Limited	23
2001–02	New Orleans	Extended	77
2001–02	San Diego	Rochester Draft	28	$1,500
2001–02	Osaka	Block Constructed	242
2001–02	Nice	Booster Draft	19	$2,550
2001–02	Worlds (Sydney)	Special	68
2002–03	Boston	Team Limited	86
2002–03	Houston	Extended	240
2002–03	Chicago	Rochester Draft	8	$6,500
2002–03	Venice	Block Constructed	4	$13,000
2002–03	Yokohama	Booster Draft	174
2002–03	Worlds (Berlin)	Special	118
2003–04	Boston	Team Limited	1	$20,000
2003–04	New Orleans	Extended	302
2003–04	Amsterdam	Rochester Draft	247
2003–04	Kobe	Block Constructed	231
2003–04	San Diego	Booster Draft	68
2003–04	Seattle	Team Limited	30
2003–04	Worlds (San Francisco)	Special	40	$875
2012–13	Return to Ravnica in Seattle	Modern and Booster Draft	122
2013–14	Theros in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	35	$1,500
2013–14	Born of the Gods in Valencia	Modern and Booster Draft	120
2013–14	Journey into Nyx in Atlanta	Block Constructed and Booster Draft	39	$1,500
2013–14	Magic 2015 in Portland	Standard and Booster Draft	7	$10,000
2014–15	Khans of Tarkir in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	155
2014–15	Fate Reforged in Washington, D.C.	Modern and Booster Draft	39	$1,500
2014–15	Dragons of Tarkir in Brussels	Standard and Booster Draft	171
2014–15	Magic Origins in Vancouver	Standard and Booster Draft	145
2015–16	Battle for Zendikar in Milwaukee	Standard and Booster Draft	343
2015–16	Oath of the Gatewatch in Atlanta	Modern and Booster Draft	9	$5,000
2015–16	Shadows over Innistrad in Madrid	Standard and Booster Draft	159
2015–16	Eldritch Moon in Sydney	Standard and Booster Draft	27	$1,500
2016–17	Kaladesh in Honolulu	Standard and Booster Draft	174
2016–17	Aether Revolt in Dublin	Standard and Booster Draft	38	$1,500
2016–17	Amonkhet in Nashville	Standard and Booster Draft	13	$5,000
2016–17	Hour of Devastation in Kyoto	Standard and Booster Draft	52	$1,000
2017–18	Ixalan in Albuquerque	Standard and Booster Draft	39	$1,500
2017–18	Rivals of Ixalan in Bilbao	Modern and Booster Draft	202
2017–18	Dominaria in Richmond	Standard and Booster Draft	414
2017–18	25th Anniversary in Minneapolis	Team Constructed	56	$1,000
2018–19	Guilds of Ravnica in Atlanta	Standard and Booster Draft	327
2018–19	Mythic Championship Cleveland 2019	Standard and Booster Draft	56	$1,000

→ Source: Wizards.com

External links

• Lifetime Top Finishes
• Lifetime Grand Prix Top 8s
• Top 200 All-Time Money Leaders
• William Jensen's Twitch channel

Notes

^I Although Jensen did miss Hall of Fame induction by a single vote, Nelson's vote alone would not have been sufficient. Hall of Fame voters were divided into the Players Committee and the Selection Committee, and the Selection Committee was weighted more. Jensen was one Selection Committee vote away from induction, but not one Players Committee vote.