Martin Jůza

Martin Jůza is a Czech professional player. He has four Pro Tour top eights, but has experienced the most success on the Grand Prix stage, winning five events in a total of 32 top eight appearances, making him the player with the most Grand Prix top eights in the history of the game, tied with Shuhei Nakamura. In 2017, he was voted into the Hall of Fame.

Professional play
Jůza made his Pro Tour debut in 2003, at PT New Orleans, where he played a Psychatog deck to a 3–5 finish. He finished sixth at the Czech National Championships later that season, but since neither the fourth-place finisher nor the fifth-place finisher could go to Worlds, Jůza was invited, but he ultimately failed to finish in the money. He won Czech Nationals both the following year (2005) and in 2006, and made other occasional Pro Tour appearances, but good results kept eluding him. A fourth-place finish at 2007 Nationals earned him an invitation to his fourth consecutive World Championships. Jůza had considered retiring from professional play following the event, but a 34th-place finish, good enough for $1,100 and an invitation to the following season's Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, kept him going.

The 2008 season was Jůza's breakout year on the Pro Tour. After finishing tenth at Pro Tour Kuala Lumpur, he placed 19th at PT Hollywood, and at PT Berlin, he got his first top eight, losing to teammate Sebastian Thaler in the quarterfinals to finish sixth. With another money finish at the 2008 World Championships, Jůza hit Level 7, the second highest level in the Pro Players Club.

His success continued during the following season. Jůza missed the top eight of Pro Tour Kyoto on tiebreakers, and after narrowly missing the money at PT Honolulu, he made his second Pro Tour top eight in Austin, playing Domain Zoo in Extended. He lost 2–3 to Naoki Shimizu to finish seventh. Additionally, Jůza had been taking to flying all over the world to play in Grand Prix events, finishing in the top eight of three, and after another money finish at the 2009 World Championships, he ended up third in the Player of the Year race and Level 8 in the Pro Players Club.

In the following years, Jůza kept traveling to Grand Prix events, and experienced tremendous success in these, winning events in Portland and Hiroshima, as well as two in Bochum. He also maintained his high level in the Pro Players Club, but failed to make additional Sunday appearances at the Pro Tour stage. In the 2013–14 season, Jůza needed a top 16 at the last Pro Tour of the year, PT Magic 2015, to keep his Platinum status; he did so by finishing eleventh. However, after the 2014–15 season, after having enjoyed Platinum (or the equivalent) status in the Pro Players Club for six seasons in a row, Jůza had to settle for Gold level despite making it to the top eight of four Grand Prix events that season. He made two Grand Prix top eights in 2015–16, and once again finished with Gold level in the Pro Players Club.

The 2016-17 started out moderately for Jůza, with no Grand Prix top eights but a good 11-5 finish at Pro Tour Kaladesh. For the Pro Tour Team Series, Jůza joined team ChannelFireball Fire, and proved his worth in the premiere event at Pro Tour Aether Revolt, where he finished 8th. Jůza's finish allowed him to lock Platinum early in the final Grand Prix stretch of the season. Later that year, he was voted into the Hall of Fame, having received 66.4% of the votes. He also won the Draft Master title for 2016–17, earning himself an invitation to the 2017 World Championship.

2017-18 was also a very good year for Jůza, as he finished in the top eight of four Grand Prix events, bringing up his total to 30, and surpassing Shuhei Nakamura to become the player with the most Grand Prix top eights of all time. He also finished runner-up at Pro Tour 25th Anniversary with teammates Josh Utter-Leyton and Ben Stark, and qualified for the 2018 World Championship. At Grand Prix Las Vegas 2018, Jůza won a qualifier tournament for a triple Beta Rochester draft, where he opened a Time Walk and was ultimately defeated by Luis Scott-Vargas in the semifinals. In December 2018, it was announced that Jůza 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.