[8][9] He was elected to the Magic: The Gathering Hall of Fame in 2016, along with Owen Turtenwald,[10] but removed in May 2019 after a cheating scandal involving marked card sleeves.

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 in six consecutive premier level events.

The run began with a second-place finish at Japanese Nationals behind his San Diego teammate Shuhei Nakamura.

[16] 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.

[9] During the 2012 season, his most successful season yet, Watanabe reached three Grand Prix top 8s, winning two of them (Kuala Lumpur and Manila) and thus securing his participation, as the Japanese player with the most Pro Points, to the first Magic Players Championship, which he eventually won by defeating his fellow countryman Shouta Yasooka in the final.

[23] He ended the season on 59 points, resulting in an eight-place finish in the Player of the Year standings, as well as an invitation to the 2015 World Championship.