Part 2 of the 2025 Jeopardy! postseason begins Monday, with the last two spots in the Tournament of Champions up for grabs. For the first time since 2021, wild cards are at play. When calculating this out over the course of the next week, I’ll be using data from past Teachers and Professors tournaments, as I believe those are the closest in clue difficulty to what we’ll be seeing in Champions Wildcard.
Here are your 15 players:
Monday, January 13
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Will Yancey Banquete, Texas  83 correct, 20 incorrect 5/7 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 35.96% in first on buzzer (82/228) 8/10 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $6,000) 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,650 34.673% to win quarterfinal 61.438% to advance to semifinal 20.313% to advance to final 6.677% to win Champions Wild Card 13.859% to advance to Tournament of Champions Will recently advanced out of Week 1 of Second Chance into this event. |
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Paul Clauson Madison Heights, Michigan  63 correct, 16 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 39.52% in first on buzzer (66/167) 4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $8,800) 0/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,333 36.784% to win quarterfinal 57.975% to advance to semifinal 19.759% to advance to final 6.745% to win Champions Wild Card 12.785% to advance to Tournament of Champions Paul had a pair of runaway victories, but a missed Daily Double and Final Jeopardy in Game 3 sent him to Champions Wild Card. |
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Jen Feldman Brooklyn, New York  44 correct, 7 incorrect 3/3 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities) 24.56% in first on buzzer (42/171) 1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$100) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,667 28.543% to win quarterfinal 59.871% to advance to semifinal 17.383% to advance to final 4.679% to win Champions Wild Card 11.459% to advance to Tournament of Champions The only woman in this field, Jen might need to find her signalling device timing this time around in order to advance into Week 2. |
Overall Thoughts: The prediction model thinks that Paul is a slight favorite here in this matchup. I’m expecting to see slightly more conservative play in the quarterfinals, because of the existence of the wild cards into the semis. Interestingly, the prediction model thinks that might work to Jen’s advantage—it thinks Paul has a better chance of winning, but Jen a better chance of advancing overall.
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Tuesday, January 14
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Davey Morrison Provo, Utah  51 correct, 15 incorrect 2/2 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 34.94% in first on buzzer (58/166) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $5,800) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $9,533 30.318% to win quarterfinal 57.358% to advance to semifinal 17.366% to advance to final 4.925% to win Champions Wild Card 11.045% to advance to Tournament of Champions Davey became a 2-time champion back in July after knocking off ToCer Neilesh Vinjamuri. |
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Stevie Ruiz Montauk, New York  62 correct, 8 incorrect 4/6 on rebound attempts (on 14 rebound opportunities) 35.12% in first on buzzer (59/168) 2/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,800 35.451% to win quarterfinal 61.698% to advance to semifinal 20.368% to advance to final 6.766% to win Champions Wild Card 14.047% to advance to Tournament of Champions Stevie was the most recent entry into the field, winning his pair of games back in December. One thing that should suit him well, at least in the quarterfinals, is that he was very conservative in Final Jeopardy. |
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Evan Dorey Toronto, Ontario, Canada  41 correct, 5 incorrect 3/4 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities) 33.33% in first on buzzer (38/114) 1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $0) 1/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $14,800 34.231% to win quarterfinal 62.893% to advance to semifinal 20.277% to advance to final 6.557% to win Champions Wild Card 13.984% to advance to Tournament of Champions Evan, whose grandfather hails from Newfoundland—I’ll never get tired of pointing that out!—was a 1-day champion whose winnings were high enough to garner entry into the event. |
Overall Thoughts: I think all three players in this game will have various parts of North America cheering for them, and the prediction model does think it’s going to be a generally close battle.
Wednesday, January 15
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Drew Goins Honolulu, Hawaiʻi  88 correct, 11 incorrect 4/5 on rebound attempts (on 15 rebound opportunities) 36.40% in first on buzzer (83/228) 6/7 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,800) 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,650 42.900% to win quarterfinal 64.185% to advance to semifinal 25.764% to advance to final 10.759% to win Champions Wild Card 18.231% to advance to Tournament of Champions After advancing out of Week 2 of Second Chance, Drew is one of the favorites to continue to appear on our television screens. If the dominant performance we saw last Monday comes out again—watch out! |
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Jay Fisher Lisle, Illinois  65 correct, 7 incorrect 7/7 on rebound attempts (on 30 rebound opportunities) 25.44% in first on buzzer (58/228) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $4,500) 2/4 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,450 30.367% to win quarterfinal 57.955% to advance to semifinal 18.429% to advance to final 5.634% to win Champions Wild Card 11.849% to advance to Tournament of Champions Jay was the 3-time champion with the lowest winnings and was thus relegated to Champions Wildcard. His first win, though, did end the streak of Isaac Hirsch! |
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Aiden Orzech Thornhill, Ontario, Canada  61 correct, 14 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 12 rebound opportunities) 38.60% in first on buzzer (66/171) 1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$2,000) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,400 26.733% to win quarterfinal 56.488% to advance to semifinal 16.338% to advance to final 4.474% to win Champions Wild Card 10.344% to advance to Tournament of Champions Aiden is the highest-scoring 2-time winner in the field; however, some of that was a result of some overly aggressive Final Jeopardy betting. In a wildcard situation, controlling that might be the key to advancing. |
Overall Thoughts: If “strong Drew” shows up to this quarterfinal, we might see both Jay and Aiden departing this event early. If not, things could get interesting. Wildcard considerations might also make Final Jeopardy intriguing.
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Thursday, January 16
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Joey DeSena Raleigh, North Carolina  53 correct, 15 incorrect 2/4 on rebound attempts (on 11 rebound opportunities) 33.33% in first on buzzer (57/171) 4/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $11,200) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,467 28.741% to win quarterfinal 58.196% to advance to semifinal 18.528% to advance to final 5.668% to win Champions Wild Card 11.772% to advance to Tournament of Champions Joey won a pair of games back in November before losing in game #3 to Evan Dorey. |
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Mehal Shah Seattle, Washington  72 correct, 12 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 8 rebound opportunities) 42.01% in first on buzzer (71/169) 4/6 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $20,800) 0/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $16,667 42.351% to win quarterfinal 63.106% to advance to semifinal 26.350% to advance to final 11.370% to win Champions Wild Card 18.338% to advance to Tournament of Champions The prediction model had Mehal as a very strong favorite—but this was prior to Drew Goins’s arrival last week. Mehal still has the strongest stats out of everyone, though, picking up an average of 24 correct responses a game. That said—he’s probably going to need to turn his Final Jeopardy statistics around a bit. |
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Eamonn Campbell Manchester, Vermont  54 correct, 10 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities) 32.16% in first on buzzer (55/171) 1/2 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$400) 2/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $12,667 28.908% to win quarterfinal 61.374% to advance to semifinal 19.892% to advance to final 6.340% to win Champions Wild Card 13.614% to advance to Tournament of Champions Eamon had some interesting Final Jeopardy strategy during his wins back in October. If he makes it to the semifinals, trailing players might have needed to remember that from any advance scouting they might have done. |
Overall Thoughts: The prediction model doesn’t seem to rate Joey and Eamonn as strongly as a few of the other pundits have. It has Mehal as a strong favorite to both win and advance out of this match.
Friday, January 17
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Adam Hersh Brooklyn, New York  37 correct, 6 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 7 rebound opportunities) 29.82% in first on buzzer (34/114) 2/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: $3,000) 2/2 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $11,700 34.595% to win quarterfinal 57.520% to advance to semifinal 19.864% to advance to final 6.584% to win Champions Wild Card 12.561% to advance to Tournament of Champions Adam picked up enough in his win over Mehal back in November to garner an invite to this tournament. |
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Marko Saric Chapel Hill, North Carolina  66 correct, 13 incorrect 7/7 on rebound attempts (on 13 rebound opportunities) 38.01% in first on buzzer (65/171) 2/4 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,300) 1/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,533 36.752% to win quarterfinal 60.837% to advance to semifinal 21.763% to advance to final 7.729% to win Champions Wild Card 14.603% to advance to Tournament of Champions Marko won his pair of games back in April after knocking off Alison Betts. |
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Will Weiss Islip, New York  55 correct, 6 incorrect 4/4 on rebound attempts (on 16 rebound opportunities) 29.82% in first on buzzer (51/171) 1/3 on Daily Doubles (Net Earned: -$1,400) 0/3 in Final Jeopardy Average Coryat: $15,667 28.653% to win quarterfinal 59.106% to advance to semifinal 17.606% to advance to final 5.093% to win Champions Wild Card 11.509% to advance to Tournament of Champions Will won a pair of games in the opening week of Season 41, picking up a pair of runaways before a singleton miss from the lead in his third game. He might need a correct response in Final to get through Week 1. |
Overall Thoughts: The prediction model does like Marko’s chances of advancing through here, but it does think things will be very tight.
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Thanks for the preview! I don’t know if I can confidently predict who will advance further in this tournament than others, since all 15 champions have some very similar statistics. Some of them are definitely gonna step up their game from last time though, such as the Second Chance winners did! Which two are going to earn the last spots in the Tournament of Champions?
Here are my predictions:
Winning Semifinalists:
Will Yancey
Stevie Ruiz
Drew Goins
Mehal Shah
Marko Saric
Wildcards:
Paul Clauson
Evan Dorey
Aiden Orzech
Will Weiss
Finalists:
Marko Saric
Will Yancey
Mehal Shah
Winner:
Mehal Shah
2nd place (also advancing to TOC):
Will Yancey
Prediction time again! Though this time, I’m gonna have to modify the format a little bit…
Quarterfinal #1: Paul wins, Will advances via wildcard – Like I said in my predictions for 2024/25 SCC 1, when Will is hot, WILL IS HOT. However, you can just never tell when he’s going to be hot, and that makes me hesitate. Paul is consistently strong, so I have him as the favorite for this match, but I also could definitely see Will advancing. It’s possible that Jen’s more conservative FJ betting could land her a wildcard, but I don’t think that’s very likely.
Quarterfinal #2: Stevie wins, Davey advances via wildcard – Stevie is one of the strongest players in the entire event based on numbers alone, and I would not be surprised to see him even make a finals run. Davey, however, has definitely gotten the strategy down pretty well – which I think will be enough to save him a wildcard spot.
Quarterfinal #3: Drew wins – This is one of two matches where I don’t see either non-winner getting a wildcard, and for good reason. If Drew is able to find his rhythm and put up some similar numbers to last Monday… watch out!
Quarterfinal #4: Mehal wins, both nonwinners advance via wildcard – Both Joey and Eamonn are rather strong, but Mehal is just on another level, especially considering the sheer amount of preparation he’s been doing in the Discord server minileague. I definitely see Joey and Eamonn successfully doubling through Final to claim the third and fourth wild card, though.
Quarterfinal #5: Marko wins – Aside from his games being against very stiff competition (a ToC player and the player with the highest average Coryat of any player since regular play returned in April), Marko has been doing tons of work in the aforementioned minileague, both playing and hosting. Don’t let his lower seed deceive you – he’s absolutely one of the strongest players in the entire field, and I could definitely see him claiming one of the two ToC spots.
I’d be lying if I said I agreed with the format change, but nothing I can really do… so I’ll just sit back and enjoy the ride while it lasts 🙂
MasterDoge!
Thanks for your well thought out comments!!
MasterDoge!
Now that we know the 9 players moving foward, any chance you might write up your ideas for the semifinals and finals?