Brian Selden Bio

Twenty-three-year-old professional Magic® player Brian Hacker of San Diego, California, thought he had a good chance of winning the finals with his white weenie deck. Hacker said his deck was well set up to defeat his opponents with its twenty-something aggressive creatures—including a number of shadow and en-Kor creatures. Unlike traditional white weenie decks, which rely on Armageddon as a major threat card, Hacker's deck uses Cataclysm, which he feels better complements the use of Empyrial Armor.

Enchant creature Enchanted creature gets +1/+1 for each card in your hand.

Though only fifteen years old, Ben Rubin has amassed quite an impressive tournament record. He placed second at Pro Tour™—Los Angeles and finished in the Top 16 at Grand Prix—San Francisco, his hometown. Ben played the archetypal mono-red weenie or Sligh deck at the 1998 Worlds. Although he prefers to play a more balanced deck, Rubin thought the aggressive Sligh would work well at this tournament. His deck consists of roughly one-third land, one-third direct damage, and one-third small aggressive creatures.