Jakub Šlemr Bio (1999)

Known as the "King of the Grand Prix," Kai Budde earned an unprecedented three Grand Prix titles in 1999. Though he went only 4—2 during the Swiss portion of the World Championships, he cruised through the Final 8 to become the 1999 World Champion. The 19-year-old Köln, Germany native played a red-artifact deck that contained more than 30 artifacts. He used those artifacts to quickly generate huge amounts of mana, with which he could play a big creature like Masticore or Covetous Dragon. He would then finish off his opponent with a well-timed Wildfire.

Semifinalist Matt Linde is no stranger to high-level Magic® competition. The 18-year-old Maryland native was the 1998 U.S. National Champion. Linde played a very fast mono-green "Stompy" deck with 26 creatures—24 of which cost two mana or less to play. Supplementing this furious creature assault were four Rancors and four Giant Growths. Though the deck was designed to win by turn five, it did feature four Cursed Scrolls in case the game dragged on.