Spawning Pool

1997 World Champion Jakub Šlemr came within two matches of becoming the first person to repeat as World Champion. The 22-year-old Prague native earned a flawless 6—0 resord during the Standard portion of the Swiss rounds. Šlemr, along with fellow teammate and quarterfinalist Gary Wise, played a mono-black deck coined "Black Control." He used discard effects early with cards like Ravenous Rats, Duress, and Stupor. However, the majority of his deck was dedicated to board control with Cursed Scrolls, Powder Kegs, and Phyrexian Plaguelords.

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.