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(#) indicates number of games won in the best-of-five match.
Quarters Semis Finals Champion
1--Finkel-(3)-|
|-Finkel-(1)-|
8--Comer--(0)-| |
|-Rubin--(1)-|
5--Rubin--(3)-| | |
|-Rubin--(3)-| |
4--Johns--(2)-| |
|-Selden--
3--Selden-(3)-| |
|-Selden-(3)-| |
6--Pikula-(1)-| | |
|-Selden-(3)-|
7--Hacker-(2)-| |
|-Levy---(1)-|
2--Levy---(3)-|
Final Match Recap
In the finals of the 1998 World Championships, Ben Rubin faced Brian Selden in a match that showcased two starkly differest decks: Ben Rubin's Sligh deck against Brian Selden's Recurring Nightmare/Living Death.
Game One
In game one, Ben Rubin got off to a slow start, as Selden's Wall of Roots required two cards (a Mogg Fanatic that dealt a total of two damage to the Wall and a Shock to finish it off) to kill. By turn nine, Rubin was down to one land after using his Wasteland to destroy one of Selden's lands. However, Selden's deck never fully clicked, and Rubin was eventually able to clear a path with his direct damage, attack with a Ball Lightning, and finish Selden off with a regrown Hammer of Bogardan.
Selden 0 Rubin 1
Game Two
Brian Selden started the game by summoning a Wall of Blossoms on turn two and three, but a Dwarven Miner and Wasteland looked as though it would start wreaking havoc on Seldon's mana supply. Kept to only Green mana throughout much of the game, Selden was still able to use Survival of the Fittest to go through his library for Birds of Paradise, Uktabi Orangutans for Rubin's Cursed Scroll, and Spike Feeders to offset Rubin's consecutive-turn Ball Lightnings (who were kept largely ineffective anyway by Selden's Walls of Blossoms). Eventually, Selden was able to use Recurring Nightmare to bring a Verdant Force (that had earlier been discarded for Survival of the Fittest) into play, and Rubin conceded shortly thereafter.
Selden 1 Rubin 1
Game Three
Rubin started the game with a Mountain and a Wasteland, and after using the Wasteland to destroy Selden's Karplusan Forest, never drew a second land. On the other side of the table, things were going much better for Rubin, as the Recurring Nightmare provided him with a Verdant Force. Shortly, Rubin conceded for the second straight game.
Selden 2 Rubin 1
Game Four
With his back against the wall, Ben Rubin had to win this match to stay alive. He started well, with a Mogg Fanatic and Cursed Scroll in play by Turn 3, followed by a Ball Lightning on Turn 4. He followed this with a series of small creatures (Dwarven Thaumaturgist, Mogg Fanatic, Ironclaw Orcs) on the ensuing turns. Unfortunately for him, the Recurring Nightmare lived up to its name, providing Selden with a Verdant Force, a Staunch Defenders, and a Spirit of the Night.
Rubin had no incentive to concede, since the match would be over as soon as he did. Selden was able to take his time, using Recurring Nightmare to bring a Nekrataal out, to kill Rubin's Mogg Fanatic. With Rubin's only remaining creature (a Mogg Flunkies) unable to block, Selden attacked with everything to become the 1998 Magic: The Gathering World Champion.
Selden 3 Rubin 1
Full Standings
Individuals Teams 1 Brian Seldon $34,000 United States $22,000 2 Ben Rubin $22,000 France $12,000 3 Jon Finkel $16,000 Germany $9,000 4 Rafael Levy $13,000 Canada $7,000 5 Scott Johns $11,000 Denmark 6 Chris Pikula $9,500 Finland 7 Brian Hacker $8,250 Spain 8 Alan Comer $7,250 The Netherlands 9 Brickwell, Daniel-GER Japan 10 Snygg, Mikko-FIN South Africa 11 Walamies, Tomi-FIN Australia 12 Buehler, Randy Austria 13 Krakower, Gary United Kingdom 14 Slemr, Jakub Belgium 15 Konstanczer, Andre Sweden 16 Fleischman, Sean Norway 17 Kastle, Darwin Czech Republic 18 Kuhn, Janosch-GER Portugal 19 Yoo, John Argentina 20 Wise, Gary New Zealand 21 Leiher, Peter Singapore 22 O'Mahoney Schwartz, Steven Brazil 23 McCarrel, Casey Philippines 24 Edwards, Rudy Italy 25 Price, Dave Ireland 26 Serio, Ronny Mexico 27 Radonjic, Peter-CAN Taiwan 28 Schneider, Justin Switzerland 29 Wolfensberger, Michael 30 Long, Michael-USA 31 Tsang, Terry-CAN 32 Le Pine, Mark 33 Bingen, Sturla 34 Rank, Derek 35 Lauer, Erik 36 Rodrigues Leone, M.-BRA 37 Eskeland, Sigurd 38 Phillipps, Eric 39 Burgner, Kurt 40 Hernandez, Marc-FRA 41 Barrado Lopez, C.-ESP 42 Farkas, Ben 43 Geertsen, Svend Sparre 44 Bachmann, David 45 Chan, Feming 46 Salem, Gisle-NOR 47 Vall Brillas, David-ESP 48 Van den Broek, V.-NED 49 Laznovsky, Martin-CZE 50 Rose, Kyle 51 Ho, Rod-AUS 52 Debard, Michael 53 Herzog, Nicolai-NOR 54 Tsai, Tony 55 Malherbaud, Pierre-FRA 56 Place, Matt 57 Aumonier Ward, J.-NZL 58 Weissman, Brian 59 Dworak, Florian-GER 60 Duynisveld, Marco-NED 61 Dickinson, Matt-AUS 62 Stanoev, Ivan-CZE 63 Gregorich, C.-AUT 64 Nyegaard, Timme-DEN 65 Currence, Bryce-USA 66 Turian, Michael 67 Fortenberry, Gary 68 Punakallio, Mikko-FIN 69 Demazeau, Fabien-FRA 70 Gilpin, Steven 71 Moungey, Jason 72 Eikefet, Kim-NOR 73 Guevin, Thomas 74 Hein, Dirk-GER 75 Sochon, Michael 76 Nishioka, Andrew 77 Katz, Adam 78 Maioli, Douglas-ARG 79 Crapuchettes, Dominic 80 Lee, Beng Hai-SIN 81 Estrada, Gerardo G.-MEX 82 Britto, Romario T.-BRA 83 Kroger, Peer 84 Paselli, Andrea-ITA 85 Nakamura, Satoshi 86 Gabor, Papp-LTH 87 Chinnock, John 88 Bevand, Manuel-FRA 89 Gallitz, Donald 90 Maher, Jr., Bob 91 Hiltunen, Arto-FIN 92 Fuller, Ryan 93 Fiil, Tore-DEN 94 Ming, Au Yeung Hon-HKG 95 Rade, Olle-SWE 96 Linde, Matt-USA 97 Walsh, Justin-IRL 98 Coltman, Dane-AUS 99 Fujita, Tsuyoshi-JPN 100 Clegg, Daniel 101 Bishop, Chris 102 Jensen, Thomas D.-DEN 103 Kloeckner, Kyle 104 Haberli, Jurg-SUI 105 Tsukamoto, Toshiki-JPN 106 Laier, Peter-DEN 107 Gysemans, Peter-BEL 108 Manners, Chris-GBR 109 Teoh, Leong Wee A.-SIN 110 Natale, Tommaso-ITA 111 McCandless, Robin-GBR 112 Moss Allison, N.-GBR 113 Jorstedt, Mattias-SWE 114 D'Hondt, Jean Louis-BEL 115 Buccolo, Ricardo-ARG 116 Blatny, Petr-CZE 117 Chapela, Gustavo-MEX 118 Windauer, Ron-AUT 119 Herms, Roc-ESP 120 Marais, Ruaan-RSA 121 Simpson, Mark-NZL 122 Leivo, Matti-SWE 123 Chen, Nick-CAN 124 Lirag, Raffy-PHI 125 Foket, Kurt-BEL 126 Ladra, Lukas 127 Derdak, Christian-AUT 128 Glodt, Romain-LTH 129 Do Rego, Ezequiel-ARG 130 Klauser, Benedikt 131 Bosch, Kelvin-RSA 132 Wilson, Chris-NZL 133 Maier, Gero-ARG 134 Llopis Martinez, P.-ESP 135 Kirk, S. Ryan-CAN 136 Nurse, Michael-RSA 137 Ishida, Itaru-JPN 138 Clarke, Nate 139 Martins, Eduardo-POR 140 Starak, Yaro-AUS 141 Tang, Autrijus-TPE 142 Vyhmeister, Eduardo-CHI 143 Dogan, Timur-SUI 144 Matsuo, Goro 145 Van de Logt, Tom-NED 146 Proschofsky, A.-AUT 147 Wong, Docter-TPE 148 Bocock, David-NZL 149 Sy, Teddy-PHI 150 Kazbieruk, Wojciech-POL 151 Helvik, Snorre-NOR 152 Tesselaar, Han-NED 153 Sequeira, Rui-POR 154 Hsieh, Frank-TPE 155 Ogilbee, Brian 156 Smith, Paul 157 Martin del Campo, A-MEX 158 Coene, Dominique-BEL 159 Machado, Marco A.-BRA 160 Peleg, Uri-ISR 161 Vefa, Yusuf-LTH 162 Chai, Ming Huang R.-SIN 163 Parke, Jamie 164 Stockdale, Leif-SWE 165 Pong, Hee Tee Robin-SIN 166 Gallion, Daniel-LTH 167 Kucera, Rudolf-CZE 168 Ishibashi, Masashi-JPN 169 Yaneza, Richard-PHI 170 Rebagliati, Nicola-ITA 171 Figueiredo, F.-POR 172 Hardie, Boyd 173 Becker, Jonathan 174 Rafael, Joaquin-POR 175 Wollpert, Worth 176 Wolf, Andrew 177 Hovi, Tommi 178 Karaszewski, Pawel-POL 179 Olpiner, Eviatar-ISR 180 Morbidelli, Simone-ITA 181 Pratama, Arvan-INA 182 Alfar, Georgina-PHI 183 Burgues, Enric R.-MEX 184 Hyde, Oliver-IRL 185 Andrade, Fabian-CHI 186 Wills, Scott-GBR 187 Sanchez, Rodrigo-CHI 188 Neff, Sepp-SUI 189 Suver, Max 190 Higgins, Michael-IRL 191 Zivelin, Nadav-ISR 192 Bromberger, John-RSA 193 Justice, Mark 194 Deffely, Fergus-IRL 195 Bui, Truc 196 Hsu, Aric-TPE 197 Kunzler, Matthias-SUI 198 Swietlik, Grzegorz-POL 199 McCabe, Paul 200 Leszczynski, Emil-POL 201 Pisicchio, Gabriele 202 Omri, Doron-ISR 203 Longo Junior, Sergio-BRA
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