by Tom Guevin

An exciting one match playoff will determine the 2000 Worlds Team Competition winner. And what better representative for the United States than Jon Finkel. Ryan Fuller isn't so shabby either and has had a great weekend himself and is looking to build on his fellow Canadians' wins and pull off a major upset.

Game one looked great for Fuller, he was playing first and Jon had to mulligan. Then Ryan played Wild Dogs and used Rishadan Port to nullify Jon's second turn. Then Ryan Rancored the Dogs, putting Finkel to 14, and he Ported Jon again. Finkel busted out with Grim Monolith and with his Key played a Thran Dynamo and then a Tangle Wire. The wire tapped all of Fuller's permanents and swung the game to Finkel. Finkel then played Masticore and shot the Dog to force Fuller to tap more land to the Wire. Fuller could only play Treetop Village and say go. Finkel attacked with the Core and cast Tinker and Fuller, to save face for Canada, conceded and went to the sideboard.

Game 2 Fuller played Treetop Village and Finkel played Skerry. Fuller's turn 2 was unexciting, with Pouncing Jaguar. This meant he had no Rancor or Boa. Finkel had a weak draw as well, playing Island and Key and not the pain in the neck known as Metalworker. Fuller dropped Rushwood Legate and Cradle which allowed him to activate his Village and hit Finkel down to 15. Finkel dropped Thran Dynamo, Monolith and Tangle Wire. Fuller tapped his three lands and a Jaguar and attacked with the Legate to bring Finkel to 13. Finkel calmly Tinkered for Masticore and killed all of Fuller's creatures, leaving the Wire to tap all of his lands. Finkel attacked with the Core, and played a Processor for 4. Ryan untapped his Village but had no land. Finkel attacked with the Core and Minion to put Ryan to 8. Ryan drew, but couldn't answer active Masticore with a ton of mana open, and conceded, giving the United States the championship!