Kamiel Cornelissen

Age: 23

Hometown: Enschede

Occupation: Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: about 27

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: PT Points

Number of GP/PT T8s: 5 PTs, 4 GPs

Other Previous Magic accomplishments: 2nd Chicago 2001, 2nd LA 2001, 5th Amsterdam 2004, 1st Seattle 2004

What was your record on
Day 1: 5-1
Day 2: 6-0
Day 3: 3-1-2

What did you play in Block and why? Affinity because I like decks that can win in multiple ways, and Affinity can win with either an aggressive start or combo you out with Ravager and Disciple.

What did you play in Standard and why? Affinity. I really think people underestimate the power of the deck.

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? I haven't seen the decklists yet, but I think the more difficult matchups are in the other bracket.

Do you have any interesting stories from the first 18 rounds? The second draft was the only time I didn't play with Aether Vial in my deck over the course of 18 rounds.

Fun Facts: He plays table tennis, Indoor Soccer, plays Magic Online some of the time, but it's mostly just to prepare for events, and likes hanging at the bar with friends. He skipped the Dutch National Championships in order to go on vacation.

Julien Nuijten

Age: 15

Hometown: Amsterdam, Netherlands

Occupation: High School Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 1

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: Finished 2nd at Nationals

Number of GP/PT T8s: 1 GP Top 8

Other Previous Magic accomplishments: 10th Teams at Grand Prix: Bochum. 2nd at Dutch Nationals, 3rd at GP:Bochum

What was your record on
Day 1: 4-2
Day 2: 6-0
Day 3: 4-2

What did you play in Block and why? Affinity because it is the best deck by far. Anyone who claims to have a good matchup against the deck is lying

What did you play in Standard and why? G/W Slide. It has a good matchup against both R/G Goblins and Ravager, and it just felt right during testing.

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? Affinity is a pretty good matchup and most of the games are post-board, which is good. Mana Leak can be scary though

Do you have any interesting stories from the first 18 rounds? My first round I had about a 10% chance to win against Tooth and Nail and beat that deck, and then lost back to back favorable matchups the next two rounds.

Fun Facts: One of the youngest T8 competitors of all time. He watches a lot of movies - Pulp Fiction is his favorite, even though he says he is too young to have seen it legally. He plays a lot of Magic Online and Top4'd his first solo Grand Prix, losing only to Kai.

Terry Soh Han Chuen

Age: 17

Hometown: Kuala Lumpur

Occupation: High School Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 2

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: Finished 3rd at Nationals

Number of GP/PT T8s: 2 GP Top 8s

What was your record on
Day 1: 5-1
Day 2: 4-2
Day 3: 4-0-2

What did you play in Block and why? R/G Control because it's the best deck to handle Affinity. Despite everyone saying Affinity is the best, I do believe there's always a solution to the format.

What did you play in Standard and why? R/G/W Eternal Slide splashing Lightning Rift. Rift handles a lot of stuff G/W can't handle

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? It's a fair shot for everyone.

Anything else you want to add? Whenever there's a beatdown deck leading the format, there's always a solution. Go for the solution.

Fun Facts: He plays Magic Online a lot. He also likes to watch movies and his favorite movie is The Day After Tomorrow. He always pile shuffles into six piles because he believes it brings him good luck. He also had to skip his college entrance exams in order to come to Worlds.

Aeo Paquette

Age: 19

Hometown: Vancouver, B.C. Canada

Occupation: Professional Slacker

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 2

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: Rating

Number of GP/PT T8s: 1 previous PT T8

Other Previous Magic accomplishments: T23 GP: Detroit. 2ND in the Magic Online Worlds Qualifier

What was your record on
Day 1: 5-1
Day 2: 5-1
Day 3: 3-2-1

What did you play in Block and why? Affinity because I only made the deck five minutes before Day 3 started and those were the only cards I had available to me.

What did you play in Standard and why? Affinity. I tested Standard with Affinity and I did well with it.

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? As long as I get at least 1 game win this time, I will be happy.

Fun Facts: Nicknamed CoolAeo (his MTGO Nickname), he plays Magic Online for an hour or two a day. He's also a big Counter-Strike player and is very superstitious. He and his friends ate at IHOP all 3 days this week, and he always buys a Snapple after every 2 rounds.

Gabriel Nassif

Age: 20

Hometown: Paris

Occupation: Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 20

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: PT Points

Number of GP/PT T8s: GP: 2, PT: 5

What was your record on
Day 1: 5-1
Day 2: 4-2
Day 3: 4-1-1

What did you play in Block and why? Monogreen with Beacon of Creation and Station in order to not play many mirror matches on the day and to beat Affinity.

What did you play in Standard and why? U/W because I felt comfortable with the deck.

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? No Clue

Fun Facts: Took over an hour to get his last haircut. He has been living in the U.S. for the last three weeks and is flying out on Monday. He wanted to say, "Kobe is so suited."

Ryo Ogura

Age: 20

Hometown: Nagoya, Japan

Occupation: Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 3

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: APAC Ratings

Number of GP/PT T8s: GP Kobe and Nagoya

What was your record on
Day 1: 4-2
Day 2: 5-1
Day 3: 4-1-1

What did you play in Block and why? Freshmaker, because it is good against Affinity

What did you play in Standard and why? Mono-Red Goblins also because it is good against Affinity.

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? only 1%

Do you have any interesting stories from the first 18 rounds? Forgot my deck for Block

Anything else you want to add? I was so lucky. After 18 rounds I feel as if Magic is very much a game of luck.

Fun Facts: He played in PT Tokyo and Osaka. He's a big movie fan, enjoying Miyazaki's movies the most, and he showed up with the wrong box of decks here in the United States, leaving his whole Block deck at home and having to borrow from friends.

Murray Evans

Age: 18

Hometown: Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Occupation: Student

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 8-10?

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: 2nd at Canadian Nationals

Number of GP/PT T8s: 0

Other Previous Magic accomplishments: 2nd at Canadian Nationals 2000, 2nd in the Worlds team competition that year.

What was your record on
Day 1: 4-2
Day 2: 4-2
Day 3: 5-0-1

What did you play in Block and why? Affinity. The only testing I did was on Magic Online with Affinity.

What did you play in Standard and why? Affinity. I wanted to beat control decks, so I played anti-control cards like Mana Leak

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? I built my deck to beat W/G and that's what I play in the quarters, so I should at least win that match.

Do you have any interesting stories from the first 18 rounds? I started out 0-2 and then went 7-0-1 in my last eight rounds

Anything else you want to add? I would like to say hi to my parents and my brother. I hope they read this in the coverage because I am too cheap to phone them.

Fun Facts: Nicknamed "The Mauler" when he was 10 because he beat Olle Rade, the best player in the world at that time. He says he plays a lot of Magic Online, and enjoys golfing in his spare time. He had to go 5-0-1 in order to make the Top 8 and he did, beating Finkel in round 13 after being down a game from a play error, and then keeping two bad hands with Oxidizes to win two more games.

Manuel Bevand

Age: 27

Hometown: Paris, France

Occupation: Computer Game Designer

Number of Times Playing on the Pro Tour: 16?

How Did You Qualify for Worlds: European Composite Rating

Number of GP/PT T8s: 3 GP Top 8s

Other Previous Magic accomplishments: 2nd and 5th at French Nationals previously, Top 32 at PT Rome

What was your record on
Day 1: 6-0
Day 2: 4-2
Day 3: 3-3

What did you play in Block and why? Jan Holland's U/W Cog deck because it beats everything if played well enough (but I suck…)

What did you play in Standard and why? Ironworks Combo because it's perfect in a metagame that is constantly shifting

What do you think of your chances on Sunday? If I play against Nassif, I will lose. Otherwise anything is possible.

Do you have any interesting stories from the first 18 rounds? I won my first nine coin flips and rounds

Anything else you want to add? I would like to thank Richard Garfield for being an inspiration to me as a game designer

Fun Facts: He's a big game player, and likes to play tennis and teach. He's also a big movie fan and his favorite movie is Fight Club. He said that he is very glad that Black Knight is not legal in this format, referring to a deck misregistration at a previous Worlds that forced him to play Black Knights in his White Weenie Deck.