Semifinalist

The Top 8 is familiar territory for professional Magic player Dave Humpherys. With over $130,000 in career winnings and a Pro Tour championship on his resume, "The Hump" advanced to the Worlds semifinals for the second year in a row where he lost to eventual champion Daniel Zink. The blue-green madness deck he played has been a Standard mainstay for more than a year. It revolves around Torment madness cards like Basking Rootwalla and Circular Logic, together with discard-enablers like Aquamoeba and Wild Mongrel. Humpherys, who recently earned his Ph.D. from MIT, credits this version of the deck to Norway's Sigurd Eskeland.