From auto racing's checkered flag to cycling's yellow jersey, every well-established sport has a fierce competition and coveted title. For players of the popular Magic: The Gathering® trading card game the ultimate showdown is about to get underway, with competitors from more than 50 countries headed to Berlin this week for the 2003 Magic: The Gathering World Championship. The international event is a meeting of the minds of sorts, with players strategizing and drawing from their Magic® card decks. At stake is an aggregate prize purse of $400,000(a) (USD) and the prestige of being recognized as the best Magic player in the world by the community of more than six million Magic game fans.

Look for top player-personalities to strut their stuff at the Magic World Championship, including reigning World Champ Carlos Romao from Brazil, Germany's own Kai Budde - who ranks #1 for the current Magic Pro Tour season, U.S. National Champion Joshua Wagener, and the so-called "Tiger Woods of trading card games" - Jon Finkel - also from the U.S. In all, 300 invited players are expected to turn out for competition. In addition, the event is expected to attract more than 1,000 fans to participate in an array of public events happening concurrently with the Magic World Championship and in celebration of the game's 10th anniversary.

The 2003 Magic: The Gathering World Championship takes place August 6-10 at the Estrel Center in Berlin. The final rounds of individual and team competition will be webcast live on August 10, beginning at 9:00 a.m. Berlin time, on www.magicthegathering.com. Players who have qualified for the World Championship will be competing for an individual first-place prize of $35,000 (USD) and a team first-place prize of $30,000 (USD), with each player on the three-person team taking home $10,000 (USD).

The Magic: The Gathering game celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Widely recognized as the premier trading card game, the Magic game is played by an estimated six million players in 70 countries, with more than 100,000 official tournaments held each year.

Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., is a worldwide leader in the trading card game and tabletop roleplaying game categories, and a leading developer and publisher of game-based entertainment products. The company holds an exclusive patent on the method of playing trading card games (TCGs) and produces the premier trading card game, Magic: The Gathering®, among many other trading card games and family card and board games. Wizards is also a leading publisher of roleplaying games, such as Dungeons & Dragons®, and publisher of fantasy series fiction with numerous New York Times best-sellers. For more information, visit the Wizards of the Coast website at wizards.com.

(a) For a breakdown of prize amounts, visit www.magicthegathering.com.

Wizards of the Coast, Magic: The Gathering, Magic and Dungeons & Dragons are registered trademarks of Wizards of the Coast Inc. (C)2003 Wizards.