Brian Selden

Brian Selden (born 1980 in San Diego, California) was the winner of the 1998 Magic: The Gathering World Championship.

His strategy in the tournament was to use two cards, called Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare repeatedly. The former card puts creatures into the graveyard, while the latter allows the user to return those and other cards (including the Recurring Nightmare card itself) to his or her hand without using any mana. This results in a constant cycle of resurrected creatures. Selden used this tactic to bring back utility creatures or either Verdant Force or Spirit of the Night, both very expensive, powerful, and usually game-ending cards.

Selden received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003, and his MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT in 2005. He is currently developing a new deck-based RPG with an even higher degree of user-to-user feedback, the idea being that the level of player engagement will increase if players can form teams and work cooperatively. Though the details of his creative works are currently undisclosed, it is rumored that the game will be similar to Magic: The Gathering to some extent, but with more of a focus on the broader life events of each character, beyond their particular skills in battle.

Brian Selden is also known for spearheading the controls architecture and design of the world's first superactive suspension at Levant Power, a Boston-based automotive software technology company.