To North American ears, Scott Hunstad sounds Australian. To the Aussies, he’s “that American.” A man without a country? A man of two nations? His affiliations thus far on the PC suggest neither to be the case. Scott is the foundation for what’s quickly becoming one of the world’s strongest professional teams, VsParadise, which shares a name with the website he hosts.

Born in South Dakota and schooled in Chicago, Scott married his university sweetheart and moved to her home in Sydney, where his work in IT support made web hosting a natural option. A long-time gamer, when Scott discovered Vs. System, he found it to be exactly what he’d been looking for. He started up the website, started a sponsorship program, and now, at the second PC, Sydney is represented by eight players carrying the VsParadise banner.

See, this is a team. These guys have been working together consistently, doing an estimated 200 drafts in preparation for the tournament. Some come from other TCGs, and some are pure Vs System players with backgrounds in comics. They’re the cream of the crop in a city where the game has exploded. “There are more competitive Vs System players than Magic players in Sydney,” Scott explained, adding that the community continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. These are the guys representing Sydney and VsParadise.com this weekend:

Alex Brown – “Uly” is the team’s most dedicated Constructed player, the source for all things concerning deck tech. A long-time professional TCGer, Brown finished second at the Sydney $10K. He’s playing Teen Titans this weekend.

Scott Smith – He’s running Common Enemy today, but he’s really looking forward to tomorrow. You would, too, if you were the world’s number one–ranked Limited player. His flight here was his first time aboard an airplane.

Chris Foggin – Here’s contrast for you: Foggin is here on a “tournament organizer invite” and has played maybe a dozen games in his life coming into the day. However, he’s the owner of the Sydney Games Center, the heart of the Sydney games community, and his invite is more recognition for his efforts that anything else.

Ray Isais – The only Paradiser playing Shimmer Cops, a deck combining Gotham Knights and Fearsome Five.

Luke Barter – One of Sydney’s first Vs. System players. If you sit down across from Barter, you’re sitting down across from some variation of Big Brotherhood, his pet deck. Today he’s running a medium-sized version of the deck. Another Sydney $10K Top 8 finisher, Luke is the joker of the group. The usual target of his jabs? . . .

Ben Seck – Famous or infamous, depending on who you ask, it’s a good things TBS gets the results, because there’s a lot of talk to back up. The team travel agent, TBS easily has the most experience where professional game playing is involved. Most of the team hopes to finish ahead of Ben simply because to not do so would involve never hearing the end of it. Ben’s playing Teen Titans, running A Death in the Family and Finishing Move to make for a more control-oriented build.

James Kong – “Kongy” is the third team member with a Sydney Top 8 on his resume. He’s running Spider-Friends today.

As a group, the team’s goal, aside from leaving TBS in the dust, is to place a member in this weekend’s Top 8. They’ve conquered their island and have moved on to the world. Keep an eye on these guys—they could end up taking the title down under.