The 2008 World of Warcraft Trading Card Game World Championship Tournament was held Oct. 16-19 in Paris, France, and Jim Fleckenstein of Virginia earned the coveted title in a 3-2 victory against France's own Laurent Pagorek. Frenchman Guillaume Matignon vanquished Canadian Eric Prieur for the top prize last year, so Fleckenstein succeeded in bringing the trophy back to the United States in a hard-fought battle.

Full coverage of the event can be found on the official Upper Deck site. Players from as many as 32 countries competed in the tournament. Here's a turn-by-turn overview of the Fleckenstein/Pagorek championship match. Fleckenstein won the final game with the help of the troll shaman Sha'kar.

As for the prizes, to put it bluntly, they're insane. For first place, Fleckenstein won 30,000 Euros (about $40,400 U.S.), a Dell laptop computer, three trips to attend any WoW event globally, the opportunity to create a WoW TCG hero or ally card of his character, and a lot more. Check the full list of prizes here or after the jump.

First Place:

• 30,000 Euro Cash Prize
• WoW Dell Laptop computer
• 3 Trips to attend any World of Warcraft event globally
  • Travel and accommodations for two people
  • 4 days and 3 nights
• Create a WoW TCG hero or ally card of your character
  • Work with UDE R&D on the card mechanic
  • Provide art direction for the card image
• Get to keep the original artwork for card created.
• Get 100 copies of the card created
• An invite to the World of Warcraft TCG World Championship in 2009
• First Place Trophy
• Drums of War Bear Mount Loot Card
• A full playset of Ishanah, High Priestess of the Aldor Extended Art Cards
• Spymaster Thalodien Extended Art Card
• Complete set of Participation promos (one in each language)

Second Place:

• 15,000 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Touch 32gb
• Playstation 3
• 2 Trips to attend any World of Warcraft event globally
  • Travel and accommodations for two people
  • 4 days and 3 nights
• A piece of original artwork from a World of Warcraft card
• Second Place Trophy
• Drums of War Bear Mount Loot Card
• Top 8 Promo Card
• Top 96 Promo Card
• Complete set of Participation promos (one in each language)

Third and Fourth Place:

• 7,500 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Touch 32gb
• Playstation 3
• A trip to attend any World of Warcraft event globally
  • Travel and accommodations for two people
  • 4 nights and 3 days
• Trophy
• Drums of War Bear Mount Loot Card
• Top 8 Promo
• Top 96 Promo
• Complete set of participation promos (one in each language)

5th – 8th Place:

• 3,500 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Touch 32gb
• Playstation 3
• 1 trip for one to any World of Warcraft event in their local market
  • Travel and accommodations for one person
  • 4 days and 3 nights
• Trophy
• Drums of War Bear Mount Loot Card
• Top 8 Promo
• Top 96 Promo
• Complete set of Participation promos (one in each language)

9th-16th Place:

• 2,000 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Touch 16gb
• Playstation 3
• Top 96 promo

17th-24th Place:

• 1,500 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Nano
• Top 96 Promo

25th-32nd Place:

• 1000 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Nano
• Top 96 Promo

33rd -48th Place:

• 600 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Nano
• Top 96 Promo

49th-64th Place:

• 400 Euro Cash Prize
• iPod Nano
• Top 96 Promo

65th-96th Place:

• iPod Touch 16gb
• Top 96 Promo