As I write this, SJC Indy begins in only three days’ time. Like every duelist heading out to compete in the final Shonen Jump Championship of this format I’m frantically testing all the top decks to see which would be the wisest choice for the tournament. If Detroit was any indication, we can expect a lot of Machines, with T-Hero, Perfect Circle, and Monarchs filling out the ranks. Gadgets might make an appearance to combat the increasingly popular Trap Dustshoot. The Top 4 competitors at Worlds each had unexpected decks and tech cards as well, and the chances of some of those cards seeing play are very good.

All these factors make Indy a very difficult Shonen Jump to predict. There’s no clear-cut choice for “strongest” or “most consistent” deck. To help clear up some confusion, I took a look back at SJC Detroit, where the metagame was almost as diverse as Indy is sure to be. One thing most people don’t take into account is which deck went the furthest into the Swiss rounds before taking a loss. These players often get lost in the shuffle because they’ll make Top 16 with either 8-1 or 7-2 records, and often not place first in Swiss. They get mixed up as “another player who did well” rather than the player to beat.

Cody Miller was the star player in Detroit on Saturday. He defeated three Top 16 competitors—including yours truly—as well as defeating many other top players like Paul Levitin and Andrew Hayton. That’s quite a resume for someone who was previously unknown. He then went on to further success in Day 2, claiming third place and taking home a copy of Crush Card Virus. While he can attribute his success to his own play skills, no player can have a combined 11-2 win/loss record without playing an excellent deck. Here’s what Cody used to create all the magic:

Monsters: 22

1 Sangan

1 Spirit Reaper

1 Treeborn Frog

3 Cyber Dragon

3 Raiza the Storm Monarch

3 Card Trooper

3 Cyber Phoenix

3 Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive

2 Mystic Tomato

1 Jinzo

1 Snipe Hunter

Spells: 12

1 Premature Burial

1 Pot of Avarice

2 Brain Control

1 Snatch Steal

1 Machine Duplication

1 Mystical Space Typhoon

1 Limiter Removal

1 Heavy Storm

1 Scapegoat

1 Nobleman of Crossout

1 Overload Fusion

Traps: 6

1 Mirror Force

2 Trap Dustshoot

1 Torrential Tribute

1 Call of the Haunted

1 Ring of Destruction

I consider this one of the best versions of the Machine archetype that began with Jens Erickson at SJC Minneapolis and evolved through Canadian and American Nationals, the Shonen Jumps in Phoenix and Detroit, and all the way up to the World Championships. Cody’s build takes advantage not only of the Machine deck’s ability to beat opponents into the dirt, but also capitalizes on Raiza the Storm Monarch’s ability to cripple poor draws and clamp down on speedy decks.

Raiza the Storm Monarch is a big player here. When combined with Trap Dustshoot, Raiza should always slow your opponents down by a turn. Knowing which cards can’t be chained allows Cody to pick his targets confidently. If Dustshoot reveals no defensive cards (a likely scenario given the fall of Sakuretsu Armor this format), Raiza can bounce a monster, nullifying the opponent’s investment in the field, ruining the opponent’s next draw phase, and taking a 2400 chunk out of his or her life points. What’s the best part to such a devastating turn? Cody knows his opponent won’t draw a defensive card next, because he or she’s drawing the monster Raiza just put on top of the deck! Add Snipe Hunter, Nobleman of Crossout, or more copies of Raiza the Storm Monarch into the mix, and your opponent suddenly finds him- or herself with very few life points left.

Treeborn Frog is a new face for the Machine deck. Although Treeborn isn’t going to be game-breaking here, it’s definitely a very smart card choice. The Frog is one of the best cards to discard for Snipe Hunter’s effect, and as such, Cody can feel free to drop Snipe Hunter earlier than most players would. Imagine one turn in which Cody plays Snipe Hunter, destroys the monster by discarding Treeborn Frog, brings the Frog back next turn, uses it as a tribute for Raiza the Storm Monarch, sends back the monster his opponent set to protect him- or herself to the top of the deck, and attacks for a total of 5400 damage over two turns. Throw Cyber Dragon or Trap Dustshoot into the mix and things get deadly.

Card Trooper is more than a great Machine monster for this deck. Being able to freely push for 1900 damage is huge when Cody’s got Raiza up his sleeve, since it means the opponent is forced into action. He or she will have to respond unless the opponent wants to take more attacks or allow Cody to buff up his field. Then Cody brings everything crashing down with a Brain Control/Raiza combo. Trooper also has the chance to send Treeborn Frog to the graveyard. That puts the opponent into a lose-lose situation where action means he or she will be destroyed by Raiza/Brain Control, while non-action means Raiza will simply join Card Trooper to beat the opponent down.

Trap Dustshoot amplifies the power of all these cards, letting Cody know what his opponent has while removing the most threatening monster from his or her hand. From that point, Cody can take the appropriate steps to make sure his cards do the most damage possible while his opponent’s do very little. Cody will also know whether his attempts to end the game will be successful beforehand, allowing him to make the obvious game-winning moves or to avoid any looming disasters.

Mystic Tomato has moved in and out of top Machine decks. I myself have made the Top 8 twice this format with Machines, and only once used Mystic Tomato (to justify running Machine Duplication in a deck with no other way to search out Card Trooper). I figured Tomato could either grab Sangan to search out Card Trooper or take Snipe Hunter to simply discard the dead Duplication. It was a successful strategy, because even without Machine Duplication, the power of Sangan (and of Mystic Tomato to search out Sangan) cannot be underestimated.

Cody has taken the synergy one step further. Raiza the Storm Monarch and Sangan are a deadly combo, and Mystic Tomato can make that happen while defending Cody’s life points at the same time. Snipe Hunter can be a very pivotal card for this deck, and Tomato can search for it directly or via Sangan. Machine Duplication is a much safer card with Sangan being so readily available, and Pot of Avarice absolutely adores Mystic Tomato’s ability to start a chain of monsters. In fact, the ability to create such a chain is invaluable in a format where Trap Dustshoot threatens to rid Cody of monsters.

Overload Fusion and Limiter Removal are game-ending cards. Used often in conjunction with Snipe Hunter, these two can win a game on any given turn, surprising the opponent with massive amounts of ATK power. When combined with Trap Dustshoot (and therefore the knowledge of what his opponent has), Cody can play in such a way as to make sure Overload Fusion pumps out an unstoppable Chimeratech Overdragon or to seal the game with Limiter Removal.

Will this deck continue to see success at SJC Indy? I think so. In fact, I believe so strongly in this deck that I will be showing up (somewhat unsurprisingly) with my own variant.