It’s August 15, and the dueling world has a new two-time Shonen Jump Champion! A new season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX adventures is on the horizon, and we’ve got breaking news on the upcoming Limited and Forbidden lists!
John Jensen Wins Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis
Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis was all about adaptation to Recruiter strategies. Shining Angel and Mystic Tomato ran rampant, but at the end of the day, it was cards like Nimble Momonga and Pyramid Turtle that wound up as the surprising top picks for the event.
That’s why it was such an upset when John Jensen—the only member of the Top 8 main decking Return from the Different Dimension—eked out two wins against Brent Yetter to take home his second SJC title! After battling his way through Kris Perovic and Robert Morgan, Jensen was in a bind. Reduced to topdecking, he was totally cornered by Yetter until an explosive play and a bit of luck brought the tournament to an unbelievable close.
You can read all of our live coverage from Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis right here. Congratulations to everyone who competed in the Shonen Jump, and special congrats go out to John Jensen, now one of only three two-time champs!
New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Products Previewed
SJC Indianapolis wasn’t the only point of interest for duelists at Gen Con Indy. Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Game Designers Dan Scheidegger and Justin Reilly from Upper Deck Entertainment were on hand at the UDE booth taking on all comers, and brave duelists who answered their challenge went home with official, convention-exclusive Sheep Token promo cards!
There was some cool stuff to sneak a peek at, too: the booth had previews of plenty of upcoming products on display. The Cyber Dragon 2006 Collector’s Tin was displayed under glass, looking very sharp with the same cyan patterning that had been shown over on yugioh.com weeks ago. In addition, packages for the upcoming Dinosaur’s Rage Structure Deck, as well as booster boxes and packs of Cyberdark Impact, were available for photographs and general “ooh”ing and “aah”ing.
Missed the con? Check out these pictures of the preview mockups.
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Season 2
We’re less than one week away from the North American debut of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX’s second season, and the introduction of Aster Phoenix at Duel Academy!
Yu-Gi-Oh! GX has been a wildly successful entry into the Yu-Gi-Oh! pantheon, and fans have been clamoring for new episodes. If you’ve wanted to see the Destiny Heroes, Elemental Hero Phoenix Enforcer, and Elemental Hero Shining Phoenix Enforcer in action, you’ll get your wish next week as Aster arrives at the Academy to shake things up. Whether you’re an avid fan of the anime or not, another season of GX adventures for Jaden Yuki and Co. spells nothing but good things. GX has driven the brand to new heights and unparalleled levels of success since its inception, and has drawn tons of new players into the game we all love.
Check your local listings starting on Monday, August 21st, for all new episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX!
Forbidden List to Arrive Early
UDE’s Kevin Tewart made a big announcement yesterday to members of the judging program. The new Forbidden and Limited Lists will be put into effect on September 1st this time around, instead of the October 1st date that we were all expecting. That means that there are only two weeks left for the current format.
The change will unite format schedules for Konami and Upper Deck Entertainment territories. Previously, Japanese duelists would switch to a new format one month before competitors in North America, South America, Europe, Australia, and other regions, but this new plan will keep the different areas united: very important for events like the World Championships. Successive format changes will adhere to the usual six month schedule. That means that once we get our new list in two weeks, the next format change will be in March instead of April.
Not only does the change in scheduling speak well of the game as a global entity, but it might just give us some clues as to UDE’s confidence in the new list.
Speaking of which, remarks from Tewart have indicated that the new Forbidden and Limited lists will be announced any day now, so stay tuned! Once the lists break, we’ll be working overtime to bring you immediate insight into what they’ll mean for the average duelist, what kind of play trends they’ll create, and which strategies will benefit.
This Week on Metagame.com
Mike Rosenberg kicked off our week as usual on Monday, wrapping up his series on individual Fairy Counter Control cards with a concluding piece that ties together all the information he’s given you for the past month. Not only does he recap the cards he’s examined, but he also gives you a sample deck list for an interesting Counter Fairy build. Hinging on burn damage and Synthetic Seraphim, it’s a great addition to the gauntlet of any serious duelist. Check it out right here.
Today, Jerome McHale builds one of the new decks from Power of the Duelist! Destiny Heroes? Nope! Vehicroids? No deal. Chimeratech Overdragon? No, no, and no, to the point that the deck itself is actually called “Not Another Chimeratech Overdragon Deck”. Want a hint? It’s a brand new One-Turn KO deck that can lay an opponent out on turn 2, and it’s fueled by some older cards that haven’t seen top-tier play in ages. Intrigued? Read the article yourself, and see what Jerome’s got up his sleeve.
Tomorrow I’ll take a look at a deck from one of the game’s gifted, but unsung deckbuilders. Jeff Vertrees’ innovative Helping Robo For Combat deck got him a featured article in the tournament coverage from last year’s Shonen Jump Championship San Francisco, and now he’s showing off a very unique strategy for the current format. It uses no Mystical Space Typhoon, no Heavy Storm, and packs Turtle Oath? I’ll give the deck a tweak and show you what makes it a highly competitive entry into the North American metagame—you won’t want to miss it!
On Friday you get a double dose of Julia Hedberg. For judges, Julia has plenty of tips on how to improve your deck-checking speed. She’ll take you through every step of the process and show you where you can shave precious seconds off your time! For those more inclined to duel, Julia will discuss the hardest part of side decking—figuring out what to drop to rotate in all those delicious tech and alternate strategy cards. If you’re a serious duelist, you’ll know how difficult that can sometimes be, and Julia’s guide will help you prepare for those game 2’s where you need to switch things up a bit.
Finally, Simon Sangpukdee will wrap up the week with a look at the new Vehicroid cards from Power of the Duelist! Want to know how to make Decoyroid and Ambulanceroid really work? Or why every duelist should own a pair of Super Vehicroid Jumbo Drill cards? Maybe you’re just curious about the new support cards for the super-kawaii Machines. Either way, Simon will have you covered!
We’ll have all that, plus more articles from Curtis Schultz and Matt Peddle. In addition, when the news breaks about the new Forbidden and Limited lists, we’ll be right there, churning out articles. That announcement could hit any day, and when it does, Metagame.com will be your source for up-to-the-minute information!
The dawn of a new format is about to break, and it’s an exciting time to be a duelist! As always, thanks for reading Metagame.com!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer