Seven Days — December 18th
One day has passed since the surprising finals of Shonen Jump Championship San Jose, and the biggest news in dueling is the newest Shonen Jump Champion!
David Rodriguez Wins Shonen Jump Championship San Jose
365 competitors threw down in the most recent of California’s Shonen Jump Championships, and the field consisted of virtually every deck you can imagine. Warrior Toolbox had a big resurgence in popularity, Monarch variants of every imaginable type were in contention, and plenty of duelists tried to put their own spin on the Dimensional Fissure / Macro Cosmos concept. In the end, the Top 8 came down to five Monarchs, two Chain Strike Burns, and one Cyber-Stein OTK.
For once, the Cyber-Stein player made it. David Rodriguez is your newest Shonen Jump Champion, and, after overcoming what should have been an auto-loss matchup in the form of Chain Strike Burn in the quarterfinals, he then went on to beat back-to-back Monarch decks and take home the gold. In the shortest finals match of any SJC in history, Rodriguez managed to capture the title in just three turns.
The reign of Monarchs is over, and the metagame is sure to shift dramatically thanks to cards like Chain Strike, Snipe Hunter, and the defeat of Monarch control. What a way to end the dueling year!
McDonald’s Launches New Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG Promo Set
In a surprising move last week, McDonald’s announced what appears to be a partnered offering with 4Kids and Cartoon Network to promote the Yu-Gi-Oh! GX animated series. The result? A brand new set of promo cards exclusive to McDonald’s restaurants, launching at McDonald’s locations this week on the 22nd.
Each Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Happy Meal toy will include a booster of three cards, all of which will be drawn from the new promo set. Every pack contains a rare, and it’s got some pretty amazing cards! Players and fans alike will want to get their hands on White-Horned Dragon and The Flute of Summoning Kuriboh, while GX watchers will get a shot at Elemental Hero Mudballman, an alternate art version of Elemental Hero Burstinatrix, and the mighty Elemental Hero Electrum! All in all, the set includes 20 different cards, all of which can only be found in this promotional release. Quantities are limited and are provided on a “while supplies last” basis, so get ready to head out this week if you want to get first crack at them. You can find all the details, including a full checklist of the set, right here.
Pretty cool present for the holidays, huh?
This Week on Metagame.com
Mike Rosenberg kicks off our week by taking a step back from his regular column, The Binder. As one of the masterminds behind Project D.’s Chain Strike Burn deck, Mike’s going to take you for an insider tour of the group’s build to show you what makes it tick. If you want to know more about what makes this new archetype so good, then Mike’s insight is going to be a valuable resource. This one’s a must-read.
On Tuesday, Jerome McHale will show you his take on the strategy that Vincent Tundo debuted here a couple of weeks ago: D. D. Borderline Counter Fairy. Jerome’s build varies from Tundo’s in a lot of interesting ways and, if you’ve enjoyed Jerome’s work on the Counter Fairy deck before, you’ll really love this. He takes Tundo’s great idea and applies his wealth of experience with the deck’s progenitor, creating something truly worthy of a place in your testing gauntlet.
Then, I react to the crush of interest in Dimensional Fissure and Macro Cosmos by fixing up a cool deck in The Apotheosis. The key card? Golden Homunculus, which grows to mammoth proportions as a Macro Cosmos game progresses. Add a dash of Gren Maju Da Eiza, and you’ve got a deck that can kick out 4500 ATK monsters for a single tribute, or 3000 ATK attackers for free. Ouch.
On Thursday, Curtis Schultz swings open the doors to his Duelist Academy to look at some of his favorite combos from recent sets. First up is Flame Ogre, from the recently-released Cyberdark Impact expansion. While the Ogre’s free draw is nice, it’s a two-tribute monster, and that can make it a hard sell. Curtis will show you how to abuse it, and will then teach you how to do the same with Majestic Mech — Ohka and Majestic Mech — Goryu. If you’re looking for some cool deck ideas, then this is the article you’ve been waiting for!
Friday, you get a double dose of Julia Hedberg, as she hits you with one article for players, and another for judges. For those of you who fly the white and black, Julia’s going to discuss the one element missing from her recent series on factors that can slow down tournaments: slow play. How to recognize it, how to analyze it, and how to deal with it are the topics here, and if you plan on ever judging again you’ll definitely want to read this. Then, Julia teaches the more ambitious amongst you how to get your local game store to run a Yu-Gi-Oh! Hobby League! With all the great new promos that have hit Hobby Leagues this month you definitely want to have one in your area, but some players just don’t know where to start. Never fear, because Julia’s got you covered.
Jae Kim continues his recent trend of highly-dedicated theme decks this Saturday when he takes a look at Dark World. Sure, Goldd, Sillva and Dark World Lightning made the Top 8 at Anaheim, but were those really “Dark World decks?” This one’s got all the bells and whistles, complete with tricks like The Forces of Darkness and Broww, Huntsman of Dark World. For hardcore Dark World fans, this one is just begging to be read.
Finally, Matt Peddle rounds out the week with an in-depth look at Kirk Leonhardt’s deck from SJC Anaheim. Kirk’s Dimensional Fissure build is probably the most talked about from the entire SJC, and has set a huge trend in North America — his impact was scene all over San Jose this past weekend. Now, Matt’s going to take the deck apart piece by piece to show you what makes it so good.
That’s all for this week! Head on back in another seven days for a recap of some of the year’s best articles, complete with writer commentary and retrospection! Happy holidays from all of us here at Metagame!
-Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com