It’s Tuesday, August 19, 2008, and after a second-place finish at the World Championships ten days ago, one duelist has finally claimed his title!

Robert Ackerman Wins Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis

Throughout the weekend, comebacks were a running theme for Ackerman, who lost round 1 of Day 1 to Jacob Naranjo. Ackerman, then, battled his way through five consecutive Lightsworn decks—a rough matchup for his Gladiator Beast strategy—to win out over the rest of the weekend. Once again, Rob proved his mettle and did nothing but shine under the pressure.

Things just got heavier on Day 2. Up-and-coming duelist Jose Prado came to Indy prepared with his innovative Vanity’s Fiend / Prime Material Dragon deck to beat Gladiator Beasts all weekend long. His deck was formulated specifically to take down Gladiators. Ackerman’s Sunday started with an unlikely 2-0 victory over Prado’s deck, and then he followed it up with a mirror match against Canadian star Jason Tan. Ackerman moved on to another mirror match against David Duran, where he lost game 1 and narrowly eked out wins in the next two duels. He went on to do the same against Jerry Wang in a knock-down, drag-out three-duel brawl in the finals. Missed it? You can read all the live coverage post-event right here on Metagame.

Three weeks from now Shonen Jump action returns to Baltimore with an all-new Advanced format, but for now the dueling world is focused on Robert Ackerman, our newest Shonen Jump Champion!

I’ll be scouring my local stores for tins later today, so keep your fingers crossed for me! I was in Germany for Worlds during the Sneak Preview, and I, for one, am salivating for some packs of The Duelist Genesis.

Salivating like an unhealthy dog.

Today, Jerome McHale puts his skills to work building a deck around the new Psychic monsters, creating a strategy that’s centered on Synchro summoning huge monsters and devastating the field with big effects. Some of the game’s best duelists are experimenting with Psychics right now, mostly because of Emergency Teleport, and Jerome’s deck is going to give you an idea why.

Be sure to join us tomorrow, because Curtis Schultz will be teaching Stardust Dragon 101. The Dragon is one of The Duelist Genesis set’s most anticipated cards and is sure to see play in everybody’s Extra Deck, so knowing how it works is a must for any competitive duelist. Curtis answers your most pressing questions and digs into the finer details on Wednesday. Don’t miss it!

Thursday, Matt Peddle takes on one of the biggest questions coming out of this year’s World Championship. Kazuki Mutsuoka defeated all comers to capture the World title, but he did it with Gladiator Beast Andal—a normal monster with 1900 ATK. How? Or maybe the better questions is Why? Matt’s going to answer that question this week in Battlefields, while discussing the fact that it’s becoming a very obvious trend in the game and explaining how a normal monster can be so powerful in the current format.

Bryan Camareno brings us one of the best articles he’s ever written for this site on Friday. You might often hear the term "metagame read" or "metagame call" a lot. Somehow, the top players always seem to know what a tournament will look like, and since they can make their decisions accordingly, they’re always well prepared. Making a metagame prediction and prepping your deck accordingly isn’t luck—it’s the result of testing, skill, and hard work. This week, Bryan starts a series on how that process can be simplified and optimized for success, and anyone can follow his methods.

On Saturday, Matt Peddle examines unsung competitor Josh Graham in The Champions, examining Graham’s Day 2 entry from Shonen Jump Championship Toronto. What looked like just another Gladiator Beast deck was really nothing of the sort, and Matt’s going to show you what made Graham’s build so different, and why it was successful.

That’s it for this week, but join us in another seven days for more insight and articles!