How often has an opponent flipped Crush Card Virus on you in a Shonen Jump Championship? Chances are good that unless you’ve been to a lot of Shonen Jump tournaments and placed highly on multiple occasions, it hasn’t happened very often. Since Crush Card Virus was so rare, players didn’t really have to prepare for it. Of course we’ve seen many players fall to Crush Card Virus lately in feature matches, and everyone is aware of how it can totally dominate a match despite its scarcity.
With the release of the Gold Series, Shonen Jump Championship Minneapolis is going to be a completely different game. The old Dark Armed Return is going to get destroyed by Crush Card Virus, and players are going to find that having to face a Crush almost every round will mean changing their strategies. You simply can’t win a tournament anymore if your deck is vulnerable to the Crush.
And as usual, Jerry Wang is one step ahead of the pack. Recognizing how significant Crush Card Virus can be at top tables, Jerry aimed to win Shonen Jump Championship Columbus. To do so, he knew he’d have to limit the effectiveness of Crush Card Virus. He switched up the expected style of Dark Armed Return, giving him the freedom to play a more control-oriented deck. Here’s the new top dog:
The idea behind this deck is the same one that powered Adam Corn and Erin Diaz to Top 16 finishes at this event: draw as many cards as possible and then use the best cards you’ve drawn to win the game. Jerry Wang has maximized his deck with draw power and game-breaking cards, and creates some nasty combos that can lead to winning the game or a secure victory over the next couple of turns.
One big reason behind this is that Jerry’s deck doesn’t overload its graveyard with Dark monsters. Other Dark Turbo decks will find that if they do not draw a Dark Armed Dragon within the first two turns, their graveyard is going to have too many Darks. Inconsistency and weak draws plagued many players who stuck with Dark Armed Return throughout the last two Shonen Jumps, and there’s one new card in Jerry Wang’s deck that really softens those issues: Cyber Valley.
Cyber Valley is one really cool monster. With three effects that can all be used comfortably in a combo deck such as this one, it gives Jerry the means to draw more cards, end battle phases or get any card from the graveyard back to the top of his deck. The first effect (which stops the battle phase and draws Jerry a card) is very useful at the start of the game. 
Negating any battle damage that could drop early on makes it much harder for the opponent to defeat you a few turns down the line.
The "draw two" ability is the strongest effect for this deck by far. If the cost of removing another one of your own monsters can be replaced, then Cyber Valley is effectively a Pot of Greed that costs your normal summon. Quite a good deal for a combo Dark Armed deck, and the fact that both monsters are removed from play is simply a bonus. Jerry also plays a lot of cards that combo very well with this effect. Destiny Hero - Malicious, Scapegoat, and Brain Control appear to be the only great targets at first, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg.
Destiny Hero - Disk Commander and Dark Magician of Chaos replace their own card presence when special summoned to the field. Jerry can comfortably ditch them to Valley’s effect knowing he gained cards in the exchange. Dark Magician of Chaos can be particularly useful to remove because special summoning him again from the removed-from-play pile means another free spell card. In fact, Cyber Valley can be a perfect replacement for Allure of Darkness when Jerry wants to get those big monsters from his hand out of play.
Monster Reborn and Premature Burial therefore combo nicely with Valley’s second draw ability, as they can special summon Disk Commander and Dark Magician of Chaos from the graveyard. Dark Grepher can help fuel these plays, as well as being pretty good bait himself. Special summoning him to the field allows you to normal summon the Valley, getting a quick 
two cards from the top of your deck. Machine Duplication can also compensate for the cost of Valley’s effect by special summoning two more Valleys to the field.
Doing so allows Jerry to choose one path out of many to take en route to winning the duel. He can essentially add a card from his graveyard to the hand by using the graveyard recovery ability with his first Valley, and the draw effect on one of the other two Valleys. Of course, simply drawing three cards (four if you can combo up to draw two with the second Valley) is just dandy as well. The Valleys could also be left on the field, stalling out for a minimum of three turns if the opponent can’t remove them.
Card Trooper is in the deck to fuel the graveyard for both Dark Armed Dragon and Cyber Valley, as well as potentially dumping the graveyard-live Destiny Heroes. Oh, and there’s always the possibility of playing Brain Control on an opposing Card Trooper and using Machine Duplication to bring out the other one from your deck. That would be cool.
Another thing you’ll notice about Jerry’s build is that he plays the three newly-popularized pre-negators. Remember the days of Delinquent Duo, The Forceful Sentry, and Confiscation? Well the trio of Mind Crush, Trap Dustshoot, and Crush Card Virus is equally as good (if not better), and will likely take their place as the three heartbreakers this format. Busting up your opponent’s ridiculous hand can be as easy as flipping one of these three cards. I’m not exaggerating when I say that they can individually turn a would-be loss into victory.
Jerry also plays three copies of Return from the Different Dimension and no copies of Escape from the Dark Dimension. The reasoning behind this is simple. Return can special summon Cyber Valley and a bunch of other removed-from-play monsters. While getting back your removed Destiny Hero - Malicious and Destiny Hero - Disk Commander is usually nothing to cheer about, having a pair of Cyber Valley cards means those dead monsters are going to turn into useful cards. Jerry’s deck really gets the most out of Return, and can win the game quite often by using return as a means to start off a combo.
Jerry Wang entered the tournament in Columbus on Saturday, claiming he had the best deck. He won the tournament, ousting many good players on the way and defeating the seemingly-invincible Kaiba OTK strategy brought to the finals by Erin Diaz. It would not surprise me to see this deck on top for quite some time.
—Matt Peddle