You probably already know this, but this Jump is the first major event to be held under the March 1st Forbidden and Limited card lists. As such, no one knows for sure what to expect to go up against today. Like many of the players preparing for this event, I’ve spent a great deal of time thinking about it, and now seems like a good time to share my thoughts on the subject.
One of the things I’ve noted about players as they prepare for high-profile events is that they’re very resistant to change. If a card or strategy isn’t obviously insane, like the Diamond Dude Turbo strategy from St. Louis, most players are likely to completely ignore it during their preparations. This is relevant for this SJC because of the Six Samurai. These cards are good. In fact, I’d say they’re obviously good. This is a deck that many people successfully built entirely out of their haul from the Sneak Preview and played to victory in local-level tournaments the very next day. Personally, I think this success is likely to transfer to today due to the overwhelming power of the Grandmaster of the Six Samurai and his cohorts. The question is: have players had enough time to make an optimized build?
Speaking of optimized builds, it’s likely that Gadgets are going to see a lot of play here today. The actual deck construction phase for a Gadget player is usually very short given that the deck practically builds itself. What I think we will see today is an increase in mass removal in the Gadget decks as opposed to just 12-15 simple card exchange removal spells. The aforementioned Samurai, regardless of whether or not they manifest at the Jump, are a huge threat looming over the heads of these duelists. Someone is going to be on the receiving end of a Yaichi/Grandmaster/Shien opening, and everybody knows it. As such, I really expect to see a lot of Lightning Vortex in both main and side decks if only as insurance against an unexpected Samurai match. Even the Monarch decks that are here are considering Lightning Vortex due to its ability to stop a swarm deck dead in its tracks, and, believe me, there are a lot of swarm decks.
Aside from the Samurai, I’ve seen a great number of people main decking sets of Hydrogeddon and Gravekeeper’s Spy. One of them holds off aggression and one of them is aggression, but both are very good, especially in an undefined metagame. Speaking of cards that are very good, Neo-Spacian Grand Mole is certainly one of them. I don’t think I’ve seen a deck so far that doesn’t pack the bouncy little critter, and I think that by the end of the day anyone who didn’t see a reason for its Limitation will have changed their tune. Finally, on a more personal note, it appears that my favorite deck of all time, Counter Fairy, is finally starting to see some more play! I’ve seen at least three different builds of the deck today, each one showcasing a unique style that can be brought to the strategy. I’ve got my fingers crossed that at least one of them will make it to the Top 16. That’s all I have time for now as the event is about to begin, but make sure you keep checking back to see how it all shakes out!