We’re just two days away from Gen Con So Cal, and four days remain between today and Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim!
Returning almost a year later to the birthplace of the Shonen Jump Championship tournament series, hundreds of duelists will fill the Anaheim Convention Center to square off right in the middle of one of America’s most challenging metagames. Home to teams like Comic Odyssey and Naruto, and closely situated to members of Team Savage, Southern California is the West Coast’s hotspot for high-level competition in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG. Taking place at one of the world’s fastest-growing gaming conventions right in the heart of Yu-Gi-Oh! country, Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim is definitely going to be one for the history books.
Of course, Metagame.com will be there bright and early to bring you all the live coverage you’ve come to expect, including deck profiles, interviews, team profiles, and match coverage. I’ll be on hand, so if you think you’ve got the next big deck, tech, or team, stop on by, say hello, and introduce yourself! If you’re interested in being profiled on Metagame, be sure to read last week’s article from Julia Hedberg, which explained how you can improve your chances of appearing in the event coverage!
Elemental Energy To Be Premiere-Legal
Remember that Elemental Energy, the hottest new expansion to the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, becomes legal for Premiere events on December 1. “Premiere” events are classified as Regionals, Nationals, and Shonen Jump Championships, so keep in mind that the forces of Dark World and their Elemental Energy cohorts will not be playable for Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim.
Junior Regional Championships To Debut At Gen Con So Cal!
After years of mixed-age competition, Upper Deck Entertainment will now be offering age divisions for Regional Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG tournaments this coming weekend. Duelists of age thirteen and under will be invited to compete in the game’s first age-restricted Regional competitions, and like normal Regional tournaments, these events will award National Championship invites to the top four finishers.
Thus far, Upper Deck Entertainment has not yet confirmed an age-divided National Championship competition, but it may be a logical step toward creating an expanded playing field for duelists across the world. Further Junior Regional tournaments have not yet been scheduled, so if you’re a younger duelist, you should head out to Gen Con to take advantage of this awesome opportunity!
Junior Regionals are scheduled to take place at 5 pm on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday. Check out the website for the event’s TO team, Professional Event Services, for more details on these and the other events that you’ll find at Gen Con So Cal 2005.
2005 Collector’s Tin Second Wave
Sources have confirmed rumors that the second wave of 2005 Yu-Gi-Oh! Collector’s Tins were shipped to stores in late October. If your local carrier of Yu-Gi-Oh! products ran out of tins, now might be a good time to see if they have more. But to hardcore collectors, this distinction between first wave and second wave shipments means a bit more.
In the first wave of shipments, the Gilford the Lightning tin was short-packed. Each display (read: big box) of tins had only one copy of Gilford and instead had three copies of Vorse Raider. Second-wave displays will not feature a short-packed tin, and will include two copies of Gilford and two of Vorse Raider. This is interesting news for collectors—because if they were unable to get a Gilford the first time around, they’ll have a better shot this time!
Elemental Energy Special Edition Ships On November 28
Elemental Energy Special Edition boxes, which contain three packs of the new expansion and one of four random promo cards, will ship to stores later this month on November 28. Arriving just in time for Christmas, each box will come packed with an as-yet–unconfirmed reprint from Yu-Gi-Oh!’s past few sets. Once these promo cards are announced, we’ll have confirmation here on Metagame.com!
Metagame Needs You!
Do you want to see your local Regional or Sneak Preview event featured here on Metagame.com? Julia Hedberg is looking for your tournament reports, and the best might be featured right here. If your team did well at a major tournament, or you’re a TO who’s looking to get a bit of publicity for your events, check out our tournament report guidelines and send one in! Your report might be featured in Metagame.com’s upcoming local tournament coverage feature.
This Week On Metagame.Com
With Elemental Energy available in limited quantities in many areas, most of the Metagame.com writers had the set on their minds while writing this week’s articles.
First, Mike Rosenberg opens the week with a look at the past, present, and future of one of Yu-Gi-Oh!’s classic standbys—Card Destruction. Deck thinning, offensive tech, and now the most powerful method of triggering Dark World monsters, Card Destruction has a bright future in the current Advanced format. Today, Mike illustrates why this is the case!
Dinosaurs have always been one of the least-explored monster types in the game, but Elemental Energy brought them a breath of fresh air with Hydrogeddon. Offering unparalleled potential for board presence and aggression, Hydrogeddon offers strategic abilities that Dinosaurs have never had before, and Jerome McHale takes advantage of them on Tuesday when he builds a deck that’s based around Tyranno Infinity.
On Wednesday, I’ll take a look at a One-Turn KO deck that aims to finish a duel before it begins, by using Magical Explosion. The hook? The card that makes this possible is, of all things, Outstanding Dog Marron. Check out my article on Wednesday to see how I convert Outstanding Dog Marron into a source of explosive power.
Curtis continues his look at the Elemental Heroes on Thursday, this time looking at the Elemental Hero fusions from Elemental Energy. Can Elemental Hero Rampart Blaster attack through your opponent’s monsters? When do you apply ATK boosts in relation to its effect? What happens when it’s in defense position, attacks with its effect, but is then turned to attack position with Enemy Controller? Curtis answers these questions (and more) when he looks at Rampart Blaster, Elemental Hero Tempest, Elemental Hero Wildedge, and Elemental Hero Shining Flare Wingman this Thursday!
Following him up is a double-dose of Julia Hedberg, with another addition to her Judge Interview series. This time, Julia profiles Level 3 Judges Jeff Richardson, John “KrazyKillroy” Williams, Oliver Gerhmann, and myself. Then, in her Solid Ground column, Julia looks at the importance of reading card text carefully. Do you think that’s a simple concept? It is, but card text is something we all fall victim to sometimes.
As a note, I’m the guy in the article who didn’t know how to play Barrel Dragon. If the editors would allow “embarrassed” smiley faces on this site, I’d use one right about now.
Jae Kim rounds out the week with the second part of his series on attribute-themed decks. This week Jae looks at Earth decks, and shows you how to get the best mileage out of Gaia Power. Earth monsters are some of the best in the game, but Jae pulls out a few interesting tricks in order to create a memorable strategy. If you’re looking for something competitive to play that isn’t Warriors, Dark World, or Beatdown, you should check out Jae’s article!
That’s it for this week! Check back in seven days for more news, team info, and upcoming article details, and be sure to reserve this coming weekend to follow along as Metagame.com and the Shonen Jump Championship series blow the roof off of the Anaheim Convention Center!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com