August has been the month for theme weeks here at Metagame.com. We began with Cybernetic Revolution, moved on to the Shonen Jump Championships, and wrapped up the month with a look at the decks from the upcoming Yu-Gi-Oh! GX series. There are some brand-new deck types featured in the show, and our writers each selected a character’s deck and brought it into the “real” world of dueling.
Mike Rosenberg took on Titan, a villain that Jaden and his friends will encounter early in the series. Demonstrating the power of a blast-from-the-past Archfiends build, Mike delved into the darker side of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
Jerome McHale showed us how to create a tournament-ready deck based around Syrus Truesdale’s strategy. By mixing the Vehicroid monsters with Power Bond and a wealth of support, Jerome proved that while Syrus’s fellow students might underrate him as a duelist, he actually has one of the strongest decks at Duel Academy.
Jason Grabher-Meyer put together a competitive Elemental Heroes build, giving a nod to Jaden Yuki, the new lead character. Using only cards that Jaden actually has in the GX series, he demonstrated that the Hero theme is alive and kicking in the wake of Cybernetic Revolution.
Curtis Schultz’s rather offbeat choice of Chumley Huffington brought the pudgy Aussie’s deck into the real world, with a few twists. Stomping opponents with koalas and kangaroos? It’s all in a day’s work for Jaden and Syrus’s sleepy roommate.
Finally, Jae Kim built a Cyber Dragon deck that showed us why Zane Truesdale is known as the Kaiser of Duel Academy. With powerhouses Cyber Twin Dragon and the mighty Cyber End Dragon, Jae portrayed the very reasons why Zane is undefeated!
In one week, we looked at five characters from the new series, and showed how you can adapt their decks to fit in with your current play environment and experiment with each new strategy. We’ve only scratched the surface, though, because there are many more duelists populating Duel Academy: good, evil, and everything in between. Once the series launches, you’ll meet them all, and you can witness their powerful (and sometimes off-the-wall) decks in action.
We’re just weeks away from the release of the biggest thing to hit dueling since Giant Kozaky. Yu-Gi-Oh! GX is an all-new adventure in the dueling universe. Taking place in the not-so-distant future, it features an entirely original cast. Set at Duel Academy—a duelist’s boarding school where promising teenage duelists enroll to become the best—it chronicles the adventures of underachiever Jaden Yuki and his friends as they enter Duel Academy and learn that there’s a lot more to dueling than being first in line to buy the good cards!
With more duelists, more decks, and more excitement, the release of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX marks a new era for Yugi fans around the world. The show itself will be tied tightly to the card game, so as new cards are released in future expansions, you’ll see characters in the anime using them too. In fact, many of the students at Duel Academy will use cards that are due to be released in coming expansions. Following along with Jaden’s adventures can help you as a competitive duelist, because seeing these new cards in action before they’re released will enable you to come up with advance strategies while enjoying the story. There’s nothing wrong with getting a jump on your competition while you’re watching TV!
There will be new cards aplenty. We’ve already seen some of them, since The Lost Millennium expansion introduced several Yu-Gi-Oh! GX cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG card pool. Players were given access to the Elemental Hero cards and to Dr. Vellian Crowler’s Ancient Gear monsters. Cybernetic Revolution expanded our options and launched the game into full-on GX mode, introducing more Elemental Heroes and Elemental Hero tricks, Syrus Truesdale’s cute (yet playable) Vehicroid Machine-type monsters, Zane Truesdale’s elegant and deadly Cyber Dragons, and a wealth of useful odds and ends like Dark Catapulter and Power Bond. The upcoming Elemental Energy expansion will also have cards so you can make the decks played by Alexis Rhodes, Chazz Princeton, and Bastion Misawa.
However, the cards won’t be limited to use only in character-driven theme decks. Cybernetic Magician looks to be a likely usurper of Airknight Parshath in many tournament-winning decks. Cyber Dragon gives you a reason to choose to play second when you win that coin toss. Miracle Fusion, Wroughtweiler, [Fusion Recover], and other similar effects will help keep Fusion monsters firmly in the forefront of dueling. Cybernetic Revolution is a superb blend of GX excitement, fan-pleasing character cards, and raw power!
GX viewers will be getting an early look at the upcoming Elemental Energy expansion as well. Featuring even more Elemental Heroes, some other old favorites, and an expanded pool of exciting new monsters, spells, and traps, this set will continue to raise the bar. Releasing in November, it promises to deliver GX favorites while at the same time providing plenty of tournament-worthy cards for the serious duelist—and often a nice blend of the two.
The decks that we’ve looked at and the coverage that we’ve done leading up to the debut of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX are just the beginning. Metagame.com will continue delivering exclusive GX news the moment it becomes available. In addition to being a top source for tournament coverage, strategy articles, and judge resources, we’ll also be a one-stop supplier for all of your GX interests. We’ll keep you at the forefront of what is bound to become one of the biggest and most popular television programs in North America.
There are many levels of interest in the Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise. From anime fans to casual players, and from collectors to seriously hardcore duelists, anything that pushes it all forward is good news for everyone in the end. The new series launches soon, so look for it, study it, wait for the new cards that are on the way, and continue to expand your ingenuity when it’s time to duel.