It’s October 24, and Shonen Jump Championship Chicago is only five days away!

The online community was filled with debate about the metagame of Shonen Jump Championship Atlanta, after seeing a Top 8 that featured nothing but decks that were closely derived from the previous format. Last April, Shonen Jump Championship Los Angeles was also at the forefront of a new environment, and it was one of the most innovative events in Yu-Gi-Oh! history. Though the Top 8 at Atlanta fought hard and deserved the glory that they won, innovation in the new format was a little lacking.

Let’s fast-forward to this week. Now that the Advanced format has settled slightly and more time has passed for playtesting, Shonen Jump Championship Chicago may herald the new decks, strategies, and tech that this format seems to promise. Spellcasters, Machines, Zombies, and even offbeat themes (like Dark Scorpion Gang and Magical Hats) have all proven to be viable over the past few weeks, and Jerome McHale will be on site in Chicago searching for the next big thing.

Coverage kicks off Saturday morning here at Metagame.com and will continue throughout the weekend, so if you aren’t attending the event, make sure that you’re following our live updates!

Master Collection 2 Launches Today

The second volume in the Master Collection series hits stores today, containing a mix of popular booster packs and cool secret rare foils. Guardian Sphinx, Breaker the Magical Warrior, and the mighty Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning are just a few of the powerful cards that will be making an appearance in never-before-seen secret rare promo form, and with three more promos plus six booster packs, Master Collection 2 is a boon for both competitive and casual duelists.

Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon To Hit North America!

It’s finally here! The most anticipated and desired promotional card in the history of Yu-Gi-Oh! will at last be available to North Americans. The fabled Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon has been confirmed for a US debut, and a press release on the official TCG website’s “Hot News and Promotional Card” section has all the details.

The wait is over! The most desired card in Yu-Gi-Oh!, “Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon,” comes stateside, packaged with the January issue of Shonen Jump Magazine, the world’s most popular manga. Commemorating the third anniversary of the magazine, “Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon” has the highest attack strength of any monster! Visit www.SHONENJUMP.com to subscribe and guarantee your copy of this card!

Subscribing to the magazine may be an excellent idea—copies of Blue Eyes Ultimate are sure to increase in value quickly after their release, and the long-awaited promo seems bound to sell out in newsstands. I, for one, have already begun the process of selecting a comfy lawn chair in which I can stake out my local magazine shop.

Team Roster Shake-Ups

The world of high competition dueling dished out some interesting news over the past week, as several major teams created buzz by restructuring their ranks.

First up, rumors abound that Jason Tan may be preparing for a place alongside greats like Wilson Luc and Ryan Hayakawa in Team Comic Odyssey. Tan made a huge impact when he won his way to the finals of 2005’s Canadian Nationals. Even though he fell just short of claiming the championship, he’s widely recognized as one of Canada’s finest duelists. When asked for comment, a spokesman for Comic Odyssey denied that CO was actively recruiting, but did admit that they are always interested in picking up strong players. As for Tan, the spokesman had only the following to say: “He has not been recruited yet, but we are looking to possibly add him.” He was quick to reiterate, “Possibly!”

Team Scoop joined ranks with Team Hunger Force this past week. Though details of the merger are scant, if most or all of each group’s members made the cut, the resulting band of duelists will be of sufficient size to challenge any team in its path. One member that will not be participating in the merger is former Hunger Force spokesman Ameen Bahar. After rumored personal differences within the group, the talented Gravekeeper advocate left the team whose reputation he helped to build.

This Week At Metagame.com

It’s preview week here at Metagame, and, well . . . I’ll get to say that next Monday too! That’s right—we’ve got two back-to-back weeks of exclusive preview content for you, rounding out the month of October in excellent set-spoiling style. You won’t want to miss a single day as we dissect some of the best cards from November’s Elemental Energy expansion set!

I kick off the week today with a look at one of the most synergistic monsters ever released. Destined to shape metagames across the globe, today’s preview card combines beat stick stats with an effect that destroys Don Zaloog, Thestalos the Firestorm Monarch, and the Advanced format’s latest MVP: Spirit Reaper.

Then, Jerome McHale goes wild over one of the best Elemental Hero fusion monsters ever to be released. Mix Asura Priest with some muscle-building protein shakes, add a dash of delicious Elemental Hero combo potential, and you get Tuesday’s featured card.

On Wednesday, Jae Kim looks at what might be the best spell released in years. For ages, Yu-Gi-Oh! has come under fire from strategic purists for being “a game without draw engines,” and indeed, its emphasis often lies on tactics. Players looking for consistency and card advantage in the new Advanced format will find it in Elemental Energy. Check back in two days to find out how!

Mike Rosenberg takes a look at a popular retro trio from the original Yu-Gi-Oh! animated series: King’s Knight, Queen’s Knight, and Jack’s Knight! Classic cards are a focus of Elemental Energy, and duelists have waited for these three monsters for quite a while after seeing Yugi use them in countless adventures. Mike blows the lid off the stories and strategies behind the new family of cards this Thursday.

Next, Julia Hedberg tackles a nice piece of Spellcaster tech in the form of an interesting new effect monster. Following in the tradition of Skilled Dark Magician and Blast Magician, her featured preview turns Toon Table of Contents into a deadly weapon and gives Spellcaster duelists another way to end duels. If you’re into magic-using monsters, you should consider this a must-read!

Finally, I just couldn’t stand to wait an extra few days, so I’ll be back on Saturday with a bonus preview. One of my favorite cards from the new set is also one of the trickiest, and it happens to be one of the best weapons in a fresh new archetype’s arsenal. I follow up my first preview with a support spell for that first card, and their combined potential is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

We’ve got all that and more this week here at Metagame.com. Curtis Schultz dives into part one of a series on Elemental Hero rulings, just in time for what may be their shining hour. Elemental Energy brings many new Elemental Heroes into the fold, so what could be a better time than now to brush up on your knowledge of their more difficult tricks? Curtis shows you all the ins and outs that you’ll need to be familiar with.

That’s it for this week. Don’t forget to be glued to your computer screen for this weekend’s coverage, and make sure to check back every day for another exclusive Elemental Energy preview card!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

Contributing Editor, Metagame.com