It’s Monday, July 8th, and after two-and-a-half years of tireless effort, one of the world’s most respected duelists has finally become a Shonen Jump Champion!
Theeresak Poonsombat Wins Shonen Jump Championship Phoenix
Until yesterday, no National Champion had ever won a Shonen Jump title. It was a hex that had long haunted the duelist fondly known as “T”—holder of the most SJC Top 8 appearances ever. A whopping eight missed attempts preceded this weekend—an unparalleled feat that has never been matched—but try as he might, Poonsombat just couldn’t seem to break the Nationals curse. Until now.
Plowing through the Swiss rounds with a modified Machine Beatdown build, T blew away challenger after challenger with brutal aggression. Crush Card Virus, aided by several off-theme Dark attribute monsters created massive simplification in conjunction with Giant Trunade, and T spent all weekend building up huge fields only to tear them down for game-winning rushes. His feature match against Fili Luna in the Quarterfinals will go down in the history books as one of the greatest matches of all time, and T went on to demolish Nationals runner-up Bryan Rockenbach in the finals. It took him a mere five turns.
Shonen Jump Championship Phoenix seemed to represent a series of turning points in the North American metagame. While this format has always been aggressive, it seemed as if this was the first event in which the successful players consciously prioritized damage above all else. Zaborg the Thunder Monarch made a big comeback, and Raiza the Storm Monarch was repeatedly used to bounce monsters to allow big direct attacks. At the same time, the shape of the Top 16 indicated a shift, since only three Destiny Hero decks made the Day 2 cut, while five Machine Beatdown and five Monarch variants made it to the playoffs. It seems as if Machines are now on top, and the format continues to evolve. If you missed it the first time around, check out the live coverage right here on Metagame.com.
Our congratulations go out to Theeresak Poonsombat, finally your new Shonen Jump Champion!
Shonen Jump Championship Detroit This Weekend
After four straight weeks of Championship events in three different countries, the last of five back-to-back high-profile tournaments is upon us! Following hot on the heels of Shonen Jump Phoenix, SJC action returns to Rock City as we get ready for Shonen Jump Championship Detroit.
The best duelists from the American Northeast and Canada will flock to the Rock Financial Showplace in just five days to compete at the last Shonen Jump Championship before Worlds. Times are changing: a number of rogue decks have been successful in recent events, Machine Beatdown is on top, and the Crystal Beasts are creeping closer and closer to Day 2. In Phoenix we saw a veritable highlight reel of duelists from the deep South and the West Coast. Detroit will draw from the opposite side of the country, as Eastern and Northern players travel from near and far to take their shot at title gold.
Want to be part of the action yourself? Check out the official event listing for all the basic info, then hit up Professional Events Services’ website for more information on directions, side events, and everything else you need to know.
This event could be one of the biggest of the year, so if you can’t make it there yourself, be sure to join us here on Metagame.com for two days of in-depth coverage, live from the tournament floor!
This Week on Metagame.com
Mike Rosenberg opens up our week today with an in-depth look at one of the most complicated cards ever released: Ancient City - Rainbow Ruins. With Crystal Beasts slowly gaining momentum in high-level competitions, it’s becoming readily apparent that the Ruins are necessary to Crystal Beast success. Mike’s going to show you why today, investigating the synergy between this card and others, plus the synergy between its own effects. Click on over and check it out!
The Transmigration Prophecy saw a ton of hype when it was released in Strike of Neos, but despite how good it can be in the average metagame nowadays, it’s seeing absolutely zero play. Jerome McHale finds this turn of events befuddling, and takes it upon himself to set things right tomorrow. Want to see a competitive deck that packs three copies of The Transmigration Prophecy, both as killer tech and as part of its central strategy? Stop on by and check out Almost There tomorrow for one of the coolest decks we’ve run this year.
On Wednesday, I take on one of the most entertaining decks I’ve seen in a while. You’ve seen Diamond Dude Turbo, but are you ready for Diamond Dude Dinosaurs? One of our intrepid readers has combined the Destiny Hero engine with the classic Ultimate Tyranno OTK, and the result is a turbo-paced update of an old fan favorite. What it lacks in practically it makes up for in, well, dinosaurs, and for my dueling dollar, it really doesn’t get any better than that.
Thursday, Curtis Schultz tackles an eclectic mix of rulings queries when he looks at Demise, King of Armageddon, Spatial Collapse, and the newly-popularized Dimension Wall. You asked and Curtis answered, so get ready for some intriguing tidbits on some of this format’s most peculiar cards.
Ever read tournament coverage and asked yourself, “how do they do it?” How do duelists like John Jensen and Theeresak Poonsombat repeatedly make Day 2, time and again, format after format? Some players just always seem to be ahead of the curve, and if you can do the same, you can be a Champion too. On Friday, Bryan Camareno is going to show you the traits that keep a handful of duelists on the cutting edge, and he’ll share some tips on how you can achieve the same accomplishment.
Bryan Rockenbach’s performance at the U.S. National Championships can be summed up in one word: controversial. There are plenty of duelists out there who just don’t believe Rockenbach’s fourteen-tribute deck can work, and the result has been a whirlwind of discussion in dueling communities the world over. On Saturday, Matt Peddle will show you why Rockenbach’s unconventional strategy performed so well, and the answers may surprise you.
Finally, Matt Murphy closes out our week with yet another inventive combo deck. The lynchpin card this time around? Recycle, which Matt has used to create a looped combo that would make Yata-Garasu jealous. Solemn Wishes, Jar of Greed, Des Lacooda, and a plethora of off-beat cards complement a killer central combo, and the result is something truly unique. Check it out this Sunday.
That’s it for this week! Don’t forget to join us on Saturday for Day 1 of Shonen Jump Championship Detroit, and be sure to stop back in another seven days.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com