It’s Wednesday, November 26, 2008, and the dueling world has another two-time Shonen Jump Champion!
Jerry Wang Wins Shonen Jump Championship Atlanta!
This past weekend we saw the Shonen Jump debut of Crossroads of Chaos, and as predicted, the big decks of the new metagame are Zombies, Lightsworn, and Teleport Dark Armed Dragon. Plaguespreader Zombie delivered, carrying eleven duelists playing three different archetypes to the Top 16, including Team DOA’s Jerry Wang.
Jerry finished in Day 1 with a 7-2 record, narrowly sneaking into Day 2 in 14th place. Once there, he faced third seed Da Lee, one of three Lightsworn duelists to make the Top 16. Lee made waves by taking Aurkus, Lightsworn Druid all the way to the top tables, but when everything was said and done he was just no match for the ten-time Day 2 competitor. From there Jerry faced another Lightsworn player, rising star Henry Su. Starting the match off with a hand of three Destiny Hero – Malicious, Jerry managed to pull out a 2-0 victory despite his terribly unlucky opening—an amazing feat.
His next opponent was Alex Johnson, who mirrored Jerry’s choice to play TeleDAD. The key difference? Johnson didn’t play Plaguespreader Zombie, and Jerry trounced him before moving on to the finals. There, Jerry had to face his own playtesting partner and apprentice, George Velasquez. The match was over in heartbeats: Jerry claimed game 2 with a field of Elemental Hero Stratos, two Thought Ruler Archfiend, and two Dark Armed Dragon, taking one of the most crushing victories of all time.
The action continues a week and a half from today, as hundreds of duelists will gather at the Cobo Center in Detroit on December 6 and 7 for the final Shonen Jump Championship of 2008. We’ll witness the Jump debut of Gorz the Emissary of Darkness, and this event will set the pace for the next five weeks of dueling. We won’t see another Shonen Jump Championship until San Francisco in January.
You can find the official event listing for Shonen Jump Championship Detroit over at the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG site. Then, check out the Shonen Jump Detroit page hosted by premier tournament organizer Professional Event Services for details on event start times, directions, prizes, and more.
Can’t make it yourself? As always, Metagame.com will bring you coverage all weekend long, live from the tournament floor of the Cobo Center! With five weeks between now and the next Shonen Jump, and with some of Canada’s and New York’s greatest duelists slated to be in attendance, you won’t want to miss it.
This Week on Metagame.com
On Monday, I put forth an interesting premise in The Binder, where I proposed Mark of the Rose as a splashable card. Backed by an easy-to-play engine filling your graveyard with Plants (and a lot of math), I’ll show you how you can turn one of the year’s best themed cards into your own secret weapon for almost any deck. Click on over if you don’t believe me.
Yesterday Jerome McHale brought back an old deck idea we worked with about a year ago: a Light and Darkness Dragon loop. The ability to summon Light and Darkness Dragon over and over won several tournaments for both of us, and now Jerome’s updating the old strategy with a slew of new cards so it can compete in a modern metagame. How does one go about summoning Light and Darkness Dragon every turn? Go read this week’s installment of Almost There to find out.
The chaining craziness continues in Curtis Schultz’s column this week, as he looks at four more event-specific chains. This time around, he breaks down the mechanics of chains made in response to turn-starting draws, cards being added to the hand, chains ending with monster summons, and more. Again, if you’re a serious competitive player, this series is a must-read. It answers a lot of your questions and shows you opportunities that other duelists won’t even know existed.
On Thursday Matt Peddle waxes philosophic about his favorite Synchro monster and how you can get the most out of it: Stardust Dragon. Matt’s going to show you the techniques top players use to create powerful game positions with the Dragon, and he will outline the key combos you can play to secure your dominance. Virtually every Extra deck is running this card. If you can use it better than your opponents, you will win games, and Matt’s going to show you how.
One day later we’ll be joined again by Jerome McHale. The bell has rung and The School of Duel is in session. This week’s topic is the new state of opening plays thanks to the arrival of Gorz the Emissary of Darkness. You’re going to be seeing lots of duelists passing their opening turn without playing a single card because of this new promo, but it won’t always be a simple move to make. Jerome’s going to go in-depth to talk about what this card does to the early game.
On Saturday Matt’s back with another installment of The Champions, and this time around he’s profiling Erin Diaz, the duelist who took Twilight all the way to Day 2 at Shonen Jump Championship Chicago. How did Diaz revolutionize a joke of an archetype and turn it into a metagame-smashing powerhouse? What made his build so good while so many others have failed? Check out the article for answers to those questions and a whole lot more.
Finally, Ryan Murphy creates a deadly build of a deck we all wrote off ages ago: Professor Thelonius Viper’s Venom deck. If you thought Vennominaga the Deity of Poisonous Snakes was impossible to summon, well, times have changed, and Ryan’s got a pretty convincing decklist to prove it. Want to strike shock and awe into your opponents’ hearts? Want to take one of the flashiest wins of all time? Make it happen by checking out The Budget Builder this Sunday.
That’s it for this week, but join us again on Monday for another week of articles and strategies, as we count down the remaining days to the last Shonen Jump Championship of the year. See you then!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com