It’s Monday August 28th, and with just three days remaining in the current Advanced format, the dueling world is celebrating its latest Shonen Jump Champion!
Corey Faibish Wins Shonen Jump Championship Hamilton
Toronto’s own Corey Faibish was a dark horse pick going into this past weekend’s SJC, but he emerged victorious from a gauntlet of big-name competitors. After battling his way through Day 1, he had to take on Anthony Alvarado in the quarterfinals—one of the most respected duelists in North America. This was Alvarado’s fourth Shonen Jump Championship Top 8, but the technical matchup was in Faibish’s favor and the match was a short one.
Then Faibish went up against two-time Top 8 vet Eric Blum, who you might remember from his impressive breakout showing just weeks ago in Philadelphia. Up against Recruiter Chaos, Faibish pulled out the win after scoring a crushing victory in the first duel. Finally he threw down against returning SJC Champion Kyle Duncan, who had again piloted Recruiter Chaos to the finals. Duncan has quickly propelled himself to stardom with back-to-back Top 8 appearances and a quick grab at SJC gold, but destiny was on Faibish’s side, and he repeatedly played out of terrible situations to come back and win the match after taking a loss in game 1.
Our congratulations go out to Corey Faibish, your newest Shonen Jump Champion and victor of SJC Hamilton!
The Invasion of Chaos Ends in Three Days!
With the passing of SJC Hamilton comes the passing of an era: in just three days the new Advanced format will become the standard for premiere level dueling, and Chaos Sorcerer is one of several cards to be removed from the environment.
The change is more than welcome: duelists will finally be able to play monsters with Attributes other than Light and Dark without feeling like they’re taking a voluntary handicap. Several other problem cards have been limited or forbidden altogether, and most duelists agree that the new list represents several steps in the right direction. Haven’t seen it yet? You can check it out right here, at the official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG website.
The first big tournament to use the new Forbidden and Limited lists will be Shonen Jump Championship Boston, taking place in less than three weeks. Come September 16, you’ll get to see how the new format has panned out, and after speaking with some of the game’s top teams this weekend, I think we’re going to see some seriously crazy decks. As always, Metagame.com will be on site providing live coverage from the event. Not only will we be bringing you the coolest and most successful decks, plenty of feature matches, and killer tech, but we’ll also have photo coverage, the Metagame blog, Scrub Brush Challenge, and more! This might be the most important Shonen Jump Championship ever, so mark your calendar and get ready to witness every moment as Metagame.com takes you live to Shonen Jump Championship Boston on September 16!
This Week on Metagame
This week we started things off with a question: with Tsukuyomi now gone, what will control players rely on for defensive power? Mike Rosenberg’s got the answer as he examines one of the most versatile (and frustrating) cards of all time—Nimble Momonga! For years, the squirrels have been one of the most obnoxious monsters to see flipped by battle, and Mike is going to show you all the roles they’ll play in the new era of dueling. Thinking of running Pot of Avarice? Then this article is a must-read.
Want a cool, competitive deck for the new format? Jerome McHale has your hookup, as he uses some of the new cards from Power of the Duelist to put together a surprisingly dangerous Vehicroid deck. Yes, that’s right: a Vehicroid deck. Sure it’s cute, but it can also aggressively maintain card presence, lay out Cyber Dragons left, right, and center, and pummel the opponent with a bag of tricky effects. Check it out—you’ll be surprised at just how playable it really is.
That’s not it for ready-to-play decklists! On Wednesday I’ll take on the task of fixing up a Warrior Return deck, and I’m pretty pleased with the results. Divine Sword - Phoenix Blade is one of the most subtle Return-enabling effects in the game, and it allows this deck several key moves that other Return variants can’t pull off. Want to Return a bunch of monsters and keep them? Want to always have an effect to chain Return too? This deck can do that and more.
On Thursday, Curtis Schultz takes us a few steps back from deck lists to look at some new and exciting cards, and the rulings they entail. You can watch the Destiny Heroes in action on the new season of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, but if you want to play with them yourself, then you should definitely to check out Curtis’ Duel Academy this week. He’ll look at Destiny Hero - Defender and Destiny Hero - Fear Monger, and show you the ins and outs of their effects.
On Friday we’ve got back-to-back articles from Julia Hedberg. First up, she takes a look at some of the cards that can replace Chaos Sorcerer in a Return deck in part one of a two-part series. Looking to convert your Chaos Return into something different? This series is packed with ideas examining everything of potential use. Then she’ll show you judgey types how to turn your local judges into a crack squad of adjudicating experts. Ever wondered how to mentor your local judging pool? Julia’s got plenty of tips on how to raise the skill level of your fellow event staffers.
Then Matt Peddle hits you with a blast from the past this weekend, taking a look at Jae Kim’s deck from Shonen Jump Championship Seattle. Jae managed to take Warrior Toolbox all the way to the top of a format where few thought it was viable, and Matt’s going to show you how he did it. They say that history repeats itself, and if you’re interested in understanding the future of this promising archetype for the current format, this is a great place to start your research.
Finally, Simon Sangpukdee rounds out the week by showing you how to get the most out of Elemental Hero Neos. Think Neos is just an over-priced beatstick? You’re wrong, and Simon’s going to show you the suite of effects and combos that makes Neos a potential powerhouse for your local tournaments. Cards new and old make the cut, as Simon digs into the archives of dusty and forgotten tech picks to show you some awesome synergies.
That’s it for this week, but head back next week for some big surprises! The new format is here, 2006 Collector’s Tins are just around the corner, and it’s truly an exciting time to be a duelist. The future is full of promise, and Metagame is going to show you how to take advantage of it and step up your game.
As always, thanks for reading.
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com