It’s Monday, August 6th 2007, and as the dueling world recovers from the Tactical Evolution Sneak Preview weekend, there are plenty of upcoming events to look forward to!
Yu-Gi-Oh! Tour Events Journey Across America
Right now not one, but two Yu-Gi-Oh! tours are making stops all across the country. News to you? Let me give you some info on each event series.
The Time 2 Duel Tour is a cross-country road trip with a dedicated tour crew. It’s making stops at everything from county fairs to zoos, providing demos, gameplay tips, and plenty of prizes to Yu-Gi-Oh! enthusiasts. The tour is designed for younger duelists and GX fans who haven’t tried their hand at the game yet.
If you’re familiar with Team Nexus or played in a premier event in Florida over the past couple of years, you’ll recognize at least one Time 2 Duel staff member: Franklin Debrito! Frank has distinguished himself as one of the top Judges in North America, and now he’s bringing his wealth of knowledge and experience to the Tour. Starting on Wednesday, the Time 2 Duel crew will be setting up shop at the Dunn County Fair in Wisconsin, and you can find directions and info about upcoming tour stops right here at UDE’s official Time 2 Duel page.
Meanwhile, the It’s Kids’ Time Mall Tour continues wending its way across America this week, as the dueling fun rolls into Dallas, Texas. If you’re a beginning player or know someone who is, head out to the Parks At Arlington Mall for some Yu-Gi-Oh! trivia, carnival-style games, and a critique of your deck from a veteran duelist. Participants can earn a free booster pack just for filling out a trivia sheet! Other prizes include Online Duelpasses, action figures (yes, the ones with promos), and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX DVDs. For more information (including locations and dates of future Tour stops), check out UDE’s official page right here.
Encouraging the growth of your local dueling community is really important, and events like these are great support for new players. If you would like to help out at an It’s Kids’ Time Mall Tour stop or a Time 2 Duel Tour event in your area, be sure to contact UDE’s Demo Team Manager Julia Hedberg. Jerome and I volunteered just this past weekend, and not only did we have fun helping out new players, but I also finished another playset of Raiza cards thanks to my product gift. If you’re interested in doing your part and earning some rewards in the process, drop Julia a line at demo@upperdeck.com.
Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis
The “Best Four Days In Gaming” are upon us, and that’s good news if you’re a duelist! The Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG is set to have a huge presence at this year’s Gen Con Indianapolis, and we’re less than two weeks away from all the action.
Premier Tournament Organizer Professional Events Services is going all-out, with big tournaments starting every two or three hours all weekend long. There are two Regionals every day to help you qualify for Nationals 2008, and iPod tournaments will be offered for three days straight. There are even Traditional tournaments on Friday and Saturday. Cool stuff.
You’ll need a badge to get into the convention, but there’s good news on that front too: attendees can purchase a $20.00 Yu-Gi-Oh! badge that gets them into the tournament hall and the exhibitor’s hall. It comes with a coupon for free entry to any one Yu-Gi-Oh! tournament of your choice, including the Shonen Jump Championship. For the price of just the Shonen Jump, you get admission to the convention too.
You can check out the entire Yu-Gi-Oh! event schedule at Professional Event Service’s official website. They have some handy links to information about parking, dining, and directions. As for the Shonen Jump Championship itself, you can find detailed info about that event over on PES’s site as well. Indy always attracts an incredible number of top-notch duelists, and this year certainly won’t be an exception.
Don’t forget, if you’re a UDE Judge or a member of the Demo Team, there’s going to be a special Volunteer Convocation on Sunday. Both of these programs are headed in some exciting new directions, and attending the Convocation will let you see all the new plans first-hand.
This Week On Metagame.com
With the Tactical Evolution preview behind us, it’s time to . . . well, turns out it’s time to look at Zombies!
By total coincidence, our first three articles this week happen to revolve around a common theme—flesh-eating undead hordes. We can’t help it: we’re pumped about the new Zombie support. Mike Rosenberg starts us off with another look at Zombie Master, picking up where our preview on that card left off. Mike’s opted to focus primarily on one key combo that he thinks could be the start of something big, so click on over and see what it is.
Tomorrow, Jerome McHale takes a crack at putting together a speed-oriented Zombie rush deck. Zombie Master and Il Blud play starring roles in what’s actually a control-oriented strategy. Widespread Ruin and Solemn Judgment give Jerome’s build a devastating amount of disruptive power, and the result is a slow-to-start deck that builds to explosive finishes at a frightening pace.
On Wednesday, I’ll adapt a deck submitted to me by none other than Ryan Spicer. Ryan’s Earth OTK build has plenty of ways to take down the opposition, but I’m going to add a dash of the undead to make it even better. Packed with recruiters and Card Trooper, speed combines with resiliency to create a devastating OTK that can rebound like no other.
On Thursday, Curtis answers all your questions about Rainbow Dragon. After making a huge splash with its ghost rare debut at the Tactical Evolution Sneak Previews, everybody’s talking about this new monster, and for the lucky few who scored a copy, well, you probably have some rulings questions as well. Curtis will examine each of this monster’s effects in detail to show you what makes it so formidable on the field.
Bryan Camareno’s taught you plenty about building your dueling skill set, but what about maintaining it? Time spent away from the game—or even just a lack of focus—can turn even the best duelists into mediocre competitors. How can you prevent that from happening, and what’s the real role of skill building in the long term? Bryan will answer those questions and more on Friday.
Dario Longo shocked the world last weekend when he took the number-one ranked spot in the Swiss rounds of the World Championships. He did it with an innovative Gadget build that blended spot-on metagame reads with great tech, and this Saturday, Matt Peddle will break down Dario’s build to show you why it was so good. Don’t miss this one: Dario’s deck could have a big impact over the coming weeks.
Finally, Matt Murphy’s going to redux a classic OTK deck. Spell Economics was once the basis of a short-lived, but deadly First Turn Knockout deck, and Matt’s going to update that long-forgotten strategy for today’s card pool. Will he succeed? Find out this Sunday as we close out our week.
That’s it for this Seven Days, but join us again next Monday for more dueling news and sneak peeks at upcoming articles. Thanks for reading Metagame.com!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com