It’s Monday, the thirteenth of November, and across North America duelists from all walks of life are gearing up for the best four days in gaming. In just three days, Shonen Jump Championship heat will begin to build in Anaheim California, as competitors begin to gather at Gen Con So Cal!
Shonen Jump Championship Anaheim This Week
After almost two years of intense competition, the Shonen Jump Championship circuit is returning to the place where it all began. A whopping thirty SJCs have passed since that weekend, when John Umali captured the very first title in what has become the most prestigious series of Yu-Gi-Oh! tournaments ever. To become a Shonen Jump Champion means instant fame and glory, and the duelists who reached the top tables repeatedly have become the trendsetters for the North American tournament environment. These are the events where legends are made.
As the fourth Shonen Jump Championship of the current format, Anaheim is the first SJC to present an established metagame, with previous events from the Eastern, Western, and Southern regions of the country laying firm groundwork for the average competitor. Monarchs are the obvious deck to beat, with aggro Beatdown and Warrior Toolbox also making strong showings. Now duelists will be presented with the challenge of beating an expected field. With recognized veterans like Chris Moosman, Emon Ghaneian, Matt Laurents, and Kris Perovic in contention, we’re bound to see a level of intensity that surpasses what we’ve already witnessed in the past ten weeks. Moosman’s Top 4 placing at SJC Seattle just weeks ago has gone a long way to demonstrate the viability of tech-heavy decks in the continental metagame, so all bets are off as we head into what could be the surprise event of the season!
If you’re still not sure if you can make it, you can find all the pertinent event information on the PTO’s official website right here. Because this Shonen Jump Championship is being held at a major gaming convention, there will be top-notch Yu-Gi-Oh! events going on for four days straight, 24 hours a day, so you really won’t want to miss it. You can even get a special Yu-Gi-Oh! badge that will give you limited access to the convention—it covers your entry to the Shonen Jump Championship (a $20 value right there), and ensures that you can get into the event without paying any other door fees. You can get information on that and more at the PTO site.
Metagame.com will be live on-site with extended coverage starting Saturday morning, so if you can’t make it yourself, be sure to catch all the feature matches, deck profiles, interviews, scrubbings, photos, mats, top table updates, and more as the weekend progresses!
This Week on Metagame.com
Mike Rosenberg opens up the week today, as he takes a look at the not-so-simple role of Exiled Force in the current format. One of the most high-impact changes made in the current format was the shift of this card’s Limited status to a semi-Limited position, opening up doors for creative plays and combos as well as creating pitfalls for over-eager duelists. Mike takes apart the card’s role in various contexts, in what I really consider to be a must-read article. Check it out right here!
Tomorrow, Jerome McHale presents a deck based on the combination of two hot cards from Cyberdark Impact. If you attended a Cyberdark Impact Sneak Preview event last weekend, you probably heard a lot about Vanity’s Fiend and Degenerate Circuit, with good reason. Both cards can be the basis of unique strategies, but what happens when you combine both to create a single powerhouse deck? Jerome answers that question and more in his Almost There column this week.
On Wednesday, I take on one of the coolest decks ever submitted to try and make it tournament-worthy. Vinny Tundo and I once discussed the idea of a strategy that built up field presence with high DEF monsters that would then unleash a fury of attacks with Shield & Sword. Weapon Change and some cool tricks bring the concept to a playable head, in this offbeat twist on Warrior Toolbox.
Curtis Schultz takes a peek at a group of new cards this Thursday, turning the rulings spotlight onto the Barrier Statues from Cyberdark Impact. He’ll look at how the effects of each statue operate, how to apply them in a given deck, and how their effects work in relation to chaining plays. The Statues are a boon for certain types of strategies, and Curtis is going to show you how to use them to your advantage.
Julia Hedberg follows up last week’s Solid Ground on local level organized play by taking things up a notch and discussing regional-draw events. Sneak Previews, Regionals, and Shonen Jump Championships are the order of the day as she recaps the levels of competition, prizes, and more that you can find at each event. Then in Agents of Judgment, Julia ties into the last two weeks of Solid Ground to discuss rules enforcement levels and adaptation for you judges who work different levels of events. Making similar calls at different types of events can be tricky since guidelines aren’t rigidly defined, but it’s Julia to the rescue as she outlines the causes and effects at work for differing tournament classes.
Saturday, Jae Kim takes a shot at creating a high-competition Strike Ninja deck with classical roots. Dark Magician of Chaos, Blowback Dragon, and D. D. Scout Plane are just some of the perennial favorites that make up this deck’s version of Dark attribute support. The result is a deck that offers unparalleled aggression and versatility. If you’ve been eager to get your ninja action on in the new format, this article is a definite must-read!
Finally, Matt Peddle rounds out the week with a look at Chris Moosman’s deck from SJC Seattle. Matt breaks things down and tells it like it is—Moosman’s deck was almost pure tech for the expected format, and the result was an outstanding Day 2 finish that will set trends for months to come. Moosman’s success is a beacon of hope for the creative duelists out there, and may be an exceptionally important milestone as the format progresses.
We’ve got a great week lined up for your reading pleasure, and don’t forget to hit us up bright and early Saturday morning to see all the action from Anaheim! This is the biggest Shonen Jump Championship in months, and surprises are sure to be in store. We’ll have all the insider news as it erupts from the tournament floor, so you won’t want to miss a second of our extended coverage.
As always, thanks for reading and keep on hitting those tables!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com