Name: Eric Arendash

Age: 39

Where are you from? Valley Forge, Pennsylvania

Occupation: Medical Technologist

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Four, including this one—three Regionals and the Shonen Jump in New Jersey.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? I played a Chain Energy combo life point spell card burn deck. Chain Energy was used to control and limit my opponent’s options, while the spell and trap cards dwindled their life down and stalled to get more burn. Monsters were selected to either maintain my life points or reconstitute my hand with new cards. My best friend, Brendan, helped me build the deck last night, and I credit my son Andrew for getting me into the game. It is a game we both love and can share quality time together.

What matchups do you look forward to? Chaos and Beastdown.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? Another Burn/Stall, or Mill decks.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment and why? Chaos Goat Control—broken and overuse of Tsukuyomi and Thousand-Eyes Restrict.

Beastdown—powered up with recent new boosters.

Zombie Chaos—Excellent with Sacred Phoenix of Nephthys.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No, but I am very glad they have instituted it.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Yes, but not all members could attend; the most faithful are present.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Who would not love a trip to Japan?

Name: Charles Parker

Age: 14

Where are you from? Kenner

Occupation: Being a beast

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Six.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? Modified Goat Control.

What matchups do you look forward to? None.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? None.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Goat Control.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? Nope.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Yeah.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Seeing new people.

Name: Raymond Ye

Age: 15

Where are you from? Richmond, California

Occupation: Student

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Three.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? Chaos Control, because it owns Tsukuyomi.

What matchups do you look forward to? Any good people.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? Cookie jar/deck destruction decks, Ben Kei.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Chaos Warrior, Chaos Tsukuyomi, and Zombies, because they all control their opponents.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No, because I defeated my opponents before time expired.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Team Punishment of NorCal

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Eat sushi.

Name: Tom Mak

Age: 14

Where are you from? Pennsylvania

Occupation: Student

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Four Shonen Jumps, one Regionals.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? I chose a Chaos deck because it seems to work pretty well with lots of situations.

What matchups do you look forward to? I was looking forward to matchups with different people.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? I was hoping to avoid the people that are close to me.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Chaos, Stall, Earth.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No, it didn’t affect me or my cards because I still managed to get through.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? No.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? I’m hoping to just win the championship.

Name: Sigeric Hollimon

Age: 18

Where are you from? Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: Basketball

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? One.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? It was a Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning deck, I played with that cause I didn’t want to play with my real deck.

What matchups do you look forward to? Eric Wu—I want my rematch from the Shonen Jump.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? Nobody. I am the best there is.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Black Luster Soldier – Envoy of the Beginning, Burn, Beatdown, because they’re hard to beat.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No, I had no side deck.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Yes, Team ATL.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Doing my best.

Name: Jon Mak

Age: 17

Where are you from? Pennsylvania

Occupation: Student

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Four.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? Chaos deck, because I think it’s the dominant type of deck.

What matchups do you look forward to?

Any matches that did not make me face my brother.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid?

Ones that did not involve my friends

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Chaos, Burn, and Warrior, because they all have many amounts of strategies.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? Not one bit.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? No.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Probably to see the sights and nothing else.

Name: Jim Tu

Age: 30

Where are you from? Atlanta, Georgia

Occupation: Real Estate

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Five, give or take.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? Beatdown Burn, it’s diversified.

What matchups do you look forward to? Chaos or Beatdown.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? Burn, Last Turn, Ben Kei.

Which do you feel are the top three decks in the current environment? Why? Chaos, Tsukuyomi Beatdown, and Warrior, because they are diversified.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Yes. (There are only two in the team.)

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Learning the culture.

Name: Mike Hernandez

Age: 29

Where are you from? Fort Wayne, Indiana

Occupation: Industrial

How many Regional or Shonen Jump tournaments have you attended? Nine.

What deck did you play today, and why did you choose it? Chaos.

What matchups do you look forward to? All.

What matchups are you hoping to avoid? None

Which do you feel are the top 3 decks in the current enviroment? Why? Ben Kei, Chaos, Tsukuyomi.

Did the new “end of match” procedure affect your deck, side deck, or strategies today? No.

Did you come to the event as part of a team? Sort of.

If you win at Nationals and earn the trip to Tokyo, what do you look forward to doing there, apart from competing in Worlds? Winning it for the United States.