It’s the new year, and we’re back from our “Best of 2006” weeks to bring you brand-spanking new articles. 2007 is shaping up to be a huge year for the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG, so let’s take a look at all the news, events, and articles for the next seven days.
Machine Re-Volt Hits Stores In Nine Days
Unless you’ve been out of the loop for a while, odds are good that you’re looking forward to the newest Structure Deck release. Titled Machine’s Re-Volt, the tenth Structure in the series has more new cards than any before it, and includes a ton of new support for Ancient Gear monsters plus some awesome reprints like Pot of Avarice and Enemy Controller (pretty great news if you had a hard time getting your hands on Champion Pack: Game One).
But the biggest draw for most duelists is the long-awaited opportunity to get our hands on the Gadget monsters. These classic clockworks from little Yugi’s deck have been a staple of the Japanese metagame since their release as expensive, hard-to-find promos in a limited edition booster, and on January 17th we’ll be able to get them for the low price of a single Structure Deck. Personally, I’ve already got mine pre-ordered at my local game store. If you’re not familiar with the Gadget monsters, they’re Machines with mid-range stats that come in three colors: Green, Red, and Yellow. While their ATK is nothing to write home about, their strength lies in their effects. Each Gadget can bring another of a corresponding color to your hand when it’s normal or special summoned. The “bonus” Gadget monster is searched from your deck at no additional cost, so it’s free in just about every sense of the word. Pretty cool, huh? Every Structure Deck has one copy of each Gadget, so you’ll probably want to pick up two or three.
There’s some other neat stuff in Machine’s Re-Volt as well, including some extra Gadget support and a trap monster designed specifically to combo with the little clockworks. There’s even a pair of Sakuretsu Armor cards, which I’m always running out of when I make new decks.
Structure Deck 10: Machine’s Re-Volt will start appearing in stores next Wednesday, and we’ll be featuring a bunch of Gadget articles next week to celebrate!
2007 Shonen Jump Championship Season Shaping Up
With what looks to be a busy dueling year ahead, seven Shonen Jump Championships have already been confirmed on Upper Deck Entertainment’s official Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG site. Another year of SJC action kicks off in less than three weeks in sunny Orlando, Florida!
The Orange County Convention Center on Orlando’s Universal Boulevard will host the year’s first Shonen shindig, as Unity Entertainment brings you yet another sure-to-be-massive event. Head Judge Franklin Debrito will be on-hand presiding over the festivities as local teams like Nexus try to take home the gold one more time. This is going to be a hotly-contested competition, featuring the debut of Gadgets and some of the East Coast’s most renowned players. You can check out all the details right here, and if you can’t be in attendance then join us here on Metagame.com the weekend of January 27th. As always, we’ll be live on the tournament floor to bring you all the action.
On February 24th, the Shonen Jump Championship circuit returns to Illinois, as duelists throw down in Collinsville. The home of the world’s largest ketchup bottle (seriously—I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried) will also be home to the last Shonen Jump Championship of the current format, and you can find the official event listing right here.
One week later the Advanced format will roll over into a new era, and on March 3rd we’ll see the first results. The Clarion Hotel of Houston, Texas will provide the backdrop for the format’s first big tournament, and we’ll be on-hand to bring you up-to-the-minute details of this formative event. Want to compete? Hit up the official site to find out all the info you need.
Four more Shonen Jump Championships have been scheduled for California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and North Carolina, and more are sure to be announced over the coming months. As Yu-Gi-Oh! continues to grow, there are going to be lots of playing opportunities, so keep an eye out for major events in your area.
This Week On Metagame
This week, we start up a year of new content with a short look back, and a brief gaze into the future of the game. I touch on a few of the highlights of 2006 before talking about what you can expect from 2007, and even those of you already educated on upcoming events and cards are going to want to check this one out. We’ve got some important info about SJC Orlando that hasn’t been announced anywhere else.
Tomorrow, Jerome McHale shares some New Year’s resolutions he’s put together for those of us who want to set some Yugi-goals. He discusses everything from combo creation to Shonen Jump Championships, qualifying for Nationals and judging, and then gives some tips on how to achieve your goals. Since the topics covered are so varied, there’ll probably be at least one resolution that you might like to make, so check it out!
I’m up to my old tricks on Wednesday, as I take a run at fixing up a Rescue Cat OTK deck. When Last Will was limited to one per deck, most duelists threw away all hope for instant victory via kitten power, but I’m going to take another shot at it to see what can be done. With Stein out of the environment I’m sure some of you are just itching for another chance to down your opponent before they know what’s happening, and if you can do that with adorable cards, hey, who wouldn’t want to?
On Thursday Curtis takes another look at a card that’s seen a big resurgence in play lately—Deck Devastation Virus. We’ve featured this popular trap before, but it continues to boggle players in certain situations, so Curtis is heading back one more time to show you some more rulings. Can you tribute Zombyra the Dark for the Virus when it’s down to 1900 ATK? Do you check the opponent’s hand, or field first? Curtis will have those answers and more.
This Friday, Julia’s going to explain some of the pitfalls duelists often fall into when recording life points. Yes, it’s the most basic topic of all time, but I think 85% of the dueling population does an inadequate job at it, and as a judge, I know of some of the problems it can create. As a better judge, Julia knows even more, and is going to discuss what is and is not an ideal record-keeping system. If you don’t want to have a problem when a judge is called, and don’t want to be cheated, you should read this.
On Saturday, Jae tops my record on the “wacky deck” meter by looking at a strategy based around—not kidding—Ojamagic. He combines this unique spell card with a not-so-secret pick from Cyberdark Impact to create a field-shredding machine that wins through confusion and inveiglement. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Matt Peddle rounds out our returning week with a look at a deck that made a big splash at Shonen Jump Championship San Jose. Chain Strike Burn was run in many different forms that weekend, and though the no-monster build didn’t make the Top 8, it’s still perhaps the strongest version of the deck available. Matt had some important input into its creation, and he’s going to outline what makes it so deadly.
That’s it for this week, but head on back in another seven days! We’ll have more of the columns you love, plus a bunch of articles about Machine’s Re-Volt to boot!
—Jason Grabher-Meyer
Contributing Editor, Metagame.com