What a weekend! We were expecting innovation and a brand new metagame here at Shonen Jump San Mateo, and the 472 competitors in contention here at the San Mateo Expo Center didn’t disappoint!

Today we will see a whopping nine different strategies face off to claim dominant roles in the current format. As predicted, it was Destiny Hero builds of Light and Darkness Dragon that took top honors here today, bringing six duelists to Day 2 glory. Macro Cosmos, the Dragon deck’s foil, got three duelists qualified for the Top 16. From there the rest of today’s field consists of Baboon Burn, Zombies, Dark Burn, Mystic Tomato Monarchs, Demise OTK, Perfect Circle, and Volcanic Monarchs with one representative each. The field is wide open and incredibly varied.

Josh Cohen is one of the dedicated Monarch players in the Top 16, and he's up against David Huertas's Zombie build. Huertas was one of the very few successful Zombie players yesterday, and while he may have an advantage in game 1, games 2 and 3 will be interesting. Cohen will no doubt make use of his sided Dark Bribes, while Huertas will rotate in his Pulling the Rugs. This one is anybody's game.

In a field where most duelists have decided to forego pure Monarch decks for Light and Darkness Dragon, Chris Moosman has once again defied convention, playing his way to Day 2 with Perfect Circle. But he's up against Hugo Adame's Macro Cosmos build, a strategy that can cause serious problems for Moosman's infrastructure. If Adame can adapt his approach to deal with Moosman's speed he could dominate, but Moosman has sided well for this matchup.

David Rodriguez is Day 2's lone Demise OTK player, and his build succeeded where others fell short due to one thing: blazing speed. He's up against Rajvir Singh playing Macro Cosmos though, and Singh's main deck tech might be a major factor. Book of Moon, Trap Dustshoot, Solemn Judgment, and Dark Bribe may put Singh in the driver's seat.

Justin Trias took Baboon Burn all the way to Day 2, and now he's up against Jerry Wang in a matchup Trias has practiced well for: Light and Darkness Dragon. Trias seems to have the advantage in game 1, but in the second duel Wang will have access to Dust Tornado, Mobius the Frost Monarch, and even Malevolent Catastrophe! This match seems like it may be in Wang's favor.

John Umali was one of several successful Macro Cosmos players yesterday, and this morning his first opponent is presenting him with his favored matchup; Ryan Connolly is playing Light and Darkness Dragon, the deck Umali is metagamed to beat. An advantageous deck pairing and a wealth of experience and mind games may make victory academic for Umali.

The first of two Light and Darkness Dragon mirror matches in the Top 16 is truly anything but — Chris Pittao and Trent Kittle's builds of the deck are drastically different. While Pittao's deck is more traditional, Kittle's runs a ton of tech picks like Dragon Ice and Back to Square One. Will his offbeat choices bring him victory, or will Pittao's tried and true methods bring victory?

Charley La was at one time the number one ranked duelist in yesterday's Swiss rounds, a feat he accomplished with Volcanic Monarchs! But now he'll duel Eric Wu, wielding yet another incarnation of Comic Odyssey's successful Dark Burn deck. La's main-decked tech could be an equalizer, but his side isn't as helpful as he'll no doubt wish it could be. That may give Wu the opening he needs,

And finally, two of the dueling world's greats will go head to head, as Adam Corn takes on Fili Luna in a Light and Darkness Dragon mirror match! When two duelists of this caliber meet and throw down it's anybody's game, and we're bound to see some truly spectacular plays and tactics.