The US National Championships are here again and, with over 1,300 players invited to the tournament, the competitors will have to be ready to take on a wide range of deck types. With Shonen Jump Minneapolis and the Canadian National Championships just behind us, you can expect the Top 8 decklists from both tournaments to have a big impact here in Columbus.

SJC Minneapolis was all about Destiny Hero - Malicious and Destiny Draw. Of the Top 8 competitors in that tournament, only two weren't running three copies each of these cards, and both were eliminated before reaching the Top 4. T-Hero was the big success of the day, with three of the Top 4 players sporting some variation of Theerasak Poonsombat's creation. Heading into the Canadian National tournament, T-Hero and Perfect Circle appeared to be well ahead of the pack, and were certainly the decks to beat.

They definitely showed up in full force, but Canadian Nationals only added to the pool of top tier decks. Gadgets emerged on top over there, with Dexter Dalit packing a build similar to Joe Whittaker's runner-up decklist at the UK National tournament. Along with them came a Cyber Phoenix-based Machine deck that drew heavily from the build Jens Erickson used at Minneapolis.

Heading into the tournament today, you can expect a lot of the "Big Four." T-Hero still stands as the undisputed, most powerful deck in the format, and the deck that best takes down an opponent who can do nothing to disrupt it. The ability to go off in one turn or to lean on a rogue deck with powerful Fusion monsters makes this the top deck for players who can obtain all the necessary cards.

Perfect Circle, which aims to capitalize on a Monarch engine rather than massive amounts of damage per turn, will also make a big showing. Able to drop Monarchs and dish out damage much faster than the standard Monarch deck, Perfect Circle sacrifices defensive monsters and a little bit of consistency to become an explosive Monarch deck. Capable of throwing out quick OTK's similar to those of T-Hero, while also having the ability to generate the resource trades of a regular Monarch deck, Perfect Circle is a great pick for those players who are too worried about T-Hero consistency issues or were unable to grab the necessary Fusion monsters.

Gadgets, fresh off recent success at Canadian Nationals and Minneapolis, is considered the deck with the fewest terrible matchups. It has great odds against the other top decks, since it can successfully main deck Banisher of the Radiance and Royal Decree while avoiding being completely run over.

Finally, standard Monarch builds, such as those played by Lazaro Bellido and Shane Scurry at SJC Columbus, have always remained in the Top 8, and will likely make a strong appearance here as "the most consistent deck." Not to be plagued by drawing too many Gadgets or Destiny Hero - Malicious cards, a standard Monarch build with a great side deck can last through an entire tournament when played correctly. Being the only top tier deck to run Gravekeeper's Spy and potentially Legendary Jujitsu Master, Monarchs would be an excellent call at an event for its safe matchup against Gadgets.

Although these are the top dogs for the event, plenty of players have been trying to find a successful deck to combat them all. The most common anti-meta deck that people have turned to is my Machine aggro deck, which capitalizes on Cyber Phoenix and Trap Dustshoot to lock out Monarchs. A good number of players have approached me to tell me they'll be playing it today, including big names such as Chris SoRelle and Lance Leonhardt. If they can find a way to successfully defeat Gadgets, the deck could see a lot of success at the top tables.

Never before have there been so many tier one decks taking up such an even amount of the playing field. Who will be on top once all the dust has settled? Stay tuned to Metagame.com's live coverage of the US National tournament to find out!