There have been many long journeys to the 2006 Yu-Gi-Oh! European Championships, but few can have been much longer than the road trip that began on Thursday for various members of Team WHAM(!).

This England-based team hit the road with Kevin Arathoon behind the wheel, and rolled into Germany just in time to see the Deutschlanders routing Argentina in the World Cup. They are looking to inflict some World Cup-quality whammies on their opponents on the European stage.

The team features some of Englands most innovative deckbuilders, and dangerous players. Mr. Arathoon, who cheekily flashed an intriguing looking deck at me prior to the first round, remains an independent force in the field, but Joe Whittaker, Alan McDonald, James Pennicott, are all here. Shane Addy rounds out those that could get over to Bochum for the start of July, but back in blighty, while cheering on the English boys in a big game in the World Cup, Rob Tagoe and Duncan Tang will likely be cheering on their compatriots.

Joe is looking to earn himself a ticket to the World Championships after finishing second at English Nationals last year, while James was confident enough in his abilities here that he skipped out on playing in English Nationals to report for Metagame.com. It’s what all the cool kids are doing. Flying the flag for England, it will be interesting to see how many whammies they can dish out.