Teams are making a big showing at this New Jersey event. The well-publicized success of established teams is certainly making an impact, as more duelists combine to get the most out of their respective members. I ventured out on the floor in search of some local teams and met up with Walter Ward and Glen Fischer, who were happy to share some information about Team Techno Union, their relatively new team.

 

While most of the members are local, they do have a few scattered around the country. They forged a bond online, mostly at the Yugiohrealms.com forums and chat room, and opted to pull together to duel online and exchange expertise. “There's too much flaming and stuff online,” Walter commented. “It was nice to get a group of people who got along and liked the game.”

 

There's a spread of ages among the players on the team, as Walter is 33 and Glen is 14. While the members have years of play experience, the team itself is relatively young—it was formed about 3 months ago. “We've hit some Regionals in the New Jersey area,” Walter explained, “But this is the first really big event, the first Shonen Jump we've attended.” At today's event, Glen Fisher, Walter Ward, Chris Parelli, Jarrett Robertiazzi, and Doug Maull represent the team. They all like to play at Bob's Collectables, and despite their attendance at some Regionals, none have their Nationals invites yet. “Hopefully we get some this weekend,” Walter said. “If we don't get them for this event, there's the Regionals tomorrow!” Glen agreed.

 

We talked about the team presence in general at the event. “We saw some of the Comic Odyssey guys out from California. It'll be good to get some coverage of us local guys. Everyone knows the teams that get out to all these events, and get written about.” Walter and Glen hope to see their team begin to achieve some recognition as well.

 

For the main event, Walter and Glen are focusing on established deck types. Glen decided to go with a Warrior Control deck. “I talked to a friend, going over the different types of decks that would work. He said Zombies were dying out, so I figured Warriors would be a good choice.  I built the deck and playtested it and it performed pretty well.”

 

As far as Walter is concerned, Zombies are still strong, and he brought a Zombie/Chaos deck to the event today. “I've played Zombies since Vampire Lord came out. Back when Chaos Emperor Dragon used to run rampant, Zombies were a great counter to him. It's still strong even with the banned list out, cause I can special summon all my big monsters without tributes. Now that Confiscation and The Forceful Sentry are banned, and opponents can't pick what they discard, they use Delinquent Duo to fill up my graveyard with Zombies and all it does is help me out.”

 

I asked the age-old question, “If one of you wins the Cyber-Stein, what are you going to do with it?” They didn't need any time to think about it. “It goes up on eBay tomorrow and we spilt the money!” Glenn burst out.

 

“Yeah, we need to move on it while it's still bringing in $2,000,” added a teammate with a grin. The entire team was glad to get a shot at the Cyber-Stein. “The last huge event we had here was Worlds in 2003 . . . that was what, two years ago? Finally getting a Shonen [in New Jersey] is great.” It's a sentiment echoed by 500 other players crowded into the venue. The Shonen Jump Championship is here at last, and it's time to make the most of it.