It’s Tuesday, December 9 2008, and we’ve got yet another two-time Shonen Jump Champion!

Steven Harris Wins Shonen Jump Championship Detroit!

The last Shonen Jump Championship of the year is in the history books, and in an event that saw duelists like Matt Peddle, Cesar Gonzalez, Lazaro Bellido, and Calvin Tsang make Day 2, nobody saw the surprise finish coming: Steven Harris, a duelist who was relatively unknown until his victory at Shonen Jump St. Louis, has captured his second Shonen Jump title!

Several Day 2 competitors in Detroit were quick to acknowledge Harris’s deck as the best one in the tournament. Armageddon Knight sped his strategy along, a single Necro Gardna combo’d with it, and Psychic Commander made all the difference. The Commander let Harris threaten his opponent with Black Rose Dragon any time he had a level-4 monster on the table, and the result was a deck that could devastate an over-extended field of Lightsworn monsters or make short work of a committed field of Synchro monsters like Thought Ruler Archfiend and Colossal Fighter.

Harris took on the likes of Rob Cedar, Lazaro Bellido, and Calvin Tsang on the way to his eventual victory. Day 2 decks included other TeleDAD variants, Lightsworn, Gadgets, Gladiator Beasts, and a very different TeleDAD build wielded by Calvin Tsang that you should definitely check out. If you missed the live coverage over the weekend, be sure to read it all post-event over in the Events Archive.

Next year, the action picks up again at Shonen Jump Championship San Francisco! January 10 and 11 will see hundreds of duelists convene on the South San Francisco Conference Center to duke it out for the first Championship title of the year. Want to book your travel? Head over to the official event listing for all the details you need.

If you’ve followedthe news about the similar Anniversary Pack in Japan, there are some differences between our version and theirs. First up, while Japan’s set was distributed in randomized five-card boosters, our eight-card set is just that: a complete set of all the cards in every pack. It looks as if our version will not feature the alternate-art Dark Magician Girl found in Japan’s version, but it will have the following:

So we don’t get Dark Magician Girl, but we also don’t have to dig through a pile of packs to get the cards we want—seems like a fair trade. That last card on the list is the new Tuner card unique to the Anniversary Pack. Check it out:

This card cannot be destroyed by battle. When a card on the field is destroyed by battle or by a card effect, return this face-up card to its owner's hand.

As a result of the outstanding pre-registration turnout, the prize structure for this event has been reviewed and increased. The new prize scheme is now as follows:

More iPods and more packs: nice! There’s still a month remaining before the big tournament goes down, so pre-register now to guarantee your spot. Note that the pre-registration page’s prize info hasn’t been updated yet, but the venue information has—I’m sure they’ll update the prizes shortly.

This is a huge event, and a tremendous success for the independent organizers! If you’re a duelist and you’re located anywhere near Dublin, make sure you show up and compete in this landmark competition.

Today, Jerome McHale discusses spoiler decks and their impact on high-level competition, and then builds one to demonstrate what he’s talking about. In the mood to drive your opponents insane? Just want to have some fun at a local and unleash some insane combos? Jerome has a Quillbolt Hedgehog build that’s perfect for you, drawing massive numbers of cards before flinging fur for the win. It’s fun (for you at least), and it has the cutest win condition ever!

Curtis Schultz dives into the mailbag one more time before we close out our year, answering your questions about Imperial Iron Wall, Stardust Dragon, Gladiator Beast Retiari, and a bizarre scenario involving Dragon Ice and Miracle Flipper. As always, Curtis’s article is a definite must-read, and you’ll want to check it out to stay one step ahead of your competition.

Duelists are starting to realize the power of a forced long game in this format, and that’s the precise topic Matt Peddle tackles this Thursday in Battlefields. How can you make a combo deck capable of scoring one-turn KO’s stand still for turns on end? And how can you assure that, once you get to something resembling a late game, you come out on top? Matt’s going to discuss how (and why) you can do it when you face TeleDAD.

On Friday Mike Kohanim is back, with the first regular installment of his new column: Taking Sides. With Gladiator Beasts back in the Day 2 spotlight after Detroit, it’s the perfect time for Mike to analyze the side-decking options for that deck, and the result is a massive guide to siding against the two biggest decks in the format: TeleDAD and Lightsworn. If you’re a hardcore tournament competitor you can’t miss this one, as a Shonen Jump Champion goes in-depth to develop a game plan you can use yourself.

Speaking of Gladiator Beasts, Manuel Gonzalez made a big impression this past weekend at Shonen Jump Championship Detroit, bringing the fallen deck back to the Day 2 tables! How did he do it? How did Gonzalez succeed where several hundred duelists failed in recent months? Matt Peddle’s going to answer those questions and more in The Champions this Saturday, dissecting Gonzalez’s Day 2 Gladiator Beast build to show you why it was so successful.

Finally, Ryan Murphy takes a week off from his Budget Builder column to propose a new deck he’s created for top-level tournament control. Murphy Gadgets garnered some serious attention when Ryan played his now-seminal build at Shonen Jump Championship Indy over one year ago, and now he’s putting his name on another strategy: Murphy Control. You won’t believe the tricks this deck can do, and you’ll never guess at the strategy. Check it out on Sunday.

That’s it for this week, but join us in another seven days for more news, info, and previews of articles here on Metagame.com!