With all the attention given to big name teams like Comic Odyssey, it’s sometimes hard for the little guys to get their names out in the open. Local teams are an integral part of the Yu-Gi-Oh! community, so I talked to one of the local teams to get their perspective on the new format and their plan of action for today’s event. Without further ado, meet Team Game X Crew, from the Game Exchange in Lewisville, Texas.

Meet the Team

Team Game X Crew has about ten members in total, but only six of them are here today. Their roster today includes:

Carlos Viegas
Accomplishments: “I drove people around to the Regionals they won at.”
Top deck in the format? Zombie/Chaos

Bristel Kendall
Accomplishments: Qualified for Nationals by winning San Antonio Regionals.
Top deck in the format? Zombie/Phoenix Chaos

Mohammed Nasim
Accomplishments: Despite claims that he’s really not that good, Nasim has qualified for this year’s Nationals by making Top 4 at an Oklahoma Regional.
Top deck in the format? Zombie/Phoenix with Chaos

Alex Aries
Accomplishments: Made second place at Oklahoma Regionals.

Steven Aries (The “Leader”)
Accomplishments: Made it to Top 4 at last year’s Nationals. Played in the 2004 World Championships.
Top deck in the format? Zombie/Phoenix Chaos

Phillip Fortenberry
Accomplishments: Backup driver for the team.


The Game X Crew is certainly not your ordinary team. They are part of an elite group who can say that one of their members played in a World Championship. They also have a completely different set of priorities than most other teams these days. “We’re really just here to get our last two guys qualified,” said Carlos—a welcome change from the Cyber-Stein chase that most other teams are currently engaged in.
           
Game X Crew is filled with innovators. Not content to “go with the flow” of simply copying and pasting winning decklists, they constantly try to develop new and interesting deck ideas for tournament play. “It’s sad, but we know that no matter what we do, our innovative designs will become commonplace after a while,” says Carlos. Nevertheless, they continue to strive to shake up the dueling world with creative deck design. Today, they plan to bring two new decks to the table: a new first-turn-kill deck and a new control variant lovingly referred to as the Anti-Deck. This local group is hoping to explode onto the national scene by placing in the Top 8 with one of their new decks.
           
When asked about their opinions on the new Advanced format, most of them said the same thing. They’re pleased with the change that the Advanced format brings about. They especially enjoy the facts that the Forbidden cards change with every revision to the list and that old friends like Mirror Force and Graceful Charity have been allowed to make a return. “It’s good that they bring a couple of cards back every six months; it helps keep things interesting,” said Carlos. His sentiment was reflected by all the other team members. Overall, Team Game X Crew is happy with the state of the game and quite optimistic about both the future and their chances to do well today.