James Sharp has only been playing for a short time, but got through the first half of the Shonen Jump TCG Championships with a 3-1 record. “I’ve only been playing this game for a little less than six months. I started when I saw Solar Flare Dragon in Ancient Sanctuary, and figured I could make a pretty good budget deck with cards like that. Then Ultimate Baseball Kid came out in Soul of the Duelist, followed by Raging Flame Sprite in Rise of Destiny. After some adjustments, I had a pretty interesting burn deck.”

James Sharp is a 45-year-old father of two, who began playing the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game since his son and daughter loved the television show. “If it weren’t for my children, I probably would have never started playing this game. I have to admit it’s a lot of fun.” While the general age of Yu-Gi-Oh! competitors may seem to be anywhere from ten to twenty, James highlights the diverse demographics of Yu-Gi-Oh! players. He entered today’s TCG Championship with a budget burn deck, utilizing the abilities of common cards like Solar flare Dragon and Ultimate Baseball Kid. James made especially good use of Ultimate Baseball Kid with cards like DNA Transplant. At one point, James was playing with a 5500 ATK Baseball warrior!

Sharp’s original game of choice was chess. He had been playing the game for years as well as at various chess tournaments. James was an expert at the game, but admits that chess could become highly predictable. “Mastery of chess can take a while, but it mainly requires the memorization of many strategies from a variety of books. The rules haven’t changed for centuries. Yu-Gi-Oh! can be come refreshed thanks to the Forbidden list. I enjoy dueling in the advanced format.”

In the end, James Sharp finished in 55th place, with five wins and three losses for the day. Keep at it, James. Seeing Ultimate Baseball Kid win games was just great!