It’s August 7th, and with the Power of the Duelist Sneak Previews now finished and the last weeks of summer still ahead, duelists across North America are getting ready for the next Shonen Jump Championship!

Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis this Weekend!

SJC Indianapolis is just five days away, and many of North America’s best duelists will be showing up to compete. With Worlds now in the past, and information about the metagame there slowly filtering down from the competitors, one has to wonder what the field may look like. Banisher of the Radiance was virtually nowhere to be seen in Shonen Jump Championship, Philadelphia, but with the dominance of Recruiter Chaos at that event, is Banisher a strong enough metagame choice to see serious play? Another deck from Philly, Cesar Gonzales’s Cyber-Stein OTK redux, could be the best deck in the format: will it truly be the deck to beat as so many top duelists believe?

As always, questions abound, but Metagame.com will be live on site from Gen Con Indianapolis to dig for answers firsthand. With eight Regionals on offer, plus plenty of side events and the SJC, the “best four days in gaming” might prove to be the year’s best four days of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG.

Plus, stop by the Upper Deck Entertainment booth in the exhibitor’s hall to get another chance at those convention-exclusive Sheep Token promo cards!

New Promo Card to Debut in Shonen Jump Magazine

The November issue of Shonen Jump will feature a brand new promo card: one of the most desired cards ever created! Coveted for ages by collectors, Magician’s Valkyria will finally be hitting North American shores in an English-language version this fall! Expect to see the magazine on newsstands October 3rd, and expect it to sell out super-quick. Oh, and collector’s take note: while there have been some rumblings about a Shonen Jump anniversary card some time in the near future, Valkyria is not related to that release: there will be another promo at the end of the year. Pretty sweet, huh?

Magician’s Valkyria is a Shonen Jump exclusive, and will not appear anywhere else. If you’re a collector, you probably already want this card. If you’ve never heard of it, check out the awesome art and imagine it rendered in dazzling foil. Non-subscribers better reserve their copies in advance, because this card’s going to be incredibly hot.

This Week on Metagame.com

With the preview weeks behind us, we’re ready to turn our eyes to the future of the current Advanced format. We begin the week today with Mike Rosenberg’s continued exploration of the Counter Fairy deck type, as Mike takes a look at Voltanis the Adjudicator. Arguably the most threatening weapon in the Counter Fairy arsenal, Voltanis has the power to reshape the entire face of a duel. Want to know how to play it, and what roles it serves within the archetype? Click on over and let Mike give you all the details.

Nabbed a Destiny Hero - Dogma or two at your local Sneak Preview this past weekend? Jerome McHale’s pretty enthused about the card’s potential as a centerpiece for a new Burn variant, and he’ll demonstrate why this week. A proven Ojama Trio Burn engine mixes with new tech and some creative old-school tricks to create a very threatening, playable strategy that unleashes the true power of the Destiny Heroes. Sound far-fetched? Jerome will win you over on Tuesday.

On Wednesday I’ll tackle the challenge of fixing an OTK Megarock Dragon deck. The solution to the deck’s problems results in an interesting rebuild that’s one part the contributor’s work, one part Arty Stein, and one part originality. With Chaos Return flagging in the current environment there’s still plenty of potential packed into other, less mainstream Return variants, and I’ll show you one of them in my next Apotheosis.

On Friday, Julia Hedberg will show you how to turn two copies of the Lord of the Storm Structure into a tournament-winning control deck. Drawing on cards that were never seen before the Structure’s release, plus a bit of tech from Power of the Duelist, the deck punishes opponents both for playing cards, and not playing them. The best part? Pick up two Structures and you’ll be able to build virtually the entire deck out of commons. Adding a new deck to your testing gauntlet is as easy as reading Solid Ground this weekend.

Next up, Matt Peddle breaks down what might be the best deck in the format. Cesar Gonzalez dominated opposition in the Swiss rounds of Shonen Jump Championship Philadelphia, and a variant of his deck was piloted to a twelfth place finish at the World Championships by Canada’s Calvin Tsang. Flat out, it could be the next big thing in the Advanced format, and Matt will show you precisely why.

Finally, we round out the week with an article that’s, well . . . irritating! Simon Sangpukdee takes a look at some of the Yu-Gi-Oh! TCG’s most frustrating cards to play against, and teaches you how to incorporate these strategically potent cards in decks of your own design. Ever wondered how to get the most out of Cold Wave or Non Aggression Area? Check out Simon’s column this week to get the lowdown on these oft-misunderstood cards.

That’s it for this week! Remember to tune into Metagame bright and early on Saturday, as we bring you live coverage from Shonen Jump Championship Indianapolis. It’s bound to be one of the biggest dueling events of the year, and you won’t want to miss all the action as some of the game’s best duelists, teams, and decks square off for SJC gold.

As always, thanks for reading Metagame!

—Jason Grabher-Meyer

Contributing Editor, Metagame.com